161: So who is the Dragon King?

"So, Senior Brother, are you saying that Duke Zhenguo couldn't possibly be holding the Dragon Transformation Ritual, and Qiao Wenbin is lying to me?"

Zhou Yan felt increasingly confused.

He had originally come to the Capital to stop the Dragon Transformation Ritual, but Li Wenbo claimed that Duke Zhenguo might be innocent.

However, his quest log clearly stated that the plan had already begun, meaning Duke Zhenguo was definitely involved in something suspicious.

"It's hard to say, but in my opinion, this kind of thing is highly unlikely to happen."

"Others might not understand Duke Zhenguo, but I know him very well."

"His talent is exceptional; he could absolutely achieve Soul Transformation relying solely on his own abilities."

"Yet, he chose to rely on the Imperial Dynasty for his Breakthrough."

"You must understand that the essence of Soul Transformation is comprehending the Power of Law, transforming the Nascent Soul into the Primordial Spirit, and then using the Primordial Spirit to connect with and practice the Dao of that Law."

"But if one relies on the Imperial Dynasty for a Breakthrough, their Primordial Spirit becomes highly bound to the Imperial Dynasty, and their primary cultivation can only be the Human Dao Law, preventing them from switching to other Laws."

"Therefore, most of us who decide to join the Imperial Dynasty, provided we have the ability to achieve Soul Transformation ourselves, will temporarily resign from office and return to Officialdom only after the Breakthrough."

"I did this, and virtually everyone capable of achieving Soul Transformation does the same."

"Only those who cannot achieve a Breakthrough on their own choose to rely on the Imperial Dynasty to complete their Soul Transformation."

"But Duke Zhenguo is someone who clearly could have achieved Soul Transformation on his own, yet still chose to rely on the Imperial Dynasty."

"This act transcends mere words and actions; it is the ultimate expression of loyalty."

"If he were to do something that shakes the foundation of the state or harms the national destiny, the backlash would be immense."

"Would such a man now take such a massive risk to perform a ritual with an extremely low success rate? Even if he were senile, he wouldn't do this."

"As for your claim that he wants to ascend the throne before completing the Dragon Transformation, I think Prince Kang is much more likely to do that."

"While both cultivate the Human Dao, the Imperial Family holds greater authority within the Imperial Dynasty."

"Therefore, The Emperor can actually cultivate other Laws concurrently, not being limited to the Human Dao Law and its branches."

"If Duke Zhenguo had served as Emperor or Regent, and relied on the Imperial Dynasty for his Soul Transformation at that time, then it might be possible for him to attempt such a thing."

"But he is already a Soul Transformation Cultivator. Even if he ascended the throne now, he couldn't condense an Emperor's Destiny to allow him to switch or simultaneously cultivate other Laws."

"A ritual of the Rank you mentioned involves too many Laws; he simply cannot accomplish it."

"If he wants to condense an Emperor's Destiny to cultivate other Laws concurrently, he would have to establish a New Dynasty and Reconsolidate Destiny."

"But he is constrained by Great Yu and cannot break free. If Great Yu falls, his cultivation will also greatly regress."

"Even if he were to collapse Great Yu and establish a New Dynasty, he would no longer have the conditions necessary to complete the ritual you described."

"Prince Kang, on the other hand, achieved Soul Transformation while serving as Regent. If he were to perform the ritual you mentioned, the success rate would be much higher."

After Li Wenbo finished speaking, he himself felt confused.

The information Zhou Yan provided was too genuine and extremely plausible.

Only the part concerning Duke Zhenguo seemed slightly inaccurate, but only a handful of people could know this much inside information.

Furthermore, the informant was within Duke Zhenguo's sphere of influence and was indeed one of his subordinates.

With so many personnel movements, and a low-ranking Sixth-Grade official having heard about it, Duke Zhenguo himself couldn't possibly be unaware, indicating his definite involvement.

Yet, it would be difficult for him personally to achieve Dragon Transformation, while it would be easier for Prince Kang, which only increased their suspicion.

"Ding! Player has received secret information from the Censor-in-Chief, learning a secret of Great Yu. Side Quest updated."

"Quest objective updated to: Stop the Dragon King from completing the Dragon Transformation Ritual."

Just as the two of them were getting more and more confused, the Quest Prompt sounded, and Zhou Yan felt a surge of joy.

The conversation just now made Zhou Yan realize that Prince Kang was not a good person either, while some actions of Duke Zhenguo seemed to meet the ritual requirements, making it impossible for them to distinguish who was right or wrong.

But the quest update now proved that their general direction was correct.

Neither Duke Zhenguo nor Prince Kang were good people, and one of them was likely the "Dragon King" mentioned in the quest.

"Senior Brother, hold on for a moment."

"I want to ask you, what do you think of the current The Emperor?"

Li Wenbo was in the middle of a heated discussion when he was suddenly interrupted by Zhou Yan, causing his train of thought to halt.

"The Emperor? Why are you asking about him?"

"I just want to confirm something."

Seeing Zhou Yan's serious expression, Li Wenbo replied.

"I watched The Emperor grow up. There's nothing wrong with the child."

"Although young, his abilities are extraordinary, and his future achievements will certainly be great. It's just the current situation in the Imperial Court... sigh." He sighed as he spoke.

"Then there's no problem." Zhou Yan smiled confidently.

"No problem with what? Junior Brother, do you know who is going to achieve Dragon Transformation?" Li Wenbo was puzzled.

They had discussed for so long without clarifying anything, yet a single question about The Emperor led to a conclusion?

Zhou Yan showed a mischievous smile and said.

"Ah, Senior Brother, Senior Brother. It seems meeting your Junior Brother has made you miss the Sect too much; you forgot this is an Imperial Dynasty."

"In Factional Struggles, there is no distinction between right and wrong."

"Since Duke Zhenguo, the Prime Minister, and Prince Kang are all bad news, why don't we just wipe them out in one go?"

"If we kill the wrong person, so be it. Even without this incident, the Officialdom is a place of endless life-and-death struggle."

Zhou Yan's voice was soft, yet it was deafeningly insightful.

Li Wenbo instantly woke up.

That's right! Regardless of whether those people have the motivation to achieve Dragon Transformation, aren't they all parasites right now?

Since they are parasites and political enemies, why not just eliminate them all?

This way, they would have a reason to eliminate political rivals while simultaneously saving Great Yu. Why not seize the opportunity?

"Oh, Junior Brother, you truly enlightened me! Senior Brother was too caught up in appearances."

"I was only analyzing whether they could do this, forgetting that they weren't good people to begin with. We should just use this opportunity to clean house and make The Emperor great again!"

Suddenly, the situation became crystal clear.

Since none of them were good people, it didn't matter who the Dragon King was; solving them all together must be the correct path.

The two began looking forward to the glorious and carefree life after dealing with those three, and their conversation grew increasingly cheerful.

Zhou Yan even forgot the strange smell of the Weird Liquid, subconsciously took another sip, and only remembered something after being stimulated by the taste.

"Senior Brother, we've only been thinking about what to do after we solve the problem."

"But how exactly do we solve it?"

This question made Li Wenbo, who was happily sipping his drink, shudder.

"Damn, I forgot about that part."

According to the original plan, dealing with Prince Kang wasn't a big issue.

He did have actions aimed at harming The Emperor and the Former Emperor. The incident involving The Emperor was suppressed by Duke Zhenguo to avoid a public fallout, as The Emperor was young at the time.

Duke Zhenguo told Li Wenbo this information back then, hoping that one day he could use it to attack Prince Kang.

Although this was somewhat akin to using someone else to kill, Li Wenbo, as a member of the Sect Faction, held a high position but struggled to get close to the core of the Imperial Dynasty. Therefore, killing Prince Kang meant that for him...

If he succeeded, he wouldn't be promoted; if he failed, he wouldn't be demoted. But if he acted first, he would definitely be able to seize the most Gold Coins that appeared after Prince Kang's death.

Thus, he was willing to act as this Swift Blade.

He originally planned to launch his attack when the group left the Capital, using this primary piece of evidence along with secondary charges to quickly convict Prince Kang, strip him of his National Fortune Protection, and then swiftly apprehend him.

After all, some things weigh less than two ounces until they are placed on the scale, at which point they might weigh over a thousand pounds.

As long as there was a sufficiently large reason to attack Prince Kang, combined with the string of crimes uncovered afterward, there was no fear of failing to take him down.

At that point, leveraging his Junior Brother's special status, he could transfer most of Prince Kang's authority to Zhou Yan.

This would both stabilize the Imperial Court and prevent the Duke and Prime Minister's factions from growing stronger.

Afterward, the two of them could use the power they held to further restrict their opponents' space, starting by dealing with the aging Duke.

The Duke was, after all, loyal. Once The Emperor's power increased, he could easily be asked to retire to his hometown.

Although losing a Soul Transformation Cultivator was a shame, it would allow the Dynasty to revitalize.

It would then be easy to deal with Zhang Feng.

But after this discussion, the plan became impossible to execute.

Now, the Duke's loyalty might be a pretense. If The Emperor tried to strip him of power, he might fight back desperately.

And Prince Kang might not be simple either; these few crimes might not be enough to condemn him.

If Prince Kang accelerated his plan and did something while The Emperor was with him, Li Wenbo's advantage of staying in the Capital would turn into a disadvantage, making him unable to prevent harm to The Emperor.

As for Zhang Feng, the Truth Cult of Great Yu was indeed connected to him. Li Wenbo originally thought nothing of it, believing Zhang Feng only dared to carry out minor activities like dealing with Spirit Fish secretly, being quite cowardly.

Not to mention, Zhang Feng had just been targeted by him and was currently hiding in a corner licking his wounds.

But now the Truth Cult had provided the Dragon Transformation Method and might even be assisting with the transformation.

And as someone associated with the Truth Cult of Great Yu, it was hard to say whose side Zhang Feng was on now.

Qiao Wenbin had limited knowledge; he might have thought the Three Factions were fighting independently, and thus didn't realize they were actually intertwined, with elements of one within the others.

That's why the Truth Cult under Zhang Feng could appear within all Three Factions, making it feel like their shadow was present in every power structure.

This was also why they couldn't determine, based on the Truth Cult, who exactly was planning to hold the ritual.

Therefore, Zhang Feng might have already defected to Duke Zhenguo or Prince Kang's command, assisting them with Dragon Transformation.

It was even possible that he himself was the perpetrator, meaning he was definitely not as simple as Li Wenbo had previously thought.

Thus, Li Wenbo explained his plan and thoughts to Zhou Yan, hoping Zhou Yan would help him think through the problem.

But Zhou Yan understood none of this and couldn't offer any good suggestions.

Just as Zhou Yan was deep in thought, the aura around him intensified, which unexpectedly gave Li Wenbo a new idea.

"Junior Brother, dare you play a big game?"