Death… and me

"In the quest for domination, we have to fight to become the best! Not fighting would mean that we intend to backup, which means we would end up as a pile of bones!" Diwu Qing Rou said.

"No doubt, Great Zhao did not lose any territory these past few years, but it did not gain any either. However, the enemies had been advancing every year for the past few years. In the past, they did not have the courage to bother Great Zhao because Great Zhao was so much more powerful than them. They were unable to fight it and did not even dare to consider doing it. Yet recently, just ten years ago, Tie Shi Cheng mobilized his troops and fearlessly went against this status quo!"

"Great Zhao was falling," said Diwu Qing Rou, his eyes flashing. "At that time, I had just come into power. I immediately came up with a plan to assassinate Tie Shi Cheng! Surprisingly, both the military leaders and the officials in court were against my plan. They called me dumb… Hahaha…"

"After that, I came up with another plan to wipe out all of the blacksmiths of Iron Cloud. The same few people immediately to voiced out against my plan again and called me cruel!" Diwu Qing Rou heaved a huge sigh and continued, "But did it ever occur to them… that this was war?! War is unforgiving and brutal! If I had not assassinated Tie Shi Cheng that year, Iron Cloud would continue to prosper. And if that were to occur, I would not be able to deal with him and his brother, Tie Long Cheng…"

"If I had not killed thousands of blacksmiths that year, the number of soldiers that would fall under Iron Cloud's lead would be more than a million now…" Diwu Qing Rou lamented. "Each of those incidents was so inhumane. How could I, Diwu Qing Rou, be unaware of this? Are the soldiers in Great Zhao's military not brought up in a nurturing environment?"

"If I had not come up with the plan to assassinate Tie Shi Cheng, the gifted Tie Bu Tian would grow up and eventually join forces with his father. With his uncle's support, he would become a powerful and dominating ruler! Great Zhao would be doomed then!" Diwu Qing Rou sighed yet again. "I, Diwu Qing Rou, could not just stand by and do nothing, even if I have to be scorned forever after that. Great Zhao has a billion subjects!"

"Accusations can be made easily!" Han Bu Chu said, "You do not need to care about those old-fashioned scholars, Prime Minister. You are wise and talented. You were able to maintain the vast territory of Great Zhao all by yourself. Such great achievements would not go unnoticed by the world. The later generations will judge for themselves!"

"Let the later generations judge… Hahaha!" Diwu Qing Rou scoffed. "How would the judgment of later generations affect me? Do I, Diwu Qing Rou, need the judgments of the later generations? Even if they look down on me, what can I do?"

Diwu Qing Rou took a few leisurely steps before he paused and said slowly, "Continent Center is in chaos, but we can rebuild it again. If the capital does not survive, we can leave it. Yet, if the people's hearts are in chaos, we cannot do anything about it. Even the gods would be helpless."

"You are right, Prime Minister." Han Bu Chu agreed wholeheartedly.

"There is one more thing, Bu Chu. You are only able to see the sinister side of King of Hell Chu's scheme. However, there is a huge opportunity hidden within it!"

"This is, no doubt, a successful scheme for King of Hell Chu. However, it is certainly a huge opportunity for us!" Diwu Qing Rou's eyes flashed sharply as he uttered each word. "We must not miss this opportunity. King of Hell Chu is definitely feeling very confident right now, but he will regret it later!"

"Huge opportunity?" exclaimed a stupefied Han Bu Chu.

At that moment, the scheme seemed like nothing but a disaster. Where did this huge opportunity come from?

"Almost all of Great Zhao's spies were gathered in Iron Cloud and there were tens of thousands of them. In Iron Cloud Citadel alone, there were thousands of them." Diwu Qing Rou announced. "When King of Hell Chu first attacked, he only managed to kill a few hundred of people. The greater part of the network was still safe. However, when we attacked, King of Hell Chu followed us and killed all of them. This paralyzed our spy network in Iron Cloud."

"When his enemies were in hiding, he attacked and used all sorts of tactics to force his enemies to come out of hiding. The moment his enemies stirred, he used that momentum to turn over fate! This was King of Hell Chu's strategy." Diwu Qing Rou went through each word slowly and carefully. "I am still analysing this move of King of Hell Chu to strike at inaction."

"Analysing…" Gao Sheng muttered in awe. Even his eyes shone respectfully.

Who was this Diwu Qing Rou? He was an ultimate statesman and a conniving military strategist! It could be said that he was the most ideal person to learn from, in all of Nine Heavens. Who would dare to say that there was someone else more capable than Diwu Qing Rou that Diwu Qing Rou can learn from?

Yet, today, in front of his subordinates, Diwu Qing Rou mentioned that he was learning from his enemy, King of Hell Chu! How shocking and magnanimous was it, for Diwu Qing Rou to say something like this in his position?

By saying this, he did not damage his prestige, but instead made everyone in awe of him!

"I might not be able to be as skilful as King of Hell Chu, but I can at least learn his technique." Diwu Qing Rou sighed slightly. "There are many things that are very beneficial, but some methods can only be done by King of Hell Chu, and not by me."

Han Bu Chu nodded sympathetically.

By saying this, Diwu Qing Rou had distinctly pointed out the fundamental differences between him and King of Hell Chu.

Age, experience and status. There were some things King of Hell Chu could do as he is thick skin, but Diwu Qing Rou could not. At least not up front.

Yet, King of Hell Chu could do them as and when he wants.

It was because King of Hell Chu was young, and he was being controlled by a powerful Diwu Qing Rou. No matter what, he could do whatever he wants. There was no need to pay attention to tactics. He only needed to defeat Diwu Qing Rou once and people would praise him!

However, if Diwu Qing Rou were to fail once, everyone would add insult to his injuries.

If Diwu Qing Rou could not rise up to the challenge, Great Zhao would also be destroyed.

These two people were so different!

"What about the opportunity you talked about, Prime Minister?" prompted Han Bu Chu respectfully.

"The opportunity is when King of Hell Chu caused the chaos. King of Hell Chu will use our attack to get rid of our people. We will then use his attack to increase our strength!" Diwu Qing Rou said casually.

"Increase our strength?" Han Bu Chu's eyes lit up, as he suddenly understood what Diwu Qing Rou meant.

"That's correct. King of Hell Chu uses a saber and sword to cause unrest and loss for our Great Zhao. But he is only doing what I have been unable to do." Diwu Qing Rou's tone was sharp as he slowly said, "He is able to get the Jiang Hu people of the world to gather here!"

"So that's it." Han Bu Chu sighed softly.

"When we set up the Golden Horse Riders Department, not many people knew about it. Some people claimed to be beyond the fight for fame and power of this world and they refused our invitations. These people were scattered everywhere. If they were to avoid us, we would not have enough time to convince them, even if we were to locate all of them."

"It was only under the efforts of the four King level leaders much later that the Golden Horse Riders Department was finally formed. Over time, it managed to grow more and more powerful. Our invitations were then held in high regard by the Jiang Hu people as compared to the previous time. However, it was undeniable that there was an extremely terrifying force within Jiang Hu!"

"Sometimes, even the fighting force that was led by the Jiang Hu people would be incomparable even with the military!" Diwu Qing Rou said, "If I could somehow control this force, it would definitely provide us with a huge boost!"

"Hence, we should not fear them! We should only fear that they would not come! We should let them cause chaos! The more chaotic, the better!" Diwu Qing Rou announced. "Order Qiu Feng Yang to arrest people if he has the chance. The garrison outside of the citadel shall not be mobilized!"

"With Underworld Saber and the Heavens Sword present, most of them will have their own motive. The ones without any motives are the most terrifying. As long as they have motives, there is nothing to fear. Once they are present, they will definitely fight. Fighting and killing in Continent Center Citadel is a violation of the nation's laws! We will be able to do this justifiably without worrying about anything!"

Diwu Qing Rou smiled sinisterly and said, "As the fight progresses, more martial experts will appear. There will not be just one or two. Every fight will be a lose-lose situation. At that moment, King Level leader Jing would have to follow this carefully, and catch anyone that can be caught. He would welcome those that can be welcomed. This time, if everything goes according to plan, Golden Horse Riders Department can easily recruit ten thousand people."

"Since King of Hell Chu wants to cause trouble, we would not stop him, but instead we would cooperate with him and give him what he wants!" Diwu Qing Rou declared. "This force is exactly what I want. And what King of Hell Chu wants is time. It would be most ideal if we could kill King of Hell Chu, but if this can't be done, we can still continue to toy with him."

"Everyone who are captured would have to be guarded carefully. Wait until the worst is over, and anyone who is willing to work for us will be handed over to King Level leader Jing and the Golden Horse Riders Department for consideration. Those who are not, will be killed!" Diwu Qing Rou commanded. He smiled, "If King of Hell Chu is providing us with such a huge opportunity, and we can even make use of this situation to deal with him and Iron Cloud, why not?"

Han Bu Chu and the people around him immediately realized the plan.

Gathering strength was their plan. When this ends, they would let everyone know that this was King of Hell Chu's ploy to make them all just a foolish bait. By doing so, even if they did not want to assist the royal court, they would not be able to deal with the humiliation and would eventually join in Golden Horse Riders Department's fight.

Not choosing to join would mean death for a legitimate reason, which was to violate the laws of the nation. Choosing to join would mean being valued, as well as a chance for vengeance… Even an idiot would know what is the right choice to make.

Diwu Qing Rou had thought long and hard about psychological factors, human reaction, hatred… As long as nothing unexpected happened, it would be over by the time King of Hell Chu made his move!

There would be more than ten thousand people, who would be Martial Masters or stronger in the Golden Horse Riders Department.

Such a force, especially after some training, would definitely be a force to reckon with on the battlefield. They would be the defining factor for how the war would turn out!

King of Hell Chu was here to cause trouble, but he could not shake the foundation of Great Zhao. However, after Diwu Qing Rou gather up the massive force, he would be able to destroy Iron Cloud.

The pros and cons were evident in everyone's eyes.

A quick discussion was held and everyone then left with their respective tasks in mind. Diwu Qing Rou sat in his study and pondered. He was going through the whole plan in his head, again and again, trying to think of any possible flaws.

King of Hell Chu… would he be able to find out about this?

If he found out… what could he do?

Even if the Heavens Sword and Underworld Saber were to disappear immediately, the people would still be here. Fate is sealed!

Diwu Qing Rou came to a conclusion and finally felt assured.

That very afternoon, among the trainers of the great clans of Middle Three Heavens, three clans entered the Continent Center Citadel. One of them was the Mo clan that Chu Yang had long awaited for.

Mo Tian Yun was here!