After having seen Shen Lian dodge the fist, Emperor Xia retracted his Primordial Spirit and returned to normal size. A coldness flashed through his eyes, and his flesh and body pierced through the air. He chased after Shen Lian and left behind only a stream of air.

　　When Shen Lian dodged Emperor Xia’s attack, the latter could feel that the former’s divine Qi had gaps that could be taken advantage of. With his discerning eye, he would surely not miss such an opportunity that comes only once in a blue moon.

　　In the end, Shen Lian’s state of Primordial Spirit, as well as the light travel speed, was more nimble and quick as compared to when he initially performed it with his mortal body. If Emperor Xia did not firmly lock his spiritual senses, Shen Lian might not catch up with him even if the duration of the technique used by the emperor was less than ten minutes.

　　In the horizon, Emperor Xia produced endless sounds of explosions. The clouds that spanned thousands of miles were scattered, and for a short time the clouds did not raise.

　　At this moment in the Xia Camp, Guan Longzi continued to spit out blood. Lei Jing who left before all this happened, returned. Only after she fed him three elixirs did his condition improve.

　　Lei Jing faintly asked, “Why did you engage in a fight with teacher?”

　　Guan Longzi distressingly replied, “Jing, throughout my life I have not done anything wrong. This is probably the first.”

　　Lei Jing asked again, “Why? Tell me why?”

　　Lei Jing was absolutely baffled. If Guan Longzi had intended to make an enemy out of Shen Lian, Diqiu City was the best place to do it. So why not then?

　　Guan Longzi profoundly sighed. His expression appeared to suggest that he aching inside. He replied to Lei Jing, “At the spur of the moment, I was arrogant. I thought that the Lamp of Life and Death and the Emperor are enough of a match for him. I did not expect that he would have all those spiritual items. This time, if your teacher can slip away from the grasp of the Emperor and defeat the allied forces of Dongyi, providing Xia Kingdom with unmatched power over the world, it would still be a wasted effort. I, Guan Longzi, would still be a wrongdoer of Xia.”

　　It would not be possible for Emperor Xia to maintain a lifelong state and wipe out Yunyang’s allied forces in a single strike. Even his trump card – the Lamp of Life and Death – was accurately anticipated by the profound attainment of Guan Longzi, in that it was truly of strong effect with regards to all the nations.

　　After all, whoever that had the audacity to oppose Xia would have to weigh in the possibilities of whether they were superior to the allied forces of the Son of the White Emperor. The opposition would have to think clearly as to whether it was possible for a demon lord to help them, let alone the fact that such a tremendous force had been annihilated by the Emperor. A brief look at the rest of the world, even Yinshang, and it was clear that there might not even be anyone else that dared to go against him.

　　It was because Emperor Xia wanted to gain this deterrent force, that he took himself to the field. No doubt he wanted to attack Dongyi, with an attitude that suggested he would not leave any stone unturned.

　　But that night, the deterrence brought by conquering Dongyi might vanish. Shen Lian managed to escape from the current situation of Guan Longzi and Emperor Xia’s cooperation and even managed to destroy the Lamp of Life and Death. Moreover, he seriously injured Guan Longzi. In addition to all that, Shen Lian held the position of Xia’s State Preceptor. This battle could not by any means be trivial to Xia.

　　More importantly, Guan Longzi profoundly understood that after that night, it would no longer be foolish talk to say that the nation Shen Lian would establish may rival that of Xia Kingdom and Yinshang. In fact, there was a dependable basis upon which that statement may be grounded. The upcoming seizing of power would result in either a sturdy foundation or the gaining of a great reputation. Either way, it would contribute to the gathering of talents and the accumulating of power.

　　Otherwise, each territory had to be struck down individually. It would not only require the expanding of an immense amount of energy to stabilize the will of the people, it would also consume the power inherent in him.

　　If, before the completion of the task, people had already believed him to be a capable person, the cohesiveness of his own people would definitely be stronger. It goes without saying then, that the enemy’s resistance would be diminished greatly.

　　As an example, Yunyang managed to convince the Dongyi Coalition because of his status as the Son of the White Emperor. It was Yunyang’s impeccable reputation that bestowed upon him such incredible influence.

　　Although Shen Lian’s earlier reputation was nothing short of spectacular, he still did not possess a military success that could truly shock the people. Not to mention he was still Xia Kingdom’s State Preceptor. That position may be a high one, but he would still be bound to it even if he were to establish a nation.

　　As of that day, his actions were tantamount to breaking away from Xia Kingdom without publicly declaring so. Adding to that, he single-handedly destroyed the power and influence of an untouchable Xia Kingdom. For those who were itching to make a move on Xia Kingdom, it was undoubtedly a tremendous encouragement. It also destabilized the basis and foundation by which Emperor Xia governed – forcing the world into submission. Unless Emperor Xia succeeds this time in inflicting a punishment suitable for Shen Lian, there would surely be a second person, a third person, and many more others who would continue to challenge the authority of Emperor Xia.

　　Even if Emperor Xia’s indescribable divine sovereignty was untouchable, could it still be possible for him to personally lead his troops out to battle?

　　To this end, if Emperor Xia really killed the people of the world, how could Guan Longzi face all those dead beings? His original intention was to aid the Emperor in attacking the Dongyi Coalition for the sake of maintaining Xia Kingdom’s stability and to ensure that fewer people were sacrificed. All this went down the drain as a result of his fight with Shen Lian.

　　Guan Longzi was to blame for the destabilization of Xia Kingdom’s foundation. So it happened – his greatest pain, the event he wished would never happen. And for it to happen by his own hand instead of another. How brutal.

　　The disappointment and heartbreak within Guan Longzi, no outsider could ever comprehend.

　　Lei Jing was smart. Perhaps it was because she was the daughter of the Prefect Grand Usher that she had a deeper understanding of the world’s affairs. She was one of the few amongst the Xia Clan who could comprehend the crisis of Xia Kingdom. She understood even more that the Xia Kingdom then could still achieve peace. That was dependent on the reason that Emperor Xia was unparalleled in his unhindered movement between heaven and earth.

　　She sighed, “Guan Longzi, sir, why do you have to blame yourself? After all, no one could foresee that the situation would come to this.”

　　Guan Longzi replied, “Jing, you do not understand. People of the world all feel that the Emperor is conceited, that he considers everyone to be beneath him. He has delusions of grandeur. It is a fact that in Xia Kingdom, with the exception of the founder, no former emperor could rise up to the level of brilliance and courageousness of the current emperor. You might as well think about it, Jing. If the emperor really is such a megalomaniac, how can he control himself when your master and Tianyi had a falling out with him at Diqiu, especially when the High Priest had passed away? In not making a move, it indicated that the Emperor had the ability to clearly understand. He knew that if he could not send Shen Lian and Tianyi to the ground, it would not be as good as not making a move. In this way, he still could preserve Xia Kingdom’s majestic presence. But with my attack, the Emperor saw new hope in eliminating your master. That was the reason why he made his move without the slightest hesitation. In fact, up until the point where your master wounded me, I myself thought that this time would be his trial of death. Never in my wildest dreams did I, Guan Longzi, expect him to have a spiritual item capable of destroying the Lamp of Yin and Yang. And before this even happened, my attainment was not able to detect in the slightest the fact that there was inevitably a person in the state of Taiyi that was helping to conceal the truth from behind the scenes. Truth be told, the state of Taiyi is already the pinnacle of the Netherworld. From my knowledge and experience I can roughly guess that in the Netherworld today, there are not more than three and a half persons who could demonstrate such a state. Two of them would not be bothered to make a move. As for the other one and a half, it could reasonably be said that they ought to stay detached from worldly affairs. I never would have thought that they would be get themselves involved in such murky situations.”

　　Guan Longzi did not speak without thinking. In his accomplishment of the Dao of Yi, even if the world had Shen Lian who could experience it slightly, there were not many who could conceal from Guan Longzi, less still those who are able to do so without having the Dao of Tongtian.

　　Taking everyone into account, it was only those few people who could patiently accomplish that. It had never crossed Guan Longzi’s mind that one of those would make their move, especially not under such a situation where two people were in control. The reason why he could know the two persons were being controlled was because he had just recently accomplished the cultivation of Lianshanyi ¹ . Adding to that was Xia Kingdom’s attack of Dongyi. The flourishing of Qi was the reason why his Dao of Yi received help in refinement.

　　Speechless, he looked up to the sky, and said in his heart, “You are the sun of the heavens, he is the sun of the earth. Could it really not be possible for the both of you to be tolerant of each other?”