567 A Chance of Survival (1/2)
”The Shang King intends to stay in Shangyi and let Prince Pan lead the army to war instead?”
A savage look came over Young Master Wu's face upon hearing this piece of news.
”How did things turn out this way?”
Mo Ge broke out into a cold sweat.
He had never seen Young Master Wu fly into a rage before and fell to his knees.
”Please have mercy on me, Young Master. I have followed your instructions and bribed the personal attendants of the King to convince him to lead the Shang army into battle himself. The Shang King was rather determined to do so until he met with the Great Witch…”
”The Great Witch?”
Young Master Wu looked apprehensive.
”So, it seems that...they had received a warning from the ancestral temple?”
”My sentiments exactly, Young Master. It is a pity that the Great Witch occupies a position of prestige and a mere common attendant would never be able to meet him…”
Mo Ge talked on.
Little did he know the full extent of Young Master Wu's worries.
'Father has great ambitions and now that he has received the heavenly mandate, his powers grow by the day. However, Father is not ready yet. If the Shang King decides to launch an attack on Western Zhou, we would be ruined. We'll have to hope that they won't deviate from their plans to invade the Dongyi state….the wise and brilliant Prince Pan is a great rival of mine. Neither is the Shang King a simple man. Leaving him in charge at Shangyi will definitely lead to a whole host of problems later on!'
'Of course, Prince Pan poses a greater threat!'
Young Master Wu made up his mind.
”Take my personal token with you and request an audience with Sir Cao!”
”The Sword Sage Sir Cao?”
Mo Ge was taken aback. He had not expected his Young Master to be acquainted with Cao Qiu and wondered just how much did he actually know about his Young Master.
”The imperial palace is under the protection of the Great Witch and even Cao Qiu won't be able to break through its defences. Nevertheless, Prince Pan, as the commander of the Shang army, will have to leave the palace...Follow the Shang army to Dongyi together with Cao Qiu and bring me Prince Pan's head!”
Young Master Wu waved his hands as he spoke. He had a malevolent look on his face.
”Yes, Young Master!”
Mo Ge shuddered involuntarily. He could imagine the bloody scenes of the Shang army falling apart following the death of their commander-in-chief.
The Western Zhou army could then march on to Shangyi and try to secure a bloodless victory.
For now, however, Mo Ge kept his mouth shut and retreated meekly out of the room.
...
”King Xin has appointed Prince Pan as the commander of a 10000-strong army and tasked him to do battle with the Dongyi?”
Fang Yuan was reassured upon hearing this piece of news.
”Good...it seems like altering the details bit by bit is working pretty well!”
Fang Yuan was more than aware of what he could and could not do within the limits of the heavenly will.
Acts like imposing direct control on the Shang King or killing the Marquis of Western Zhou would result in divine retribution!
On the other hand, giving the Shang Dynasty cheat codes and helping them to fly up the technology tree through things like introducing gunpowder to the regime, would result in retaliatory responses from the goddess Nuwa!
”These trump cards should only be used as last resorts. As of now, it would still be better to go with the flow!”
Fang Yuan turned to look his two disciples.
”If there are too many implications resulting from my direct involvement in these affairs, I run the risk of having my plans backfire on myself. I should send my disciples to act on my behalf instead!”
”I might not be able to directly assist Prince Pan in coming up with plans and strategies, but I can supply talent to him!”
Fang Yuan knew that this world treated aliens like himself differently from its natives. If it was the native men who acted, the heavenly will and the goddess Nuwa would not have any excuses to interfere in their affairs.
”What I can do now is to observe the proceedings and strengthen my powers!”
Fang Yuan waved a hand. A sword of fire and a sword of water materialised.
By focusing on his own recovery for the past few days, Fang Yuan had managed to create another divine sword. He was also beginning to realise that the Creation Sword Array was many times more powerful than the 9 Gates Sword Array!
Besides, the divine swords were sentient and could attack of their own free will!
”This is how it feels like to have gone past the 4th Tier of the Illusionary Divine Stage...I had not expected an Illusionary Divine dream master to become more powerful after having his foundations recast!”
Fang Yuan reflected on what he had learnt.
Now, by purely using dream elemental energy for his recuperation, Fang Yuan realised that the two swords had already attained a level of power that was at the 4th Tier of the Illusionary Divine stage!
”What kind of power would I be looking at if I went on to the 7th Tier of the Illusionary Divine stage?”
Fang Yuan felt a fire burning in his heart. He called his two disciples over.
”Hei Zhong, Ge Nie!”
”Yes, master!”
The two men bowed and gazed at Fang Yuan's handiwork with admiration.
Fang Yuan manipulated the swords through the air. It was magical.
”The both of you have become rather proficient in the Great Yin Technique. I will impart a chant to each of you, which will allow you to control these divine swords. Prince Pan is leading the Shang army eastwards. Go join his ranks!”
Fang Yuan muttered a few words that he made up on the spot and passed them off as the chants that would control the swords. In truth, he had only needed to change the user permissions for the swords. He passed the sword of fire to Hei Zhong and the sword of water to Ge Nie.
”Your mission will be to assist the Shang Dynasty in its endeavours and accumulate good karma. This will be very useful to your cultivation!”
”Yes, master!”
Ge Nie and Hei Zhong received their swords. They were slightly confused but bowed in acknowledgement to Fang Yuan's words all the same.
”Swish!”