Chapter 124: Shocking! Jiang Ce’s Greatest Weakness Turns Out To Be This
“Wasting talent? Wasting what talent? I feel very happy right now. Isn’t life supposed to pursue happiness? If you blindly pursue fame and fortune, your life will definitely be relatively unsuccessful.”
Jiang Ce corrected him seriously.
“What the hell are you saying?”
The Masked Man’s expression was very colorful.
The Gluttonous Ghost doesn’t cultivate through merit cultivation like the righteous path, so they act without any taboos, of course including rather sharp words, which isn’t a big deal for them at all.
But upon hearing this, Jiang Ce’s face showed a look of reminiscence, with a long-lost sense of emotion.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve heard such nonsense from people around me. I really miss it.”
“Back to the main topic.” The Middle-aged Man raised his hand to interrupt their pointless conversation: “I didn’t bring you here today just to see you once. You should be aware of that.
So let’s talk about how you want to cooperate with us.”
Jiang Ce thought for a moment, as if he had no particular ideas, and said generously:
“You tell me. If it’s suitable, we’ll do it your way. After all, you know I never thought about these things at first. It was purely because this Big Brother wanted to kill me that I compromised out of necessity.
I stuck to my bottom line, but between life and death, I chose life. I tried my best, so I don’t regret it. Go ahead, how do you want to coerce me?”
After hearing this, the Masked Man couldn’t help but take off his mask: “What exactly did you stick to? This was clearly your proposal!”
“I’m an introverted person, not good at expressing my emotions. I did stick to it; you just didn’t notice.”
Jiang Ce pouted and said righteously.
The Middle-aged Man smiled and changed the topic: “I’m the Holy Envoy Chief of the Holy Cult. Holy Envoys are responsible for monitoring everything in the world. To be honest, there are very few things we don’t know; it’s just a matter of time.
However, the current situation is different from the past. Sometimes, knowing the information we need just one minute earlier could bring earth-shattering changes to the situation—a miss by a hair could mean a difference of a thousand miles.
Regarding what you said yesterday about the Daoist-Buddhist alliance, I actually had some guesses, but they were still in the verification process. You just told us the intelligence we were about to learn a step ahead.
But this one step can save us a lot of trouble, avoid the risk of our insiders being exposed, and allow us to prepare countermeasures a few days earlier. You can say you played a very important role.”
Jiang Ce felt the other party was slyly belittling his bargaining chips during the first half, but after the second half, he was completely thrown off.
How did it turn into praise? Could it be that Gluttonous Ghosts are all honest people?
Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but complain: “I say… you’re not very good at doing business.”
“You mean it’s very stupid of me not to belittle your value but to openly admit that you’re indeed very important to us, right?”
Seeing Jiang Ce silent but his face clearly saying “Isn’t it?”, the Middle-aged Man smiled:
“Sincerity, sincerity is very important.
I still have a big-picture view. A little petty profit and haggling, compared to the greater cause—which is more important? I can tell that clearly.
Time is tight, so I won’t go through the process with you step by step, probing. I’ll be straightforward.
You can access internal intelligence we can’t, turning us from passive to active. That’s the advantage I value most.
So no need to play dumb. If you have any ideas, just say them straight. For capable people, we’re always willing to pay some insignificant things in exchange for sincerity.”
Jiang Ce was greatly surprised by this.
He probed: “Then, how about rebelling with me and supporting me to become your Cult Leader?”
“I can’t agree to that.”
The Middle-aged Man sighed: “If you talk like that, there’s no need to talk.”
“Talk, talk, I’ll talk properly.”
Jiang Ce smiled and counted on his fingers: “Let me calculate. Right now, my status as Gatekeeper is almost second only to two people and above ten thousand others, and then…”
“Wait, clarify—which two people?”
“Cao Gong and Wei Men Shen.”
“Never mind, continue.”
“I’ve never been one to focus on benefits, but I care a lot about face, so you at least have to give me something to look forward to. Meaning, if I join you, I should be able to reach at least the same height and status.
You get what I mean, right? To put it without exaggeration, whoever gets me gets the world. Don’t look at me now as just an intelligence peddler. As long as the stuff is in place, I can risk it to find out what color underwear Wei Men Shen wears.”
After speaking, Jiang Ce nervously watched the other party.
The demands he made were already very bold, crazily inflating his own value. Clearly a Traitor, yet he spoke as if he were as important as Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong.
But as Mr. Lu Xun said, porters always like compromise and moderation. If you say the room is too dark and needs a window, everyone will refuse. But if you propose tearing off the roof, they’ll compromise and agree to open a window.
Jiang Ce understood this principle well, so he started by negotiating to the death, proposing a demand that even he found ridiculous, waiting for the other party to haggle and settle on a condition both sides could accept.
But what he didn’t expect was that the other party chuckled and agreed without hesitation.
This time, Jiang Ce was the one thrown off.
Gluttonous Ghosts are too straightforward, right? Even more so than Monks?
“Don’t you need to check with someone?”
Even Jiang Ce, this wicked evildoer, couldn’t help but feel compassion and remind him from the other side’s perspective.
The Middle-aged Man waved his hand: “No need. You might not understand our structure. Besides the Helmsmen in each city, there’s an even more transcendent organization, which is us, the Holy Envoys.
We not only monitor and gather intelligence but also carry out Assassinations, interrogations, special missions, and a series of other actions. In short, you can think of us as the Cult Leader’s personal guards.
Everything we do comes directly from the Cult Leader’s orders. We don’t listen to anyone else. My status in the cult is second only to the Cult Leader, so becoming our insider is like one foot in the door of the Holy Envoys.
In the future, when we overthrow the Gatekeeper, you’ll make great merit and naturally become one of us, reporting directly to me, which is equivalent to reporting directly to the Cult Leader. Isn’t that still second only to two people and above ten thousand others?
Moreover, as far as I know, the Gatekeepers number quite a few but certainly not over ten thousand, whereas our Holy Cult… probably exceeds ten thousand.”
He paused, then smiled and continued:
“By then, not to mention above ten thousand, above a hundred thousand, a million, or even a billion, won’t be a problem.”
Jiang Ce frowned as he listened, then pointed at the Masked Man: “What about him? My qualifications aren’t as senior as his. Can I outrank him in the future?”
The Masked Man gritted his teeth: “Can’t you ask that privately, behind my back?”
“You’re all so honest, so I’ll be honest too. If you don’t like it, pretend you didn’t hear.”
Jiang Ce said nonchalantly.
“When you join, per the rules, your rank will naturally be last, below him, but on par with Helmsmen and such. So, what do you think of this condition?” the Middle-aged Man explained and asked.
“But Wei Lao and the others are my blood brothers, mentors, beloved friends, and family.”
Jiang Ce shamelessly drooled with feigned regret: “Add a bit more.”
“Then add this: if you later provide intelligence that’s decisively helpful to us, we’ll make an exception and make you the First Holy Envoy, with status second only to me and the Cult Leader. How’s that?”
Faced with the Middle-aged Man’s coaxing tone, Jiang Ce was indeed somewhat tempted.
If before it was just about keeping a backup plan, like finding a part-time job while employed, now he even wanted to make the part-time his main job.
The only thing bothering him a bit was that Gluttonous Ghosts were a bunch of evildoers. Although Jiang Ce’s bottom line wasn’t high, he still had one. Stepping on his enemies’ corpses to rise was something he enjoyed, but if it harmed innocents, he’d still struggle with it.
So he decided to agree first and see the situation before deciding whether to go all in.
“Well… alright. Although I’m taking a bit of a loss, since you’re all so sincere, I can’t refuse anymore.”
Jiang Ce smiled reservedly.
“Mm, then it’s settled. Happy cooperation.”
The Middle-aged Man smiled and extended his hand; Jiang Ce also reached out and shook it.
“Right, I still don’t know your honorable name?”
Jiang Ce asked.
The Middle-aged Man uttered two words: “Yan Yi.”
Jiang Ce then looked at the Masked Man, who nodded: “Song Yuntian.”
The Middle-aged Man patted Song Yuntian’s shoulder: “Yuntian, send him back.”
Then he looked at Jiang Ce: “From now on, Yuntian will be your sole contact. He’ll tell you the communication method. If necessary, Yuntian will also act to guarantee your safety.”
“Good.”
Song Yuntian patted Jiang Ce with a smile: “Let’s go. I didn’t expect that in one day, from enemies to allies. Quite interesting.”
“Not as interesting as you being a pussy.”
“I’m a normal player…”
As he spoke, Song Yuntian took Jiang Ce and vanished from the spot.
Yan Yi’s smile disappeared, replaced by a solemn expression.
He turned and bowed to the figure behind: “My lord, he’s gone.”
Everyone present did the same, but none dared speak, as they were Song Yuntian’s men and strictly had no right to speak.
Moreover, while they appeared calm and bowed along during Yan Yi’s words, their arms and calves were trembling uncontrollably.
Clearly, the person Yan Yi called “my lord” was a figure who could inspire fear even for these Cultivators not far from Heaven-Reaching Dharma Master.
In fact, the Holy Envoys don’t serve the Cult Leader directly; there’s one person in between.
The next moment, a young Monk in a faded gray Monk Robe emerged from the shadows and praised: “Well done.”
Yan Yi lowered his head even more.
“My lord overpraises.”
The Monk also nodded to the others: “Dropping your tasks to act as background was hard on you. You did well too.”
“Thank you, my lord,” the others said in unison.
But from start to finish, no one dared look up at the Monk.
“You can go now.” Yan Yi waved them off, signaling them to leave.
The group left as if granted amnesty, the pale-faced old scholars whose drug effects hadn’t fully worn off.
“My lord.”
Yan Yi looked at the young Monk: “I have one thing I don’t understand.”
The Monk stood with hands behind his back and said mildly: “You want to ask why I had you act so eagerly, as if desperate for him to work for us?”
Yan Yi nodded: “I feel this is too abnormal. He doesn’t seem easy to fool. I’m afraid it might backfire and make him suspicious.”
“He already has suspicion. No matter how normal you act, he’ll still suspect. No difference.”
The Monk shook his head.
“But…”
“I want to amplify his suspicion.”
The Monk sighed: “You think being too eager will make him sense something wrong, increasing his wariness of us, right?”
“Exactly.” Yan Yi nodded.
“That shows you don’t understand him.”
A slight arc formed at the corner of the Monk’s mouth:
“He’s that kind of person, always suspecting everything, distrusting it all.
So if you set a trap for him, instead of making it look not like a trap, make it look like one.
The more obvious and crude the trap, the more curious he’ll be.
This is a trap? How so obvious? So strange, let’s go in and see.
That’s his mindset, and he’ll fall for it.
So the more eager you are, the less he’ll believe things are as simple as they seem, and the more he’ll want to verify, naturally following the path we’ve laid out.”
As he spoke, he seemed to recall something amusing and chuckled:
“You don’t know how many losses I made him suffer as a kid with that personality.”
Yan Yi didn’t dare ask about these high-level past events and pretended not to hear.
He changed the subject: “My lord, since he’s your Junior Brother, why isn’t he like the other Helmsmen…”
Halfway through, he realized something and shut up.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t ask that.”
The young Monk waved it off: “No harm. Just know he’s different from my other Junior Brothers. He’s special, one of a kind.
No one can dictate his path; it can only be guided. If he were as easy to handle as the others, the one you should call ‘my lord’ now would be him, not me.”
Yan Yi was shocked by this and lowered his head, not letting his expression show.
After a silence, Yan Yi suddenly said: “Right, my lord, something seems to have happened in Luocheng yesterday.”
“I know. Yuan Se took people to teach Bai Qing a lesson.”
“It’s more than just a lesson. One of Helmsman Bai Qing’s left and right arms seems to have died because of this. I didn’t dare investigate too much, but…”
“You don’t need to worry about this. I heard the rumors before Yuan Se acted, but I tacitly allowed it.”
The young Monk smiled:
“Bai Qing’s disciple committed an unforgivable mistake, but in my position, it’s not easy to punish him. Since Yuan Se is willing to play the villain, let him.”
Hearing this, Yan Yi said no more.
These weren’t matters he could manage, so Yan Yi asked about how to handle Jiang Ce going forward.
“Then for the follow-up, what attitude should I take?”
The young Monk thought: “With him, remember one thing: maximum tolerance, maximum cooperation.”
“Even if he damages our interests?” Yan Yi asked.
“Even if he damages our interests.” The young Monk replied.
People in BJ, just got off the plane, still typing on the flight—I’m so diligent.
