Chapter 45: The Genius Among Geniuses (Part 1)
In the Mansu Woodland Camp, inside a house shaped like a giant mushroom, Jie Yuanshao sat and spoke while Jie Zilong stood and wrote.
After Jie Yuanshao finished recounting what she had seen and heard in the Mansu Woodland, she waited for her third uncle's follow-up.
However, Jie Zilong said nothing.
He only looked at what he had drawn on the blackboard, and suddenly circled a few terms.
Shelter, construction, resources, next wave of offensive, durability...
Jie Yuanshao didn't notice anything at first, but soon began to frown, her thick brows knitting together.
"Do you see anything?"
"These terms feel... a bit strange."
"Because these terms are both new and old," Jie Zilong said with a smile, "They are new to us. When I was young, I traveled through the Three Kingdoms of Liang, Zhou, and Qi, and often ventured beyond the regions, but this kind of vocabulary is sothing I’m seeing for the first ti."
"At the sa ti, they are also old. There are no unfamiliar characters, and even if it's the first ti encountering them, one can understand their anings."
"Compared to Jiang Ten’s actions in the Mansu Woodland, the 'special nature' reflected in her words is even more intriguing."
"For example, this." Jie Zilong circled the word 'Blade Warrior.'
"If it were your first ti seeing the Dual-Blade General, would you na it that?"
Jie Yuanshao thought for a mont and decisively shook her head, "No, its most distinctive features are the dual blades and the heavy armor. Compared to 'Blade Warrior,' 'Dual-Blade General' undoubtedly captures its traits more accurately."
"Exactly. 'Dual-Blade General' is a nickna we gave it based on its features, but 'Blade Warrior'... might actually be its real na."
"Na." Jie Yuanshao softly muttered the word, as if savoring its aning. "Na..."
"You know too, Yuanshao, that certain humanoid demons in Secret Realms can engage in so level of communication, and there even exist texts that can be read."
"Our understanding of Secret Realms and tokens mostly cos from refining knowledge out of demon speech and Secret Realm texts, which is why our understanding is quite shallow."
"For example, three years ago, when the royal family was clearing out the Fire Phoenix Blaze Secret Realm, they accidentally triggered a hidden chanism, resulting in the appearance of a new Demon King. The casualties were so heavy they had to withdraw completely."
Jie Yuanshao imdiately recalled the funeral that had shocked Jiangnan three years ago and exclaid in surprise, "So that’s how the Prince of Kuaiji died? I thought it was from illness?"
"He died from his injuries after escaping," Jie Zilong said. "At least the token was preserved."
"Not only have we not thoroughly explored the Secret Realms, we might not even truly understand the tokens—do you know, our family possesses a third-stage rare token, and we still haven’t figured out all its uses, not even how to operate it."
"In fact, most of the tokens we know of—are just conventional nicknas, not their true nas."
Jie Yuanshao subtly picked up on her third uncle’s underlying implication, her expression growing increasingly serious. "You an to say, Jiang Ten..."
"A so-called genius is soone gifted with extraordinary abilities, different from ordinary people in talent, opportunity, or secret knowledge."
"There are many kinds of geniuses in this world—so are great at battlefield combat, others at strategizing, and so excel at taming beasts or manipulating the five elents."
"But the top-tier geniuses, there is only one kind—they are those gifted in exploring Secret Realms."
"They delve into the depths of mystery, possess extraordinary intuition, unearth hidden clues, and can even directly perceive the true nature of Secret Realms."
"Compared to them, we are like blind n."
"Jiang Ten, is a genius among geniuses."
...
...
Led by a servant, Qian Gongyu walked up to the second floor of the Shang family carriage, her heart brimming with excitent—not just because she could tour the interior of a noble's carriage, but because she was brought in under the gaze of many, led by a Shang family servant!
She could see Luo Weijin's face twisting in frustration, and those who used to look down on her family now looked extrely upset.
To beco friends with the fourth daughter of the Shang family—even as a noble of the Blue Band—ant she was now an emperor among the Blue Band!
"Xiaoyu, you're here," Shang Xinlei set down her brush and paper, and ca over to pull her into the reception room. "How was the food from my kitchen? I really liked today’s spicy mantis shrimp."
"There was too much," Qian Gongyu laughed. "It's just , Jiang Ten, and Uncle Lin at ho. Besides you, Miss Shang, even Lady Jie sent us food. Even with Jiang Ten eating half of it, we still had a lot left."
"Jiang Ten ate half?" Shang Xinlei was stunned. She gestured to her own waist. "I rember Jiang Ten's waist being even slimr than mine—she ate half?"
Qian Gongyu blinked, and said uncertainly, "It seems... so food disappeared as soon as she picked it up."
Shang Xinlei's expression subtly changed, and she said seriously, "If you don’t want to endanger Jiang Ten, you'd best not let that information leak. And you should also advise her not to reveal this in front of others."
"Jie Yuanshao likely believes Jiang Ten's storage ability only works within the Mansu Woodland. But if others discover she possesses such a high-capacity storage token..."
She paused, then helplessly shrugged, "Though, Jiang Ten is already in a situation where the fire boils the oil—any more attention won’t make much difference now."
Qian Gongyu squird a little in her seat, her hands tightly clutching her skirt.
"Is it... really that serious? It's just high scores—"
"It's much more serious than you think," Shang Xinlei said. "Indeed, the Liang Kingdom previously didn’t pay much attention to the Mansu Woodland, but that was based on the assumption that 'the Mansu Woodland didn’t yield much.'"
"Now that we've achieved such high scores, the personal treasure chest rewards during settlent will naturally be more generous, and the top ten treasure chest rewards nine days from now will also increase accordingly."
"And this is only the change brought by the four of us. What if dozens of people scored high? What about hundreds?"
"The Mansu Woodland Secret Realm is extrely unique. It has no limit on the number of participants, and no entry threshold, which ans that if the imperial court wishes, it can imdiately pull together tens of thousands to join."
"By then, if everyone's rewards are combined, it might reach a level where Qi and Zhou would have to ally together to attack Liang."
Qian Gongyu’s legs imdiately began trembling uncontrollably, her teeth chattering as she spoke in a shaky voice: "Th-this serious?"
Seeing her like this, Shang Xinlei couldn’t help but clutch her stomach and laugh wildly, making Qian Gongyu’s face turn red.
The latter bit her lip and stood up in protest: "Miss Shang, if you’re going to be this disrespectful, there’s no need for us to continue our friendship!"
"No, no, it’s my fault. Sit down first." Shang Xinlei pulled her back.
"How about this—as an apology, you can just call Xinlei from now on. Don’t call Miss Shang so distantly."
Qian Gongyu's eyes lit up, but she hesitated, "Is that really okay? I’m just a Blue Band..."
"There’s nothing wrong with it. I call Jie Yuanshao by na too."
"And I don’t have many friends either. I’d love to be friends with soone as interesting as you, Xiaoyu," Shang Xinlei said with a smile.
"I'm interesting...?" Qian Gongyu was a bit puzzled at first, but quickly accepted it and smiled, "So I’m interesting!"
"Then, Xinlei, were you telling the truth just now? Or were you trying to scare ?" She looked at Shang Xinlei suspiciously and said indignantly, "I’m from Baiyun, you know. Don’t lie to ."
Shang Xinlei struggled hard to hold back her laughter and waved it off, smiling: "Of course I was trying to scare you."
"Although Jiang Ten didn’t say much, I could tell when she upgraded the shelter—at least that’s what she called it—she didn’t use any items or incantations."
"It was as if she could see sothing we couldn’t."
"This is a unique ability of hers. I don’t think it can be replicated or promoted."
"Jiang Ten is certainly valuable, but not to the extent of sparking a war."
She paused, then added, "But her beauty might spark a war—so breathtakingly beautiful even when expressionless. I can’t imagine how nation-toppling she’d look when she smiles. I don’t even want to stand next to her."
Qian Gongyu nodded in deep agreent: "Exactly! Standing next to her is so stressful. Sotis I get jealous of her, but the mont I see her face, I forget to be jealous."
"But I don’t think Jiang Ten is unreplicable—others might not think so either," Shang Xinlei said. "The Jie Family might not think so either."
At the ntion of the colossal Jie Family, Qian Gongyu opened her mouth but couldn’t say a word.
Two days ago, she didn’t even have the qualifications to speak a polite word to anyone from the Jie Family, let alone have any dealings with them.
And now the Jie Family was voluntarily sending gourt als from their kitchen to her door—heavens have rcy, her carriage table wasn’t even big enough to hold all the food.
Qian Gongyu naturally knew why she was receiving such treatnt, but she had no idea how to respond.
The Jie Family was too massive, and she was too young.
"By the way," she suddenly rembered sothing, "yesterday Lady Jie ntioned punishing Jiang Ten..."
"Forget it. No one cares about that anymore. Haven’t you noticed Luo Weijin is hiding in sha?" Shang Xinlei waved casually, then picked up a box from her desk and placed it in front of Qian Gongyu.
"Open it and take a look."
Qian Gongyu opened the box, and her pretty face was imdiately bathed in green light.
Inside were six strings of Spirit Jade, each string dyed a dark green—clearly all Hundred-Jade!
Spirit Jade had a peculiar feature: when a large quantity fell to the ground, it would rge and stack instead of endlessly occupying space.
As the number of rges increased, the green deepened. When it stacked to the limit of one hundred, it turned dark green—Hundred-Jade.
Each string had ten pieces.
Six strings of Hundred-Jade ant six thousand Spirit Jade.
That was the net profit of several days from a small Secret Realm.
For the Qian Family, which had never truly controlled a Secret Realm, this was an unprecedented fortune.
In Qian Gongyu's mory, their liquid funds had never exceeded a few hundred Spirit Jade.
Looking at this wealth that could let her celebrate New Year in style, Qian Gongyu looked extrely conflicted.
After struggling for a long while, she still closed the box and pushed it back to Shang Xinlei, bowing her head as she said: "Sorry, I can’t decide for Jiang Ten. I can’t accept this money. But I can try to talk to her for you!"
Shang Xinlei blinked and asked: "What do you think this money is for?"
"Isn’t it to buy out Jiang Ten?"
"Co here."
Qian Gongyu obediently moved closer, and imdiately got her cheeks pinched and squeezed endlessly by Shang Xinlei.
"It’s one thing to underestimate Jiang Ten, but how can you look down on the Shang Family too?"
"You really think I’m so stingy that I’d try to buy Jiang Ten for this little amount?!"
"I was wrong, I was wrong—"
"This is for you. I noticed toward the end of the Mansu Woodland that you weren’t replenishing your Spirit Energy anymore."
"I figured you didn’t bring much Spirit Jade with you, so I’m giving you so for ergencies," Shang Xinlei said.
"Don’t overthink it. This is just so you can perform better in tomorrow’s investnt."
"If you suppress a few more demons tomorrow, I won’t be at a loss."
"That simple?"
"That simple."
"No other conditions?"
"No other conditions."
Qian Gongyu carefully hugged the box. "Anything else?"
Shang Xinlei waved her hand: "Nothing else. You can go back."
Qian Gongyu walked to the stairwell and couldn’t help asking again, "Really nothing—"
"I changed my mind. I want you to stay tonight and dance belly dance—"
"See you tomorrow!"
Shang Xinlei opened the window, watching Qian Gongyu cheerfully return to her own carriage.
She saw her chattering away with Jiang Ten, who was practicing footwork beside the carriage.
Shang Xinlei shook her head with a helpless smile.
"I thought I could make her feel ashad..."
She muttered to herself, "Looks like her eting with Jiang Ten wasn’t just luck... she really is an interesting person."
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