Chapter 40: Coalition Meeting (2)

2nd-tier Hero’s Medal!

This guy is one of the empire’s 2nd-tier heroes!?

Lai Wuyi’s words caused the gathered patriarchs to almost fall out of their chairs.

Obtaining a Hero’s Medal was extremely hard to do. Every person who was awarded one had their name recorded down, and they were deeply respected in the military.

It didn’t give someone any extra authority in name, but it came with a lot of invisible benefits.

For instance, anyone who dared to kill one of these heroes would be thoroughly investigated by the empire; they wouldn’t permit any sloppiness. This also made it a death-warding medal.

Another was that one would have extremely good relations with the army. The army always valued heroes, and those who had earned Hero’s Medals had made great contributions. No matter where they went, they would command extreme respect.

This was tradition, common practice, etiquette, and even faith!

This was why Su Chen had those fifty army-use heavy crossbows. Getting those things for him was too easy. He could just find any troops stationed nearby and ask to buy some; as long as he didn’t ask for too many, the local troops would obviously agree. Of course, he still had to spend money, but other people couldn’t buy them with money even if they wanted to. Su Chen, on the other hand, could buy them as he pleased, not needing to worry about the consequences.

If he wanted to turn around and sell them for a profit, he would be able to earn quite the sum.

Su Chen’s Hero’s Medal was his greatest trump card, and it was the main reason he was willing to act so stubbornly.

Everyone was dazed when they heard this.

The Lian Clan, who had remained silent up until now, thought back to the day when they were negotiating with Su Chen.

On that day, Su Chen had used Wei Liancheng to counterattack the Long Clan, then used the Lian Clan as his backup. However, Chief Steward Lao had reckoned then that Su Chen could not possibly be relying completely on the Lian Clan.

So he definitely had some kind of backup plan.

Now, it seemed like the 2nd-tier Hero’s Medal was one of those backup plans.

The issue was that, even after a few skirmishes with Su Chen, they hadn’t even managed to force out this trump card.

He was just like an unfathomably deep well. They didn’t know how deep that well went, and they knew even less about how many secrets were hidden in that well.

Now they knew about the Hero’s Medal.

But what else was there?

If someday someone wanted to kill Su Chen no matter what the consequences were, what would come on their head?

Would they even be able to do it?

No one knew.

Long Qingjiang’s expression was extremely ugly. “2nd-tier Hero’s Medal…… how does he have something like that? How is that possible? Did he partic.i.p.ate in some big battle? But there haven’t been any large-scale battles between us and the Ferocious Race in recent years!”

Lai Wuyi sighed, “Why are you asking me? How would I know? I only know that he seems to have partic.i.p.ated in a secret expedition at one point and performed extremely well during that expedition, and he was awarded this rare prize.”

“Dammit! Dealing with him now is going to be really frustrating.” Long Qingjiang slammed his fist on the table heavily.

If word spread that Su Chen possessed a Hero’s Medal, many people would no longer dare to try and kill him.

Upon seeing this, w.a.n.g Peiyuan frowned. “What? A 2nd-tier Hero’s Medal has you all frightened like this? Even if a 2nd-tier Hero’s Medal is glorious, can it compare to the glory of a City Lord? If we can even keep An Siyuan under control, are we afraid of someone with a 2nd-tier Hero’s Medal?”

Upon hearing these words, everyone agreed after thinking for a moment. Their headache greatly lessened.

In reality, w.a.n.g Peiyuan’s words were both correct and incorrect.

With the influence of the ten Bloodline n.o.bility Clans, they didn’t need to take a recipient of even a 2nd-tier Hero’s Medal too seriously.

But the prerequisite was that they focus all their attention on competing with him.

Could the ten Bloodline n.o.bility Clans possibly place all of their attention on Su Chen alone?

Of course not!

The larger the clans and their businesses, the more troubles and enemies they would have.

Su Chen wasn’t their only enemy. The ten Bloodline n.o.bility Clans had too many targets that they needed to keep their eyes on.

Originally, it was as if they were only facing three Demonic Beasts, and the balance of power was in equilibrium. But upon finding out that Su Chen was actually a 2nd-tier Hero’s Medal recipient, it was as if another Demonic Beast had suddenly leapt out of nowhere, wrecking the balance between the parties.

This was the main issue with Su Chen.

He couldn’t possibly crush the ten Bloodline n.o.bility Clans, but he could absolutely become an important weight in the balance of power between the two sides.

They had originally viewed him as a small insignificant chess piece, but things had progressed to this point. How could the Bloodline n.o.bility Clan leaders not feel a headache coming on?

w.a.n.g Peiyuan’s sudden changing of the subject had temporarily given everyone a bit more confidence, but he was very clear that Su Chen, like An Siyuan and Lu Qingguang, was already determined to become a stumbling block to the Bloodline n.o.bility Clans.

As such, he said after a moment of thought, “Of course, no matter what, that Hero’s Medal is going to pose an issue. Many tactics that might have been effective before can’t be used anymore. But that doesn’t mean that we have no way of dealing with him.”

“That’s right. If everyone joins forces, we can always find a way to deal with Su Chen.”

At that moment, someone suddenly laughed coldly, “It’s just Su Chen. Is it worth having such a headache over?”

Everyone glanced in the direction of the speaker, realizing that the speaker was a man with triangular eyes.

“Patriarch He?” w.a.n.g Peiyuan laughed. “Do you have a good idea?”

Patriarch He’s name was He Wuqian. Even though his name meant “no money”, his clan was quite rich, and he had a good eye for business; in addition, his behavior was quite miserly.

Upon hearing w.a.n.g Peiyuan’s words, He Wuqian said, “I have three plans that may be useful in dealing with Su Chen.”

“Please tell.”

“First, to deal with Su Chen, we first need to think of a way of separating him from the Origin Bureau. The Origin Bureau with and without Su Chen are two very different things. The biggest issue with Su Chen right now is that he isn’t the Origin Bureau’s head, but the Knowledge Executor. The only reason he can control the Origin Bureau is because Liu Wuya is dead. But who says that he can definitely become the next City Head after Liu Wuya dies?”

Everyone froze, glancing at each other.

w.a.n.g Peiyuan said, “You mean……”

“An Siyuan has already proposed that Su Chen become the next City Head. The official verdict should be coming down this year. But we can make it so that the verdict never comes, and we can even propose that someone else who is willing to listen to us take over. At that time, if Su Chen wants to control the Origin Bureau, it won’t be so simple.”

“Beautiful!” everyone yelled.

Based on the ten Bloodline n.o.bility Clans’ influence, they still had some confidence in nominating someone to be the City Head if they wanted to. The only question was how much they would need to pay.

The ten Bloodline n.o.bility Clans hadn’t taken Su Chen seriously before, so they naturally wouldn’t exert that much force. Nominating one of their own people to take that position wasn’t as desirable compared to bribing an official. Actually, the latter was much more convenient and would require less resources.

“Second, from our interactions with him in the past, we see that Su Chen is aggressive, unreasonable, and bossy. He doesn’t respect anyone. Someone like that is going to be very hard to control. Another such bossy person is Lu Qingguang. As the commander of the city’s guards, Lu Qingguang was originally An Siyuan’s most trusted confidant. But with Su Chen’s sudden ascent, he will definitely shake Lu Qingguang’s position. If we were to provoke that specific weak spot……”

“That’s right!” Everyone began to cheer. “Lu Qingguang temperament is obstinate, and he isn’t much for talking. If we provoke him even slightly, they will definitely fight amongst each other!”

“Good plan, Patriarch He!”

“But what is Patriarch He’s third strategy?” w.a.n.g Peiyuan asked.

Upon hearing everyone’s praises, He Wuqian was delighted. He regretted not bringing a fan with him to shake a few times in order to accentuate his strategic prowess. He continued, “The third plan is the simplest. Isn’t Su Chen from the Hidden Dragon Inst.i.tute? Isn’t he very powerful? Then we can find someone from the Hidden Dragon Inst.i.tute to deal with him.”

Everyone stared at each other. “Find someone from the Hidden Dragon Inst.i.tute? Would someone be willing to come? Where would we go to find that person?”

“As long as we can spare the money, why wouldn’t someone be willing to come? They might have been friends in the Inst.i.tute, but after leaving, they have all gone to do their own things and pursue their own paths. The friends.h.i.+p between former cla.s.smates can’t compare to solid Origin Stones. As for finding them, that’s even simpler……” He Wuqian laughed. “It just so happens that I know a few.”