Zongwu: Aspiring to be the mastermind behind the scenes

Chapter 341 Demand Determines Purpose, Idle Chess
"In terms of timing, it is indeed a perfect match..."

Everyone present read through the information that Huo Tianqing had sent over.

They reviewed the list of factions, especially the ones they finalized, many times over.

With everyone's genius, they could not say they knew these materials by heart, but they were certainly familiar with them thoroughly.

Tianxiang Kingdom was the target nominated by Lu Xiaofeng.

Once others see this, they will naturally look up information about the Heavenly Fragrance Kingdom.

"Brother Lu, do you think that the Iron-Blooded Marquis's goal is the Heavenly Fragrance Cardamom? But this rare treasure has long since disappeared into the dust of history, and not even the seeds have been left behind. For the Iron-Blooded Marquis to take this as his goal, isn't that just wishful thinking?"

Li Xunhuan frowned and asked in return.

It wasn't that he had any issues with Lu Xiaofeng, but this matter could very well determine whether Iron-Blooded Marquis could ultimately be convicted, so he had to be extra careful.

Without a compelling reason to convince him, Li Xunhuan would likely not be convinced.

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiaofeng laughed and said, "It is indeed a pipe dream. However, isn't it normal for powerful and wealthy people like them to pursue such a pipe dream?"

Throughout history, countless people have pursued immortality. In today's world, the only path to immortality is through martial arts. Becoming a Grandmaster grants three hundred years of lifespan; reaching the Celestial Realm grants a thousand years!

Even if one doesn't eventually reach the level of a Grandmaster, one can still prolong one's life.

But so many kings and generals in the world just watched as such a path to immortality was laid out before them, without pursuing it at all, only yearning for elixirs and precious medicines.

He indulged in extravagant lifestyles, ruining his body to the point of near destruction, yet he desired a pill to achieve immortality.

Haha, isn't such an act just wishful thinking? But throughout history, haven't there been few people like this?

Li Xunhuan couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

Indeed, many things that seem completely unbelievable and impossible to ordinary people are pursued by kings and generals who are willing to spend endless amounts of gold and silver.

"As the current emperor's uncle, the Iron-Blooded Marquis controls the Dragon Guard Manor and wields great power. His strength has reached the Three Flowers Gathering at the Top, and he is even known as the number one person below the Grandmaster."

If someone like him has any ambitions, it's nothing more than wanting to climb higher in terms of power or force. Aside from that, only matters of life and death would likely require such effort from him.

Li Xunhuan said, "In terms of power, the Central Plains are far more convenient than the Western Regions. In terms of martial arts, with his current level, diligent practice is more promising than seeking external resources. Compared to the Central Plains, the Western Regions can be described as a martial arts wasteland, and it is indeed impossible for him to satisfy his pursuits in these two aspects."

To reach the Grandmaster realm, one must cultivate the Three Flowers Gathering at the Top, comprehend martial arts, merge one's will with martial arts to form martial intent, and then make the ultimate leap.

Since ancient times, there have been stories of people with extraordinary luck who, through a single fortuitous encounter, were able to reach the state of "Three Flowers Gathering at the Top of the Head".

But I've never heard of anyone becoming a grandmaster directly through a single fortuitous encounter.

Because the conditions for breaking through to the Grandmaster level are too numerous and too demanding.

Even if you have enough in other areas, it's impossible to break through to the Grandmaster level if you don't have enough martial arts skills.

Of course, there are also many masters who have mastered the Three Flowers Gathering Cauldron, and who have successfully broken through due to a fortuitous encounter.

But their so-called miraculous encounters were either guided by a master or a sudden enlightenment about the universe.

None of them achieved the Grandmaster level by consuming external substances.

Moreover, as Li Xunhuan said, compared to the Central Plains, the Western Regions are simply a martial arts wasteland.

Trying to find an opportunity to break through to the Grandmaster level here is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

It's not that it's impossible, it's just a matter of probability...

"As we all know, many medicinal herbs have extremely high requirements for their growing environment, let alone a rare herb like Heavenly Fragrance Cardamom. Although all Heavenly Fragrance Cardamom in the world has disappeared, if there is any place that can revive this herb, I think it can only be the Kingdom of Heavenly Fragrance!"

Lu Xiaofeng said earnestly.

Li Xunhuan nodded.

He was convinced.

It wasn't that Lu Xiaofeng's arguments were all perfect, but rather that Li Xunhuan completely agreed with his previous theory of needs.

For over a decade, the Iron-Blooded Marquis spent vast sums of gold and silver on the Western Regions; surely he had some ulterior motive.

The recent rebellion in the Kingdom of Kuji is indeed quite a coincidence.

But no matter how much Li Xunhuan thought about it, he couldn't figure out what was so attractive about this country to the Iron-Blooded Marquis.

That so-called Star of Elysium is, in the end, just a piece of jewelry, purely for its good looks.

Someone like the Iron-Blooded Marquis would never be interested in this thing.

Besides, with his abilities, if he really wanted it, he could have gotten it more than a decade ago.

The treasure of the ancestors of the Kingdom of Guizi is a joke.

This country was considered a powerful nation in the Western Regions, but what was it compared to the Central Plains?
Even if all the treasures of his ancestors were taken out, they probably wouldn't be comparable to those of a single wealthy merchant in the Ming Dynasty.

As for soldiers and horses, there's no need to elaborate.

Even if they were to start a rebellion in the State of Song, they could easily crush the State of Guizi within two or three years.

The operating expenses are still very low.

Compared to Guizi Kingdom, Tianxiang Kingdom is indeed more likely.

If Iron-Blooded Marquis's target is Heavenly Fragrance Cardamom.

It's understandable that so many years of spending countless amounts of gold and silver were for the purpose of bringing such a marvel back to life.

If such a miraculous medicine capable of bringing the dead back to life truly had any hope, let alone 180 million taels, even 810 million taels would be more than enough money for many people.

"In that case, let's head to the Kingdom of Heavenly Fragrance!"

Li Xunhuan finally made his decision and said...

The main reason the group came to the Western Regions was to help him.

Only he can make the decision on this matter.

Once he made the decision, no one else objected, and the matter was thus completely settled.

After packing up, the group bid farewell to Huo Tianqing and prepared to leave.

The news sent panic through the Eastern Depot.

To be fair, the people in the Eastern Depot were actually quite capable.

This is especially true for Iron Claw Flying Eagle, the big boss.

Because, in addition to being the head of the Eastern Depot and Cao Zhengchun's capable assistant, he was also a spy arranged by Zhu Wushi.

As a spy, his ability to infiltrate the top ranks of the Eastern Depot speaks volumes about his capabilities.

The men he brought with him were no ordinary people either; they all held the position of foreman.

However, in terms of wisdom, more people do not necessarily mean greater strength.

A flash of genius is worth more than a thousand fools.

All six of them combined probably couldn't compare to Lu Xiaofeng and Li Xunhuan.

Lu Xiaofeng knew that it would be very difficult to find the target he wanted from the vast amount of information. Therefore, he first imagined the purpose of Tie Dan Shenhou's actions, listed various possibilities and conditions, and then screened them based on these possibilities and conditions.

But the Eastern Depot put in a tremendous amount of effort on the first day.

The next day, Huo Tianqing proactively provided them with information on various forces in the Western Regions and gave them a pointer. Only then did they realize their mistake and change their approach.

Even so, their efficiency over two days was far inferior to that of Lu Xiaofeng and his group of four.

Currently, as many as twenty targets have been extracted.

If I hadn't suddenly heard this news, there probably would have been more to come.

I don't know how many I'll end up with.

Upon hearing that Lu Xiaofeng and the others had left, Flying Eagle was stunned. "Have they already found their target? How could they be so fast?"

If we're talking about people from the Eastern Depot, they might not have any other skills, but their ability to read people's expressions and figure out what the emperor wants is absolutely top-notch.

The foreman immediately said, "Boss, don't worry. Those people left in a hurry. How could they have found the target? They probably had too much information and got overwhelmed, so they simply gave up."

It sounds nice, but Flying Eagle isn't stupid.

He glared at the man and said, "No matter what, we can't stand by and watch. We need to find a way to get our hands on their information, and ideally, figure out which target they've chosen!"

After Lu Xiaofeng and the others left, their belongings were naturally cleared out.

Flying Eagle bribed the servant in charge of cleaning to move all the things they had left behind into his room, and soon found a piece of paper with eight or nine place names written on it.

A circle was drawn directly over one of the place names.

The first thing Flying Eagle saw was this circled name.

"Kujira Kingdom? Bring the documents over!"

Upon receiving the information, Flying Eagle immediately noticed details such as a recent rebellion in the Kingdom of Guizi, the king's escape, and information about the Star of Bliss and the ancestral treasure.

His eyes suddenly lit up.

Is this... such a coincidence?
On the Ming side, the Iron-Blooded Marquis bribery case had just occurred, and on the Guizi side, a rebellion broke out?

And then there's that so-called ancestral treasure, which, although claimed to have been left by the ancestors of the King of Kucha, inevitably brings to mind the 180 million taels of silver bribe that the Iron-Blooded Marquis received...

When Li Xunhuan initially set Guizi Kingdom as his target, it wasn't a random decision.

In reality, there are too many coincidences in various aspects, which makes people unable to help but make connections.

If Lu Xiaofeng hadn't later proposed the theory of demand and convinced Li Xunhuan, their target would probably be this Guizi Kingdom now.

However, Iron Claw Eagle didn't have that kind of brain. After reading the information about the Kingdom of Guizi, he immediately concluded that the Kingdom of Guizi was the secret operation that Iron Gallant Marquis had been preparing in the Western Regions.

He immediately said, "Found it! Let's go to the Kingdom of Guizi right now!"

The foremen exchanged glances, clasped their hands in greeting, and said, "Yes."

The group couldn't say they disagreed with Flying Eagle's sudden decision, but it was impossible for them to completely agree without any objection.

But no one would raise this opinion.

A major principle in officialdom is that it's better to do nothing than to make a mistake.

Iron Claw Eagle suggested targeting the Kingdom of Guizi, so let's make that our target.

In any case, if something goes wrong afterward, the head of the gang will definitely bear the main responsibility.

And so, the members of the Eastern Depot departed.

Huo Tianqing watched the Eastern Depot troops disappear before his eyes, then quickly turned around and went into the Yuntian Palace.

"Reporting to the Master, those two groups have already left the Holy City and headed west."

"Oh? What are the goals of these two groups?"

"The destination of the group in front is unknown, but the members of the Eastern Depot left quickly after obtaining the information. They should have gone to the Kingdom of Guizi according to the leader's plan."

“Not bad. That servant did a good job; give him credit.”

"Yes!"

If Iron Claw Eagle were here and heard this conversation, he would probably be speechless with astonishment.

In fact, although Li Xunhuan and his group summarized all their targets on a piece of paper, they did not circle the name of the Kingdom of Guizi.

That circle was drawn by the cleaning staff himself, following orders!

Their purpose, of course, was to lure these people from the Eastern Depot to the Kingdom of Guizi.

The reason for doing so is naturally related to the Western Regions strategy currently being implemented by the Star Luo Sect.

The core of the Western Regions strategy was to stabilize and develop existing territories while simultaneously disrupting various forces in the Western Regions.

However, there is one factor at play: all the forces in the Western Regions revered the Star Luo Sect as their master.

This has been a tradition among many powers in the Western Regions.

Previously, they revered the Demonic Cult as their master and made offerings to it.

Later, when the Rakshasa religion rose to power, people revered the Rakshasa religion as their master and offered them tributes.

Now that the Star Luo Sect has inherited the Rakshasa Sect and annexed the Demonic Sect, these Western Region forces naturally all obediently respect their lord and offer tribute.

But this raises a problem.

These forces have all paid tribute, yet the Star Luo Sect continues to send troops to brutally beat them?
That's a bit unreasonable.

When the Star Luo Sect was first established, it did this to intimidate the entire Western Regions.

But as this continued, these forces all began to complain.

Kunsa was in a difficult position.

He wants the offerings from various forces, but he doesn't want to stop their suppression. What should he do?

A compromise idea was then devised.

Disguise yourself as a desert bandit, that's all.

In the desert, there are countless bandit groups like this.

Many powerful countries even deliberately send troops disguised as bandits.

Therefore, it is not surprising that there is an additional bandit force in this vast desert.

This is why the Black Scorpion King Tuotuo is not currently with the Star Luo Sect.

She was once the adopted daughter of a Yuan general and was quite familiar with Yuan cavalry, so disguising herself as a bandit was very easy for her.

But not long ago, a rebellion broke out in the Kingdom of Kucha, and the king fled abroad.

The Star Luo Sect immediately realized that this was an opportunity.

If they could help the king regain the throne and take control of the Kingdom of Guizi, it would be of great help to the Star Luo Sect's strategy in the Western Regions.

However, the king was not foolish and refused the Star Luo Sect's help.

Just as Kunsa was preparing to take the next step—to forcibly control the king and help them restore their kingdom—people from the Eastern Depot arrived.

Thus, this plan came about.

Of course, Kunsa did not expect these people to play a significant role.

This is just a casual move.

To truly achieve your goals, you still have to rely on yourself.

"Contact the Black Scorpion King and have her lead her troops closer to the Kingdom of Guizi, but without alerting them. Also, inform the Iron Lion King to lead five hundred Rakshasa soldiers, with the Kingdom of Guizi as their target!"

Huo Tianqing laughed and said, "It is an honor for the small Guizi Kingdom that the sect leader has sent a thousand Rakshasa soldiers to it."

Kunsha laughed and said, "Huo Tianqing, when did you learn to flatter people?"

"Haha, when you're subordinate to someone, you have no choice but to learn!"

"So, putting you in charge of the Star Luo Sect, making you second only to the leader, is actually beneath you?"

"Don't dare, don't dare..."

(End of this chapter)