"I'm only afraid that sending out troops will turn into sending out a funeral procession..."
The hot potato Zhen Country had tossed them was truly difficult to catch.
More than a decade ago, the Northwest Continent had been drenched in blood. It wasn't that they hadn't wanted to claim a share of the spoils. But each country was weak on its own, their attempts to form an alliance repeatedly fell through, and internal strife and turmoil in the Central Continent had only made matters worse. They had let the opportunity slip right through their fingers.
A few years later, they tried to bring the matter up again. Who could have guessed that the fragmented Northwest Continent would grow more stable as the fighting continued, until it ended up divided between Kang and Gao? By then, their odds of making a move were practically nonexistent.
Unless several great powers in the Central Continent joined forces to invade.
They dragged their feet until Gao Country was swallowed whole by Kang Country.
Whatever people thought of the Northwest Continent, Kang Country's sheer size was plain to see. It didn't need to do a thing to place immense pressure on the smaller countries. These past few months, the sovereigns of the small states near Kang Country had barely slept, jumping at every rustle of the wind!
Months passed, and Kang Country showed no intention of sending troops abroad. Instead, it launched something called Biographies of Famous Ministers and Scholars. A number of small-country sovereigns discussed Shen Tang's intentions with their ministers. Their opinions converged on one point: [That Shen woman must be testing us.]
Testing them about what?
Naturally, she was testing their attitude toward the Northwest Continent.
Even regional prejudice had a clear hierarchy in this era, and the Calamity Star stood at