“Thus I think, and thus I do.”

Jiang Wang spoke with conviction, his words brimming with sincerity. How he had conducted himself in this recent period was evident to all who possessed discerning hearts. As a publicly acclaimed Marquis, he traversed various prefectures daily, overseeing examinations in dozens of cities. He spared no one, regardless of their background, nor considered any connections, severing malfeasance with his sword. Thus, he could indeed utter these words with calm assurance.

On the high platform, Su Guanying and Shi Mingli had fallen silent. Their gazes were fixed upon the examination field, their expressions turning grave.

At this moment, the atmosphere on Tiger Platform was peculiar.

Jiang Wang earnestly expounded upon his approach to the official examination, as if truly wishing to convey his sentiments, his choices, and his actions to Zhao Zi. Zhao Zi, in turn, listened intently to Jiang Wang’s explanation, as if genuinely concerned and in dire need of this clarity.

Yet, the entirety of Tiger Platform remained focused on their respective tasks – some regulating their breath, others standing guard, still others patrolling. The official examination itself was the paramount concern; the conversation between the two individuals, even though one was the Marquis of Wu’an, held no significance.

Amidst this general indifference, their earnestness struck a note of peculiar absurdity.

“I believe you do indeed think this way, and have indeed acted accordingly. We have witnessed much in these past few days.” Zhao Zi sat before a desk, her words unhurried, possessing the grace of a scholar. “However, such fairness is fleeting. It exists solely within your personal will. What happens after you depart?”

Jiang Wang replied, “I have always held one saying in my heart: my principles extend only three feet from the edge of my sword.”

“After your demise, even if the floods surge to heaven?” Zhao Zi questioned.

“I believe I said, ‘as far as possible.’”

Zhao Zi regarded him. “Where righteousness lies, though thousands bar the way, I shall go alone. A great man stands between heaven and earth; how can he regret his body?”

Jiang Wang said, “Sometimes, being alive is not merely a matter for one person. If death can be avoided, it is best to avoid it. Moreover, each person’s ‘righteousness’ is not the same.”

“Life is bitter and short, like a mayfly, leaving no trace in birth and death. Has the Marquis never considered using this life to leave something behind for this world, to become a great person?” Zhao Zi asked.

Jiang Wang replied, “Heaven’s operation has its constant principles; it follows its own course and likely has no need for me to leave anything behind. I only hope that I do not add chaos to this world.”

Zhao Zi said, “To possess capability yet be unwilling to change the world is also a form of holding a position without acting.”

“How can capability be the only measure? Cultivation is merely a form of instinctive power; knowledge is sometimes a cage.” Jiang Wang said, “I myself often do foolish things, make mistakes, sometimes cannot distinguish right from wrong, sometimes cannot discern truth from falsehood, and am often confused, not knowing which path lies ahead. How can I dare claim that this world can be changed for the better by me? Changing oneself is a choice I bear alone. Changing the world, what virtue and ability do I possess?”

Zhao Zi sighed, a hint of regret in her voice. “Still, thank you for being willing to converse with me about these matters. Let us reacquaint ourselves.”

She rose, speaking slowly. “Zhao, Qian, Sun, Li – the first among common names, is for ‘Zhao’. Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao – the first among good times, is for ‘Zi’. My name is Zhao Zi, Protector of the Dao of the Ping Deng Kingdom!”

The entire assembly was shocked, and a great uproar swept across the field!

Immediately following the Literary Examination was the Martial Examination.

Once the Southern Border official examination successfully concluded, the Qi court would truly gain substantive control, completely dominating the Southern Border. This was absolutely something the Ping Deng Kingdom was unwilling to see, and indeed, something the other forces in the Southern Domain were unwilling to witness.

To vanquish the Xia country, the Qi country had expended immense effort, employing diplomatic, military, and all-encompassing strategies of encirclement and interception, ultimately achieving a grand victory. However, one war’s end did not mean the end of conflict.

Jiang Wang had not aimed for this confrontation, but he had stumbled into it.

With a single utterance, Zhao Zi shifted the very fabric of heaven and earth.

Everything before them stretched out infinitely; the vast Tiger Platform became a chessboard. And the world-renowned Marquis of Wu’an of Great Qi, at this moment, was but a single piece upon it.

On this chessboard, black and white intertwined, great dragons clashed, and everywhere one looked, there was life and death. The boundaries between body and soul were completely blurred. It was impossible to distinguish between reality and illusion.

Jiang Wang’s body, at this moment, was as if dyed with ink, standing within the vast, boundless world of the chess game. As a black piece, all that met his gaze was snow white, all were enemy pieces. They were individuals whose faces could not be seen, yet each possessed power. Each emanated an unshakeable killing intent. That killing intent did not necessarily originate from each person’s heart, yet it had become a kind of ‘rule’.

On the chessboard, black pieces slew white, and white pieces slew black; they could not coexist, and their fate was to be decided by life and death! He clearly knew they were perhaps the examinees from earlier, perhaps the armored soldiers of the Lao Shan Iron Cavalry, perhaps the officials of the Southern Xia Governor’s Office.

The killing intent within Jiang Wang’s heart also surged, wave after wave, irresistibly. Akin to the thirst that craved drink, the hunger that demanded food, the cold that sought warmth, at this moment, his desire to slay these enemies holding white pieces was a principle as natural as breathing.

Slay them all!

There was no need to consider the reason, nor any need for burden; that was simply the cycle of heavenly reason! The board was filled with white pieces surrounding a solitary black one; if he did not kill them, they would kill him. Gazes filled with killing intent fell upon his body, chilling to the bone.

Jiang Wang’s feet were rooted to the ground, like an ancient tree taking root, suppressing himself with astonishing willpower.

Then, at this moment, a crimson-gold light bloomed from the halo of the Five Mansions Sea, instantly illuminating the four seas within his body. That immortal crimson-gold light shone through his eyes; the killing intent, a rule-level phenomenon, still boiled, yet within the crimson-gold light, it writhed like flying snakes but could no longer shake him.

Let it be whatever heavenly canon, earthly righteousness, law, or principle; my own ‘true self’ shall not waver!

Within the chess game of others, he would walk his own path.

Jiang Wang gazed fixedly ahead, amidst the countless charging figures, he caught sight of Zhao Zi—at this moment, Zhao Zi sat cross-legged, precisely at the ‘Tian Yuan’ position of the board. She was the destination of his gaze, and the center of the entire chess game world. She was still clad in a Confucian robe with her hair tied up, but her body was as if covered in snow, the ‘one who held white’.

Before her lay a chessboard. The board seemed veiled in fog, only vaguely revealing one or two scenes. What Jiang Wang exerted his eyesight to see were countless solid lines extending far into the distance, both vertically and horizontally; it was the unending struggle between the black and white sides. The white pieces occupied the absolute majority of the chessboard’s space, surrounding a lonely small dragon on the black side in the center. Though a lone piece, it was like a dragon, yet already ensnared within the ‘Eight Gates Golden Lock’.

And this was precisely the situation he found himself in at this moment!

“Kill!”

A long knife chopped horizontally. Jiang Wang casually reached out, avoided the blade’s edge, and pinched the neck of the incoming attacker. With a surge of Dao Yuan, he dissipated the knife’s force and flung the person far away.

“Kill him!”

“Kill him!”

For a time, enemies swarmed and attacked. From all four sides and eight directions, knives and swords descended, and Jiang Wang took but a single large step forward, then like catching little chickens, he seized them one by one, neatly and orderly throwing them flying into the air. Wherever he walked, a pile of enemies holding white would fly up.

But more and more people attacked. Crowded Dao techniques poured down like a flood. Jiang Wang neither dodged nor avoided, rushing straight forward, a clear light swirling around his body, formally activating the Xuan Tian Liuli Gong! The flood of Dao techniques covered his entire body, yet the clear light illuminated him, naturally without blemish. The massive Dao techniques came like water, and flowed away like water, fundamentally unable to harm him in the slightest.

What did it mean to be a contemporary formidable Shenlin? In any country of the present world, he was already a formidable force beyond doubt. For the absolute majority of the time, he could act horizontally without scruple. Cultivators below the Inner Mansion could fundamentally not break his defense. Those who had broken through to God-through or Outer Building stages were only worth slight attention.

But only slight attention indeed. He was not like Zheng Chaoyang, that kind of forcibly elevated weak Shenlin; even truly top-tier Outer Building cultivators, in front of the current him, would not last three rounds.

Countless attacks rained down, yet all were casually brushed aside. Though it is said that a fine stream can become a sea, dropping water wears away stone only after ten thousand years! In this boundless world of the chess game, he might be alone, a solitary piece. But unless it was the one holding the chess pieces, Zhao Zi, who else could block his path?

Among the people surrounding and attacking him at this moment were Inner Mansion cultivators experienced in war examinations like Xue Rushishi, Outer Building cultivators long in the military like Gu Yong, and even Outer Building cultivators close to Shenlin like Chu Shuo. But no matter who, no matter what kind of secret technique or killing method, they were all like a breeze brushing his face, unable to bring him half an iota of pressure.

Without forming a military array, these people were impossible to contend with him. And he was now also a veteran general long experienced on the battlefield; where would he still give these holders of white the opportunity to form an array? Although he did not kill anyone, every person he threw fell precisely, completely destroying the enemy’s formation and cutting off all possibilities for them to array.

He walked all the way, without half a step’s pause, as straight as harvesting wheat or cutting grass! Wherever he arrived, enemies fell in large swathes, and flew in the sky. On the chessboard in front of Zhao Zi, the white pieces were also moved away one by one. Only one black piece was seen, walking out from the edge corner, pointing straight towards the ‘Tian Yuan’, horizontally and vertically unobstructed.

The cool-browed and clear-eyed Zhao Zi showed no expression on her face, only slowly and methodically took out a white piece from the chess basket beside her, pinching it between her index and middle fingers, just about to press it down.

“Wait a moment.”

A voice spoke thus. A slender figure clad in crimson-purple official robes suddenly appeared in this world of the chess game. Facing Zhao Zi, the Southern Xia Governor Su Guanying, leisurely sat down.

“I have long heard of Zhao Zi’s name. You have come far to my Southern Border, how can you play alone?” She looked at Zhao Zi’s clear-like-water eyes, and also extended two fingers, taking out a black piece from the black chess basket.

Zhao Zi calmly met her gaze. “Oh? Literary is Su Guanying, you have unexpectedly heard my name?”

Both these individuals were rare beauties. One was beautiful to the point of world-weariness, the other beautiful to the point of slenderness. Them facing each other in a chess game was truly a rare sight.

“Governing the Southern Border carries a weight of ten thousand jun. So-called beauty causes me to sleep poorly day and night,” Su Guanying shifted her gaze to the chessboard, faintly smiled, and pressed down the black piece she held in her hand.

She sat down later, yet moved first!

The ferocious-faced Shi Mingli descended from the sky. All over his body, military evil surged, roaring endlessly like a dragon or a tiger. His military boots were like a towering mountain falling, as if to shatter the sky, and also to shatter this world of the chess game. “Ping Deng Kingdom’s trash, come quickly and receive death!” His roar shook the entire chess game world repeatedly.

The foundation of this world was already shaking! Even if Zhao Zi was an absolute powerhouse among contemporary real persons, she could not possibly, with one side of a chess game world, hold down both Su Guanying and Shi Mingli.

Thus, she flipped her plain hand, immediately following with the white piece she had intended to place. This piece, on the chessboard, directly opposed the black piece Su Guanying had placed.

Thus, a person dressed as a merchant, within the vast grid of intertwined vertical and horizontal lines, seemed to condense his figure slowly but was actually fast. He had a very amiable face, the kind that would make you feel very assured doing business with him. At this moment, he was half-squatting on the ground, looking up at Shi Mingli who was falling from the sky, grinning as he spoke, “Qian Chou, Protector of the Dao of the Ping Deng Kingdom, greets General Shi.”

His words had not yet finished, but he had already leaped up, soaring straight into the high sky, within the increasingly smaller vertical and horizontal grid, within the ethereal, changing clouds and mist, facing Shi Mingli!

Boom! With just one punch. Shi Mingli simply unleashed his fist. The power of this punch instantly climbed to its limit; the space around his fist distorted accordingly, cracks first appeared in the entire chessboard world, and then the fist smashed down before Qian Chou.

Qian Chou casually grabbed in the void, producing a hundred treasures box, a rattle drum, a wooden hairpin, colored ropes—each one condensed with special power, dazzling, spreading across the sky. For a time, the glorious lights reflected one another. It was as if, beneath the sky, another sky was stretched horizontally—precisely the Sky of a Hundred Treasures.

And Shi Mingli’s fist had already descended. There was no flourish of anomaly. Only the most simple, most pure sound of an impact. The myriad flowing lights across the sky were shattered! Qian Chou also fell. He possessed a hundred treasures stretched across the sky, with ten thousand kinds of wonderful uses, capable of coping with countless complex situations, yet he was shattered by a single punch.

To be able to blend into the final official examination, to silently infiltrate Tiger Platform, the efforts made by the Ping Deng Kingdom were naturally not few. Their infiltration into the Xia land over the past half year had been very effective. The continuous cases that had appeared in the entire Southern Border in recent days were one, various people of the Ping Deng Kingdom acting to execute ‘fairness’, and two, also to attract the attention of the Southern Xia Governor’s Office, making it unable to cope, thereby triggering today’s action. That Prefect Jiang Yong’s only son, was he truly worth so many people making a move? That was a trap, used to fish out the strong individuals of the Southern Border Governor’s Office; fishing out Su Guanying would be best.

It was a pity that the clues were left, the traces given, the bait laid, but the fish did not bite. They had set many similar traps, but the last time they did not launch. The people who came were not qualified, or simply set aside by the Southern Xia Governor’s Office. Today was of course an absolutely excellent opportunity. At this moment, one hundred thousand Winter Silence Army were still in Chang Luo Prefecture; it was definitely impossible to transfer them over in a short time. Shi Mingli, naturally, could only exert his real person level of combat power. A soldier Dao powerhouse who commanded a strong army was stripped of his armor.

Moreover, Zhao Zi divided the battlefield, isolating the support that Guiyi City could provide. This prevented the official Dao power of the Southern Xia Governor’s Office from easily combining with Su Guanying. At this time, to plot against either Shi Mingli or Su Guanying, wasn’t it precisely a once-in-a-thousand-years good opportunity?

Trapping and killing the Marquis of Wu’an, revealing a weakness, luring Su Guanying into the trap, this was of course a good move. Shi Mingli following into the chess game, forcefully breaking the situation, was also within expectation. Qian Chou, who was also a contemporary real person, had been preparing for this moment for a very long time.

But Shi Mingli’s punch, this one punch, was too heavy, too heavy! Without the augmentation of a military array, he was still terrifyingly strong. This was a kind of power approaching the limit. Qian Chou was repelled by just one punch. And Shi Mingli trampled upon the long sky, advancing madly with terrifying high speed.

Sitting before the chessboard, Zhao Zi said not a word, again pinching up a piece and pressing it down. The piece fell upon the chess scale, its sound like an empty valley. Thus, a person dressed as a fisherman suddenly appeared at the cloud’s end in the high sky. This person had a short beard on his face, vicissitudes in his eyes, wore a raincoat, carried a fish fork on his back, and held a fishing rod. With a casual pull—disturbing a river of spring water—an invisible fishing line had already pulled away Qian Chou, circling him in a very large arc and pulling him back into the high sky.

At this moment, Shi Mingli, in mid-air, twisted his foot in the air. Massive air exploded, erupting into a mushroom-shaped cloud. And his speed was reaching the limit; even before the sound of the explosion could fully ring out, he had already appeared before this fisherman! Fast enough that this fisherman, also a contemporary real person, could not even react. To actually possess such power, and then to have such speed. A head-on fist!

The fisherman named Li Mao’s face showed horror. The power of this punch was again pushed to the extreme. Clearly, before the fist, a dense, fine net appeared. That net was woven by the power of rules; water could not pass, fish could not pass, momentum could not pass person, it could most effectively unload force. But wherever Shi Mingli’s fist went, this fine net directly exploded and shattered. The power was fundamentally unassailable. The fist continued to advance. The rough fist peak landed on the three-headed fish fork, bending all three tips of this branch of the fish fork!

Dong dong dong! A rattle drum suddenly sounded. Hua la la, the sea waves surged to heaven. If someone said that a rattle drum could truly conjure waves, these words would simply be like a joke. But the joke actually happened. It was Qian Chou, led by Li Mao with a fishing line, shaking a small rattle drum in his hand. In an instant, the sky flipped to become a sea, the clouds drowned in the tide, and the sea waves roared like a hurricane, instantly drowning Shi Mingli!