Chapter 349 - - The Wind Rises and the Clouds Move_1

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Sky Puppet Star — Imperial master — He Xu;

Constellation: Sagittarius;

Height: Six feet three inches;

Weapons: Green Qiang Sword, Hit King Whip;

Specialty: Water Series Art Technique;

Astrological verdict: Wrapped up the sovereign’s worldly affairs, won a name before and after life;

…

Sky Gang Star — State Preceptor — Chen Su;

Constellation: Gemini;

Height: Six feet one inch;

Weapon: Golden Phoenix Fan;

Specialty: Star-gazing, Way of Nature;

Astrological verdict: Observing tonight’s stars, knowing the major events of the world;

…

Sky Killing Star — War God — Cao Lin;

Constellation: Capricorn;

Height: Six feet eight inches;

Weapon: Mad Battle Knife;

Specialty: Way of Killing;

Astrological verdict: When the day comes for the tiger to return to the mountain, allow me to dye half the sky with blood;

…

Sky Hero Star — Fierce Tiger — Wei Tingjiang;

Constellation: Taurus;

Height: …

Astrological verdict: An old steed in the stable still aspires to gallop a thousand miles;

…

Earth Stable Star — White-face Buddha — Guan Feipeng;

Constellation: Aries;

Height: …

Astrological verdict: Use words as measures, and deeds as the upright standard; not greedy, simply joyful, maintaining the code of decorum;

…

Earth Alien Star — Li Shan — Ge Zong;

Constellation: Aquarius;

Height: …

Astrological verdict: He is truly unique and acts independently, heedless of others’ opinions, a hero indeed;

…

Earth Tease Star — Flirty Woman — Xiang Li;

Constellation: Pisces;

Height: …

Astrological verdict: A fire in the light, a knife in the dark, not swaying the world with beauty but startling it with allure;

…

Duge has always acted quickly and decisively.

After confirming the plan for the stars’ return to their positions, he added a special edition to the Linyang Daily Newspaper on the very same day to announce the return of the stars to the world.

He modeled the layout after the format of simple snack card packs, creating personalized portraits, weapons, and comments for everyone…

He even detailed the exact measurements of the weapons, only just stopping short of adding skill descriptions.

As for the remaining stars like the Sky Mysterious Star, Sky Clever Star, Sky Rich Star… Earth Magic Star, Earth Run Star, and so forth, they were all shown as vacancies, with only a few words written behind them, “awaiting return.”

The thirty-six Sky Gang and seventy-two Earth Killing greatly heightened people’s anticipation.

Of course.

The vacancies were also Duge’s call to those warriors from Qiyuan Star still adrift, telling them outright that if they didn’t come to join him soon, there would no longer be a place for them here.

…

What is called orthodoxy?

This is called orthodoxy.

Heavenly descended Immortal Gods naturally have corresponding astrological symbols.

On that day, the special edition of the Linyang Daily Newspaper caused a sensation in Linyang City, as people, lacking daily amusement, were eager to talk about these strange and mysterious things.

Particularly, Duge had assigned stars and constellations to various commanders, made their weapon models public, and did not forget to promote his own “Hit King Whip,” known for “striking dim emperors above and fawning officials below.”

The arrangement of Sky Gang and Land Killing stars had an impact comparable to how the people on Earth rated the heroes from the Three Kingdoms as “1 Lv, 2 Zhao, 3 Dian Wei,” and from the Legends of Sui and Tang Dynasties as “Four Ferocious, Four Absolute, Thirteen Heroes…”

Interesting things are the easiest to spread.

As the culture of constellations was just taking off, Duge included them within Sky Gang and Land Killing.

Naturally, the common folk paid more attention to celebrities who shared their own constellations, easily resonated with them, identified themselves with these figures, and spoke up for the representatives of their constellations.

Memorable judgments that fit the Sky Gang and Land Killing stars were also easy to spread.

Phrases like, “The day the tiger returns to the mountain, let me stain half the sky with blood,” and “Watching tonight’s stars, knowing the world’s trends,” became all the rage in Linyang City that very day.

Everyone loved to say a phrase or two and then add their own comments.

Especially since Duge had added a prize survey to the back of the Linyang Daily Newspaper, where you could guess who deserved to be among the stars of Sky Gang and Land Killing, including civil and military officials from Chongming Country and Qingwu Country for the people to choose from. Correct answers would earn them generous rewards, igniting the public’s enthusiasm once again;

Before the publication of the Linyang Daily Newspaper, no one knew who Xiang Li, Guan Feipeng, and Ge Zong were.

But on the second day after the newspaper was distributed, the names of the three had become common knowledge, discussed on every street and alley.

Especially Earth Tease Star Xiang Li, almost everyone was inquiring about who exactly she was and what special talents she had that matched her sensational phrase.

That day.

Xiang Li, Guan Feipeng, and Ge Zong selected their troops and established their own forces, with each conducting special training in line with their keywords and styles;

Xiang Li’s banner was a fiery red flag emblazoned with the character “Tease.”

In her camp, one could occasionally hear strange tones like “Oh,” “Ah,” “Uncle will show you a treasure,” “Whip me hard,” which would cause listeners to blush and become restless with curiosity, yet unable to enter and discover what was really happening;

Ge Zong’s banner bore the “Alien” character in black and blue.

The sounds that came from his camp were somewhat similar to Xiang Li’s, though what carried over were mostly questions like “What else can we do?” and “General Ge, is it really okay to go into battle like this?”;

Guan Feipeng’s flag had the orthodox “Stable” character, and his camp was much more traditional with rigorous training such as marching and flag-raising, and his soldiers were mostly good-looking, serious figures who seldom spoke without cause;

…

Huangfu Yue also had her corresponding star, and Duge had given her the title of Earth Wisdom Star, with the verse: Determined to endure the hardships of wandering and eating by the winds, swearing not to shy away from drinking fresh blood instead of rouge.

After receiving her verse, Huangfu Yue was filled with high spirits. She not only crafted her Hui character flag with great care but also invested more effort into training her soldiers.

When she was alone, she would often let out a silly laugh and mumble her verse to herself.

In these days, perhaps in line with the skill that causes a ripple to move the whole body, Huangfu Yue’s martial prowess improved by leaps and bounds, having already broken through the Innate realm.

After Duge pointed out the secret to becoming a Grandmaster, Huangfu Yue also searched for her own path to mastery. Upon careful observation of her for a while, Duge found that her spear technique had become insidious and vicious, aiming for the lower body in every move. He wondered whose influence she had fallen under…

It wasn’t just Huangfu Yue.

Earth Brave Star Huangfu Xing, Earth Outstanding Star Gao Yanping, Earth Robust Star Gou Heyi, and others, once they received their corresponding stars and judgments, felt a sudden surge of loyalty towards Luo Shuang, especially Huangfu Xing, who had long forgotten the words he had previously spoken about being loyal to Emperor Chongming.

One by one, they devoted all their energy to training soldiers, rubbing their hands in anticipation, just waiting to make their mark and live up to their titles.

War God Cao Lin, lying in his sickbed, stared at the title of Sky Killing Star in the “Linyang Daily Newspaper,” repeatedly mumbling the judgment meant for him. Then, after a long pause, he resolutely donned his clothes and solemnly swore his allegiance to Luo Shuang.

A single title, two lines of judgment, actually turned out to be more persuasive than the State Preceptor’s entreaties.

The one among them who felt the most uneasy was surely Earth Ferocious Star Wu Chang. As he watched more and more alien warriors from the same planet gather around Duge, he increasingly feared for his own head, which might be in danger of moving house at any moment.

After all, he was well aware that he and Duge came from different planets, and they were in an adversarial relationship.

One day, once Duge had gathered enough people from his own planet,

even if Duge didn’t kill him, his subordinates might deem it necessary to sacrifice him for security. After all, the alien battlefield was for competing over resources, and people from different planets simply couldn’t put their hearts in the same place.

There were too few fools like Wang Chong from the last alien battlefield, who altruistically shared the resources with ten planets.

Ironically, Wu Chang had already made a name for himself under Duge, and the key trait associated with him was bravery. If he turned deserter, his attribute would instantly plummet.

At this moment, his heart was filled with conflict, and because he was living in constant fear every day, not aligning with his key trait of bravery in words, deeds, and mindset, his attributes had even ceased to improve these days.

Zhang Yizhi and the others knew of Wu Chang’s identity, but since Duge did not issue a command, they naturally did not act against Wu Chang.

After all.

In the last alien battlefield, Duge had already once shared resources with people from other planets. Who knew if Duge had another purpose for keeping Wu Chang around?

In any case.

Under Duge’s operations, Xiang Li, Guan Feipeng, and others saw their attributes rapidly increase as the “Linyang Daily Newspaper” spread, with all three of their rankings breaking into the top hundred.

…

Duge’s vigorous promotion of the Sky Gang Land Killing rankings naturally caused panic among other alien warriors.

Everyone understood Duge’s intentions.

But firstly, they lacked the knowledge to come up with more appropriate titles than the Sky Gang Land Killing on short notice, and secondly, they did not have absolute authority within their own forces.

For a while, these fellows were at a loss, uncertain about how to respond!

They could only pin their hopes on Emperor Chongming, sending a large number of envoys into Chongming Country, expressing their wish to ally with Chongming Country and support Emperor Chongming in eradicating Luo Shuang first.

While Duge was consolidating resources and handling propaganda.

Emperor Chongming appointed Great General Lin Qing to lead, gathering a vast army of three hundred thousand to converge from all directions towards Linyang City, vowing to take back the three passes and eliminate Luo Shuang in Linyang City once and for all.

All around, the winds of change began to stir.

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