The War Recedes

"Ding! Congratulations, host, you've captured a little fangirl."

Of course, the system wasn't so childish. That was just Ma Feifei's own imagination. He had happened to catch Zhou Zhuling looking at him, and he felt like he was floating.

"A transmigrator's life doesn't just come with a cheat—it comes with an indescribable ability to attract girls!" Ma Feifei counted on his fingers. In the past two months, he had met three girls: a mature beauty like Gongsun Qiong, an outgoing girl like Zhao Xiaodao, and a shy girl like Zhou Zhuling, who blushed at the mere sight of him. Most importantly, all three were gorgeous. In his previous life, it would have been hard to find even one woman like that, yet he had met three at once. If that wasn't a transmigrator's perk, Ma Feifei didn't know what was.

"I wonder what the customs are like in this world. Can a man have three wives and four concubines?" He hadn't managed to win over a single one of them yet, but that didn't stop him from indulging in pleasant fantasies.

"Oh, right. There seems to be one more." Ma Feifei glanced at Yun Qingyang standing beside him, then shook his head. She only counted as half—she was a female dragon, after all.

Patting the counter in front of him, Ma Feifei said, "From now on, this spot is yours. You'll be responsible for collecting the fees from customers who read books. The fee is one Spirit Crystal per hour."

"Of course, you can keep all the Spirit Crystals you collect. You've earned them. But you'll also have to keep our agreement: you mustn't let customers take any of the books out of the store. That's the most important thing. As for the rest, we'll see how things go."

"Also, the bookstore is closed on weekends, but that doesn't mean you get time off. When I have to go out, you'll come with me and keep me safe."

Spirit Crystals were practically useless to Ma Feifei. Apart from exchanging them for a few gold coins, they had no use at all. Besides, he hadn't opened this bookstore to earn Spirit Crystals.

As for why the system charged Spirit Crystals as a reading fee, Ma Feifei still hadn't figured it out. But since the crystals were no use to him for now, trading them for the protection of a Spirit Saint at the eighth stage was an excellent deal.

Yun Qingyang truly took the word "cool" to its extreme. Ma Feifei had said all that, yet she simply stood there in silence, staring out the door with an expressionless face. Only when he mentioned Spirit Crystals did her eyes change ever so slightly.

Ma Feifei didn't mind. Silence meant agreement. As for Yun Qingyang's attitude—ha! She could be as quiet as she liked; even if she acted like a queen, he'd still have to look after her. What? You think I have no bottom line? No dignity? Give me a break. Find me another descendant of an Ancient Frost Dragon at the eighth stage of Spirit Saint, and I'll get on my knees for her, all right?

Forget a dragon's descendant—even human Spirit Saints at the eighth stage were practically extinct across the Azure Dragon Continent.

Saint Chu, the current saint of the Chu Kingdom, was over three thousand five hundred years old! He had been named the Chu Kingdom's Saint, stood second only to the king and above everyone else, and was revered by the people. How many people would spend their entire fortunes just to meet him? Could they? No!

But what was Saint Chu's cultivation? The sixth stage of Spirit Saint.

By rank, Yun Qingyang was two stages above Saint Chu.

In this world, strength came first.

Besides, Yun Qingyang was now an employee of the Mysterious Bookstore.

I'm the boss. What's wrong with spending a few Spirit Crystals on my employee? What's wrong with that? Is there a problem? Is there?

Unfortunately, this employee didn't seem all that qualified. She showed no respect to her boss, simply standing there coolly with her arms around her sword.

"Ah..." Ma Feifei felt a little wounded. He got up, picked up his pen and paper, grabbed his little stool, and went to the backyard to bask in the sun.

Now that he had a lackey working under him, sitting at the entrance didn't seem very appropriate.

The war between Qin and Chu ended abruptly. The two sides withdrew hundreds of thousands of troops without fighting a single battle.

No one knew exactly why. The official announcement said that the rulers of Qin and Chu had reached an agreement before the battle, concluding that war would harm the people of the entire Azure Dragon Continent. In the end, they had decided to withdraw their troops.

But according to countless unofficial sources, turmoil had broken out within Qin, forcing Qin Shi Huang to order the retreat and abandon his plan to invade Chu.

For the people of the Azure Dragon Continent, the end of the impending bloodshed came as a relief. The world was already chaotic enough; if the nations went to war, the continent would once again be plunged into misery.

As for Chu, facing the powerful Qin, they were more than happy to see their enemy withdraw. They had no intention of resisting.

It had to be said, this was the sorrow of Chu. It was still nominally the foremost of the five nations, but Qin had already become the strongest in reality.

Here, Qin Shi Huang was worth mentioning! He was the second ruler of Qin. Other than Qin's founding Grand Ancestor, he was the only one who had ever ruled the state.

Well, Qin Shi Huang was the Grand Ancestor's eleventh-generation great-grandson!

The reason Qin Shi Huang was so impressive was that he had outlived ten generations of ancestors and, in turn, outlived his eighteenth-generation great-grandson. A Spirit Saint himself, he was now three thousand years old.

He had been on the throne for two thousand years.

Although he had outlived so many ancestors and descendants, under his leadership Qin had indeed gone from the weakest of the five nations to the strongest.

He was still deeply beloved by the people of Qin.

According to rumors, Qin had invaded Chu because Qin Shi Huang harbored the ambition to unify the Azure Dragon Continent. Of course, this hardly counted as a rumor—most people across the continent knew of his ambition.

He had chosen to attack Chu because Saint Chu was old and his strength had greatly declined. Among the saints of the various nations, Saint Chu had become the weakest.

So Qin's retreat this time was certainly not, as the official statement claimed, to prevent bloodshed. Qin Shi Huang must have had some unavoidable reason for withdrawing.

Whatever the reason, the war had at least been put on hold for now.

With the troops gone and news spreading, adventurers and merchants traveling from all directions began making their way to Dubian Town again. Its population gradually grew.

The town was not only a holy ground for adventurers because of Nine Heavens Mountain; it was also a central stop on the routes connecting the various nations, and a town merchants had to pass through. As long as there was no war, its prosperity was plain to see.

With the war over, the three hundred students from Zhenguan Academy also began returning to the Imperial Capital in groups, preparing to take part in the annual Dragon Ranking tournament.

In the Chu Kingdom, Zhenguan Academy's Dragon Ranking tournament was a major event that drew plenty of attention. Important figures from various nations came every year, and the king of Chu would also appear to cheer on the students competing in the tournament.

With the fighting over and the Dragon Ranking tournament approaching, the Chu Kingdom shook off its earlier oppressive mood and grew lively once more.

And just then, Yang Chengzhi, whom Ma Feifei had been keeping a close eye on, broke through again!