The flying sword had been thoroughly refined, but the skill of refining itself was still at an introductory stage.
After several months, the initially level three “Refining” had reached level five, which was the fastest upgrade among all his extraordinary skills.
It could only be said that the skills he had integrated and summarized were different.
Even without the existence of a progress bar, the skill improved rapidly, and with the progress bar, the speed was even more accelerated.
Wang Sheng retracted the flying sword into his Divine Thought and began his cultivation of the Inner Core Skill.
He certainly had not forgotten that among the people he had killed was a deputy of King Yong Nian. Although it was not necessarily that he feared him, it was definitely better to be stronger.
Strength was essential to deal with any potential issues.
Like the incident this time, if it were not for his strength, everything in Qingshan Village would have been abandoned, and he would have to start all over again.
To prevent King Yong Nian from potentially making a desperate move, he needed to quickly enhance his own strength.
…
While Wang Sheng was cultivating, the outside world was no longer tranquil.
King Yong Nian, Spirit Sword Valley, and Heavenly Saber City were in the midst of negotiation.
Neither party was willing to back down in the power struggle to secure more benefits.
Thus, the situation became deadlocked.
But this standstill was soon broken.
First was King Yong Nian’s side. According to plan, Zhou Hu should have returned by now.
Although Zhou Hu’s strength was not comparable to the three Great Grandmasters, he was still one of King Yong Nian’s pillars of confidence in the negotiations.
Now, a substitute had been found, but if Zhou Hu did not return for a long time, certainly something unexpected would occur.
Thus, King Yong Nian was a bit anxious.
But anxiety was of no use. He could not leave, as that would create greater problems.
He could only send people out to search secretly.
Actually, it was already too late at that point, because the failed assassination and subsequent pursuit by Grandmaster Zhou Hu had already been reported.
During the next day’s negotiation, Wu Qingfeng and Jiang Dao no longer hid their intentions.
“We underestimated you, Zhou Wutong, for secretly laying this trap that caused us such heavy losses!”
This time, Spirit Sword Valley and Heavenly Saber City had fifty-one people on the mission, and less than ten survived.
The loss was a severe blow to their vitality, even for their two powerful forces.
More than forty grandmasters perished, many of whom were direct descendants.
The time needed for recovery was unknown.
“We shall see if this Zhou Hu is really Zhou Hu!”
Wu Qingfeng and Jiang Dao resolutely attacked, aiming their blows at “Zhou Hu,” wanting to see what sort of methods could deceive two Great Grandmasters.
“Hmph!”
King Yong Nian, Zhou Wutong, knew that Zhou Hu had not returned for so long and that it was mostly due to some misfortune.
But now, he did not have time to address that; the situation at hand was far more urgent.
The real Zhou Hu was likely dead, but this could not be exposed yet.
Zhou Wutong countered the attack, blocking Wu Qingfeng and Jiang Dao’s assault.
Boom!
The negotiation room was completely destroyed.
Dozens of common servants were turned into mincemeat, dead in an instant.
When Great Grandmasters clashed, even without exerting their full strength, the aftermath was not something they could withstand.
But no one at the scene cared about this.
People from King Yong Nian’s side, Spirit Sword Valley, and Heavenly Saber City all closed in.
Seeing their attack stopped, Wu Qingfeng and Jiang Dao were even more certain there was something wrong with Zhou Hu; their attack had exceeded a grandmaster’s power, but a Great Grandmaster could easily intercept it. When did superiors ever block attacks for their subordinates?
“Zhou Hu,” seeing the situation, immediately stepped forward and said, “Do you two really wish to continue being enemies with our king? If our king withdraws directly from Shuzhou, it will be troublesome for you, especially you, Valley Master Wu Qingfeng. Jianzhou was originally our king’s fief, and our king has certainly not left without any contingency plans!”
Bold enough to impersonate Zhou Hu, this person naturally had some audacity, standing up to “persuade” the two.
However, Wu Qingfeng and Jiang Dao fell silent.
Almost all the transcendent forces were well aware of what Shuzhou entailed; it was a land worth contending for.
And with King Yong Nian being a Great Grandmaster of the same caliber, even if the two joined forces, they were not confident they could bury King Yong Nian there.
Thus, the words of “Zhou Hu” indeed gave the two pause for thought.
Especially Wu Qingfeng, as King Yong Nian was originally the king of Jianzhou, no one knew what contingencies he had left there.
Thus, the atmosphere that was about to erupt into a fight cooled down once again.
King Yong Nian, Zhou Wutong, also spoke, “Why your people were killed by Zhou Hu is something you should be clear about, so don’t put on such a sickening face. It’s all self-inflicted!”
Both sides fell into a short silence.
Eventually, they decided to continue negotiations elsewhere.
Shuzhou, since their three families had already entered, would not easily be ceded.
Wengong made a wrong decision and had been destroyed by the Master of Destiny’s contingency, basically losing the qualification to compete.
The Valley Master of Stargazing Valley had died and had never been involved in such affairs, so there was no need to worry about that.
The Border Army, however, was extremely powerful, but like Stargazing Valley, they did not need to be concerned.
Therefore, the remaining forces were those of Divine Lady Mountain, Yuelai Inn, and Lihai City.
These three had already unified their respective provinces and were all doing their own thing, but they were all aware that their absence was only due to their far locations—for the time being.
But the day would come when they would be involved.
Do not be fooled by the current situation. King Yong Nian, Spirit Sword Valley, and Heavenly Saber City might seem like enemies now, but they could become partners in the future.
Thus, a complete fallout was essentially impossible.
In the end, the three parties had secret negotiations for three days at another inn and did not leave until they reached an agreement.
They all still had plenty of follow-up matters to attend to.
…
The people from Spirit Sword Valley and Heavenly Saber City also split up.
Having entered Shuzhou, some alliances had already begun to crumble, and they would now be competitors.
Anyway, with Zhou Hu from King Yong Nian’s side likely having met with an accident, their strengths were basically leveled.
Wu Qingfeng returned to his temporary abode with his men when one of them finally spoke up, “Valley Master, that ’Zhou Hu’ was most likely a fake. Why didn’t we…”
They all knew what kind of person Zhou Hu was and he was definitely not like the man who they had just encountered.
Wu Qingfeng sipped his tea and said, “What if he was a fake? Even if I joined forces with Jiang Dao, we couldn’t have stopped Zhou Wutong. So from the start, Zhou Hu was never the focus of the negotiation, even the outcome had already been decided!”
The Grandmasters at their level could be referred to as Supreme Grandmasters. Though they were still within the Grandmaster tier, their combat power was not something ordinary Grandmasters could compare to.
Zhou Wutong was also a fighter of this caliber.
It was rare for a fighter of this level to be killed by any means other than old age.
“Unless we’re prepared to go down together, the result had been decided from the moment we chose to attack Shuzhou. The only difference was, Zhou Wutong wanted to buy time to gain more benefits, and we wanted to get ahead on gains, which is why the battle broke out!”
Wu Qingfeng said in a somewhat cold tone.
The strategist beside him felt a chill from his feet to the crown of his head.
If the final result had been predetermined from the beginning…
Then what about all those who died in Jiangyuan City?
Over two hundred thousand lives!
Was it worth it to fight and battle for a result that was already destined?
Thinking deeper, it was because they sought this predetermined outcome that they used two hundred thousand lives as a sacrifice. Without these lives, this “peaceful” result would not have come to pass.
Perhaps from the start, Spirit Sword Valley and Heavenly Saber City had intended to exchange these lives for this situation.
The strategist dared not ask, could only keep these thoughts buried inside.
The truth of it all was unclear to everyone.
The discussions at Heavenly Saber City were similar, just phrased differently.
As long as King Yong Nian remained unscathed, the presence or absence of Zhou Hu was actually of no consequence.
If he were gone, it would be a good thing for Spirit Sword Valley and Heavenly Saber City.
Because by then, they were in the same predicament as King Yong Nian.
The only advantage was the army, but in such times, that was something that could be gradually equalized with time.
That was the best possible situation.
Everyone was on the same starting line.
…
King Yong Nian, Zhou Wutong, did not share this sentiment.
Although he had anticipated such a scenario, the death of Zhou Hu was completely unexpected.
So much time had passed without any word from Zhou Hu; there were only two possibilities.
Betrayal or death.
Based on his long-standing knowledge of Zhou Hu, death was the only likely possibility.
He never thought that Zhou Hu, in pursuit of a group of Grandmasters, would actually die.
His death deprived his side of a tremendous force.
Although Zhou Hu’s demise meant that Spirit Sword Valley and Heavenly Saber City would no longer be able to work as closely, thus maintaining a balance, it wasn’t the balance he desired.
“Find someone to investigate where Zhou Hu went in the end!”
Wang Sheng had miscalculated one thing.
He misjudged the situation and the “tacit understanding” among the major powers, believing that King Yong Nian would not have time to investigate due to dealing with Spirit Sword Valley and Heavenly Saber City, but in reality, the balance was maintained because he had killed Zhou Hu.
Thus, King Yong Nian had the time to focus on investigating him.
Numerous scouts from King Yong Nian began their investigation starting from a gorge in Xindu Prefecture.
Sadly, after so many days, together with frequent night rains in Shuzhou, most of the traces had been eradicated.
Investigating many of these matters proved difficult.
A proper investigation would likely take quite some time.
Meanwhile, because the three parties’ negotiations had concluded, the situation in Shuzhou underwent another major change.
With the territorial divisions concluded, it was time to move into the territories.
Even though the three powers had suffered losses, they were not comparable to ordinary forces.
Numerous local forces and those who had established themselves earlier in Shuzhou faced devastating blows.
Of course, Spirit Sword Valley and Heavenly Saber City didn’t attempt to wipe everyone out completely—that was unrealistic.
Those who were to pay tribute did so, and those who were to obey did just that. Countless had undoubtedly lost much before, but to survive, it was a necessary evil…