To achieve immortality, I cultivate using Qi Luck

Chapter 728: Chapter 322 Eliminate or Die Together_2n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

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While Sun Siwen and his companions were locked in a verbal battle with Zhou Country, Lu Yuan was also mobilizing troops with great urgency. The entire Chu State had silently stirred up the machinery of war before anyone else had even realized it.

In the middle of this bustle, a piece of devastating news arrived.

On the 20th day of the seventh month of the ninth year of Shenwu, a message came from Qianzhong County.

Jihui, the protector of the nation who had been stationed in Qianzhong County for nearly four years, was not able to withstand his injuries and passed away three days prior in the White Phoenix Temple.

The news reached Baling, shocking both the court and the public. The entire Chu State felt great sorrow.

The departure of an Inborn Grandmaster represented a loss to the Chu State’s highest level of military capability. This was none less than a corner of the Pillar Holding Up the Sky collapsing, causing an equivalent decline in Chu State’s national strength.

During the current stage of war preparations, in order to avoid startling the enemy, and also to conceal our strength, Lu Yuan temporarily hid Qingyunzi’s existence.

To outsiders, the number of Inborn Grandmasters in Chu State decreased from six to five.

Although the number was still large, under the situation where Chu State has a vast territory that needed to be guarded by Inborn Grandmasters, it implied that the number of Inborn Grandmasters Chu State could use for external expansion has proportionally reduced.

Chu State has five counties, and there are only five Inborn Grandmasters. According to the distribution of one Inborn Grandmaster per county, it’s already a struggle to fill the gap.

From this inference, after the loss of Jihui, there would not be any power for external expansion for a long time in Chu State before a new Inborn Grandmaster joins.

Because without an Inborn Grandmaster to guard it, Chu State would not be able to defend any newly conquered territories.

With that said, forcefully pursuing external expansion would only result in the wasteful depletion of national power, a completely thankless task.

For other countries, this was undoubtedly good news.

Therefore, when Lu Yuan sorrowfully declared a one-day mourning for JiHui’s death.

The news of Chu State losing an Inborn Grandmaster and the death of JiHui spread quickly to neighboring countries.

The Southern countries of Southsea, Su Country, and Song Country, and even several Yi countries in the southwest, breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing the news.

The loss of an Inborn Grandmaster meant Chu State lacked the power for external expansion in the short term. In the foreseeable future, they did not have to worry about being targeted by Chu State.

Taking advantage of this rare peaceful time, they could quickly accumulate national power to prepare for Chu State’s threat in the future.

The Ning Country to the east did not need any further explanation.

News from Jinling suggested that upon hearing of JiHui’s death, the Jianwu Heavenly Son laughed out loud three times, dropping all state affairs and calling for a feast to celebrate with all his ministers.

With Chu State becoming increasingly powerful and Inborn Grandmasters emerging one after another, especially proclaiming dominance recently, they were catching up with Ning Country.

These events exerted an enormous pressure on Ning Country.

The Jianwu Heavenly Son at one point even gave up his ambitions due to Chu State’s rapid rise, no longer contemplating how to unify Yangzhou, instead setting up defenses in Ning Country’s existing territories, anticipating the inevitable war of eastward conquest initiated by Chu State in the future.

Even the Coastal Aristocratic Families were considering whether they could add the Lu Surname among the six families and seven clans, to become seven families and seven clans, sharing the rule of Yangzhou with Lu Yuan.

Over the years, Lu Yuan has received lots of letters and invitations from coastal aristocratic families, and even many women from these families have been accepted into his palace, indicating the immense pressure he has put on these families.

However, the message of JiHui’s death is like a signal.

Telling Shen Qiu, the coastal aristocratic families, and Ning Country that Chu State is not as they thought, constantly rising like the sun, climbing to glory, and irresistible.

Chu State will also encounter setbacks, face troubles, and endure failures.

Just like now.

An Inborn Grandmaster has passed away due to illness.

One of Chu State’s top forces, out of only six, is gone.

But Ning Country still has six Inborn Grandmasters. They managed to maintain the advantage over Chu State at the level of Inborn Grandmasters.

This is undoubtedly something worth celebrating.

Not just celebrating.

After a grand feast, Shen Qiu even rebooted the Inborn Grandmaster cultivation plan.

He pulled out the national treasury reserves, even the family reserves, then rallied the six families and seven clans, letting all the coastal aristocratic families gather elixirs, ready to exhaust all efforts to cultivate a few more Inborn Grandmasters.

The pressure Chu State is putting on Ning Country nowadays is too great.

Now that they finally see a chance to secure absolute superiority over Chu State, Shen Qiu naturally will not let it slip away easily.

He not only prepared to cultivate more Inborn Grandmasters but also ordered a new round of military expansion in the country.

The existing five hundred thousand land troops and hundred and fifty thousand navy troops no longer give Ning Country a sense of security.

Shen Qiu prepared to recruit another hundred and fifty thousand land troops, rounding up to eight hundred thousand soldiers and navy, to serve as the national barrier.

Now, the increasingly fierce war in the world, the increasingly massive troops that each country is deploying into battle, is causing significant pressure not only to Chu State but also to Ning Country.

Looking at the lords of the states around, anyone of them has a million troops at ready.

The Ning Country, which has always been proud of being the Lord of Yangzhou, only has a modest six hundred thousand forces, how could they be content or at ease with this?

So military expansion has become an inevitable choice.