229: hope!

"Ah?! Eunuch! Eunuch! Please spare me! This subordinate will never disrespect you again! From now on, if you tell me to go east, I will never dare to go west, and I will definitely handle everything you entrust to me!" Zhu Zhiyong cried out in terror. If he lost the black gauze hat on his head, wouldn't all the glory and wealth he had painstakingly accumulated over the years through flattery, aiding evil, and nightly revelry go down the drain?

This was something he absolutely could not accept...

"You said this yourself. Whether you can do it depends on your performance from now on! I'm telling you, if a good-for-nothing like you doesn't strive for improvement, you'll sooner or later be kicked out of the Residence! Prince Fu wants elites, strong individuals who can step forward in times of crisis. Even Prince Fu now diligently Cultivates every day. Are you even worse than him?" Zhu Nan snorted.

"Ah, this... Is Prince Fu really Cultivating every day?" Zhu Zhiyong asked in shock.

"Of course! Prince Fu's gun skills are even better than mine now. If you brothers don't make progress, there will be no place for you in the Residence!" Zhu Nan finished speaking, turned, and left...

"Prince Fu... actually started to Cultivate! What is going on?! Is he not even playing with women anymore?!" Zhu Zhiyong wailed in disbelief.

He never dreamed that Prince Fu, the most useless member of the imperial family, would now transform into a Cultivation fanatic. How could a useless Martial Commander like him bear this?

He suddenly remembered seeing Prince Fu several times a few days ago. Each time he saw him, there seemed to be a slight change. The most recent time he met Prince Fu, he noticed that Prince Fu seemed to have lost a lot of weight, his spirit was much better than before, and there was even light in his eyes!

At the time, he hadn't reacted, but now, upon careful thought, Prince Fu was indeed diligently Cultivating, just as Zhu Nan said. What exactly was going on? What in this world could cause such an astonishing change in a useless imperial Prince Fu?

Zhu Zhiyong pounded his head several times, trying to clear his mind. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he muttered, "Xuan Gun?! That's right, where did Zhu Nan's terrifying Xuan Gun come from?! And he also mentioned that Prince Fu's gun skills are even more accurate than his, which means Prince Fu also has such a Xuan Gun! Heavens... could this be the reason for Prince Fu's enormous change?!"

Thinking this, he leaped up from the ground and carefully examined the main pillar. What he saw made his pupils shrink, and he was completely stunned!

He found that after the bullet fired by the Xuan Gun flew out of the through-hole, it also made a small hole in the opposite wall, and the bullet itself had vanished!

Furthermore, the powerful impact generated by the bullet piercing the pillar caused countless cracks to appear inside the pillar, and many areas had turned into powder. The pillar, which seemed intact on the outside, was actually riddled with holes inside. If it wasn't repaired soon, this main hall might not withstand a single storm and could suddenly collapse at any moment...

Zhu Zhiyong trembled all over; this time, he was truly scared out of his wits!

With his eye as a Martial Commander, he clearly understood that if that shot had hit him, he would already be a dead man!

"With the power of this shot, even a Martial Commander wouldn't be able to withstand it head-on, right?!" Zhu Zhiyong murmured, and in that instant, he suddenly understood something...

In fact, he was aware of the crisis currently facing the Prince Fus Mansion. After all, he was still smarter than a pig; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to Cultivate to the level of a Martial Commander. It was just that he had been living a life of debauchery every day for these past years, and his brain had rusted quite badly. But after Prince Fu asked him to find strong individuals last time, his rusty brain had thought a lot more than usual. So, he knew in his heart that Prince Fu asking him to do this must be because the Prince Fus Mansion was in crisis and desperately needed strong individuals for protection. However, Prince Fu's idea of finding such strong individuals to protect the Residence was purely a desperate measure, because strong individuals of that caliber could never be hired with money.

Zhu Zhiyong could feel the helplessness and despair revealed in Prince Fu's words at that time, which made him feel quite guilty. After all, the Prince Fus Mansion had given him and his brother so much, yet in the end, he couldn't help at all. No wonder even Zhu Nan kept calling him useless. This made Zhu Zhiyong himself feel very dejected. He had even thought that if a strong individual really attacked the Residence, he would sacrifice his life to hold them off, which would be a way to repay Prince Fu for his kindness over the years. Anyway, with his Aptitude, he couldn't make any more progress. The Xuan Practitioner Dao was at its end. He might as well enjoy life for as long as he could, and then, for the sake of repaying his gratitude, a swift end would at least be a complete one.

But...

The changes in Prince Fu and Zhu Nan during this period completely exceeded his expectations. Prince Fu was not only more energetic but also became a Cultivation fanatic, and both of them now had a Xuan Gun capable of threatening strong individuals of the Martial Commander level!

What was this?!

Hope!

This was hope!!!

Once a person has hope, their spirit and actions will be vastly different; otherwise, they will only decline until they are finished. Zhu Zhiyong had a deep understanding of this during this time; he himself had even thought of the dead end of sacrificing his life to repay kindness.

But the appearance of this Xuan Gun brought hope to Prince Fu, and even to the entire Prince Fus Mansion, and also brought hope to Zhu Zhiyong. It could be said that these two Xuan Gun were two strong individuals of the Martial Commander level, and they were controllable!

"So that's how it is, so that's how it is!!!" Zhu Zhiyong suddenly realized. He finally found the reason why Zhu Nan rose to power and why Prince Fu underwent such a huge change.

It seemed he didn't have to walk a dead end anymore. With this Xuan Gun, the Prince Fus Mansion's confidence greatly increased, and even Prince Fu saw hope and was desperately Cultivating. As his subordinate, how could he continue to be so dejected?

However, if he also had such a Xuan Gun by his side, wouldn't his sense of security be even more overflowing?

Thinking this, Zhu Zhiyong's heart burned, and his eyes gleamed. He took out a bag, gritted his teeth, put a lot of xuan stone inside, then tucked it into his in my arms, and walked towards the Prince Fu's Hall where Zhu Nan was...

Meanwhile, at Shan Feng Forest, the first batch of five planes from Shadow Moon Hall had already arrived. After patrolling the sky, they found a place to land. Xi Ying led Yu Rong and dozens of female devotees off the planes and began to explore the forest...

The reason they chose this direction was that they found many relatively fresh footprints here, and they were of the Human Race, indicating that someone had entered the forest from here not long ago.

It was already nearing night, the moonlight was not visible, and the forest was pitch black. Occasionally, some glowing small flying insects passed by, and there were some strange calls, both near and far, making the forest environment appear exceptionally deep and quiet...

...