Chapter 153 A Stroke of Blind Luck

Great Shang, City of朝歌 (Chaoge).

The cultivation and sowing of rice had proved a success, making today a day of joyous harvest.

Inside the city, the common folk were singing and dancing, beating drums and gongs, celebrating throughout the entire nation in a most lively manner.

The national fortune and destiny of Great Shang had been completely altered.

A year ago, the national fortune of Great Shang could be described as utterly abysmal, truly at its absolute worst, beyond any possibility of redemption.

Yet, merely a year later, how could a nation teetering on the brink of ruin and demise suddenly undergo such an earth-shaking transformation that outsiders found hard to believe?

First came the land reform, distributing land according to head count and vigorously promoting the cultivation of crops.

The successful cultivation of sweet potatoes, potatoes, radishes, and other crops truly solved the starvation problem for all the common people of Great Shang within a mere single year.

The series of dramatic changes in Great Shang shocked the surrounding states, sending ripples of astonishment across the entire world.

Thus, Great Shang suddenly became a coveted prize in the eyes of various nations. Every state with any semblance of strength wanted to carve off a piece of Great Shang and reap the rewards without putting in the work.

The neighboring state of Wusang was the most typical example.

Wusang suddenly dispatched an army of one hundred thousand, pressing straight toward the border, intending to drive deep and storm into Chaoge City. Once the capital was breached, the succulent prize of Great Shang within its walls would become easy prey.

Yet what Wusang never imagined was that Great Shang, relying merely on a force of three thousand light cavalry, completely annihilated their one-hundred-thousand-strong army in a single stroke.

The world was shaken!

The surrounding states that had previously cast covetous eyes upon Great Shang were instantly filled with dread.

An unprecedented, profound sense of terror!

Incredible!

Such an overbearing and formidable Great Shang—while the other nations were ravenous wolves, Great Shang was a crouching lion and tiger refusing to move.

When lions and tigers roar in the mountains, all beasts tremble in fear.

The overconfident Gigi Guba met a tragic end, his soul perishing in the valley.

Today, Chaoge City was immensely lively. The major streets and small alleys were filled with singing and dancing citizens, bustling with clamor and commotion all along the long avenue.

Coupled with rumors that the Investiture of the Gods was about to open, and that the destined one would surely appear in Chaoge, a multitude of unfamiliar faces suddenly flooded the city.

It seemed as though overnight, all the monsters and demons of the world had swarmed into Chaoge, transforming the capital into an extremely prosperous place, surging with endless crowds.

Inside a teahouse named "Blessed Teahouse," the tables were packed with patrons. The busy waiters and the abacus-wielding proprietor were rushed off their feet, thoroughly engaged.

It was bustling and chaotic, a mixture of fish and dragons.

At a table near the window sat two patrons, a man and a woman.

The woman wore a bamboo hat, shielding her beautiful face completely from view.

The more a man could not see something, the more intense his curiosity grew.

Judging from the woman's full and exquisite figure, such a frame seemed exceedingly rare. A woman with such delicate curves surely could not possess an ordinary facial appearance.

The male patrons in the teahouse cast their gazes, intentionally or unintentionally, toward the woman in the bamboo hat.

Seated beside the woman was an elderly man whose gaze was as sharp as an eagle's.

"Aya, let's go back. Even if King Zhou truly appears, given our current meager strength, assassinating him is simply impossible," the old man said in a low voice.

The woman remained unmoved: "Kumar, you are the King's military counselor and also the Grand Wizard of our Wusang nation. If even you say such things, when will I, as a younger sister, ever avenge the King's death?"

"It is difficult!" The old man shook his head.

As it turned out, these two were none other than Princess Gigi Aya of the Wusang nation and Kumar, the Grand Wizard deeply revered by the Wusang people.

The people of Wusang differed greatly in appearance from the people of Great Shang.

Due to the climate and their nomadic lifestyle, Wusang people were generally taller and more slender, with high-bridged noses.

They possessed an exotic charm, making the people of the two countries easily distinguishable.

"Aya, listen to me. The only reason I risked my life to agree to your journey to Chaoge—were it not for the matter of the Investiture of the Gods, given our identities and appearances, we would have been exposed by the soldiers of Great Shang almost instantly. We are undoubtedly placing ourselves..."

"So what? The King is dead, and our Wusang nation is currently without a leader, everyone in mortal peril. If I do not kill King Zhou to avenge my brother, then I, Aya, will never be at peace for the rest of my life."

Gigi Aya gripped the sheathed blade at her waist, keeping her eyes fixed on the street outside.

Kumar could only let out a sigh: "Let us return. Since I have promised you to resurrect our lord, I certainly have a way to bring him back to life."

Gigi Aya bit her lower lip. If her brother could indeed be resurrected, that would certainly be for the best.

Yet a price had to be paid.

Kumar had set his sights on her body, claiming that her physique was a rare Yin-nurturing sacred body encountered once in a century. Any practitioner of the arts who engaged in dual cultivation with her would instantly achieve supreme enlightenment.

To put it bluntly, this bastard of a Kumar, this old man, was taking advantage of her desperate situation.

If he truly had the ability to resurrect her brother, what conditions would her lord even need to discuss?

Wasn't this old man clearly lusting after her youthful body?

What nonsense about a Yin-nurturing sacred body, and how once dual cultivation was performed with her, one could instantly... What kind of rubbish was all this?

The old man simply wanted to consume her and thereby seize her youthful body.

Abhorrent!

Yet, facing such a shameless demand from the old man, she seemed truly unable to refuse.

Her brother had to be resurrected; the Wusang nation could not exist without its king.

Through all these days, Gigi Aya had often wept secretly in the dead of night, crying until her eyes were nearly blind.

"Aya, stop being so reckless. Let's hurry back."

Chaoge City was fraught with extreme danger. As people from a hostile nation, sneaking in so rashly was truly akin to hanging their heads by their waists.

"Hmph, Kumar, are you afraid? Think about how hard it was for us to sneak into Chaoge City. If we just go back like this, wouldn't we have wasted such a golden opportunity?" Gigi Aya said with deep reluctance.

Kumar's expression grew even gloomier: "I said your reckless behavior is just that—reckless. Just think, even if King Zhou were to leave the city, his generals are as numerous as clouds. You wouldn't even be able to get close to him, let alone assassinate him. How could it be easy? It is harder than ascending to heaven."

"You two... you don't seem to be people from our Chaoge, do you?"

Gigi Aya and Kumar, who had been speaking in low voices, never imagined they would be overheard.

The problem was that Kumar had already set up a barrier; ordinary mortals simply could not get near them.

Yet how could this person... A man who looked extremely eerie and withered.

The man sported a goatee on his chin, and coupled with his prominent, protruding cheekbones, anyone who laid eyes on him would instantly feel a sense of dread.

"You... who are you?"

Despite being the Grand Wizard, Kumar actually felt a surge of terror, and the trace of fear deep within his heart grew increasingly intense.