Chapter 263: Spouting Elegance

Zu An naturally hadn't touched enough, but he wasn't foolish enough to voice that thought. He immediately released his hands, putting on the most innocent expression he could muster.

Jiang Luofu nodded with satisfaction and then said, "The Shi family is considered a top-tier influential family in the capital, with countless descendants holding official positions. Even if we put aside your point about lacking solid evidence, should any proof emerge, they would at most offer a scapegoat, and it wouldn't damage the Shi family's foundation."

"Then how can one completely deal with a family?" Zu An asked, annoyed. If this were true, it would mean the Shi family could target him with impunity, while he would be powerless to retaliate. How could he possibly tolerate that?

"Unless you also have a powerful family backing you," Jiang Luofu replied with a frown. "But even then, unless absolutely necessary, influential families generally don't engage in life-or-death struggles. Of course, if you become powerful enough as an individual, you could completely disregard these rules. Unfortunately, reaching that level is incredibly difficult. Even someone as mighty as the Emperor has many matters requiring compromise."

Zu An fell silent. He remembered the Chu family previously mentioning the conflict between the Emperor and King Qi. The Emperor was universally acknowledged as the strongest in the world, yet he still couldn't act entirely as he wished. This realization left him feeling somewhat disheartened.

Seemingly noticing the change in his expression, Jiang Luofu shifted the topic, reminding him, "You needn't worry too much. With the Chu family's protection and your position within the academy, no matter how powerful the Shi family becomes, it will be difficult for them to openly threaten you."

Zu An sighed, "Unfortunately, they don't plan to confront me openly." If Chen Xuan genuinely killed him, it would appear to have no connection to the Shi family, leaving the Chu family and the academy without any grounds for action.

"You should be fine once you overcome this hurdle," Jiang Luofu comforted him. "Shi Kun has already left Mingyue City and returned to the capital. His reach is too limited to do anything further."

"He really left?" Zu An had previously received vague intelligence about this but had dismissed it as a smokescreen. After all, Shi Kun had always coveted Chu Chuyan; why would he give up so easily? However, now that Jiang Luofu confirmed it, it must be true.

"Yes, he left very hastily." Jiang Luofu rubbed her forehead, clearly still perplexed by the situation. "Do you know why he left?"

"I don't know," Zu An replied, maintaining a blank expression. Inwardly, however, he suspected it was likely connected to the silent assassination of the eighth-rank Shi Lezhi.

"Alright, let's get to business. Do you remember what you promised me before entering the secret realm?" Jiang Luofu asked.

Zu An paused, then tentatively asked, "Is it about taking over the Plum Blossom Gang's assets?"

"Precisely," Jiang Luofu replied with a satisfied smile. "Mei Chaofeng is dead, and the Plum Blossom Gang vanished overnight. Their remaining territories and assets are now coveted by countless eyes. As I mentioned before, it's inconvenient for the academy to intervene directly. However, since everyone knows you possess the Plum Blossom Gang's promissory notes, it's perfectly legitimate for you to handle this." She continued, "You also needn't worry about the professional details; I will provide you with suitable assistants when the time comes."

Zu An said, "So, essentially, I'm just a figurehead? I'll handle the public appearances, but your people will actually manage the asset acquisition?"

"You can understand it that way," Jiang Luofu said, then reclined back onto the sofa, lightly twirling a pencil with a relaxed and carefree expression.

Zu An didn't raise any objections. He had previously made a deal with the academy: he gave them the 7.5 million taels in promissory notes, which were destined to be unrecoverable, and in return, the academy offered him a teaching position. Furthermore, Jiang Luofu herself had personally dealt with Mei Chaofeng, who had been pursuing him. His current ease and comfort in dealing with Jiang Luofu were largely a result of this arrangement. Otherwise, given her high status as a principal and his usual self-destructive tendencies, he would have been long dead.

While he didn't greedily demand further benefits, he considered for a moment and realized there was still one point he could raise: "However, my current safety cannot be guaranteed, which makes it difficult for me to focus on acquiring the Plum Blossom Gang's assets."

"That Chen Xuan fellow is indeed a bit troublesome. While his strength isn't particularly remarkable, he's as slippery as an eel, making him incredibly hard to track," Jiang Luofu said. "However, his intention to kill you this time ironically provides an opportunity to capture him." She then stood up, looking out the window towards Mingyue City in the distance. "I'll give it more thought and notify you when I have a plan."

As Zu An left the principal's office, he kept replaying Jiang Luofu's last words in his mind, wondering if she intended to use him as bait. Unfortunately, knowing this was of no use; at the moment, he was merely a pawn.

Zu An returned to the classroom, his mind heavy. After his journey into the secret realm and the incident where he nearly cut down Shi Kun in the back mountains, few people in the school dared to underestimate him anymore. Even the teachers treated him with significantly more respect during class.

He returned to the classroom to find a war theory class in session. He had intended to listen attentively for a while, but unfortunately, he was completely unfamiliar with the continent's history. He had never heard of many of the battles or ancient nations discussed, so it all sounded like gibberish to him. Left with no choice, he gave up trying to listen and instead began to calculate the anger points he had accumulated.

This was always his favorite time, like a diligent squirrel tirelessly hoarding pine nuts, and now it was time to enjoy the fruits of his labor. When he saw the total anger points in the system, he was startled: hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands... At first, he thought his eyes were deceiving him, but after repeated confirmation, he realized he had accumulated a total of 321,765 anger points!

Recalling roughly, the two largest surges of anger points came from last night at the Immortal Dwelling and previously in the secret realm when he made those students feel utterly humiliated.

A thought suddenly popped into his head: if he were to walk naked through Mingyue City one day, the anger points contributed by insecure men would probably be off the charts, wouldn't they? However, considering the painful repercussions of such an act, he quickly abandoned the idea.

Never mind, I still value my reputation. What would I do after experiencing social death?

In truth, his greatest concern was provoking genuinely powerful experts. As a man, he believed that regardless of cultivation level, high or low, everyone would undoubtedly care about such things. What if he encountered a few deranged individuals who, out of jealousy, decided to dismember him?

At this thought, he instinctively squeezed his legs together, feeling a distinct chill.

Never mind. It's better to stick to the original plan: find a few beautiful confidantes to earn anger points from those sycophants. That would be much safer.

Having decided on his primary method for accumulating anger points, Zu An began the lottery draw.

With 321,765 anger points, he had 3,217 chances to draw. He realized that as his anger points increased, so would the number of draws. If he had to click through them one by one like this, his hand might break.

Zu An felt a pang of worry about the future, but he pressed the Enter key nonetheless and began the draw.

In the past, no matter how much he pleaded or prayed, the initial results were always "Thank you for participating," which had left him feeling numb. Since he had over 3,000 chances anyway, he couldn't be bothered to burn incense, bathe, or pray to the gods anymore.

The cursor spun continuously and, surprisingly, didn't land on an empty space but on the number 8. Zu An's eyes widened. With a surge of delight, he quickly went to examine it.

A small bottle appeared before him, containing a sparkling green liquid. Below it, a small line of text read: "Poison Bottle: A throwable item that paralyzes and weakens targets within a small radius. Effective against those below fifth-rank, ignoring defensive levels."

Only then did he recall that he had drawn this item before. Back then, when his strength was still very limited, he had used this very item to trap the Black Wind Stronghold members who were ambushing Yu Yanluo. For him at that time, its ability to ignore defensive levels had been incredibly useful.

However, with his current strength, he no longer needed this item to deal with enemies below the fifth rank. While it would be useful against fifth and sixth-rank opponents, it ceased to be effective against those above the fifth rank.

As for opponents with higher cultivation levels, he would simply have to yield to them, unless the opponent was a beautiful master. Wait, the "Rich Woman's Pleasure Ball" was also gone now, so even a beautiful master wouldn't help him. He could only rely on his looks.

Putting away the rather useless poison bottle, Zu An started his next draw.

After receiving "Thank you for participating" several times in a row, the cursor finally landed on a Vitality Fruit.

With over three thousand draws in total, Zu An mechanically pressed the Enter key, a pang of nostalgia for the auto-clicker software from his previous life stirring within him.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up as he noticed the cursor had stopped on the letter K.

Congratulations, you've drawn the skill — "Spew Fragrance"!

Skill Description: When you activate this skill, anything you say will be perceived by your enemies as the most extreme form of mockery and provocation. All hostile targets who hear you will fall into a state of extreme rage, their abilities enhanced by ten percent, and they will then desperately attempt to kill you. Please note: anger points generated by enemies due to this skill cannot be collected.

Friendly Reminder: Use this skill with extreme caution. Once activated, there is no deactivation period, and only two outcomes are possible: either you kill all enraged enemies, or they kill you.

Upon reading the final reminder, Zu An was utterly dumbfounded.

What kind of a useless, detrimental skill is this? It actually buffs the enemies! I'd have to be insane to use it!

This skill might be useful for others, but he already possessed a natural talent for "spewing fragrance." He could infuriate people to no end with just a few words, collect anger points, and do so without boosting the enemy's abilities or getting into a deathmatch.

So what possible use could this skill have for him?

Zu An mused that it was no wonder this skill had no usage restrictions. After all, previous useful skills, like the "Rich Woman's Pleasure Ball" or "Stare at someone and they get pregnant," which had extraordinary effects, were always burdened with a multitude of conditions.

Only utterly useless skills like "What are you looking at?" had no usage limits. He figured this "Spew Fragrance" skill couldn't be much better either.