Calamity Messenger-Chapter 58 - 45: Genius Among Geniuses
At the Mansu Forest Land camp, inside a house resembling a giant mushroom, Jie Yuan Shao sat talking, while Jie Zilong stood writing.
After Jie Yuan Shao finished recounting her experiences in Mansu Forest Land, she awaited further questioning from her third uncle. However, Jie Zilong said nothing, merely examining the content drawn on the blackboard, suddenly circling a few of the words.
Shelter, building, resources, next wave of offense, durability...
Jie Yuan Shao didn’t notice anything at first, but gradually began to frown, her thick eyebrows furrowing into a bunch.
"Anything you see?"
"These words seem... a bit strange."
"Because these words are both new and old," Jie Zilong smiled, "They are new to us. I traveled through the Three Kingdoms of Liang, Zhou, and Qi when I was young, often venturing abroad, yet this kind of terminology is new to me; at the same time, they’re old, as there’s nothing unfamiliar, even encountering them for the first time we can understand their meaning."
"Compared to Jiang Shi’s performance at Mansu Forest Land, the ’peculiarities’ she exhibited in her words are more intriguing."
"Take this, for instance." Jie Zilong circled the term ’Blade Warrior.’ "If you encounter the General of the Double Swords for the first time, would you name it that?" 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮
Jie Yuan Shao thought briefly and shook her head decisively, "No, its major feature is the double swords and full-body heavy armor, the name General of the Double Swords undoubtedly captures its characteristics better than Blade Warrior."
"Indeed, the General of the Double Swords is a nickname derived from its features, while Blade Warrior... might be its real name."
"A name." Jie Yuan Shao murmured quietly, as if savoring the significance of this term: "A name..."
"Yuanshao, you know that certain humanoid demons in secret realms can communicate to a certain extent; some even possess readable tomes. Our exploration of secret realms and recognition of tokens basically comes from extracting demon dialogues and secret realm tomes, so our understanding of realms and tokens is quite shallow. Like three years ago, when the Imperial Family was clearing the Fire Phoenix Secret Realm, they inadvertently triggered a hidden mechanism, leading to the emergence of a Demon King, resulting in heavy deaths and casualties with a complete withdrawal."
Jie Yuan Shao immediately recalled the funeral that shook Jiangnan City three years ago, exclaiming, "Could it be that the Huiji King died this way and not from illness?"
"He escaped, severely injured, and died from his illness." Jie Zilong said, "At least, the token was retained."
"We haven’t thoroughly explored the secret realms, not even truly understanding the tokens. Do you know we possess a Three-Turned Rare Treasure Token, and yet its functions remain largely unexplored, not even knowing how to properly use it?"
"One could even say, most tokens we know are conventional nicknames rather than their true names."
Jie Yuan Shao vaguely caught a subtext in her third uncle’s words, her expression growing more serious: "Do you mean Jiang Shi, she..."
"A so-called genius is a person with extraordinary talent, possessing abilities, opportunities, or secrets that distinguish them from ordinary people. This world has many geniuses, whether adept at battlefield combat, strategic planning or mastering summoning demons and beasts or controlling the Five Elements," Jie Zilong said, "But the ultimate geniuses always boil down to one type—the genius adept at exploring secret realms. They can uncover hidden information with unprecedented intuition, unravel and reveal secrets, even directly perceive the reality of the secret realm; compared to them, we are virtually blind."
"Jiang Shi is a genius among geniuses."
...
...
Led by a servant, Qian Gongyu ascended to the second floor of the Shang Family carriage, filled with indescribable excitement—not only for the chance to see the interior of the Red Gate carriage but also for being ushered in by a Shang Family servant under the watchful eyes of many!
She could see Luo Weijin’s twisted expression, and those who once looked down upon her family had faces that were extremely unsightly. To become a friend of the Fourth Miss Shang, even if she was only a Blue Ribbon Noble Clan member, she was akin to the Emperor among the Blue Ribbon!
"Xiaoyu, you’re here." Shang Xinlei paused her pen and paper, coming over to lead her to the sitting area in the parlor, "How’s the output from our home kitchen? I quite liked the prawns today."
"There’s too much." Qian Gongyu laughed, "At home, it’s just me, Jiang Shi, and Uncle Lin. Besides you, Fourth Miss Shang, Eldest Miss Jie also sent some food over; even after Jiang Shi ate half, we still have a lot left."
"Jiang Shi ate half?" Shang Xinlei was stunned, gesturing at her own waist, "I remember Jiang Shi’s waist is slimmer than mine—she ate half?"
Qian Gongyu blinked, a bit uncertainly, "She seemed to... make the food vanish when held in her hand."
Shang Xinlei’s face changed slightly, she said seriously, "If you don’t want to harm Jiang Shi, you’d better not leak this news. Moreover, persuade Jiang Shi not to reveal it in front of outsiders, Jie Yuan Shao probably thinks Jiang Shi’s storage ability is limited to operate within Mansu Forest Land. If others find out Jiang Shi possesses such a large-capacity storage token..."
She paused, shrugging helplessly, "Though Jiang Shi is already in a precarious situation, a bit more attention can scarcely matter."
Qian Gongyu felt uneasy, clutching her dress tightly with both hands.
"Is... it that serious? Isn’t it just about scoring highly—"
"Far more serious than you imagine," Shang Xinlei said, "Granted, Liang Kingdom hasn’t valued Mansu Forest Land much previously, because the premise is ’Mansu Forest Land doesn’t yield much.’ Now, our scoring is exceptionally high, rendering personal treasure chest rewards at settlement highly generous, alongside the top ten chest rewards rising accordingly in nine days."
"This change stems just from the four of us, but what if dozens grab high scores? Hundreds? Mansu Forest Land is extremely special with no limit on numbers, nor barriers to entry. Meaning, the Court could enlist troops of tens of thousands anytime for Mansu Forest Land, then everyone’s cumulative rewards might necessitate the Qi and Zhou Kingdoms uniting to besiege Liang Kingdom."
Qian Gongyu’s legs immediately started trembling violently; her teeth chattered, speaking with a quaver: "Is it... that serious?"
Watching Qian Gongyu’s demeanor, Shang Xinlei couldn’t help but burst into laughter, clutching her stomach, laughing until Qian Gongyu’s face turned red, as the latter stood up, biting her lip in protest, "Fourth Miss Shang, if you’re so disrespectful, there’s no need for us to continue our association!"
"Don’t, don’t, it’s my fault, sit down first." Shang Xinlei pulled her back, "How about this, for apology’s sake, you can call me Xinlei directly from now on, instead of the detached Fourth Miss Shang."
Qian Gongyu’s eyes lit up, but she hesitated a bit: "Is this okay? I’m just a Blue Ribbon..."
"There’s nothing wrong with that. I also call Jie Yuan Shao by name. Besides, I don’t have many friends, and I’d love to be friends with someone as interesting as you, Xiaoyu." Shang Xinlei said with a smile.
"Am I interesting...?" Qian Gongyu was a bit puzzled but quickly accepted this, her lips curling up: "Turns out I’m very interesting!"
"Xinlei, were you serious about what you just said, or were you just trying to scare me?" She looked at Shang Xinlei suspiciously, puffing out her cheeks: "I’m Baiyun, don’t lie to me."
Shang Xinlei struggled to hold back her laughter, waved her hand with a chuckle: "Of course I was scaring you. Although Jiang Shi didn’t reveal much, I could tell when Jiang Shi upgraded the Shelter—she seemed to say—without using any tools or spells, she could see things we couldn’t. It’s a unique ability that I don’t think can be replicated or promoted."
"Jiang Shi is indeed very valuable, but not to the extent that she could cause a war."
After pausing, Shang Xinlei continued: "However, her beauty might cause a war—her serious expression is breathtakingly stunning; I can’t imagine just how enchanting she must be when she smiles. I don’t even want to stand next to her."
Qian Gongyu nodded in complete understanding: "Yes, yes, standing next to her is too overwhelming. Sometimes when I can’t help but feel jealous of her, the moment I see her face, I forget why I wanted to be jealous."
"Though I don’t think Jiang Shi can be replicated, others might not agree." Shang Xinlei said, "The Jie Family might not agree either."
Mentioning the massive entity that is the Jie Family, Qian Gongyu opened her mouth, but no words came out. Just two days ago, she couldn’t even dream of having any dealings with the Jie Family, let alone have the qualification to say a single auspicious word to any Jie Family member. And now, the Jie Family had actively sent a lavish feast from their kitchen—God’s mercy couldn’t be more evident; her carriage’s table couldn’t even fit all that food.
Qian Gongyu naturally understood the reason for such hospitality, but she had no clue on how to handle it. The Jie Family was too vast, and she was too young.
"Oh, by the way," she suddenly recalled, "yesterday, the Eldest Miss Jie mentioned punishing Jiang Shi..."
"Forget it, no one cares about this anymore, haven’t you noticed that Luo Weijin has slinked away?" Shang Xinlei casually waved her hand, picked up a box from the desk, and placed it in front of Qian Gongyu.
"Open it and see."
Qian Gongyu opened the box, and her pretty face was immediately surrounded by a green glow. Inside the box lay six strands of Spiritual Jade, each strand immersed in dark green, all remarkably composed of Hundred Jade!
Spiritual Jade has a peculiar characteristic that when a large quantity falls on the ground, it merges and stacks together, never occupying space infinitely. Depending on the stack count, the green color deepens, and once stacked to the hundred-fold limit, it becomes dark green Hundred Jade.
Ten pieces per strand, six strands of Hundred Jade equate to six thousand pieces of Spiritual Jade, which is already a few days of net profit for a small Secret Realm. For the Qian Family, who have never truly grasped a Secret Realm, this was an unprecedented sum of money; even in Qian Gongyu’s memory, the most flowable assets she had seen were merely a few hundred pieces of Spiritual Jade.
Looking at this money that could let her have an extravagant year, Qian Gongyu’s expression became very conflicted. After agonizing for a while, she closed the box and pushed it back to Shang Xinlei, saying with a lowered head: "I’m sorry, I can’t decide for Jiang Shi; I can’t accept this money, but I can help you persuade!"
Shang Xinlei blinked and asked, "What did you think this money was for?"
"Isn’t it to buy off Jiang Shi?"
"Come over here."
Qian Gongyu obediently moved over, and then Shang Xinlei grabbed her cheeks, gently pinching and twisting.
"It’s one thing to underestimate Jiang Shi, but how could you underestimate the Shang Family—you actually thought I’d be so stingy, only offering this much to buy Jiang Shi?!"
"I was wrong, I was wrong—"
"This is Spiritual Jade for you. I noticed earlier in Mansu Forest Land that toward the end, you weren’t replenishing your Spiritual Power anymore. I figured you might not have brought much Spiritual Jade with you, so I thought I’d give you some for emergencies." Shang Xinlei said, "Don’t overthink it. It’s just to ensure you perform better in tomorrow’s investments. If you suppress a few more demons tomorrow, I won’t lose out."
"Is it really that simple?"
"It’s really that simple."
"No other requirements?"
"No other requirements."
Qian Gongyu cautiously hugged the box, "So, is there anything else?"
Shang Xinlei waved her hand: "There’s nothing else; you can go back."
Qian Gongyu walked to the stairway, couldn’t help asking again: "Really nothing—"
"I’ve changed my mind. I want you to stay tonight and dance a belly dance—"
"See you tomorrow!"
Shang Xinlei pushed open the window, watching Qian Gongyu joyfully return to her carriage, chatting away with Jiang Shi, who was practicing steps beside the carriage. She shook her head with a helpless smile.
"I thought I could make her feel inferior..." She muttered to herself, "Seems like her acquaintance with Jiang Shi isn’t just luck... She’s indeed an interesting person."
