That icy divine sense pried in, lingering stubbornly. It seemed formed from several distinct consciousnesses merging, their combined might nearly matching that of the Zenith Realm. The spiritual array within the palace offered no defense whatsoever.
After a moment, Zong Shou impatiently lifted his head, pressing Chu Xue against his chest, coldly fixing his gaze upon the void.
“Have you seen enough? Venerable Immortals of the Daoist Sect, Sages of the Confucian School—do you also enjoy prying into private matters?”
The divine sense paused, then a cold sneer echoed through the void, “Utterly absurd and tyrannical! A shameless, muddle-headed ruler—”
As the words fell, those intents receded like a tide.
Zong Shou pursed his lips, unconcerned. Yet, he knew he must prepare for a battle.
With a mocking smile, Zong Shou then felt a wave of curiosity, turning a questioning look toward Zhang Huai.
“This Wine Pool Palace is hardly some place that must be saved. With my sole swordsmanship and evasion techniques, I could flee beforehand if danger arose. How do you suppose they plan to fool our senses?”
If they intended to strike at the horse to stop the rider, or capture the leader to defeat the army, they must aim for a fatal trap, leaving Zong Shou no means of escape. Otherwise, what was the point of this thousand-mile raid?
Zhang Huai shook his head. “The Daoist Sect possesses the Thousand-Mile Evasion Talisman technique, and the Demonic Sect has the Infernal Void Concealment Art. Both can transport hundreds of thousands of troops a thousand miles in an instant, though the cost is somewhat substantial. Even the Common Folk Dao has the Void Traversing Divine Method, and various illusions for concealing traces are countless. Why should Your Majesty worry about the opponents?”
Then, glancing at Chu Xue, Zhang Huai let out a soft laugh, bowed to Zong Shou, and promptly withdrew.
Only then did Zong Shou notice something was amiss with the person in his arms. When those divine senses probed just now, Chu Xue had played along with his act. But after the intents of those few Sages withdrew, Chu Xue remained docile, offering no resistance whatsoever.
He squeezed his right hand inside Xue’er’s collar; the soft, slick sensation instantly stirred a reaction in Zong Shou’s lower body.
Chu Xue also lifted her head hazily, her small face flushed, her eyes misty. She seemed still lost in the feeling of that recent kiss.
Zong Shou’s desire intensified. He thought, this little enchantress is lethal in her charms. And these twin peaks on her chest seemed to possess a bewitching quality, making it impossible to let go.
His eyes flickered, and Zong Shou hesitated no longer, leaning down to claim Chu Xue’s lips again, savoring them meticulously—they were sweet.
He sucked forcefully, shamelessly driving his tongue inside, while one hand slipped beneath Chu Xue’s abdomen, plunging deep into the valley between.
It was only when Chu Xue could bear no more and let out a moan that sent shivers to the very marrow that Zong Shou suddenly snapped back to awareness, hastily withdrawing his hand from Xue’er’s collar.
He sighed internally; he had been mere moments away from devouring Chu Xue whole. This girl was too enticingly delicious.
He had long lusted after Xue’er, but the time was not yet right.
A great battle loomed, and his own Extinguishing Sword Intent had yet to see significant progress.
At a time like this, how could he indulge in such pleasures? Based on past experience, once he brought little Xue’er into that realm, it wouldn’t be resolved in a day or two. It would inevitably take several days of intense pleasure to satisfy them both.
Even from the perspective of dual cultivation, Xue’er’s vast True Essence had clearly not been fully unlocked.
The War Physique was not merely about that astonishing combat intuition.
When she broke through to the Divine Realm, that would be the most appropriate time.
After readjusting the clothing for Chu Xue, he saw that the person in his arms was still delicate and weak, her eyes glazed, dazed and giddy.
Zong Shou chuckled softly and gently tapped Xue’er’s glabella with his index finger.
He sent a current of cool Soul Force into Chu Xue’s delicate body. Only then did Chu Xue fully awaken, opening her wide eyes and looking at her Master with confusion.
After a long moment, she seemed to recall something. Even her slender neck flushed pink. She stayed frozen in Zong Shou’s embrace, flustered and unsure how to move.
Zong Shou smiled faintly, but pretended to be confused. “Xue’er, are you perhaps still desiring more? Then Master won’t be polite—”
He lowered his head to kiss her again. Chu Xue startled slightly, then, like a rabbit, she jumped down from Zong Shou’s embrace and hastily fled out the hall doors.
Seeing this, Zong Shou couldn't help but let out a long, hearty laugh, which only subsided after a long while.
He summoned the Divine Refining Sword before him once more. In an instant, a sword intent, frenzied and sharpened to the extreme, suddenly erupted, enveloping the hall.
Zong Shou also focused his entire being, sinking into contemplation.
Slaughter and Extinction—how should he achieve a breakthrough? How to weave them into a single entity—
※ ※ ※ ※
Three thousand li away, north of the Min River. Within an unremarkable mountain valley, the imperial carriage, resembling a miniature palace, hovered silently above a flat clearing.
In the imperial study within, several venerable Sages belonging to the Daoist and Confucian factions retracted their intents, and the Illusory Mirror suspended in the air consequently disintegrated. The scene reflected within gradually vanished. “A pool of wine and a forest of meat. Hmph! One wonders how much the common people suffered for Zong Shou to build this. Even Jie and Zhou of ancient times were hardly comparable—”
The speaker was none of the Saint-ranked figures present, but Zuo Xin, the Censor-in-Chief.
At this moment, he was filled with righteous indignation and stern dignity: “The people of the Great Qian must have suffered under their ruler for a long time. Our Great Shang must campaign against this tyrannical monarch and rescue the people from dire straits!”
The Confucian cultivators present all nodded slightly in agreement, displaying looks of compassion for the suffering populace. They were also secretly exhilarated; overthrowing such a tyrant would surely immortalize them in history.
“Indeed, a monarch like Jie and Zhou!”
Upon closer reflection, Zong Shou did share many similarities with Jie and Zhou.
Both were obsessed with endless military campaigns; in the dozen years since taking the throne, there had been constant wars in every direction, almost annually. Both possessed supreme talent, being martial arts prodigies. Both were equally debauched in temperament and fond of luxury.
“The Wine Pool Palace? And he is merely the ruler of a desolate region, controlling no more than ten continents, yet dares to replicate the wine pools and meat forests of ancient Jie and Zhou? If this man ever becomes the Lord of the Central Cloud Continent, who knows how absurd things might become?”
This time it was one of the six venerable figures present, named Liu Li, styled as the Snow Chamber Scholar, counted among the Confucian Sages, one of the scholars following the Cloud Wilderness era.
His words subconsciously disregarded the seventy-six large and small worlds Zong Shou commanded beyond the borders.
His eyes now held a chilling gleam: “Our Confucian School will absolutely not allow such a person to remain in this world, bringing chaos to the Cloud Realm!”
His gaze shifted toward Yin Yu—one frugal and self-disciplined, the other luxurious and decadent. One reasoned with his soldiers, the other was excessively harsh toward his officials, yet even a commoner could bring a case against them.
The superiority between the two rulers was clearly established.
Yin Yu, in this regard, was infinitely close to the ideal sage-king and world-shaking hero envisioned by Confucianism.
It was a pity—it was the times, it was fate—
Such was the turn of events; the Great Shang was nearing its end, what could be done?
Although the Confucian School held the principle of loyalty to the sovereign, they could not counter the stirring trouble created by the Daoist and Demonic Sects.
However, if they could swallow the prosperous Eastern Lin Cloud Continent, or if the Great Shang could prolong its dynasty and find a chance for resurgence—
Yin Yu’s face was ashen. Beneath the desk, his hands were clenched tightly, veins bulging. He dug his nails into his flesh just to maintain composure before them.
Outrageous! Truly outrageous! They deserved death, all of them!
His gaze swept over the memorials on the desk, his chest almost exploding with rage.
They were all documents from various regions stating that the emergency granaries and the national treasury were depleted.
He had never known the domestic grain reserves were in such dire straits.
He hadn’t noticed before the war, but only a month into the conflict did the reality erupt violently.
The national grain reserves, enough to supply one hundred and eighty million troops for two years according to the ledgers, had been stolen and sold off by corrupt officials.
Their excuse: it had been stored too long and had rotted.
Meanwhile, the influential merchants and powerful aristocratic families in the localities had colluded to hoard goods, making it impossible to purchase grain.
Moreover, the national treasury inexplicably showed a deficit of tens of millions of Spirit Stones.
These vermin gnawing on the nation—how dare they? How dare they?
For the first time, he felt that his decades of blending in, rewarding subordinates, and trying his utmost to win over the scholars might have been excessive.
Had he known this earlier, he should have disregarded his posthumous reputation and carried out severe purges.
If not for this campaign in the Southern Frontier, which lasted an unsuccessful month, causing grain shortages that local officials could no longer sustain, would they have planned to hide it from him forever?
What a concept: uphold Heaven’s principle and extinguish human desires. How many Confucian scholars truly achieved this ideal preached for thousands of years? Which of these corrupt officials had not thoroughly studied the classics of the Sages?
Even Zuo Xin, a Great Confucian, had his own desires.
Forcing down the fury in his chest, recalling the extravagance of Zong Shou’s Wine Pool Palace just now, his mood eased somewhat. He, Yin Yu, as a sovereign, was fundamentally different from Zong Shou.
“My esteemed officials, although Zong Shou’s conduct is arrogant and luxurious, even if we all know it, it does not alter the current situation. Currently, the Great Shang lacks provisions; even with extreme frugality, we can only hold out for a month and a half at most, perhaps less. What the Great Shang needs most right now is a strategy to defeat the enemy as quickly as possible.”
The situation was far worse than the three months Zhang Huai had anticipated.
Zuo Xin was momentarily stunned, then his face filled with shame. “It is my dereliction of duty that I failed to investigate local corruption. I did not realize the granaries and treasury had decayed to this extent.”
Yin Yu shook his head and waved his hand generously. “This is a chronic ailment of our Great Shang; it has been this way for a thousand years. Selling off grain from the storerooms has almost become routine; it is not your fault. It is my failure to inspect closely—”
Zuo Xin grew even more grateful. “After this war, I shall certainly investigate rigorously, and all negligent and corrupt individuals will be severely punished without leniency.”
However, everyone’s gaze now turned toward the Great General Pacifying the South, Fei Yin, and the assembled generals.
In this study, many surpassed Fei Yin in cultivation mastery, but when it came to military application, he was the one to watch.
“Kong Yao uses war cautiously, repeatedly launching surprise attacks, appearing reckless, yet never giving us a chance to exploit. Fei Yin is incompetent; defeating his army within a month and a half is utterly impossible.”
Fei Yin’s expression was crestfallen. He had been utterly overwhelmed these past few days, losing all the arrogance he once held toward Kong Yao.
“Yet, a general can only display his full potential under a wise ruler. Unfortunately, the lord Kong Yao serves is an absurd one.”