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From that day onwards, Su Chen didn’t just have a personal grudge against individual Bloodline Nobility Clans; rather, he was no longer tolerated by any of the Bloodline Nobility Clans within Clear River City.

However, Su Chen didn’t mind.

He continued to happily do his research, trying out anything new that came to mind and searching to further unlock the profound mysteries of this world.

Time flew by very quickly.

In the blink of an eye, two months had passed.

At this point, Su Chen had been in Clear River City for nearly a year, and his standing in the city had become more and more solid.

In this period of time, Clear River City remained relatively peaceful.

As if both sides had learned how to restrain themselves, they quietly remained in wait, searching for an opportunity.

Today, Su Chen was still doing his experiments when Mingshu came in and said, “Young Master, Cloud Leopard is here.”

“Cloud Leopard? Is he finally here?” Su Chen’s eyes lit up. He put down the experiment he was working on and hurried out.

Cloud Leopard was waiting for him in the main hall.

Upon seeing Su Chen step out, Cloud Leopard smiled. “Boss!”

“You’re finally here.” Su Chen nodded.

He walked over, arms outstretched, and the two of them embraced.

In that instant, both of them activated their power. A ferocious wave of energy exploded from them. Thankfully, the tables and chairs in the main hall were all made of reinforced steel, but they were still knocked back by the blast.

In this exchange of power, Su Chen grunted as he was forced back half a step.

Cloud Leopard hurriedly pulled back. Su Chen rubbed his chest and said, “You bastard, you’ve made so much improvement in the time that we haven’t seen each other.”

Cloud Leopard’s expression was filled with disappointment. “My Jade Luster Body has already reached the stage of large success, but I could only force you back half a step. You aren’t even a pure fighter, so I have an unfair advantage.”

“Look at you so cocky. Are you not happy unless you can suppress me completely?” Su Chen punched him, then sat down with him on the side. Mingshu poured them some tea before Su Chen continued, “You finished your Secret Task Force Training?”

Cloud Leopard mumbled, “I finished a few months ago. I wanted to come over right then, but my drill instructor felt like I had hidden potential and gave me a few more months of training. I felt like I was going to die of irritation.”

Su Chen laughed, “The higher-ups value you, but you seem extremely unhappy about that.”

“Isn’t it just because I wanted to come and help a bit earlier? I heard that you’re locked in a dispute with the other Bloodline Nobility Clans that isn’t so pleasant?”

“You call this unpleasant?” Su Chen was shocked. “We’re opposites like fire and water, okay? I killed quite a few of their subordinates, and they want to assassinate me. But because I’m a government official, they don’t dare be too over-the-top. They’ve made a lot of movements in secret, though. A few days ago, they even caused a commotion between Origin Qi Scholars on the streets, sending smoke everywhere and forcing me to scramble. There weren’t any major injuries, but they don’t want me to have any peace. Simultaneously, they’re trying to demonstrate their commitment to never stop fighting.”

“I can kill them for you,” Cloud Leopard said.

“How so? You’ll kill them off silently one by one?” Su Chen laughed.

“No need,” Cloud Leopard replied confidently. “I’ll just pin them with the crime of rebellion and bring the army in to wipe them off the face of the continent.”

Su Chen almost choked to death on his tea. He stared at Cloud Leopard. “Is this what you learned in more than half a year with the Secret Task Force?”

“Isn’t it quite effective?” Cloud Leopard countered.

Su Chen waved his hand. “Don’t even think about it. I absolutely won’t permit doing it that way!

Cloud Leopard might not be able to do it, but even if he could, he would definitely be harshly punished after the investigation determined that his claim was fake. In addition, this would cause a lot of deaths, which was way beyond Su Chen’s bottom line.

Most importantly, making up a crime like that was too crazy. It broke the rules of the game.

In the past, Su Chen might have used any tactic to deal with his opponents.

But in the past ten years, Su Chen’s eyes had been broadened, and his way of thinking was now much loftier. He realized that using any method to take down his opponents was the wrong way to do things.

People not only needed to pursue victory, but they needed to do it in a reasonable and justified way.

This was because victory was for the sake of possessing more.

If the price of victory was losing more, then it wasn’t worth it.

Whether or not he respected the rules of the game was the most important factor in this.

Obtaining victory while adhering to the rules of the game would require the lowest price.

Obtaining victory while breaking the rules of the game would require the highest price.

Many people overlooked the rules when valuing things, thinking that this was a more creative way of thinking. However, doing battle wasn’t math; the result of thinking of breaking a set framework was often not good for that framework. Obtaining victory but not respecting the rules would be much more difficult than obtaining victory while respecting them. This was why leaping past the bounds of the rules to resolve an issue was something easy to get but hard to get rid of – in other words, minimizing short-term conflict could create a number of troubles in the future that were hard to resolve. There was nothing praiseworthy about it.

Of course, if you had the ability to change the rules of the game, then that was a different matter altogether.

The battle for Clear River City fell under the same principles. If Su Chen allowed Cloud Leopard to do what he said, the ten Bloodline Nobility Clans might be momentarily wiped out, but Su Chen would also become the enemy of all Bloodline Nobility Clans. Even though he was fated to become their enemy anyway because of his research on surpassing bloodline limitations, that was something for the future. By the time he reached that point, his strength would be enough to deal with it. Doing it now, however, would cause him to instantly incur the wrath and furious revenge of all Bloodline Nobility Clans.

This was why Su Chen forcefully rejected Cloud Leopard’s suggestion. In this matter, he definitely wouldn’t give Cloud Leopard any approval. Otherwise, if he were to give Cloud Leopard a bit of slack, he might really go ahead and do it.

Upon seeing that Su Chen was that determined, Cloud Leopard could only give up on that idea. “Fine, so what should we do?”

Su Chen replied, “We don’t need to do anything apart from quietly watch the situation develop.”

This reply clearly disappointed Cloud Leopard.

Su Chen laughed, “Fine, if you really want to do something, there is something that I need your help with.”

“What is it?”

“These days I’m planning on going out to temper myself. However, I don’t have too much assurance about the situation here. With you here, I’ll be a lot more at ease.”

“You’re going to go out and temper yourself?” Cloud Leopard was shocked.

“Yes. If possible, I want to help Iron Cliff break into the Blood Boiling Realm. The best way to deal with our opponents is to increase our own strength. The biggest advantage we have is our position as government officials. Those Bloodline Nobility Clans won’t dare break the rules lightly. Our greatest disadvantage is that our strength isn’t great enough. That’s why I want to take advantage of this temporary standoff to raise my strength.”

Su Chen spoke in half-truths.

Raising Iron Cliff’s strength was his plan, but he also hoped that he could raise his cultivation base a bit during this period of time – Shi Kaihuang’s technique for charging into the Blood Boiling Realm had made an important breakthrough. The combination of the Origin Talisman Energy Formation and Brooke’s Formula was still proving quite useful, allowing Shi Kaihuang to do in just six years what he hadn’t been able to do in thirty.

It wouldn’t be long before a technique for reaching the Yang Opening Realm was completely finished.

Su Chen didn’t want to find that his cultivation base was insufficient when that day came.

This was why he decided it was time to strengthen himself.

Cloud Leopard stared at Su Chen seriously.

After a while, he suddenly said, “Do you have some kind of technique that can raise your cultivation base in battle?”

Su Chen was stunned.

He thought for a moment, then laughed bitterly, “It seems you saw through it.”

“Does it have something to do with those strange gestures that you make whenever you kill those Demonic Beasts?”

“...... That’s right.”

“So you’re not some kind of Buddhist disciple?”

“...... No.”

Su Chen was a bit embarrassed to have his secret seen through by Cloud Leopard.

Then, Cloud Leopard nodded. “Then I’m not worried anymore.”

“Not worried? What aren’t you worried about?” Su Chen was surprised.

“Now that I know you’re not placing your whole life and hopes on some kind of illusory faith, I’m not worried for you,” Cloud Leopard said sincerely.

This was the first time that Su Chen had ever heard Cloud Leopard say something so deep before.