Chapter 569
Chapter 569
A strange wind had begun to blow through the capital a few days prior.
To be precise, there were two strange winds. The first came from the factions of the Crown Prince and the Third Prince simultaneously.
The King had issued an edict for Ning Zheng to raise three million gold taels in military funds within a month, and everyone knew the task would fall to Shen Lang. Furthermore, with rumors circulating that the Heavenly Dao Society had not provided the funds, the Hidden Yuan Society fanned the flames, claiming there was no way Shen Lang could raise three million gold taels in a month through any legitimate business.
The factions of the Crown Prince and the Third Prince issued secret directives to ensure Shen Lang would fail to raise the money. Their method was quite simple. If Shen Lang couldn't get the money from the Hidden Yuan Society or the Heavenly Dao Society, he would surely turn to the powerful and influential families of the capital. Therefore, they ordered that no influential family or wealthy merchant in the capital was to engage in any financial transactions with Shen Lang, absolutely forbidding them from doing business with him or making any donations. Anyone who defied this order would face suppression from three parties: the Crown Prince, the Third Prince, and the Hidden Yuan Society.
Upon receiving this command, every influential family and merchant declared they would not give Shen Lang a single coin, nor would they engage in any business that might earn him even a penny. They were practically ready to swear an oath to the heavens. In the capital, one could still survive by offending either the Third Prince or the Crown Prince, but to incur the wrath of all three—the Crown Prince, the Third Prince, and the Hidden Yuan Society—meant officials would see their careers ruined and merchants would be driven out of business.
The Crown Prince, the Third Prince, and the Hidden Yuan Society had united to cut off every possible source of funds for Shen Lang. By severing all his avenues for earning money, they believed Shen Lang would be unable to raise the funds, no matter what he did. As the deadline drew nearer, no one saw Shen Lang meeting with merchants or influential families to propose business deals or solicit donations. But then, another, even more bizarre wind began to blow.
“Shen Lang, that scoundrel may be a troublemaker, but he's certainly remarkable. Remember those eleven beggars? After he took them in, they all passed the Silver Examinations.”
“Is that all? And what about those two thousand-some cripples he took? We all thought they were going to be used as cannon fodder, but they turned into the State of Yue's most elite army. They wiped out five thousand of Chu's elite soldiers, and after only three months of training!”
“Do you know how that was even possible?”
“I know, right? How does Shen Lang manage to turn trash into treasure like that? It's incredible. It's practically a miracle!”
“It's because Shen Lang has Golden Dragon's Blood. They say if you drink it, your innate bloodline is transformed, increasing your strength, mental fortitude, and speed by more than tenfold.”
“That's got to be a tall tale, right? Where would you even find dragon's blood in this world?”
“Then you tell me. How did two thousand useless imbeciles transform so completely in just three short months? How did they become an elite army?”
Indeed, there was no other way to explain that astonishing miracle.
“But there are no such things as dragons in this world, so how could there be dragon's blood?”
“Not in this world, but there might be in the ruins of the ancient era. They say the Golden Dragon's Blood was found in an ancient ruin across the sea. Why do you think the master of the Ends of the Earth Sea Pavilion ignores all of its affairs and is always out at sea excavating ruins? It's to find the Golden Dragon's Blood!”
“That's strange, isn't it? Shen Lang barely has the strength to wring a chicken's neck. How could he possibly enter an ancient ruin? And how could he get his hands on Golden Dragon's Blood?”
“You clearly don't know anything. There's Queen Qiu Yao'er from across the sea. The woman is so peerless she's destroyed countless nations overseas. A while ago, her fleet encountered a storm and was shipwrecked on some desolate island. Qiu Yao'er entered that strange and mysterious island alone and wasn't seen for a month. When she reemerged, she was even more invincible than before, summoning winds and rain to raise the tides so her fleet could set sail again. And when she left, that mysterious island crumbled and vanished.”
“Are you saying that mysterious island was actually one of the ancient ruins?”
“Exactly! The Golden Dragon's Blood was brought out of that ancient ruin by Qiu Yao'er.”
“But why would Qiu Yao'er give the Golden Dragon's Blood to Shen Lang?”
“Because the Golden Dragon's Blood can only be used by men, and all of Qiu Yao'er's subordinates are women.”
Huh? That actually sounded quite plausible.
“Besides, don't you know? Shen Lang is devastatingly handsome; he's Qiu Yao'er's boy toy. They even had a child together, you know? Qiu Yao'er is a woman, and her subordinates are women, so the Golden Dragon's Blood is useless to them. Who else would she give it to if not Shen Lang?”
“It sounds plausible enough, but it's just too absurd. Do you think we live in a world like one of those novels, like *Battle Through the Heavens*?”
“Such a young and naive thing to say. Don't you know the truth? Reality is often stranger than fiction.”
“But how do you know something so secret?”
“Tsk, tsk! I have my sources, of course. I know someone in the Yan Capital.”
“Pah! Don't believe his bragging. It was the Imperial Envoy, Yun Mengze, who let it slip when he was drunk. You all know Yun Mengze, right? He's practically Shen Lang's sworn brother, his partner in crime. They say the two often share the same woman.”
“They have the same taste?”
“I doubt it. Anyway, a secret like this is something only a man of Envoy Yun Mengze's stature would know.”
This strange rumor spread throughout the capital with incredible speed. Countless ruffians, scoundrels, and even common folk believed the rumor without a hint of doubt, while the more intelligent people of the middle class were half-skeptical. Among the upper echelons of influential families, some believed it, while others scoffed at it as nonsense. The story was so bizarre that it seemed obvious Shen Lang had fabricated it and deliberately spread it through Yun Mengze. The purpose of spreading the rumor was glaringly obvious: to swindle people out of their money. After all, Shen Lang was in desperate need of money.
*‘Do you really think we'd believe that? Do you take us for three-year-olds?’*
Yet, many harbored a great question in their hearts.
*‘If that's not it, then how on earth did Shen Lang turn two thousand useless imbeciles into an elite army in just three months? It's just too miraculous.’*
On modern-day Earth, charlatans would make wild boasts without having performed any miracles at all. For example, the claims that Sanzhu Oral Liquid could cure all sorts of illnesses. In contrast, Shen Lang had a foundation of having performed genuinely astonishing miracles in public several times before.
***
After the rumor had fermented for several days, many people began to be swayed by it. Numerous nobles from influential families either had no heirs or had children who were so mediocre that if they had no hope in scholarly pursuits, their only remaining hope was in mastering martial arts. However, if their innate bloodline was poor, they would see little result even if they trained in martial arts. After a decade of training, their skills were so utterly mediocre that they struggled to even pass the examination for a Martial Scholar, let alone become a Martial Grandmaster.
This time, the number of candidates who failed the Martial Grandmaster examination in the capital alone was around three thousand. At this rate, they wouldn't even qualify to be a centurion, so how could they inherit the family business and preserve their clan's wealth and glory? The hope for their children to become dragons was an even more fervent wish for the nobles of these influential families. But to change one's innate bloodline? That meant changing not just one person's destiny, but the destiny of an entire family. To be more specific, if changing one's bloodline could lead to passing the Martial Grandmaster examination, it was worth any price. This was because the scions of influential families could achieve meteoric success simply by passing the military examination.
They wanted to go to Shen Lang and ask if he truly possessed the Golden Dragon's Blood from the ancient era, but they didn't dare risk it when they remembered the directives from the Crown Prince and the Third Prince. If Shen Lang was just bluffing to deceive people, not only would their innate bloodlines remain unchanged, but they would also incur the wrath of the Crown Prince and the Third Prince and face suppression. It would be a terribly unjust fate.
*‘But even if I can't go publicly, I can still go in secret, can't I?’*
***
Finally, the first person took the bait!
It was Wang Pil, the heir to the Viscount of Xilong's estate. He was the legitimate son of the family, but his innate bloodline had been dreadful since childhood. Moreover, his love for comfort and aversion to hardship led him to a debauched life of daily drinking, and as a result, his level of martial arts was exceedingly mediocre. Thus, he had failed the recent military examination outright.
His father, Wang Shu, was a third-rank general in the State of Yue and an officer under Nangong Ao, the Marquis of Zhenbei. Of course, Wang Pil's failure to pass the military examination wasn't a huge deal in itself, but as fate would have it, his illegitimate younger brother had passed and become a Martial Grandmaster this year. His father had declared that if he couldn't pass the examination within a few years, he wouldn't even be able to maintain the title if he inherited it, so he would pass the title to his illegitimate son instead. He was instantly at a loss.
*‘What should I do? If my illegitimate brother inherits the title, will there be any place left for me to live?’*
It was then that he heard the rumor. He promptly sought out the Imperial Envoy, Yun Mengze, and beat around the bush, trying to ask if it was true that Shen Lang possessed Golden Dragon's Blood. Yun Mengze replied that it was a lie, just some nonsense he'd spouted while drunk. But the more he denied it, the more Wang Pil, heir to the viscount's estate, felt the rumor was true. Wang Pil spent a large sum of money to arrange a drinking party, even hiring famous courtesans to attend and serve Yun Mengze until he was in high spirits.
Only then did Yun Mengze finally open up and admit that it was true. However, Yun Mengze made Wang Pil swear never to let the secret out, warning that if he broke the oath, his family line would rot from the root. Wang Pil hastily swore the oath and then begged Yun Mengze to arrange a secret meeting with Shen Lang so he could buy some Golden Dragon's Blood to change his innate bloodline and pass the next military examination. How could Yun Mengze possibly grant such a request? Instead, he returned the money Wang Pil had spent on the drinking party. Wang Pil fell to his knees before Yun Mengze, clutching his thigh and wailing.
“Envoy Yun, please save me! Save me! I will remember your immense kindness for the rest of my life. If you ever have need of me in the future, I, Wang, will climb a mountain of swords or jump into a cauldron of boiling oil without a second thought and do as you command.”
Because he pleaded so desperately, Yun Mengze had no choice but to agree to let him meet Shen Lang. They arrived at Ning Zheng's Marquis of Changping's estate and secretly entered through the back gate.
Yun Mengze said to him.
“Wang Pil, listen closely. I am only arranging for you to meet Shen Lang. I cannot guarantee whether this matter will succeed or not.”
Wang Pil was once again immensely grateful to him, but he muttered inwardly.
*‘Surely Shen Lang and Yun Mengze haven't teamed up to lead me into a trap, have they?’*