The night wind was cold.
“We’re here.” Teng Qingshan held Li Jun close as he looked down upon the endless land below. Li Jun let out a roar, and hearing the sound, the Six-legged Saber Cicada immediately dove downward, like a bolt of lightning, landing directly at the headquarters of the Snow Lotus Sect in HuYue Commandery, Qingzhou.
The headquarters of the Snow Lotus Sect was Li Jun’s residence.
Whoosh!
Teng Qingshan, Li Jun, and the Six-legged Saber Cicada materialized abruptly within the lavish courtyard, startling several guards who were on patrol late at night.
“Who goes there!”
The guards, carrying lanterns, immediately moved closer. Li Jun frowned and spoke softly, “It’s me.”
The dozen or so guards who approached finally saw clearly that the arrivals were the Acting Sect Mistress and her husband, along with a terrifying demonic beast. The guards immediately knelt on one knee in salute: “Your Highness.”
“Summon Hua Ruo,” Li Jun commanded. Hua Ruo was Li Jun’s deputy.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Two guards immediately ran off, while the others respectfully moved away, continuing their patrols around the courtyard perimeter.
“Qingshan?” Li Jun looked at Teng Qingshan with suspicion.
Teng Qingshan frowned and shook his head. “Within this headquarters, there are only your master, Sect Mistress Snow Lotus, and that Thunder Divine Eagle. There are no other Void Realm experts, let alone Pei San.” The moment they descended, the Domain, spanning a full thirty-four li, had given him a clear understanding of the headquarters.
“What should we do then?” Li Jun was momentarily stunned.
Teng Qingshan had come specifically to find Pei San this time.
“Don’t rush. Look at the intelligence first. Find out exactly what is happening.” Teng Qingshan knew very well that the Guiyuan Sect had only found the barest hints; to grasp the true movements of the Heavenly God Palace... they would certainly learn everything through the Snow Lotus Sect. Only by knowing the actual goal and plan could they determine how to persuade Pei San.
Only a moment later.
A woman dressed in silver robes, with a purple sash tied around her waist, looking spirited and capable, hurried over. Seeing the study door ajar with light inside, she entered without hesitation. Upon seeing Li Jun and Teng Qingshan, she respectfully saluted: “Your Highness, Sir.”
“Hua Ruo,” Li Jun asked from behind the desk, “Have any major events occurred in the Sect while I was away these past few days?”
“It seems the Blood Lotus Army has been mobilized, Your Highness,” Hua Ruo replied respectfully, while subtly frowning. “It seems some troops were also dispatched... As for the detailed situation, I do not know. Your Highness knows I have no authority to read the incoming secret correspondence.”
Li Jun took a purple token from her waist, tossed it to Hua Ruo, and instructed, “Hua Ruo, take my token and go to the treasury immediately. Fetch the originals of all secret correspondence from the past month. I need to see them.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Hua Ruo took the token and respectfully departed for the treasury.
...
At the Snow Lotus Sect headquarters, in another luxurious courtyard, resided the Snow Lotus Sect Mistress, ‘Pei Xuelian,’ and that Thunder Divine Eagle.
“Uncle Chen.”
Though it was still late at night, Pei Xuelian sat beside the Thunder Divine Eagle, looking perplexed. “Uncle Chen... Did someone arrive?” She had just been asleep, but the Thunder Divine Eagle’s cry had sounded right next to her ear. Pei Xuelian knew that the Thunder Divine Eagle, which treated her father like a brother, would only disturb her sleep under exceptional circumstances.
Only a moment passed—
“Bang!” “Bang!” “Bang!”
A series of knocks sounded on the door.
“Come in,” Pei Xuelian said.
A middle-aged woman entered and respectfully reported, “Reporting to the Sect Mistress, the Saintess has returned.”
“That child, Xiao Jun. I thought she had completely forgotten that she is the Acting Sect Mistress of my Snow Lotus Sect.” Pei Xuelian was both happy and annoyed. “She spends all her time with her man; she’s almost forgotten her master.”
“Sect Mistress, the Saintess just ordered her subordinate, Hua Ruo, to retrieve the secret correspondence from the last month from the vault,” the middle-aged woman whispered. “Just now... returning with the Saintess were Guest Elder Hu He, and that demonic beast entirely black with blood-colored pupils.”
“Hu He?”
Pei Xuelian let out a cold sneer. “That fellow is actually willing to send his wife over... Hmph. Fetching nearly a month’s worth of secret letters—Xiao Jun wants to continue managing the Snow Lotus Sect for me? No, if she wanted to manage the Sect, she wouldn’t need to rush back in the middle of the night. Such urgency must mean something is wrong... Could it be because Father is preparing to attack Yang Province?”
A host of thoughts flashed through her mind instantly. Pei Xuelian glanced at the middle-aged woman. “You may withdraw for now.”
“Yes, Sect Mistress.”
After the middle-aged woman left, Pei Xuelian immediately leaped onto the back of the Thunder Divine Eagle, pointed one hand, directly indicating the location where Li Jun was staying.
In Li Jun’s study.
Candlelight flickered as Teng Qingshan and Li Jun flipped through the secret correspondence from the past month.
“So that’s how it is,” Teng Qingshan said, looking at a letter in his hand. “I found it strange last time why so many soldiers died when the Heavenly God Palace tried to destroy Hongtian City. It turns out... they were unwilling to sacrifice this elite ‘Divine Guard Army,’ the most elite force on the Great Grasslands.” The intelligence obtained from Zhuge Yuanhong was too scarce.
But these letters made everything perfectly clear.
“What?” Li Jun exclaimed as he turned over a sheet of paper.
“What is it?” Teng Qingshan leaned closer to look at the paper in Li Jun’s hand. “Tu Yuan Guard? Twelve thousand Tu Yuan Guards? Xiao Jun... the commander of the Tu Yuan Guard who came to see us last time was named Cao Yan. What exactly is this Tu Yuan Guard?”
“Qingshan, the Tu Yuan Guard is the direct army of our Heavenly God Palace, the most elite force in the entire Palace. To become a soldier in the Tu Yuan Guard, one must at least be a First-grade Martial Artist. Originally, the number of Tu Yuan Guard soldiers was not large. As far as I knew, there were only three or four thousand men. How is it now—”
“First-grade Martial Artists?” Teng Qingshan knew the terrifying power of First-grade Martial Artists.
A First-grade Martial Artist could leap ten zhang in a single bound. Even on solid city walls, provided a few daggers or arrows were stuck in them for leverage, a First-grade Martial Artist could directly leap over the wall in two successive bounds. Tall city walls were practically useless in their eyes.
A mere few hundred First-grade Martial Artists, with one charge, could easily and swiftly carve out a breach.
Back in Dayanshan, after Teng Qingshan gave the two cauldrons of North Sea Spirits to his master, ‘Zhuge Yuanhong,’ Zhuge Yuanhong had marveled... With these two cauldrons of North Sea Spirits, an army composed of over ten thousand First-grade Martial Artists would be sufficient to sweep across the entirety of Yang Province.
“Originally not many, now there are more?” Teng Qingshan’s heart stirred. “Xiao Jun, the Beast King must have obtained the North Sea Spirits during the battle at Dayanshan.”
“North Sea Spirits?” Li Jun realized.
Teng Qingshan looked at the letters, frowning. “One hundred thousand Divine Guards, forty thousand Snow Lotus Army. These one hundred and forty thousand elite soldiers alone are comparable to an army of over a million. Add the most elite twelve thousand Tu Yuan Guards, and they become even more terrifying than a million-man army. These one hundred and fifty-two thousand men... are enough to sweep Yang Province. Not to mention the eight hundred thousand troops that your Snow Lotus Sect has always been training and preparing.”
“No wonder the Heavenly God Palace dares to do this,” Teng Qingshan felt a chill creeping up his spine.
With such an army charging...
Yang Province simply couldn't resist. Unless the Guiyuan Sect’s ‘Longgang Guards’ were equipped with the ‘Blazing Flux Iron Armor.’ First-grade Martial Artists outfitted with Blazing Flux Iron Armor... forming an innate armored cavalry army. Only then could they hold off, or even defeat, the Tu Yuan Guard. After all, the tier of armor between the two sides was vastly different.
If my full-power strike can kill you, your full-power strike cannot even pierce my armor.
How can they fight?
But—
The Blazing Flux Iron Armor was not yet meant to be revealed.
“Hmm?” Teng Qingshan turned his head.
“What is it?” Li Jun asked in alarm.
“Your master is here,” Teng Qingshan set down the correspondence and looked out towards the courtyard. Li Jun immediately stepped away from the desk to greet her master, the ‘Sect Mistress Snow Lotus.’
Swish!
The Thunder Divine Eagle and Sect Mistress Snow Lotus appeared in the courtyard simultaneously.
“Oh...” Sect Mistress Snow Lotus approached with a smile. “Guest Elder Hu He, didn’t you say Xiao Jun was unwell and shouldn’t manage my Sect’s affairs anymore? Why rush over in the middle of the night to look at nearly a month's worth of secret correspondence? I’m utterly confused. Guest Elder Hu He, could it be that you no longer care about Xiao Jun’s health?”
The Sect Mistress’s words were barbed.
“Sect Mistress,” Teng Qingshan said with a light smile. “There were indeed urgent matters that required a hasty return.”
“Oh? What matter could be so ‘urgent’ that Guest Elder Hu He rushes over?” The Sect Mistress adopted an expression of surprise. “Do tell, perhaps I can assist Guest Elder Hu He.”
Teng Qingshan cut straight to the chase. “Sect Mistress Snow Lotus, may I ask where the Palace Master is right now? I have an urgent matter to discuss with him.”
“My father is busy and has no time to see you,” the Sect Mistress dismissed him immediately.
“Master...” Li Jun called out softly.
“Hmph,” the Sect Mistress scolded. “You child, you are becoming increasingly disobedient.”
“A married daughter is like spilled water, Master,” Li Jun said with a light laugh, and the Sect Mistress’s expression softened slightly. Li Jun then said softly, “Master, Hu He really does have something important to see the Palace Master about. Please help us out... Tell Hu He where the Palace Master is now.”
The Sect Mistress’s face darkened, and a wave of anger surged within her.
Growing up, the Sect Mistress Snow Lotus had never been slighted.
She doted on Li Jun immensely, but now Li Jun was clearly siding with Teng Qingshan... In reality, the saying ‘follow the rooster when married to a rooster, follow the dog when married to a dog’ suggested Li Jun’s actions were natural. However, the Sect Mistress was no ordinary person. She was the daughter of the Heavenly God Palace Master. She had never known humiliation since birth.
Starting from the first time she felt uncomfortable meeting Teng Qingshan, and especially last time when Teng Qingshan took away the Hongtian Divine Armor, she had developed an antipathy toward him.
Now, seeing her disciple helping Teng Qingshan, the Sect Mistress felt a sense of... her precious disciple being snatched away by Teng Qingshan.
The Sect Mistress flung her sleeve and snorted angrily, “Xiao Jun, you are becoming less and less obedient to your master. You only care about helping this Hu He.”
“Hu He.”
The Sect Mistress glared coldly at Teng Qingshan, with an underlying air of superiority. “You rush over in the dead of night, and though you don’t say it, I know... you are definitely investigating the Heavenly God Palace’s plan to attack Yang Province. To tell you the truth, yes, our Heavenly God Palace is going to attack Yang Province. And it will be soon!”
“The deployment of troops and generals for this attack on Yang Province was handled by me and the Great Monk Su Mengte, along with a few others.”
The Sect Mistress said coldly, “I have told you everything. In the future... if you want to know anything, just ask me. Stop always relying on Xiao Jun to sneak around investigating the secret intelligence of my Heavenly God Palace.”