82: Chapter 82 The Feud Between the Prime Minister's Mansion and the Marquis of Zhenguo's Mansion

Above the Martial Arts Arena, the phantom of the immortal stele erupted with a brilliant light.

Amidst the surging golden light, Tang Liu's name, which was originally ninety-ninth on the hidden dragon ranking, shattered with a bang, turning into spots of light that dissipated in the wind.

Immediately after, the three golden characters of 'Chen Shanzhi' gradually emerged in that original position in a flamboyant, powerful script, before completely solidifying!

Looking at these three glittering characters, the entire Four Seas Academy fell into a dead silence for dozens of breaths, followed by a burst of clamor that soared into the clouds.

...

At the same time.

In the inner courtyard of the Zhenguo Marquis Mansion in the capital.

A beautiful young woman dressed in an elegant, simple gown stood quietly in the center of the courtyard, looking up at the massive projection of the immortal stele in the sky.

Seeing that familiar name leap onto the ranking, Chen Rou's face, which was usually as gentle as water, was now filled with uncontrollable excitement.

"Shan'er, he finally... made it onto the hidden dragon ranking!"

Chen Rou gripped the silk handkerchief in her hand, her tone carrying a hint of pride:

"Sister, Brother-in-law, can your spirits in heaven see this?

Our Shan'er is definitely not meant for little pond!"

At the border, inside the central command tent.

The Marquis of Zhenguo, who was processing military affairs, suddenly felt a premonition.

Looking up, he saw the phantom of the immortal stele appear in the sky.

Then, just like at the Martial Arts Arena, a string of glittering golden characters appeared on the immortal stele.

Changes to the rankings on the immortal stele occurred frequently.

The Marquis of Zhenguo only glanced at it in passing, but he was suddenly stunned.

He saw that the line of golden characters actually described his own good-for-nothing son.

Then, he saw the three characters of Chen Shanzhi engraved upon the hidden dragon ranking.

The Marquis of Zhenguo was dazed for a moment, then he burst into laughter: "Yun'er, look, I told you Shan'er wouldn't tarnish the prestige of my Chen family."

...

The First Prince's Mansion, the study.

Top-grade sandalwood burned slowly in a purple copper burner, with curls of green smoke rising.

The First Prince, dressed in a bright yellow four-clawed flood dragon robe, stood by the window with his hands behind his back, looking up at the ranking changes on the immortal stele.

His face, which usually wore a wise and gentle smile, now showed a flash of undisguised wild joy.

"Good! Excellent!"

The First Prince slapped the window frame hard and laughed out loud: "Heaven is truly helping me!"

"This King always thought this generation of the Zhenguo Marquis Mansion was completely finished.

I never expected that this Chen Shanzhi was actually a tiger in pig's clothing!

To think he would put on such a blockbuster performance for the whole world at the Four Seas Academy's Martial Arts Arena!"

He turned around and shouted toward the door in a deep voice: "Someone, come in!"

With a "creak."

A confidant dressed in gray pushed the door open and entered, kneeling on one knee: "Your Highness."

The First Prince walked to the grandmaster's chair and sat down, picking up a teacup to brush away the foam, asking indifferently:

"The task I gave you before, to arrange for people to promote that poem 'little pond,' how is it going?"

The confidant quickly replied respectfully: "Reporting to Your Highness, the entire literary circle of the capital, as well as the major teahouses and wine shops, are all crazily spreading this poem."

"'The small lotus has just revealed its sharp tip, a dragonfly has already alighted upon it.'"

"This kind of Concept and the talent shown in the opening lines have already made several great scholars at the Imperial Academy clap their hands in admiration."

"Very good."

The First Prince nodded with satisfaction, a shrewd glint flashing in his eyes.

"Send word down to have those spreading the news start gradually leaking information to the outside."

"Say that this poem 'little pond,' which has caused such a stir in the city, was written by none other than the heir of the Marquis of Zhenguo, Chen Shanzhi!"

The confidant froze for a moment, then immediately took the order:

"Yes! I will see to it immediately.

However, Your Highness, if this news is released too aggressively..."

"That is why I told you to leak the information gradually."

The First Prince gave a cold laugh:

"Remember, it must not be too fast, nor too deliberate.

You must let those literary types 'accidentally' dig it out themselves.

Those pedantic scholars only believe the 'truth' they discover on their own."

"I understand!" The confidant bowed respectfully and quickly withdrew.

The study fell silent once more.

The First Prince extended a finger, lightly tapping the red sandalwood tabletop with a rhythmic "da, da" sound.

The smile on his face grew richer, yet his gaze grew colder.

"Enduring for ten years, unparalleled in both literature and martial arts.

And he chose to reveal his brilliance right at the critical moment when the Academy Secret Realm is about to open."

The First Prince raised his teacup, toasting toward the direction of the Prime Minister's Mansion from afar, as if talking to himself or calling out across the distance:

"My dear Prime Minister..."

"Facing such a successor to the Marquis of Zhenguo, whose intellect is near-demonic and whose talent is transcendent.

Your mood right now must be quite spectacular, isn't it?"

"After all, the mountain that is the Zhenguo Marquis Mansion has always been a thorn in the side of your Prime Minister's Mansion."

...

The Prime Minister's Mansion.

Inside the study, it was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.

The current Prime Minister stood before a large desk, holding a wolf-hair brush, writing with bold strokes on high-quality Xuan paper.

A character for 'Harmony' (He), written with such force it seemed to penetrate the paper, was more than half-finished.

Just then, a golden light flashed across the sky outside the window.

The Prime Minister's hand holding the brush paused imperceptibly.

It was only an extremely brief hesitation.

But a drop of thick ink from the brush tip fell onto the Xuan paper, instantly blooming into a large black smudge, completely ruining the character for 'Harmony'.

The Prime Minister looked at the ruined paper expressionlessly and tossed the wolf-hair brush into the brush holder.

He looked up through the half-open window at the three glaring characters of 'Chen Shanzhi' on the immortal stele, shaking his head with some emotion.

"I never would have thought..."

The Prime Minister's voice was very soft, yet it carried a deep sense of wariness:

"The lineage of the Zhenguo Marquis Mansion, in the path of martial arts, has actually produced such unreasonably talented individuals generation after generation."

"Bang, bang, bang!"

A sudden, hurried, and crude knocking sounded at the door.

The Prime Minister frowned, a flash of displeasure in his eyes: "Come in."

The study door was pushed open.

A young man dressed in fine silk rushed in, drenched in sweat.

It was the Prime Minister's eldest son.

"Father! Father! Something big has happened!"

The young man couldn't even catch his breath as he pointed out the window and shouted:

"Did you see the change on the immortal stele's hidden dragon ranking just now? That Chen Shanzhi..."

"Shut up!"

The Prime Minister turned around abruptly and barked: "To be so impulsive and noisy when something happens, what kind of behavior is this?

Is this how I usually teach you!"

The young man shrunk back from the scolding, but the anxiety in his eyes could not be hidden.

The Prime Minister took a deep breath, picked up a hot towel to wipe his hands, and only then spoke slowly:

"Your father is not blind. The projection of the immortal stele shone with ten thousand zhang of golden light; how could I not have seen it?"

"In one month's time, breaking through three apertures in a row, going from the Xuanguan Five Apertures straight into the Xuanguan Eight Apertures..."

At this point, the Prime Minister turned his head to look at his eldest son, whom he had once been proud of, and sighed with disappointment.

"In terms of talent in martial arts, that Chen Shanzhi is far stronger than you."

Hearing this, the young man became so anxious he started pacing frantically.

"Father! What time is it now? How can you not be worried at all!"

The young man stepped quickly to the desk, leaning his hands on the surface, speaking rapidly:

"Before, everyone in the capital thought this Chen Shanzhi was just a top-tier playboy who only knew how to eat, drink, gamble, and visit brothels!

A useless Adou who couldn't be helped!"

"We had planned everything so well. We'd wait for that old fogey, the Marquis of Zhenguo, to pass away of old age. With the Zhenguo Marquis Mansion leaderless, it would naturally lose its influence."

"At that time, the moles you planted in several major border armies, Father,

could legitimately take action to completely seize the military power from the Chen family's hands!"

The young man's face became extremely unsightly as he said through gritted teeth:

"But who would have thought that Chen Shanzhi's previous 'worthless mud' act was all fucking fake!"

"He's a scheming old fox!"

"Now that he's revealed such terrifying talent, forget about us seizing military power.

With his current strength, securing a spot for this year's Academy Secret Realm is likely a certainty."

"If the Zhenguo Marquis Mansion lineage enters the Academy Secret Realm again...

Father, don't forget, this year is the once-in-a-century..."

The young man's voice stopped abruptly.

He seemed to have suddenly realized something extremely terrifying.

His Adam's apple bobbed violently as he forced the second half of the sentence back into his stomach.

Because he clearly saw that when he mentioned the words 'once-in-a-century,'

his father, who always kept his emotions hidden,

actually had the muscles on his normally calm face twitch twice quite visibly.

The temperature in the study instantly dropped to the freezing point.

The young man did not dare to continue.

Because he knew that these four words were the deepest scar in his father's heart.

They were also a taboo that the entire Prime Minister's Mansion could not touch!

In the Great Jiang Dynasty, the powerful and noble were many.

But in terms of foundation and combat power, if the Zhenguo Marquis Mansion claimed second place, no one would dare claim first.

This was not only because the Marquis of Zhenguo held heavy troops, but also because the lineage of the Zhenguo Marquis Mansion

seemed to be born for that Secret Realm of the Four Seas Academy!

Up to the current Chen Shanzhi, the Zhenguo Marquis Mansion had produced three generations.

The Marquis of Zhenguo and Chen Shanzhi's father, who died in battle, had both entered the Secret Realm of the Four Seas Academy in their time.

Furthermore, both were the undisputed top performers of their respective Secret Realm trials!

Both had obtained immense opportunities in that Secret Realm that even the imperial family envied.

After coming out, their strength improved by leaps and bounds, directly suppressing an entire era.

Coincidentally.

The Marquis of Zhenguo was in the same batch as the Prime Minister's father.

The Prime Minister himself was in the same batch as Chen Shanzhi's father.

In those two Academy Secret Realms of the past, the two generations of leaders of the Prime Minister's Mansion

were, without exception, pinned to the ground and ruthlessly crushed by the people of the Zhenguo Marquis Mansion!

As a result, for decades, although the Prime Minister's Mansion held great power in the imperial court,

it could never hold its head high in front of the Zhenguo Marquis Mansion.

Until over ten years ago, when the Demon People caused chaos.

Chen Shanzhi's father was ambushed and unexpectedly killed in that war to suppress the rebellion.

And Chen Shanzhi, the only offspring, showed an irredeemable playboy nature, indulging in debauchery and every kind of vice.

From then on, the prestige of the Zhenguo Marquis Mansion gradually began to decline.

The Prime Minister's Mansion finally saw the hope of turning the tables.

Everyone was waiting.

Waiting for the Marquis of Zhenguo, that invincible existence who occupied the first place on the immortal stele heaven rank, to die of old age.

After all, the path of martial arts is to go against heaven and develop human potential.

Yet it cannot add to one's Lifespan like those legendary Immortals.

The Marquis of Zhenguo was an old general who had followed the late emperor to conquer the world.

No matter how strong he was or how he ranked first on the heaven rank,

he ultimately could not withstand the erosion of time.

The Prime Minister's Mansion thought that as long as they outlived this old man, the Zhenguo Marquis Mansion would naturally collapse without a successor.

But who could have imagined!

That kid Chen Shanzhi, at this most critical juncture,

would tear off his mask and directly reveal his fangs of such martial talent!

"Father..."

The young man looked at the silent Prime Minister and swallowed, his eyes full of undisguisable worry and fear.

The Academy Secret Realm opens its outer areas every four years.

But every hundred years, all areas of the Secret Realm's core will fully open!

This year is precisely that once-in-a-century year of opportunity!

And the last time, a hundred years ago, in that fully opened Secret Realm trial,

the person who took first place and gained Heaven-Defying fortune within, soaring to the heights from then on...

was the current Marquis of Zhenguo!