Chapter 345: Chapter 285: The Advantage is Mine
The arrival of the Border Army required Wang Sheng’s attention.
Unfortunately, it seemed the messenger had brought no new information, nearly identical to the messages from people of the First Dynasty.
Firstly, it was to confirm the authenticity of the identities of those outsiders, and then to caution the local Border Army.
It wasn’t just the First Dynasty’s Breakthrough Level experts, but the First Dynasty also had Stargazing Valley, and they too had detected an issue.
Now the First Dynasty was teeming with a murderous intent, with countless people involved in the matter, and the Border Army was very likely to be implicated. Thus, they hoped this side would make preparations.
“Exactly what is this crisis? It surely can’t come out of nowhere,” the Military Leader of the Da Zhou Border Army couldn’t help asking.
In fact, he had already learned of this information from people of the First Dynasty and had wanted to get some detailed information from the First Dynasty’s Border Army.
But it seemed there would still be no answers now.
“It can’t be the enemy we’ve always been on guard against, right?”
The Border Army had always been guarding against an unknown enemy, unchanged for thousands of years.
“No,” the message bearer shook their head. “This murderous push is targeted only at our Human Race. The Valley Master of Stargazing Valley said that if we’re not careful, we could face the risk of complete upheaval. Hasn’t your Valley Master informed you?”
“Our Border Army has long been disconnected from Stargazing Valley. There was an incident here in the past, and we lost some of our legacy. Over ten years ago, the last generation Valley Master did something that led to his death. His disciples dispersed, one of them intending to support someone to become a Master of Destiny, while another simply disappeared without trace.”
The Military Leader of the Border Army explained the situation.
However, from his words, it was clear that there was obviously a connection between the Border Army and Stargazing Valley. It was just that Da Zhou’s Stargazing Valley had encountered problems.
The message bearer hadn’t expected this situation and didn’t know what to say.
In the end, they simply said, “Although the crisis hasn’t yet revealed itself, the Commander still instructed me to remind you that if we’re gone, you should each preserve your strength. This crisis is just the prelude; the world is becoming more dangerous. The more strength we preserve, the better we can safeguard the Human Race’s legacy.”
The Commander is, in theory, the highest-ranking officer of all border armies of the various dynasties.
After delivering the message, the bearer left on the same day.
Clearly, even with a looming crisis, they had to return to their own army.
The Military Leader was silent for a moment before finally heaving a sigh.
He had never anticipated that after so many years without news from the Commander, the next message would be about a crisis.
As Military Leader, he was acutely aware of the Border Army’s strength, but even so, was there no way to ensure survival through the disaster?
“We’ll just have to take it one step at a time,”
the Border Army was strong, but powerless against certain things.
In the end, the visitors from the First Dynasty were allowed to leave, and the Border Army no longer intervened.
Wang Sheng also left the Border Army.
“How are things?”
This time, Zhu Xiao hadn’t accompanied him.
“The situation isn’t good. The disaster has been confirmed, and even with the Border Army’s strength, survival can’t be assured. They’ve simply instructed our Border Army to preserve its strength as much as possible.”
“Is it the thing the Border Army has always been guarding against?”
Wang Sheng shook his head and said, “It doesn’t seem so. It’s a different crisis. As for what specifically, the Border Army is also unclear.”
It was evident from both sides that the crisis hadn’t fully erupted yet, and should it do so, it could potentially destroy the First Dynasty. Moreover, this crisis seemed to be related to the turnover of Breakthrough Level experts of the First Dynasty.
Every transition brought a major disaster.
“Is it possible to investigate what happened two thousand and four thousand years ago?”
There could be clues in the timings.
“Difficult. We don’t even know what the disaster really is; even if we find information, it’s not certain we can investigate anything. Moreover, according to their descriptions, the disasters beforehand don’t seem as severe as this time; they’re not so easy to look into.”
“No matter what, let’s still investigate it and take whatever we find,”
“Alright!” Zhu Xiao herself wanted to find the answers to such matters. Being prepared was always better than being completely unaware.
Zhu Xiao quickly went to arrange her resources.
Yuelai Inn, connected nationwide. As soon as you find an inn at one location and give instructions, it won’t be long before other Yuelai Inns will be in the know.
She herself, along with Wang Sheng, followed the person who had come from the First Dynasty’s Border Army.
These people hadn’t wandered randomly but were seeking information from others.
“The situation looks grim; the empire in this place seems to have just perished, with no National Guardian Level expert in existence.”
Before they could say more, the others’ faces turned sour.
They had come here seeking refuge.
The most powerful person was gone?
“Isn’t that also good? If there are no National Guardian Level experts, you would be among the strongest here,”
the elder glanced at the person, saying, “You’ve lived in the First Dynasty for too long, so you’re not aware of these things. Because our First Dynasty is special, someone of my strength would typically be at the National Guardian Level there. But in these empires, there are those just below National Guardian Level, and experts stronger than even top Great Grandmasters like me exist.”
“There are such people?”
“Indeed, having a National Guardian Level expert who is one of ours would normally be good for us. However, it’s not bad in this situation either. At least, the National Guardian Level expert isn’t an outsider.”
Wang Sheng also roughly understood the First Dynasty’s classification of strength.
Grandmasters and Great Grandmasters were somewhat similar.
However, a Master of Destiny in the First Dynasty was referred to as National Guardian Level, which implied that the First Dynasty’s Master of Destiny must be at the Breakthrough Level.
“I wonder how many National Guardian Levels there are. Can the First Dynasty present multiple National Guardian Level experts?”
He hadn’t received specific information, but such non-critical details were often accessible, so he continued to follow them on the road.
It turns out that these people were headed for the Jiang Family.
Along the way, Wang Sheng also nearly found out just how many National Guardian Level experts the First Dynasty had—not more than the number you can count on one hand.
“No wonder they disperse.”
While it’s unclear how many experts the First Dynasty had, one can imagine it was an abundance.
There are certainly not enough spots for more than five National Guardian Level powerhouses.
Zhu Xiao also became aware of this information.
“National Guardian Level, so there are even stronger individuals above the Master of Destiny?” she wondered.
Her understanding was gradually changing, yet she didn’t consider changing her path or anything like that. The determination required to forge a new path was unimaginably resolute.
About two days later, people from the First Dynasty encountered Jiang Dao.
“Has someone from the ancestral land come to start the struggle?” he thought.
His side was not yet settled, and if the power struggle were to start now, he would not have the strength to join it.
The elder shook his head and simply explained the situation.
Jiang Dao felt somewhat relieved after listening.
It was good that it hadn’t started yet.
As for the dangers mentioned by the elder, he didn’t really care. What did it matter whether it was dangerous or not?
At that stage, just the prospect of longevity alone was enough to attract people.
The elder seemed to understand this too, and finally he sighed and said, “Before we came, the Imperial Sovereign told me that if there were no National Guardian Level powerhouses, then we should help you become strong enough to reach that level.
And there’s one more thing, the competition will soon begin. It’s up to you to decide, but under no circumstances will we go back.”
Like the National Guardian Level powerhouses of the First Dynasty, not one wished to leave.
Did the National Guardian Level powerhouses not know of the danger?
They did!
But the temptation of that position was too great. Everyone with a glimmer of hope in the struggle chose to stay instead of leaving.
Only those without hope were assigned to go to various places as refugees.
“Help me!”
Jiang Dao was overjoyed. His own strength was already extremely formidable, and with the support of such a powerful Great Grandmaster, his victory was practically assured.
The Heavenly Blue Army had collapsed. Now, only the Zhou Tian Army could restrain a powerhouse of that level, and he didn’t need to be the first to confront the forces of Mo Yang, who possessed the Zhou Tian Army.
His advantage was tremendous!
“With your help, I have more soldiers, more powerful allies, the advantage is with me!”
Jiang Dao felt that it wouldn’t be long until he emerged as the final victor, establishing a dynasty to vie for that position.
Indeed, the people of the First Dynasty thought the same. No one understood the rules of a dynasty better than they did.
On their journey, they had also learned a lot.
Although there were other powerhouses, as long as Jiang Dao could engage those top-tier kings, they could intervene and resolve many issues.
Next, Jiang Dao held a welcome reception.
Everyone was happy to have powerful individuals joining them.
This time, only the direct descendants participated, and Wang Sheng learned much information.
For instance, the rebellion of the Zhang family within the Cang Dynasty was actually orchestrated by the Jiang Family.
Another piece of information was that the creator of the First Dynasty, named “Qi,” bore the surname “Jiang”!
“Qi’s last name was Jiang?” Zhu Xiao realized what this meant.
Perhaps from the moment “Qi” created the first dynasty, this world could not escape his mark.
“No wonder the Jiang Family became the first dynasty of this land!”
The Jiang Family themselves were essentially the creators of the Master of Destiny path to establish dynasties; they undoubtedly knew how to forge one.
“Do they intend to rule the world?” Zhu Xiao pondered.
She didn’t believe that the Jiang Family would only send people here; clearly, they had representatives in other places as well.
However, unforeseen incidents allowed other families to rise and become the founders of dynasties, which prevented the Jiang Family’s plans from being completely successful.
“Perhaps, but clearly the plan failed, so there’s no need to worry too much. If they truly felt secure in their position, they wouldn’t resort to schemes against the Cang Dynasty!” she reasoned.
Deception is the norm in war, but if one has sufficient strength, winning without a fight is the best strategy.
“Moreover, if possible, they would surely have preferred to have the First Dynasty cover the whole world, but unfortunately that was not achieved, so they had to resort to a system akin to conferring fiefs…”
The First Dynasty was indeed terrifying.
But upon closer consideration, one could see that the First Dynasty had its limitations.
Zhu Xiao, of course, understood these principles and quickly calmed her emotions.
“This venture has yielded more than I expected!”
Just the information about the First Dynasty alone was enough to keep them occupied for a long time, not to mention the matter of disasters; it all seemed to urge them forward.
“Our strength is insufficient,” both sighed together.
If Wang Sheng had been strong enough, he would not have had to worry about another Breakthrough Level powerhouse apart from himself, he could have used Mind Control, interrogate, a one-two punch without all this fuss.
“I’ll have someone keep an eye on them, they probably won’t act immediately.”
Eventually, Zhu Xiao covertly kept watch on the Jiang Family while the two of them returned.
After Wang Sheng returned to Qingshan Village, he once again went into seclusion.
The emergence of a Breakthrough Level powerhouse and the unknown disaster had put him on alert.
Time passed and nearly half a year went by once more.
Wang Sheng’s cultivation realm had not broken through, but something else was about to breakthrough.
“True Body: 99.99%”
(Failed to keep a consistent writing session today; feeling off, wrote from four to eleven o’clock, aside from eating, about five to six hours to write 7000 words. That’s it for today; firmly deciding not to stay up late writing… it’d only lead to a vicious cycle.)