"Zhou Zhenbei has transferred his troops back to Jincheng. Is he planning a mutiny?!"

Rumors and panic spread rapidly in the undercurrents of Jincheng.

The lack of any feedback has led many to wonder if Zhou Zhenbei is really planning a rebellion.

After all, all the orders Zhou Zhenbei is issuing now are completely contrary to the annexation plan that Tianlong mentioned.

He was completely unmoved even by the orders from the Central Plains government to cooperate.

The sudden mobilization of military forces left many people in Jincheng completely bewildered, with no idea what Zhou Zhenbei was trying to do.

Zhou Zhenbei stood by the window with his brows furrowed, clearly not at ease.

He knew that once he took this step, there was no turning back.

A complete break with the authorities is now a foregone conclusion.

But he had no other choice.

'Zhao Deyang! And those old bastards, you forced me to this!' Zhou Zhenbei roared inwardly.

As the political landscape of Zhongzhou continued to shift, he was gradually marginalized by Zhao Deyang and his group, and was pushed from the core of power to the border.

Zhao Deyang even joined forces with others to propose that he himself be stationed on the border, the purpose of which was quite obvious.

If it weren't for his formidable strength allowing him to linger, it probably wouldn't have been long before Zhou Zhenbei had no place to stand in Zhongzhou Jincheng.

Furthermore, with the rise of the Central Plains Dragon Vein, various departments and official forces are trying to gain access to its inheritance.

The Star Lord position, which was originally a sure thing, suddenly became increasingly demanding due to the ever-increasing number of rules imposed by the authorities, even restricting their participation.

All factions immediately thought of using the next generation of successors to compete for power.

Zhou Zhenbei felt cold. It was already a miracle that his son could be brought back to life through special means; he simply didn't have the ability to compete with those geniuses.

Left with no other choice, he could only follow Zhao Deyang's example, take Zhou Xuan as his disciple, and secretly send people to help him in order to win a position as a star lord.

But to everyone's surprise, even his efforts to help Zhou Xuan compete for the Star Lord title were met with a united front of various forces, hindering and sabotaging him! It was as if the world was against him.

Despite repeated failures in the struggle for the Dragon Vein, he eventually resorted to using his powers to personally descend and threaten everyone, but still failed to stop other awakened individuals from vying for the Dragon Vein.

Zhou Xuan, who ultimately failed in his struggle for the dragon vein, didn't even return alive.

One piece of bad news after another arrived, filling Zhou Zhenbei with horror.

This is no coincidence; it's a coordinated attack targeting Zhou Zhenbei!

Otherwise, he simply couldn't understand how Zhou Xuan, with his strength, his trump cards, and the two military awakened reinforcements he sent out, could fail to even take down a dragon vein ranked at the bottom.

“However, things are not over yet, there is still a chance,” Zhou Zhenbei muttered to himself.

He knew that the Twelve Star Lords were not yet firmly in their positions. If he could forcibly seize one of the Star Lord positions and pay enough benefits and costs, those who had marginalized him would have no choice but to accept it for the sake of the overall situation in Zhongzhou!

At this point, some people in Zhongzhou will pretend not to know what he has done, and everything can be wiped clean.

He is still the pillar of Zhongzhou, General Zhou Zhenbei of Zhongzhou!

Zhou Zhenbei's eyes gradually hardened; having lost his power, he might as well be dead. Only in this way could he regain his place at the pinnacle of power.

It's all or nothing!

The last trace of hesitation in Zhou Zhenbei's eyes was replaced by a frantic determination.

The next moment, Zhou Zhenbei suddenly had an unusual scroll in his hand.

He took a deep breath and slowly unrolled the scroll.

At this moment, Zhou Zhenbei seemed to be enduring immense pain and humiliation.

When fully unfolded, the scroll contains intricate spell characters.

He pressed his hand up, forcefully injecting the violent energy within his body into it.

As communication was established, a family crest-like pattern emerged on the surface of the scroll.

With a "bang!", a cloud of gray smoke exploded instantly.

"Come out." Zhou Zhenbei's voice was dry and hoarse, carrying a coldness of self-loathing, as if he never expected that he would become like this one day.

"Hehehe... Hehehe." A non-human laugh emanated from the scroll, filled with twisted joy.

Immediately afterwards, the gray smoke rose from the paper, quickly condensed and twisted in the air, and finally transformed into a human-shaped silhouette.

As the gray smoke dissipated, a figure dressed in a tight-fitting black ninja outfit appeared.

The person wore a hideous ghost mask, revealing only a pair of gleaming eyes, and a strange totem composed of three poisonous snakes was engraved on the forehead guard.

The ninja landed almost without a sound, and his aura was completely absent, making him even more elusive than a ghost.

The ninja's blood-red eyes greedily scanned the outline of Jincheng outside the window, and he spoke in broken Zhongzhou dialect:

"Heh heh... Is this the Golden City of Zhongzhou? It is indeed exceptionally fertile and delicious."

Then, the ninja tilted his head and looked at Zhou Zhenbei, a strange smile on his face behind his mask, his eyes filled with a morbid excitement and smugness:

"General Zhou Zhenbei, heh heh, you've finally agreed to cooperate with us." He deliberately drew out his words:

“I knew it. You were able to cooperate with the Deepsea Watchers back then, and one day you will be able to cooperate with us too.”

"Shut up!" Zhou Zhenbei roared furiously, like a tiger whose tail had been stepped on. His violent killing intent instantly filled the room, and even the ghost mask seemed to distort for a moment.

"Stop talking nonsense! Making contact with you will result in the extermination of our entire clan!"

Zhou Zhenbei coldly stared at the ninja. If it weren't for the fact that the ninja still had some value and that his crazy plan of flipping cards needed this pawn to disrupt the situation, he would have wanted to crush this filthy Japanese into dust right now, and he wouldn't have wasted any words with him.

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