Douluo Dalu: The Eyes That Defy Fate

Chapter 225 Unexpectedly smooth

Seeing this, the other forces also hurriedly left the edge of the palace, fearing that if they were even a second late, they would be killed on the spot.

Moreover, with such a major event occurring in the palace, they must respond promptly to prevent their family's influence from being affected by this upheaval.

Many people even started thinking about which side to take on while on their way back.

After all, any power that can establish itself and thrive in the complex environment of Mingdu must be led by someone who is not a fool.

After only a brief moment of thought, they discovered the most crucial anomaly in this royal turmoil.

The current royal family, that is, the lineage of the old emperor, has been almost completely wiped out, with only one daughter, Xu Tianzhen, remaining.

Furthermore, Kong Deming's attitude just now made it very clear that he never intended for this naive princess to inherit the throne.

Otherwise, someone would definitely be arranged to take her to tomorrow's court assembly.

If we recall the actions of the old emperor more than a decade ago, who slaughtered the previous royal family in order to seize the throne, then the answer becomes quite obvious.

Kong Deming is going to recommend a new emperor! And it's very likely that the choice of the new emperor was decided long ago!
Thinking about it carefully, it makes sense. The old emperor's actions must have aroused Kong Deming's dissatisfaction, but for the sake of the empire's stability, this upright old man had no choice but to grit his teeth and accept the old emperor's authority.

Now that there is a rare opportunity to set things right, how could Kong Deming let it go so easily?

With him as a near-level 10 Soul Master, along with the Hall of Worship and connections behind him, plus his inherent royal bloodline, he was a formidable force.

As long as the new emperor has some royal blood and isn't a useless person, how could he possibly fail to enthrone him?

Almost simultaneously, many people had the same thought: it seems there's no need to consider taking sides anymore.
In this way, most of the neutral forces in Mingduli, through their powerful self-strategy, saved Zhang Lexuan a considerable amount of effort in her future ascension to the throne.

On the other hand, those who remained motionless and did not move finally realized that they had been isolated by Kong Deming's lineage.

But new problems arose one after another: When were they isolated? How come they knew nothing about it?
Those level-nine soul masters who have already sided with the crown prince may not know this, but they need to avoid suspicion.

But why don't these people who have never expressed their opinions know this?
That's going too far!
When did level nine soul masters become so worthless? No matter how strong you are, Kong Deming, you can't just ignore us like this!

Oh, you're level 96 already? Then it's normal for you to look down on us. We can't afford to mess with you.

Subsequently, seven or eight of the dozen or so level-nine soul masters left and sped towards the Confucius Mansion, clearly intending to surrender.

As the old saying goes, if the mountain won't come to me, I'll go to the mountain!

Now, only a few level-nine soul masters who had already sided with the former crown prince Xu Tianran remained in the sky above the palace, their faces grim and unable to utter a single word.

They joined the Crown Prince's camp only because they were promised big rewards, but they did all the work and didn't get any benefits before Xu Tianran was gone!

Isn't this just playing with an old man?!
Immediately afterwards, these people also began to think about how to save their lives.

Escape? They couldn't even beat Kong Deming before his breakthrough, and now that he's level 96, he could single-handedly beat them all to a pulp!
Surrender? No, that sounds too harsh. These are all internal matters of the Sun Moon Empire, how can you call it surrender!

After much deliberation, Kong Deming left them with only one choice: surrender to the new emperor!

With that in mind, the remaining few also left, preparing to organize all their subordinates and resources overnight and present them to the new emperor first thing tomorrow morning!
They've already made a mistake and are several steps behind. If they want wealth and prosperity, they'll have to take a shortcut to overtake others.

After they left, the palace, which had been bustling all night, finally returned to silence, with only the eunuchs and palace maids still working diligently.

. . .

After leaving the palace, Lin Po did not return to the Kong residence with Kong Deming.

The purpose, of course, was to make room for him and Zhang Lexuan to win over those ninth-level soul masters who came to surrender.

After the two parted ways, Lin Po thought it over and over again, and finally went to find Jing Hongchen first, wanting to see how his half-night work had gone.

At the same time, in order to prevent himself from being subconsciously bombarded by Jing Hongchen, Lin Po unusually did not use his divine power to teleport directly, but instead flew straight there after confirming the location.

When Lin Po arrived at Jing Hongchen's location, he happened to see him leading a group of Mingde Hall Soul Masters raiding a noble mansion. What was most surprising was that this robust, squinty-eyed old man looked like a nouveau riche, with a row of storage Soul Tools hanging from his waist.

Ignoring the stench of blood in the air, Lin Po instinctively raised his hand to his forehead, unable to bear looking at the old man who had been led astray.

"Old man, do you really need to be so greedy? What's wrong? Was the money I gave you last time not enough?!"

The sudden sound made all the disciples of Mingde Hall stop what they were doing instantly.

They kept a close watch on the uninvited guest while waiting for the hall master's instructions.

However, Jing Hongchen casually waved his hand, signaling them to put down their soul tools and continue working.

He, however, didn't even look up and started chatting with the person who came.

"You have the nerve to say that? The money you left me last time was barely enough to forge three sets of 'Battle Armor'! And then what? Now the fourth set is almost finished!"

"If we also take into account the daily research expenses, if it weren't for that old rascal Ye Yulin being sensible enough to take out his own savings, I don't know when his 'Starry Sky Battle Armor' would have been completed!"

Lin Po's eyelids twitched upon hearing this. This old man was targeting him again; wasn't he just after money?

"Alright, alright, I'll make up for the deficit when we get back! Seriously, next time you're short of money, just ask. How am I supposed to know if I need money if you don't tell me!"

"You said it yourself! Give it to me when we get back! And give me a generous amount!"

Having achieved his goal, Jing Hongchen chuckled, then discarded the rather valuable antique, wiping his hands as if he had caught something dirty.

Seeing Jing Hongchen's appearance, Lin Po felt quite helpless.

His wealth far surpassed that of the other three kingdoms, so research funding was not a concern for Lin Po, to the point that he often forgot about it.

Fortunately, Zhang Lexuan is about to ascend the throne, and then all the wealth can be handed over to her for management.

However, given her thrifty and hardworking nature, it will be troublesome for Kong Deming and Jing Hongchen to want money again.

After imagining the two old men's future life of begging for money, Lin Po finally got to the point.

"Grandpa, how's it going on your end?"

Upon hearing his grandson-in-law's question, Jing Hongchen's old face immediately turned strange. It took him a while to organize his thoughts before he recounted what had happened that evening.

"It was frighteningly smooth sailing."

"Tonight, none of the forces close to Xu Tianran have made a move. They're not even on guard, let alone the most basic night watchmen."

"When Wu Yun and I led our team to various factions, those people were either enjoying themselves or sleeping soundly. With the sleeping pills you gave them, they had no power to resist at all."

"So, the task that was originally planned to take ten hours to complete was finished in less than six hours."

"This left us plenty of time to clean up the spoils."

After hearing this, Lin Po was now somewhat confused.

Isn't this going a bit too smoothly? They wiped out more than a dozen large and small factions without firing a single shot?
What about all those preparations he made? Were they just a joke?

To prevent any accidents from happening to Jing Hongchen, Lin Po arranged for Zhongli Wu to keep a close eye on things throughout.

At this moment, Jing Hongchen also noticed Lin Po's confusion and said with great emotion:
"Our success is all thanks to Xu Tianran."

"If he hadn't sent secret messages to these forces beforehand, ordering them to remain still no matter what happened in the morning, I'm afraid I would still be fighting a bitter battle right now."

Lin Po was speechless upon hearing this; this guy was really too considerate.

(End of this chapter)