Chapter 385: Connection

After listening to the story of the King of Great Chu and the Master Craftsman, Li Yuning was stunned for a moment, then strongly complained about the ending: "What is wrong with this King of Great Chu? Did he just die like that?"

"Mm, he just died like that," Lin Ling said with great certainty.

"But why? Could it be that the Master Craftsman colluded with the King of Great Chu's heir to kill the foolish King of Great Chu in this way, and then used that to seize power?" Li Yuning was truly puzzled. Even though she was still a primary school student, having "hung out" for a long time with the abnormal adults in the Forest Cabin like Lin Ling, her logical thinking far exceeded that of an ordinary person.

Lin Ling shook his head: "That is not how it happened. The Master Craftsman did not have any collusion with the King of Great Chu's heir. The Master Craftsman killing the King of Great Chu was a last resort, and it was also done with the King of Great Chu's consent."

"When did he consent?" Li Yuning was stunned. She then recalled that before killing the King of Great Chu, the Master Craftsman had said something like "there is one step left to complete the divine weapon," and her expression turned strange. "In other words, for that divine weapon to be completely forged, the King of Great Chu had to be killed, right?"

Lin Ling smiled: "That is indeed the case. For that divine weapon to unleash its power, it truly required the King of Great Chu to sacrifice himself to the weapon."

Li Yuning was silent for a moment, then frowned and said: "Brother Boss, did you leave out any details in this story you told me?"

Hearing this, Lin Ling let out a soft laugh. "Yes. Just listening to the content of the story I told you, you would think the King of Great Chu was that foolish, right? The Master Craftsman and the ministers actually both offered better choices: forging ordinary weapons and armor to let Great Chu raise elite troops. Not only would it take less time, but the results would be significant. After all, in our view, one person being strong is not as good as ten thousand people being strong. Yet, the King of Great Chu still chose the 'one person is strong' path that was mentally and physically exhausting, insisting on refining a divine weapon. It seems the King of Great Chu was stimulated by the 'pie in the sky' that he could unify the world if he refined the divine weapon, and was blinded by greed and ambition."

"But what if we add all the details to the story and look at it from another angle?"

"Earlier at the start of the story, I only mentioned the external situation of Great Chu at the time, but I did not mention the internal one."

"The only heir to Great Chu at the time was a young prince, incapable of shouldering a great responsibility. The hearts of the people in the court and the country were uneasy. The King of Great Chu was suffering from illness, and coupled with the turbulent situation, the internal and external troubles left him physically and mentally exhausted. The imperial physicians of Great Chu all agreed that the King of Great Chu did not have many years left to live."

"Furthermore, the full content of the Master Craftsman's advice at the time was actually this: 'Give me only three months, and I can refine three thousand sets of weapons and armor; three thousand elite troops can alleviate the external threats. Give me one year, and I can help ten thousand soldiers become the iron army of Great Chu; with just the weapons and armor, they can face one hundred thousand enemy troops head-on. And if you give me three years, I can increase the number of the Great Chu iron army to fifty thousand. By then, Great Chu will be enough to protect itself; why worry about not being able to counterattack other countries? Although I can refine a world-shaking divine weapon, the price to pay for refining it is the King's life. I cannot do this; please, Your Majesty, think twice!'"

"The King of Great Chu knew the consequences, yet he still insisted on choosing the 'one person is strong' path of refining the divine weapon. If you look back at this story now, don't you think it feels very different?"

Li Yuning suddenly realized: "So that's it. I understand. The King of Great Chu saw the future of Great Chu and was thinking for the sake of Great Chu's future."

"He didn't have long to live and didn't know how many years he had left. If he let the Master Craftsman forge weapons and armor and focus on training the army, then by the time the army became a force to be reckoned with, he might already be gone. His child was young, and his talent for being an emperor might not be great. Whether such a formed, powerful army would be good or bad for his child and the chaotic state of Chu was hard to say."

"But if he chose to forge the divine weapon, the divine weapon could allow his successor to possess powerful strength, and perhaps this divine weapon had other miraculous properties. In short, it could help the next King of Chu better consolidate his rule. And it wasn't said that the Master Craftsman couldn't continue to strengthen the army after forging this divine weapon. After the next King of Chu consolidated the domestic situation, he could then have the Master Craftsman refine ordinary weapons and armor to assist in strengthening the army. Coupled with the power of the divine weapon, Great Chu would then have the ability to survive and develop in this chaotic world."

"It looks like 'one person is strong,' but if this strong person is a 'King,' then this strength will surely be able to radiate across the entire kingdom. This was the optimal choice."

"The King of Great Chu sacrificed himself to exchange for the greater cause of Great Chu. He gave up his life for righteousness; he sacrificed himself for the people."

Lin Ling smiled without a word, quietly drinking his tea.

After listening to today's story, Li Yuning felt quite satisfied. She was content and prepared to leave the Forest Cabin to return to her room to rest. But when she opened the door to leave, she paused before the door and looked back to ask Lin Ling a question: "Brother Boss, regarding the follow-up to the previous story of 'Jingwei Filling the Sea,' you told me to ask Sister Yu, saying I should find out the ending of Li Yingqi, a comrade who used to be by her side. Is the ending of Jingwei the same or similar to the fate of Li Yingqi?"

Regarding this question, Lin Ling did not hide anything. He had always treated sincerity with frankness and suspicion with ambiguity; he exchanged true heart for true heart and used false sentiment to deal with false intentions.

Li Yuning had always been completely open and frank in front of him, so Lin Ling naturally would not hide anything from her that she wanted to know. Thus, he nodded affirmatively and said: "Yes."

Li Yuning opened her mouth wide, suddenly feeling that her mouth was dry and bitter, as if she had some kind of guess. "If every story you have told corresponds to a person, then who does this story correspond to?"

In her mind, the figure of the bald man who had left the Forest Cabin not long ago appeared—the former boss of Sister Yu.

"Could it be Uncle He?" Li Yuning asked tentatively.

Lin Ling's eyes curved into a smile, and he once again gave a positive response.

Not long after, Li Yuning heard the news of a customer's death in the shop again; it was He Jia'an's.

Not long after Brother Boss finished telling the story that had some connection to He Jia'an, He Jia'an died. According to Uncle Wei Jiang, Uncle He sacrificed himself to activate some kind of ritual, ultimately exchanging it for the peace and tranquility of a city and a world.

Sacrificing oneself to exchange for a greater cause and stability—this ending was exactly the same as the King of Great Chu's.

Li Yuning suddenly realized that the stories Lin Ling told her every time seemed to come true, reproducing themselves in reality to a certain extent.

She thought this was Lin Ling's ability of "words becoming reality." Worried that the stories Lin Ling told would come true again, from then on, Li Yuning almost never dared to ask Lin Ling for stories or strange tales; she did not want to see anyone die again.

Regarding this, Li Yuning also told her adoptive father, Li Jiahong, about her conjecture. After hearing it, Li Jiahong was lost in thought. He felt that whether the conjecture was true or not, there was no doubt that the weight hidden behind the stories Lin Ling told was too great for them to bear, so it was better to try not to ask about them anymore.

Until one day, Li Jiahong heard another story from Lin Ling—a story that had a connection to his own daughter.