The most shameless alchemist in history

"On the surface, the Land of Rain does seem to be the closest to us." Black Wind nodded on this point, confirming Lieutenant General Marshall's guess, though it was only part of the story.

"On the surface?" Lieutenant General Marshall did not feel smug at first, because he sensed something unusual in Black Wind's words. Black Wind used "surface" instead of "deeper" or "fundamentally," which meant that things were not as he had imagined.

"The King of the Rain Kingdom is old, and he has three daughters and two sons. When the old king was still healthy, the princes and princesses of the Rain Kingdom could maintain a semblance of harmony, even though they were secretly vying for power. On the surface, the Rain Kingdom was still very peaceful. However, as the old king's illness worsened, rumors circulated that he would not survive the year. As a result, the heirs to the throne began to fight each other. In order to gain an advantage in the succession, they used all their efforts to win over foreign allies. The one who is on good terms with our Wind Kingdom is Prince Jet, the third in line to the throne of the Rain Kingdom, right?" Although Black Wind was not from the Rain Kingdom, he was very familiar with the situation there. After all, mastering basic information about various countries was just a basic skill for Black Wind.

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801 Great Ideal

“Yes, Prince Jett’s mother is a noblewoman from our Wind Kingdom. Although she is not a member of the royal family, she is still a distant relative of the royal family. With this relationship, our Wind Kingdom has been supporting Prince Jett openly and secretly all these years. And Prince Jett has not disappointed us. He is now the person closest to the throne of the Rain Kingdom. Once he ascends the throne, it should be a foregone conclusion that he will form an alliance with our Wind Kingdom, right?” Lieutenant General Marshall said confidently.

"But what if he fails to ascend the throne?" Blackwind's simple question stumped Lieutenant General Marshall.

“Well… what if Prince Jet doesn’t ascend the throne…” Lieutenant General Marshall didn’t know how to answer Black Wind, because he hadn’t thought about this question before. Black Wind asked him which country he thought would ally with their Wind Kingdom, and he naturally thought of Prince Jet of the Rain Kingdom.

"If Jet doesn't ascend the throne and another heir takes the throne, the first thing they will do after taking power will be to attack Jet, put him under house arrest, or even assassinate him. And because Jet's mother is a distant relative of our Wind Kingdom's royal family, the new King of Rain Kingdom will definitely be very wary of our Wind Kingdom. In order to maintain his rule, he will definitely make friends with other countries and then join forces to blockade our Wind Kingdom."

Black Wind has an accurate judgment of the future. Although those things have not yet happened, based on the existing clues, Black Wind can deduce several completely different paths and come up with corresponding countermeasures for each possibility.

"Therefore, the Kingdom of Wind will definitely do everything in its power to help Prince Jet ascend the throne. As long as Prince Jet becomes the King of the Kingdom of Rain, we will gain a powerful ally, won't we?" Lieutenant General Marshall wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief. Every word Black Wind spoke hit the nail on the head, putting him under great pressure.

“But the probability of Jet ascending the throne is only one in two. Spending a lot of resources to win over an ally with only one in two potential chances is not a worthwhile deal. If these resources were used elsewhere, it would be a different story.” Black Wind shook his head. He did not agree with the Wind Kingdom’s strategy of supporting Jet.

"Then, Mr. Black Wind, isn't the ally you mentioned the Land of Rain?" Lieutenant General Marshall quickly realized this and immediately asked.

"Of course not, the real ally will be... the Swamp Country!" Black Wind shook his head, stating with absolute certainty.

"What? The Swamp Country? But our Wind Country is currently in conflict with the Swamp Country, and there have been frequent frictions in history. How could they become allies?" If Black Wind said that their ally was the Mountain Country, Lieutenant General Marshall might be able to understand.

But Black Wind said it was the Swamp Country, which puzzled him even more. He remembered that the Swamp Country's representative, the guy named Lance, had a very tough attitude and was clearly targeting the Wind Country. It would be too difficult for them to get along with the Swamp Country.

“There are no permanent enemies, only permanent interests. As long as we take over the Snow Country and then give the four provinces in the southern part of the Snow Country to the Swamp Country, they will naturally be happy to help us resist the Mountain Country. Meanwhile, we and the Snow Country will contain the Rain Country. In this way, we can stabilize the situation and give the Wind Country ten years to recuperate. Once we have fully integrated the power of the Snow Country, we can then take action against the Swamp Country. Only in this way can the Wind Country rise to power!” Black Wind had long ago planned the path for the rise of the Wind Country. He was extremely talented in strategy.

"Mr. Black Wind's ideals... are truly magnificent! However, Mr. Black Wind, I have a personal question that I'm unsure whether I should ask." Lieutenant General Marshall was extremely impressed by the strategic vision Black Wind had displayed. Such strategic intent was something he, and the entire military of the Wind Kingdom, would never have dared to even dream of!

"What personal matter?" Black Wind turned to ask him. After all, Lieutenant General Marshall was his senior, and he had to give Lieutenant General Marshall the respect he deserved.

"Well... Mr. Black Wind, aren't you from the Land of Snow? Why would you choose to help our Land of Wind conquer your own homeland?" Lieutenant General Marshall hesitated for a moment before finally voicing his doubts.

Logically, ordinary people would serve their hometown and help it expand after completing their studies, but Blackwind did not do so, which puzzled Lieutenant General Marshall.

"The Land of Snow is indeed where I was born. It is because I was born on this land that I know that this country has strong limitations. The military power of the Land of Snow is indeed strong, but due to many factors, including geography, the Land of Snow can only survive in a defensive posture and cannot expand outward. Although I am a person of the Land of Snow, I am also a northerner and a continental person. The place where I was born cannot determine my future. In my opinion, my dream is greater than the issue of birth." Black Wind shook his head.

He didn't have a strong sense of identity as a "citizen of the Snow Country" because he had truly felt from a young age that the country was rotten to the core.

When he grew up, the first thing he did was to leave the Snow Country, a country he didn't like, and even hated. Sometimes he would think about how he would change the country if he could.

Perhaps this will attract hatred, misunderstanding, and even curses and scorn, but Hei Feng doesn't care about these things. As long as he can achieve great feats, history will naturally give him the right judgment and his name will be remembered.

Why should he bother with all that nonsense?

"Although I cannot understand Mr. Black Wind's lofty ideals, I admire him very much." Lieutenant General Marshall believed that if it were him, he would absolutely not be able to leave the Kingdom of Wind and lead another country to conquer his own country. If such a thing happened to someone else, Lieutenant General Marshall would definitely think that person had a problem with their character and would privately label that person as a "traitor".

But Lieutenant General Marshall knew that for Blackwind, it didn't matter which country conquered which country; what mattered was that he had grand ideals to realize, that he wanted to be a changer of the times, rather than being constrained by red tape.

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802 Heading North

"Alright, it's time to go. A blizzard is about to hit. We have to brave the blizzard and reach Winter City before dawn to take over the Snow Kingdom!" Black Wind calmly looked ahead, where a vast expanse of white stretched out at the horizon.

He had just returned from that place, where he had gone to negotiate as a representative, but ultimately the negotiations didn't yield any results. In fact, he already knew the outcome of the negotiations before he even went there.

Everything was as he had expected. The only thing he hadn't anticipated was that during the negotiations, he would meet an old friend from eight years ago, the person he had grown up with in the hot spring village.

This surprised him, shocked him, and disgusted him. He didn't disgust Dure, but himself, because he clearly felt that his emotions had wavered, which was very wrong.

"Understood, proceed!" After consulting with his adjutant and confirming that everything was ready, Lieutenant General Marshall looked ahead. With his order, the airships, which had been prepared in advance, began to take off. In an instant, seventy-two airships gathered in a group, carrying more than 20,000 young soldiers, and headed north!

As the airship fleet of the Wind Kingdom headed towards Winter City, the city was in chaos. A bone dragon suddenly emerged from the ground and began to wreak havoc on the city, and the ordinary guards were no match for it.

The guards could only retreat to the side and evacuate the city's residents to prevent further losses. The elite Griffin Legion fought against the Bone Dragon, but that was all they could manage, even though their equipment was enhanced with runes and was considered magical.

However, the bone dragons have extremely high resistance to magic attacks. If it weren't for the griffon legion's advantage in mobility, they would probably have been wiped out by the bone dragons long ago.

"Someone actually summoned an ultimate creature like the Bone Dragon in Winter City, and we were completely unaware. How could this be? And today should be the day we fight the Southern Front to the death..."

Winry watched the sudden battle from a short distance away, which made her very uneasy. The bone dragon did not choose the time to appear on its own; it must have been deliberately orchestrated by someone behind the scenes. Yet, they had not noticed it at all beforehand, which was an extremely dangerous sign.

"Your Highness, for your safety, please take shelter for the time being." Bee Sting remained by Wenli's side, and in the face of such a sudden event, she had to ensure Wenli's safety.

“Our soldiers are fighting, how can I back down? Bee Sting, don’t we have any way to deal with the Bone Dragon?” Winry was at a loss.

If the bone dragons are allowed to continue their rampage, the entire Winter City will be destroyed. Once Winter City falls, the consequences will be catastrophic, beyond what they can bear.

“Your Highness, the Bone Dragon is the ultimate summoned creature. To summon a Bone Dragon, not only does the summoner need to have a very high level of skill, but the price to pay is also very high. Currently, in Winter City, our strongest general is General Restia. Although General Restia’s personal abilities are beyond doubt, the Bone Dragon’s magic resistance is too high, which has completely suppressed General Restia’s Frost Spear. I’m afraid we don’t have an effective way to deal with the Bone Dragon at the moment, unless…” Bee Sting paused here.

"Unless what?" Winry immediately pressed. When she was studying in Frost City, she had heard of ways to deal with bone dragons, but dealing with bone dragons required a lot of preparation. In Winter City, it was very difficult to gather those things in a short time. Winry was very annoyed that she hadn't made any extra preparations, which led to her current predicament.

"Unless we find the summoner who summoned the bone dragon and break his control over it, it will be very difficult, extremely difficult, to deal with the bone dragon using other methods." Bee Sting looked at the bone dragon that was wreaking havoc from afar. Although she was not someone who easily gave in or compromised, she had to admit that she was helpless against the bone dragon at this stage.

"Have we found the summoner who controls the bone dragon? He must be in Winter City. Send people to find him immediately!" Wen Li didn't want to just watch her subordinates be destroyed by the bone dragon, so she tried to do something to turn the tide.

"Your Highness, I have already sent people to search, but finding the Summoner will probably not be easy." Bee Sting had sent people to search for the Summoner's whereabouts as soon as possible, but even now, there was still no news, which showed that things were not going well.

"By the way, where is Mr. Dure? Have you seen him?" Just when Wenli was at her wit's end, she thought of Dure. In the past, whenever she encountered a difficult problem, it was always Dure who solved it. Now, she looked around but could not find Dure anywhere.

“Dure? He was around here a moment ago, but now…” Bee Sting paused for a moment, then realized that she had been so focused on getting Wenli out of the danger zone that she hadn’t noticed Dure’s whereabouts. She remembered that the last time she saw Dure was when the Bone Dragon had just appeared and the surroundings were in chaos, but in the blink of an eye, Dure had disappeared.

While the bone dragon on the ground was wreaking havoc, in the sewers beneath the ground, Dure was confronting a glamorous man. Glamorous usually refers to a woman, but at this moment, Dure's opponent, Kashu, truly deserved the title of "glamorous."

After a series of exchanges, Du Lei was panting heavily, leaning against the wall. He had many wounds on his body, covered in blood, and his clothes were torn into tatters, as if they had been cut by a sharp weapon.

On the other hand, Kashu, who was opposite him, remained calm and composed. He did not have any sharp weapons in his hand, but only an ordinary playing card. Blood seeped from the edge of the playing card, but it was not his blood. In fact, Kashu was perfectly fine, without any wounds or stains. This made people wonder if he hadn't even sweated.

"Not bad. In just over eight years, you've grown from an ordinary village boy to this level. That's close to the King rank. It's truly astonishing... However, when you were just a kid, you almost killed me under the lava. In that respect, it's not something an ordinary kid could do." Kashu squinted. He was never the type to praise others, but he had a very high opinion of the young man before him.

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803 Turning Against Them

"You haven't even managed to make me sweat, yet you're praising me like this. Are you sure this is really okay?" Du Lei spat out a mouthful of blood. In his fight with Kashu just now, he had used almost all his strength, but he couldn't inflict any effective damage on Kashu at all.

Because Kashu could always predict in advance where he would attack, after dozens of exchanges, Kashu calmly parried every single one of his attacks, leaving him feeling like he had strength but nowhere to use it.

On the other hand, Kashu's attacks were fierce and powerful. He didn't seem to be the type with explosive muscles, but his strength was overwhelming. Every strike was like a heavy hammer blow. This was even more troublesome than General Restia, whom Dure had dealt with in Winter Town!

“I think being able to achieve this level is something to be proud of... Well, that’s what I was going to say, but let’s just leave it at that.” Kashu staggered toward Durei.

Although he appeared calm and composed, he was quite satisfied with the match. However, even the most delicious lunch must come to an end, and he would be the one to announce its conclusion.

"It's really not worth dying here like this... It seems like this is the only way." Du Lei looked somewhat frustrated. He was in a dead end with no way to retreat.

In fact, trying to run away from someone like Kashu is a very unwise thing to do. Because the weather is too cold, half of the wall is frozen. If an ordinary person were to stand in such a place, they would definitely be shivering from the cold.

"Then goodbye!" Kashu waved the playing cards in his hand and slashed them toward Dure's neck. He was absolutely confident that he would cut the young man's neck in the next moment, which would also be a way of avenging the trick he had been tricked by Dure in the hot spring village half a year ago.

"Oh no... Do you think I would say that?" Dure, who was originally at a complete disadvantage, suddenly looked coldly at Kashu, which made the latter pause for a moment, because the expression in the young man's pupils did not look like he was going to compromise at all.

“You think you still have a chance to win… This is…” Kashu thought that Dure had used all his skills and was in a situation where defeat was inevitable. But just as he was about to kill him, he suddenly sensed something subtle nearby, and his movements slowed down noticeably.

The surrounding temperature plummeted, and the already frigid weather should have been unaffected by his constitution.

However, at this moment, Kashu felt a bone-chilling cold, as if the cold air had penetrated his bone marrow, affecting his reactions and even interfering with the magical energy in his body. This forced him to temporarily shut down the flow of his magical energy for a short period of time.

He did this to avoid the cold air interfering with his magical energy and causing them to conflict. This strange phenomenon came too suddenly. He knew that this change could not have happened for no reason and must be related to Dure!

"I'm sorry, I can't be killed by you right now. I still have a lot to do. One of these things is to take care of the guy behind you. Since you want to protect him, then I'm sorry, I have no choice but to take care of you first!" Du Lei seized the opportunity when Kashu's movements became sluggish. He, who was originally in a passive position, suddenly pulled out a dagger from his waist and stabbed it towards Kashu's heart.

At any other time, such an attack would have been insignificant to Kashu, but at this moment he was in a vacuum period after the flow of magical energy had just been shut down, and he was unable to form an effective defense. Moreover, Dure came too fast, catching him off guard.

Blood gushed from his abdomen. It was only because of his rich combat experience that he managed to twist the fatal wound in time; otherwise, his vital organs would have been severely injured by the young man in front of him!

"What a cunning kid. Was he deliberately suppressing his strength to lure me in? And this is... a magical barrier he set up on the ground beforehand? No, it wasn't set up beforehand, but during our fight?" Kashu was suddenly injured, but he was experienced and knew that fighting Durei now would be disadvantageous for him. He quickly retreated to the side and watched the young man warily.

Du Lei's previous tenacity and resilience had already impressed him, but Du Lei's ability to launch a counterattack this time made him look at Du Lei with new respect, even as he hated him. Wasn't this the kind of opponent he was looking for?

"This is a move I learned from General Restia, the commander of the Griffin Legion of the Snow Kingdom. It's called 'Extreme Cold Purgatory.' I didn't expect it to come in handy at this time. It's a blizzard now, and the temperature around is very low, so it's perfect to use this move. So, do you think you can still beat me?" Dure seized the opportunity and launched a series of attacks on Kashu.

The previously one-sided situation has now reversed. Kashu, unable to get his magical energy flowing again in a short time, is powerless to resist and can only dodge.

"Gurgle gurgle gurgle... Blood? It's been a long time since anyone has made me bleed. Interesting, very interesting. Then let's start over..." Although Kashu was in a very unfavorable situation, the more dangerous the situation, the more excited he became. He enjoyed the feeling of walking on the edge of death. The more desperate the situation, the more amazing his fighting power was able to unleash. This made Dure feel very troubled.

Dure had initially thought that Kashu's abilities would be greatly weakened under the constraints of the Extreme Cold Purgatory, giving him a significant advantage. However, he found himself unable to defeat Kashu's counterattack for the time being, which made Dure uneasy. The Extreme Cold Purgatory had a time limit, and once Kashu cleared away the invasion of the cold and allowed his magical energy to flow freely, Dure would have no chance of winning.

"Mr. Dure!" Just then, a voice came from the other side of the sewer, accompanied by a series of footsteps. This made both Kashu and Dure look over, because they both realized that someone was rushing over, and there was more than one person coming.

"Durey, are you there?" Besides the female voice from before, a deep male voice rang out, and soon two people rushed over. Durey recognized both of them: Lance and Liana.

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804. A sense of déjà vu

"Lance? And Liana? What are you doing here? Stay there and don't move, and don't come any closer!" Dure was very surprised by the appearance of these two people, and he shouted loudly.

He was well aware that he was currently preoccupied with his own survival, and that if Lance and the other two were to get involved, it would be extremely dangerous for them, and also extremely fatal for him.

"Du Lei, I just heard someone say they saw you coming this way, so I was worried something might have happened to you, so I rushed over to check. By the way, Du Lei, who was that guy? Hey, Du Lei, how did you get hurt? Hey, hey, that sleazy guy, did you hurt Du Lei?"

Lance was very worried when he saw Dure's injuries. At this moment, the person confronting Dure was Kashu. Lance glared angrily at Kashu. Although it was the first time Lance had met this person, he could easily guess that he and Dure had just been fighting when he saw that Kashu also had blood on him.

"I'm fine. That person is extremely dangerous. Stay away from him and don't step into the Extreme Cold Purgatory." Dure knew how powerful Kashu was. If Lance rashly entered, not only would he be affected by the Extreme Cold Purgatory, but if Kashu attacked, the consequences would be unimaginable.

"That person... seems very familiar... Have we met before?" Liana, who had come here with Lance, wasn't focused on Kashu, but rather on the man behind Kashu, who was completely shrouded in a black robe. She looked him over suspiciously and asked cautiously.

"Liana, he's the summoner who summons the bone dragon! You absolutely must not get close!" Dure solemnly warned her. The reason he came here was to follow the clues and find this summoner hiding underground in Winter City. Now that he had finally caught him and it seemed he could stop the bone dragon, Kashu interfered. Dure knew very well that he couldn't interrupt the summoner's control of the bone dragon until he dealt with Kashu.

“Summoner? But…” Liana subconsciously took a step forward. Her reaction was completely different from her usual self. Normally, she would listen to Dure’s advice and would never act rashly, but at this moment she looked somewhat lost and disoriented.

"You are... Liana?" The man who was focused on controlling the bone dragon glanced at Liana from afar and said her name. From Dure's perspective, all he could see was the eerie green light emanating from her eyes, which was somewhat frightening. The flames on the brazier in front of her flickered, adding to the eerie atmosphere.

“Yes, I am Liana. You know my name, which means… you know me, right?” Liana nodded heavily, continuing to walk closer to the other person. This made Dure very worried, and he tried to stop her. However, at this moment, he was facing off against Kashu, and he had to concentrate on paying attention to Kashu’s every move. He could not leave easily. If he left and Kashu made a move, it would be terrible!

“Liana…Liana…Liana…” The man uttered the name “Liana” three times in a row. His steps faltered, and he took two steps back, looking somewhat frightened. This surprised Dure greatly, because when he was fighting with Kashu earlier, the man had remained unmoved, but with the appearance of Liana, his every move became very strange.

“You’ve seen me before, you know me, and we’re quite familiar with each other, right? Please take off your hood so I can see what you look like, let me see your face…” Liana clenched her fists, she looked very excited, although Dure couldn’t figure out where her excitement came from.

"Hey, Liana, are you alright? Stop right there! Dure said it's dangerous over there, don't go!" Lance was getting anxious. Although he wasn't very familiar with Liana, she was Dure's friend, so she was his friend too. He couldn't just watch his friend walk towards a dangerous place step by step.

"Liana...no, don't come any closer, don't come any closer!" The man in black robes seemed to be greatly agitated. He screamed and turned to run away. This reaction surprised Dure, as he had not expected things to develop in such a sudden way!