In a courtyard in the northwest of the palace, white steam was seen rising from the courtyard. Then, the strong smell of food made the neighbours nearby wonder what was happening there?

 Lu Shu sat in front of a small stove and used his chopsticks to turn the meat in the pot. Xiao Mingze was busy adding wood to the firepit and cutting ingredients for Lu Shu.

 Many wealthy people were looking for Xiao Mingze as they knew that the previous boss of the gambling den was probably the closest to Lu Shu. The news spread from the Song family. All these years, the wealthy families of the palace had always placed spies around each other.

 The Song family thought they could keep the secret after killing the slave who was in charge of their storage. But that was an implausible belief especially since it was during such a critical timing.

 Before Lu Shu had gained prominence, they had taken sides with him. Now, Xiao Mingze was the person whom the wealthy families of the palace were looking for because they wanted to give him benefits in order to get him to join them.

 In that case, everyone could feel an increasing sense of security for their family.

 Xiao Mingze did not expect himself to be someone wanted by everyone in the palace. However, he knew that it was because of the young man in front of him. It was not because he was worth it.

 As the boss of the gambling den, he understood how things worked in the world. If a disciple of the wealthy family came over to loan money, they would agree to his request. If it was a beggar instead, they would definitely ignore him.

 Why was there such a difference in treatment? That was because the disciple had the wealthy family backing him up.

 Everyone viewed him with respect only because he could communicate with Lu Shu.

 However, nobody expected that Xiao Mingze dared to stay in the palace.

 The people who belonged to the wealthy families of the palace and were looking for Xiao Mingze had given up on the area near the palace. They had tried to look for him but Xiao Mingze would definitely make sure he would not be found. The house was secretly bought by Xiao Mingze in the early days. He owned many of these houses!

 The wily hare has three holes to his burrow, but Xiao Mingze had more than ten holes.

 From the perspectives of the wealthy families of the palace, Xiao Mingze was merely a Rank Two practitioner. He definitely had left the palace and went to the Wei Wu Army. However, they did not put themselves in Xiao Mingze’s shoes. Was he willing to leave?

 Zhao Shuai was welcomed by the Wei Wu Army because he had the capability of a Rank One, but what about Xiao Mingze? The Wei Wu Army had stopped their business and closed their soap factories. To the Wei Wu Army, Xiao Mingze was useless.

 He had to remain in the palace to prove his value!

 Xiao Mingze did not only want to be a lazy and rich person, he had his own aspirations. Xiao Mingze knew that it was the most important opportunity in his life. If he missed this chance, he would end up having an insignificant role in the future.

 Therefore, not only did he want to stay in the palace, but he also wanted to be Lu Shu’s assistant.

 At this moment, Xiao Mingze said as he added wood to the firepit, “The wealthy families of the palace wanted to meet to discuss how to defend against the Wei Wu Army. What do you plan to do?”

 Lu Shu did not answer him. “What do you think?”

 “They are easy enemies,” said Xiao Mingze, “None of them are masters so I don’t know what is the purpose of their alliance. However, my men have found out that some wealthy families are secretly sending their people out of the palace. I have already gotten the route and the names of the people.”

 Lu Shu nodded. Xiao Mingze had a reason to completely withdraw himself from the Song family. In order to prevent mishaps, the Song family had sent people to spy on Xiao Mingze.

 However, not only did Xiao Mingze disappear that night, but the slaves who were responsible for spying on him had also died miserably.

 As an experienced person, he had money and resources. It was normal for him to have loyal subordinates.

 Or rather, Xiao Mingze had his ways of protecting himself and therefore was daring enough to put bets on Lu Shu.

 The wealthy families of the palace had been trying to pretend to be an unthreatening pig to stay beside the old King of Gods so that people would not be wary of them. However, they did not know that they would really become a pig after pretending to be one for a long time.

 Now, even Xiao Mingze looked down on them. The tricks that Xiao Mingze had played under their watch had not been noticed before.

 Lu Shu smiled and looked at Xiao Mingze. “You are sufficiently prepared.”

 Xiao Mingze smiled honestly, “I am just doing this to survive.”

 Was Xiao Mingze honest? Honest people would not be able to live until now. However, Lu Shu did not care if Xiao Mingze was honest or not. Since Xiao Mingze had made his choice, he did not mind having an additional assistant.

 Lu Shu said, “Report the details of the disciples of the palace to Zhao Shuai. Ignore the wealthy families of the palace for now. Their meeting will start seven days later, right? I will personally make a trip down to take a look for fun.”

 Lu Shu said he would take a look for fun because just like Xiao Mingze, he looked down on the wealthy families of the palace.

 The people who were not masters were not worthy to talk to him. The wealthy families of the palace must have been crazy. He would rather believe that they were just acting. Apart from disciples who sneakily escaped from the palace, some masters must have planned to make use of this chance to escape too.

 “You can just continue keeping a watch over them. Yi Qian will contact you.” Lu Shu smiled. “He is doing whatever you are doing too.”

 Xiao Mingze felt stressed. He had heard of Yi Qian before. He was the real fugitive in the Luniverse and he even dared to try and kill Sun Zhongyang. Although Yi Qian was not as sly as Xiao Mingze, he was much crueler than Xiao Mingze.

When they went back to the Luniverse, Li Liang sent Yi Qian to secretly leave the team to regather people in the palace and forcefully recruited many slaves.

Now, it was easy for Yi Qian to take on the task. Therefore, Yi Qian knew whatever Xiao Mingze knew.

 That was what Xiao Mingze was stressed about. He wanted to prove his worthiness but realized that he was not the best in Lu Shu’s eyes.

 Moreover, he realized that Lu Shu had changed. As compared to the Lu Shu in the past whom he had worked with, Lu Shu acted more like a Lord of Heaven now.

 Lu Shu patted Xiao Mingze’s shoulder and smiled. “Come on, don’t have so many complicated thoughts when working with me. I don’t care about the things you want and you shouldn’t be scared of me. If you want to leave any day, I am okay with that as long as you don’t betray me. Come, let’s eat.”