"Wang Yiwu has smart people on his side!" Chongxuan Sheng remarked with a sigh.
Jiang Wang said nothing. He silently split his focus and sank into the Illusory Void Realm, sending Chongxuan Sheng several consecutive Sword Discussion Arena challenges in a row.
Receiving this silent pressure, Chongxuan Sheng could no longer keep people in suspense.
He gave a light cough and said, "Wang Yiwu has been squeezing Bao Zhongqing's business. Think about it — what harm does that do?"
Jiang Wang refused to cooperate and humiliate his own intelligence, remaining silent.
The fat man showed not a shred of embarrassment and answered his own question, "None, right? He still got the benefits he wanted. As for making an enemy — the Chongxuan family and the Bao family have always been mortal foes, haven't they? He's acting on behalf of Chongxuan Zun, so this only brings him advantages with no downside. But his goal is far more than just this pittance of profit."
"So what is his goal?"
Chongxuan Sheng asked and answered himself, perfectly content on his own: "Let's look at it from a different angle. From Bao Zhongqing's perspective — if he wanted to strike back at Wang Yiwu, where would be the best starting point? And who is Wang Yiwu's main enemy right now?"
Jiang Wang suddenly realized: "You mean — Wang Yiwu is deliberately forcing Bao Zhongqing to become friendly with you? Forcing him to seek an alliance?"
Chongxuan Sheng let out a cold laugh: "There must also be a so-called 'smart person' by Bao Zhongqing's side, pointing him in this direction."
Jiang Wang had already figured it out.
But Shisi, who had been standing silently with his sword all this time, deliberately or not tapped the hilt of his heavy sword.
Having grown up together for so many years, how could Chongxuan Sheng not know what this guy was thinking?
Knowing that Shisi had probably already exhausted his brain trying to work it out, he explained aloud: "Set all these flashy tricks aside and look at the essence of things. Given the relationship between the Bao family and the Chongxuan family — absolutely fire and water — what kind of person do you think the Bao family would support as head of the Chongxuan family? A supremely brilliant man, or an incompetent fool?"
Shisi nodded, finally understanding as well — so that was it!
If Bao Zhongqing came knocking to make friends, and Chongxuan Sheng was unwilling to burn bridges or make an enemy, or was tempted by a powerful ally — then he would have fallen into the trap!
Being on good terms with the Bao family, in the contest for the position of Chongxuan family head, even if it was not the most damaging move, it was certainly one of the most damaging.
It wasn't that one had to stand on the Chongxuan family's side and fight the Bao family to the death. Rather, the Bao family's support itself showed that you were someone who posed no great threat to them!
That was why Chongxuan Sheng had immediately shut his door and refused visitors without a second word, showing Bao Zhongqing no courtesy whatsoever, simply telling him to get lost.
On the surface, this was declaring his stance as a member of the Chongxuan family. In reality, it was a reminder to those "smart people" who could see this layer — this was Wang Yiwu's scheme. Otherwise, why would I, Chongxuan Sheng, be so angry?
As for those who couldn't see this layer, they would probably just applaud Chongxuan Sheng's firm stance.
And just like that, he had deflected this round of Wang Yiwu's offensive with utter simplicity.
Being able to figure all this out was not the most frightening part. The truly frightening thing was that Bao Zhongqing had only just shown up at his door, and most people were still completely baffled — yet this fat man had immediately thought of all of this.
Jiang Wang asked himself that he was probably far from being able to outmaneuver this fat man. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but launch several more challenges in the Illusory Void Realm — there had to be some outlet for his frustration, after all.
It was just...
He thought of the way Bao Zhongqing had driven away at the end.
Jiang Wang murmured thoughtfully: "Is Bao Zhongqing really that simple?"
A man who, after losing all face and flying into a rage, was still willing to personally drive his carriage to take his subordinates back — was that rage truly genuine? Was he really that easy to provoke?
"Bao Pockface is just hiding his abilities. He's always liked playing this kind of game," Chongxuan Sheng said with a touch of contempt. His smug sense of superiority was hard to fathom, as if he had entirely forgotten that he himself had also spent years hiding his true capabilities.
The longer Jiang Wang spent with Chongxuan Sheng, the more he felt that Chongxuan Chuliang's judgment of him the first time they met had been perfectly accurate. Compared to Chongxuan Zun, this Marquis of Dingyuan's greatest advantage truly was the thickness of his skin.
"You know Bao Zhongqing very well?" Jiang Wang asked.
"Anyone with ambitions for the family would be impossible not to understand the Bao family. The same goes for Bao Zhongqing toward us," Chongxuan Sheng declared with sudden dominance in his voice. "If he aspires to lead the Bao family, then he cannot have failed to do his homework on me, Chongxuan Sheng!"
"But cleverness is something that's actually quite hard to hide." Chongxuan Sheng crooked a finger and tapped his own temple. "Especially for someone with a brain like mine."
Who was he being sarcastic toward?
Jiang Wang glanced casually toward Shisi, only to meet Shisi's gaze looking back at him.
Jiang Wang: ...
Shisi: ...
Chongxuan Sheng held back his laughter, but to avoid getting beaten up, he continued his explanation in a low-key manner: "Most of the time, don't look at appearances — how he lost face, how he suffered setbacks. Just look at whether each of his choices ultimately benefited him or harmed him, and you can tell whether the person is truly stupid or merely pretending."
"Speaking of which." Chongxuan Sheng looked at Jiang Wang. "You didn't kill Bao Zhongqing's men. I thought you had seen through it!"
Jiang Wang silently rolled his eyes.
This is Linzi! Could I really have no reservations? Going around killing this one and that — I'm not that reckless.
Chongxuan Sheng smiled: "So what did Bao Zhongqing actually lose by coming here to make friends?"
Jiang Wang ventured a guess: "Face? Resources?"
"Face is no loss at all!" Chongxuan Sheng scoffed with remarkable confidence.
He continued: "Was this batch of supplies really a loss? Left in my hands, it only increased my strength against Wang Yiwu. In fact, hasn't it accomplished his goal of striking back at Wang Yiwu?"
"Damaging his enemy without benefiting himself, and incidentally fattening you up?" Jiang Wang was beginning to think that Bao Zhongqing was quite ruthless after all.
"Do you know what this shows?"
Chongxuan Sheng answered himself with a face full of resentment: "It shows that in his heart, I still don't compare to Chongxuan Zun. In the contest for the Chongxuan family headship, he would genuinely rather have me win..."
Well then!
No wonder this fat man had acted so angry and so rude. It seemed that wasn't entirely an act!
...
"Are you saying that although I've made an enemy of Bao Zhongqing, I failed to scheme against Chongxuan Sheng?"
The voice was not particularly loud, but it carried an aura that could not be refused, compelling anyone who heard it to listen with full attention.
The owner of the voice had a long face and a high nose, sitting with a spine straight as iron — clearly a man of extreme self-discipline. Seated across from him was a man in casual attire with confident eyes — Wen Lianmu, the accompanying military scribe of the Heavenly Cover Army.
Wang Yiwu came from a poor family with humble origins. He had caught Jiang Mengxiong's attention through the military's grand martial competition.
Of course, once he was accepted as a direct disciple by Jiang Mengxiong, his background was no longer an issue.
Like the protagonist of a storyteller's tale, he had no one to rely on and carved out his own path with nothing but his fists. Starting from the most basic military cultivation method, he had risen step by step from the ordinary ranks to the elite forces, and ultimately into the Heavenly Cover Army — the first among the nine divisions of the Qi Kingdom's military. He had defeated countless scions of military families and prideful sons of the armed forces, becoming the most dazzling new star in the camp of Great Qi.
Many had thought that becoming the closed-door disciple of the God of War of Great Qi, Jiang Mengxiong, would be the pinnacle of his career.
But he had shattered historical limits while still at the Heaven-Reaching Realm, and could be said to have begun recording his own legend.
Such a figure — his brilliance was beyond question.
So when he spoke in that calm, measured tone, even Wen Lianmu, one of the rare talents the military had produced in recent years, could not help but feel somewhat uneasy.