While Huangtian was striving towards his own ideals, Wang Sheng had already arrived at Jiangyuan City.
As the first city to come out of Shuzhou, five months had passed, and Jiangyuan City seemed to have become even more stable and more prosperous, even busier compared to before.
Wang Sheng planned to make his final rest here, then head straight back to Qingshan Village, merely a few hundred kilometers away.
However, he hadn’t expected to encounter an acquaintance here.
Mo Yang!
He had seen Mo Yang previously in the Imperial City, where, like many others stirring up trouble, Mo Yang was scavenging within the royal palace.
At that time, he didn’t pay much attention, merely curious about Mo Yang’s character and where he had gotten his information, but that was all.
He had thought Mo Yang had left Shuzhou and was operating elsewhere, but it seems that wasn’t the case; they still seemed to be operating in Shuzhou, and their strength had greatly increased.
A few years had passed, and Mo Yang had already reached the level of a Top Grandmaster.
This rate of advancement was truly frightening.
To think, when he had encountered him a few years ago, he had only been a Seventh-Grade Martial Artist.
This rate of advancement was many times that of an ordinary Martial Artist.
Even Wang Sheng found it surprising.
There were others by his side, seventeen people, all of them Grandmasters.
Wang Sheng recognized a few of these Grandmasters from encounters related to the Evil Flood Dragon a few years ago.
Back then, these Grandmasters weren’t even Seventh-Grade Martial Artists, yet now they were all Grandmasters—an equally frightening speed.
Even in Qingshan Village, despite the limitless supply of resources from Wang Sheng, their advancement wasn’t as rapid.
These people must have encountered some formidable fortune; otherwise, such rapid progression wouldn’t be possible.
However, everyone has their own fortune, and Wang Sheng didn’t plan to investigate further. When Mo Yang had left before, he had noticed some strange events, making these fortunes not impossible.
Of course, Mo Yang didn’t recognize Wang Sheng, since he had worn a mask at that time.
Thus, when Wang Sheng and his people passed by them, Mo Yang didn’t notice anything unusual.
However, Mo Yang did take a few extra looks.
“Master Xuan Yang, is there something off about those people?”
“No, just curious. In these times, it’s rare to see someone traveling with so many children. They must be a formidable person, surely not weak.”
In the current situation, even in the relatively peaceful Shuzhou, those who dare to travel with so many children are either careless or truly powerful.
Clearly, he thought the man just now was the latter type.
“Does Master Xuan Yang want to recruit him?”
Star knew Mo Yang always sought to recruit powerful people since having more strength would better serve his vision.
“Mr. Star jests. We’ve gained quite a bit this time; I don’t have so many ideas for now, and besides, that person being with so many children, they likely wouldn’t join us in these affairs.”
Mo Yang was well aware of the grand scale of the schemes they aspired to undertake.
Though they craved talent, they wouldn’t recruit carelessly without knowing the full details.
Seeing that Mo Yang wasn’t interested, Star didn’t say much more and continued eating, unaware that Wang Sheng had almost heard their entire conversation.
“Mr. Star?”
Wang Sheng’s expression was unchanged, revealing no sign of oddity.
Others might ignore it, but he couldn’t overlook this title.
Yue frequently mentioned his fellow disciple.
“Is it him?”
He continued to observe, and eventually, he confirmed it was indeed the Star Yue had talked about.
“Unexpectedly, Yue’s fellow disciple is following Mo Yang, which means Mo Yang could very well be the next emperor of the coming dynasty?”
Wang Sheng hadn’t forgotten Yue’s words; he said his fellow disciple was to find the next Emperor.
Unexpectedly, the next Emperor, as per Star’s expectation, was Mo Yang, with whom he had past interactions.
It was now understandable why Mo Yang and his subordinates had such significant advancements.
And—
“Things are getting interesting!”
If Mo Yang was the person Star had chosen, perhaps Huangtian and Mo Yang would eventually face off.
It was uncertain whether Mo Yang or Huangtian would be victorious, or if it would be someone else entirely; anything was possible.
However, if Huangtian and Mo Yang clashed, it would undoubtedly be out of the ordinary.
One was Mo Yang, whose own subordinates had significantly advanced over the years, a man of destiny; the other was Huangtian, naturally strong in spiritual power, educated by him.
Of course, he didn’t over-investigate; he wasn’t one to pry.
Afterward, he stayed there for a night before planning to leave.
But before he could leave Jiangyuan City, a significant piece of news spread.
“The Zhou has lost its deer, and all under heaven pursue it! I, Heavenly Saber City’s Great Grandmaster Jiang Dao, pity the world without a master, the people displaced… proclaiming myself as Ming King!”
This message wasn’t short, but it had only one core meaning.
The Zhou Dynasty had perished, so the City Lord of Heavenly Saber City proclaimed himself king, known as Ming King.
When Wang Sheng heard this news, he realized that it wasn’t only the City Lord of Heavenly Saber City taking this action.
Sure enough, within half a day of receiving this news, another piece of news arrived.
The Sword Master of Spirit Sword Valley, Wu Qingfeng, proclaimed himself king, as King Wu!
With these two pieces of news, Wang Sheng was no longer in a hurry to leave but continued to wait in Jiangyuan City, anticipating the moves of the other two Overlord-level forces.
As expected, a day later, two more proclamations of kingship arrived.
At Qingshan Village, Grandmaster Sun Qing claimed to be the Eastern King!
Then there was Divine Lady Peak. The Goddess of Divine Lady Peak did not declare herself as a queen, but the Heavenly Blue Army supported by Divine Lady Peak had someone proclaimed as the Cang King. They also established Divine Lady Peak as the national religion, receiving incense worship.
Not just them, some other local forces also claimed kingship, but these people’s claims to kingship did not hold much influence, with only a few paying attention.
The four initial kings had the most significant impact.
Eastern King Sun Qing, Cang King Zhang Yueying; three men, one woman.
This marked the clear emergence of the competing powers vying for the throne.
Wang Sheng knew that the struggle ahead would enter a new phase, and perhaps the most intense territorial disputes were about to begin.
He also saw Yue; Yue’s complexion was not good.
Obviously, this situation was not good news for Yue, but seeing her composed demeanor, it seemed the impact on her would not be particularly large.
He regained his composure quickly after his initial shock.
It was a big matter, but its impact on him did not seem that deep—no matter who became king, it was all the same—that was his initial thought.
But before long, that thought changed.
By the time he had received all the information and truly decided to leave.
He felt a mysterious force descending, as if it would affect him.
At that moment, he was still suppressing the “Incense Fire” power, so at first, he did not pay special attention to this mysterious force, planning to suppress it as usual.
It was only after coming into contact that he realized this force was completely different from the “Incense Fire” power.
Not only that, while the “Incense Fire” power was potent, apart from crazily wanting to enter his body, it showed no malice.
But the now-descended power, although well-hidden, allowed him to sense the malice hidden within, an extremely terrifying malice.
Once he perceived the malice in this force, his expression darkened.
“Who is setting their sights on me, showing their head yet hiding their tail!”
Wang Sheng directly used Divine Thought to suppress this force.
Although a considerable part of his Divine Thought was used to suppress the “Incense Fire” power, it was not all his capability.
This force was mysterious as well, but it still did not exceed the norms.
Just like when facing the “Incense Fire” power, before long, this malicious force was easily suppressed by him without much effort.
“This force does not seem to be as strong as ’Incense Fire’!”
This mysterious force was analyzed partly by his Divine Thought, revealing some aspects of it.
Therefore, under the influence of Divine Thought, this mysterious force was no longer mysterious—although fundamentally strong, compared to the “Incense Fire” power, it was significantly less.
As he keenly observed, he sensed something was not right.
“Though they are not the same kind of power, why do I feel similarities?”
If analyzed carefully, one could vaguely sense the shadow of “Incense Fire” power in it, but this sensation lasted only for a moment, soon disappearing as if it had been an illusion.
However, Wang Sheng did not think it was an illusion.
Having such a sensation must have a reason.
Unfortunately, no matter how he continued analyzing, he could not recapture that sensation.
“If that’s the case, then disappear!”
This force, fundamentally, was far weaker compared to “Incense Fire.”
Faced with the “Incense Fire” power, Wang Sheng had no method of dealing with it, only temporarily sealing it, but facing this power—
Qi Blood Power erupted!
Fist Force erupted!
Both forces stirred simultaneously, colliding where they sensed the mysterious force.
In the void, the two powers cooperated as if forming a grinding disc, and this tremendous force soon ground the malicious force to nothing, leaving nothing behind.
Feeling this malicious force disappear, Wang Sheng’s heart did not calm down.
If he could still roughly understand the source of the “Incense Fire” power, with the malicious force, he had no clues, unaware of its origin.
This force came inexplicably, without any signs.
“Where did this power come from, why does it harbor malice, and why do I feel it is related to the ’Incense Fire Faith’ power…”
The sudden anomaly cast a shadow over Wang Sheng’s heart.
This was beyond his control.
In the end, without any clues, he could only return to Jiangyuan City; the mysterious force’s arrival had caused him to use instant teleportation to leave.
Soon, he was back in front of Liu Jian’an’s people.
Liu Jian’an and others had not yet reacted because Wang Sheng had disappeared right in front of them.
“Uncle, what happened? You seem in a rush!”
It was the first time Wang Lingwei had seen her uncle look this way, so she was somewhat curious.
Wang Sheng, his mind occupied by the malicious power, was somewhat distracted and answered, “Nothing much, just dealing with some matters.”
Meanwhile, he deployed more Divine Thought, spreading it out.
Not knowing whether the malicious power would strike again, he had to reinforce his defenses.
This world, with the dynasty’s demise, seemed to be becoming more mysterious!
He had to be well-prepared.
Just as he deployed his senses, he once again felt that malicious power.
And this time, the malicious power was not only just a force and seemed to be slowly hiding, disappearing, and his perception of it was weakening.
And the source of the power was coming from Wang Lingwei and the others!
(The last day of the month! Asking for monthly tickets!)