"I still have to keep my feet firmly on the ground..."
He stepped out of the royal courtyard.
Xu Cheng gazed up at the sky and murmured reflectively.
Just moments earlier, Wang Dong'er had resolutely accepted this heavy responsibility and successfully changed her class to spirit smith. The system was remarkably versatile: advancement methods, cultivation techniques, tempering the furnace core, forging metals, and everything else a spirit smith needed had all been condensed into a single book.
Starting from scratch and walking a road their predecessors had failed to traverse still required a certain amount of courage.
After all, however appealing it sounded, once she changed classes, it would be virtually impossible to keep working on soul tools as well. That meant either following this one road all the way into the darkness or spending decades on trial and error before starting over with soul tools. For Wang Dong'er, the latter would practically mean ruining her future...
"Brother, as of today, seventeen dukes have arrived in Mingdu with their families. Of the remaining ten, three killed the messengers sent to notify them, openly declaring rebellion. Four read the message without replying; I'm afraid they've already joined forces with those first three. The last three gave vague answers and made various excuses. They haven't explicitly refused to come, but they keep dragging their feet on the road. They're probably waiting for the outcome so they can sit atop the fence and lean whichever way the wind blows."
Nana's lovely figure appeared lightly at his side, like a ghost, as she spoke softly.
"Is there any point in waiting?"
"I gave them a chance. If they reached Mingdu within the deadline, I would let bygones be bygones. But they clearly didn't take it seriously. In that case, there's no need to wait."