Chapter 273: 273. Beauty, are you a gift from heaven to me?

Fang Zhou arrived outside the General Mansion and saw the streets bustling with traffic, luxury carriages lined up along the street.

They were all there to visit the General Mansion. Di Ao wasn’t home, so these people were waiting outside, some having waited an entire day just to meet Di Ao, and they might even leave without seeing her.

This was the current power of Di Ao, commanding authority in the court every day, receiving officials at home; the entire Chu Kingdom was almost under her control.

Fang Zhou strolled around the General Mansion perimeter, and after a walk, he entered a nearby tea house and requested a window seat.

He wore a mask, drawing several curious gazes, but no one came up to disturb him.

In the tea house, there was a storyteller who, with a loud clap of the wooden block, exclaimed: “Last time we talked about Ming Ren and Qi Wukai, Wang Zuozhu and Lin Xiaoying forming a team to escort the bridge craftsman Hu Da to Bo Country for bridge building, but they were attacked by defectors from the Five Elements Sect branch, Mystic Mist Hidden Sect, led by Li Dadao from Taohua Village…”

Hearing the storyteller’s tale almost made Fang Zhou spit out his tea.

Indeed, what the storyteller said was the content from one of the comic halves of “Muye Hidden Sect” produced by Moon Watch Culture.

Fang Zhou used Heavenly Sword Sect’s channels to sell the comic not only to major sects in the Cultivation World but also did not miss the market of Central Plains Five Countries.

Secular royal authorities do possess their cultivation forces. In a sense, they also belong to a special sect.

Secular royal authorities have vast financial and material resources to gather various cultivation secret manuals, invite cultivators to teach, and nurture those with talents to become cultivators, forming their cultivation power.

Additionally, various countries were recruiting many rogue cultivators to deal with demonic beasts attacking people and livestock, like Chu Kingdom’s Monster Suppression Office, yet couldn’t recruit high-tier talents.

The Qiao Family of Chu Kingdom, due to its few members, couldn’t nurture royal members into cultivators, having to pay high fees to hire cultivators as royal consecrators.

It’s cheaper to invite consecrators than nurturing a cultivator from scratch, but the downside is the consecrators aren’t royal family members and can easily defect.

Chu Kingdom currently has ten consecrators, seven of whom are loyal to Di Ao, two have ambiguous stances, and only one firmly stands by Qiao Sen.

The Heavenly Sword Daily naturally would not miss these consecrators, and newspapers also sell here, and so do Moon Watch Culture products.

Fang Zhou knows his comics and novels will inevitably reach the common people, as long as cultivators have contact with ordinary people.

It’s said that pirated versions of many works by Old Master Ji have already appeared in many places, selling better than originals as they are too expensive for anyone but cultivators to afford.

Fang Zhou never intended to fight piracy; this is a difficult issue to eliminate in modern society, let alone ancient times.

Due to the difficulty of replicating comics, piracy wasn’t much among the common people, though it’s unexpected for tea houses to be so trendy and narrate comic content.

The audience in the tea house was plenty; once the storytelling immortal began, many listeners hushed effortlessly, anyone speaking would meet furious glares.

Unexpectedly, the storyteller had cultivated a batch of loyal fans.

Fang Zhou lost interest quickly, mainly because he already knew the content below, and the half-literate language of the storyteller was quite cumbersome.

Soon, the long street outside suddenly erupted with commotion, the crowd scattered, even falling over they quickly crawled away to the sides.

Shortly, two knights galloped over on tall horses from afar, whipping anyone too slow to dodge, leaving bloody marks and silence.

The bustling street was swiftly cleared into a straight and broad passage, and Fang Zhou heard the mumbled discussions in the tea house, realizing it was Di Ao returning to the mansion, esteemed below only one and above thousands.

Soon, a long procession came from afar, hundreds of people swarming around, such was the spectacle each time Di Ao traveled, much like parading.

Fang Zhou sat by the window, watching coldly.

He had inquired about Di Ao’s character before his visit, describing her as arrogant and domineering seemed to underestimate.

Her manner deemed reckless, taking lives casually was her norm.

Di Ao initially was a courteous and polite child; hence she became good sisters with Qiao Sen.

Until she wielded power, Di Ao then revealed her true nature, forcing handsome men in the street was merely leisure activity.

The later part might be rumors; who could hold such high status and snatch men in the street? Others likely send men to her mansion enough to form a soccer team daily.

Di Ao’s carriage soon entered Fang Zhou’s sight, a bright yellow carriage, clearly revealing one’s ambition openly.

Fang Zhou gazed at the carriage, contemplating whether to disguise his identity and infiltrate the enemy ranks as a mole?

Given his male identity was bothersome, likely arousing suspicion, perhaps this crucial task could be undertaken by San Wa.

As the carriage arrived below the tea house, its window was open, inside sat a woman with a rebellious yet beautiful demeanor.

According to Qiao Sen’s description, this was Di Ao; judging by her features, although beautiful, she seemed a typical villain. How Emperor Qiao Zhi trusted and favored her was baffling.

As Fang Zhou observed Di Ao, she seemed to sense something; she looked up towards the tea house window and met Fang Zhou’s eyes.

Since entering the tea house, Fang Zhou had already removed his mask for tea, showing his true face.

His visage fell into Di Ao’s eyes, instantly causing her an expression of astonishment.

Fang Zhou’s looks among men in this world were top-notch, and following cultivation, it surpassed limits.

Previously mentioned, cultivation is a process of becoming perfected, including appearance, with cultivators being more perfect than ordinary people, the higher realm the more perfect.

Men were scarce in the Cultivation World; Heavenly Sword Sect, being one of the righteous alliance’s top five, had Gou Cheng as the highest realm male cultivator.

Fang Zhou’s face, enhanced by cultivation, full of masculinity, emerging in the world was purely to intimidate, especially the ethereal aura post-cultivation, something mortals couldn’t possess.

Claiming to be stunningly handsome wasn’t an exaggeration for him.

Upon seeing Fang Zhou, Di Ao had only one thought in mind–every man she’d met in her life was a hideous monster, mundane riffraff.

Only this man before her was truly a beautiful man.

“Stop the carriage!”

Di Ao suddenly shouted, halting the long procession.

Once Fang Zhou realized something was amiss and wanted to put on his mask, it was too late.

Di Ao emerged from her carriage, looked up at Fang Zhou from the tea house laughed and said, “Beautiful, were you a gift to me from heaven?”

Fang Zhou’s forehead immediately throbbed with veins.

I gift you my family!!