"Speaking of Zhou Aotian, who had been unable to make a breakthrough in his cultivation, his fiancée broke off their engagement. Then he obtained a jade ring..."
"He said to his ex-fiancée, 'Better to wrong an old man than to underestimate a poor youth!'"
The King of Zhou and the King of Chu entered the capital city of Jing Country in disguise, accompanied by their attendants. They chose the busiest inn and stayed in the best room. Soon, they heard storytelling from downstairs.
It was the tale of Zhou Aotian's rise to power through cultivation after being jilted, with the help of his spiritual grandfather!
"Let's go down and listen!" The King of Zhou perked up. "I wonder what happened to Zhou Aotian after chapter 30, and if he made his ex-fiancée regret her decision."
"My lord, we should be careful. We're in the capital of Jing Country now," warned a tall, imposing middle-aged attendant behind the King of Zhou.
"It's fine. We're already here," the King of Zhou waved dismissively.
The King of Chu, now dressed in silk robes, walked out of the room nonchalantly with his hands behind his back. "Little Zhou, if you're afraid, just stay here."
"I'll listen to the story and tell you about it later," the King of Chu said fearlessly as he went downstairs with his servant.
The King of Chu wasn't worried about Jing Country discovering his identity or assassins attacking him. He had left Princess Yunwu in charge of state affairs, and a Jing Country expert had told him his death omen had passed, so he should be safe now. Besides, he was now an ally of Jing Country, and he should be safe in Xiao Yunzhou's territory.
The King of Chu was clever and bold, but as he walked out of the inn, he still felt for the talisman from the Jing Country expert in his sleeve, breathing a sigh of relief when he confirmed it was there.
"Old Chu, if you're not afraid of death, neither am I!" The King of Zhou laughed heartily as he followed closely behind. "Have you heard? The safest way to hide someone is to put them in plain sight."
The King of Zhou was quite conspicuous, fearlessly wearing fine silks as he walked out of the inn openly. "Who would think we'd appear here? Where's the danger?"
The King of Chu's pupils constricted. As expected of the ruler of Zhou Xing Kingdom, his courage and boldness were truly remarkable! No wonder the Yuan King sought to cooperate with Zhou Xing Kingdom in attacking Jing Country. The King of Zhou was ambitious and fearless!
"Brother Chu, I want to hear the rest of this story about Zhou Aotian being jilted. I'll leave Jing Country after he gets married and has his moment of triumph," the King of Zhou said casually as he walked alongside the King of Chu.
The King of Chu's eye twitched.
Listen to the whole story before attacking Jing Country? But it has over 2,000 chapters! The King of Chu's mouth twitched.
"It's fine, we have nothing else to do anyway," said the King of Zhou. He hadn't given himself time to relax in a long while, so now that he was in Jing Country, he might as well see and hear more to unwind.
"Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river. Don't underestimate a poor youth."
Could it be that Jing Country, like Zhou Aotian, might suddenly have a chance to turn the tables?
"Over 2,000 chapters," the King of Zhou, who was usually always reading, wasn't afraid of books. "Let's pay some silver to have dozens of storytellers write it down."
"Reading with our eyes will be faster than listening."
"Your Majesty, ahem, I've calculated that with over 2,000 chapters, if we focus on reading, we could probably finish in less than seven days," said the King of Zhou, who had clearly studied hard in his youth.
The King of Chu nodded in agreement. Listening to stories was slow, but they were fast readers.
As emperors who reviewed memorials and read extensively every day, they could read text very quickly.
"Zhou Aotian's story isn't some abstruse scholarly work, it's more like casual entertainment. We can skim through it, and I've even allowed extra time by saying seven days," the King of Zhou said confidently.
He then gave a look to his middle-aged attendant, who was clearly skilled in martial arts.
"Rong Wei, have people find twenty storytellers as I said, and give each of them 100 taels of silver."
"Each person will be responsible for reciting 100 chapters, and then find some scholars to transcribe them. We'll have 2,000 chapters very quickly."
With the King of Zhou's calculations, the King of Chu nodded repeatedly, "Then we can choose a place to listen, and they'll probably be able to write it down from memory soon."
The two kings smiled at each other, reaching an agreement on this matter.
However, after sitting in the teahouse listening to stories for a morning, they quickly discovered that many of the listeners were eagerly reading booklets, men and women, young and old alike.
"Friend, what's this?"
"Ah, you don't know? Did you just come from the countryside? This is the latest release of 'The First Immortal Lord,' which came out this morning."
The King of Chu and the King of Zhou stared in disbelief, especially the King of Zhou, who had just confidently claimed he could pay to read the entire story in seven days. Now he was dumbfounded, "What did you say? You mean there are only five volumes available now?"
"Of course!" The reader who was sharing with the King of Zhou answered casually, then continued reading, completely absorbed and oblivious to the outside world.
As he read, the reader kept praising and slapping his thigh in excitement, "What a brilliant concept of transforming anger into a horse! Incredible!"
"He actually swallowed spirit fire to force a breakthrough! How terrifying!"
The King of Zhou and the King of Chu: "...!"
"Brother, could you lend it to us to read?" They were both intrigued now. Was the later part so exciting?
Was it all taught by the spiritual grandfather?
But the reader immediately hid the book, protecting it preciously, "Don't try to snatch it! I barely managed to buy this after queuing up all night yesterday. I'm going to finish reading it today, then lend it to my classmates to copy and pass around slowly."
"What?!" The reader's words made the King of Zhou and the King of Chu harshly aware of the cruel reality.
"The storytelling in the capital has only reached before chapter 350, and the bookstore only released volumes 1-5 today, a total of 150 chapters..."
The reader lowered his voice mysteriously, "The next volume won't be released for at least five days. I heard from a classmate with connections in the Hanlin Academy that they've only written up to about 500 chapters so far."
"As for the unpublished manuscripts, well, currently only people from the Hanlin Academy and the Ministry of Revenue can see them."
The King of Chu and the King of Zhou: "??!"
What? Only a quarter has been written?
The King of Chu was stunned, and soon he saw the words on the book cover in the reader's arms - 'Most Popular Novel in Both Jing and Chu!'
"???"
The King of Chu was bewildered, "When did this novel start selling in my Chu territory?"
"You're from Chu?" The reader was surprised, but quickly nodded, "You do have a bit of an accent."
"But how can you not know? 'The First Immortal Lord' has been selling like crazy in Chu for over a month now. The only thing that can compete with it is another book from our Jing Country, 'She Came Back After Five Years,' written by a top scholar. Both of these novels are very popular among the people of Chu."
Readers in Jing Country all knew about this because the promotional slogans were written on the book covers in Jing bookstores.
"I heard that when 'She Came Back After Five Years' was first released, Princess Yunwu alone bought 5,000 copies. Now it's up to 150 chapters, and it's become the most beloved novel among women not only in the capital of Chu but in various cities throughout Chu!"
The King of Chu was dumbfounded.
He didn't know about this. A month ago, he had left Yunwu temporarily in charge of state affairs and left Chu to travel the world.
After experiencing a brush with death, he had a new perspective and decided to take a break.
But now, the King of Chu never expected to stumble upon gossip about himself. His Chu territory had become the biggest buyer of Jing Country books?!
Seeing his reaction, the reader chuckled, "You seem displeased?"
"If it weren't for our emperor, considering the establishment of diplomatic relations with Chu and the preferential treatment for iron mines in Chu, he wouldn't have allowed the simultaneous release of these two books in Chu."
"As for other neighboring countries, like Zhou and such, even though they've begged us to sell books there, they're still a step behind, lagging 300 chapters behind our progress, hehe."
The King of Zhou: "??!"
He never expected to be caught in the crossfire while listening!
What did this mean? Once he returned to Zhou from Jing Country, he would have to wait for delayed updates?
The Hanlin Academy in Jing had only written up to 500 chapters, and it was clear that he wouldn't be able to read the full story during this trip to Jing.
But once he returned to Zhou, he would be 300 chapters behind in progress?
That old fox Chu could know the latest plot developments in real-time, but he couldn't?
How infuriating!
The King of Zhou was stunned and immediately felt terrible.
Just as he was considering whether he should frequently visit the border in the future, a group of people arrived at the teahouse.
Soon, the middle-aged attendant alertly stood in front of the King of Zhou.
But the newcomers had fair, beardless faces and delicate voices. Seeing they were blocked, they didn't get angry, but just smiled and said softly to the King of Zhou and the King of Chu.
"Master Zhou, Master Chu."
"My Jing family master invites you to be guests at our home."
"He says you've come from afar, how can you stay outside?"
"?"
"!"
The King of Chu and the King of Zhou were both startled.
Xiao Yunzhou?
How did he know they were here?
Had the defenses of Jing Country reached such a level that they could identify the identity of anyone entering, even if it was just two drops of water?!
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