Rearing and Provocation!
Inside the Qingcheng Inn, Rolf carried a large box of books into the room.
"My lord, these are the historical records of the Great Chu Imperial Dynasty you requested, including those from previous dynasties."
"Lord Yang said that the contents recorded in the historical books of the previous dynasty cannot be entirely trusted."
"Okay, I understand. You can go and rest now."
Seeing that the Auction House had a new Concentration Method Skill Book, Lister decided to return to the city first.
After all, the auction lasts for 24 hours, and the highest bidder wins.
With 21 hours remaining in the auction, Lister prepared to keep a close eye on the Auction House and make a final bid, determined to secure one of the books.
They wanted to take advantage of this time to find out the strength of the Great Chu Imperial Dynasty.
The situation with the monsters outside Jiangxia Prefecture made him very suspicious.
Meanwhile, the monster zone in Jiangling Prefecture that he had wiped out some time ago has been occupied by new monsters.
Lister's biggest concern was whether this monster was truly endless, as it determined his future whereabouts and whereabouts for a considerable period of time.
Instead of starting with the Great Chu Imperial Dynasty, I began reading from two dynasties earlier.
The first Great Qian Imperial Dynasty was established more than 1,200 years ago.
The information about the emperors recorded inside was indeed as Governor Yang had warned.
It's not just that you can't believe everything you read; it's full of absurd things that emperors throughout history did, and most of them are summed up as stupid, foolish, idiotic, greedy, and tyrannical.
In a dynasty that lasted for over three hundred years, not a single emperor could be found who was truly positive.
Of course, what Lister cared about was not these things, but rather some information records about the monsters.
Compared to the emperor's Twist records, the information on monsters and other creatures, though scarce, is much more credible.
During the establishment of the Great Qian Imperial Dynasty, monsters roamed freely.
The imperial dynasty mobilized its army and fought for a full 67 years before finally eradicating all the demonic beasts.
After that... there were far fewer monster attacks.
It wasn't until more than three hundred years later, during the final years of the dynasty when internal strife was severe and countless people died every year, that the monsters began to roam freely again.
Then came the establishment of the Great Yu Imperial Dynasty, which purged the demons even faster, taking a total of 41 years.
Throughout the nation, the demons were eradicated, the people lived in peace and prosperity, and true unification was achieved.
But the internal strife started even faster in the end!
In less than 200 years, the Great Yu Imperial Dynasty also eventually split due to internal strife, and monsters began to breed again.
The Great Chu Imperial Dynasty, which is now in existence, was established six hundred years ago.
Just from this point, Lister sensed something different!
The Great Chu Imperial Dynasty has actually lasted for over six hundred years! Far exceeding any other dynasty in history!
Their initial trajectories were similar: first, they unified the world, and then they continuously sent troops to exterminate the monsters.
However, during the Great Chu Imperial Dynasty, the country was in constant turmoil, and there were far more monsters than during the Great Qian and Great Yu Dynasties!
Even monster tides began to emerge and erupt, with giant monsters only appearing during the Great Chu Imperial Dynasty.
Each monster tide will only recede on its own if the giant monster is killed first.
It seems that from this point on, the Great Chu Imperial Dynasty never again considered completely eradicating the monsters throughout the country, even during the years when its national strength was at its peak.
Upon seeing this, Lister vaguely understood the answer in his heart.
Could it be that the successive emperors of the Great Chu Imperial Dynasty deliberately failed to eradicate this monster?
The Great Chu learned from the demise of the previous two dynasties that once there were no external enemies, internal strife would begin.
So, does that mean the Great Chu Imperial Dynasty directly maintained the demonic beasts as an external enemy?
Even if this answer seems unbelievable and absurd, it has a very high probability of being true!
Thinking even deeper, could it be that the giant monster was also raised by people sent by the emperor of the Great Chu Imperial Dynasty?
I recall Lister's first meeting with Yongping Emperor in court, and that enigmatic look of relief on his face.
And now they are in a hurry to have him lead the Great Chu delegation to the Kingdom of Lucian.
Could it be that they intend to turn this long-nurturing "monster" into a real war against a foreign enemy!?
Although this conjecture was nonsense, Lister inexplicably felt that he was close to the truth.
If we start working backward from this point, he can suddenly understand some of Yongping Emperor's various behaviors.
Especially his initial fervent expression.
It seems that the war between the two great powers in the third act of the Expansion was unavoidable from the very beginning.
The auction for the "Concentration Method Visualization Method" was nearing its end by the next morning.
The starting bid remained at seven gold pieces, and no one raised the price.
There's even another passive skill book with high intelligence, also available for auction at seven gold coins.
Just in time, Lister entered ten gold coins.
The next second, the price jumped to ten gold coins, and the auction ended.
"Congratulations, you have obtained the Skill Book for the Concentration Method Visualization Method."
The visualization method involves quietly appearing in Lister's Inventory.
"Should I study?"
"Yes!"
A sudden clarity washed over Lister, and at the same time, a visualized scene formed in his mind.
Compared to learning something through visualization and visualization, Skill Book is like feeding you the food directly into your mouth.
Congratulations, you've mastered it.
[Concentration Method Visualization Method (Passive, No Rank) LV1 (0/10000): Grants an additional 1 point of Intelligence.]
Lister now possesses a total of seven passive abilities, with all four passive attributes now complete.
If it weren't for the fact that he hadn't yet leveled up the newly added passive skills, Lister estimated that with just these seven attributes, his overall strength would have reached the A-level Lord Tier.
Give him some time to level up, and he'll be confident he can go toe-to-toe with Kavin Deer after that.
Suddenly, a commotion arose outside.
"Count Merrick is still resting, General Yu, please do not intrude!"
This was the voice of Rolf, the captain of his Sixth Guard.
"Heh~! Taking a break?"
"It's been almost two months since we left the Imperial City; Count Merrick should have recovered by now!"
"This is none of your business. If you take another step forward, don't blame me for being impolite."
As soon as Rolf said this, the sounds of weapons being drawn came from outside the inn.
Hehe~!
A disdainful laugh rang out from outside.
General Yu completely ignored Rolf's warning and shouted at the top of his lungs into the inn.
"Count Merrick, I am Yu Yang, an envoy from the Great Chu Imperial Dynasty to the Kingdom of Lucian!"
"Today, we hereby specially invite Count Merrick to depart for the Kingdom of Lucian."
"I hope you'll obediently come out and lead the way as soon as possible, or don't blame me for tying you up and taking you away!"
The blunt words were clearly heard by everyone in the entire Qingcheng Inn.
At the same time, General Yu's light laughter and the teasing sounds from outside could be heard.
"I think Count Merrick is so captivated by the prosperity of our Great Chu that he doesn't want to leave! Haha!"
"General, I think so too. What kind of bullshit Kingdom of Lucian is this? A godforsaken place I've never even heard of. How can it compare to our Great Chu?"
"General, why don't you go in and help Count Merrick?"
"I don't think Count Merrick will dare to show his face! Haha!"
It's a very basic tactic of reverse psychology, but it works very well.
Lister hadn't expected Yongping Emperor to be so impatient, sending someone to pressure him so quickly.
"Bang!"
The sounds of swords clashing suddenly rang out.
Lister didn't linger any longer. Although Rolf's strength was already at the third rank, he wasn't weak in the Great Chu Imperial Dynasty.
But this envoy from the Kingdom of Lucian will be even more powerful.
Sure enough, when he got outside, Rolf was kicked away by General Yu and crashed into him.
"My Lord Earl!"
Lister caught Rolf with one hand, and his expression immediately turned grim.
I thought that since the other party didn't use weapons but provoked me with fists and feet, they still had some principles and didn't really intend to harm me.
Who knew that after scanning Rolf's system, he discovered that the kick had drained 70% of Rolf's health, and even caused him to bleed.
"Take it and drink it quickly."
He pulled out a medium-grade holy water potion from his pocket and tossed it to Rolf.
Only then did Lister's sharp gaze turn to General Yu before him.
Since the other party hadn't held back at all, he naturally wouldn't be polite either.
"Heh heh, I didn't expect our Earl to finally come out!"
What? You're not convinced?
"Don't think you're a master swordsman just because you've beheaded a Bloodmane Spirit Bear!"
"You brat from who-knows-where, you're still a long way off!"
"Now quickly apologize to this general and head to the Kingdom of Lucian as soon as possible, and this general will consider letting you go today and not pursuing the matter further."