At the wine table, Ge Ye drank deeply, his face clouded with gloom.

To think a mere young wild cultivator, appearing from who knows where, dared to challenge him! Though his master, Ge Heng, hadn’t erupted in anger at the time, a secret hatred festered within his heart.

Manager Hu, standing nearby, offered cautious flattery.

Midway through the wine, Ge Heng suddenly recalled something. He squinted, his gaze falling upon an unopened jar of wine beside him.

“This jar of wine… is for that brat?”

“If you wish to drink, just open it.” Manager Hu cursed inwardly, a single jar of this wine cost twenty taels of silver, but his face remained plastered with a smile. “I’ll go buy more later.”

“No.” Ge Heng suddenly smiled, his hand enveloped in a cage of verdant qi. He patted the outside of the wine jar. “Just this one. It’s quite suitable.”

Manager Hu’s eyes widened in alarm. “Master Ge, you mustn’t!”

Ge Heng’s smile vanished. He turned his head to face Manager Hu, his gaze chilling as frost. “What mustn’t?”

Cold sweat trickled down Manager Hu’s back, but he forced himself to speak. “That might be a cultivator’s master. If something truly happens, none of us will escape responsibility.”

Yang Country, though small, was still a nation with its own laws and order.

Just as the Ge clan, though prone to beating their servant girls, wouldn’t actually kill anyone.

To arbitrarily take a life required a background that could easily cover such deeds, or a willingness to abandon their current, stable livelihood.

“What is there to fear? He’s a wild cultivator from an unknown origin. Who would investigate?” Ge Heng said with dissatisfaction. “Besides, I won’t kill him. Just teach him a lesson, lest the young ones fail to grasp the immensity of heaven and earth!”

“Truly… no one will die?” Manager Hu asked, trembling with apprehension.

“Why would I deceive you?” Ge Heng said, then added reassuringly, “Rest assured, no one will discover it! The methods of the Qingmu Immortal Gate are not to be underestimated!”

Along the darkened mountain path, figures hurried.

“This is the mountainous domain under the jurisdiction of the Double Jiao Association. Who approaches?”

From the shadows, a voice suddenly rang out.

The Double Jiao Association was a local sect in Mo Country, subject to the Mo Country court’s rule and possessing a degree of autonomy. Among all the sects in Mo Country, their strength was not insignificant.

This region already belonged to the Double Jiao Association’s outer territories. The voice belonged to a patrol cultivator of the Double Jiao Association.

From the dense figures, a voice suddenly responded, “Disciples of the Zhuang Country Qinghe County Dao Academy are handling a matter, apprehending a White Bone fiend. We request your convenience!”

The voice of the Double Jiao Association patrol cultivator from the darkness fell silent.

In past years, the Double Jiao Association would never have granted such courtesy.

Mo Country and Zhuang Country had been in contention for many years, with Mo Country never yielding ground.

But now…

Emperor Zhuang had ascended to the Cave True realm, and with State Minister Du Ruhui and Great General Huangfu Duanming, two mighty deities, in attendance, Zhuang Country’s forces were flourishing, their momentum pressing on all sides. It was a time of unbridled sharpness.

Voices constantly spread throughout Zhuang Country, advocating for a status commensurate with their strength – and war was undoubtedly the most direct path.

The Mo Country court, in its affairs, had repeatedly sought to avoid confrontation, precisely to deny Zhuang Country such a reason.

Since it was a “proper matter” of Dao Academy disciples apprehending a wicked cult like the White Bone Dao, the Double Jiao Association could simply turn a blind eye. The monument to the fallen outside the domain of Maple Forest City had already become a widely known matter.

The cultivators from Qinghe County Dao Academy were not surprised. They quickly dispersed and advanced. They had already destroyed a small White Bone Dao base today and were pursuing the last few cult members here, striving to earn full Dao merits.

The entanglement of hatred between Zhuang Country and the White Bone Dao was not a recent development. Over two hundred years ago, the White Bone Dao had caused a catastrophe. At that time, Taizu Zhuang Chengqian had mobilized the nation’s strength and utterly annihilated the White Bone Dao in a single strike.

Thereafter, the White Bone Dao had been revived, but all their actions were minor skirmishes, always entangled until last year, when the national shock of the destruction of the Maple Forest City domain occurred.

But only today could they act so boldly and confidently, actually apprehending criminals openly within Mo Country territory.

When a nation is strong, its people are justified and confident.

The Qinghe County Dao Academy cultivators scattered their formation, outflanking and encircling, planning to eliminate the pursued White Bone Dao cult members here – they could not penetrate any further, fearing a rebound from the Double Jiao Association.

And for Li Jianqiu, who was issuing the commands, ascertaining the situation in the Double Jiao Association’s outer region was sufficient.

As the most outstanding cultivator of this session at the Qinghe County Dao Academy, he indeed bore such a secret task. Those several White Bone Dao cult members had fled this way due to his intentional indulgence.

To ensure secrecy, the other accompanying cultivators were unaware of this matter. They were still immersed in the proud feeling of their nation’s strength, and at the same time, their hearts were filled with hatred due to the destruction of Maple Forest City domain in their county.

Li Jianqiu did not know how many others shared the same secret task as him, but he was certain he was not the only one.

Zhuang Country had slept for many years. Now it had awakened, its belly hungry, desiring meat.

Looking around at the surrounding nations, Yong Country was naturally the hardest to gnaw, and Mo Country was not necessarily easier to enter. But Zhuang Country’s upper echelon clearly had a target.

In the current world, various nations rose together, sects stood like forests, and all great forces were intertwined.

Like Zhuang Country and Yong Country, they were natural enemies. Yong was strong, Zhuang was weak, but behind Zhuang Country stood the Dao Alliance. With the backing of the Dao Gate, it could long enjoy its national fortune.

Among the Dao-affiliated nations under heaven, the strongest was of course the overlord of the central domain, Jing Country. But to be specific, Jing Country treated the Dao as its sect, with three parallel lineages. Zhuang Country, however, belonged to the Jade Capital Mountain lineage…

All such matters were too numerous to enumerate.

In such a complex situation under heaven, national warfare was not a simple matter. It could absolutely not be viewed in isolation. Without a global plan, it was insufficient to plan for a single domain.

Li Jianqiu’s work was merely a tiny, almost imperceptible part of the long preparation.

The task assigned from above should of course be completed, but for Li Jianqiu himself, the extermination of the White Bone Dao was what he cared about most.

Maple Forest City domain was his hometown.

In earlier years, due to the matter of Upright Pen Peak, he was accustomed to coming and going alone. But last year’s heavy raid on Upright Pen Peak had resolved his knot. He began to try and accept others, like Jiang Wang, Zhao Rucheng, and Huang A Zhan.

And his parents and family…

All gone.

They were all gone.

If this feeling had to have a concrete description, it was the mood of wailing on the official road after he escaped Upright Pen Peak that year.

Yet it was more than that.

At that time, he was alone. Now, he was even more alone.

At that time, he was a stray dog. Now…

He even felt as if he had once again become a deserter. When Maple Forest City domain encountered disaster, he had been hiding in the Qinghe County Academy. When his family, friends, fellow disciples, and elders needed him, he was not there.

And he would never be there.

This place was Mo Country. The night had already deepened.

Li Jianqiu had already issued the order to exterminate those several stray rats, thus slowing his footsteps. These few individuals were mere subordinates; there was no need for him to personally act.

He suddenly stopped, his hand on his sword hilt.

It was very quiet all around. Night was usually quiet.

But it was too quiet.

He could no longer hear the breathing of his accompanying fellow brothers, nor feel the beat of their hearts.

Even the faint breath of the Double Jiao Association patrol cultivator – a warning to these outsiders – had vanished.

From the darkness, in the direction of Li Jianqiu’s gaze, a tall and burly figure with a large ringed saber on his back emerged.

“You Zhuang Country people truly don’t know how to live or die!”

He threw a human head from his hand. The head rolled several times before stopping, its gaze meeting Li Jianqiu’s directly.

It was the face of a beautiful young woman, a junior sister from the county Dao Academy this session.

Li Jianqiu tore his gaze away from her shocked expression, where death had frozen her eyes, and looked towards the tall figure emerging from the darkness.

His aura was violent. His face was covered with… a tiger bone mask.