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The Blood-Robed Guards below him added, “This is the City Lord’s command medallion, and it has already been confirmed to be real. We just don’t know how Xing Shabei got his hands on it.”

“What about the person who gave the order?”

“He was also a person from the City Lord’s residence. After deceiving us, he killed himself.”

“So that’s how it is,” Su Chen muttered and didn’t say much else.

After some time, he waved his hand and said, “This isn’t your fault. You were just acting on orders. You may leave.”

The Blood-Robed Guards all slowly took their leave.

Mingshu harrumphed, “Young Master, there’s something wrong with these Blood-Robed Guards. Even if they were suddenly ordered to move, they should have at least informed you, right? Leaving without even letting you know is inexcusable. Anybody who is a human being should be able to tell that something is wrong.

“Yes, but so what if there is? Do I kill them all?” Su Chen countered.

Mingshu couldn’t come up with anything to say.

“They’re not our people, so it’s not unusual that we can’t rely on them. What I’m worried about is whether the City Lord himself is behind this matter.”

“Apart from An Siyuan, who can command the Blood-Robed Guards?” Mingshu said angrily.

“That might not be so. There might even be people who are hoping that I’ll think this.” Su Chen tapped his finger on the desk as he said, “They say that you can only get rid of someone after they’ve served their use. As of today, the ten Bloodline Nobility Clans still have the advantage in strength, but it’s been diminished somewhat. The City Lord probably isn’t in that much of a hurry to cut one of his own arms off, but if my relationship with the City Lord begins to crack, I will have fallen straight into my enemies’ trap.”

“But the Blood-Robed Guards......”

Su Chen raised his hand and stopped him. “Personally, I think that the matter with the Blood-Robed Guards is more likely to be something someone did for personal benefit. Whether that’s true or not isn’t important; I just hope that this situation doesn’t grow. However, this matter has reminded me that relying totally on external support won’t work long-term. It’s time for us to seize the moment and begin building up our own strength.”

“Doesn’t Young Master already have the Third River Army?”

“The Third River Army is just a secret influence; they cannot have any ties to me above the board. We also need a force that can be on the surface and fight against those guys.”

“Young Master means......”

Su Chen stood up and paced back and forth a few times before saying, “Xing Shabei has been finished off, and the Origin Bureau is now in my control. I will begin to build up my strength using the Origin Bureau as the core. Li Shu!”

“This little one is here.”

“Write a letter to the City Lord’s Residence under my name as the Knowledge Executor of the Origin Bureau and say that there have been more disputes in Clear River City lately and that the Origin Bureau needs to increase its strength. I am going to begin recruiting.”

Attracting subordinates by using the Origin Bureau’s name and the government’s resources!

One had to admit that this was quite a brilliant idea.

“How many people do you need?” Li Shu asked.

“Eight hundred martial artists and one hundred Origin Qi Scholars.”

Su Chen was like a lion opening his big mouth. He immediately wanted to triple the current strength of the Origin Bureau.

Tripling the strength of the Origin Bureau would also multiply the amount of resources required; even An Siyuan might not be able to accept that.

But with the matter of the Blood-Robed Guards, this was a perfect time to open his mouth at An Siyuan. If he missed this opportunity, An Siyuan might not be willing to acknowledge this debt in the future.

While everyone was still making a commotion over the Lingyuan Disaster, Su Chen had already begun to silently build up his own strength.

Three days later, An Siyuan’s City Lord command medallion was officially passed down, approving the plan to expand the Origin Bureau.

A schedule was posted for the Origin Bureau’s recruitment. An announcement was posted that they were recruiting every Origin Qi Scholar under the blue sky.

At the same time, An Siyuan once again wrote a letter recommending Su Chen as the new Bureau Head.

As for Xing Shabei, he was labeled as “missing,” and the issue was dropped.

Even though everyone knew that Su Chen had killed Xing Shabei, there was no way for them to say anything.

No one continued to poke at the matter.

After all, if they made a commotion and the actual situation came to light, Su Chen might be totally fine, while the ten Bloodline Nobility Clans would have made things extremely inconvenient for themselves.

————————————————

Within the spacious, bright research lab, Su Chen sat on his own, thinking about something.

Patelocke surfaced from the nearby stone tablet like a ghostly specter.

Actually, he was a specter. He appeared silently and without warning every time, giving him a kind of dark, deep aura.

Like a cloud of smoke floating in the air, Patelocke watched Su Chen. “My young master, if you’re not doing your own experiments, what are you thinking about?”

Su Chen rubbed his chin. “I’m thinking about a problem. There are many directions a person can take to get stronger, but I don’t know which direction I should go in.”

“That depends on what you want to obtain, doesn’t it?”

“Strength. Enough strength to deal even with an extremely powerful opponent,” Su Chen replied.

“How powerful?”

“What do you think about the Light Shaking Realm?”

Patelocke’s figure jolted. “Are you kidding? With your current strength, you aren’t even invincible in the Blood Boiling Realm, but you’re already fantasizing about dealing with a Light Shaking Realm cultivator?”

“I know, I know. With my current strength, I can probably fight an opponent with a Demonic Emperor Bloodline who is in the same tier as me and defeat anyone below that. But if I’m fighting a Yang Opening Realm cultivator, I can only fight against those of mixed bloodlines, and the weaker ones at that. Basically, I can only defeat weak Yang Opening Realm cultivators. If I ran into a Yang Opening Realm cultivator with a high-tier Demonic Beast bloodline or higher, I basically have no chance at winning. Of course, Fata Morgana can help me turn the tables, but it isn’t always successful. Its rate of success is determined by the opponent’s intelligence, not their strength, so it isn’t very stable. As for a Light Shaking Realm cultivator...... I have no hope. Even the trashiest Light Shaking Realm cultivator would be able to wipe me out with a single finger.”

“As long as you know that.”

“But I must prepare,” Su Chen said. “Xing Shabei and those seniors of mine from the Hidden Dragon Institute brought a large group of people to try and kill me, but they failed. Unless they’re as stupid as pigs, their next move will be many times that level of strength. I believe that, when comparing ten Yang Opening Realm cultivators or a Light Shaking Realm cultivator, the latter is much simpler and more convenient. Isn’t that so? Though, I would rather it be the former.”

Even if he couldn’t beat ten or so Yang Opening Realm cultivators, he might be able to at least escape.

A Light Shaking Realm cultivator, however, was two whole tiers higher than him. If that were to happen, he wouldn’t even have a chance of escaping.

“So that’s how it is.” Patelocke fell into deep thought. “I have a question for you. Since the ten Bloodline Nobility Clans have Light Shaking Realm experts amongst them, why have they not sent them out to deal with you yet?”

Su Chen replied immediately, “The ten Bloodline Nobility Clans do have Light Shaking Realm experts. However, they aren’t guests but the respective backbones of their clans. Every Light Shaking Realm expert is their own clan’s elder, patriarch, founder, etc. – old ancestors who have immense prestige. You could say that the whole clan is meant to serve this one person. To these important figures, all of the clan members, guests, house guards, and servants are all just underlings to be used. If a problem happened in the lower tiers but they asked the clan leaders to come out personally, what kind of situation would that be? The clan leaders serving the underlings? Wouldn’t this reverse their identities? So to those people, unless the clan was at a life-or-death moment, they won’t be easily convinced to personally make a move. On the other hand, if an underling ran into a problem that resulted in a decrease in the contributions they could make to the clan leaders, then they might as well just switch in another person. Doing this not only saves their own strength but also spurs and motivates the underlings to do well. Isn’t that perfect for them?”

“If that’s the case, why are you still worried that they’ll send a Light Shaking Realm cultivator after you?”

“Those who do not plan for the future will find trouble at their doorsteps. Even though in theory those old men won’t come out on their own, what if there is someone who they particularly love to spoil? If that person were to suffer losses at my hand and were willing to pay a price to throw a bit of a tantrum in front of the clan leaders, one of those old men might be willing to throw away their face to deal with me. I can’t say for sure that this will definitely happen, but there is always a possibility. In addition......”

Su Chen hesitated for a moment, then continued, “I took over the Happiness Residing Fort villagers for my own use, then cleaned up the waterways of pirates, affecting the foundation of these Bloodline Nobility Clans to a certain limited degree. Sooner or later, those old men won’t be able to sit still anymore.”

“If that’s the case, you’ll need to take it a bit easier in the future. How about you call your instructor over?”

“I could call him over, but the problem is that we don’t know when those old coots are going to make a move. People can take a long time to plan to be a thief, but you cannot be vigilant against a thief all the time. In addition, if I haven’t ever tried it, how can I know whether or not I’ll be able to handle the threat of a Light Shaking Realm cultivator?”