Master of Strange Dao

Many doubts abound, yet even without proof, it's enough for him to start making moves.

Concerning Old Emperor Zhen and the great upheaval from over two thousand years ago, Li Xingchen personally took charge this time.

He began to visit the subordinates of Old King Qi quietly, starting from the most loyal followers, making his rounds one by one.

On the other hand, King Qi, completely unaware of the impending crisis, was in the study of his residence.

Sitting across from him was a White Water Egg with no facial features and no hair.

The White Water Egg wore an unadorned black robe, sitting there quietly waiting.

"Your Highness, King Qi, your movements are too slow,"

"This is already quite fast, and there will be results soon. If all goes well, we will certainly go to war with Dali to reclaim the lost land." King Qi did not look at the White Water Egg, focusing on his book, scribbling and drawing on the paper.

"Your Highness, before the dust has settled, anything is possible.

Emperor Zhen does not wish to pressure you too much, but that doesn't mean you can pressure Emperor Zhen excessively.

If you pressure Emperor Zhen like this, it would be better to just find an excuse, create friction, and go to war without a formal declaration.

The West Desolate Army of Dali can enter the battlefield on all fronts within three days.

Emperor Zhen won't be able to stop them."

"I cannot be the one to initiate this. If you have someone else, then go find them.

As soon as someone takes the lead, I will immediately send troops to press forward."

"Your Highness, you may not understand the current situation. If a civil war starts, all your plans will fall through."

"King Xiang won't move, the Lei Clan won't move, I won't move, and Emperor Zhen won't move; then no civil war will break out." King Qi remained unmoved, continuing his drawing without raising his head.

The White Water Egg fell silent for a moment, then with a wave of his hand, tossed out a roll of beast skin.

"This is what Your Highness desires, isn't it? I'll give it to you now."

King Qi glanced at the beast skin, which unrolled on its own to reveal a map.

The terrain changed as if one could freely switch perspective, zooming in or out at will.

Looking at the beast skin, King Qi revealed a trace of a smile.

"Within a month, the great army of Dazhen will definitely appear at the Southern Border."

The White Water Egg said nothing and vanished without a trace.

Only then did King Qi raise his head to glance at the empty chair.

"Heh..."

He knew how to communicate with these White Water Eggs.

As long as he didn't see their faces, there would be no effect on him.

Even though he didn't know who the other party was, their identity, the content of their interactions remained unaffected.

Looking back on it now, there was no problem at all.

He completed the drawing with a flourish of his brush; although it seemed to be a normal landscape painting, in reality, his entire interaction with the White Water Egg was recorded precisely.

It was just that in the recording, the White Water Egg didn't exist as a person; it was as though he was speaking with a nonexistent being.

After drying the ink, he casually stored the painting away, slotting it into a porcelain jar in the corner.

He picked up the beast skin and examined it, watching as the contents of the map continuously changed.

Indistinctly, one could make out some hidden cities emerging on the map, and gradually, as the perspective of the map shifted, a mountain range appeared in the center.

Among the mountains, there was one that resembled a colossal skull.

""This is the place."

He had to minimize the map to its smallest scale before he noticed that it seemed incomplete.

"Ha, these folks really wouldn't hand over the map so easily, they all want a piece of the action."

King Qi put away the map but didn't care too much, for the place he intended to visit was the most important to him.

Looking at the sky, dawn was breaking. He straightened his clothes, boarded the Jade Chariot, left his residence, and headed to court.

Recently, he had been staying in the Capital City precisely to apply pressure and stir up arguments. The court meetings, which used to happen once in eight hundred years, were now daily occurrences.

In King Qi's absence, the old King Qi's subordinates had already begun to make secret contacts.

After meeting with them, Li Xingchen displayed one matter after another and, without saying anything, these old subordinates couldn't hold back any longer.

Some of them, with fiery tempers, even thought about confronting King Qi in person.

In Dazhen's culture, patricide was a grave crime.

Especially committing patricide for personal gain was an unforgivable sin.

This was why King Xiang, previously acting like a madman, biting anyone he saw, was just trying to save Old Emperor Zhen. Everyone knew what he wanted to do, but in the end, they let him cause a commotion.

It's just that if King Xiang had been forcibly involved and rebelled in a fit of rage, someone might have stopped him.

But in the case of Old Emperor Zhen, no one would interfere.

That's also why King Xiang, even though he made a huge fuss in the beginning, ended up with everything settling down without resolution.

Emperor Zhen simply thought King Xiang lacked brains and, being provoked by the issue with Old Emperor Zhen, couldn't help himself.

The Lei Clan also thought King Xiang lacked brains. For saving Old Emperor Zhen, he didn't care about anything else afterward, and in the end, they just held their noses and ignored him.

No matter how one looked at it, everyone secretly approved of King Xiang's determination. If they couldn't publicly support him, they would do it secretly and help him.

Otherwise, with King Xiang being like that, he would have long since been done for, unable to cultivate peacefully.

Within the central part of Dazhen, beneath the glaciers of the Hengduan Mountains that traverse north to south,

two White Water Eggs, distinguishable only by variations in their size and weight, came together.

"You gave him the map?" the slim White Water Egg asked.

"I gave him the portion he wanted, but not the map of the path in the middle." the tall White Water Egg nodded.

"What did he say?"

"Within a month, war will break out with Dali."

"That's good. It's also time for me to leave the Faceless Man. These years, I've been restricted in every way, daring not to do anything. Li Xingchen may look rough, but he's actually like a viper. Once he has set his eyes on someone, even if he ignores them for the next ten years, we cannot let down our guard."

"Yes, finally a war is about to start. This time, no one will hold back Dazhen. As long as Dazhen and Dali go to war, we'll have ways to make them keep fighting. What's the situation with Daqian?"

"As long as we're stuck in the mire of war, Daqian won't be able to resist.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely sure. The Crown Prince of Daqian and the Second Prince, along with the remaining princes, have been causing a ruckus lately.

The Second Prince has obtained a Jade Tablet forged in Jinlan Mountain, which made quite an impression, overtly and covertly undermining the Crown Prince of Daqian.

If there's a chance to achieve a great deed, neither the Crown Prince nor the other princes will let it slip by.

Emperor Qian plans to retreat for his cultivation's Advanced Tenth Tier preparation; he must also want to strike at Dali opportunistically beforehand.

Even if he doesn't expand his territory, weakening Dali's accumulated strength to ensure stability for a few more centuries would be sufficient."

"Good, let's hurry up. Once we're done, we must follow King Qi to the location on the map right away. That is the big issue."