Chapter 55: Negotiation (Part Two)

"What did you do?" Lu Chengfeng stared intently at Zhang Rui.

The Lord Sovereign was the very foundation of the Lu family; even he, as the head of the family, was far less important than the Sovereign. If Zhang Rui dared to touch this foundation, the Lu family would risk everything to eliminate the threat.

"Do not be nervous, Lord Duke," Zhang Rui said calmly, looking at him. "This is not something I have done. Rather, the Lord Sovereign was tampered with long ago."

"What do you mean?" Lu Chengfeng did not lower his guard, glaring fixedly at Zhang Rui.

"The servants in the Lu residence carry ink. The scroll I brought simply gathered the ink from those servants to form a copy."

"What?"

"My point is that the Lu residence has been infiltrated long ago," Zhang Rui said indifferently.

"Aren't you exaggerating, Lord?" Lu Chengfeng was confused at first, then shook his head in disbelief. "Could the Lu family's illusion array be nothing more than a sieve? Can just anyone walk right in? As for the master of the Painting Market ever visiting the Duke's Mansion, that is impossible. Not just anyone dares to set foot in our Lu estate. The only members of the royal family we have ever received are His Highness the Crown Prince; even the Third Prince has never been here. Are you suggesting that the opponent could send an ordinary painting spirit to sneak into our estate and paint the Lord Sovereign?"

Oh, right, there was an illusion array, wasn't there? No wonder that thing was swaggering blindly around the courtyard without startling the ordinary maids.

"Well... how should I put it?" Zhang Rui sighed and shook his head. "All things in this world are interconnected and hold each other in check. While the illusion array of the Duke's estate is formidable, it poses no problem whatsoever for a painting spirit."

With that, he dipped his fingers into the ghostly ink on the scroll and gestured for Lu Chengfeng to summon any random maid.

After hesitating for a few moments, Lu Chengfeng decided to see for himself and instructed the steward to call over several maids.

Zhang Rui applied a dot of ghostly ink to inconspicuous spots on the maids, then had them walk separately to different parts of the Lu estate.

Following that, an astonishing sight unfolded before Lu Chengfeng!

Before long, Zhang Rui's scroll began to display copies of various locations around the Lu courtyard: a covered corridor, the backyard pond, and the women's quarters. Everywhere the four ink-marked maids had gone was actually captured in the paintings!

"This is..." Lu Chengfeng and the head steward stared blankly at Zhang Rui.

"Back in the day, the Supreme Ancestor relied on an army of painting spirits to conquer cities without fail, and it wasn't just because of his formidable military might," Zhang Rui said quietly, rolling up the scroll. "The utility of painting spirits far exceeds your imagination, especially in gathering intelligence. As long as you plant the blood of painting spirits on inconspicuous people in advance, the enemy's internal situation can be completely and accurately painted by the spirits. The reason the Supreme Ancestor was invincible back then was precisely because he knew the enemy's troop formations inside and out, while the enemy remained completely in the dark about his."

Lu Chengfeng: "......"

Such a thing was actually possible?

So many aristocratic families had lingered in the Painting Market for so long, only to waste their efforts entirely. All their attention had been fixed on trading vital blood, and they all assumed the primary reason for the Supreme Ancestor's victory was the blood-trading rule, completely overlooking the function of ghost blood.

Now it seemed that the wondrous utility of the painting spirits' ghost blood was in no way inferior to the vital blood of martial artists. It was truly impossible to guard against!

"B-But... what about our Lu family's illusion array..." the head steward blurted out.

"Ghost blood is not human; it isn't even the painting spirit itself," Zhang Rui replied, shaking his head. "When it copies, it is immune to any illusion."

"I see..." Lu Chengfeng immediately bowed. "I have learned much!"

"Lord Duke is too kind. Since we are allies, helping one another is only right," Zhang Rui smiled.

Lu Chengfeng glanced at Zhang Rui's chest and nodded slightly. "Well said, Lord. I shall remove the mark upon your person right away."

"There's no need..." Zhang Rui smiled faintly. "Leave it be. It leaves a bit more mutual trust between us."

Lu Chengfeng was momentarily stunned, then looked deeply at Zhang Rui, feeling a mix of uncertainty and suspicion.

Was he completely unconcerned, or was this a game of playing hard to get?

"Is the Lord certain?"

"I came with sincerity, so naturally I would not intentionally toy with the Lord." Zhang Rui smiled at him. "I wonder if the conditions I proposed earlier can now be fulfilled?"

"In two days, I will have someone send the intelligence you requested and the enlightenment master to your residence," Lu Chengfeng quickly replied, then smiled. "The residence the steward prepared for you earlier is very clean. I hope the Lord will not find it lacking."

"Then I shall accept it without pretense." Zhang Rui stood up and bowed.

He showed no intention of refusing whatsoever, which only made Lu Chengfeng even more wary. The man had come fully prepared; it seemed the items hidden within that residence would have to be cleared out in advance.

"May I ask who the other person you mentioned is?"

The man had just said there were three people capable of seeing through the Lu family's illusion array. Aside from himself and the master of the Painting Market, there should have been one more.

"The last one is merely a guess on my part, and I have no firm certainty yet. Allow me to survive this current scheme by the Crown Prince first, and I shall dig that person out for the Lord Duke afterward."

Hearing this, Lu Chengfeng nodded. "Then I leave it in your capable hands, Lord Zhang. Rest assured, regarding any targeting by the Crown Prince, whenever you need assistance from the Lu family, simply send word to the steward."

"Very well..." Zhang Rui smiled and extended a hand. "Then it's a deal?"

Lu Chengfeng smiled at the sight and raised his own palm to slap hands with him. "A pact by a slap of hands, it's a deal!"

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"Chengfeng, how much of what this fellow surnamed Zhang said do you believe?"

In the main hall, after Zhang Rui had been seen out by the steward, the elders of the Lu family gathered together, including Lu Sheng.

"Half true, half false, I suppose. Much of the intelligence is genuine, but certain claims were definitely concealed," Lu Chengfeng said quietly, applying ointment to the scalded area on his skin. "However, the intelligence regarding the painting spirits is truly vital. Had he not exposed it today, I fear we would have remained entirely oblivious to the fact that the Lu family was completely under surveillance until the day we died!"

"Is the painting spirit's blood really that miraculous?" The First Elder stroked his beard. "It can only copy, not eavesdrop?"

"That's what the young man claimed, but I believe it must be true. If it could eavesdrop as well, it would be far too terrifying." Lu Chengfeng looked out toward the hall, where the ink-marked servants uncovered by Zhang Rui were still kneeling on the ground, and frowned heavily. "It is truly impossible to guard against. Reading historical records back then, I always felt the Supreme Ancestor's military prowess was overly miraculous—every battle was like sweeping away decayed wood, and he always anticipated the enemy's moves beforehand. So this was the secret behind such terrifying espionage capabilities."

The elders nodded upon hearing this. Who could possibly defend against an ability where a mere dot of ink could turn one's own people into enemy spies without anyone noticing?

Take right now: there was simply no way to trace when those uncovered servants had been marked with ink. In such a vast estate, it was impossible to prevent maids from going outside. Whether they were out purchasing goods or running errands for their masters, any of them could easily have been marked with ink while outside. Even if these were weeded out today, they could simply be marked again in the future—there was simply no effective counter!

With the Supreme Ancestor wielding such a powerful lethal weapon back then, the aristocratic families had not suffered an unjust defeat given that they possessed zero intelligence.

Now, someone identical to the Supreme Ancestor had appeared in the capital once more. It really was a headache.

"Such vital intelligence, and he just gave it to us like that?" Lu Sheng couldn't help asking.

"Heh... If he didn't tell us, how could he cooperate with us?" Lu Chengfeng sneered. "Besides, what harm is there in him telling us? This kind of ability is impossible to guard against, and more importantly, he possesses it himself. In the future, if the Lu family is monitored, who can say whether it's him doing the watching or the so-called master of the Painting Market?"

Lu Sheng: "........"

"What a clever fellow," Lu Chengfeng said bitterly. "He asked for a whole list of conditions, seemingly imparting a crucial piece of intelligence, but in reality, he didn't let us gain the slightest advantage. In terms of wits, this kid is far sharper than you. I don't know what kind of family raised such a scion. If you and Lu Yuan had even half his brains, you wouldn't have suffered such a massive setback in Beihai City!"

Lu Sheng gritted his teeth, then asked, "How is my second brother?"

"With the divine power of the Lord Sovereign, you needn't worry about him!" Lu Chengfeng waved a hand. "Fortunately, we secretly left a seed within him back then to block a wave of disaster for him, otherwise the descendant whom our Lu family spent years cultivating really would have been finished."

"And the conditions proposed by that fellow named Zhang..."

"First, go and find out what grand gift the Crown Prince has prepared for Lord Zhang. Once you've investigated, report half and keep half, and let's see how he handles it."

"Understood... Oh, Father, what about... the matter of the mystic?"

"Pick a few from the family academy—ah, wait..." He suddenly remembered something. "Send Nightingale."

"Father?" Lu Sheng looked up, his face full of astonishment.

"What? Does it pain you?" Lu Chengfeng said coldly.

"No..." Lu Sheng hastily shook his head. "Nightingale has made tremendous contributions at Qingfeng Pavilion, and she is also an important piece we prepared to plant beside that talented scholar Master An. Sending her to this fellow surnamed Zhang might cause Master An to turn his heart away from us."

"Pawns are things you can find in abundance if you want them," Lu Chengfeng said dismissively. "Besides, isn't that the very purpose of a femme fatale? That fellow surnamed An possesses extraordinary methods and comes from a prominent hidden aristocratic family background. Using her to test Zhang Rui is the best course of action. Forget about her; the Lu family could never accept a woman like that, not even as a concubine."

"Then I shall go make the arrangements!" Lu Sheng lowered his head and gritted his teeth.

"Go..." Lu Chengfeng shook his hand in dismissal. After Lu Sheng departed, he turned to the First Elder and asked, "What did the Lord Sovereign say just now?"

"The Lord Sovereign said that young man carries something on him," the First Elder said quietly. "It poses a threat comparable to the Four Spirits sealed within the Imperial Palace!"

Lu Chengfeng drew a sharp breath upon hearing this. "Well well... It seems things are going to get quite lively in the capital this time..."

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Outside the estate, Zhang Rui followed the head steward back to the posthouse and unhesitatingly instructed his household to pack up and settle into the residence gifted by the Lu family.

As for whether the Lu residence gifted by them had been tampered with, he could only bite the bullet and accept it. Compared to the Crown Prince and the Third Prince, the Lu family would likely not make a move against him for the time being. Most importantly, while he was unclear on what hidden cards the Crown Prince and Third Prince held, the Lu family's Yin deity... hehe...

A flash of excitement crossed Zhang Rui's eyes. He had originally thought the hanging system had dug a huge pit for him, but it turned out to be delivering such a massive windfall.