The temporary palace in Line One Thousand Five Hundred and Fifty-Eight was crowded with beautiful women, yet Zong Shou found no pleasure in their company. Most of these barbarian maidens were innocent and sweet-natured, possessing a simple disposition. However, having once tasted the most exquisite delicacies the world had to offer, Zong Shou's palate had grown too discerning to appreciate these modest beauties.

Most of the time, he sat alone, deeply immersed in contemplating his sword techniques.

The day he grasped the Way of Xi Zi, Zong Shou already sensed considerable progress in his swordsmanship.

Naturally, it was impossible for him to have fully comprehended and mastered Xi Zi's True Art of Creation. It was merely that, while controlling the sword formation that day, he had gained some small insight into the restrictive patterns and talismanic seals within it.

These insights could be integrated into his sword techniques, proving quite beneficial.

“It’s a pity, I still grasped too little. Nevertheless, while this method may be optional for me, it should be of great use to my brother Ao.”

Spiritual energy materialized, transforming a high-grade Earth-tier talisman in an instant into a wild crane that flew out of this Wine Pool Palace.

Only the most supreme talisman paper could possibly bear his insights into the True Art of Creation.

While its actual utility was minor, the fact that Xi Zi's methods were derived from the Human Dao would surely bring Ao Kun immense surprise.

After dispatching the talisman, Zong Shou ceased studying the restrictive patterns he had gained from the Seven Swords of the Common People.

The Way of Xi Zi was one of the supreme Daos in this world, perhaps even transcending the Laws of Creation.

However, Zong Shou’s own path was already set, and he lacked the burning passion to serve the nation and its people; thus, abandoning it for the better was prudent.

For the overwhelming majority of his time, he dedicated himself to studying the Sword Intent of Slaughter and the Sword Intent of Annihilation.

Of the two, the latter’s level far surpassed the former. Yet, there were overlaps between them.

The Sword Intent of Slaughter had already broken through to the late stage of the Soul Realm of Sword Intent.

Consequently, the Sword Intent of Annihilation was the easiest of the two to break through next.

Zong Shou had a premonition: after this impending battle, there would surely be a slaughtering feast. Therefore, the weapon in his hand could not afford to be dull!

“The Demonic Path!”

Those slivers of sharp, fierce malevolence ceaselessly clawed and battered within Zong Shou’s chest, gnawing at his vital organs.

It would not be long now before he had to wait—

In between daily sword practice, Zong Shou also dedicated a fraction of his focus to monitoring the unfolding war ahead. Every evening, he would meticulously review the battle reports transmitted from the front, examining every minute detail.

Four days after the three million two hundred thousand Great Qian armies retreated from the southern side of the Henglian Mountain Range, reports of victory were almost exclusively received; there was hardly a single defeat.

Due to the complex river systems and swamps of the Southern Frontier, even with the Great Shang’s ample preparations, their advance was proving arduous.

The one hundred and eighty million troops were effectively segmented into more than a dozen separate forces by the network of waterways and marshes.

This presented an opportunity for Kong Yao. Utilizing the naval strength, she suddenly inserted eighty thousand elite troops deep into the rear of the Great Shang forces. This single engagement resulted in the annihilation of forty thousand enemy soldiers.

Following this, she switched from defense to offense, engaging the Great Shang’s left flank army head-on within a delta plain. In just seven days, she succeeded in shattering their opposing force of one million troops.

By the time the Great Shang reinforcements arrived, Kong Yao’s contingent had already sailed away aboard cloud ships.

Three battles in ten days, all resounding victories. After this, the Great Shang forces began to proceed cautiously, with extreme circumspection.

While Kong Yao could no longer find opportunities for sudden thrusts, the Great General who Conquered the South and the Yuan Chen Emperor were having an extremely difficult time. Their advance was severely hampered, firmly blocked north of the Min River, unable to progress an inch.

What made matters worse at this juncture was Kong Yao’s scorched-earth policy in the region. All tribes had fled at the first rumor. In this area, not a single grain of food could be procured.

Yet, just as Zong Shou had predicted, with the involvement of the Daoist and Confucian schools and the backing of countless Qiankun Bags, the remaining seventeen million troops’ provisions could barely hold out.

The battle situation thus reached a stalemate. Although Kong Yao could still use her navy to achieve sporadic victories, she could no longer manage sudden victories that wiped out three or four hundred thousand enemy soldiers at a time, as she had earlier.

However, Kong Yao’s brilliance as a commander was now undeniable. By skillfully utilizing the converging waterways, her three million troops were contending against an enemy six times their number, managing with ease and showing no sign of being at a disadvantage.

She was not bogged down in seizing city by city or land by land, but instead relied on flexible mobility, focusing primarily on striking the enemy’s vital points. Once a weakness was exposed, she attacked ferociously. But if the situation turned unfavorable, she would swiftly withdraw, never allowing herself to be cut off from the water routes. This forced the Great Shang, despite possessing tens of millions of troops, into a state of constant exhaustion trying to cope.

“If one preserves the people, the land may be lost, but the people and land can be regained; if one preserves the land while losing the people, then both people and land are lost—”

As if afraid Zong Shou might misunderstand, Kong Yao stated this in her official report. Zong Shou, however, was unconcerned; this Southern Frontier territory was ultimately dispensable in his eyes, and he paid it no mind.

It was at this moment that the fifty thousand Xuanlong Knights of the Common People Dao, and the thirty-five thousand Weiyang Sword Riders of the Sword Sect, successively arrived under Kong Yao’s command, further solidifying the entire defensive line.

What surprised Zong Shou the most, however, was the Buddhist Sect. They dispatched a full contingent of twenty thousand monastic soldiers, placing them entirely at Zong Shou’s disposal.

Few among them were skilled in combat, but they were profoundly versed in the Great Compassion Thousand-Leaf Sutra of Life Preservation, excelling at healing injuries. When three thousand of them formed a battle array and chanted the Vajra Wisdom King Mantra together, they could grant armies of no more than three hundred thousand within a fifty-li radius a Vajra Body enhancement, equivalent to a fifth-tier spiritual artifact armor, offering astonishing protective power.

Kong Yao was particularly delighted; these twenty thousand monks brought her more joy than when she had gained the fifty thousand Xuanlong Knights of the Common People.

And that Monk Leng Jia specially came to the Wine Pool Palace to meet Zong Shou regarding this matter.

“These twenty thousand Vajra Protector Monks are temporarily serving under the Sovereign’s banner, not because the Sovereign is the immeasurable Buddha of my faith’s future. Rather, it is because the Great Qian and the Buddhist Sect have an alliance, and an ally is in need; my sect cannot ignore this. Furthermore, this involves the contest among the Six Teachings of the Cloud Realm. I hope the Sovereign does not misunderstand, nor take unnecessary heed of this.”

“Then I thank you. I shall keep the favor of your sect’s timely aid during this hardship firmly in mind.”

Zong Shou smiled faintly, his favorable impression of the Buddhist Sect, and especially the Monk Leng Jia before him, growing immensely.

If these twenty thousand protector monks had come merely to curry favor because he was the so-called future Boundless Beginning and End Buddha, then regardless of his regret, he would have to send them away.

But since they came because of the alliance with an ally, he could accept their service with peace of mind, and instead felt indebted to the Buddhist Sect.

After Monk Leng Jia finished speaking, his brow furrowed. He surveyed the surroundings, which were utterly decadent. Beyond the wine pools and meat forests, the gardens housed almost every rare and exotic beast in the world. And even a single handmaiden in the palace was considered an unparalleled beauty outside.

“Leng Jia does not understand. Battles rage fiercely by the Min River, with casualties numbering in the tens of thousands. Why does Your Highness still have the heart to hold daily banquets and indulge in female beauty within this palace?”

Zong Shou felt a measure of helplessness; he himself was not willing, but he could not refuse, so he replied casually, “In my view, form is no different from emptiness, emptiness is no different from form; form is emptiness, emptiness is form—”

He was not referring to the immediate beauties, but rather to all observable or unobservable phenomena—these phenomena being illusions generated by the vanity of people. Emptiness is the essence of things.

In other words, what Monk Leng Jia saw was not necessarily the truth, having failed to see through the surface appearance.

Monk Leng Jia’s body trembled slightly, and he stared fixedly at Zong Shou, his gaze alarmingly intense. Then, he performed a solemn bow: “The Sovereign indeed has affinity with my Buddha. Form is emptiness, emptiness is form? Leng Jia has received instruction! Should I achieve success in the future, it will all be due to the words of the Boundless Buddha.”

Zong Shou was astonished. This phrase, when spoken by the Buddhist Sect, comes from the scripture Maha Prajna Paramita Heart Sutra.

Could it be that this scripture did not yet exist in the Buddhist world at this time?

Ling Chen of the Sword Sect was also present at the side, utterly oblivious to the subtle exchange between the two, yet he too looked upon the excessively luxurious temporary palace with a strange expression.

In that moment, they gravely doubted whether the Zong Shou before them was truly a sage sovereign descended, the Lord of the Qilin.

Could it be that Hua Ruo had misjudged?

Both were cultivators and could not bear to remain in a place teeming with beauties and an atmosphere thick with ambiguous intimacy. After meeting Zong Shou, they quickly departed.

As the two left, another figure arrived immediately afterward—it was Zhang Huai.

According to him, all supplies and provisions were in order, stored securely in separate locations, enough to sustain the army for ten years. Logistics were no longer a concern. Now idle, he was unwilling to miss this war that would determine supremacy in the Cloud Realm, hence his visit.

“I have heard that the Yuan Chen Emperor is overseeing the construction of large shipyards on the northern bank of the Min River. Moreover, several hundred cultivators at the Divine Realm are preparing to use great magic to transport the Great Shang’s existing Five-Tusked Cloud Ships to the Min River.”

Zong Shou pursed his lips. This move by the Great Shang indicated their intention to establish a naval fleet on the Min River.

However, shipbuilding takes time, and transporting ready-made cloud ships is not easy. The cultivators of the Common People Dao, the Sword Sect, and the Buddhist Sect were not to be trifled with. Even Great Qian currently had many patrons.

Furthermore, the Great Shang did not have much time left to drag things out.

“I previously examined the recent tax revenues and expenditures of Huizhou and the Southern Wind Cloud Continent, and discovered that a certain amount of money vanishes each year. Even Ren Bo raised no objections. Can my esteemed official enlighten me?”

“I knew this could not be hidden from the Sovereign!”

Zhang Huai laughed heartily. He had taken that money to purchase grain within Great Shang territory.

At least twenty percent of the Great Shang’s annual grain output was being plundered by Great Qian sea merchants, even depleting the emergency granaries and national reserves across Great Shang.

Yet, the Great Qian nation itself was not lacking in food; in fact, it enjoyed abundant harvests every year.

“So, based on my assessment, the Yuan Chen Emperor must have discovered that the reserves in his national treasury can, at most, sustain him for three months.”

“So this shipyard is merely a diversion to mislead others?”

A hint of mocking amusement shone in Zong Shou’s eyes. Blocked north of the Min River, unable to advance, and now facing a problem with provisions—

For the Great Shang, there was no option left but a swift conclusion to the war.

In other words, the day he was anticipating would arrive within the next ten days at the latest.

Shaking his head, Zong Shou abruptly shifted the topic: “Consort Yao certainly could not have conceived of this Wine Pool Palace. Was this your idea, Zhang Huai?”

Zhang Huai looked slightly embarrassed and offered a hesitant, apologetic bow to Zong Shou.

Zong Shou let out a cold snort of dissatisfaction, then his expression instantly changed. He reached out and pulled Chu Xue, who was standing beside him, into his embrace.

He forcefully kissed Chu Xue’s lips, while one hand slipped into her robes.

Chu Xue let out a soft gasp of surprise, but quickly quieted, vaguely sensing an almost imperceptible will probing into the palace.