“Zhongshan Yanwen?” Cang Shen furrowed his brow. “Why has he come?”

Unlike Ku Jue, who held no official position, status, or power, merely a nominal True Person of the Xuan Kong Temple, Zhongshan Yanwen was a Great General of Jing Guo’s Ying Yang Guard!

The overseers of the Six Protectorates and Seven Guards were the absolute core of the imperial court’s military. Even Cang Shen, who remained in seclusion year-round and rarely concerned himself with worldly affairs, knew his name.

Fu Dongxu glanced at Ku Jue.

Ku Jue showed no awareness of needing to be discreet, even throwing him eyes that yearned for knowledge, practically urging Fu Dongxu to speak faster.

Fu Dongxu pondered for a moment. It wasn’t a significant secret in the end, nor was it something taboo. He spoke frankly, “Zhongshan Yanwen is with Chou Tie now, accompanying him. This time, he’s representing Jing Guo to notify us of two matters. First, Jing Guo will only allow us to seal off the forbidden area for two days at most. Second, he wants to observe our search operation freely.”

Cang Shen noticed that Fu Dongxu used the word “notify,” not “discuss.”

He couldn’t help but grow indignant. “We aren’t sealing off Jing Guo’s borders! On what grounds does he make demands of us?”

Fu Dongxu had the urge to say, ‘times have changed,’ but after a moment’s thought, he only offered a bitter laugh. “After all, this region is closer to Jing Guo.”

“Barbarian rudeness!” Cang Shen was livid. “Tell him to scram!”

“If he wants to observe, let him observe. It’s not a major issue, no need to get angry,” Fu Dongxu advised. “With your help, two days should be enough for us to turn this region upside down.”

To be blunt, the current times were different from the past.

The world now featured a pattern of six major powers, and Jing Guo was considered an overlord-level force.

The region Jing Guo was now delineating as a sealed area mostly fell within Jing Guo’s sphere of influence.

For the sake of searching for the divine descendant and Heaven’s Chosen, Zhao Xuan Yang, Jing Guo’s forced border closure and search could be considered “acting with reason.”

But to say something unpleasant, whether this prohibition could take effect also depended on whether Jing Guo was willing to give face.

Now that Mu Guo and Sheng Guo were at war, and Qi Guo was also in friction with Jing Guo, Jing Guo only requiring a reduction in the seal-off time was already considered “giving face.”

Zhongshan Yanwen proposing to observe was also to consolidate Jing Guo’s influence within this region. They couldn’t let people feel that everything here was dictated by Jing Guo.

This could even be said to be a matter of Jing Guo’s bottom line.

Thus, they were notifying, not discussing.

Because there was no room for discussion.

If Jing Guo didn’t agree, they would either be driven away or face a battle here.

The reason for Cang Shen’s extreme anger lay in the fact that the forbidden area being sealed off now was previously also entirely within Jing Guo’s sphere of influence… The sea had changed, and the ruler had quietly shifted.

Jing Guo could still exert influence, but their voice here was no longer as dominant as it once was.

Old-fashioned characters like Cang Shen might still be immersed in the prestige of Jing Guo’s command over the world, but Fu Dongxu was very clear that that era had passed.

Jing Guo was of course still as powerful as ever, but the key to the problem lay in… the world no longer lacked opponents.

Leaving aside everything else, how the authority of the Ten Thousand Demons Gate was divided out, wasn’t that enough to explain the problem?

Seeing him speak this way, Cang Shen, though somewhat dissatisfied, did not persist. “Now is your time to take charge. If you feel this is best, then so be it. First, let’s search through this Feng Hou Dense Forest!”

He turned to look at Ku Jue. “That monk, since you’ve even found a disciple, don’t be lazy.”

“Elder Brother Cang, rest assured!” Ku Jue thumped his chest. “I am renowned for my honesty, diligence, and hard work!”

Calling him Elder Brother Cang with every other word, as if he had completely forgotten that they were almost rolling up their sleeves to fight to the death just moments ago.

Cang Shen looked around, unable to hide his worry for his disciple in the end. “With six True Persons exhausting their search in this region, it should be impossible to miss any trace.”

“Actually, it’s eight True Persons,” Fu Dongxu said with a bitter laugh. “Qi Guo’s court scholar, Grandmaster Wen Yanyu, and the Winter Silence Army Commander, Shi Mingjun, have also arrived!”

Cang Shen was not surprised this time, only silent for a moment. “Those who should come will always come.”

On the contrary, Ku Jue cursed, “Qi Guo’s people are like turtles, so slow to arrive!”

Different people held different wills, and different countries had different demands.

The clash of wills could very likely lead to life and death. The contradiction of demands often led to war.

A total of eight contemporary True Persons, colliding together, descended upon this area simultaneously.

Searching…

For the disappeared Heaven’s Chosen!

At this moment, Jiang Wang had no idea how many people were searching for him, nor did he know where he was. Since their last conversation, Miao Yu had not spoken to him again.

She only returned to the room in the evening, fed him medicine, then sat quietly by the tea table for the entire evening before leaving at dawn.

He was initially unwilling to drink the medicine, but after having his mouth pinched open and the medicine poured in several times, he also drank it honestly.

His internal organ injuries healed very quickly. What was truly difficult to handle was the Five Mansions Sea that had been forcefully pierced through.

Even with the extraordinarily vast heaven and earth isolated island and the inner mansions with divine ability seeds suppressing it, the turbulence of the Five Mansions Sea could not be stopped.

Jiang Wang felt like a cracked water jar, constantly leaking outwards. The only difference was that a water jar leaked water, while he leaked extraordinary power.

Miao Yu continuously changed several types of medicine. The medicinal soup became more bitter with each bowl. At first, he had to drink nine bowls at a time, but now it had been reduced to three bowls, seeming to have initially resolved the “leaking water” problem.

This could only be considered stabilizing the injury. Waiting for the Five Mansions Sea to recover to a certain degree—at least to the point where it could support the same-shine Five Mansions—the advantage of a Heaven Mansion cultivator could then manifest.

For now, he could only heal passively.

Throughout this entire process, Miao Yu did not exchange a single word with him.

Even when she wanted to understand the extent of his injury recovery, she would directly probe his Dao Yuan to check, fundamentally disregarding whether he resisted. He had indeed resisted several times, but each time he was mercilessly suppressed.

Besides his own injuries gradually improving, he knew nothing about the outside world, which inevitably made him anxious.

He didn’t know what Chong Xuan Sheng was doing in Qi Guo, didn’t know Jing Guo’s reaction, didn’t know if Master Ku Jue had returned to Xuan Kong Temple, didn’t know if Zhao Xuan Yang’s corpse, thrown into the Ten Realms Wasteland Tomb, could still be investigated for his cause of death, didn’t know if anyone could discover the Blood Puppet True Demon…

If his relationship with Song Wanxi was exposed, he wouldn’t be able to clear his name even if he jumped into the river.

It was impossible for Zhuang Chengqian to survive to testify for him… Even if he truly could survive, not killing him the first time wasn’t something Zhuang Chengqian would do.

At the same time, he still had many doubts in his heart…

Why Miao Yu wore monastic robes and a Bodhi mask, he didn’t know.

Why Miao Yu could find him, he didn’t know.

Where Miao Yu had brought him, he didn’t know.

He didn’t even know what medicine he was drinking every day!

Miao Yu could obviously sense his anxiety, but she simply said nothing.

Occasionally glancing at him, within those flirtatious myriad eyes, there were only two words—

“Beg me.”

But he stubbornly refused to beg!