Master of Strange Dao

There's no hiding, no daring to hide.

If one hid, then everyone within the Capital Mansion would be forced to take that hit head-on.

That guy had everything calculated to the last detail, burning all he had just to deliver a severe blow to Li Xingchen. It wasn't a self-explosion at all.

Li Xingchen's face was grave, the flesh that had vanished from his face began to slowly regenerate, the flesh on his arms, however, was restoring at an extremely slow pace.

The attack was specifically designed against him.

Then he thought of King Qi, who had burned everything yet only barely reached the Ninth Tier with an unstable Realm.

On the surface, King Qi had fallen, and the gates of the Capital Mansion were immediately opened from the inside.

The few who desperately resisted weren't many, the truly loyal had already been arranged by King Qi to battle against Dali, all to garner as much hatred as possible, and force Emperor Zhen into a corner.

With the city gates wide open, Li Xingchen immediately gave his orders.

"Spread the command, capture King Qi. The one just now was only an incarnation. This guy had prepared such an incarnation long ago and was harboring ill intentions."

However, the incarnation's final grand gesture of sacrifice and the words he shouted out before death were somewhat problematic.

Many didn't know the truth.

For example, other Kings, upon learning of this matter, would certainly have their suspicions, better to believe it possible than not at all.

This was the real trouble that would follow.

Li Xingchen himself took action, and the Faceless Man also began to move in large numbers, not only in King Qi's territory but also in the other Kings' lands.

In one day's time, the army of King Qi, except for those who had already broken through the borders, was all brought under control.

The follow-up cleanup was a slow process.

Looking at the newly delivered reports, Dali and a portion of King Qi's subordinates were fighting fiercely.

Those people, it was unclear how King Qi had brainwashed them, fought until the end, all of them employing Forbidden Techniques to fight desperately to the death.

After Dali slaughtered those men, with blood-lust in their eyes and originally intending to continue charging towards Dazhen, in the end, they sounded the retreat.

Dazhen and Dali once again maintained this strange standoff.

Even Dali's army, which spread tens of thousands of miles along the border, began to move toward the northwest side, while there was almost no military strength left in the northeast part.

Li Xingchen understood that if Emperor Zhen hadn't allowed King Xiang to request Jinlan Mountain's mediation, by now Dali's army would have surely been fighting with Dazhen's.

At that time, Dazhen and Dali would be at war, plus King Qi's heartless scheming, costing an incarnation as the price, to pull off such a deceitful trick.

With just a slight friction, civil war within Dazhen would have inevitably erupted.

After King Qi's territory was secured, Li Xingchen handed the reports over to the commanding general and withdrew from handling the situation.

Dali shifting the army from the eastern border to this side naturally provided the opportunity for Dazhen to take back the agreed-upon half of the lost territory.

Even though it was agreed upon, Dali would definitely not hand it over openly and directly; there were procedures to be followed.

Now Dazhen's forces headed to the eastern portion of the border line could easily retrieve that half of the lost territory.

When the time came, no matter what was said, it would have been Dazhen who recaptured the territory, not handed over directly by Dali.

To hand it over directly meant that the matter would need to be openly discussed at the court assembly.

As it was, the situation became Dali diverting main forces to the south to confront Daqian, thus weakening the northern forces, which Dazhen exploited.

They had to choose either to defend the south or the north.

Even if the northern forces, upon losing half of the taken territory to Dazhen, could not blame them for much.

After all, with battles on both northern and southern fronts, the weaker northern forces withstood Dazhen, not allowing them to break through and letting the southern forces concentrate their troops; thus, the Northern Border soldiers had performed a great service.

In the end, Emperor Zhen was satisfied, and the soldiers of Dazhen had made their achievements.

Emperor Li was satisfied, and the Crown Prince also felt content, even Northern Dali's soldiers, though they lost some of the territory they had taken, ultimately were credited for their service.

It was a time of joy for everyone.

The soldiers in the north weren't aware of the situation, but the top generals each had their secret orders; they considered it a training exercise, covertly slacking off, with nothing to worry about, having a minor skirmish with Dazhen to drill the troops.

Now, the focus was on the south.

The armies of Kuihou Country and another small nation were positioned between Dali and Daqian, where they shared a direct border, arrayed for battle.

The Western Desolation General sat in his tent, looking south and laughing heartily.

"After how many years, I've been waiting for countless years, just to have a clash with Daqian. Today, my wish has finally been fulfilled.

Unfortunately, this time it isn't His Highness in person."

"You oaf, what nonsense are you spouting? If His Highness came in person, it would be forcing Emperor Qian to wage all-out war," a fellow general laughed and scolded.

"Bring it on, are we afraid of Daqian?

Now it's not just your army at hand, my entire West Desolate Army is gathered here, while Northn Qian's defending forces are even weaker than decades ago.

Haven't you always been eager to advance another three thousand miles into the southern territory?

Well, hasn't the opportunity arrived?"

"Advancing a thousand miles is plenty, any more, and I'm afraid Daqian would call in reinforcements from the east, west, and south," the other replied.

"Hahaha, you say you don't want to, but which of us in the military doesn't dream of expanding territories?"

"Alright, take it easy, do not push too hard. It's agreed that at the beginning of the war, your West Desolate Army won't take action."

"Understood," came the reply.

The military campaign of the Divine Dynasty had just begun.

And elsewhere, King Qi, who had quietly escaped, had already surreptitiously arrived near the Abyssal Rift in northwestern Dali.

Once at the agreed-upon location, he saw a figure wearing a metal mask, the White Water Egg, step out from behind a tree.