Zongwu: Aspiring to be the mastermind behind the scenes

Chapter 303 A Fake for a Real One, Ruyi Scepter Stolen

Inside Ruyi Pavilion, the place was bustling with noise.

Representatives from various powerful forces near the ancient Shu Kingdom attended the ceremony, including a special envoy from the royal family of the ancient Shu Kingdom.

These people sit together and chat, and a casual remark could determine the fate of countless people.

However, what they discussed most was naturally the new master of Yujian Manor.

Yin Tianqi has never left the Imperial Sword Manor. The world knows very little about him, only that he, like Yin Hao, is a kind and benevolent person.

This made many people breathe a sigh of relief.

As the strongest and oldest force in the ancient Shu Kingdom, any change to the Imperial Sword Manor could affect many other forces.

Zhou Ming didn't know anyone there, and after sitting for a while, he got bored, so he went to find Yin Zhong.

"This is the Blood Jade Scepter?"

Unexpectedly, Zhou Ming saw the famous Blood Ruyi in Yin Zhong's hands.

This legendary treasure does resemble a Ruyi in shape, but it is only similar in shape. It is blood-red in color and has no trace of artificial carving. It seems to have been formed naturally by heaven and earth.

"How could it be you?" Zhou Ming asked.

Yin Zhong casually put the Blood Ruyi aside and said, "Big Brother is busy with Tianqi's expedited training, so I'll leave this to you for now."

Yin Hao was really worried that his son would embarrass himself in this situation, so he was cramming at the last minute to train Yin Tianqi properly to prevent him from losing face.

The Blood Ruyi could only be entrusted to Yin Zhong for safekeeping.

If Yin Tianxue saw this scene, she would probably be embarrassed on the spot.

"Legend has it that this thing can bring the dead back to life and heal the wounded..."

Zhou Ming picked up the Blood Ruyi, a silver light appearing between his brows: "I didn't expect that this Blood Ruyi really contains a lot of energy. It lives up to its reputation."

Yin Zhong shook his head: "Just look at it and that's it. The Blood Ruyi has long lost its healing function."

"what?"

Yin Zhong then began to explain.

It turns out that the Blood Ruyi is actually a set composed of two treasures.

They are the Blood Ruyi and the Heart of the Blood Ruyi.

The Blood Jade contains powerful energy, but it has no healing function.

The Blood Heart possesses healing properties, but activating this property requires sufficient energy reserves.

The two complement each other.

Once the two are separated, the Blood Heart can only recover from minor injuries with its extremely weak energy. However, if the wound is larger than one centimeter, the recovery effect will be greatly reduced.

The Blood Ruyi is simply a collection of energy, possessing enormous power yet completely unusable.

Unfortunately, even Yin Zhong didn't know when the Blood Ruyi Heart was lost.

After all, he wasn't always at the Imperial Sword Manor.

He also has his own things to do.

For example, they would search everywhere for ways to treat their injuries.

For example, they hunted down the Long clan, who were not living in seclusion in the secret realm with the Tong clan.

For Yin Zhong, the most precious thing about Yujian Manor is the mercury pool that he secretly built beneath the manor.

Through this mercury pool, Yin Zhongcai was able to continuously recover from his injuries.

However, there is a limit to the healing effect of this method. After about several decades, once the injury has healed to a certain extent, the mercury pool will no longer be effective.

At this time, Yin Zhong would often fake his death to escape and go to various parts of Kyushu to do his own thing.

After wandering around for decades, the injuries gradually worsened because they could not be completely cured.

At this point, Yin Zhongcai would return to the Imperial Sword Manor in place of someone else to heal his injuries using the mercury pool.

Therefore, in summary, Yin Zhong's condition can be divided into a stable period and a healing period.

During his stable period, Yin Zhong's injuries have recovered to a certain extent. He is able to exert the combat power of a Grandmaster and can maintain it for a long time without triggering his injuries.

During his recovery period, Yin Zhong can only exert the combat power of a grandmaster. If he exerts even a little more effort, he may trigger his injuries and suffer excruciating pain.

Yin Zhong, who remained at Yujian Manor, was naturally in a period of recovery.

That Blood Ruyi Heart was likely lost by the people of Yujian Manor when he was in a stable period and was out having fun.

Yin Zhong, however, did not care about this.

Although the Blood Ruyi had healing properties, it had almost no effect on his injuries.

Five hundred years ago, this thing was already considered useless by Yin Zhong.

But for ordinary people, the Blood Ruyi is indeed a divine object.

Now that the Blood Ruyi Heart is lost, the remaining Blood Ruyi has become nothing more than a decoration.

"I see."

After listening to Yin Zhong's explanation, Zhou Ming nodded in understanding.

Then he put the item into his pocket, took out another blood-red ruyi, and handed it back to Yin Zhong.

This was a completely undisguised act; the Blood Jade Scepter was replaced openly and honestly right in front of Yin Zhong.

Yin Zhong was startled and asked, "What kind of technique is this?"

Zhou Ming laughed and said, "Second Uncle, aren't you curious about what kind of talent I've awakened? This is it!"

Yin Zhong picked up the fake blood-red scepter and examined it: "Two-thirds of the energy inside is gone... Copying?"

You could think of it that way.

Zhou Ming said, "Second Uncle, please continue. I'm leaving."

"You kid..."

Yin Zhong was speechless.

This guy actually replaced the Imperial Sword Manor's heirloom with a fake one right in front of me.

Although he doesn't care about such things.

The Blood Jade could not heal his injuries; to him, it was useless.

Without the Blood Ruyi Heart, even the ordinary healing function is gone. All that's left is the Blood Ruyi, which is utterly useless.

Exchanging a real piece of trash for a fake piece of trash makes no difference.

In contrast, he was more concerned about what methods Zhou Ming had used.

He held the fake blood-red ruyi for a long time but still couldn't tell the difference.

"It is said that the innate abilities awakened from one's bloodline come from the source of that bloodline, from those ancient gods and demons... truly mysterious and profound!"

Yin Zhong couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Although he was seriously injured and could only exert a fraction of his strength, his cultivation level was still there.

However, although his realm far surpasses that of most people in this world, it is still far inferior to those legendary ancient gods and demons.

After looking at it for a long time, Yin Zhong still couldn't figure it out, so he had no choice but to give up.

Zhou Ming left this place in a good mood.

Although a single Blood Ruyi has no healing properties, it still contains extremely powerful energy.

However, once this energy is used up, it cannot be replenished.

In other words, although the Blood Ruyi is a treasure, it is a one-time use treasure.

However, this drawback, when combined with projection capabilities, makes all the difference.

Soon, the succession ceremony began.

This power has been passed down for hundreds of years and has many rules and regulations.

The entire succession ceremony would take more than two or three hours to complete. However, Yin Hao shortened the ceremony, condensing it into three steps, citing the need to avoid wasting resources and manpower.

First, a sacrifice to Heaven.

Second ancestral worship ceremony.

The third position.

Of course, the real reason is not that simple.

The other steps, in essence, require the successor to preside over them, which is to demonstrate the successor's abilities.

Unfortunately, Yin Tianqi's abilities can't be described as mediocre; they can even be described as poor.

If it were actually shown, it would only be embarrassing, so Yin Hao flexibly changed the ceremony procedure.

This can only be blamed on Yin Tianqi's lack of ambition.

If he had the ability, even if he only reached the Innate Realm, let alone the Grandmaster Realm, Yin Hao would definitely arrange for him to show off his abilities and become famous in one fell swoop.

Unfortunately, he couldn't.

Then you can only go through the motions like a puppet.

Nevertheless, the sacrificial ceremonies held at Yujian Manor to worship Heaven and ancestors were quite grand, solemn yet elegant.

This inspires awe in many distinguished guests towards this power that has been passed down for hundreds of years.

However, while Yin Hao, Yin Zhong, Yin Tianqi and the others were all solemnly holding the ceremony, Zhao Yun quietly sneaked to the back of Ruyi Pavilion and saw the blood-red Ruyi.

The Blood Ruyi is, after all, a treasure passed down through generations, and naturally, it is guarded by people all around it.

But Zhao Yun keenly noticed that these people were somewhat distracted, and every now and then they would lift their feet and crane their necks, as if they wanted to see what the ceremony in front of them was like.

That makes sense; after a long period of peace at Yujian Manor, people's morale naturally becomes lax.

Especially now, with a ceremony that only happens once every few decades, everyone would be eager to participate.

Zhao Yun seized the opportunity, suddenly used his lightness skill to pass over the crowd, and reached out to directly grab the Blood Ruyi!

There were no setbacks.

It went so smoothly that even she was a little surprised.

Zhao Yun reacted extremely quickly, immediately turning his head and lunging towards the window.

However, the servants guarding Xue Ruyi, though they had become complacent and were given the opportunity, reacted in an instant.

Realizing that the Blood Jade Scepter had been stolen, and that it had been stolen right under their guard, the group turned pale and rushed toward Zhao Yun like madmen.

The others around also instantly realized what had happened, and their expressions changed drastically.

There was also a butler in the room, who was in charge of handling things at the back. At this moment, his heart skipped a beat, his face turned pale, and then in an instant, it turned red. He shouted in a low voice, "Why aren't you chasing after them!"

Only then did everyone react.

But Zhao Yun was a seasoned thief with many years of experience, so his lightness skill was naturally excellent. He had already reached the window and leaped out.

The next moment, the butler and the others also came out.

Outside Ruyi Pavilion, while it wasn't exactly packed with people, there was still a steady stream of people.

Not to mention the servants, guards, and iron guards of the Imperial Sword Manor who had gathered here, most of the guests who had come with many distinguished guests but were not qualified to have a seat in the Ruyi Pavilion were also gathered outside the pavilion.

Finding a thief in such a large crowd is not easy.

In particular, the fact that the Blood Ruyi, a treasure passed down through generations, was stolen during the succession ceremony would be too shameful to spread, so they couldn't launch a large-scale search.

Fortunately, the steward was experienced and immediately summoned one of the Iron Guards, instructing him to inform the Iron Guard Commander, Tie Feng.

He then sternly informed everyone to keep the matter a secret, and then quietly approached Yin Zhong to tell him about it.

"what?"

Upon hearing this, Yin Zhong first glanced at Zhou Ming, who was in the first row of distinguished guests.

He had just replaced the blood-stained scepter when it was stolen, which made him think twice.

However, he acted as if nothing had happened: "Immediately have the Iron Guard seal off the entire Imperial Sword Manor, not even a fly should be allowed to escape!"

"Yes."

Immediately afterwards, Yin Zhong secretly sent a telepathic message to Zhou Ming, inviting him to the back and explaining the matter.

"Second Uncle doesn't think this has anything to do with me, does he?"

"Of course not. That thing is a piece of junk anyway, and it's a fake you made. It's fine if it's lost. Right now, it's the succession ceremony. If we can't produce the Blood Ruyi later, it will be troublesome."

Zhou Ming laughed and said, "I see. Second Uncle wanted to ask me if I could come up with another fake one to get through this succession ceremony?"

"Yes."

"That's easy to say."

Zhou Ming directly instructed Xiao Ai to use her projection ability to project another Blood Ruyi and hand it to Yin Zhong.

Upon seeing this, Yin Zhong's heart stirred, and he thought to himself: This ability can be used on the same object a second time? Can it be used a third or fourth time?

If it could be used indefinitely, then this ability would be terrifying.

With his knowledge, he could naturally see that the Blood Ruyi contained a large amount of energy. Even if the Blood Ruyi Heart was lost, and even if the energy within it could not be restored once it was depleted, it would still be very powerful if it were treated as a one-time use treasure.

However, Zhou Ming could replicate such treasures time and time again.

Does that mean that as long as the original treasure remains intact, Zhou Ming can keep producing replicas?
Although the energy contained in the replica seems to be only one-third of that of the original, it is still an incredibly terrifying power.

Once it erupts, it will be equally powerful.

Although it is a one-time thing, as long as it is continuously replicated, its biggest flaw can be completely overcome.

Upon realizing this, Yin Zhong was suddenly startled.

To my utter surprise, this thing that I looked down on completely became a powerful tool in Zhou Ming's hands.

Some miscalculation...

Fortunately, the relationship between the two sides is currently good.

"Thank you for your help, my dear nephew!"

Yin Zhong's smile looked incredibly sincere.

He took out the fake blood-red ruyi and handed it to the steward, instructing him to continue the ceremony. However, he then summoned Tie Feng, the commander of the Iron Guard, and informed him of the details.

"Although we temporarily used a fake to get by, it is a great disgrace that the succession ceremony of my Imperial Sword Manor was actually carried out with a counterfeit!"

"Tie Feng, that thief must be caught! Let his blood wash away this shame!"

Tie Feng had served the Imperial Sword Manor for generations and was extremely loyal. Upon hearing this, his anger flared up, and he clasped his hands and said, "If we cannot capture this villain, I, Tie Feng, am willing to offer my head in return!"

He then led the entire Iron Guard to search the manor.

The Iron Guards were already responsible for patrolling, and to others, it just seemed like they were patrolling more closely, so no one thought there was anything wrong with it.

Zhao Yun, who was hidden in the crowd, couldn't help but feel uneasy and secretly prayed for Dou Dou.

She rushed out the window, immediately handed the Blood Ruyi to Dou Dou, and then blended into the crowd.

DouDou had already left before the Iron Guards arrived.

In such a short time, it was clearly impossible for her to leave the entire Imperial Sword Manor.

Whether they can escape successfully in the end is up to fate.

Among the three sisters, Dou Dou has the best light-footed skills.

Unfortunately, it is ultimately just an acquired skill level.

After the Iron Guards went on alert, her whereabouts were quickly discovered, and a squad of Iron Guards soldiers swiftly surrounded her.

Despite her superb lightness skills, Dou Dou was unable to escape from the array of swords and armor.

In a moment of quick thinking, DouDou suddenly raised the Blood Ruyi high and shouted, "Stop it, or I'll smash this Blood Ruyi!"

(End of this chapter)