Chapter 460: Strength To Face A Challenge Head-on
Inside a large hall.
Several voices whispered in a private conversation that gradually developed into a quarrel.
“Our two clans will join forces and after the Chen family is destroyed, the Tonghuang family should take 65% of the interests and profits obtained from them. It’s enough for your Mugu clan to take 35%.” This was said in a tough voice.
“35%?”
Several gazes turned sharply towards the speaker as if they were looking at an idiot. One of the Protoss said with a frosty expression, “Is this the sincerity of the Tonghuang family? While you’re treating us like idiots, why not call us beggars too?”
He said in a cold voice, “The Mugu clan must get at least 55%!”
“Impossible.”
An emotionless voice said, “My Tonghuang clan now has as many as six masters from the Shenguang Order, while the Mugu clan only has four. The Tonghuang clan is fully deserving of the t.i.tle of the top family clan. With our strength, we ought to take 60% or more of the loot. Your clan doesn’t have the strength, hence you are only good enough to follow behind us and pick up our leftovers.”
The voice gradually started to sound quite oppressive, “Stop your nitpicking. We originally wanted to take 70%. Seeing as how your clan had agreed to contribute their strength, we’ve reluctantly given up 5%. This is the final plan. Just forget it if you don’t want to cooperate, we can do this alone.”
“Heh~”
The representative of the Mugu clan still kept sneering repeatedly, “So what if you have two more masters from the Shenguang Order? Previously, when all the political parties revolted, the masters from the Tonghuang clan were the fiercest in their suppression, they also suffered the greatest losses. Your clan had lost eight law enforcement halls and four of your armies suffered a total defeat. Less than half of the clan pract.i.tioners remain. You can only fall back on the masters of the Shenguang Order to support your clan’s image.”
“There are two reasons why your clan is looking to cooperate with the Mugu clan this time. One, you want to use our clan’s masters as cannon fodder. Two, you want to prevent the Mugu clan from making trouble behind your back so you can only pull us onto the same boat to war against the Chen family.”
“Moreover, although the Chen family is rich, they do not have the habit of saving their money; each year, their remaining savings are channeled into strengthening the Chen family’s fortress. Since the fortress has been running for decades, it’s probably been made impenetrable. Mobilizing the pract.i.tioners from the Shenguang Order may not even be enough to break through such a fortress. It would be even more impossible for ordinary pract.i.tioners to break through the fortress.”
“I am certain that you do not have the absolute confidence to take down the Chen family, and you are even more worried about suffering too many losses, that’s why you’re pulling the Mugu clan to your side to join forces before making a move! But you’re showing this sort of att.i.tude. You want us to give our lives for just 35% of interest. Heh, heh, everyone, this is too much wishful thinking on your part, right?”
The representative of the Mugu clan saw through the purpose of the Tonghuang clan at once and could not help but make sarcastic remarks.
But those on the receiving end did not feel even a little bit of embarra.s.sment.
“So what if it’s like that?”
The elder of the Tonghuang family said indifferently, “Its just some middle and lower-ranked pract.i.tioners. As long as the Tonghuang clan announces that we are recruiting, we can get as many pract.i.tioners as we want. The amount of cannon fodder will be instantly filled. There is no shortage of manpower.”
“Recruit? And where would you try to recruit? How many people can you find?” That taunting voice said.
After the chaos of the political parties, countless middle- and lower-ranked masters from various clans had fallen. The manpower count was exact; there were no extra numbers. This led to a supply shortage of guest pract.i.tioners joining the clans. Unless the salary and treatment were extremely attractive, they would not be many pract.i.tioners coming forward to be recruited.
Moreover, during the upheaval caused by the political parties, a large number of pract.i.tioners had joined their ranks. After this, they were then ma.s.sacred by the joint forces of various family clans. It was likely that the remaining survivors would hold a grudge against the various clans. Recruiting these pract.i.tioners into the clans may be equivalent to introducing the enemy into their ranks. They would be an unpredictable landmine.
Therefore, recruiting pract.i.tioners was not a good move.
“Cough cough cough~”
The original confidence that the elder of the Tonghuang clan had started to deflate a little. Of course, he still acted tough, “It’s merely the Chen family, there’s no need to muster a large number of forces to deal with them. With the strength of the Tonghuang clan, wiping them out will be a piece of cake. This time, we are giving you a rare opportunity. If you don’t take it, you will regret it in the future.”
“In that case, there is nothing to talk about. We will be going back.”
The few representatives of the Mugu clan nimbly stood up and said without turning back, “The Chen family’s descendants have publicly made an official announcement – To break through the Chen family’s fortress, five masters of the Shenguang Order would need to die, or about 10,000 pract.i.tioners from the Jushen and Yuanying Order, only then will their attackers succeed in completely taking down the fortress…This would take nearly all the Tonghuang clan’s strength. Since your clan wants to go at it solo, let’s see you prove whether the claim by the Chen family’s descendants is a rumor or not.”
“If it is not a rumor…”
He said with a profoundly meaningful smile, “The t.i.tle of the top family will belong to our Mugu clan, hahaha~”
“Wait!”
The elder of the Tonghuang family stood up and stopped him. His expression grew dark and ugly, “Don’t go! Let’s continue to talk.”
He felt extremely angry.
That d.a.m.n Mugu clan, they had guessed what they were thinking!
They knew that the Tonghuang clan was worried about the Chen family fortress.
In reality, the extent of the strength of the Chen family’s fortress and how well it could withstand intense attacks has always been a legend and a mystery.
Legend had it that the pract.i.tioners below the Shenguang Order who intruded into the Chen family’s fortress without getting their permission would die.
Regarding this statement, many pract.i.tioners made futile attempts to break into the Chen family’s fortress to steal some secrets or treasures told the world the legend was true–it was really dangerous inside the fortress.
It could not be said that all the intruders from orders below the Shenguang Order had died. But it was true that none had made it out.
Perhaps to intimidate the various forces harboring ill intentions, the Chen family descendants living in the fortress often posted videos publicizing the strength and power of the fortress. They released various bold and lofty statements worthy of the worst kind of braggart.
“The strongest fortress since ancient times.”
“Except for several pract.i.tioners of the Shenguang Order teaming up, all pract.i.tioners from the lower ranks will die regardless of their numbers.”
“Do you see this laser cannon, its power can easily cut through the indestructible celestial body of a master from the Jushen Order.”
“The entire layout of the interior is similar to that of a defense tower’s base, but on a larger scale. There are no overlooked areas, no weaknesses, and the enemy can only choose to attack by storm.”
“It takes about one million deaths from the pract.i.tioners of the Yuanying Order before the enemy can break this fortress.”
“Now, even those of the Shenguang Order can forget about leaving the fortress alive!”
“…”
The Chen family bragged without restraint online.
When the Chen family’s content was noticed by leaders of the other clans, the corners of their mouths became pursed, and much of the greed clouding their brains dissipated.
“What kind of joke is this?!”
The elders of the Tonghuang family were extremely unhappy. Their expressions were ruthless and murderous, “No matter how hard of a tortoisesh.e.l.l they have, I will break them! They are mere humans, how dare they boast shamelessly?”
As they considered the end of the political party chaos, where the middle ranks of the Tonghuang clan had been severely put out of commission, and the heavy losses that they had sustained, the only way to stabilize their status as the top family and to maintain the original influence was to absorb new stakes and profits to strengthen the clan’s interests.
Hence, the target was aimed at the Chen family.
However, they simply could not ignore the boasts made by the Chen family. They worried about the damages that they could incur and how it might lead to a situation where the gains would not be worth the losses.
A more secure method of executing they planned to get a powerful and fear-inducing ally to their side to share the risks.
However, they did not expect that the Mugu clan would have such a large appet.i.te and how they were unsatisfied with getting 35% of the interests.
“Forty percent!”
The elders of the Tonghuang family said, “We can’t give more. If you don’t want to do it, we will find other clans. The strength of the Black Lion clan is not much inferior to the Mugu clan.”
The comprehensive strength of the Black Lion clan was ranked somewhere around the third or fourth place. There were two pract.i.tioners of the Shenguang Order overseeing the clan, and they had many middle and lower-ranked masters.
“Then go to the Black Lion clan.”
The representative of the Mugu clan remained unmoved, “55%! We must get at least 55%! The Black Lion clan will indeed serve as good cannon fodder, but the Tonghuang clan is sure to pay a certain price in the process of absorbing the Chen family. You could lose 20% to 30% of your strength. You might even lose one or two masters from the Shenguang order. By then, not only will your clan be removed from the position of the top family clan, but the third-ranked Black Lion clan would also be seriously weakened. I will be happy to witness these scenes.”
Hearing this, the expressions of the elders of the Tonghuang family grew dark as coal, but he still did not dare to take a gamble on the possibility that the power residing inside the Chen family’s fortress was not as strong as rumors stated.
Once their estimations turned out to be a mistake, the Mugu clan would probably be the third party that benefited from the fight between the Tonghuang clan and the Chen family.
“50 percent!”
He gritted his teeth and said, “It’s a 50/50 split, but you must contribute a sufficient amount of manpower!”
“Oh~”
Seeing the elder relenting, the representative from the Mugu clan smiled slightly and extended his hand, “Then we have a deal.”
The negotiations and quarrels that had gone on for several days were ended just like this.
A short-term alliance to divvy up the Chen family was formed.
…
Shanghai City.
Inside the villa.
The contents of the conspiracy plotted by the Tonghuang and Mugu clans in private were presented to Chen Jin and a few of his descendants.
Seeing the agreement that was reached on the screen and the sinister smiles given by both sides.
All of the Chen family’s descendants trembled with anger.
“They are simply not taking the Chen family seriously! Instead, they are butchering us.”
“These guys think that the Chen family has become so weak that we can be easily bullied?”
“Don’t underestimate our Chen family! I guarantee that you will never be able to return.”
But…
After venting their anger, they calmed down. Some started to feel nervous and concerned.
One by one, their gazes turned towards Chen Jin, and various questions were raised.
“What should we do now?”
“The Chen family fortress is extremely powerful, there are countless machines and weapons inside. We should be able to win against them?”
Chen Junfeng pulled Chen Jin slightly to the side. He leaned close to his ear and said, “Grandpa, the situation is dangerous. This time, it is better to do what we have previously done to the Jinwu family. We should do a pre-emptive strike. Let’s bring out our trump card”
Once they played that trump card, they could wipe out the Tonghuang and Mugu clans. The crisis encountered by the Chen family would be solved once again.
But…
Chen Jin shook his head, “After we’ve previously played our trump card, the Protoss’ investigation team had taken up their defensive position and squatted outside our compounds for five years. But because there was no conclusive evidence, they removed their surveillance. If we were to re-use the same tactic and expose our motivation again, I am afraid we won’t be able to bluff our way through as easily as before.”
Once the Chen family was exposed as the murderer who engineered the deaths of a million Protoss, the Chen family would probably become the public enemy of the entire Protoss population. He estimated that they would be drowned beneath the onslaught of countless Protoss in an instant.
“We are not using our trump card?”
Chen Junfeng frowned heavily, “That won’t do. The top and second-ranked clans have joined forces. They will dispatch countless masters. The Chen family’s fortress is very likely to be unable to withstand such an attack. When that time comes, we’ll all be dead!”
“Grandpa, these are two large Protoss clans, we might not be able to win this round if we don’t play our hidden trump.”
“If we play that card, we will certainly die.”
Chen Jin still shook his head, “If we don’t play the trump card, the outcome is 50/50. We do have the ability to engage in combat.”
Fifty-fifty?
This was unlikely? Was the fortress so strong that it was possible to not only hold off the two Protoss clans but also win against them?
Chen Junfeng’s face was full of disbelief. There was not even a 30% possibility of winning against the Protoss, much less 50%.
“I’m not talking big. This is what the artificial intelligence, Abao, told me based on the results that he had gotten via the computer simulation’s deduction.”
Abao was the control center of the Chen family’s fortress, and it was also an AI with an extremely high level of intelligence. Even he had made statements like ‘more than 50% confidence that the fortress could destroy the invaders.’
A green flashed the light in the air and Abao appeared to explain to Chen Junfeng, “We have at least 50% confidence in winning this defensive battle.”
“This is because we have three obvious advantages here:”
“One, after the end of the political parties’ chaos, the Tonghuang clan suffered heavy losses, and the Mugu clan had also lost one-third of their strength. Their current strength is not as good as before. Their level of threat is significantly lower than before. The pract.i.tioners that they send who are lower ranked than the Shenguang order may not even be able to destroy the three outer defense lines, much less break through the inner core defense line.”
“Second, we have become stronger! For the past few decades, the Chen family fortress has been undergoing non-stop construction to perfect and strengthen itself. The density of various defense weapons is unimaginable. Some weapons based on celestial technologies have become so powerful that it may be possible to kill pract.i.tioners from the Shenguang Order.”
“Also, we’ve already ma.s.s-produced a total of 800 units of bio-mecha that have been put into active service for eight regiments. They are stationed in eight corners. After many years of maintenance and self-cultivation, all of them possess the strength attained during the Yuanying phase. But because of their large volume, the amount of spiritual energy contained inside them is equivalent to that of a pract.i.tioner from the Jushen Order. Combined with a heavy offensive weapon like the celestial sniper cannons that have point and kill capabilities, it can penetrate the s.h.i.+eld formed by the vital Qi of a master of the Shenguang order.”
“Then, they are spread and arranged into a killing spell formation derived from the computer algorithms. All the bio-mechas in each regiment can encircle and kill the pract.i.tioners of the Shenguang order.”
“Eight regiments correspond to the capacity to deal with up to eight pract.i.tioners of the Shenguang order.”
“To absorb the Chen family, the Tonghuang and Mugu clans will strive to send out all of their elite troops. But they can’t send out all of their masters of the Shenguang order. They could at most send out five or six….. This is within our tolerable capacity.”
“Finally, we have the advantage of intelligence. Our surveillance system has penetrated every corner of the two clans and we’ve learned all their movements and information. Their next actions will be completely transparent and will be displayed in front of us. We have achieved the tenet of knowing one’s enemy.”
“They don’t know anything about us, they don’t understand anything about our strengths.”
“So we have the intelligence advantage of knowing ourselves and knowing the enemy. We know their situation and trends in real-time, which gives us at least another 20% chance of victory.”
“From a comprehensive view, even if we don’t play our trump card, we still have a greater degree of certainty to resist this malicious attack. At the same time, we’ll also create a reputation that the Chen family must never be provoked.”
Abao a.n.a.lyzed.
Chen Junfeng nodded and said with some surprise, “Our Chen family has been strengthened to such an extent?”
“Prepare yourselves!”
A radiant light shot forth from Chen Jin’s eyes, “The Chen family has acted low-key for too long, leaving others with the weak image of one who can be easily bullied. This time, it is time for us to reverse this image! When the Tonghuang and Mugu clans have been soundly beaten by us, we’ll be paying no more of the asylum and protection fees.”
The Chen family could defend their interests now.