Chapter 63 The First Step of the Emperor

Cao Wenzhen would never have thought that the confidentiality he maintained for safety reasons would actually help Lu Changjing.

There was no need for Lu Changjing to explain in great detail. Cao Xiuyuan, who had already been suspicious of Cao Wenzhen, imagined what had happened.

In order to avoid the extermination of his entire clan, Cao Xiuyuan obediently knelt down in front of Lu Changjing, admitting that his adoptive father's actions were too excessive and there was suspicion of rebellion.

Cao Wenzhen adopted Cao Xiuyuan as his adopted son, not because he was filial, nor because he was loyal to him, but mainly because his talent and qualifications were the best among the younger generation of the Cao family.

At just over a hundred years old, he has already reached the level of a mid-level Grandmaster. In the future, there is a great possibility that he will become a Grand Grandmaster and continue the glory of the Cao family.

That was why Cao Wen Zheng cultivated him so carefully. However, Cao Xiuyuan was not his real child after all, and the issue of the nine clans was involved.

Cao Xiuyuan didn't want to die, and he didn't want his entire clan to be killed. In addition, he felt that what Cao Wenzhen had done was too much, so he simply surrendered to Lu Changjing.

"From now on, I will only listen to your majesty and will never listen to Cao Wenzheng. Please rest assured, your majesty!"

Looking at Cao Xiuyuan who knelt down respectfully to show his loyalty, Lu Changjing nodded with satisfaction: "That's good. In fact, you are not betraying Cao Wenzheng by doing this, but to save the entire Cao family."

"If you want to learn from Cao Wenzheng, I will definitely kill the entire Cao family and not leave any of them alive. But since you have surrendered to me, it means that not all of the Cao family has betrayed me. From now on, I will pardon all of the Cao family members except Cao Wenzheng."

"Thank you, Your Majesty. I will never go along with Cao Wen Zheng again. Please rest assured." Cao Xiuyuan kowtowed repeatedly and completely sold out Cao Wen Zheng.

At the same time, he also agreed to be Lu Changjing's eyes and ears, to monitor Cao Wenzhen for him, and on the surface he still served as Cao Wenzhen's man, to "monitor" the Emperor for Cao Wenzhen.

Seeing that Cao Xiuyuan was so tactful, Lu Changjing nodded with satisfaction, which saved him a lot of trouble.

Immediately, he used the soul-stealing technique from the Soul-Picking Secret Scripture to steal Cao Xiuyuan's memory to see if he was lying or just trying to fool him.

Hearing that Lu Changjing wanted to test his loyalty, Cao Xiuyuan quickly agreed and took the initiative to open his spiritual sea, allowing Lu Changjing to enter and exit.

After some stealing, Lu Changjing confirmed that Cao Xiuyuan was not lying and got a lot of secrets about Cao Wenzhen from him. Then he nodded with satisfaction.

By the way, Lu Changjing also got several mid-to-high-level spiritual weapons from Cao Xiuyuan, which increased his combat power by more than two times, barely making up for his disadvantage in equipment.

With Cao Xiuyuan as his own, Lu Changjing finally felt much more at ease.

With Cao Xiuyuan's help, he would be able to know Cao Wenzhen's whereabouts in advance, and with Cao Xiuyuan covering for him, the possibility of being exposed would be even smaller.

In addition, he also obtained a batch of cultivation resources from Cao Xiuyuan, many of which were given to him by Cao Wenzhen, which greatly made up for Lu Changjing's shortcoming in this regard.

Cao Xiuyuan's strength is only at the level of a mid-level grandmaster, but with the support of various spiritual weapons and trump cards, even a high-level grandmaster can't do anything to him.

That is why he is qualified to become the commander of the Jinwu Guard, one of the thirty-six guards of Baiyujing. Otherwise, even if Cao Wenzheng is his adoptive father, he cannot even think of becoming the commander of the Jinwu Guard.

Each of the thirty-six guards has at least several thousand people, and some even have tens of thousands. All together, there are about eight hundred thousand.

Each guard was a warrior carefully selected from the entire dynasty, and the worst was a warrior above the fourth level, mastering various battle formations and secret techniques, and could easily suppress an ordinary army of tens of thousands of people. If the thirty-six guards were deployed together, they could even sweep across the entire Daning Dynasty, with almost no opponents, and could be called the most elite troops in the country.

Among them, the Jinwu Guards who are responsible for guarding the Qianqing Palace are the elite among the elite. Each of the 10,000 Jinwu Guards is a warrior above level seven.

If it were in the ranks of the common people, he would already be qualified to be called a first-rate master, and he could definitely establish his own school and live a life of wealth and glory.

But they are just ordinary soldiers in the Jinwu Guard, so you can imagine how elite the Jinwu Guard is.

Ten thousand Jinwu Guards formed a battle formation. Even a great master had to avoid their sharp edge and dared not engage in battle with them.

Although there is no grand master in the Jinwu Guard, there are several grand masters, far more than other guards.

Capturing Cao Xiuyuan is basically equivalent to capturing the Jinwu Guards.

Although this person is a relative of the emperor, he has been working in the Jinwu Guard for decades and is quite familiar with the entire Jinwu Guard.

In addition, he often negotiated various benefits for the Jinwu Guard from Cao Wen Zheng, so the soldiers in the Jinwu Guard respected and trusted him very much, far more than their respect and trust for Cao Wen Zheng.

It is precisely because of this that Lu Changjing chose Cao Xiuyuan as the first soul-picking target. Otherwise, he would not have wasted a precious soul-picking spot.

With Cao Xiuyuan's escort, Lu Changjing felt more secure in the imperial palace. He no longer would be easily abandoned and killed.

This also allowed Lu Changjing to see the possibility of successfully replacing Ning Zhongyu. The magnificent Great Ning Dynasty, with a territory of tens of thousands of miles and a population of over one billion, had countless resources and treasures.

How could Lu Changjing give up easily? What's more, he is now so close to Tan Qingyun, Lin Yixin, Xiao Yaoxin... He naturally would not abandon them easily.

The concubines in the harem helped him a lot. Although they didn't know that he was a fake emperor, the relevant benefits and advantages were ultimately taken by Lu Changjing.

Even out of a sense of responsibility, Lu Changjing would not give up.

He asked Cao Xiuyuan to patrol outside for him and monitor Cao Wenzhen, and then Lu Changjing began to practice.

With Cao Xiuyuan as his own, Lu Changjing dared to act more boldly in the future. At least some of his previous ideas could be put into action.

Ten days later, Tan Qingyun once again sneaked into the imperial study with a food box full of goodies.

Although Cao Xiuyuan had been captured, it would not be a problem for him to enter through the main gate, but for safety reasons, Lu Changjing still acted in his previous style.

Moreover, in the Qianqing Palace, there are not only the Jinwu Guards, but also the Imperial Guards, many eunuchs, and many palace maids... Occasionally, people from other palaces will come to the Qianqing Palace, so they naturally cannot be exposed easily.

When Lu Changjing saw Tan Baobao wearing a loose gauze skirt, his eyes lit up. He quickly hugged her and reached in. Soon Tan Baobao blushed and quickly blocked his mouth with imported grapes.

However, because he was too panicked, the grapes fell into his collar again. Lu Changjing had no choice but to help find them. It took him half an hour, and he finally got to eat the grapes with body fragrance again.

(End of this chapter)