In a remote, deep forest clearing, Zhao Rucheng sat dejectedly on the ground.

Acquaintances from Maple Leaf City would hardly recognize him.

His hair was disheveled, his clothes tattered, and he was sitting directly on the bare earth!

For Zhao Rucheng, who always prided himself on meticulousness and was particular about every aspect of his life, this was unimaginable.

Yet, here he was, unkempt and looking no different from a common vagrant.

Uncle Deng stood before him, his voice as gentle as ever, but laced with inquiry: “Are you sure you’ve thought this through?”

“There’s no need to think anymore,” Zhao Rucheng replied, looking up.

Despite the grime, his handsome features were still evident.

But his face was devoid of its usual playful ease, replaced by a solemn, almost stern expression.

“In the past, I tolerated your squandering of talent and your willingness to waste your life. Not only because I didn’t want to interfere with your decisions, but also because…”

Uncle Deng sighed. “This world is terrifying. The stronger you are, the greater the dangers you face. With your talent, you will eventually encounter dangers that even I cannot resolve. Just like…”

“Like Maple Leaf City this time,” Zhao Rucheng finished, his tone flat.

It was precisely this deliberately suppressed calm that betrayed the pain in his heart.

“Therefore,” he said, “all I need to do is become stronger, to always be stronger than any danger.”

Uncle Deng fell silent.

Zhao Rucheng continued, “Before, I always wondered, what’s the point of trying? No matter how hard I try, it won’t matter. I might as well drift along, living one day at a time. The world is so big, and life is so short. Sooner or later, it’ll all be over. There’s no need to work so hard.”

“Every time I saw Ling He and Jiang Wang training like their lives depended on it, I wanted to laugh. But as I laughed, my eyes would always well up.”

“At first, I didn’t understand why I was crying. Later, I realized that I wasn’t laughing at them, I was envious of them. I envied them for not knowing what the future held. I envied them for being able to move forward with certainty. I envied them.”

“They have hope, direction, and a future. So effort is a happy thing. No matter how hard it is, it’s sweet.”

“From the day I was born, I had no hope, no direction, no future. The higher I stood, the darker the things I saw. That’s why I envied them. I made friends with them. They treated me sincerely, and I treated them sincerely. I mocked them, but I also looked forward to seeing them. I saw a different kind of life in them.”

“But now,” Zhao Rucheng paused, “their hopes, directions, and futures have all been cut off. And I… I had a chance to prevent all of this. If I hadn’t wasted my years, if I hadn’t idled away my time.”

“Perhaps I’ll never be able to save myself. But there might be a few moments when I can save the people I truly care about. Now, I want to work hard for those few moments.”

As he spoke, Zhao Rucheng shifted from a sitting position to a kneeling one, kneeling properly before Uncle Deng.

Uncle Deng watched in silence, not reaching out to stop him.

Zhao Rucheng knelt upright and said earnestly, “I know you’re very strong. I didn’t care about these things before. But now, please let me see just how strong you are.”

“Please temper me with every method you can imagine.”

“Please let me see Deng Yue, who can sever rivers with a single finger.”

“Please look forward to my efforts.”

He lowered his head, placed his hands flat on either side, and touched his forehead to the ground.

Uncle Deng remained silent for a long, long time before finally saying, “Alright.”

In his private residence in Heavenly Capital City.

With Chong Xuansheng’s status, he naturally owned many private properties.

But in the past, it would have been impossible for him to own a private residence in Heavenly Capital City, where land was incredibly valuable.

With the Heavenly Capital Secret Realm lasting for so many years, all the properties here had long been divided up.

That was why, when he first met Jiang Wang, he had to choose a family-owned restaurant for the banquet, which led to Chong Xuanxin bursting into the room uninvited.

Now, if Chong Xuanxin dared to intrude on this private residence without permission, Chong Xuansheng would kill him on the spot.

As soon as he emerged from the Heavenly Capital Secret Realm, this residence was transferred to Chong Xuansheng’s name.

This was just a small part of the immense benefits Chong Xuansheng had gained.

The Chongxuan Clan was a vast and powerful family, its territory comparable to a prefecture. Most of its members were retainers, servants, and clan guards, with only a small number of direct descendants of the Chongxuan family.

And the future heir of such a family was undoubtedly one of the most influential figures in the entire Qi Kingdom.

No one was a fool. There would be many who wanted to invest in him early.

But Chong Xuanzun, as the undisputed first-in-line heir, was already surrounded by supporters, leaving no room for anyone else.

The cost of investing in him had already become prohibitively high.

The sudden emergence of Chong Xuansheng fulfilled the hopes of all those looking to invest in a dark horse.

As the only direct descendant of the Chongxuan family currently competing with Chong Xuanzun for the inheritance, Chong Xuansheng should have received more resources.

However, Chong Xuanzun was too brilliant. People simply couldn’t see any chance of success in Chong Xuansheng.

The premise of investing in a dark horse was that there was a possibility of it rising to prominence, not just throwing resources down the drain.

Before Chong Xuansheng, the Chongxuan family was such a lucrative target, of course there were other contenders. Some of them were extremely talented, but they all paled in comparison to Chong Xuanzun and were easily swept aside.

In fact, if it weren’t for the fact that the leaders of the Chongxuan family needed to suppress Chong Xuanzun for some reasons that were inconvenient to state explicitly, Chong Xuansheng would never have had a chance to stand out.

That was why Chong Xuansheng took a gamble and, by exchanging existing resources, obtained the leadership of the Chongxuan family’s exploration of the Heavenly Capital Secret Realm.

He even needed to invite Jiang Wang from thousands of miles away through the Illusionary Realm of Grand Void. Because he didn’t dare to trust anyone else in the family except for Shisi. If Jiang Wang hadn’t appeared, he would rather have left that slot empty.

Like that Chong Xuanxin, calling him “Brother Sheng” and talking about family and clan. If he dared to bring Chong Xuanxin into the Heavenly Capital Secret Realm, Chong Xuanxin would be the first to stab him in the back.

Any methods like mind-demon curses would be useless. Because anything that Chong Xuansheng could use, Chong Xuanzun would definitely know and be able to破解解.

And the reason why Chong Xuansheng attached so much importance to this matter, even to the point where Wang Yiwu personally appeared on Chong Xuanzun’s side…

It was because the Heavenly Capital Secret Realm was Chong Xuansheng’s last gamble.

This was his last hope.

If he died in the Heavenly Capital Secret Realm, there would be nothing to say.

Even if he didn’t die and was eliminated, but came out alive, then everything would be over.

The Chongxuan family would belong to Chong Xuanzun from then on, and he could forget about it.

But he lived, he became the victor of the Heavenly Capital Secret Realm, and he pre-ordered the future Divine Ability Internal Palace.

His gamble had already succeeded.

No matter how dismissive Wang Yiwu was of the Divine Ability Internal Palace.

He couldn’t deny that from the moment he came out of the Heavenly Capital Secret Realm, Chong Xuansheng truly had the qualifications to compete with Chong Xuanzun!

And the next period of time would be Chong Xuansheng’s period of rapid development.

All the resources that had been observed, waited for, and that should have belonged to Chong Xuanzun’s competitors, would all swarm towards him.

The only thing Chong Xuansheng needed to consider was how to digest them.

A snake trying to swallow an elephant would choke to death if it couldn’t swallow it.

But if it could swallow it, it would become a python!