Chapter 309: You Eye My Interest, I Eye Your Principal

The takeover of Anju Town went very smoothly. Qi Suian wasn't interested in winning hearts and minds; his was a path of pure, violent, autocratic rule.

Extraordinary power can do more than just shut up contrarians; it allows one to establish absolute dominion through personal might.

However, this required the assistance of his bio-brain. Without it, blind oppression would never allow his influence to grow.

While Anju Town was thriving, Qi Suian was busy dissecting the young man named Sun Yuan.

At first, the boy stubbornly insisted he was just a passerby standing up for justice. But after being unable to bear the torture and experimentation, he became much more cooperative.

Sun Yuan's background was indeed unusual. The Mage Family he belonged to was presided over by a Third-Grade Mage Ancestor.

The Sun Family of Pinghu City was considered the most powerful Mage Family in the entire region.

But Sun Yuan wasn't some cliché eldest son of the main family branch. He was a moderately talented Mage from a side branch.

He was being fostered by the family and had left home to gain experience, which was when he encountered Qi Suian's occupation of Anju Town.

Not everyone from the great families was a villain. The vast majority were normal people who didn't go around tyrannizing others.

After all, reputation was also important.

The family name alone wasn't enough; they still needed the support of the common people.

If their reputation soured, it would affect their businesses.

Affecting their businesses would affect their income, their resources would dwindle, and it would create a vicious cycle.

Therefore, most of the time, the great families presented a benevolent face to the public, even engaging in various charitable acts.

In essence, these actions were all for the convenience of the families themselves.

Qi Suian didn't understand such things, but his bio-brain understood economics, finance, and other fields, and could analyze the logic behind their behavior for him.

"Alright, no major issues left."

"Be more careful next time you decide to act. Your third uncle is here to pick you up." After stitching up Sun Yuan's wounds and injecting him with a high-dose painkiller, Qi Suian finally let him up.

He wasn't dead. Not many test subjects had managed to survive Qi Suian's hands.

This was mainly because the Sun Family had value, and the bio-brain planned to use them to further expand his influence.

For instance, by bringing Pinghu City and its surrounding towns into their territory.

They happened to need a stepping stone, and Sun Yuan was a perfect fit.

That's why Qi Suian had someone send word of Sun Yuan's situation to the Sun Family.

If they didn't know, the Sun Family would just treat him as missing. But now that they knew, they had to send someone to handle it.

Great families are bound by ties of blood. They couldn't just ignore a son from a side branch.

That would be disheartening to the rest of the clan. A rescue could fail, but they couldn't just do nothing.

Otherwise, if they ignore you today, they can abandon you when you're in trouble tomorrow.

If that happened, wouldn't the family just fall apart?

So, the Sun Family arranged for someone to meet with Qi Suian. In any case, a problem that could be solved with money was no big deal for the Sun Family.

Unless the other party was unreasonable and made an outrageous demand.

Then it would no longer be a negotiation, but a fight.

Did they really think the Sun Family's reputation was built on just being kind and charitable?

They had an iron fist, too.

They only chose to try diplomacy before force to maintain their reputation and avoid disrupting the peace.

Sun Yuan glared at Qi Suian with hatred. He wanted to curse him out, but with the wound on his throat, he couldn't even make a sound, let alone shout curses.

"Don't bother glaring at me. Once your wounds have healed, you can go back and complain all you want."

"For now, just be a good bargaining chip."

"If I reach an agreement with your Sun Family, you'll benefit too." After saying this, Qi Suian completely ignored Sun Yuan.

He then led him to the main hall, where Sun Yuan's third uncle, Sun Jian, had been waiting for a long time.

Seeing Sun Yuan alive and with all his limbs intact, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Apparently, this rebel who called himself the Taiping Celestial King wasn't completely without restraint.

He had been afraid that his nephew would be tortured beyond recognition.

"Mr. Sun, I've returned the man. Now, can we talk?" Qi Suian gave Sun Yuan a shove.

Sun Jian nodded. "How does the Celestial King propose we talk?"

Since Qi Suian called himself the Taiping Celestial King, he naturally addressed him respectfully as Celestial King.

He was on the other man's territory, after all. Being too arrogant would only cause offense, and whether he could walk out of here alive would be another matter entirely.

He had come with the intention of resolving things peacefully.

'It was my own nephew who was a fool. If only he had gone back to get reinforcements, he wouldn't have ended up captured.'

'His intentions weren't wrong, but his actions were.'

"I intend to cooperate with your Sun Family, to carry out..." The bio-brain took over and began to lay out the plan.

At first, when he heard the word "cooperate," Sun Jian paid it no mind.

'A Mage who came out of nowhere thinks he can cooperate with the Sun Family just because he has a Spiritual Root? Ridiculous.'

'If my nephew hadn't been captured by you, you wouldn't even be qualified to meet me.'

But as the proposal continued, Sun Jian gradually let go of his disdain.

For no other reason than the fact that what he was hearing made a lot of sense.

Although the man was only offering words and hadn't presented anything tangible, if he could actually implement this plan on his own, there would be nothing left for the Sun Family.

The more he heard, the more solemn Sun Jian's expression became.

He wasn't just a brute who only knew how to fight; he also understood the ways of the world and various aspects of management and administration.

"The Celestial King's proposal for cooperation is indeed very sincere. And by taking Anju Town, the Celestial King has already demonstrated his skill and ability."

"However, the cooperation the Celestial King proposes is a matter of great importance. I cannot decide on my own. I must first return to Pinghu City and report to the Ancestor before I can give the Celestial King an answer." Sun Jian stated his position directly.

To be frank, he hadn't even considered cooperation when he came here.

The plan had been to pay some ransom to get rid of Qi Suian, and then, later, eliminate this audacious man.

Anju Town was under the jurisdiction of Pinghu City and thus within the Sun Family's sphere of influence. Losing Anju Town meant a loss of income for the Sun Family.

But with Sun Yuan in Qi Suian's hands, it was difficult to make a move, as it could dishearten the clan members.

If Sun Yuan had died, they could have acted themselves.

Rescuing him was also fine. They could use Sun Yuan as a pretext to come back and crush Qi Suian later.

Now, however, it seemed they couldn't crush him. The proposal he'd put forward was truly tempting.

If they cooperated according to his plan, they might be able to gather enough resources for the Ancestor to break through to Second-Grade Mage.

For a Mage, each grade was a world of its own, especially the top three grades.

Once the Ancestor successfully broke through, the Sun Family might be able to expand its influence once again.

They might even meet the minimum threshold to contend for supremacy over the realm.

'Looking again at Qi Suian, isn't he the perfect front man?'

'Use him to expand our power, then usurp his position, and finally, the Sun Family will rule the world. Wouldn't that be wonderful?'

Unfortunately, Sun Jian couldn't make the decision, or else he would have agreed on the spot.

"Of course. But my time is limited. Give me a reply within three days. I trust that won't be a problem?" Qi Suian naturally couldn't wait for the Sun Family indefinitely.

If the Sun Family didn't take the bait, Qi Suian would just find another family. While Mage Families might not be as common as ox hair, they were still everywhere.

"I can find another family, and I can find another place."

"But your Sun Family won't get such a good opportunity again," Qi Suian continued.

"Within three days, I will certainly give the Celestial King a reply." Sun Jian didn't argue; the time given was more than sufficient.

As for killing Qi Suian and taking everything for themselves?

The one person they couldn't bypass in the entire plan was Qi Suian.

If the Sun Family undertook the project themselves, even if they succeeded, their reputation would be ruined.

But cooperating with Qi Suian was different. The Sun Family would take seventy percent of the profits to Qi Suian's thirty, but all the risks and blame would fall on Qi Suian.

The profit split wasn't an issue. After all, there were people who wouldn't even have the chance to offer the Sun Family seventy percent. So, Sun Jian didn't have any further objections.

However, while the Sun Family wanted seventy percent, Qi Suian had his eyes on the entire Sun Family.

When the time came, not only would they have to spit out everything they had eaten, but Qi Suian would swallow their entire foundation as well.

"In that case, allow me to see you out, Mr. Sun. I hope we can reach an agreement."

"This is a win-win situation. I'm sure the Sun Family Ancestor won't refuse." Qi Suian escorted Sun Jian and Sun Yuan out of his residence.

"Rest assured, Celestial King. This matter isn't difficult. It's just that I don't hold a decision-making position in the Sun Family, which is why I couldn't agree immediately." Sun Jian naturally made an excuse.

"Celestial King, please, there's no need to see us out. We can see ourselves off."

After speaking, Sun Jian led Sun Yuan into the carriage.

Only after they had left Anju Town did Sun Jian use his Spiritual Root's ability to heal Sun Yuan's injuries.

Although he wasn't fully healed and would need some time to recuperate, he could now speak.

"Third Uncle, this Taiping Celestial King has ill intentions! We can't cooperate with him," Sun Yuan said hurriedly as soon as he could speak.

"Of course I know that. He just wants to use the Sun Family's power to strengthen himself." Sun Jian didn't need Sun Yuan's reminder to know the man's objective. 'Otherwise, why would he offer any benefits?'

"Then why, Third Uncle, did you..." Sun Yuan didn't understand.

"The Taiping Celestial King is indeed impressive, but he has overlooked one thing," Sun Jian said coldly. "He is merely a Mage who has just entered the middle grades. What kind of waves can he possibly make?"

"Our family's Ancestor is a Third-Grade Mage. Not to mention your grand-uncles and the others—we have more than ten at the fourth grade, to say nothing of the fifth and sixth grades."

"Without absolute power, no amount of scheming is anything more than paving the way for our Sun Family."

"Of all the Warlords in the world today, how many don't have a Mage Family backing them?"

"What this so-called Taiping Celestial King seeks is nothing more than that." From this, Sun Yuan accurately deduced Qi Suian's shortcomings and weaknesses.

Sun Yuan's expression was grim. "So, he deliberately chose Anju Town and targeted me?"

Based on Sun Jian's analysis, Sun Yuan felt that he had been completely outmaneuvered.

"The possibility is high. And he even calculated that you would jump out to intervene," Sun Jian said with a smile. "Perhaps he even calculated that the person coming to get you would be me, your third uncle."

He didn't think this was a bad thing for Sun Yuan. People have a hard time learning from others' words, but they learn from experience in a single lesson.

This experience would definitely be helpful for Sun Yuan's development.

"But this is just petty cleverness. Power is absolute."

"If you possessed the strength of a Top-Grade Mage, do you think he would have dared? He would have knelt respectfully before you." Sun Jian admonished Sun Yuan, telling him to focus more on increasing his strength and not to waste his talent.