“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!”
The light shining from the swords dimmed when they fell into Ge Nie’s and Hei Zhong’s hands. Nevertheless, a cold aura emanating from them. They were indeed divine in nature.
The art of the Illusionary Divine was based on creating real objects from illusions. The swords of fire and water that Fang Yuan had created were very real and would last for hundreds of thousands of years.
Of course, it did not matter even if the swords got damaged. The core of their being remained within Fang Yuan’s dream world and they could always be recast.
Fang Yuan’s mind shared a mental link with the consciousness of the swords. This made it easy for him to manipulate his two disciples and allowed him to constantly adapt his plans to the changing circumstances.
Nonetheless, there was no need to tell his two disciples these things.
“…Hei Zhong and Ge Nie are skilled and brave warriors, but they are not exceptional thinkers…they know how to fight but what I need now is someone who can plan and come up with strategies!”
After Fang Yuan had sent his two disciples away, he went on an aimless stroll around Shangyi with his foxes.
Ever since he had regained part of his dream master abilities, the arrest warrant placed on his head had become something of a joke.
“Prince Pan may have replaced the King in leading the army, but the danger remains. I need a backup plan!”
Fang Yuan muttered under his breath.
“The energy in the form of the Black Bird may have become misshapen, but it still has a chance of survival…this corresponds with my memories of civilisation in the previous world that I was in!”
Although the Ancient One was a sly fellow and had fused his own destiny with that of Western Zhou, Fang Yuan still had the upper hand.
This was because the Ancient One did retain the memories of the previous world that they were in and would have no idea about the progression of the general trend!
“From what I remember about this history of the previous world, King Wu of Zhou took the opportunity to invade the Shang capital. The Shang King, taken by surprise, was eventually defeated and committed suicide. Thus, Western Zhou officially received the heavenly mandate and lorded over the world!”
“This world had obviously been affected by the radiation from a high-dimensional civilisation, which explains the many similarities in its history! Even with the interference of the dream masters and the butterfly effects, the course of events would remain largely unchanged!”
Perhaps it was because the extent radiation was different, which might account for the difference in the historical timelines of the two worlds. This would give Fang Yuan the chance to reflect and revise.
“However, this war between Shang and Western Zhou did not result in an eternal victory for the Ji family[1]…in the history of the previous world, Zhou eventually declined, giving way to the Spring and Autumn era. Later, the Qin King Ying Zheng, a descendant of the Black Bird and a scion of the Shang, achieved reunification and became Emperor. The ancestor of the Qin monarchs is…Fei Lian?”
Prince Pan was destined to fail and there was no way to avoid it. However, the bloodline of the Black Bird remained unbroken and even managed to establish a regime that achieved the reunification of the world! The descendants of the Black Bird were the final victors!
After that, the glory of these semi-legendary clans disintegrated and gave way to the rise of mortal men.
“The last chance of survival of the Shang lies here!”
Fang Yuan was quiet for a moment.
Fang Yuan planned to use the destiny of the Qin to boost the destiny of the Shang. This would shake the foundations of the general trend and yet not break any the rules.
Fang Yuan arrived before a house and dropped his disguise.
“The aura of the Black Bird is failing and the Shang families are suffering. This house might be in a poor state but upon closer inspection, I sense its budding potential! This must be it!”
Fang Yuan entered the yard and saw that two strapping men were packing up some armour and weapons. There were slaves arming themselves as well. They were obviously preparing to follow Prince Pan into war.
They were all startled when they saw Fang Yuan enter through the door.
“Who are you?”
The strapping young man roared and raised the bronze hammer that he was holding. The hammer looked like it weighed more than a hundred pounds and yet he waved it about like it was a toy.
Fang Yuan had read about a certain Lian and his son, Er[2] from the classics in the previous world. These names suddenly came to his mind.
Fang Yuan stared at him. A light flashed across his eyes.
“Who are you?”
“I am the son of Gentleman Lian, Er!
Er brandished his hammer.
“You are…Jie?” The swordsman who had defeated Sir Cao and is now wanted by the King? Why are you here?”
‘Indeed, it is the two of you!’
Fang Yuan was relieved. He knew that father and son were both generals of the Shang Dynasty and were about to set off for war.
It was a pity that both of them would lose their lives in the Battle of Muye[3], according to Fang Yuan’s knowledge of the previous world’s history.
After all, the Shang Dynasty was destined to fall.
The next few generations of this family would lead difficult lives as horse breeders in the employment of the Zhou Kings. However, one of these horse breeders would finally be awarded the small fief of Qin, which would one day blossom into the Qin empire.
“That’s right!”
Fang Yuan nodded with a smile.
“So what…are you going to haul me to the King and claim your reward?”
“Er, wait!”
A large middle-aged man stepped out.
“You may leave…I, Lian, hold heroes in high regard. You are a Shang citizen like me. I hope that you will never antagonise the Shang again!”
“Hehe…”
Fang Yuan shook his head and looked towards the houses. A few little faces peeked out from the windows but quickly withdrew following admonishment from a woman.
“I have brought a little gift for you all!”
Fang Yuan nodded as he stretched out his hand and invoked the tribal energy of the Black Bird. The energy drifted and shifted before it diffused into the heads of Lian and his family members.
‘I have no use for the tribal energy of the Shang and might as well give it away! Besides, if this doesn’t work, I could preserve my elemental energy and bide my time.’
___________
[1]: Royal surname of the Zhou Dynasty
[2]: The correct pinyin for this character’s name is supposed to be ‘E’ but we changed it to ‘Er’ to make it less strange
{3}: The Final battle between the Shang and Zhou, which led to the Shang being replaced by the Zhou