People in the Qin Dynasty, entertained during the Warring States period

What he needed was an obedient person who could help him build the Qin Dynasty of his dreams, not someone who would compete with him for power and profit.

No matter how talented, important, or accomplished he was, none of these things could threaten his throne.

Gai Nie frowned slightly, somewhat puzzled as to why Ying Zheng's suspicions had grown stronger ever since he dealt with Lü Buwei.

"Yes."

……

The Moon Goddess grew angrier the more she thought about how Cao Ze had tricked her.

After smashing a bunch of things in the main hall, they arrived at the alchemy room of Xu Fu, the Lord of the Clouds.

"Xu Fu! Do you have any elixirs or poisons that could threaten a Grandmaster?"

The Moon Goddess's face was full of anger, which startled Xu Fu, who was using people to test medicine in the alchemy room.

"Moon Goddess Cult Leader, what is this...?"

The moon goddess took a deep breath to calm herself down.

"I want to teach Cao Ze a lesson. He has two Grandmasters, Jing Ni and Senior Sister, by his side. I now order you to stop all your current tasks and develop a pill that can threaten the Grandmasters!"

"Did you understand?!"

After the Moon Goddess seized the position of leader, she secretly arranged for Xu Fu to test the elixir of immortality in an effort to resolve its side effects.

Unfortunately, much time passed, and Xu Fu made no progress whatsoever.

Xu Fu was at his wits' end when he heard the Moon Goddess's request.

He could refine pills that would be effective even if a grandmaster ingested them.

For example, by using the Corpse God Curse Gu, he refined a pill that made it difficult for even the Eastern Emperor Sect Master to use his internal energy.

However, with a Grandmaster on guard, unless it's a diluted poison that can be applied to swords and hidden weapons, it's not something that can easily threaten a Grandmaster.

If it were really that easy, who would bother with cultivation?

"Moon Goddess Cult Leader, I am not skilled in making poisons, I'm afraid..."

The Moon Goddess roared in fury, "I don't care! I only care about the result! If you can't do it, then die!"

Enraged, the Moon Goddess couldn't listen to anything else. All she wanted was to have a good fight with Cao Ze, beat him to a pulp, and vent her anger.

"Ah, this..."

Xu Fu was on the verge of tears; how could anyone be so unreasonable?

He's a proper alchemist who's followed the right path, refining legitimate pills for over a decade. Where would he find a poison that could kill with a single sword strike?

But the Moon Goddess didn't listen to his explanation and simply turned and left.

Xu Fu paced back and forth in the alchemy room, racking his brains for an answer.

But after thinking it over and over, I still couldn't come up with a good solution.

He can indeed concoct some poisons, but while they are very effective on ordinary people, their effects are greatly reduced on cultivators with internal energy.

Xu Fu felt a headache coming on when he thought about the Moon Goddess's temperament, and he felt like scratching his head in frustration.

If only Lord Dongjun were the leader, at least he wouldn't make things difficult for me, Xu.

Ok?

Xu Fu suddenly realized that he had walked into a dead end.

Why bother thinking about how to concoct a poison that can threaten a grandmaster?

If you can't solve the problem, why not just deal with the person who caused it?

Xu Fu breathed a sigh of relief.

Now that we've got the elixir of immortality, let whoever wants to be the leader of the Yin-Yang School be it.

He pondered for a moment.

Lady Xiang defected to Cao Ze's residence, while the Grand Master of Fate was ordered to leave Xianyang, seemingly on some secret mission...

In other words, the Yin-Yang School nowadays has almost no masters.

If he contacts Lord Dongjun, it seems quite possible that with the help of both inside and outside forces, they could drive away the Moon Goddess Cult Leader.

Incidentally, they could also curry favor with Cao Ze, using his influence to provide him with more talent for experiments and collect more medicinal herbs to try and improve the immortality elixir formula.

It's... absolutely perfect.

……

Cao Ze returned to his residence with his hands behind his back.

After thinking it over along the way, he has gradually come up with some ideas.

Although it's not perfect yet, it's worth considering.

In short, the most important thing now is to get rid of Lord Changping and become Prime Minister Cao.

Only in this way can one have greater power to help oneself accomplish the plans in one's heart.

However, before that, he had to keep his affair with Zhao Ji a secret, and he also had to make sure Zhao Ji was well fed.

With Zhao Ji around, he had an extra safety net and a backup plan.

Cao Ze returned to the house and looked at Jing Ni, who was sitting quietly to the side sewing autumn and winter clothes for Xiao Yan'er.

I gradually made up my mind.

We can't just sit here and wait to die. What if Ying Zheng turns his back on us in the future? Wouldn't we be playing mahjong with all those meritorious officials in history who were used and then discarded?

Either remove Ying Zheng from power and replace him with someone you can control.

Or try sitting in that seat yourself.

Although both paths are more difficult than the other, it's still better than being completely powerless and crushed.

What are you thinking about?

Jingni bit off the needle and thread, and seeing Cao Ze still standing at the door, she was somewhat puzzled.

Cao Ze smiled and said, "It's nothing, we're just going somewhere tonight."

Jing Ni asked calmly, "Where are you going tonight?"

Cao Ze said, "We'll be sneaking into the Changping Jun residence tonight."

Jingni frowned slightly: "Where are you going? What are you doing?"

The sword master she met today was not much weaker than her.

Cao Ze chuckled and said, "Go and have a secret rendezvous with Mi Lian."

Jing Ni rolled her eyes at Cao Ze. "Then I won't go. You can stay at whoever's place you want to spend the night."

Cao Ze chuckled, "Jealous? Haha."

Cao Ze's mood improved for a moment, but then quickly soared again.

“It wasn’t a secret rendezvous with Mi Lian. I just entered the palace, and the king ordered me to arrange for people to search Changping Jun’s prime minister’s residence in secret. I couldn’t refuse, so I had to agree.”

Jingni was oblivious to the scheming and intrigue in the court, but she could tell from the change in Cao Ze's tone that something was amiss this time.

"Does Your Majesty not know that this is dangerous?"

Cao Ze sneered, "Of course he knows, but he also knows I have you. Heh, it's obvious he's making you do this."

He was not from ancient times and had concerns about rebellion.

If Ying Zheng displeases him, he doesn't care who the First Emperor is, he'll turn him into a piece of shit.

Jingni remained silent for a moment, a warmth inexplicably spreading through her heart.

"What...what are you going to do?"

Cao Ze thought for a moment and said, "Let's stir up trouble."

"Let's go to Lord Changping's residence tonight, stir up some trouble, and ruin everything."

"As for the king, do as he pleases."

This was a trick he learned from his beautiful boss.

Or perhaps the beautiful boss discovered it from one of her own employees.

When faced with problems that you can't solve or don't want to solve, especially if these problems aren't very important, simply messing things up or dragging them out will at most result in a minor reprimand.

Jingni said softly, "Is it okay to fail like this for nothing?"

"If you want to become prime minister, you'd better not have any stains on your record before you become prime minister."

She didn't know much, but she knew that Cao Ze's actions would leave a negative impression on the King of Qin.

Cao Ze calmly said, "I want to take this opportunity to see the King's attitude."

He did not explicitly state his thoughts to Jingni.

The idea is still immature; saying it out loud would only cause concern.

Jingni leaned against Cao Ze's chest and said tenderly, "I'll listen to you."

Their long-standing companionship had instilled in her a deep trust in Cao Ze.

Even if Cao Ze told her that he was going to assassinate the King of Qin that night, she would go with him after settling Xiao Yan'er.

……

In the dead of night, the night watchman walked from one end of Xianyang Street to the other.

Cao Ze and Jing Ni put on their night clothes again and rushed towards Lord Changping's residence.

The villa of the Changping Jun Mansion.

Mi Lian did not fall asleep.

She sat by the window, without lighting a candle, resting her chin on her hand, gazing at the intermittently appearing full moon in the sky.

She couldn't help but smile foolishly whenever she thought about her meeting with Cao Ze today.

Mr. Cao Ze is not only erudite and talented, but also witty and humorous. He understands her thoughts and knows how to please her...