Who is spreading rumors that my filial piety towards them has changed?

His large head hung low on his neck.

His head was hanging down inside his pants.

A man with a Jin accent from the Tianji Empire suddenly patted him and said:

"Hey, isn't this Brother Ma Meng? What's up? Come on, come on, let me treat you to a drink!"

In the tavern, which had been lavishly booked out, Mamon clinked glasses with the wealthy, elegantly dressed merchant.

This man is Liu Zhonglie, a merchant from Shanxi. Ma Meng used to help him sell grain in the tribes of the Crescent Kingdom.

Liu Zhonglie was a very shrewd businessman. For many years, he bought up grain and fodder from Jin at low prices and secretly sold a large portion of it to the Crescent Moon Kingdom at a discount, enriching himself. This caused a famine in Jin, and then he sold the grain back to the farmers at a high price after losing money.

Farmers can't afford it? Then they can mortgage their farmland for grain, or sell themselves or their daughters to work for him, otherwise they can just wait to starve to death.

They made a fortune.

This matter certainly cannot be kept from the Prince of Jin. What should we do?

It just so happens that Prince Jin needs to conduct various private research projects, which will inevitably cost money. If Liu Zhonglie admits his mistake and pays some fines to Prince Jin, the matter will be settled.

I heard some time ago that there was chaos in Jin, so Liu Zhonglie took his money and men and fled to the Crescent Kingdom, where he is living a very comfortable life.

After hearing Ma Meng recount his experiences, Liu Zhonglie felt a pang of sympathy for him.

"Then you can't rely on the eldest prince. If you want to have a good life in the future, you have to find a way to rely on another prince and see who has the will to fight for the throne."

"It's useless. The eldest prince now has the support of the Heavenly Emperor. What can the other princes do to compete? They can't win!"

Liu Zhonglie, however, thought of his own mission. After pondering for a moment, he drank a cup of wine and said:

“You can argue about it! Wouldn’t I, Cao, be a perfect tool and excuse? You could suggest to the other princes that they poison Princess Yongzhen, and then secretly spread the word that the princess has a close admirer. Then who would be the prime suspect in poisoning the princess?”

Ma Meng was taken aback:

"The eldest prince? The eldest prince is unwilling to accept that his queen consort kept a powerful male lover and poisoned the eldest princess?"

"Exactly! If you spread this news, won't those princes who have designs on you be tempted? Won't you be given an important position?"

Ma Meng was deeply moved.

The thought of being ordered to hunt birds, and having so many girls see it, filled him with humiliation.

Liu Zhonglie laughed loudly, filled Ma Meng's cup with wine, and said:

"You'd better hurry up with this matter. The eldest prince must be eager to get married immediately, unify the Crescent Kingdom, and restore the glory of the Moonlit Kingdom, right?"

"After this is done, Ma Meng, don't forget about me!"

"Of course, of course!" Mamon's mind was made up.

Liu Zhonglie then said:

"At that time, I will still have a business deal that requires Mamon's continued cooperation. Once this opportunity is over, it will be difficult to have such a good chance again. If this matter is successful, even if you, Mamon, want to run away in the future, you will be rich and powerful and will have no worries in this life. Why would you still want to marry an illegitimate daughter? You are only making yourself suffer!"

"What kind of business?"

"The Moonlit Royal Family wants to unify the Crescent Kingdom, so war and conflict are inevitable. Once such a conflict breaks out, food and herbs will become extremely valuable. Let's continue with the old methods. Do you understand?"

Ma Meng hesitated. In the past, Liu Zhonglie had harmed the people of Jin, and Ma Meng, being from the Crescent Moon Kingdom, didn't feel anything about it. But now, he felt it was a bit unethical for Liu Zhonglie to be doing such things on the land where he was born and raised.

"Isn't this a bit inappropriate?"

"What's wrong with that? To the Yueqi royal family, these tribespeople are just troublemakers! You're eliminating troublemakers, you're doing the royal family a favor, you're a great hero! Understand?"

Ma Meng's love for this land ultimately couldn't overcome his envy of Liu Zhonglie's gold and silver attire.

"Okay then!"

----------

As Chu Mingkong listened to Yongzhen and Shangguan Rong's conversation, he felt inexplicably out of place.

However, he didn't care much about that. As long as he knew the conclusion in the end, he just needed to pretend to participate and listen attentively, and say "uh-huh, that's right" from time to time.

Looking at her master, Zuo Qiuchi, she realized that things weren't much better for her. She hated these complicated relationships full of deceit and treachery.

Can't people have more understanding and communication with each other?

Less scheming and plotting, more sincerity and honesty.

What's the problem?

Is it possible to resolve this by stabbing each other in the back?

Now, Zuo Qiuchi is simply visiting the stone carvings in this dilapidated temple to see what totem beliefs this ruined temple used to worship.

Just as Chu Mingkong was about to fall asleep, Feng Ying appeared in the temple:

"Excuse me, ladies, I've just learned about the emergence of two new forces. Why don't you add this new information to your discussion?"

Chapter 220 Running Away

Chu Mingkong wasn't too surprised by Feng Ying's arrival, since he had already confirmed that she was in Yueqi's territory and that she would eventually show herself.

Chu Mingkong still jokingly complained:

"Kazekage, where have you been these past few days? You haven't replied to my messages. I asked you to look after Emma for me, but I thought something had happened to you."

"Who do you think broke the barrier in Moonlit City? Those Taoist disciples left after escorting Yongzhen to the Moon Wheel Palace. I took good care of her."

After Feng Ying finished speaking casually, everyone suddenly realized why the barrier protecting the palace had inexplicably failed. It turned out that Feng Ying had secretly intervened!

The Daoist disciples did run quite fast, but they couldn't move as swiftly as Feng Ying. After Yongzhen was sent to the Moon Wheel Palace, they really had no way to deal with her.

Chu Mingkong smiled and apologized, admitting his mistake:

"Alright, then I misunderstood you. My mistake. Now tell me, what intelligence have you gathered these past few days? And what's the deal with those two new forces just now?"

Fengying recounted in detail how, after returning to the Crescent Moon Kingdom, he unexpectedly discovered that two forces were developing rapidly.

One side is the Moon Worship Cult, which worships the Moon River Goddess as its main deity, claiming to be the first Moon Empress. After the Moon River Goddess, all subsequent rulers have deviated from her grand vision, plunging this land into endless strife. They want the Moon River Goddess to regain control of this land.

The other side is the Moon Worship Cult, which, as the name suggests, opposes the Moon Worship Cult.

Taking advantage of the pressure brought to various tribes by the marriage alliance between the Yueqi royal family and the Tianji royal family a few days ago, both religions have attracted many tribal leaders to secretly pledge allegiance, and some have even spread into the Yueqi royal family.

Feng Ying stopped chuckling, glanced at the two girls who had given Chu Mingkong advice, and finally fixed his gaze on Chu Mingkong:

“In the Crescent Moon Kingdom, different forces emerge every day. If these two forces were just ordinary pawns after the rain, I wouldn’t bother to investigate them. Do you know how the situation will change in the future?”

After a brief moment of thought, Shangguan Rong said:

"Is this another major reshuffling of power, and will the Yueqi royal family, which seems to have the advantage of a marriage alliance, also be drawn into this reshuffling between the two powers?"

Yongzhen didn't really believe that the two emerging forces could sweep up the tide; the Yueqi royal family was now in a sure-fire way to win.

Even though she was a marginal figure in the royal family in the past, what she saw and heard on the way to the marriage alliance was enough for her to feel the gap between the two countries. With the support of the Emperor of Tianji, the Yueqi royal family's chances of winning were not very high, but normally they had no chance of losing.

"I think these religions will have little chance of shaking the support the Moonlit Royal Family receives from the Celestial Pole."

Fengying was also confused by this changing trend:

"Few emerging organizations can develop so rapidly. Even after living here for so many years, this is the first time I've seen a force with such momentum. It's a pity I couldn't infiltrate either of these forces to see what they rely on to win people over."

Chu Mingkong listened from the side, completely bewildered, and a sense of helplessness arose in his heart, like that of someone who cannot swim when facing the vast ocean...

Damn it, those two girls were just having a heated discussion about various situations and analyzing how to take over the various tribes if they really wanted to seize power.

Now things have gotten really bad. The discussion was going on for a while when suddenly they said the previous discussion might be null and void because two new opponents had arrived.

So what's the situation with the Crescent Moon Kingdom?

The forces of the old tribal kings in the homeland, the Moonlit Royal Family, the Celestial Imperial Family, two newly emerging religions, and the forces under the Asura King who are quite active.

Of course, while Chu Mingkong was trying to enter the fray, Xiling, which was still observing, could also be considered a force.

"Ying, I know things are a bit chaotic in your hometown, but isn't this too chaotic? We haven't even figured out the situation yet, and things are already changing again?"

Fengying couldn't deny his assessment of her hometown, so she shrugged.

"It has been like this for a long time. The Crescent Kingdom is like a curse. Every time there are signs of unification and stability, a new situation immediately arises."

Either the strongest side will crumble, or a new, powerful force will suddenly emerge and tear them all apart. This should be considered an inevitable outcome among all the variables.

Her words were actually a suggestion to Chu Mingkong to carefully consider whether or not to continue interfering in the affairs of the Crescent Moon Kingdom.

Many once thought they could conquer this chaos and sweep away all the darkness, but time has proven that they were nothing more than a factor in the chaos.

If Chu Mingkong continues to stay here, he may sink deeper and deeper into the quagmire, wasting his energy and wasting Xiling's resources.

Leaving early might be the safest decision, especially since Yongzhen has already won it back.

“I can easily retrieve that doll for you. Let the Heavenly Emperor stir up this chaos; he might just exhaust himself here.”

Chu Mingkong remained silent. He thought he had made ample preparations, even incorporating the "ascension to the throne with one's mother" custom of the Old Yueying Empire into his preparations. Now, with his forces assembled and Feng Ying returning to the ranks, he was actually considering withdrawing...

He had previously been quite confident that he could easily succeed, believing that he could use Yongzhen's marriage alliance to create a way out for Xiling. However, he was now somewhat taken aback.

Only by being there in person can one truly grasp how outrageous the chaos on this land is, and how quickly new situations arise.

Seeing that Chu Mingkong was inexplicably depressed and no longer paying attention to the stone carvings, Zuo Qiuchi walked over, patted him on the shoulder, and said:

"What's there to be disappointed about? Although I don't believe in the idea that 'being involved in worldly affairs makes one prone to karma and future troubles,' it's still wrong to plot against other countries. It involves too many people, and I don't really want you to get involved in this mess."

Zuo Qiuchi's comforting words calmed Chu Mingkong's agitated heart, which had been agitated by this change in circumstances. Her words seemed to have a magical power over Chu Mingkong.

Chu Mingkong calmed down, his thoughts became quick, and he reaffirmed his actions:

"Alright, let's change our approach and go back to the shadows. The dog emperor probably wants to use the Crescent Kingdom to find a replacement empress to prolong his life, so let him show off his skills here."

I'll bide my time and wait. If he really finds a new replacement empress, I'll steal her away and make his efforts futile.

During this period of biding his time, Chu Mingkong could strengthen himself as much as possible.

Well, based on past experience, figuring out how to deal with the emperor is easier than dealing with something in the Crescent Moon Kingdom; things are really chaotic here.

After thinking it through, Chu Mingkong sighed and apologized to Yongzhen:

"Yongzhen feels that I have really put you in danger for so long for nothing. I should have let Kazekage take you away on the way to the marriage."

"It's alright. Although it was said to be dangerous, we didn't actually encounter anything. Just consider it a trip to a foreign land. You should apologize to Rong'er, Master Zuo, and Miss Feng. They were the ones who made a wasted trip with you."

Chu Mingkong stuck out his tongue awkwardly, thinking to himself, "Actually, I brought your mother along too."