Then, the First Person Demon, Yan Chunhui, manifested without so much as a single word, and with one strike of his sword, blanketed a battlefield of nearly ten thousand soldiers. After exchanging blows with Jiang Mengxiong, he abruptly vanished, his actions utterly unfettered and driven purely by impulse.

He cared not for the might of the Overlord Nation, for in this world, no rules could bind him.

And neither the Great Qi’s God of War, Jiang Mengxiong, nor Jing’s Foremost Armor, Yu Que, seemed inclined to pursue.

“Hahaha haha!”

Yu Que suddenly erupted in laughter, his shoulders shaking with the force of it.

His sword was split into two colors, black and white, divided along its spine. One side was the color of ink, the other pure white like snow.

The sword guard bore a Taiji diagram; the white half leaning towards the black blade, the black half towards the white blade.

The entire sword exuded a complex aura of all-encompassing embrace and the severing of Yin and Yang.

With a casual flick, he returned it to its sheath, and it was gone from sight.

He gazed at Jiang Mengxiong, his laughter lingering. “Hahaha… You unleashed a punch that shattered the sky and spoke words of great import. Others merely inquire… who are you? Hahaha ha…”

“His forgetting of me merely indicates that his path has gone astray,” Jiang Mengxiong stated expressionlessly. “Should we make way? This war is not yet concluded.”

“Of course, of course. This is a matter for the younger generation.” Yu Que smiled. Without issuing any commands, he vanished in a single step.

Jiang Mengxiong also took a step forward and disappeared into the air, not even sparing a glance behind.

Both sides demonstrated immense confidence in their respective nations’ Heavenly Pride, and thus maintained the tacit agreement that high-level cultivators would not intervene in this conflict.

As these two true monarchs of the current age conversed, everyone across the Star Moon Plain could only listen from the sidelines.

Once they had departed, it was as if people could finally reclaim their autonomy.

However…

Having just witnessed a scene of heaven-shattering, earth-overturning destruction, a brush with life and death, to immediately return to the mindset of confronting the opposing Heavenly Pride was truly an arduous task.

The Jing nation’s Heavenly Pride linked their small arrays to form a large defensive military formation.

The Qi nation’s Heavenly Pride all followed behind Jiang Wang, surging towards the sky, while the main army, temporarily guided by Li Longchuan’s feathered arrows, formed its own array.

The Heavenly Pride of both sides faced each other, one above and one below… and truth be told, all battle intent had dissipated.

It was like two ants, originally full of vigor and ready to fight to the death.

And indeed, they possessed the will to fight to the death.

But then, someone had suddenly walked over, stepped down with one foot, and both ants had narrowly survived…

Though that person had long departed, the ants still lingered in fear for some time.

The two sides stared at each other, a strange atmosphere persisting for a while…

Clang! Clang! Clang!

From the General Platforms on the eastern and western sides, the sound of gongs resonated simultaneously.

Striking the gong with a hammer was the signal to withdraw troops – the sound of retreat.

Perhaps even Jing Zhi and Fang You understood the state of the army’s morale and knew that fighting today would be difficult. In fact, they likely harbored similar sentiments…

Before powerful Dao cultivators like Yan Chunhui, Yu Que, and Jiang Mengxiong, what difference was there between the Xiang nation’s Pillar of the State and the Xu nation’s Grand Marshal of Horse, and any single soldier on the Star Moon Plain?

The Heavenly Pride of both sides each regrouped and returned to their camps, exchanging no words along the way.

This encounter had left their hearts heavy and their emotions complex. Even harsh words such as “Tomorrow we shall break your formation” or “I shall take your dog’s head” were left unsaid.

Of course… the gazes fixed upon Jiang Wang were as numerous as ever.

He had first beheaded a Person Demon before ten thousand troops, and then was the first to charge into the sky and pour forth a sea of swords. He was truly dazzling and impossible to ignore.

“Qing Yang!”

Having retracted his Dharma Form, Chong Xuan Sheng waved a large hand, even employing his Chong Xuan power. “Quickly, come over!”

Jiang Wang exited his Sword Immortal state, returned his sword to its sheath, and following the pull of that force, lightly floated down to his side. He said somewhat amusingly, “Your Chong Xuan power is far too weak. We must practice more later, ah.”

Chong Xuan Sheng acted as if he hadn’t heard. Extra practice was indeed necessary, but there was absolutely no “we”.

With the Fourteen Heavily Armored Warriors to his left and the Heaven Mansion cultivator Jiang Qing Yang to his right, he led the way in the center, swaggering towards the Qi camp with the posture of sweeping away a thousand armies like rolling a mat – truly imposing.

Li Longchuan flipped his hand and received the Qiu Shan Bow, flying over with a light chuckle. “Our first Inner Mansion cultivator in history, why do you grow more handsome the more you cultivate?”

“Ah haha,” Jiang Wang maintained his humble demeanor. “That also depends on who I’m compared to, right?”

Fourteen glared at him discontentedly.

“I meant compared to myself yesterday!” Jiang Wang hurriedly explained.

Yan Fu then handed the control mechanism in his hand to Lin Jie, signaling him to collect the eight Ink Warriors, and at the same time handed over an unused talisman, instructing him to store them together.

These things, whose value was difficult to estimate, were simply a pile of shimmering yuan stones.

Yet, because he found it troublesome, he casually gave them to Lin Jie to tidy, as if he weren’t at all worried about his subordinate embezzling them… even though they had only become acquainted two days ago!

It wasn’t a matter of trust…

The most fundamental reason was wealth.

If it were Jiang Wang, he would undoubtedly handle them himself, tidying everything until not a single piece of scrap paper was left for others, let alone any opportunity for embezzlement…

With matters put aside, everyone relaxed and walked towards Jiang Wang, their eyes warm with smiles. “How was it? How far did you travel this time, and how many yuan stones did you spend?”

Only then did Jiang Wang remember that the big dog… oh no, the wise brother Yan, had promised to be responsible for all his expenses on this trip abroad.

“Don’t rush.” He greeted this wise brother with his most brilliant smile. “Haven’t I returned yet?”

There might still be expenses on the Star Moon Plain, and being as clever as he, Jiang Qing Yang, naturally couldn’t suffer the loss of these few days.

The crowd all laughed.

Chong Xuan Sheng then beckoned to Lin Xian and said to Jiang Wang, “Let me introduce you to someone.”

Jiang Wang had already noticed that besides his few friends, several other gazes were fixed upon him, especially enthusiastic ones.

One was the deputy general currently helping the wise brother Yan tidy things, whose identity he still didn’t know.

Another was Lin Xian.

He looked over with a smile on his face.

“I am your deputy general,” Lin Xian said somewhat embarrassedly.

Jiang Wang wasn’t quite sure why, but he still smiled warmly. “It’s good to see you again. I don’t understand the war situation too well, so I hope you’ll be more tolerant in the coming days as we work together.”

“No, no,” Lin Xian repeatedly waved his hand. “I will be learning by your side.”

“Our front army is divided into ten camps, and you have the position of a camp general. Because you hadn’t yet arrived at the battlefield at that time, I just let Lin Xian temporarily hold it for you…” Chong Xuan Sheng explained from the side. “You two should be familiar with each other?”

Jiang Wang still didn’t know that the other party had witnessed his legend-breaking battle and smiled. “I have a deep impression of Brother Lin.”

Lin Xian hastily said, “How could I possibly occupy the thoughts of Young Master Qing Yang!”

At this moment, Gao Zhe walked over from a distance, a smile on his face, and greeted him, “Brother Jiang! Long time no see!”

Jiang Wang also smiled and nodded. “Brother Gao.”

Chong Xuan Sheng reached out and tugged at him, stopping him from being polite as usual. But in the end, he left him some face and didn’t directly say words like “don’t pay attention to cats and dogs.”

Gao Zhe’s expression stiffened as he nodded, and in the end, he said nothing more and turned to leave.

Jiang Wang cast a questioning gaze at Chong Xuan Sheng, who only said, “We’ll talk when we get back to camp.”

Including Bao Bozhao, Chao Yu… whether they were acquainted or not, almost everyone came forward to greet Jiang Wang.

Even Xie Baoshu, with a tense face, said a sentence of “Welcome to the formation.” Even Lei Zhanqian, somewhat dully, spoke words like “The Eleventh Prince asked me to convey his greetings.” Even Wang Yiwu, with his chin raised, came over and said a sentence of “Expect more performance from you”…

Jiang Wang wasn’t quite used to these scenes, but he responded politely to each person, never showing any arrogance.

He was always proud towards the arrogant and humble towards the humble. It was so in times of difficulty, and it remained so at his peak.

Finally, Lin Jie, who had collected the Ink Warriors, caught up with the team. After handing the things in his hand to Yan Fu, he hurriedly jumped to Jiang Wang’s front, his face full of smiles. “Duke Jiang, I have admired your name for a long time! Seeing you today, your demeanor surpasses even legend! I am Lin Jie of Yi country, you can call me Little Lin, or Little Jie!”

“Brother Lin, hello, hello…”

Jiang Wang was thus surrounded as they walked towards the great army’s encampment.

Later military annals recorded:

“…Those of the three armies who heard of Jiang Qing Yang’s arrival all rushed to see him, none without eagerness.”