Moreover, I felt that the third rank should be the perfect form my Dao Body could transform into. Just imagining how powerful it would be was terrifying enough, so I couldn't wait to complete the process.★
Once I had a third-rank Dao Body, I would be a mid-grade official of the Divine Court, reaching the position of an upper-grade central official. That meant I would be getting closer and closer to the Divine Emperor. Once the time was ripe, would I still have to worry about lacking an official post? Perhaps the day when I could participate in court deliberations wasn't far off either. Saving Han Shanshan would naturally be a piece of cake!
As for approaching the Divine Emperor and the central court, or even becoming some high-ranking official, those things didn't mean much to me. But as long as I drew near that side, the Demon Hall would start taking me seriously and might even help me forge a new path. At the very least, saving Si Xiaoxian would no longer be impossible!
However, all of this required me to accumulate small steps before I could travel a thousand miles.
My constant creation of enemies lately had also been intentional. I wanted to plant a preconceived notion in others' minds—at the very least, that I was someone they couldn't afford to provoke. Otherwise, if every Tom, Dick, and Harry came to me with all sorts of messy problems, wouldn't I end up tearing my hair out? Besides, when dealing with a villain like me, their instincts would lead them to put their own bottom lines on the bargaining table first. That gave me a start more than one level higher than if I had played the good guy. By expanding my gains step by step and then gradually