Chapter 305: Striking out and Stirring up Trouble (1/2)
Chapter 305: Striking out and Stirring up Trouble
Translator: TransnEditor: Transn
As the saying goes, if you want to be rich, build the route first.
The reason why those lords who had been awarded territories were unwilling to come here could only be due to the harsh living conditions here—the northwest was very cold and remote, and the route leading to this place was a long and tough trail. These difficulties were subjective and could be overcome. After all, who didn't want to have his own kingdom and claim dominance across his land, and who didn't want to keep a route of retreat for himself?
The real barricade for the development of the northwest did not lie in its hard living conditions or its long distance from the Central Plains, but in the Blacktail Plain. As long as the Blacktail Plain was spanning across the northern Dragon-pressing River, existing on the front side of the northwest, the development of the northwest would remain a joke. Hence, no one wanted to come here, for not everyone could be ready to completely give up the colorful world in the Central Plains and come here to run the northwest, just like what Prince Ning did.
But Zhou Bao could sort this out. He was able to set up an absolutely safe route on the Blacktail Plain, or even more than one route, which would be intriguing enough for all the lords to cast their eyes in the northwest. Once those various lords in the northwest all came up, the water of the northwest would be stirred up to become thoroughly muddy.
However, in this way, Zhou Bao would downright offend Prince Ning till the end. But again, at the moment, Zhou Bao didn't think there was any leeway to turn things around with Prince Ning.
He didn't know Prince Ning at all, but Prince Ning initiated attacks one after another upon him, which was enough for him to loathe Prince Ning. Zhou Bao was never a yes-man, but he had always abided by the principle of never attacking unless being attacked. Once someone attacked him, there was no way that he would he stifle his explosive temper.
These days, it was all about Prince Ning making moves upon him, while he just passively made responses according to the situation. But now, he was going to change his strategy. He intended to take the initiative to do something and let Prince Ning learn a lesson. Opening up the passageway to the Blacktail Plain was one of these things, also the most fatal and the most effective one.
”I wonder what the expression on Prince Ning's face will be after I accomplish this thing?” Zhou Bao gave a cold laugh in his mind.
”Prince Ning, now I'm making a move, let's see how you take it!”
...
…
”What? Kunlun Mountain lost?”
In the barrack of Prince Ning beside the Dragon-pressing River, Prince Ning was staring at Yan Yunyan with an incredulous look and a numb face. At all events, never did he expect that Kunlun Mountain would lose the battle. Plus, they failed so suddenly, completely and glumly that even their Pure Yang Celestial Device Invisible Dragon Rod was lost to the other side.
”What the hell is this?”
”Yes, Kunlun Mountain lost. That Ning Bo walked right into Zhou Bao's trap, who used the Invisible Dragon Rod to constrain a puppet, and then fell to Zhou Bao's assassination effort and was subdued by him, causing their Pure Yang Celestial Device Invisible Dragon Rod to be snatched up by Wang She!” Standing next to Yan Yunyan, Shui Hongyan recounted the facts in an unperturbed tone. ”Both of us were subdued by Wang She. When we came to our senses, Zhou Bao and Wang She were long gone, and the three men from Kunlun Mountain had also disappeared.”
”Are you really sure that Wang She snatched up the Pure Yang Celestial Device of Kunlun Mountain?” Prince Ning was still a little unconvinced.
”Of course we're sure! We witnessed it with our own eyes!” Seeing that Prince Ning took a pinch of salt in her words, Yan Yunyan started feeling a bit upset. ”Prince Ning, my brother, we risked a lot to see the whole thing. If Zhou Bao ever wanted to silence us using murder, we would have never made it back. You should suspect our words! Honestly!”
”Haha, haha, Sister Yan'er did go through lots of trouble this time. Your words are not suspicious to me, but unbelievable!” Prince Ning hastened to give an apologetic smile, though this smile was evidently forced.
”Please rest assured, Prince Ning. The failure of Kunlun Mountain is not necessarily a bad thing!” A man beside them suddenly opened his mouth and said.
”What do you mean?” asked Prince Ning, whose eyes flashed for a second.
”If the Kunlun Mountain merely lost this battle, it's nothing. Moreover, maybe they will not make new moves on account of Zhou Bao's strength. But this time, since Zhou Bao and Wang She even robbed their Pure Yang Celestial Device, Kunlun Mountain will never let it go. Although this time, their First Elder lost. The next time, it will be Kunlun's Master, the Leader of Kunlun Mountain and one of the Three Grandmasters in the Northern Yuan that come out and strike. Regardless of how powerful Zhou Bao is, how can he ever take any advantage of the Kunlun Master?”
…
…
So long as Zhou Bao was there, the world would never be short of sensational news!
Merely within 10 days, the entire martial arts world registered the truth of this saying once again.
Now, Zhou Bao, who had been out of the spotlight of the Central Plains for a while, suddenly created a huge buzz in the northwest.
He collided with Tian Long Taoism's Wang She and nicked a Pure Yang Celestial Device of Kunlun Mountain!
A Pure Yang Celestial Device. A thing that was legendary and incomparably precious in the eye of numerous prestigious sects and schools, as well as well-known families, was now connected with Zhou Bao for the second time. The first time, Zhou Bao robbed Xining King's Eldest Son Yan Fei of the Octupole Exquisite Pagoda he had obtained from the World Hero Competition. The second time, it was the treasure of Kunlun Mountain, the Invisible Dragon Rod that was snatched away by the joint hands of Zhou Bao and Wang She.
If we counted it up, so far, a total of three Pure Yang Celestial Devices had passed through Zhou Bao's hands, one of which was owned by him.
This was truly unbelievable.
But the channel from which this news spread out was even more unbelievable—this was disclosed by the Tian Long Taoism in the first place.
This time, the Tian Long Taoism made a rare announcement to the world, warning Kunlun Mountain that they had unduly assaulted an outer core disciple of the Tian Long Taoism and attempted to murder a key official, the lord of the Great Jin, as well as to loot a Pure Yang Celestial Device of the Great Jin. This was something that the Tian Long Taoism and even the whole martial arts world of the Great Jin could not tolerate.
Zhou Bao was an outer core disciple of the Tian Long Taoism, which meant he was under the protection of the Tian Long Taoism. Kunlun Mountain should dare send a First Elder with the cultivation at Level Nine to attack Zhou Bao using a Pure Yang Celestial Device, but was beaten up by him in the end! How could they have the dignity to claim justice from Zhou Bao and strive to retrieve that Pure Yang Celestial Device? How silly was this, wasn't it?
For this purpose, the Leader of the Tian Long Taoism Yu Baimei even came forward to warn Kunlun Mountain in person, informing them that if they ever dispatched anyone to harass Zhou Bao, the Tian Long Taoism would have no problem to put up a fight with them. As to Wang She, one of the Chiefs of the Tian Long Taoism, he even went so far to declare that he would pull all the strength subordinate to him to the northwest and start a fierce battle against Kunlun Mountain.
Although this threat was not realized due to the persuasion of several significants from the Tian Long Mystic Mountain, it was a sufficient manifestation of Tian Long Taoism's care for Zhou Bao. Indeed, he was titled as an outer core disciple. But as a matter of fact, even if this had happened to Wu Yansheng, the Family Head of the Wu Family where Zhou Bao came from, he would have no way to make the Leader of the Tian Long Taoism Yu Baimei seek justice for him in person, would he?
Moreover, even though he didn't manage to redeploy all the strength in his hand, Wang She refused to stay on the spot after he returned to the Tian Long Mystic Mountain. Instead, he went straightforward to the northwest with a dozen of his subordinates. Every one of them was his trusted buddy, all of whom had a cultivation at the peak of Level Six, except for one that was about to break through Level Seven.
For Zhou Bao, who was temporarily short of helpful subordinates, these men were strong reinforcements. With the dozens of men, he would have adequate force to dominate his own territory. Zhu Ba would also have no need to lead those subordinate urban managers to patrol all over the place for day and night.
Not to mention that there was another Level Nine expert there to help him—Wang She!
Having a Level Nine expert at the place who also owned a Pure Yang Celestial Device, meant that nobody would be stupid enough to cause trouble for them. Even with the current strength of Prince Ning, provoking Zhou Bao was still something too dangerous to perform, because two Pure Yang Celestial Devices coupled with two experts, would be more than enough to completely wipe out the strongest force of Prince Ning.
As might have been expected, owing to the pressure imposed by the Tian Long Taoism, no force of Kunlun Mountain ever dared to show up within Zhou Bao's territory, as if they had acquiesced that this was the ending of the issue.
Among all schools in the world, Kunlun Mountain was known for its endurance and cowardice. Last time when the Northern Yuan fell down, didn't the Kunlun Master run back to Kunlun Mountain on his own? That was why he was the only Grandmaster out of the Three who had managed to escape unscathed. Though he had to put up with some mockery and derision for this, he did keep the foundation of the Kunlun Mountain intact. Those guys who laughed at him or scolded him in the dark would never dare to provoke Kunlun Mountain. Yet, after the Northern Yuan was destroyed, Kunlun Mountain was still enjoying the same treatment as the Palace of Destruction Demon, and didn't differ much from the Three Great Sects of the Great Jin. How could they achieve this?
This was simply attributed to the Kunlun Master and their Pure Yang Celestial Device!