Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Qingtian only rushed back to the capital city three days after the stone turtle’s appearance . When he got back, the words of the stone turtle had already spread. Even the provinces near the capital knew about this. This shocking news spread to all directions. No one was able to control or contain it.
These few days, the Great Han Times worked tirelessly every day because the three hundred thousand copies had long sold out. Each day, the printing press printed at full capacity and printed an extra seven hundred thousand copies. Even that didn’t seem to satisfy the market demand.
Using Fang Beidou’s words, the citizens of the capital region bought newspapers like crazy. Even those who didn’t look at newspapers bought one. The foreign merchants, tourists, and even escort agencies all bought large bulks of the paper to take back.
News of the impending doom was like throwing a huge boulder into a calm lake. The ripples spread voraciously outwards.
If the prediction on the back of the turtle was fake, then it might be a trick from the White Lotus Society. But if it was real, then the Great Han Empire would have to change the location of the capital…
For all the countries, changing the capital concerned the fortune of a country, especially a huge country like the Great Han Empire. There were easily a few hundred thousand wealthy and powerful people in the capital. How to move and where to move these people posed a huge problem and would involve interests in all directions. What’s more, a large number of citizens also had to move. Where would they go? Where would they stay and eat? These were big problems and if not dealt well would cause huge chaos.
In history, those countries that changed capitals would need a few years or even a few decades of preparation. But the Great Han Empire only had one year or so…
A few days after the emergence of the stone turtle, food prices around the capital area started to rise…
Real estate surged with people wanting to sell their houses every day. The capital city’s overpriced land had begun to loosen up…
On the official roads, those carts leaving the city started to increase. Due to this, the escort agency business exploded…
To everyone, the authenticity of the prediction would be verified during the fifth lunar month, but a lot of people didn’t want to wait till that time and began to move. Those hoodlums in the city rustled as though they were sniffing a chance to get wealthy in this time of great change…
In the prisons, people were caught for all sorts of reasons and the prisons quickly filled up….
Under such an atmosphere, the capital was full of worry and dark energy.
As the culprit behind all this, Yan Liqiang lived a low-key life these few days. During the day, he would go around the city, and at night, he would go back to the newspaper office’s yard. He couldn’t be more low key.
The yard also became free since the latest newspapers were always sold out so nothing was stored there. Fewer people started buying the old newspapers, less than a third from before so Yan Liqiang had some quiet time to himself.
As for Lin Qingtian’s news, Fang Beidou brought it over personally every day.
The imperial court was a bit chaotic these few days. The ministers were in a huge argument for the potential disaster. The Emperor’s side felt it was necessary to make early preparations while the Grand Chancellor’s side felt it was unnecessary. There was always a rebuttal for every reason one side found…
Under such a situation, Lin Qingtian still left early and returned late every day to tightly control the situation in the imperial court.
Yan Liqiang saw the situation in the capital city but he didn’t feel guilty at all. Compared to the disaster in one year, this was nothing. Regardless, there would be more people to live on. He didn’t care about the situation in the imperial court because it didn’t matter. In the end, it depended on who was stronger.
On the 17th day of the third lunar month, a wool-delivery squad that departed from Gan Province reached the capital city…
On the 18th day of the third lunar month, in the depth of the night, Fang Beidou appeared in Yan Liqiang’s small yard again with a long wooden box.
“It’s from Gan Province!” Fang Beidou gave the wooden box to Yan Liqiang.
Yan Liqiang opened the box, inside was a bow sack. His hundred picul Horned Python Bow lay inside.
Yan Liqiang took it out and checked it before nodding with satisfaction.
“I still feel it’s too dangerous!” Fang Beidou sighed, “There are only a few people as strong as Lin Qingtian in the entire Great Han Empire. It’s too risky!”
“How would I know if I don’t try? If it were that easy to kill, it wouldn’t be my turn to kill him. And if I can’t kill him now, it’ll be harder to kill him in the future!” Yan Liqiang said as he unwrapped his bow. Ten black shining arrows were inside the casing. These arrows looked different from the runed arrows Yan Liqiang got from the Shatu people. The arrows in general were two inches longer and the arrowheads had a triangular spear shape. There was also a dark red beast core embedded at the joint of the arrowhead and body. Runes flowed from the arrow, making it look ferocious yet strangely beautiful. It was countless times higher in level than the runed arrow he got from the Shatu…
Looking at those ten arrows, Fang Beidou sucked in a cold breath. He knew this was the work of a talisman master. He could tell it had terrifying power just by looking at it. He stared at Yan Liqiang as though it was his first time seeing him. After a long while, he gulped and asked, “This… this is a talisman arrow?”
“Mhm, this is called the God Extermination Arrow…” Yan Liqiang carefully picked up an arrow and studied it, “If this can’t take Lin Qingtian’s life, then his life is quite big…”
“When do you plan to attack?!”
“Tomorrow!”
