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"Impressive methods! Impressive calculations! The sword and armour, together with the publicity, will serve as solid proof of the royal mandate!"

Fang Yuan watched on silently. He had no intention of making a move.

The person who had orchestrated the whole thing must still be watching behind the scenes. Would they choose to appear now?

"This Five Elements Purple Phoenix, however..."

Fang Yuan examined the beast. His eyes gleamed.

"Not only is it a divine beast with magical talents, but it has also mastered the five elements. Its power is only superseded by that of the True Divine. Perhaps we can call it a Secondary Divine. Could it be Kong Xuan[1]?"

Of course, although the peacocks were descended from the phoenixes, they were distinct from each other. Fang Yuan could tell them apart easily.

"The Five Elements Phoenix is a rare species. Not sure if it is a representative of a higher being, or is it here of its own accord in support of the Marquis ..."

Fang Yuan’s stared at the Five Elements Purple Phoenix and frowned.

For some reason, the Phoenix invoked in him a sense of familiarity.

It looked like someone he was pursuing!

"The Ancient One?! It may or may not be..."

This person had abandoned his original body and had undergone reincarnation. It was only to be expected that his divine soul had changed. Besides, he was once a Sage and would have no lack of concealment methods.

In truth, Fang Yuan did not recognise him on first sight.

Even upon closer inspection, Fang Yuan had not managed to find any proof that the Phoenix was the Ancient One. It was only his spiritual sense that was doing the talking.

’Could it be that the Ancient One has become a Phoenix through reincarnation?’

Fang Yuan was stumped for a moment.

Under normal circumstances, Fang Yuan would have killed the Phoenix regardless of whether it was the Ancient One in disguise or not. It was better to be wrong than to have the Ancient One slip through his fingers again.

However, there was a problem.

The Five Elements Purple Phoenix had the power of a Secondary Divine. Fang Yuan’s Ultimate Witch Body was not fully developed and he would not be able to overwhelm the Phoenix yet.

It would become much harder to get to the Phoenix when Nuwa arrived!

Fang Yuan did not want to put himself at more risk than he had to.

"I’ll continue to wait and see!"

Fang Yuan kept his eyes trained on the Five Elements Purple Phoenix.

At the same time, the Marquis seemed to have come to a decision and announced it loudly.

"From today onwards, Western Zhou will adopt the Phoenix as a national symbol! The era name shall be changed to Auspicious Phoenix in commemoration of this event!"

"Yes, my lord!"

All the soldiers and peasants present broke out into loud cheers.

Fang Yuan could see that puffs of tribal energy were gathering to form a dense mass.

The energy of destiny surrounding the Marquis had stabilised completely and was rushing up into the sky like a pillar to the heavens.

Another purplish-black Phoenix had appeared within the pillar. It bore a great resemblance to the Five Element Purple Phoenix.

"Chirp! Chirp!"

The Five Element Purple Phoenix let out a shriek and flew into the pillar of energy where it became one with the other Phoenix.

"Has...has this Phoenix become the divine protector of the state?"

Fang Yuan’s eyelid twitched.

The Five Elements Purple Phoenix had intertwined itself with the fate of Western Zhou.

This way, the Phoenix would perish if Western Zhou fell. On the other hand, the Phoenix would prosper if Western Zhou managed to overthrow the Shang Dynasty.

This was a life-and-death gamble for the Phoenix and even Nuwa did not interfere.

’These methods...are pretty familiar...’

Fang Yuan let out a sigh.

At the very moment where the Five Elements Purple Phoenix had fused with the energy of destiny, a small bit of its true aura had escaped into the air and subsequently, into Fang Yuan’s grasp.

Fang Yuan had been unsure previously. Now, he was dead sure that the Five Elements Purple Phoenix was the Ancient One!

"Chirp! Chirp!"

The Purple Phoenix let out an extended shriek. Colourful lights shone from its body as it displayed its majesty.

Fang Yuan turned around to leave without hesitation.

The Purple Phoenix had secured a breakthrough for itself when it chose to fuse its own fate with the tribal energy of Western Zhou. It was as powerful as a True Divine now!

Besides, as long as Western Zhou remained strong, the Phoenix would thrive as well. It would even be able to come back to life in the event of its destruction!

"What a pity...I was too late!"

Fang Yuan sighed inwardly and quickly retreated.

...

"Master?!"

Hei Zhong and Ge Nie were just about to rest when they saw Fang Yuan appear in the burst of fire. They greeted him heartily.

"Are we heading to Western Zhou’s capital city now?"

"We’re leaving now!"

Fang Yuan waved a hand gloomily.

There was nothing more he could do in Western Zhou.

’The Five Elements Purple Phoenix, now the sacred beast of Western Zhou, is the Ancient One! He has regained his level of cultivation as a True Divine spiritual knight and is being backed up by Western Zhou’s tribal energy. Dealing with him will be very difficult...’

’However, the Ancient One is very ambitious. He wants to take this chance to regain his Sage status as well as to attain Dao using the five elements. He even covets Nuwa’s power. There must be an opportunity here somewhere for me to make my move!’

Fang Yuan sat down with his legs crossed. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that the times were not favourable to him.

’I had wanted to give Western Zhou my blessings, but now...’

’What I can do is now is to rush back to Shang and help them to defeat Western Zhou. This is the only way to kill the Ancient One!’

’It’s a pity that I had never thought about this beforehand and only have a mild relationship with the Shang...it feels like I have been tricked by the Ancient World...’

Fang Yuan sighed. He had understood what was going on.

Although the Ancient World had accepted him, he and the Ancient One were receiving equal treatment.

He would have chosen to fall in with the Shang if he had arrived during Shang’s golden age.

However, at present, the tribal energy of the Shang was unstable. Things would inevitably go against him because he was the founder of the Shang Dynasty and wielded too much power.

The many problems experienced by the Shang Dynasty so far were just the beginning. More would definitely follow if Fang Yuan chose to go to their aid.

’Well, I could vow to cut off all ties with the Shang Dynasty and never help them again. However, the Ancient One would become even more difficult to handle when Western Zhou emerges victorious over the Shang Dynasty...’

Fang Yuan let out a long sigh.

’I’ll be boarding a sinking ship and trying my best to keep it afloat. I wonder how the legendary Grandmaster of Heaven[2] had once felt?’

Hei Zhong and Ge Nie watched the expressions shift on Fang Yuan’s face. They did not dare to speak.

The fox sisters lay quietly at the side as well. They did not even dare to move.

’Forget it. The heavens might have made their decision but I will try my best to resist their will...’

Fang Yuan had made up his mind and broke out into a smile.

"A huge mess is going on all around us..."

At this point, the Shang state was still the most powerful state in the world with the largest army at its disposal. If Fang Yuan took over the Shang throne, he would make sure that Western Zhou never became a threat even after they had absorbed the Quanrong and Xiyi states.

"I’ll have to make sure that...the heavenly will of this world has no way of directly turning the tides in their favour!"

Fang Yuan considered the strengths of the parties involved and got a better idea of his chances.

Not being able to directly turn the tides in their favour meaning that if Shang emerged victorious over Western Zhou, the Shang King would not be struck down by lightning, nor would the Shang army be destroyed by earthquakes or floods.

If the heavenly will of this world was capable of doing all of that, Fang Yuan would leave without a second word.

After all, the Ancient One had been forced out of the Da Qian World. Fang Yuan was fine with leaving this world empty-handed.

Besides, Fang Yuan would have much more to work with if he could only make sure that the heavenly will of this world only provided marginal support to the heavenly mandate.

’To change the general trend or to assassinate the Marquis would be suicide...what I can do is to tweak the little details and watch the combined effect of these alterations destroy Western Zhou’s heavenly mandate!"

After Fang Yuan was done with his calculations, he no longer felt inclined to tour Western Zhou and started back to where he and his companions had come from.

...

The Shang capital.

Prince Pan sheathed the iron sword he had been holding as one of his servants entered the room hurriedly. He frowned.

"What has happened? Why are you in such a rush?"

The messenger fell to his knees and delivered his message in a shaky voice.

"The Dongyi army has launched an invasion on our lands!"

"The Dongyi again?"

Although Prince Pan considered the Dongyi to be troublesome opponents, they were loosely organised and had a primitive culture. They were easily driven back and only required the occasional invasion to be kept in check.

However, they had been severely defeated in battle only recently and yet they were attacking again. It was unbelievable.

"How many of them are there?"

Prince Pan had identified the source of the messenger’s distress with his question.

"Eight...eighty thousand!"

The messenger replied in a trembling voice. Prince Pan widened his eyes.

"Impossible!"

"My Prince, it’s true! The Dongyi tribes have united as one and the leader of this alliance is the largest tribe among them all, the Jiuxiong Division. They have managed to raise an army of 80,000 and have crossed our borders..."

The messenger was crying as he spoke. Prince Pan dropped his sword into the ground.

"...This battle concerns the survival of the Shang Dynasty. The King has ordered a national drafting exercise and will lead the troops to battle personally!"

The messenger continued to speak as Prince Pan experienced inner turmoil.

’How did the various Dongyi tribes manage to achieve unity in so short a time?’

Thoughts swirled about in Prince Pan’s head and made him dizzy.

’Something is wrong!’

Prince Pan shuddered.

’The most pressing issue right now is to dissuade Father from leading the troops himself!’

Prince Pan knew very well that if the Shang King appeared on the battlefield, it would be akin to telling the world that the imperial capital was lightly defended.

Besides, there was an inner voice telling him to take this opportunity and volunteer himself.

After all, he was not the crown prince. However, if he managed to achieve glory on the battlefield, he would be a few steps closer to the throne.

’If I were King, the Shang Dynasty would achieve greater heights!’

A fire began to burn in Prince Pan’s heart.

No matter his destiny, he would take a gamble on it.

If Fang Yuan had been present, he would have seen dark energy gather around Prince Pan’s body and forming the crooked shape of a bird. Even as the colourful lights of the void attempted to suppress its movements, the dark energy continued to resist them obstinately.

[1]: A peacock spirit who became King Zhou’s (last king of Shang), general in Chinese mythology

[2]: an evil deity who sided with Shang King Zhou in the losing war against the Zhou