Chapter 98: Peerless Divine Marquis
"Since the Xuzhou Chamber of Commerce can open up new trade routes on its own and meet the needs of the Marquis' Mansion, there is no need to trouble the Cui family!"

After hearing Dai Fayan say that the Xuzhou Chamber of Commerce could increase its revenue on its own without cooperating with the Cui family, Zhu Chengwu finally made a decision.

Zhu Chengwu's decision made Cui Shuyun reluctantly step aside.

Missed the opportunity to complete one of the three things ahead of time!

Cui Shuyun felt secretly regretful.

With a veiled glance at Cui Shuyun, who had just argued with Zhu Chengwu and now kept silent, many people at the scene had different thoughts in their minds.

Especially the conversation between Zhu Chengwu and Cui Shuyun just now, many of them recalled and studied it carefully word by word.

They need to figure out the true relationship between Zhu Chengwu and Cui Shuyun to avoid falling into traps!

Although Cui Shuyun was married into the Marquis's mansion in a formal manner with all the formalities, whether she could get the proper treatment and respect as a wife depended on Zhu Chengwu's attitude towards her.

Some people think that the fact that Cui Shuyun dared to confront Zhu Chengwu just now already shows Zhu Chengwu’s love and respect for Cui Shuyun.

After all, only those who are favored dare to be so fearless.

But some people also think that Cui Shujun is just an extra to the "Earth Core Fire Lotus" and Zhu Chengwu does not pay much attention to Cui Shujun at all.

The basis for their judgment was that from the moment they greeted Zhu Chengwu at the main gate of the Marquis' Mansion, Zhu Chengwu's attitude towards Cui Shuyun, the Marquis's wife, was not very friendly.

But more people feel that everything is now like a fog, and they can’t see clearly or understand.

Listening to the conversation between Zhu Chengwu and Cui Shuyun, it seems that there are other transactions and entanglements between Zhu Chengwu and Cui Shuyun that they are not aware of!

As for whether this entanglement is good or bad, and whether it will cause benign or malignant effects, they cannot be sure!

Therefore, they felt that it was sufficient to maintain superficial respect for Cui Shuyun, the legal wife.

Don't be too close to them to avoid Zhu Chengwu's hatred for the whole family and getting implicated.

Nor should they be too distant to avoid offending Cui Shuyun. After all, no one can say for sure whether this wife of the Marquis's mansion will be favored by the Marquis in the future, or even become more noble because of her son!

"General Zhao!"

Zhu Chengwu ignored the different thoughts of his subordinates, called Zhao Xinghan's name, and continued to arrange the work.

Zhao Xinghan was the last of the three heroes in the Marquis' Mansion to be named by Zhu Chengwu.

"I am here, please give me your orders, my Lord!"

Zhao Xinghan stepped out and also clasped his fists and bowed in response.

When working, it is called position.

Gao Yao understands this point, and Zhao Xinghan understands it too!
A person with basic emotional intelligence will not discuss family relationships and personal friendships in the workplace.

"General Zhao, I have been exposed!
Whether it is strength or goal!
Therefore, we must get more chips before my father and brother react and make a decision!

Raise the flag and attract more people who are loyal to me!
The power and influence of the Marquis' Mansion must be further expanded as quickly as possible!
You have always been in charge of the largest military force in the Marquis' Mansion, and are also the spokesperson for the Marquis' Mansion in the official circles and in the underworld.

In the next period of time, you must do your best to get in touch with as many forces as possible and gain the most support from them!

Two months later, I will hold a martial arts competition at Jiuhua Mountain outside the city of Xuzhou.

General Zhao, please spread this message as well, and tell them that I welcome all the masters and top-notch people in the Ming Dynasty to come and provide guidance and exchanges.

By the way, General Zhao, before you went to Cui's, I made a promise to you that as long as you bring the Earth Core Fire Lotus back safely, I will accept you as my disciple!

Today, in front of so many people, I will officially accept Shilin as my registered disciple.

Please send Shilin to the Marquis’ Mansion tomorrow!
Let him choose one from "Innate Qi", "Fire Palm" and "A World Away", and I will teach him personally.

If Shilin can achieve master status before the age of 25, I will accept him as a formal disciple and teach him all of "Innate Qi", "Fire Palm" and "The World Is So Close"! "

Zhu Chengwu assigned a task to Zhao Xinghan.

It is also an extremely important diplomatic and coalition-building task.

Although Zhao Xinghan was a member of the Zhao clan, he gained Zhu Chengwu's trust after he safely brought the Earth Core Fire Lotus back to the Fu'an Marquis Mansion and the Zhao clan did not get any news about it.

"Understood, Lord!

I will bring Shilin to the Marquis' Mansion tomorrow!"

Zhao Xinghan accepted the order.

The Shilin mentioned by Zhao Xinghan and Zhu Chengwu is Zhao Xinghan's talented and intelligent son with extraordinary physique - Zhao Shilin.

After hearing Zhu Chengwu's words, countless people at the scene were secretly looking at Zhao Xinghan with envy.

Not only was Zhao Xinghan himself valued by Zhu Chengwu, but he was also entrusted with important tasks.

Even the legitimate son Zhao Shilin was given the opportunity to rise and grow.

Although he is only a nominal disciple, he is Zhu Chengwu's first disciple and currently his only disciple.

In their eyes, what is the difference between such registered disciples and formal disciples?
Not to mention that Zhu Chengwu has already put forward specific requirements for Zhao Shilin to become a formal disciple.

You will also be able to directly learn unique martial arts skills!
In the mansion of Marquis Fu'an, apart from Zhu Chengwu, only Gao Yao and Zhao Xinghan have been able to learn the unique martial arts.

Even Dai Fayan, because he came to power late and was not a warrior, did not receive any unique martial arts skills.

Now Zhao Xinghan's legitimate son Zhao Shilin has surpassed everyone else including Dai Fayan. No wonder so many people at the scene are secretly envious...

However, the merits accumulated by General Manager Dai Fayan should be about the same!
The reason why Chief Steward Dai Fayan has been accumulating merits and not exchanging them is well known to everyone in Marquis Fu'an's Mansion!

Some people who thought of this secretly turned the same envious gaze towards Su Xianglin.

Zhao Shilin, the legitimate son of General Zhao, and Su Xianglin, the nephew of General Dai, it is true that there is a gap between them!

There were countless people at the scene who longed for magical skills and unique martial arts but could not obtain them due to insufficient merit. They were sighing in their hearts at this moment.

However, one thing was beyond the expectations of many people who were secretly observing Zhao Xinghan's expression.

Zhao Xinghan, who was trusted by Zhu Chengwu, entrusted with important tasks, and whose legitimate son was even accepted as a disciple by Zhu Chengwu, did not show any obvious joy on his face at this moment.

His expression is as calm and peaceful as ever!
As expected of General Zhao, he remained calm even when faced with a huge crisis!
Many people who were secretly observing Zhao Xinghan praised him in their hearts.

But how could they know Zhao Xinghan’s mood at this moment!

Zhao Xinghan was no longer trying to suppress his excitement but had a calm expression on his face.

Instead, he was feeling mixed emotions, not knowing what expression to show, so he showed his expressionless face.

The good news was that he was valued by Zhu Chengwu, and his legitimate son Shilin also had a good future.

This is exactly what everyone present thought.

But Zhao Xinghan still has worries that no one knows about.

Zhu Chengwu had clearly never told him before that Cui's "Fire Lotus" was actually the "Earth Core Fire Lotus".

He hadn't known before that the "Fire Lotus" he was escorting was actually the "Earth Core Fire Lotus"!
Even the fact that Cui's "Fire Lotus" was not an ordinary "Fire Lotus" was guessed by him.

But Zhu Chengwu now pointed out in front of so many people that he was rewarded for his merit in safely escorting the "Earth Core Fire Lotus", which allowed his legitimate son Zhao Shilin to become Zhu Chengwu's apprentice.

Was this a slip of the tongue by Zhu Chengwu, or was it intentional?
Zhao Xinghan guessed that Lord Zhu Chengwu probably did it on purpose.

This was to make Zhao and Zhao Yuguang completely misunderstand that he had already known that Cui's "Fire Lotus" was the high-level rare treasure of heaven and earth, the "Earth Core Fire Lotus", but he just hadn't reported it to Zhao and Zhao Yuguang.

This was the Marquis Zhu Chengwu cutting off his retreat so that he wouldn't be indecisive.

Moreover, when he was about to take on the important task of representing the Fu'an Marquisate to various forces, the Marquis Zhu Chengwu suddenly proposed to fulfill his promise and accept his legitimate son Zhao Shilin as a registered disciple and bring him to the Fu'an Marquisate to teach him personally. Is this a coincidence, or is Zhu Chengwu, the lord and cousin, using his legitimate son Zhao Shilin as a hostage?

Although Zhao Chengwu had been in seclusion to recuperate before and had no time to fulfill his promise, it is possible that he has time now.

However, there is a greater possibility that Zhu Chengwu was using his legitimate son Zhao Shilin as a hostage.

Many times, there are some things that Zhao Xinghan, in his current position and situation, has to think more and reflect deeply about.

Once he ignores it and plays ostrich, he is likely to be sold out without knowing it.

When you reach a certain height, there is no room for naive people to survive!
Because there are too many people watching you and plotting against you!

But even if he guessed Zhu Chengwu's purpose correctly, Zhao Xinghan could not and dared not resist. He could only go all the way and act according to Zhu Chengwu's will.

Because Zhao Xinghan had previously concealed from Zhao Shi the information that he suspected Cui Shi's "Fire Lotus" was not an ordinary "Fire Lotus", a rift was bound to arise between him and Zhao Shi!
Zhao didn't believe that he didn't notice anything unusual about Cui's "Fire Lotus".

In addition, Zhu Chengwu is now deliberately...

The gap between him and the Zhao family is getting bigger and bigger!

Also, Zhu Chengwu is now the rising sun, while Zhao is already in the sunset...

How to choose is self-evident to a smart person!
In recent years, Zhao's followers have gradually lost the upper hand in the struggle with the prince's followers. In addition to the increase in the prince's power and Prince Ming's favoritism behind the scenes, another reason is that Zhao Yuguang of the Zhao family is old, and the Zhao family has no leader who is outstanding enough to succeed Zhao Yuguang.

The struggle for power is not only about the present, but also about the future.

As for Zhao's followers, apart from the fact that Zhao lacks a future leader, Zhu Chengwu's past impression was that of a martial arts fanatic who was a little clever, and not an excellent leader of the faction.

Who would have thought that Zhu Chengwu, a martial arts fanatic, would become another martial arts legend after Taoist Sanfeng.

A comeback in one battle!
Just overturn the chessboard and restart the track!

Moreover, Zhao Xinghan is one of the top three powerful figures in Fu'an Marquis' Mansion.

On the contrary, within the Zhao clan, Zhao Xinghan couldn't even rank in the top three of the Xing generation.

Even if Zhu Chengwu suspected him and restricted him, Zhao Xinghan would never betray Zhu Chengwu and choose the Zhao clan.

Thinking about it another way, isn’t restriction also a manifestation of importance?

If he didn't take it seriously, with Zhu Chengwu's identity, strength and status, how could he cause any trouble? Not only did he destroy and cut off his ties with the Zhao clan, but he also took his son as a disciple to control him?

After changing his thinking, Zhao Xinghan's mood suddenly became much better!
After arranging work for Zhao Xinghan, the main work was completed.

Zhu Chengwu then arranged some minor chores and encouraged everyone present, and this small gathering at the Marquis' Mansion was over.

After everyone left, Zhu Chengwu left Cui Shuyun behind.

It was not because of the relationship between husband and wife, but for the "Golden Crow Spirit Refining Technique".

Cui Shujun is the future Yangshen combat power that Zhu Chengwu has high hopes for, so Zhu Chengwu naturally has to pay more attention to Cui Shujun.

But after some questioning, Zhu Chengwu discovered that Cui Shuyun was even better than he had imagined.

Cui Shuyun's talent for and understanding of the method of cultivating the spirit were beyond Zhu Chengwu's imagination.

No one taught me, I just practiced according to the secret manual.

Within ten days, Cui Shuyun began to transform her spiritual power into the Golden Crow spiritual power.

Moreover, Cui Shuyun's understanding of "The Golden Crow Spirit Refining Method" has very few errors and omissions.

Cui Shuyun's talent in refining the spirit made Zhu Chengwu increase his expectations for Cui Shuyun's future achievements in becoming a Yang God!
At the same time, it also made Zhu Chengwu more patient in guiding Cui Shuyun.

Under the careful guidance of Zhu Chengwu, the creator of the method, Cui Shuyun's doubts and mistakes in "The Golden Crow Spirit Refining Method" were quickly corrected.

Although "The Golden Crow's Soul Refining Method" was deduced by Zhu Chengwu based on Zhu's numerous books and the Wudang secret "The True Martial Soul Refining Method", supplemented by his previous life's imagination and with the help of the "Jade Book".

But after the "Jade Book" was deduced, all the knowledge and practice steps of "The Golden Crow Spirit Refining Method" existed in Zhu Chengwu's mind.

It is not wrong to say that Zhu Chengwu is the creator of the "Golden Crow Spirit Refining Method"!

"My Lord, you said that the Golden Crow Divine Refining Technique can be practiced, but its name cannot be made public. Is it because the Golden Crow Divine Refining Technique was created by you, my Lord, and you want to keep it a low profile and secret?"

After several hours of teaching, when all of Cui Shujun's doubts and minor mistakes had been explained and corrected by Zhu Chengwu, Cui Shujun suddenly looked at Zhu Chengwu with a complicated expression and said.

Apart from this reason, Cui Shuyun really couldn't think of any other reason to explain why Zhu Chengwu, a warrior, would have such a high level of understanding of the "Golden Crow Soul Refining Method"!

Many of Zhu Chengwu's analyses and multi-faceted explanations of "The Golden Crow's Spirit Refining Method" are not what he was taught by other teachers and can be explained by relaying them!
The fact that "Golden Crow Spirit Refining Method" was created by Zhu Chengwu himself is really incredible!

This really shocked Cui Shuyun!
That's why Cui Shuyun was in doubt for a long time and hesitated many times before finally speaking to Zhu Chengwu to confirm.

Although Zhu Chengwu once said that he was not as good as his predecessors when he was fighting with the Duke of Yan and the Marquis of the Northwest, most of his magical skills, unique martial arts, secret techniques and forbidden skills were all created by himself.

But if it is said that "Golden Crow Spirit Refining Method" was also created by Zhu Chengwu himself, it would be too shocking!
You have to know that the path of spiritual cultivation and the path of warriors are two different tracks.

Moreover, Zhu Chengwu is a warrior, not a spiritual cultivator.

Although it is rare for a first-rate martial artist to create a magical martial arts manual or unique martial arts skills, there are precedents after all!

For example, Taoist Sanfeng from hundreds of years ago and the evil cult leader Dugu Sheng from decades ago.

But the warriors created a method of refining the spirit that directly targets the Yang God...

And he has not yet become a martial arts master!
This is too exaggerated!

You know, even Taoist Sanfeng, who was known as the most powerful genius in the past thousand years, created the Zhenwu Spirit Refining Method when he was close to becoming a top master.

Afterwards, Taoist Sanfeng once again achieved the Yang God with the "Zhenwu Spirit Refining Method".

If the "Golden Crow Spirit Refining Method" was really created by the current Zhu Chengwu, doesn't it mean that Zhu Chengwu's talent and talent are even greater than the famous Taoist Sanfeng!

This…

“There are many things that we can guess, question, and doubt in our hearts!
But please don’t say it out loud, it will be meaningless if you say it out loud!”

Zhu Chengwu replied to Cui Shuyun indifferently without directly answering Cui Shuyun's question.

There are some things that Zhu Chengwu cannot admit or announce at this stage!

There are two completely different concepts: a first-rate warrior creating a soul-refining method that leads directly to the Yang God across tracks and a first-rate warrior creating his own magical skills manual.

A first-rate warrior creates his own magical skill manual. Since Zhu Chengwu already possesses a combat power that exceeds that of an ordinary master, everyone can only say that he is "an unparalleled talent" and "qualified to be a grandmaster"!
But if it is confirmed that Zhu Chengwu has created a method of refining the spirit that leads directly to the Yang God, then many masters and top masters of the Ming Dynasty and even the Yuan Dynasty will probably unite and shout out that sentence: "There must not be another Sanfeng Taoist in this world!"

Jiazi destroys the devil!

However, many masters and top masters can feel the deadly threat from history books!

For a first-rate warrior who can create his own magical skills manual, people will only think that his limit is the evil sect's Dugu Sheng!

But for a warrior who can create both his own magical skills manual and the Yang Shen spirit refining method, his template and upper limit will make people involuntarily think of the martial arts legend from more than 300 years ago!

As for why Zhu Chengwu dared to teach the "Golden Crow Spirit Refining Method" directly to Cui Shuyun under such threats.

Everyone has their own inherent cognition!
This is what Zhu Chengwu called the obstacle of knowledge and perception in his previous life!
As long as Zhu Chengwu does not admit it and does not announce it, who would doubt that Zhu Chengwu can cross the track and create the "Golden Crow Soul Refining Method" that directly leads to the Yang God?
This is undermining their common sense and inherent worldview.

Without solid evidence, instead of believing that the "Golden Crow Spirit Refining Method" that leads directly to the Yang God was created by Zhu Chengwu across the track, they would rather believe that it was obtained by Zhu Chengwu or Cui Shuyun by chance.

"My Lord, you are indeed worthy of being the peerless and unrivaled Divine Marquis!"

Although Zhu Chengwu did not answer directly, Cui Shuyun already had the answer in her heart.

She looked at Zhu Chengwu with complicated eyes.

(End of this chapter)