After thinking for a moment, Zhao Sheng hesitated and said, "Fourth Master, it's difficult to sneak into the Boiling Spring Valley!"
"It's not just difficult, it's extremely difficult! To put it this way, in the last five hundred years, only one scout from Black Ice Guard has entered Boiling Spring Valley, and that was only twice."
He Ying picked up his floor-length robe and sat back in his seat, a helpless look on his face.
Zhao Sheng pondered and said, "Let's give it a try! We can't rush this matter. We have to wait for the right time!"
"Hehe! Don't be impatient, the time will come. If you knew how many plans and rehearsals the Black Ice Guard had made to eliminate any force that posed a threat to the royal family, you would know how terrifying an intelligence agency with more than two thousand years of history can be!"
Facing the complacent He Ying, Zhao Sheng felt inexplicably chilled.
After leaving the intelligence point, Zhao Sheng followed his previous personality and resumed his normal "life" and normal "communication".
As for intelligence, he no longer deliberately inquired about it, but did it as he pleased.
He estimated that He Ying and others would not care much about the information he obtained.
Moreover, Zhao Sheng knew that He Ying and the others had their own plans, but they just kept them from him.
From the beginning to the end, Heibingtai never regarded him as "one of their own", but only as a "thug" and "cannon fodder".
Zhao Sheng didn't care about this at all.
...
Time flies, time flows like water!
In the blink of an eye, the dry season in Tianhuang Territory has passed and the rainy season has arrived again.
On this day, an imperial edict suddenly came from Yongjing and fell on the Zhou family.
The imperial edict quickly spread throughout Hongyangzhou: "By imperial decree, the Crown Prince's concubine, Lady Zhou, is virtuous, kind, and intelligent, and enjoys widespread popularity. She is hereby promoted to Crown Princess!"
Zhou's daughter became the Crown Princess!
This was like a shot of stimulant for the Zhou family. Not only were the mortal relatives excited, but even the immortal cultivators were also very excited.
Becoming the Crown Princess means that the Zhou family is valued by the current Crown Prince, and it also means that the Zhou family is very likely to become the imperial family of the Great Yong Dynasty in the future.
If she eventually becomes the queen, it means that the Zhou family's position in the Dayong Dynasty will be as solid as a rock for at least two to three hundred years.
Not to mention the distant future, even now, if the daughter of the Zhou family is promoted to Crown Princess, it will bring substantial benefits to the Zhou family.
Sure enough, everything went smoothly.
The prince's "sincerity" soon arrived!
The position of the garrison commander of Heishazhou was vacant, so Zhou Zhonghang, a general of the Zhou family, was specially transferred as the general to guard the border to guard Heishazhou.
Heishazhou is located on the border of Dayong, and this place is a place that the Dayong and Dazhen dynasties must fight for.
The reason for the fight is not because of the important terrain of Heishazhou, but because there is a large and medium-sized spirit stone mine in Heishazhou, which produces nearly two million spirit stones every year, and can stably produce high-quality spirit stones, and even occasionally dig up top-quality spirit stones.
The best-grade spirit stone is a treasure that even the Yuanying ancestors covet. If one could be hidden, the Zhou family's Jindan ancestor would be so happy that his face would be twisted with joy.
Therefore, after receiving the imperial edict, the Zhou family did not delay for a moment and immediately mobilized the "Fire Wolf Army" and followed Zhou Zhonghang, who was at the ninth level of foundation building, to rush to Heishazhou day and night to take up his post.
The Fire Wolf Army is one of the Zhou family's trump cards, and it is rigorously trained using the same method used by large sects to cultivate immortal soldiers to protect the way.
The immortal soldiers who protect the way come from the legendary military Tao. They are somewhat similar to ordinary armies and attach great importance to the power of unity and cooperation.
The means of cultivating Taoist soldiers is usually to use military formations to connect the essence, energy and spirit of all people, so as to achieve the state of military where all hearts are connected and all forces are unified.
The Taoist army is extremely costly and difficult to form. The Zhou family also used blood as a guide and, after decades of day and night training, they finally managed to forge a 200-man Fire Wolf Army.
It can be said that once this Fire Wolf Army deploys its formation, it can compete with the Golden Core True Person across levels, and ordinary fake elixirs are no match for it at all.
There are more than just the four Jindan families of "Lion, Tiger, Owl, and Wolf" in the Dayong Dynasty. Why are these four the only ones that dominate?
The key is that the four major families all have a Taoist army corps like the Fire Wolf Army.
Therefore, only the Mo family and the four major families could get their hands on the large spirit stone mines in Black Sand Island.
The prince showed his "sincerity", and the Zhou family reciprocated, unconsciously moving closer to the prince.
Moreover, the Zhou family took advantage of the prince's power to rapidly expand its influence in the eighty-eight states of Dayong, and gained considerable benefits in just one or two years.
It can be said that the Zhou family was in a very good momentum for a while, and everything went smoothly for them. It was like a hero with luck and support from heaven and earth.
Zhao Sheng remained indifferent to the Zhou family's booming situation.
Although He Ying kept his mouth shut and didn't let a single word leak out, Zhao Sheng's intuition told him that all this was the work of the Black Ice Platform!
The Fire Wolf Army's garrison in Heishazhou is clearly a strategy to lure the tiger away from the mountain.
The Zhou family's power expanded smoothly, which seemed to be of great benefit to the Zhou family on the surface, but on the other hand, it was also a way of dispersing their own strength.
This bizarre and insidious trick was so subtle that the Zhou family unknowingly fell into its trap.
As far as Zhao Sheng knew, the Zhou family was short of manpower now. Half of the Foundation Establishment clan members had to disperse to various states to look after the family business. As for the ordinary Qi Refining clan members who were sent out, there were even more.
If Zhao Sheng had not repeatedly stated that he "did not have much time left," and if he had not been so diligent in teaching the younger generation of the Zhou family, he, the chief guest official, would have been sent to another state long ago.
Even so, Zhao Sheng was given a lot of "tasks", such as regular inspections of Zhoucheng, occasional business trips, and dealing with certain "enemies".
As Zhao Sheng silently waited for the opportunity, time passed day by day.
Two years later, although the Zhou family's situation was getting better and better, the haze was approaching day by day.
In the past six months, the Zhou family suddenly found that something was wrong with the situation. Industries in various states suddenly encountered more or less trouble. Either the transport team was robbed by bandits, or the store business was taken away by certain forces. Even many family members disappeared for no reason.
Meanwhile, the Crown Prince was also in great trouble. The current Emperor had recently reprimanded the Crown Prince for his dissolute behavior and had granted the Second Prince the title of Prince.
The obvious meaning is to let the second prince and the crown prince compete with each other.
The emperor's mind is unpredictable, and the crown prince's position is unstable.
In recent months, the Crown Princess sent three letters home, repeatedly mentioning that the Crown Prince had few available men and asking her family to send a few more capable relatives to serve under him.
Now that they were on the Crown Prince's side, the Zhou family would naturally do their utmost to help the Crown Prince secure the Emperor's favor. Thus, the three Foundation Establishment clan members were quickly dispatched to Yongjing.
Zhao Sheng saw all of this.
He had a vague feeling that the time he was waiting for was almost here, but he hadn't quite figured out how the Mo family could gain the reputation of "righteousness".
Without a righteous cause, one cannot legitimately attack the "rebel" Zhou family.
As a family with a thousand-year history, the Zhou family was not to be trifled with. Although they had not fully grasped the Mo family's conspiracy, they had their own unique sources of intelligence.
Through intelligence and combined with the recent abnormal situations, the Zhou family seemed to have sensed that some kind of danger was approaching and began to show signs of shrinking their influence.
And the day before yesterday, the ancestor of the Zhou family suddenly issued a decree, allowing outstanding younger generations such as Zhou Qingwu and Zhou Qingli to enter the Boiling Spring Valley.
In name, it was the ancestor who personally trained him, but in Zhao Sheng's opinion, this behavior seemed to imply a sense of protection.
"Could it be that Zhou Xilai has realized that the Mo family is going to take action against the Zhou family?" Zhao Sheng thought secretly in his heart.
Just as Zhao Sheng was secretly sharpening his claws and teeth, waiting for the end of the Zhou family, He Ying suddenly contacted him.
When he arrived at the intelligence point, Zhao Sheng was surprised to find that Mo Wushuang, Bao Yuer, and He Ying were all there.
"Hey, why is there a bald donkey?"
Zhao Sheng turned his head and looked towards the corner of the secret room, where stood a big bald man with a solemn appearance and wearing a red monk's robe.