"There should be an ambush in the palace at Ode Academy, right?"
Liang Yuzhi still did not answer directly: "As long as you can see clearly, I... I won't say anything more." She was not interested and wanted to leave. Sun Changming asked again, with great confusion:
"This world belongs to him, what on earth is he thinking?!"
Liang Yuzhi smiled bitterly and said: "Things in the court are not that simple." After thinking about it, Liang Yuzhi turned back, waved his hand, lowered the sealing formation, and told Sun Changming clearly.
"The current Queen Mother is my aunt."
"Your Majesty likes extravagance, and his internal funds have long been depleted. Among the internal officials in the inner court, whoever can earn spiritual jade will be promoted. Even internal officials at all levels have clearly marked prices."
"His Majesty is preparing to travel recently and wants to build a palace chariot, which will cost tens of thousands. Everyone in the inner court is trying to find ways to help His Majesty raise funds."
Sun Changming couldn't help but be stunned: "Palace chariot? Are you going to build a palace on the chariot?"
"Exactly."
“Really extravagant!”
"And it's not just one car. Each of the accompanying concubines has one car. It's just that the regulations are slightly smaller. If the Queen Mother is willing to go, naturally there will be an additional larger one. However, the Queen Mother sternly refused. Unfortunately, the Queen Mother can no longer control Your Majesty.
, and you can't take too much care, otherwise the descendants will control the government."
Liang Yuzhi believed that Sun Changming had understood: "Don't make it difficult for me."
Liang Yuzhi is a member of the royal family, and all her power comes from the support of the Queen Mother.
Sun Changming robbed Jisu, in fact, he robbed the emperor. Liang Yuzhi had already pretended to be invisible the first time. If Sun Changming did it again, she would be really in trouble.
Sun Changming nodded: "Don't worry, Mr. Liang, I won't be reckless anymore."
…
Now that the second level of the assessment has to screen out a thousand people at a time, and one of almost thirty people will be selected, the sense of crisis among all cultivators has greatly increased, which directly caused the business of Oude Academy to be extremely booming.
Zhao Xiaoyao spent the whole day studying the different versions of the word "虺", and was eagerly looking forward to the end of the dragon and snake rankings. It didn't matter what Mr. Sun's ranking was, he had to rush back to Wangyun Cliff to take charge of the breeding work of the insect master.
The Insect Lord also seemed impatient.
Wu Yuanji has been accompanying Sun Changming these days. He could see what was on your mind and asked, "Do you want to buy some questions?"
Sun Changming shook his head decisively: "I won't buy it."
"It really depends on Mr. Liang's face. If you don't ruin Jisu's good deeds, can you bear this anger?"
Sun Changming was indeed very angry. Even though he knew very well that the Wu Dynasty was rotten to the core from top to bottom, he still let him know that the emperor was manipulating such things behind his back for personal enjoyment.
Being liberated from anger. What is the difference between this and selling one's official position?
But can you bear this anger?
Sun Changming struggled for a long time and then said: "Don't make it difficult for Mr. Liang."
Wu Yuanji secretly nodded. Your Excellency is a man of affection, and this is good news for his subordinates. What Wu Yuanji didn't know was that in fact, when Sun Changming guessed that the real profit grabber behind this incident was the emperor,
His interest has waned and he no longer wants to continue.
Liang Yuzhi is only part of the reason.
Sun Changming knew very well that even if he acted willfully, he was actually "saving" the Wu Dynasty to a certain extent - and his original intention was not to do anything more for this. After thoroughly seeing the emperor's ridiculous face, he became even more determined
Got this idea.
If Liu Zhi and Lu Guangxiao want to save the Wu Dynasty, at least they need an extremely drastic top-down change. Without changing the emperor, there is no chance.
And whether the current external environment of the Wu Dynasty can withstand such a drastic change...
In fact, there is another way, Master Liu Zhi is promoted to the ninth realm.
This seems more difficult to achieve, so cross it out.
In short, Sun Changming was too lazy to pay attention to the messy affairs of Ode Academy, and did not ask about the matters related to the second level. He concentrated on practicing at his residence and secretly discussed with his second brother: a sixth-level magic weapon, a sixth-level demon
Dan, I want a new version of the flying sword!
It's not that Sun Changming is playing tricks on his second brother, it's entirely due to Master Sun's greed and dissatisfaction: the Five-Tooth Ship is also lagging behind a bit, so it's best to upgrade it together with Feijian.
But the second child was reluctant.
This sixth-level magical weapon was sent by Song Gongquan, and it is called the "Sky-Breaking Hook". It has a great origin. Hundreds of years ago, there was a sixth-level weapon master who diligently studied the art of making weapons. Unfortunately, it was so far away.
The seventh-level weapon master was always one step behind. He felt that when his life span was about to end, he spent all his life's accumulation and obtained a large number of high-level treasure materials. He wanted to make the last weapon in his life, and he hoped to refine it before he died.
A seventh-level magic weapon.
Unfortunately, God failed to fulfill his wish, and he fell short at the last moment. He originally wanted to refine a seventh-level flying sword, but in the end he fell short and fell to the sixth level. The weapon master was severely hit and vomited blood and died, and the flying sword failed to take shape.
When it came out of the oven, it was twisted and deformed into a long hook.
This sixth-level magic weapon, which consumed a lot of high-level treasures and was supposed to be a seventh-level artifact, was ultimately a failure, so it is not considered outstanding among sixth-level artifacts.
With such a sixth-level magic weapon and a sixth-level demon elixir, Sun Changming felt that he was sincere. However, the second brother used the excuse that he did not have other parts of the five-toothed ship, so at most he could only upgrade the flying sword and related five-toothed ship.
Absolutely impossible.
Sun Changming bargained with his second brother. Anyway, I'm not in a hurry. There are still a few days left for the second test, but my second brother is already salivating.
Another sixth-level magic weapon given by Song Gongquan was an ancient bronze dish named "Chengtian Dew". With the cooperation of a special grand formation, the grand formation was arranged, and this magical treasure was placed in the grand formation.
In the eyes, one drop of "sky dew" can be condensed every three days, which can be used to irrigate elixirs and spiritual plants. Each drop is equivalent to ten years of effectiveness!
That is to say, if everything goes well, a hundred-year-old elixir can be cultivated in one month. Moreover, this "natural dew" can also be taken directly as an elixir, which can replenish qi and blood, improve cultivation, repair damage, etc.
wait.
The only problem is that the materials consumed by the formation are too expensive...
Sun Changming will use this thing, and he doesn't plan to feed it to his second child for the time being.
The eldest brother and the second brother are still "gaming", but the third sister can't stand it anymore. She pesters her eldest brother to take her out to play every day. Then she goes out to eat in the name of going out to play.
Along the way, we had street snacks and restaurant banquets. If we saw them, we wouldn’t let them go.
After feeding Hanmei that day, Sun Changming remembered that his family had another job in the capital, so he took Hanmei to check it out. When he came back, he happened to pass by Xuechangyuan. The road ahead was somewhat congested and the car was moving slowly.
Moving past, Sun Changming opened the car window and saw a long line of people on the street, waiting outside an academy.
A flag hangs in front of the academy door, with four characters floating in the wind: Occasionally get the academy.
"The cultivators who buy questions."
However, the team did not move for a long time. Sun Changming's carriage had already passed by, and a group of people came out of the academy. The middle-aged man at the head was dressed in silk and satin. He was not elegant at all, but he was full of copper odor and arrogance. The guys behind him carried a
big box.
The middle-aged man put his hands on his hips and shouted to the cultivators who were queuing up: "Don't crowd, come one by one, each with 50,000 spiritual jade, and throw the spiritual jade into the box yourself."
This box should be a treasure similar to a storage bag. It is very huge inside. He stood next to the box and shouted at the top of his voice: "You little thief! If you have the ability to go to my brother-in-law's house to steal chickens and dogs, why don't you dare to come to my house?"
Get an academy?"
"I've seen it all clearly. Your grandfather and I put the income from selling the questions in this box and stored it in my academy. Come and steal it. If you don't come, I will look down on you, you rat!"
"Your grandfather, I am so arrogant, what can you do to me? I know you can't stand me, and you can't stand my brother-in-law, bah! What's the use? Do you have such great ability? My brother-in-law, Shengjuan Zhenglong, you
You can't harm my brother-in-law in the slightest with such dirty and shameful means!"
"Who do you think you are? My brother-in-law is the real big shot. Don't let us catch you. We will crush you to death like a bed bug!"
Sun Changming heard this and looked through the car window again, his eyes a little cold. He stopped a waiter from the store next to him who was watching the fun: "Does this gentleman scold you like this every day?"
The waiter replied with a smile: "Yes, I have been swearing like this every day for several days, and it has become a scene in our academy."
Sun Changming closed the car window silently, and Wu Yuanji advised him: "Sir, don't be impulsive. This person just wants to use words to anger you. There must be an ambush in the academy..."
Sun Changming smiled lightly: "Don't worry, don't make it difficult for Mr. Liang."
Wu Yuanji just breathed a sigh of relief when he heard an adult say: "Let's deal with them in another way."
…
That night, Sun Changming invited Ruan Sansheng over: "I have two things to ask Brother Ruan for help." Ruan Sansheng glared: "Your Majesty, you are so polite!"
Sun Changming smiled and apologized, and said directly: "The first thing, please ask Brother Ruan to investigate what the second test question of the Dragon and Snake Ranking might be - this is considered a public weapon for private use, so I was just being polite, if Brother Ruan is
If you feel it’s inappropriate, you can refuse.”
Sun Changming could just spend money to buy it, but he didn't want to! As for how to investigate... secretly collect clues, such as the recent overall price increase of the cultivation resources in the capital, which types of magical weapons are in short supply, etc., summary analysis, it must be
This can be used to narrow down the second level test questions to a very narrow range.
In fact, in the first level, even if you don't buy the questions, you can still know what to take the test by following this method and finding out that a large number of cultivators are secretly asking for the Beijing Camp Safety Route Map.
It's just that if you want to do this, you need to have a huge intelligence network in your hands. And the people who have this network... are not short of money, so why not just buy it?
Only Mr. Sun is unhappy and unwilling to spend this money!
Ruan Sansheng nodded: "This is easy to handle." He didn't care about the "public tools for private use" concerns at all.
"The second thing is to help me find someone. This is also a Xiuzi who participated in the Dragon and Snake Ranking. His name is Zhang Chunfa."
Ruan Sansheng was very efficient in his work. He brought a person to see Sun Changming the next morning. He first asked the person to wait outside the yard and then went in to talk to Sun Changming.
"You must have never imagined what we found this time!" Ruan Sansheng rarely showed off his words, and his expression showed that "what I am going to say next is particularly exciting."
Sun Changming poured tea for him: "Brother Ruan, please tell me."
"Based on the trends in the city in the past two days, we found out that the questions in the second level of the assessment may be related to spiritual insects." Ruan Sanshengniu drank the tea, wiped his mouth and continued: "This is not the key, the key is that these days the five princes' subordinates
Qingke’s and Jisu’s families have frequent exchanges! Do you know what this means, sir?”
Before Sun Changming could answer, Ruan Sansheng waved his hand: "You are not from the capital, so I'm afraid you don't understand the details. The fifth prince is the biggest insect dealer in the entire capital!"
"Fighting bugs?"
After Ruan Sansheng explained briefly, Sun Changming quickly understood that it was similar to fighting crickets in his previous life, except that all spirit insects were used here, and the fighting was divided into levels, which was similar to the fighting weight rules of the previous life.
But at the end of every year, there will be the "Ultimate Insect Fighting War", which is a carnival feast. At this time, all levels are abandoned, and spiritual insects fight without distinction!
"Don't underestimate the benefits of this insect fighting competition. The fifth prince is not favored among the six princes and eleven princesses. He has no royal estate to his name, but with this insect fighting competition, he is the most favored among the princes and princesses.
The top three in wealth!"
After Ruan Sansheng said this, he looked at Sun Changming. Mr. Sun also found it incredible: "Jisu not only sells test questions, but also plans to let 30,000 cultivators go to help the fifth prince catch spiritual insects!"
"Cut a radish at both ends, it's a good deal!"
"I estimate that what the Fifth Prince's retainers are negotiating with Jisu's family these days is the price at which these spiritual insects will be packaged and sold to the Fifth Prince!"
"What a genius!" Sun Changming almost let it slip. He sold test questions to honor me, caught spiritual insects and sold his son. Mr. Jisu really seized the opportunity and his career was bright!
Will the dragon's rhythm change when the storm strikes?
I always feel that in the past few years, you were relegated to the cold bench of the Imperial College.
Ruan Sansheng finally said: "In short, the second level of the assessment is mostly about spiritual insects. Thirty miles southeast of the capital city, there is a 'Xuanyou Cave', which produces various spiritual insects and demonic insects. Most of the examination rooms are in
Where is it?
Sir, make preparations in advance."
He called someone outside again: "I brought Zhang Chunfa to you. I have official business and I have to take my leave first. If you have anything to do, please let me know at any time."
Sun Changming thanked him and sent him out in person. He happened to meet Zhang Chunfa coming in.
Zhang Chunfa, who has short eyebrows, small eyes and a round face, was originally uneasy, but when he saw Sun Changming, he immediately slapped his thigh: "Oh, it turns out it's my brother who is looking for me."
He rushed up and was about to hold Sun Changming's hand enthusiastically, but was stopped by the captain of Chaotian Si next to him with his sword scabbard: "This is my commander, Chaotian Simengjiang, salute you!"
Zhang Chunfa seemed to have no bones. He curled up and was about to kneel down. Sun Changming supported him and said, "No need to be polite." Zhang Chunfa smiled and greeted him with clasped fists: "I really regret it. I should have followed you in the first level.
As a result, I was not determined enough and ran away halfway, but in the end, an adult rescued me.
Sir, you didn't notice me at that time. After all, there were so many people together, and you dragged me out with vines."
He regretted repeatedly: "I clearly saw that you are extraordinary, but it's a pity that I couldn't stick to my own judgment. It's a pity, it's a pity."
Sun Changming first thanked Ruan Sansheng for helping to find someone, and then said to Zhang Chunfa: "I have something I want to ask you for help with."
"Sir, please don't be so polite. If you have any errands, just give me your orders." He patted his chest and seemed to be righteous, but then he suddenly smiled and said, "Sir, with my status, I will never let my work go in vain."
Sun Changming laughed dumbly and said: "I did not misjudge you. Don't worry, I won't treat you badly."
"Hey, your words are enough. What do you want me to do?"
"Go and contact Xiuzi from a humble family. I want those with real talents and practical knowledge."
…
The emperor temporarily designated a courtyard in the Jingying barracks, surrounded by heavy troops, provided food and drinks every day, and sealed off Ji Su, the chief examiner of the Dragon and Snake List.
However, after the first level of assessment, these blockades were in vain.
Before the first test, because the Imperial College and the Beijing camp were isolated from each other, Ji Su was so anxious that he could not open up the joints, so the internal and external information was not transmitted smoothly. As a result, there was a problem in the first test, which led to Mr. Lin from the Ministry of War. You see
This was a blessing in disguise. With the help of a middleman, the supervision of the Beijing camp was greatly relaxed. Not only did the second level test questions pass smoothly, but they could also keep in touch at all times and remotely control family members to negotiate with the fifth prince!
Even tonight, my brother-in-law spent money to bring Mei Ji fine wine and food, adding a happy color to Ji Su's boring life, and also injecting life into the withered yellow hair of his good sister who is out of shape.
of bright colors.
Generally speaking, even if there are three levels of assessment, the entire time span of the Dragon and Snake Ranking should not exceed one month. However, there was an accident in the first level, and the cultivators' vitality was almost exhausted, so Ji Su graciously allowed everyone to rest.
Twenty whole days!
The main reason is that we are worried that everyone's strength has not recovered, they will not be able to perform well in the second level assessment, and the spiritual insects captured for the fifth prince are not enough and not strong enough.
Ji Su was drunk and dreaming in the capital camp for more than ten days. Good news came from his brother-in-law. All the thousand exam questions he prepared were sold!
"Hahaha, it turns out that they are poor in literature and rich in martial arts. These cultivators who have come from afar are indeed from well-off families! Tomorrow we will go to Xuanyou Cave to start the second level of the Dragon and Snake Ranking Examination!"
"Come on, my beauty, let's have a drink together and wish the cultivators who have donated so generously a successful start and a fruitful return!"
…
Ma Qizhi spent the past twenty days sharpening his guns in battle, thoroughly refining the various treasures his father had prepared for him.
Tomorrow is the day for the second level of assessment. The family of three ate dinner together. The mother felt very warm. The son finally became sensible and no longer embarrassed her.
After the meal, Song Gongquan put down his bowls and chopsticks and said to Ma Qizhi: "Come to the study with me." Ma Qizhi knew that his father had something to explain, so he quickly followed him.
"Don't overdo it tomorrow, just squeeze into the quota for the third level. Don't worry, even if the spirit insects you bring out are of a slightly lower grade, Ji Su will not dare to depose you."
Ma Qizhi was a little curious: "Father, is there any inside story?"
Of course Song Gongquan also knew what Ruan Sansheng had found out. He briefly told his son, and then said: "Old Ji Su is confused and wants money rather than his life. The fifth prince is not favored by His Majesty and is destined to miss the throne. He fawns over the fifth prince.
When the new emperor ascends the throne, it will be hard to protect the entire Ji family!"
Ma Qizhi was horrified: "My child understands."
After coming out of his father's study, Ma Qizhi thought of Sun Changming again. He still felt very conflicted in his heart. Although he understood that Sun Changming saved him for the benefit of his father, and everyone was clear about it, he still felt that... the young master's life was more serious.
It's important!
"No, this time when I go to Xuanyou Cave, I must find a chance to save him!"
"Get those treasures back from him, especially the rhino horn, which is very important for my father to advance to the seventh realm."
"I still don't believe it. My realm is higher than his, my family background is stronger, my ability is better than his, and my appearance is better than his. Why should he save me? I will definitely have a chance to save him once!"
"snort!"
The second-generation ancestor did not know that at this moment, his group of friends and friends had taken advantage of Chaotiansi's authority to seize the handle of a senior "insect hunter". After a brutal torture and interrogation, the insect hunter
The man told all the secrets about Xuanyou Cave and helped design an insidious trap.
"Everyone can see it: Mr. Ma has a heart problem because of what happened last time. Then let's help him get rid of this heart problem, give him a chance, and let him save Sun Changming once, and the disease will be cured.
Already."
"I also want Sun Changming to be grateful to Master Ma, hahaha!"
…
Just like the first level assessment, there were many cultivators waiting behind the city gate before dawn. As soon as the city gate opened, they immediately rushed towards Xuanyou Cave.
Xuanyou Cave is also a domain of destruction, but it is special because it is located underground. The cave has three large openings on the ground, like sinkholes, and there are about thirty more small openings. It even rains continuously sometimes.
, the original small hole collapsed and was covered up, but new small holes were exposed elsewhere.
There are connected holes below, some large and some small, and I don’t know how vast it is. And how this strange realm of destruction was formed is still controversial to this day.
Historically, many major cultivators in the capital have penetrated deep into it, but they have never been able to find out how deep the Xuanyou Cave really is.
The aliens here are mainly spiritual insects and spiritual plants, with fewer beasts and not many other monsters. The deeper you go, the higher the level of monsters, but they are restricted by the Domain of Destruction and are reluctant to come out.
In order to ensure the absolute safety of the capital, the Wu Dynasty sent out major repairmen many times in history to try to completely annihilate this area of ​​​​annihilation. However, every time they advanced to the depths, they suffered heavy losses and failed. Over time, the court also changed its strategy.
From complete annihilation to regular eradication.
In recent years, this kind of "regular clean-up" has continued, but only God knows whether anyone has done the clean-up.
Chapter completed!