The Emperor of the Three Realms

chapter 57

Competition like this is pretty cruel. If no proposal was completed, it was equivalent to losing the rank of a duke directly.    

This way, there must be many ranks of a duke being vacated.    

The rank of an empty duke would be filled by a powerful noble family. Of course, this filled vacancy will only rank at the bottom.    

That is, heirs who successfully complete the mission will be given a priority rank at a higher rank. Those who replaced the heirs who lost the rank of a duke could only compete for lower and empty ranks.    

Of course, Jiang Chen did not need to consider this rule.    

Jiang Chen's goal was clear; he was eyeing the championship. For him, reaching the first runner-up position in this level competition means failing.    

“Brother Chen, say something. What ranking mission do you want to apply for?” Fatty did not care much about his problem, but was very concerned about Jiang Chen's decision.    

Jiang Chen smiled faintly as his gaze naturally turned to the four grand dukes.    

Following his gaze, Fatty patted his thick thigh. "really so. I know that our Brother Chen is unwilling to take action, or will surprise everyone when he finally takes action!    

Heh heh, Brother Chen, I hope you can drag that Long Juxue down from her high horse. Fatty Xuan chuckled. “It would be best if this girl voluntarily offered her body after she was conquered by Brother Chen, and Brother Chen threw it away after he had it. Hahaha, it's really too perfect.”    

Fatty Xuan's thin rat eyes almost formed a crack in his laughter when he thought of this scene, fully describing what “one is invincible when one becomes despicable”.    

Following which, the 108 heirs all lined up according to the rank rank of their current duke and prepared to step forward to apply for the Hidden Dragon Trial mission this year.    

There was almost no tension regarding the mission rank that would be proposed by the heir to the rank of a first rank duke.    

Each heir has his own self-esteem and self-esteem. They would absolutely not allow his position to be replaced by someone else and removed from the first rank.    

However, it is common for the strong to replace the weak. Power speaks for everything.    

The rank of a duke Jiang Han was at rank 14 of the 108 ranks of a duke, so it was soon Jiang Chen's turn.    

“Jiang Chen, what ranking mission do you want to apply for?” Princess Gouyu asked.    

“First rank!” Jiang Chen did not even blink an eye.    

“You have great ideals, but I must remind you that everyone in front of you has also applied for the first rank mission. The competition between you all will be fierce!”    

“What's the point of ranking without competition?” Jiang Chen smiled faintly.    

"Very good. According to the rules, each heir must complete three missions to pass this particular exam. If one mission fails, it will be considered a failure in this application.”    

"Understood." Jiang Chen nodded slightly.    

“Mm. Go there to draw your first mission.” Princess Gouyu marked the first rank mission symbol on Jiang Chen's application tablet.    

“Jiang Chen, you are applying for a first rank mission. Right?"    

"Yes." Yeah."    

“Please come here. All the scrolls here were first rank missions. Please choose which one you like.”    

Jiang Chen nodded, swept his eyes in a circle, and picked one at random.    

Those were all first rank missions and as such, the difficulty should all be the same. Jiang Chen would naturally not be too selective. Not to mention, all of these scrolls were sealed without any clue about the contents within.    

After choosing his mission, Jiang Chen was in no hurry to open it. The Hidden Dragon Trial Organizer also did not request immediate verification of the mission.    

Candidates only need to complete the mission and submit it for verification.    

Jiang Chen, what mission did you choose? An heir next to him asked out of curiosity.    

Jiang Chen glanced at him but only smiled faintly and left. It was obvious that the other heirs were not friends, and were probably from the enemy stronghold, here to get information from him.    

Although Jiang Chen was not afraid, he did not want others to show up and cause trouble for him when he completed his mission.    

As per the rules, all three missions must be completed within three months.    

When the examination was completed and the 108 nobles were present again, after screening and replacing the corresponding ones, the ranking contest would begin according to their respective rankings.    

That is, when the rank was determined, the twelve first rank heirs would only be able to challenge others in the first rank to determine the final rank.    

The competition in each rank is for the final rank.    

Heirs could leave after choosing their first mission. They only needed to return when they had completed a future mission to choose a second mission.    

“Chen'er, what mission have you made?” Jiang Feng asked excitedly after returning to the palace.    

Jiang Chen gave the scroll to Jiang Feng. Jiang Feng looked and frowned, This first “Mission is a little harder.”    

“A serial rapist has appeared in the Red Moon region located in the Tianhu region, collecting flowers from beautiful girls. His qinggong is amazing, and he calls himself “Lotus Harvest”.1    

He specializes in hunting young and very violent girls. Every time he harvests a young girl, he even kills them and cuts two objects in front of the victim's chest as moments.”    

“Those crazy crazy people are in this world?” Even Jiang Chen was a little surprised. The criminal who had committed all his crimes should have been massacred long ago. Why was he allowed to develop to this point and destroy so many lives?    

“This level of thief training is said to be between eight meridians true qi and nine meridians true qi. He had gone through hundreds of battles because he was working alone, and thus his combat abilities were outstanding. Chen'er, your mission is not simple.”    

Jiang Chen was also a little surprised. None of the first rank missions were simple. The first mission was to kill a practitioner in the advanced realm of true qi who was between eight and nine meridians.    

And this mission must be completed within a month.    

According to the rules of the examination, the heirs of the participants had to keep their identities a secret. They cannot mobilize any connections.    

If they use any connection without permission, they will be immediately considered a failure in the mission if caught. As punishment for cheating, the rank of their duke would be confiscated.    

Some heirs have had the mentality to live by chance in recent years, but have almost always been spotted by the intelligence networks of powerful Eastern family clans. They would be summoned and lose the rank of a duke.    

Therefore, fewer and fewer heirs have the mentality of surviving by chance.    

Without wasting any time, Jiang Chen made some minor adjustments to his preparations and set off.    

The Sheng battalion brothers escorted Jiang Chen out of the capital and stopped their steps. According to the rules, if they were to take him another step, it was likely that Jiang Chen would be considered cheating.    

Jiang Chen urged his horse forward after leaving the capital. He reached a large canyon after running for 60 km. Jiang Chen urged his horse to give a huge leap forward, their bodies soaring high in the air as he let his horse descend into the abyss as it should.    

As for Jiang Chen, he made a leap in the air and dashed towards another narrow winding road. His figure disappeared into the boundless and obscure open country with a few jumps.    

After roughly ten minutes, over ten figures suddenly appeared at the place where Jiang Chen sent his horse jumping. The person in charge was the Soaring Dragon warrior who was willing to die for the sake of his mission, Long San.    

Long San's face was covered as his evil and cruel eyes patrolled the area. He cursed cruelly. “This naughty boy Jiang Chen is very cunning and wretched. His presence is scattered here. In front of us is a borderless open country, but we don't know where he went.”    

“Master San, what should we do?”    

Long San looked into the terrain again, “There is only one place to visit here. We will be divided into three groups here and pursue them separately. Remember, the Duke would award a hundred thousand gold, pass down the land, and give a rank eight thousand below it to whoever killed Jiang Chen.    

Territory and bounty, this is an irresistible temptation. Moreover, this mission only killed heirs and was not too difficult!    

Groups for three different directions were quickly determined, and they began searching based on three different paths.    

Although this was the first time Jiang Chen had come out of the capital since arriving in this world, the memories of his past life were enough to help him deal with such a situation.    

There is about 2,500 km between the capital and the Tianhu region. Ordinary horses in this world can travel 1,500 km in a day. A practitioner in the advanced realms of true qi, if devoted himself to traveling, can also cover a distance of 1,500 km in a day.    

Of course, no advanced practitioner would waste his true Qi while traveling. Jiang Chen was no exception. He had seen from the map that a larger village could be reached by traveling through narrow and winding roads and across several mountain ridges. This village is one of the famous farms that produce horses in this area.    

Jiang Chen had arrived on the road leading to the village after roughly two hours. He did not enter the village, but spent a lot of money to buy a horse that could cover a distance of 2,500 km a day.    

Jiang Chen did not linger after swapping his horse, and he dashed towards the direction of Tianhu territory.    

In order to avoid observation, Jiang Chen sometimes chose some secluded paths. He would rather take a longer path, rather than incurring new complications.    

Like this, Jiang Chen covered a distance of 2,500 km in four whole days before he entered the Tianhu territory.    

Jiang Chen did not just spend his days traveling. Whenever night fell, Jiang Chen would revisit and study the past cases of the Lotus Harvester.    

Jiang Chen gained some advantages after a few days.    

One thing Jiang Chen was certain of was that the region where the Lotus Harvester would commit his crimes had never exceeded the Tianhu territory. There were ten counties in the Tianhu region, and the Lotus Harvester had committed most of his crimes in the Red Moon, Black Forest, and Great Stone counties. Occasionally one or two incidents occur in other areas, but the frequency is not high.    

Jiang Chen spread out a map of Tianhu territory to read and pondered that map for a while. From the location of the three districts, the location forms a Chinese character “ ⁇ ”.    

Incidentally, the terrain in these three regions was more complicated and profitable for Lotus Harvester operations.    

“This rapist has incredible qinggong, but the distance he can travel should be decent. This is why there are some cases that require a long and difficult journey. That is, these criminals must have nests in three regions. It is said that a clever rabbit has three holes in its burrow. If I can find one of his nests, then it will be easier to catch and kill this villain.”    

Jiang Chen had more or less deduced some clues.    

Jiang Chen arrived at the Great Stone area on the fifth day. He had his own reasons for choosing the Great Stone region, and not the Red Moon region, which had a higher number of incidents.    

Based on the pattern of the previous case, Lotus Harvester had succeeded twice in the Red Moon region. The Black Forest area was neighboring the Red Moon area, so its guard would be increased even higher.    

There is a mountain between the Great Stone and the Red Moon. The Red Moon is located to the south of the mountain, and the Great Stone to the north. The flow of information between the two is hampered due to the existence of mountains.    

Jiang Chen speculated that it was possible that this Lotus Harvester would choose to move to the Great Stone region!