Fei Hong's scheme
"In my opinion, the likelihood of that is 75%.
The first candidate is your father's nemesis Xia Li, the second prince.
At half-step Soul Transformation realm, he has a very strong foundation, but he hasn't awakened an intent thus making his chances of getting at soul transformation slim to none.
He has the strongest foundation in terms of followers including the Long Clan.
He is also connected to one of the 2 people who hold elder-level positions in a sect.
He has an extremely strained relationship with the Huang Clan and a neutral relationship with the other clans.
His reputation is decent among the public as he has conducted himself with basic dignity, which is a common point among all the candidates.
Having a bad public reputation is extremely damaging for the chances of ascending to the throne.
The second candidate is the 5th prince, Xia Hanyu.
He is a special candidate, as he is the result of a foreign marriage between Grand Xia and the Great Zhao.
The royalty of Great Zhao has the bloodline of Blood Mane Ape Demonic Beasts.
Xia Hanyu has the most concentrated bloodline, Although his comprehension is slow and the fact that he would awaken an intent is still in the rocks, but both his essence qi and body cultivation are top-notch with extremely strong foundations.
No local power supports him except for his mother and her subordinates, at least on the surface.
Though it is rumored he might have something to do with the…. Wang Clan.
Although the Great Zhao is heavily invested in supporting Xia Hanyu, which is a great taboo.
The last candidate and also the most talented one is the 7th prince, Xia Wuhen.
Low key and shrewd are the best words that come to mind when I think of the 7th prince.
He is a little older than you and at the peak of qi condensation.
In fact, he has awakened half an intent seed. This is insider knowledge of course.
He has a contest with young talents all over the continent, albeit in a very secretive manner thus making many friends, sworn brothers, and soon-to-be wives.
Thus making his sectorial relations amazing, and also his relations with young prodigies of a different nation.
He has been the most generous when it came to recruiting young talents.
Perhaps the grand Xia tournament would be the main stage to recruit talents.
He has decent relations with the Fang Clan mainly due to their young master, but he has strong enmity with the Yun Clan in many of his schemes he has targeted them."
Fei Hong leaned back on his chair after finishing his piece, seemingly tired.
All of a sudden his eyes widened his hair stood up. He jumped up to see He Mao just standing there releasing some pressure.
Before he could even make head and tails of the situation, she disappeared and he got attacked with a dark slash.
He released his cultivation base and neutralized the strike before making his way towards his seat, this time however his expression was a lot more grave.
Long Chen had been sitting there the whole time, just chilling.
When he saw Fei Hong sitting down silently, the former picked up his glass of wine and gulped it down in one go.
"Senior Fei Hong, I am not a helpless lamb and I am looking for cooperation of equals. We really need to understand each other's motives, but if you are more inclined to behave condescendingly and nonchalantly. It may not work out."
Fei Hong balled his fists tightly before relaxing and slouching back.
"Pardon me it seems like I may have been a bit upfront, so what are your thoughts ?"
"Well first of all I can't help but feel you are inciting my enmity against the entire imperial clan, whereas the easiest way to get rid of him would be to get on board with a candidate who hates Xia Li's guts.
You on the other hand are pointing me to a rather dangerous road"
Saying that Long Chen's eyes narrowed.
"Well, what can I say you have caught me with my hands red. Though if anything I would say this if you wanna do it the latter way, I won't be working with you"
Fei Hong's eyes scrunched up and revealed a serious expression for once.
"Haha sorry looks like I have been a bit too harsh, you see the imperial clan has definitely incurred my wrath so I am not keen on working with them.
What I am curious about is what is the root of your hatred with the imperial clan and how you, a young soul transformation cultivator have to move around like a rat.
I reckon most of the sects, if not all would be willing to take you in and although they can't directly help you, bending the rules a bit should be no problem."
"Well my feud with the imperial clan is a long story sigh"
"Well we have plenty of time on our hands don't we"
Fei Hong's expression turned somber but his eyes turned lifeless before emitting a kind of fire that Long Chen could relate to.
"Well for starters my father, Fei Hong was an established general in the army.
He married my mother one of the most beautiful women of the imperial capital.
The funny thing is that my mother was a lot stronger than my father almost a couple of layers above.
Shortly after, they gave birth to me and our family was a classic example of the Grand Xia Dream.
(Author note-Can't help but stick it in.)
Alas, all this changed when my sister was born 30 years ago.
My sister was born with something called a wisdom bone in her forehead. This significantly increases comprehension.
We tried to hide it, but my sister ended up revealing the details to her then best friend.
The Royal clan was alarmed with greed my father was quickly disposed of and my sister's wisdom bone extracted. Completely blinding her and crippling her cultivation, my mother and I somehow managed to escape due to their cultivation.
This incident was buried preserving the reputation of the royal clan."
As he narrated the story Fei Hong dug his nails deep in his skin and clenched his teeth.
Long Chen was surprised by the turn of events, but he felt Fei Hong had some potential.
"Alright, how are your sister and mother ?"
"Currently they are fine unfortunately they don't have long to live" Fei Hong tried speaking normally, but at the end, he choked a little bit.
"Alright since both of us have enmity with the imperial clan, I am interested in doing a transaction"
"What is it ?"
"You must swear a Dao oath first to neither reveal the content of the deal nor the actual information," Long Chen said solemnly.
In the transaction, Long Chen gave a low earth grade cultivation method "Snow Shadow Cultivation method".
"Th-this where did you get something like this ?"
"You don't have to know"
Fei Hou straightened his back a little, Long Chen appeared more unfathomable to him now.
"What do you want ?"
Long Chen smirked at the question and produced a long list of things.
From trade channels for herbs to materials for arrays to info about the entire continent.
Fei Hong would have normally rejected these unreasonable demands, but alas after having one look at the cultivation method he was completely smitten.
"We can also help you trade with top clans in the other 8 cities"
"The would great Brother Long Chen"
After a while, the 2 became close enough to call each other brothers.
Fei Hong handed Long Chen a spatial ring with most of the ingredients.
"Brother Long Chen I have to warn you about an imperial clan member you should be careful about.
It's the 3rd princess she has been in the barbarian temple since birth so not much is known about her, but I am confident that she has a special talent"
"I see, well pleasure meeting you today"
After bidding farewell to Fei Hong Long Chen made his way to his estate.
Long Chen had gained a lot of wealth and material in the last couple of days and it was time to complete one of his tasks.
He had made this hefty purchase to arm the Southern Phoenix City to the teeth, so that every day he called upon a meeting of all higher-ups in the city lord estate and even Bei Song was there.
"All right everyone I plan to arm the city with arrays, traps, and even various mechanisms.
We need to be as discreet as we possibly can.
Grandpa Gu please take some guards and clear out the peripheral area of the city, those who refuse just kill them"
Long Chen said in a serious tone while balling his fists.
"But Chener will the Long clan or even the imperial clan sit back as we do as we please"
Bei Song stated the concern most people were feeling.
"We need to be as discreet as we possibly can. Moreover, the struggle for the throne is in its climax period, we have also built some support in the rest of the 8 cities.
Though, we need to be prepared for any scenarios"
"Makes sense"
Long Aotian nodded completely agreeing with his son
Long Chen then toured the city planting various stones and inscriptions in the city walls all of its controlling elements were handed to Long Aotian.
Before going Long Chen explained all of the formations he would be embedded in the city.
Hadiah
-- Hadiah diterima Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone