The tea on the table had been completely cold.
The remaining scent had dissipated.
Tianhai Wuji had left for a while.
He came and left in a low profile.
After the final battle of Heaven Capital, the grandmaster of the Invincible Realm from East Island came to Zhongzhou State for the first time. No one knew what he talked about with Gu Xingyun and w.a.n.g Qinglei.
Gu Xingyun lowered his head, playing with the teacup in his hand, and said nothing.
All the conditions had been settled. What counted the next was his decision.
“Your Highness, what are you hesitating about?” w.a.n.g Qinglei asked.
His smile was still indifferent and gentle. It did not change in the slightest compared with the one he wore when he first entered the private room.
Gu Xingyun frowned and asked back unceremoniously, “If you are asked to give up an expert with the combat capability at the peak of the Invincible Realm, will you hesitate?”
Li Xi was an expert at the peak of the Invincible Realm. Even if she was barely able to enter the peak of the Invincible Realm, she was still the best expert and the sharpest sword of Kunlun City before Gu Xingyun made another breakthrough, even if this sword did not work very well.
But it was totally different from whether it could be used or not.
Not to mention the countless disputes and grievances between Li Xi and Kunlun City, no one was willing to give up her given her combat capability.
“That depends on what kind of situation I’m in.”
w.a.n.g Qinglei said calmly, “Tianzong won’t let you and Kunlun City go if he takes over Eastern Europe. And if Li Tianlan takes the five countries in Eastern Europe as his foundation, the Li family will also develop rapidly. The key is Li Tianlan himself. In his current state, in less than five years, I’m afraid with your current strength, you won’t be his match. In ten years, in his peak period, even if you break through, you will be like a nonent.i.ty in front of him. Even if you have to pay a heavy price to kill such an opponent, it’s worth it as long as you can do it.
“It’s indeed hard to find a master at the peak of the Invincible Realm, but Li Xi… Well, even if you love her, she will never be more important than the future of Kunlun City.
“Of course you have other ways. For example, find someone else to kill Li Tianlan and even Deity?”
There was helplessness, bitterness, and even pain on Gu Xingyun’s pale face.
Kunlun City had only risen for a short period of time. Without foundation and resources, it would appear to be very weak at many critical moments.
At least in regards to Li Tianlan, there were few people in Kunlun City who could handle this matter.
Gu Xingyun himself was seriously injured.
Gu Qianchuan lost his arm.
To deal with Li Tianlan, or even Deity, only Li Xi had the qualification and strength to do so in Kunlun City.
“Your Highness, as far as I know, you don’t seem to have many choices now. Since the Li family appeared, Kunlun City’s status in Zhongzhou State seems to have not changed, but in fact, it has been declining all the time. Now, even a junior dares to stand on the opposite side of Kunlun City. If you don’t take a risk at this time, how long do you want to wait?” w.a.n.g Qinglei said with skill and patience.
Gu Xingyun remained silent for a long time this time.
In the suffocating silence, he finally nodded and said slowly, “I see.”
w.a.n.g Qinglei smiled with satisfaction. “In that case, I’ll wait for your news, Your Highness.”
He stood up, as if he was about to leave.
Gu Xingyun suddenly asked, “What do you think about the things Jiang Shangyu did?”
w.a.n.g Qinglei just said that a junior dared to stand on the opposite side of Kunlun City.
The so-called junior was not Li Tianlan.
It was Jiang Shangyu.
As a junior who had just entered the Thunder-shocking Realm, he had a skyrocketing rise overnight, made breakthroughs constantly, and went straight into the Half-step Invincible Realm. Now, if Li Tianlan was worthy of being the best among the young generation in Zhongzhou State, then Jiang Shangyu was second only to him. w.a.n.g Shengxiao and Gu Hanshan were still growing. Even Dijiang, the new commander of the Border Control Corps, who was equally dazzling in Zhongzhou State, was ranked behind Jiang Shangyu because of his age.
After breakthroughs, Jiang Shangyu changed his usual low-key att.i.tude. Before the helicopter that Gu Fengbo and Mo Qingping, who represented Zhongzhou State to announce Jiang Shangyu’s appointment, took landed, it was almost destroyed by the storm of power caused by Jiang Shangyu’s breakthroughs. Gu Fengbo, the deputy Governor of Kunlun City, seemed to say something too much. Jiang Shangyu seriously injured him with one punch. Gu Fengbo was still in the Jiang family. The Jiang family said that Governor Gu was healing, but every wise man knew that it was a disguised house arrest.
No one knew why Jiang Shangyu did this, but they all knew the meaning behind it.
After the maneuver of the two academies, Li Tianlan’s rise seemed unstoppable. Kunlun City, with insufficient foundation and resources, could only try its best to cultivate new blood. Gu Xingyun regarded Jiang Shangyu with favor. He even planned to marry his daughter Li Qingcheng to Jiang Shangyu in order to let Jiang Shangyu a.s.sist Gu Hanshan to fight against Li Tianlan in the future.
But now, it seemed that Jiang Shangyu had completely fallen out with Kunlun City. There was no sign or even any reason at all.
And the Jiang family, which was getting closer and closer to the Special Warfare Group, now had a subtle standpoint.
For Kunlun City, this was undoubtedly an extremely dangerous signal.
Kunlun City was the Special Warfare Center of Zhongzhou State. If an expert who newly entered the Invincible Realm could slight Kunlun City, then how could Kunlun City be influential in Zhongzhou State and even in the whole Dark World?
But the key point was that Gu Xingyun was seriously injured now. Moreover, Gu Qianchuan had not recovered. What was worse, Li Xi was still far away in Eastern Europe. In the entire Kunlun City, there was really no one who could suppress Jiang Shangyu in force.
Gu Xingyun could only take advantage of the situation.
He must make Jiang Shangyu and the entire Jiang family pay the price.
Kunlun City was in a bad situation now, but the worse the situation was, the more he couldn’t retreat. He had to make his voice heard.
“Jiang Shangyu?”
w.a.n.g Qinglei hesitated for a moment. “He’s leaving for Eastern Europe today, isn’t he?”
Gu Xingyun’s face grew gloomier.
As soon as Gu Fengbo was seriously injured, he received the news and asked the Jiang family to give a reasonable explanation.
But until now, the Jiang family had not given him any answer. At this time, Jiang Shangyu, who was in Youzhou, seemed to have no clue about it at all.
“Arrogant!”
Gu Xingyun said in a cold tone, “Does the Jiang family really think that no one can defeat Jiang Shangyu when he has reached the Half-step Invincible Realm?! We should teach them a lesson, a heavy lesson!”
“This is my mistake.”
w.a.n.g Qinglei said calmly, “I didn’t expect that Jiang Shangyu’s att.i.tude would change, but I also overestimated the relationship between the Jiang family and Kunlun City.”
Gu Xingyun shot him a cold look and did not speak.
w.a.n.g Qinglei’s words were obviously questioning his ability to control the Jiang family. He even blamed him for failing to control it.
He waved his hand and impatiently said, “It’s meaningless to say these now.”
“There’s no point in doing anything now.”
w.a.n.g Qinglei said, “Jiang Shangyu will go to Eastern Europe today. What can we do? Are we going to remove him from office or to replace him with someone else? No matter what, we have to wait for him to come back.”
He paused and then continued, “And the Jiang family is close to you, so it is also your internal affairs. I have a special ident.i.ty, and it is inappropriate for me to intervene in it.”
Gu Xingyun sneered and did not speak. He finally understood what w.a.n.g Qinglei meant.
Obviously, the other party would not intervene in any matter relating to Jiang Shangyu at all.
He picked up the teacup in front of him and said coldly, “I won’t see you off.”
w.a.n.g Qinglei nodded and turned to leave.
A traditional black Pa.s.sat stopped in front of the club. w.a.n.g Qinglei opened the door and sat in. After a moment of silence, he said slowly, “Let’s go to the Garden Party.”
Gu Xingyun watched the black Pa.s.sat leave in silence.
Things hadn’t been going well lately in Kunlun City, but everything was natural, without the slightest artificiality. But somehow, Gu Xingyun could always smell a faint smell of conspiracy. He felt a little uneasy, but he didn’t know where all this came from.
The sudden hostility of the Jiang family had undoubtedly exposed the weakness of Kunlun City.
Jiang Shangyu, who had the combat capability of the Invincible Realm, seriously injured the deputy Governor of Kunlun City. However, the entire Kunlun City could do nothing to him.
Gu Xingyun knew very well that if he didn’t make a strong response to this matter, the fact that the Jiang family had fallen out with Kunlun City would become a signal. When Kunlun City was at its weakest, everyone would come over and trample on it.
Gu Xingyun silently walked back to his seat and picked up the teacup.
So far, he hadn’t figured out why Jiang Shangyu suddenly fell out with Kunlun City.
The purpose of him recommending Jiang Shangyu to serve as the vice marshal of the Snowdance Corps was indeed to take advantage of him. However, although this appointment was dangerous, it was also an opportunity. Even if the danger was greater than the opportunity, with the recent low profile of the Jiang family, it would not cause the two sides to fall out.
Jiang Shangyu’s behavior directly disrupted his plan. He was a young man whom he valued highly. Instead of bringing Kunlun City closer to the Jiang family, the appointment this time fostered an enemy for Kunlun City in the future.
Gu Xingyun rubbed his forehead and breathed a long sigh of relief, but he became more and more agitated inside.
The door was pushed open from the outside.
Gu Xuan, the first Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Personnel of Kunlun City, came in. Looking at Gu Xingyun with a gloomy face, he wanted to say something but stopped on second thought.
“What’s wrong?” Gu Xingyun frowned and asked.
“Your Highness, all the students partic.i.p.ating in this year’s joint maneuver of the two academies have confirmed the places where they would go.”
Gu Xuan held a piece of information in his hand, and his face was a little gloomy. He was the first Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and was a real high-level official in Kunlun City. In the joint maneuver, he could completely represent Kunlun City to absorb talents. But thinking of the information in his hand, he felt more and more uneasy.
Gu Xingyun reached out his hand.
After hesitating for a while, Gu Xuan handed over the information in his hand.
The materials were not thick. There were more than 2,000 students in the two academies, but only 300 students were valued by Kunlun City.
And since Kunlun City thought highly of these 300 people, other agencies and forces of Zhongzhou State naturally valued them as well.
Every maneuver of the two academies was a feast at this time. It was a chance for all the super forces to absorb fresh blood. As the Special Warfare Center of Zhongzhou State, Kunlun City could get the most talents in every maneuver of the two academies in previous years.
But this time…
Gu Xingyun looked at the information in his hand. His breathing was getting faster and faster, and he looked extremely irritable.
He quickly flipped through the information in his hand, but before he could finish his reading, he could not help but raise his head to look at Gu Xuan and ask, “Where are the students who are willing to join us?”
“Well…”
Gu Xuan said with a bitter smile, “They are all on the first page.”
“Oh, the first page.”
Gu Xingyun nodded with no expression on his face. “Only 12?
“We gave out three hundred invitations, and yet only a dozen people wanted to join us?!”
He suddenly raised his voice. “What are you doing?! Why are there only 12 students of the two academies this year who are willing to join Kunlun City?!”
12 people.
This was no longer a matter of quant.i.ty.
Kunlun City had never given up planning in the two academies, and the internal students also formed several young forces. However, the people in these forces were more than 12 in total.
Now, this list not only showed that Kunlun City almost did not recruit any talents this time but also showed that some people who originally wanted to join Kunlun City had changed their choices in the end.
“Give me an explanation!”
Gu Xingyun thumped the list in his hand on the tea table.
“Please look at the last page.”
Gu Xuan smiled bitterly and did not even dare to raise his head.
Gu Xingyun directly flipped through the information to the last page.
The dense letters of appointment were written all over the sheet.
After doing a rough count, he found that there were at least a hundred names on it.
But there were only two forces on this page.
Gu Xingyun gasped subconsciously and didn’t say anything for a long time.
One of the two forces on the last page was the East Emperor Palace!
“The East Emperor Palace has no intention of recruiting members now. They may have been connected in private, but on the surface, no one is doing it. However, more and more people have volunteered to join the East Emperor Palace. So far, the East Emperor Palace has not given out any invitation. There are 86 people in total, all of whom have volunteered to join the East Emperor Palace. At present, they are just waiting for the replies from the East Emperor Palace. In addition, in the past few days, the Three Thousand World has issued 50 invitations. Thirty-nine of them have been confirmed, and another nine people have volunteered to join it…”
Gu Xuan’s voice was hoa.r.s.e.
Gu Xingyun kept silent. An unprecedented impact force was striking his heart, with incomparable power.
This year, the number of people who volunteered to join the East Emperor Palace and the Three Thousand World—two emerging forces, was almost half of the 300 people.
And these 300 people were the best of the two academies and could also be said to be the best in the Special Warfare System of Zhongzhou State in recent years.
What did this mean?
Li Tianlan was in the East Emperor Palace.
Jiang Shangyu was in the Three Thousand World.
The two of them were the marshal and the vice marshal of the Snowdance Corps respectively.
Both of them had the combat capability of the Invincible Realm. Even if the Snowdance Corps were to be disbanded after the Eastern European chaos, the treatment they could receive must be worthy of their strength.
If these people could join the East Emperor Palace, the treatment they would receive would not be much worse than that in Kunlun City. The key was that the Three Thousand World and East Emperor Palace were both newly-established forces. The rising forces also meant more opportunities.
Gu Xingyun was lost in thought.
After G.o.ds knew how long, he suddenly asked, “Did any news about Jiang Shangyu come back?”
Kunlun City was still waiting for the explanation of the Jiang family.
But the Jiang family didn’t give any explanation at all.
“No.”
Gu Xuan shook his head. “Our people went to visit Jiang Shangyu, but they didn’t see him.”
“What a big-headed man!”
Gu Xingyun sneered and gritted his teeth. “Contact Jiang Shangyu now. I want to have a video call with him!”
Gu Xuan nodded, took out his mobile phone, and began to dial Jiang Shangyu’s number immediately.
Five minutes later, Gu Xingyun took the initiative to make a video call.
On the huge screen, the video was quickly connected.
Jiang Shangyu, in a military uniform, appeared on the screen, with a calm face. “Your Highness.”
Gu Xuan’s face changed.
In this indifferent greeting, what he heard was only arrogance.
Extreme arrogance!
Gu Xingyun’s eyes also turned ferocious for a moment, and then he calmed down. He nodded and said, “This military uniform is good, and it suits you well.”
“Really?”
Jiang Shangyu smiled and said, “I think so too. What’s the matter, Your Highness? Please hurry up. The private plane is ready. I’ll leave for Eastern Europe in 15 minutes.”
“Very well.”
Gu Xingyun gritted his teeth and said, “Then I’ll cut to the chase. I just talked to Qianchuan, and he will go to Beijiang to pick up my man. What do you think?”
“Good.”
Jiang Shangyu said blandly, “Governor Fengbo is seriously injured, and he really needs someone to take care of him. I have no objection.”
“General, you really have enough confidence!”
Gu Xingyun bent down and said coldly, “Do you think that you can do whatever you want when your combat capability has reached the Invincible Realm? Kunlun City’s current martial strength is indeed weak, but it doesn’t mean that the Special Warfare Group can do nothing to the Jiang family!”
Jiang Shangyu narrowed his eyes slightly and said in an indifferent tone, “Really?”
Gu Xingyun also seemed to feel that his temper was too hot. He eased his tone and said in a low voice, “You know, young man, I’ve always thought highly of you. This time, I hope it’s a misunderstanding, but I want an explanation. Tell me, what’s the reason for you to attack Gu Fengbo?”
His voice was deep and majestic, full of pressure.
Gu Xuan looked at Gu Xingyun in surprise.
At this moment, Gu Xingyun’s posture seemed very high, but in fact, he had already lowered himself.
If Jiang Shangyu still couldn’t offer a reason, there was no doubt that the Jiang family and Kunlun City would become rivals instantly.
On the contrary, if Jiang Shangyu gave a reason, no matter what the excuse was, Gu Xingyun would be willing to accept it. He would try to draw Jiang Shangyu and the Jiang family over to his side again. In the future, he would show corresponding respect to Jiang Shangyu.
Gu Xingyun only needed one reason.
No matter what the reason was, as long as there was a way out of the embarra.s.sing situation, it would be fine.
Gu Xingyun stared at Jiang Shangyu’s eyes. He believed that Jiang Shangyu could understand what he meant.
However, he was getting more and more uneasy inside. In the eyes of the other party, he could not see any seriousness or thoughts, but only indifference.
After a long while, Jiang Shangyu suddenly smiled. His smile became more and more arrogant, with a kind of overwhelming arrogance. “Reason? No reason.”
“No reason?”
Gu Xingyun’s voice became low. “Since you have no reason, then why did you hurt Gu Fengbo so badly?”
“Nothing.”
Jiang Shangyu said blandly, “It’s just that I’m capable of resisting.”
All of this was because Jiang Shangyu felt that he was capable of resisting.
It was straightforward, clear, frank, and the real truth.
Gu Xingyun’s face suddenly turned red. He suddenly stood up and threw the cup against the wall.
In an instant, everything around Gu Xingyun flew out. He threw everything around him, including the tea table, the tea set, and the remote control. Everything was smashed to pieces by him.
Jiang Shangyu quietly watched Gu Xingyun’s behaviors in a rage without saying a word.
Gu Xingyun’s eyes were red. He pointed to the screen and said in a shrill and furious voice, “Jiang Shangyu, do you really think that there is no one capable in Kunlun City?!”
Jiang Shangyu looked at him and kept silent for a while. Then he nodded and said, “Yes, I just think there’s no one capable in Kunlun City.”
