ACSP: Chapter 204: The Zhao Family Head's Legacy!
"Why exactly are you asking about my Zhao family?"
Li Dala's unfiltered words made Zhao Bin smell immediate danger. The young man subconsciously took two steps back, a trace of imperceptible vigilance flashing in his eyes as his muscles tensed under his robes.
Li Dala was also taken aback, his enthusiastic grin freezing on his face. He hadn't expected this guy to actually be a direct bloodline member of the very family they came to shake down.
Damn. This is too coincidental, right?
"Boss, this kid is from the Zhao family! Why didn't you warn me earlier?!" Li Dala quickly leaned into Jiang Chen's ear, lowering his voice into a frantic whisper, his face flushing with complete embarrassment. If he had known this guy was an actual Zhao family asset, he wouldn't have spoken so recklessly about interrogating him for safe houses and guard shifts right to his face.
"Did you give me a single microsecond of a chance to warn you?" Jiang Chen rolled his eyes at him, shaking his head slightly. This guy had opened his mouth the literal second they intersected, practically shouting their objectives to the entire street. There was truly no one quite like him.
Since their underlying purpose had already been completely exposed by Li Dala's big mouth, Jiang Chen didn't bother hiding anything else from Zhao Bin. He calmly and directly stated their true intention: they were here to mobilize the Magic City's peak combat forces to launch a counter-offensive against East Island.
When Zhao Bin heard that they had traveled all this way to gather a massive coalition to attack East Island, a sudden, bright gleam of excitement replaced the cautious vigilance in his eyes. He opened his mouth, eagerly wanting to offer his support.
But the very next moment, the frustrating, toxic internal politics that had been tearing the Zhao family apart during this exact period involuntarily surfaced in his mind. In an instant, the brief smile on Zhao Bin's face vanished, replaced by a heavy expression of deep sorrow and absolute helplessness.
"I am incredibly interested in attacking East Island... but unfortunately, the Zhao family is a chaotic disaster right now," Zhao Bin admitted, lowering his eyes. "Ever since the old head died, those greedy elders have all been preparing for an internal civil war just to secure a larger share of the legacy assets left behind. If you march into the main estates right now demanding cooperation, they probably won't even welcome you through the front gates, let alone give you high-level troops to deploy across the sea..."
This Zhao Bin, despite his past association with the arrogant Zhao Shui, was fundamentally a man of patriotic character. He had already learned via the regional forums a few days ago about the horrific details of the Jinghai City civilian massacre perpetrated by the East Island Contractors. Because of that tragedy, his previous petty prejudices and rivalry against Jiang Chen from the dungeon had completely evaporated. All that remained in his heart was deep, unspoken admiration.
Because in his eyes, anyone who had the courage and the raw strength to actively bring the fight back to East Island's front door was a true hero with real guts.
At this exact moment, Zhao Bin's attitude toward the trio underwent a total 180-degree turn. Recognizing that the bustling main street was crawled with the ears of rival elders, he took the initiative to guide them to a quiet, isolated teahouse tucked away in a nearby alley. Once behind closed doors, he laid out every single piece of dirty laundry and internal intelligence regarding the current state of the Zhao family.
Through Zhao Bin's detailed retelling, Jiang Chen, Ronan, and Li Dala finally gained a much deeper, tactical understanding of the situation.
It turned out that after the previous Zhao family head mysteriously dropped dead on the global stage, the four regional elders immediately moved to fill the power vacuum. Each faction desperately wanted to support a puppet from their own specific lineage to claim the throne of the new family head. Because the initial political friction was growing too volatile—and to avoid permanently damaging the underlying foundation of the Zhao family's extortion economy—the four old foxes finally sat down together to negotiate a standardized solution.
Ultimately, they decreed a martial election. Each of the four districts would select one champion from their respective branch to participate in a winner-take-all tournament. The election protocol was beautifully simple: they would fight. Let raw strength do the talking. The final family member standing at the end of the bloodsport would be crowned the undisputed new head of the Zhao family.
However, Zhao Bin's specific branch was historically thinly populated, and their managing elder couldn't find a single high-level combatant willing to risk their lives for their line. In the end, out of pure desperation, they had no choice but to draft Zhao Shui—who was currently sitting at only level 50—to represent their entire faction in the upcoming arena.
Logically speaking, given Zhao Shui's unique mechanical ceiling, he should have been able to handle this task with relative ease. After all, he was one of the incredibly rare geniuses who had successfully unlocked the legendary [Mangekyō Sharingan].
Although his baseline character level was lagging behind the old guard, in terms of burst destructive output, that dōjutsu allowed him to comfortably contend with Elite Jōnin Contractors or even seasoned Kage-level Contractors sitting well above level 90.
Unfortunately, because Zhao Shui had frantically overused the absolute limits of the [Mangekyō Sharingan] during his desperate survival bids inside the [Forest of Death] secret realm, the severe physical backlash of those eyes had caught up to him. His eyesight had recently undergone a catastrophic, rapid deterioration.
Even if he still possessed the raw muscle memory and chakra density required for a high-tier fight, the worsening blindness meant he could no longer guarantee an absolute victory against fresh opponents.
Speaking of his cousin's failing health, a deeply worried, pained expression appeared on Zhao Bin's face. He bit his lower lip hard, pausing for a tense moment to collect his emotions, before continuing in a strained whisper:
"Brother Zhao Shui's current tactical situation is incredibly grim. The other three factions of the Zhao family have imported some truly monstrous, high-level hidden talents for this tournament. If he were still in his physical prime, he might have been able to fight his way to the top of the bracket... but now? As long as he ignites his chakra and enters a real battle, those eyes of his that are already going blind will be permanently destroyed. There will be no saving them..."
Zhao Bin's tone was thick with bitter helplessness, clearly feeling a profound sense of injustice on behalf of his blind cousin.
But after quietly listening to the entire political breakdown and the high-stakes drama, Li Dala couldn't help but let out a loud, incredulous complaint:
"Wow, that is easily the most hilarious thing I've heard all week. Your entire family has already split into four completely autonomous, self-governing factions, and the position of the main family head is basically a nominal, empty title at this point anyway! Is there seriously any logical need for you guys to go out there and literally fight to the death over a hollow crown?"
"You don't understand the underlying distribution of power," Zhao Bin countered, turning his head to look directly at Li Dala. "In our Zhao family's charter, the structural status of the official family head remains absolute, mathematically superior to that of the regional elders. The sovereign head possesses the constitutional power to directly deploy and override the forces of the four great elders. More importantly, whoever wins the tournament will inherit two specific legacy assets left behind by the former family head. For those four old foxes, those two items are the ultimate prizes they desire above all else."
Jiang Chen's gaze narrowed slightly, a calculating look passing through his dark eyes. He looked up at Zhao Bin across the tea table and asked flatly: "What exactly are the two specific things you mentioned?"
Zhao Bin hesitated for a brief moment, glancing toward the closed door of the private room, before lowering his voice to recount the details.
It turned out that these two priceless assets were the deceased former family head's preserved Mangekyō Sharingan, and the absolute, exclusive ownership deed to the [Night of the Clan Annihilation] secret realm.
Jiang Chen was no stranger to the profile of the [Night of the Clan Annihilation] dungeon. This was the highly classified, specialized secret realm controlled tightly by the Zhao family that fundamentally allowed their inner circle to achieve infinite farming of raw Sharingan drops. He simply hadn't anticipated that the systemic ownership and access keys of this broken instance belonged exclusively to the personal inventory of the family head rather than the clan as a whole.
No wonder those four regional elders of the Zhao family valued this nominal title so intensely. Inheriting a private, limitless farm for premium dōjutsu while absorbing the optical power of a deceased master was enough to elevate any faction into a dominant global superpower.
"Where exactly is the elder of your specific branch currently stationed? I want you to arrange a meeting between us," Jiang Chen requested smoothly after pondering the political variables for a brief moment.
Zhao Bin saw right through his strategic intention at a glance and shook his head with a bitter smile: "Are you planning to try and persuade our East Pavilion elder to abandon his political ambitions and march across the sea to fight East Island with you? If that is your play, I strongly advise you not to waste your breath. He is entirely consumed with plotting for the tournament right now; he won't give a single minute of his attention to an outsider's military campaign."
The corners of Jiang Chen's mouth curled into a subtle, confident smirk: "It's fine. You don't need to worry about his alignment. Just get me through the door and introduce me. Leave the rest of the operational pressure to me to handle."
"Well... alright. I will take you to the Zhao Family East Pavilion," Zhao Bin murmured. A trace of internal conflict flashed across his eyes, but in the end, the young man gritted his teeth and agreed to Jiang Chen's request.
In any case, their family's internal structure was already an absolute, volatile mess. And the East Pavilion branch they belonged to was facing an incredibly bleak forecast in this upcoming tournament due to Zhao Shui's deteriorating eyesight; they realistically had little to no hope of winning the crown through conventional means.
Since failure was already staring them in the face, they might as well let this Super Kage-level Contractor, who had recently set the entire global forum on fire with his combat records in Great Xia, violently stir up the pot inside the Zhao family.
Destruction before creation.
Perhaps by breaking the stagnant, corrupt rules of the game, their marginalized East Pavilion would actually find a desperate, chaotic glimmer of hope to seize the position of Clan Head.
...
Half an hour later.
Jiang Chen's trio followed Zhao Bin through the winding outer roads, eventually arriving at the majestic gates of the Zhao Family East Pavilion, situated comfortably within the elite, protected suburbs of the Magic City.
The estate revealed itself as a sprawling, hyper-luxurious outdoor manor. The grounds were meticulously landscaped, and dozens of affluent members of the Zhao clan's Eastern branch were actively moving across the property. Some were casually lounging and drinking by pristine pavilions, while others were engaged in light sparring and practicing high-level legacy skills on dedicated courts, presenting a vivid scene of absolute, untroubled harmony.
In this current, terrifying era of global dimensional chaos where the old geopolitical order had completely dissolved into blood and ash, to be able to effortlessly enjoy a peaceful, pastoral aristocratic lifestyle like this required an immense amount of localized power. Throughout the Magic City, it was likely only the entrenched monopoly of the Zhao Family that could afford such detached luxury.
With Zhao Bin actively leading the way at the front of the formation, the heavily armed Zhao Family private guards standing at the threshold did not make things difficult for Jiang Chen's group. They scanned the company briefly before permitting them to successfully enter the vibrant interior of the manor.
However.
Just as Jiang Chen's boots stepped onto the smooth stone pathway flanking the main outdoor martial arts field...
Among the dozens of elite clan members who were actively cycling through their chakra forms and practicing their skills, a high-tier sensory type suddenly froze mid-stance. His eyes locked onto the newcomer's face, his expression instantly transforming into a mask of pure shock as he recognized the young man's identity from the viral Dark Web footage.
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