348 Ambition (1/2)

Chapter 348: Ambition

Translator: TransnEditor: Transn

Zhang Ji held an exquisite wine cup in his right hand and gently twirled it around. The thick liquid in it sloshed around with his movements but never spilled out; it always stopped when it had reached the edges, then returned to the center of the cup.

To him, wine was the best thing in the world. When he was down, it would give him comfort.

And yet, it was also the worst thing in the world; after a hangover, his depression would only intensify.

He placed the wine cup on the table and stared at it as if facing off with an enemy. Suddenly, he chuckled softly and shook his head. ”I've really got nothing better to do, to be competing with a cup of wine,” he thought.

Even if his opponent was a cup of wine, he still emerged the victor. He made up his mind to become teetotal from now on.

The time for boredom was over. To counselors like himself, real battles were not fought in taverns or classrooms; they viewed the entire world as a chess game and nations as chess pieces. As for individuals, well, they were but specks of dust on the chess pieces.

”Slave Huan must already have won the title of prince consort by now,” Zhang Ji thought. ”This person is not a speck of dust, nor is he a pawn. He's a disruptor, but he doesn't know what his objectives are, he's unaware even when being made use of.”

”He claimed that he wanted revenge, but revenge? ” Zhang Ji could not control himself and laughed coldly as he thought about it. ”What a laughable excuse. Revenge is just like concepts such as love, familial bonds and wealth—they are just but checkpoints in a man's life journey. It would be too foolish to be too caught up in them.”

”The final destination of that journey would be power. Everything was because of power, for without power, what difference would there be between a man and a walking husk?”Zhang Ji thought, as the ambition of his days as a youth welled up in him again.

After he finished thinking about Slave Huan, the image of another youth crept into Zhang Ji's mind.

This youth was different from the others around him right at a young age. Only he had dared to challenge the Supreme King and question every rule of the Stone Castle. He would seek clear explanations for everything he had to do, and even when the Supreme King flew into a huge rage, he would be unafraid. Instead, he would explain his actions eloquently.

He was a person with his own way of thinking, and such a person would never walk the path paved by others for him; he would rather take a long way round and forge his own path.

As such, he wandered into the jiang hu, made friends, fell in love and even mastered difficult kung fu techniques. The only thing he did not like was killing.

Zhang Ji was biding his time as the youth was treading his own path in life. He knew that the day would come when the youth would mature and see the light. Then, he would join forces with the teacher to continue on with their life journeys together.

The youth was the Third Young Master, Shangguan Yun. In Zhang Ji's eyes, he was the only one eligible to succeed the mantle of the Supreme King. His other brothers were harmful to the future of the Stone Castle and should have been gotten rid of earlier; especially that good-for-nothing, Shangguan Hong. Zhang Ji was satisfied with the cold manner in which he treated Shangguan Hong. If it were not for the fact that he had sprung the Third Young Master out of prison, Zhang Ji would never have so much as cast an eye on him.

It was an extremely long wait and during which he had slowly trained the useless Master Hong into a person of some capability. He made use of Shangguan Hong to plead for the Third Young Master's case to Lady Meng and slowly change her image of Shangguan Yun, thereby planting the seed for her to convince the Supreme King as well.

However, the Supreme King, being the Supreme King, saw through the entire plot. Nevertheless, he was not angry and instead, on an afternoon, decided to pay a personal visit to the teacher; he wanted to work together to fulfill both their ambitions.

Zhang Ji's thoughts were disrupted as a supervisor wearing a yellow-belt came into his room. The supervisor bowed respectfully to the teacher and passed him a letter with both hands.

Zhang Ji opened the letter and glanced through it once. ”Invite the lord for a visit,” he said.

The yellow-belt retreated with an expression almost bearing on worship. In the entire Golden Roc Fort, and very possibly the entire Western Region, no one could possibly make the Supreme King move a single step. However, this tall, old man, who was still a stern looking teacher with a ruler in hand yesterday, had suddenly become the most trusted advisor of the Supreme King overnight. Even those who were most familiar with the internal matters of the fort were left dumbfounded.

The Supreme King arrived very quickly.

Seeing the still untouched cup of wine on the table, Shangguan Fa broke into a knowing grin as he said, ”No volume of good wine can fulfill a man's true ambitions.”

”The same goes for women,” replied Zhang Ji indifferently, as he bowed slightly.

The Supreme King had started preparations to realize his ambition much earlier than the teacher. A few years ago, he began getting intimate with women on only a few rare occasions; after 'conquering' countless women during his lifetime, he had finally made up his mind that he would do the job of a true king: conquer the lands and people around him.

”Is there news already?”

Zhang Ji nodded and passed the letter to the Supreme King.

It was a short letter, and Shangguan Fa glanced through it once. ”Everything's settled to the north, how about the south?”, he asked, his face expressionless.