“Even a True Person of the age falls thus! And not just any True Person, but one like Shi Mingpeng!”

The strength of the newcomer defied description. Was it Shenggong, Shenxia, or Zhaowang?

Su Guanying’s composure shattered. With a flip of her left palm, she produced the Nansha Governor’s Seal. Wielding this seal was akin to wielding the Son of Heaven’s command, allowing her to marshal the might of the entire southern border. A torrent of boundless power surged towards her, imbuing her with the confidence to challenge anyone at this moment.

The cloud sea, spanning ten thousand *li*, churned. That colossal human face that had usurped the sky abruptly shrank, dwindling into a black point.

The sky returned to its natural state. And he was now a staggering ten thousand *zhang* high in the heavens.

This black point descended at blinding speed, reaching them from that distance in but a single thought. He materialized at the center of the Hutai, a male figure whose face was like light or fire, impossible to gaze upon directly.

He was male, for his voice was overwhelmingly majestic.

“Heaven’s principles are clear! Yet you act like a mantis trying to stop a chariot!”

He was Zhaowang!

The three leaders of the Equality Country, though lacking clearly defined spheres, generally followed a pattern: affairs in the southeast domains were handled by Zhaowang, in the northwest by Shenxia, and actions within the central domain were largely orchestrated by Shenggong.

Accompanying his voice, Zhaowang, having descended onto the Hutai, casually extended a hand outwards, his posture as natural as pushing open a window to gaze at the moon.

But a fundamental change had already occurred.

Su Guanying, radiating an endless, terrifying aura, bolstered by the power of her Nansha Governor position and the majestic might of the nation added to her being, possessed almost infinite strength to contend with Zhaowang. Yet, inexplicably, she suddenly vanished from her original spot, leaving the Hutai.

As if squeezed away by this very heaven and earth, she reappeared in Huaqing! She had traversed the Jingji land and the entirety of a Sangfu, without any power to resist!

Even though she was infinitely close to the True Monarch realm at this moment, she was not a True Monarch after all. The southern border, as it stood, was not yet capable of pushing her to the true pinnacle of extraordinary existence.

Dongzhen and Yandao represented a fundamental difference in power levels. Zhaowang, if he truly wished to kill her, could do so with ease, requiring no more than a bit of extra effort.

But at this moment, he had something far more important to accomplish.

“Take Chu Xu away. He died for the ideal, and we will forever remember him.” He spoke these words lightly to Zhao Zi, then extended a hand in a claw, striking directly downwards towards the Hutai!

Zhao Zi rolled up Chu Xu’s corpse and with a flash of his body, vanished. Qian Chou and Li Mao also did not hesitate, swiftly making their escape. After all, they were directly confronting an overlord nation like Qi Country. They could only strike and retreat, absolutely forbidden from lingering. Zhaowang might not be able to look after them afterwards.

As the several protectors of the Equality Country were just leaving, the entire three-thousand-pace-square Hutai suddenly developed cracks as dense as a spider’s web. The immense power belonging to Zhaowang had already extended through this Hutai, reaching infinitely deep underground!

Yes. To disrupt the southern border’s official examination, to shake Qi Country’s rule in Nansha, was merely a pretext. To eliminate Su Guanying or Shi Mingpeng was not the true objective of the Equality Country’s large-scale action this time.

Qi Country had used an undeniable great victory to assert its authority in the southern domain, and its rule over the southern border was an established fact. They could at most shake it, but absolutely not overturn it. And killing one Su Guanying or Shi Mingpeng fundamentally could not affect Qi Country’s overall situation.

How could Zhaowang risk such immense danger, openly taking action in public, merely to kill a single True Person?

What they desired was the Sixuan Underground Palace! The Sixuan Underground Palace, which was shattered by the Qi Tianzi in the first Qixia War and remained unrepaired even in the second Qixia War!

*Ding ding ding ding ding ding dong.*

The heavens and earth seemed to resonate with the plucking of a *qin*. However, it was not the sound of a *qin*. It was the collision of rule lines, the symphony of the world’s truth. Truth itself possessed beauty, and the great dao became music naturally.

The immense power of a stronger Yandao naturally elicited a response from the heavens and earth. The spiderweb-like cracks on the surface of the Hutai were rapidly filled with endless starlight. It flowed through all the cracks like lake water. It did not heal the cracks, but the Hutai had, in fact, once again become a complete whole. The ugly cracks had transformed into beautiful patterns. The three-thousand-pace-square expanse was now a strikingly beautiful star-patterned Hutai.

Not only this. At this moment, the entire sky was covered by a magnificent and intricate star chart. Upon careful observation, one would discover that this star chart perfectly complemented the star pattern formed on the Hutai at this moment. It wasn’t the kind of deliberate exact replication of patterns, but rather a sense of harmonious echo between the two images. This was a close to artistic matching, a beauty that anyone could perceive. Without a profound understanding of the starry sky, it would be impossible to lay out such a perfectly appropriate star chart.

At this point, everyone was beneath the starry sky, and all needed to look up at the stars!

Amidst the flowing starlight, a male figure materialized, appearing abnormally young, clad in a star-chart dao robe. He stood on the opposite side of the star-patterned Hutai. With a wave of his large sleeve, all the Qi Country personnel on the Hutai vanished from sight. And he stood alone, facing Zhaowang.

“Ruan Qu!” Zhaowang’s voice was majestic, and almost verging on the verification of truth: “Do you think you can stop this king?”

So domineering! Facing Ruan Qu, the Sword Master of Qi Country’s Qintianjian, who had once directly confronted Xia Country’s Wuwang Si Jiao without falling behind, Zhaowang actually spoke with contempt, and with one step forward, had already stepped upon Ruan Qu’s star-chart rules, entering his safe distance.

But Ruan Qu merely looked at him calmly: “You had best perform flawlessly. You had best not expose any flaw. You had best not let me calculate out who you are.”

The Equality Country was an enemy to the present world, an existence hostile to all overlord nations. Once Zhaowang’s true identity leaked, no matter what level of existence he was, one could foresee that his ending would be very tragic.

“Hahaha!” Zhaowang laughed: “You best have such ability to pretend to be a god and trick people.”

At this moment, the sky above transmitted a sound of tearing cloth. That star chart covering the night sky was actually being torn open from the middle!

The star pattern formed on the Hutai suddenly shone brightly at this moment, connecting ground to sky, temporarily rushing into the heavens, forming starlight walls one by one, forcibly supporting the star dome chart.

Clearly, it had initially appeared to remedy the cracks caused by Zhaowang, yet at this moment, it naturally formed an array, as if Zhaowang himself had become a part of this array. Thus, a power sweeping through heaven and earth unfolded, strangling Zhaowang!

Heaven hung starlight thread by thread, and the ground rose star walls curtain by curtain. All rules were broken then reshaped. Hence, heaven collapsed and earth cracked, time and space shifted, the Five Elements reversed, transforming true into virtual! This was the Nine Heavens Star Transformation Return Virtual Array.

This array, evolved to its extreme, could even dissolve a True Monarch’s “dao”! And Ruan Qu had actually set it up so naturally, without any apparent effort.

From the moment he took action until now, every step Ruan Qu took was profoundly measured. As if behind every action, there were infinite backups left, leaving people unable to cope, difficult to guess. If it came down to calculation, who would fear the Gua Dao True Monarch more?

Terrifying rule lines touched his dao body. Outside Zhaowang’s body, faint green thunder twisted like dragon snakes. That was not some powerful technique, but the reaction of his dao body bearing the power of the array.

He watched Ruan Qu deploy the killing array, only extending his large hand.

*Hong long long!*

The earth moved and the sky shook! Beneath the star-patterned Hutai, something immense was clearly shaking. The surrounding world’s rules were already breaking one by one.

Zhaowang was actually enduring Ruan Qu’s offensive, attempting to forcibly pull away the Sixuan Underground Palace! So self-confident, so overbearing!

Why would he choose thus? Firstly, it was naturally based on his terrifying strength; he could indeed bear it. Secondly, he could not be long entangled with Ruan Qu here, because other strong cultivators from Qi Country would arrive at any moment. This was also the reason he did not choose to waste more effort and kill Shi Mingpeng and Su Guanying on the spot.

Pulling away the Sixuan Underground Palace meant victory for this trip. If he could not take away the Sixuan Underground Palace, even killing Shi Mingpeng and Su Guanying, this trip would still be a failure.

Therefore, he risked damage to his dao body, also wanting to forcibly do this. Of course, the degree of dao body damage was completely under his control and could be endured.

As for whether the southern border secretly held True Monarch-level strong cultivators from Qi Country, he naturally had his conjectures. Why did he still take action? Because he had confidence that even if such a worst-case scenario truly occurred, he could still achieve his goal. Precisely because Qi Country had True Monarch-level strong cultivators stationed there, they might even be less likely to think he was plotting for the Sixuan Underground Palace!

The Sixuan Underground Palace was deeply buried underground, situated beneath the Hutai, yet involving ten thousand *li* of the southern border. It was already preliminarily in close contact with the Nansha Governor Mansion. If several more years passed, waiting for the southern border’s politics to be smooth and its people harmonious, with hearts united from top to bottom, pulling away the Sixuan Underground Palace would be like pulling away the Nansha Governor Mansion, requiring a prior confrontation with the southern border’s national power.

Calculating thus, today was truly a rare opportunity in a thousand years.

Ruan Qu sighed: “Indeed, you are Zhaowang. You have traversed the world for how many years, and how many heroes have wished to kill you but failed! I indeed cannot stop you. But—”

Zhaowang looked at this eastern domain’s highest achiever in star divination technique… But?

But what? He would soon know what “but” meant!

As he was using his supreme power to pull the Sixuan Underground Palace, a majestic power suddenly erupted, formally resisting his invasion!

For the first time, Zhaowang felt surprised. How could this be? The Sixuan Underground Palace had been broken long ago, and from that year until now, it had never been repaired. Where could this power come from? If it had already recovered, if it still possessed power, why did it not move during the war between Qi Country and Xia Country?!

*Hong long long!*

The earth shook and the sky trembled even more intensely. All the rules of this heaven and earth were breaking, and new rules were being born.

A magnificent palace suddenly appeared horizontally in the high sky. It had appeared precisely in the crack mouth in the star-chart sky that had been torn open, as if filling a void, possessing the great power to suppress a world.

Within the palace, borrowing the power of the underground palace, a grand voice transmitted—

“Ming Shouqi, Palace Master of the Sixuan Underground Palace, pays his respects to Zhaowang!”

Understood! Zhaowang instantly understood everything.

The so-called “Xie Huai’an, with the momentum of thunder, first suppressed the Sixuan Underground Palace, surrounding it without attacking. Then he fiercely attacked Guiyi, forcing the surrender of Anle Bo, after which he turned back to take possession of the Sixuan Underground Palace…” When Su Guanying first narrated this segment of the plot to Jiang Wang, Qi Country had also publicly released this segment of the plot long ago.

It was just a “plot,” nothing more. The true process was not so.

In reality, the Palace Master of the Sixuan Underground Palace, the True Person of the age, Ming Shouqi, had already secretly surrendered to the Qi Court long ago!

Initially, during the first Qixia War, the Qi Tianzi had already successfully won over Ming Shouqi as a hidden hand, intending to capture Guiyi City in one swift move. But at that time, Xia Taihou acted decisively, the Yitian Guan fell first, the aura of countless Dao Sect strong cultivators descended, and Jing Country pressured the world! The Qi Tianzi had no choice but to retreat, retreating all the way back to the eastern domain, spitting out all the territory in the southern domain.

But he had left Ming Shouqi behind. The broken Sixuan Underground Palace, the heavily injured, near-death Sixuan Palace Master Ming Shouqi, remained in the equally broken, equally shaky Xia Country.

Thereafter was the long thirty-three years of the Shenwu Era. Xia Country, from top to bottom, monarch and ministers of one heart, strived to govern, re-establishing the protective national grand array, rebuilding a strong army, and also secretly rebuilding the Sixuan Underground Palace as a trump card. Yet, they always publicly declared that the day of the Sixuan Underground Palace’s repair was still far off.

Only, it was a pity that this trump card was actually a card held by the Qi Tianzi, Jiang Shu! Qi Country’s retreat thirty-four years ago was merely to plant this nail.

Thus, in the last Qixia War, Xie Huai’an was able to strike down Guiyi City with such ease. Thus, Xia Taihou, such a strange woman, would surrender without any resistance and directly immolate herself. Otherwise, although she was deeply hurt by her own son and her heart was ashen and cold, she would still do something—at that time, she truly could not do anything anymore.

Because the hidden hand on which the Xia Court relied, and the last reliance of Guiyi City at that time, the Sixuan Underground Palace, refused to respond to the summons at that time! And what that meant, the true high-level of the Xia Court were all very clear.

Why was Qi Country aware of all kinds of situations in Xia Country like the back of their hand during the entire Qixia War? Because of Ming Shouqi. Why was the carefully constructed intelligence system on Xia Country’s side actually leaking like a sieve? Because of Ming Shouqi!

And the Sixuan Underground Palace itself possessed even greater significance. From ancient times, it was unheard of for an implement to surpass a person. No matter how strong an implement, it needed to be held in a person’s hand. No matter how great a machine, it was created by people. Cultivators endured hardships their entire lives, generations of cultivators exhausted their wisdom, constantly expanding the boundaries of cultivation. There was no reason for a dead thing to be stronger than a living thing, for a magic weapon to be stronger than a True Person. This was even more so after the path of implement cultivation was thoroughly broken.

All implements had limits, and the potential of the extraordinary path was infinite! The Mo Family, with their prominent scholarship, struggled for so many years, spitting out blood to create extraordinary puppets, yet they could at most stop at the True Person level? And each use meant one less, fundamentally unable to be mass-produced. Other magic weapons and so on, were even less worth mentioning. They usually only played a role in low-level battles. Magic weapons that could participate in Divine Ascension level battles were already few. Magic weapons that could participate in True Person level battles were rare in the world! And at the True Monarch level, no matter what magic weapon you had, it was impossible to play a role. One thought would break it, one thought would cause it to decay. Even True Monarch weapons, once they left the nurture of a True Monarch, would quickly degenerate.

But from ancient times until now, there had been one kind of existence that could be an exception. That was the cave heaven supreme treasures, refined from the pregnant cave heavens by countless sages who poured their hearts out! This was also one of the fundamental reasons why the value of a cave heaven was far higher than a blessed land.

Like the Sun Palace of the former Gu Yang Empire, it spanned all heavens, suppressing the eastern domain, and who dared not submit? The Sixuan Underground Palace was also of this class! Although its former body was only one of the thirty-six small cave heavens, refined into a cave heaven supreme treasure, it was enough to interfere with battles at the Yandao level.

Now, Ming Shouqi driving the Sixuan Underground Palace out had already laid down the overall situation. Zhaowang knew that great matters would be difficult to succeed. Without a word, letting the faint green thunder twist outside his dao body, he simply turned and stepped away, going to ten thousand *li* away.

“Stop!” Ruan Qu’s black hair danced. He stepped onto the dome of the Sixuan Underground Palace. Instantly, glorious light shone for ten thousand *zhang*, overpowering the fierce sun, covering the Nine Heavens. This great underground palace erupted with unimaginable power, directly suppressing Zhaowang’s body!

Ruan Qu had been lurking in the Sixuan Underground Palace for many days. How could he only be waiting for changes like Zhaowang of the Equality Country? He had also always been familiar with the Sixuan Underground Palace, and even at this moment, he could directly manipulate the Sixuan Underground Palace! This was the hidden hand that Qi Country had not deployed during the war to exterminate Xia. It had been left for so long, and today, it struck the face of the Equality Country!