Chapter 1004: Friendly Mutual Aid

In the fourth month of the third year of Hongjing, a minor disturbance broke out in the Jin Guo imperial court. Sun Chaoen, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, encountered Cai Miao, the grandniece of the Left Chancellor, while intoxicated. Struck by her beauty, he immediately ordered his retainers to scatter her guards and abducted Cai Miao back to his manor.

Cai Miao was renowned throughout Yingdu and had many young noble suitors. The Left Chancellor had always been protective of her, specifically assigning a Dharma Form cultivator to be her personal bodyguard. Yet, under the chaotic cudgel-striking of Sun Chaoen's retainers, this Dharma Form cultivator couldn't even unleash a single spell. The moment the cultivator's head emerged, it was struck repeatedly by clubs, leaving the cultivator bloodied and collapsed on the ground. The Dharma Form body, which usually held some reputation, was now as fragile as paper.

For some reason, the news of the abduction, which took place after Sun Chaoen's dinner, did not reach the Left Chancellor's ears until the following morning.

The Left Chancellor was furious and immediately impeached Sun Chaoen at the morning court session. The evidence was ironclad, yet in the end, the King of Jin only sentenced him to be stripped of his post for investigation, ordering Sun Chaoen to return home to await further punishment, while making no mention of Cai Miao.

Everyone in the court was sharp-eyed and understood that the King of Jin was intentionally making things difficult for the Left Chancellor. For every day Cai Miao remained in the Sun manor, the Left Chancellor lost a fraction of his dignity.

Although the Left Chancellor remained in his position, all officials knew his downfall was only a matter of time. Thus, they tacitly remained silent, allowing Cai Miao to be detained in the Sun manor. With Sun Chaoen stripped of his post, there was no telling how much resentment he would vent upon her that night.

However, the situation developed far beyond everyone's expectations. That very night, Sun Chaoen took Cai Miao, packed his valuables, and fled in fear of his crimes.

The King of Jin had originally dispatched two Dao Foundation cultivators to guard the Sun manor, but how could a mere two Dao Foundation cultivators, both guarding the front gate, prevent the escape of Sun Chaoen, who was himself a Dharma Form cultivator?

The matter reeked of strangeness. The officials knew it in their hearts but said nothing. Two or three days later, once it was confirmed that Sun Chaoen had fled far away, they submitted memorials requesting the execution of Sun Chaoen's nine clans. The request for clan execution was rejected by the King of Jin, who only sentenced him to immediate execution upon capture and issued a wanted poster, ordering Sun Chaoen to return and face death himself.

Half a month later, Ji Guo.

Because the Minister of War of Ji Guo failed to suppress the rebellion, he resigned to return to his hometown, and thus prepared to sell his large mansion in the royal capital. As it turned out, a wealthy merchant surnamed Sun made a move, purchasing it directly with Qingyuan and moving in with his wife.

This action immediately drew the attention of the Embroidery Bureau of Ji Guo. The functions of the Embroidery Bureau were similar to the Embroidered Uniform Guard of the early Great Tang, specifically responsible for gathering intelligence for the King of Ji and monitoring officials. Every successive commander was a palace eunuch.

The wealthy merchant surnamed Sun had only just moved into the former Minister of War's mansion at noon, and by nightfall, someone came to visit. The visitor was a refined scholar, but Sun Chaoen, with his insight and cultivation, saw at a glance that he was actually a eunuch.

The scholar did not hide anything, stating directly: "Mr. Sun Chaoen, is it? You possess great talent; Jin Guo cannot use you, but my Ji Guo can! The Great King summons you to the palace for an audience."

"Now?"

"That is correct, now."

"Very well!"

On the western border of Qingming, Little Wei Yuan stood at this location. A moment later, he felt the surrounding temperature rise sharply, and the Great Desolation Sun, with muscles like iron, appeared before him.

Previously, the Great Desolation Sun had been very unrestrained in front of Little Wei Yuan, adopting an attitude of playing with Shaman life. But meeting today, he appeared very solemn, his entire body of muscles twitching constantly, as he muttered to himself: "It is truly strange. How could I have a feeling of heart-palpitating fear? Could it be that I am unable to defeat you?"

"This junior is but a mere Dharma Form cultivator; how could you possibly be unable to defeat me?"

The Great Desolation Sun leaned close to Little Wei Yuan, sniffing suspiciously, and said: "That is not right! This is clearly the scent of a formidable enemy! Back when I faced Red Leaf, the level of fear was about the same as it is now!"

Little Wei Yuan had not expected the Great Desolation Sun's nose to have such a use, and hurriedly said: "I have brought the wine. This time, what I have transported is a new variety; please, have a taste."

Upon hearing the word 'wine', the Great Desolation Sun immediately cast his doubts to the nine heavens, took the wine basin handed over by Little Wei Yuan, drank it in one gulp, and then suddenly sprayed two balls of fierce flames from his nose, shouting: "Good wine! Powerful and potent enough!"

Little Wei Yuan smiled slightly. This batch of strong liquor was specifically blended with powder ground from Desolation Realm stone materials. Drinking a mouthful was like drinking magma; naturally, it was potent enough. Even the Great Desolation Sun could not drink much of it. Ordinary Dharma Form Shaman warriors would collapse after a single cup.

Little Wei Yuan said: "This is Great Desolation Divine Brew, totaling one thousand barrels. There is also a secondary grade of Desolation Wine, totaling five hundred thousand barrels; please have a taste of that as well."

The Great Desolation Sun drank it in one gulp and immediately said: "If I hadn't tasted the previous one, this would also be first-class wine. It is a pity that having tasted the Divine Brew, this wine is bland and tasteless. However, it actually contains the scent of the Desolation Realm; how was this achieved?"

"The Desolation Wine has added seasonings, and the seasoning was prepared using Desolation Realm iron materials at a ratio of one to ten thousand. Therefore, it can also be called Great Desolation Flavored Wine."

At this time, the barrels used by Qingming to store the wine had also been standardized, with each barrel being exactly one ton. Furthermore, one hundred cargo vehicles were gifted to the Desolation Ancestor tribe for free. The carriages had been designed specifically for transporting wine barrels. With these vehicles, the Desolation Ancestor tribe would be able to transport the strong liquor all the way to the Shaman tribe's heartland, hundreds of thousands of miles away.