This clash between the Equilibrium Sect and the Southern Summer Governor’s Estate, though erupting at the close of the Southern Border Imperial Examinations, was but the surface ripple of an undercurrent that had been brewing for many rounds.

Both sides had laid extensive preparations.

The Southern Summer Governor’s Estate operated in the open, while the Equilibrium Sect moved in the shadows, a fundamental difference that dictated their respective strategies.

The Equilibrium Sect’s pervasive execution of “fairness” across the Southern Border was the first layer of their scheme.

Their plot to disrupt the Southern Border Imperial Examinations was the second layer.

Their desire to ensnare either Governor Su Guanying or Overseer Ming Li was the third layer.

Beneath these concealed intentions lay the true objective: the Equilibrium Sect’s ambition to seize the Si Xuan Underground Palace. This fourth layer was the ultimate goal, hidden beneath layers of misdirection. They were not averse to having their designs upon the Southern Summer suspected; indeed, there was no need for speculation. What they sought was to have the Southern Summer Governor’s Estate underestimate the true scope of their objective and their resolve.

One must understand that an organization like the Equilibrium Sect could never stand in the light and directly challenge the world’s hegemon. While they existed within the current power structure, their aim was to dismantle all that existed. Every action they took was fraught with extreme peril.

Consider the fate of the Ninth Rank Commander Yan Tu. Simply for offering a seemingly innocuous and low-risk support, he was exposed through the most crude of methods by Jiang Wuqi and met his demise under the brush-penalty.

Hence, their every action was meticulously cautious. The slightest rustle of leaves in the wind could necessitate the complete severance and silencing of an entire operation. This was the fate of the Equilibrium Sect envoy handed over by the Xia Kingdom earlier, and subsequently, of Yan Tu and Li Youjiu.

For this operation in the Southern Border, the Equilibrium Sect had dispatched a considerable force. It was arguably their largest-scale action in recent years, aimed at salvaging their consecutive setbacks and the decline in the Land of Qi.

Among their ranks were three contemporary True Persons and one divine-level expert – none other than their leader, Zhao Wang, who personally took action! Their pursuit was absolute certainty.

Regardless of the preparations made by the Land of Qi and the Southern Summer Governor’s Estate, as long as those preparations did not exceed the presence of a single Manifestation Realm expert, Zhao Wang was confident in his ability to extract the Si Xuan Underground Palace.

The Land of Qi, on the other hand, in the face of an unconfirmed opponent and an uncertain scale of enemy action, chose to respond to the frequent incidents across the Southern Border with stillness. The widespread selection of officials and the establishment of a separate Department of Justice were but countermeasures.

Marquis Wu An was tasked with maintaining order during the Southern Border Imperial Examinations. Southern Summer Governor Su Guanying and Military Supervisor Overseer Ming Li, as the most formidable combatants on the surface, personally stationed themselves in the Star Pattern Terrace.

Meanwhile, Overseer Ruan Qu of the Imperial Astrology Bureau secretly concealed himself within the Si Xuan Underground Palace.

One Manifestation Realm expert, accumulating strength and awaiting the opportune moment, was their first trump card.

The successfully repaired Si Xuan Underground Palace was the second trump card.

The Equilibrium Sect had attempted to account for every possible variable, yet the Land of Qi had left even more ample room for unforeseen circumstances.

Ruan Qu, coupled with the Si Xuan Underground Palace, was sufficient to suppress all possibilities!

This was not a matter of superior wisdom between the two sides, but rather the inherent disparity in the cards they held. Which contemporary True Monarch was not renowned, their name echoing through the realms?

For how many years had there only been one Winter Emperor Xie Ai who seemed to appear out of nowhere? Yet, even her lineage could be traced back to the Frost Immortal Monarch Xu Qiuci, possessing the world-shaking secret of reincarnation.

Furthermore, even Xie Ai herself had revealed her visage at the Yellow River Assembly and was remembered by countless individuals in the world.

The three leaders of the Equilibrium Sect, their true identities were by no means obscure. They hadn’t spent their lives cultivating in secluded mountain forests only to emerge as Manifestation Realm experts. The every movement of their true identities was undoubtedly under numerous watchful eyes. To seize an opportunity to act was no simple feat. Thus, every action they undertook had to possess sufficient value.

Earlier, during the war between Qi and Xia, Shen Xia had intended to intervene, unwilling to witness the Land of Qi successfully absorb Xia.

However, Zhao Wang had at that time explicitly stated he would not interfere, and Sheng Gong had also refused to take risks. Besides the differing assessments of the situation, it was also because each of them was not necessarily free.

And it was absolutely not because they held more goodwill towards Jiang Shu or were willing to stand by and watch the Land of Qi grow stronger.

For instance, Zhao Wang’s initial personal journey to Linzi to pursue the Qiao Er lineage had already demonstrated immense courage. Yet, that was a covert operation. This time, however, was a public act.

The Equilibrium Sect’s resolve was undeniably firm.

And what of the Land of Qi? After concluding a campaign to extinguish a regional great power, they actually still possessed unutilized trump cards, reserved for this very day!

This trump card had been buried as far back as thirty-four years ago, even deceiving the entire court of the Xia Kingdom, remaining concealed for over half a year after the war between Qi and Xia concluded.

Who could have predicted this?

Even a figure as eminent as Zhao Wang couldn’t help but feel a pang of doubt in his heart at this moment—what kind of person was Jiang Shu?

But Ruan Qu naturally paid no heed to his emotions. Seeing Zhao Wang attempting to escape, he immediately activated the Si Xuan Underground Palace, horizontally manifesting it in the present world, suppressing time and space.

The so-called “Cave Heaven” was a realm within a realm!

A single cave heaven was a world unto itself, a treasure realm born in the heart of the myriad worlds, far surpassing the outer heaven small worlds. Those outer heaven small worlds, even if well-managed, could only serve as external reserves, incapable of being brought into the present world or influencing its structure.

Senior predecessors, exhausting their wisdom, had refined cave heaven profound artifacts, breaking through the limitations of mere “tools,” their might inconceivable.

Especially under the manipulation of a Manifestation Realm expert like Ruan Qu, it could directly impose “Dao” interference upon this battlefield!

The distance between this point and Zhao Wang’s next intended landing place was completely suppressed. The meaning of space became an obstruction, and the meaning of time was erased. The myriad choices regarding the path ahead, even striving for thousands of years,

could no longer be exhausted. Furthermore, invisible rule lines began to attempt to reconstruct Zhao Wang’s Dao Body. The outer heaven encompassed the inner heaven!

One side’s world suppressing one person!

Although Zhao Wang’s face could not be gazed upon, it was still possible to sense his attention to Ruan Qu and his surprise at the Si Xuan Underground Palace.

“No need to see me off!”

His actions were beyond visual capture.

But an indescribable power seemed to influence the world with this very sound. Like a concept, a belief, yet also concrete as a brick, a stone, a blade of grass, a tree. Those weak individuals, though as tiny as dust, had also once gazed upon the starry sky.

Like spring giving birth to a hundred grasses, and again like wildfire scorching plains.

Subtle changes in the rules pried open the fundamental structure of this heaven and earth, breaking the seals at the rule level.

The blue thunder around Zhao Wang suddenly extinguished!

His Dao Body turned semi-transparent.

Then, like a water balloon unable to bear the weight, it silently exploded.

Countless fragments fluttered like dancing butterflies.

Just like this, all powers vanished, and all traces were taken with him.

Zhao Wang’s true body had already escaped.

Ruan Qu, standing on the dome of the Si Xuan Underground Palace, pulled down his ink jade hair pin with his backhand and decisively drew forward!

A starlight gate, magnificent to the extreme, appeared before him. As the starlight gate opened, a corner of clothing fluttered down, lightly falling towards his left palm.

The posture of the clothing corner was unexpectedly wondrous, suspended like a goddess.

This was a remnant of Zhao Wang!

Not to say it added any gender meaning to Zhao Wang.

But the manifestation of this posture precisely represented power.

Beauty is power. Naturally, Zhao Wang could not allow a piece of clothing corner to be captured by Ruan Qu, leaving an object in the hands of a world-renowned master of star divination; this was too perilous a matter!

Therefore, although his true body had already escaped far away, he turned back once more, shaking heaven and moving earth, unleashing great power.

Distant thunder rumbled, like the sound of a heavenly drum.

This was oppression at the rule level.

The entire sky dome seemed to faintly collapse!

It gave people the terrifying pressure of a worldly dead end.

Ruan Qu looked up at the sky, his expression unchanged. Dim light surged, and the Si Xuan Underground Palace trembled in response. Infinite, endless power then rushed towards the sky, like a mountain supporting the heavens, firmly resisting the pressure exerted by Zhao Wang.

Two kinds of great powers collided, for a time reaching an impasse.

But the piece of clothing corner that had fallen into Ruan Qu’s palm suddenly dissolved thread by thread, dissolving into the most minute existence. Or perhaps, it returned to the “one” of the origin sea.

So, had Zhao Wang erased the remnant himself?

Jiang Wang, who was observing this battle, thought so, then saw Ruan Qu slightly raise an eyebrow, gracefully inserting the ink jade pin back into his hair bun. His left index finger instantly flowed with colorful light, drawing a small circle before him.

That small circle then became a real entity,

and within the circle was a wisp of extremely fine breath, twisting like a dragon or snake.

The breath left by Zhao Wang on that piece of clothing corner had been captured!

Rumble! Shocking electricity tore through the long sky, like a crooked knife light, completely tearing the star dome.

Zhao Wang, of course, would not allow such a situation to occur.

He was even more intent on breaking through the seal and engaging Ruan Qu, who was manipulating the Si Xuan Underground Palace, in a face-to-face battle.

But at this moment, from the Land of Qi to the Land of Xia, along that thoroughly conquered ten-thousand-li distant path, the expedition flag suddenly fluttered, and purple energy rose!

As long as he was entangled for even a moment longer, another True Monarch from the Land of Qi would immediately arrive!

“Absurd, the people of the world have all underestimated you, Ruan Qu!”

Only this one sound remained, and afterward, the sound was also erased.

Suddenly, the sky cleared, and the clouds dispersed. All anomalies completely disappeared.

Zhao Wang had truly left this time, because if he hadn’t, he certainly would have been left here.

Thus, the four directions were peaceful, and the gentle wind blew harmoniously.

The world seemed to have never experienced any waves.

The magnificent Si Xuan Underground Palace also returned underground.

Only the Star Pattern Terrace outside Gui Yi City silently welcomed the daylight, as if its star patterns had existed since ancient times, showing no abnormality. The excessively youthful Ruan Qu stood alone in the center of the Star Pattern Terrace, like a young man admiring the scenery.

He glanced at Su Guanying and Jiang Wang, who were flying back with extreme speed. His left hand gathered the small starlight circle, and his right hand extended flat towards the sky, lightly lifting upwards.

Outside the Star Pattern Terrace, Overseer Ming Li, who had been pressed into the ground by Zhao Wang’s distant palm, was pulled out. The terrifying power that had suppressed him was also casually dissolved by Ruan Qu.

“Damn it!” The evil-looking Overseer Ming Li stepped back onto the Star Pattern Terrace, disregarding the changes in this place, and then said hatefully, “The Equilibrium Sect has grown audacious beyond belief. This old man will bring an army with him wherever he goes next time!” Everything on the Star Gazing Tower in Linzi was as usual. Ruan Qu’s secret presence in the Land of Xia was to suppress all possible changes after the Southern Border was newly settled. He, a dignified contemporary True Monarch, had not moved a single step, meditating here for over half a year.

The Si Xuan Underground Palace trump card was not originally targeted at the Equilibrium Sect. It just so happened that the Equilibrium Sect was at its most rampant, so it was thrown directly in their face.

The Equilibrium Sect actually daring to act at the level of Zhao Wang was something Overseer Ming Li had not anticipated beforehand. This palm strike was an unjust blow.

By the time Overseer Ming Li and Su Guanying returned, the battle had already ended. Compared to Su Guanying, Overseer Ming Li was more severely injured.

The only ones who truly witnessed the entire process of the battle between Zhao Wang and Ruan Qu, besides the Palace Master Ming Shou Qi of the Si Xuan Underground Palace, were unexpectedly Jiang Wang. This was because he did not possess the threat level that necessitated his exclusion from the battlefield.

“Supervisor adult.” Jiang Wang bowed slightly to Ruan Qu, then said, “With this wisp of breath, I believe Zhao Wang’s true identity has nowhere left to hide!”

“The breath is fake,” Ruan Qu smiled lightly and shook his head. “In that situation, capturing Zhao Wang’s real breath was something I could not do.”

Jiang Wang was somewhat disappointed.

The Equilibrium Sect had gone all out, three True Persons and one divine-level expert directly acting in the final stage of the Southern Border Imperial Examinations. Zhao Wang had even forcefully pulled out the Si Xuan Underground Palace. The Land of Qi had also successively revealed its trump cards, yet in the end, nothing remained? Only himself, who had left behind one divine-level Equilibrium Sect protector?

At this moment, the broken hair on his head had already regrown, not looking abrupt. But after all, it was different from before. This kind of temporarily regrown hair would simply be unable to hold up in a slightly more intense fight. To grow hair that truly belonged to a divine-level cultivator, it still required a period of nurturing. Su Guanying said from the side, “As long as Zhao Wang himself thinks it’s real, that’s enough. And his turning back for that fight proved that he believed it. And when the last expedition flag lit up, he didn’t desperately struggle, proving that while he felt danger and wanted to erase it, he was certain the danger wasn’t that great. He had confidence that even if Supervisor Ruan left his real breath, he still wouldn’t be able to calculate his true identity.”

Overseer Ming Li, who had been cursing for a while, also said at this moment, “In this world, there aren’t many places where even if Supervisor Ruan obtains real breath, he still can’t calculate it out.”

Ruan Qu then looked at Jiang Wang and smiled, “Marquis Wu An, there’s no need to be disappointed. The Si Xuan Underground Palace card was originally meant to be revealed at the right time. Letting Zhao Wang act publicly and yet return without success is already the biggest harvest.”

Jiang Wang seemed to be deep in thought.

Everyone in the field was a master strategist; each possessed several hundred layers of thought. As Ruan Qu said this, Su Guanying immediately said, “Can the Si Xuan Underground Palace be opened now?”

“That goes without saying.” Overseer Ming Li was no longer in pain and naturally took over the conversation. “The Winter Silence Army has several good seedlings. Leaving them in Chang Luo is a waste. They really should enter the Si Xuan Underground Palace and study properly under Supervisor Ruan. Or perhaps True Person Ming also has time? Next time we deal with the Equilibrium Sect, it can be even smoother.”

With words spoken to this extent, Jiang Wang was not stupid and, of course, knew that it was time to divide the spoils. But he thought for a moment and said nothing.

Ruan Qu smiled slightly, “Governor Su is the Governor of the Southern Summer and controls the Southern Border. When the Si Xuan Underground Palace opens, of course, it is for Governor Su to decide.”

Su Guanying then said, “As for the specific matters of opening the hall, we will consult with Palace Master Ming later.”

Ruan Qu then said to Jiang Wang, “Marquis Wu An worked hard today. Why not accompany me to the underground palace for a bit and rest for a moment?”

Entering the Si Xuan Underground Palace was, of course, a form of reward.

Jiang Wang himself was also very curious about the Si Xuan Underground Palace.

But now was obviously not a good time.

At present, he cupped his hands and said, “After I finish overseeing this military examination, I will go to the underground palace to trouble the supervisor.”

“To have a beginning and an end is naturally excellent.” Ruan Qu smiled lightly.

And after saying nothing further, his body transformed into starlight and merged into the star patterns.

On the Star Pattern Terrace, for a time, only the three individuals who had just been overseeing the examination remained.

This accident today had, at the very least, influenced Chu Xu’s life and death due to Jiang Wang’s presence. Of course, Ruan Qu acting early or late could also have led to a slight difference in the outcome.

But to say how much Jiang Wang’s influence was, was not entirely accurate.

Whether he came to the Southern Summer or not, the scene today would have been the same.

Rather than saying this was a victory for the Southern Summer Governor’s Estate, it would be more accurate to say it was a victory for the Emperor of Qi, Jiang Shu. A single move, mighty for thirty-four years. Worthy of being the unparalleled hero who propelled the Land of Qi to hegemon status, suppressing even a brilliant strategist like the Emperor of Xia to the point where he could not raise his head.

The higher one climbed, the more one felt the loftiness of this mountain.

“The two of you, regarding the quotas for the first opening of the Si Xuan Underground Palace, we can certainly discuss it thoroughly.” Su Guanying said at this time.

Overseer Ming Li half-truthfully and half-falsely said, “A wounded person, can he perhaps get a bit more?”

“As for the affairs of the Southern Border, the two adults should discuss them themselves. This Marquis will go and summon the examinees back and will not listen.” Jiang Wang directly soared into the sky, leaving the Star Pattern Terrace.