Although Li Chang’an had amassed an army of three hundred thousand, he was still stretched thin under the joint attack of two nations.

However, Li Chang’an was clearly not worried. In fact, he was remarkably calm and composed.

The various nations all thought he would actually dispatch his grand army to crush them.

In reality, however, Li Chang’an had never counted on his army from the start.

’Is Great Zhou that formidable in a fight? Even if we are, we can’t possibly fight eleven nations at once.’

The only reason he had made such bold declarations and postured as if he were about to dispatch his forces was to expose the true colors of the other nations to their own people.

Once that objective was achieved, the three-hundred-thousand-strong army he had assembled was purely for defending their homeland.

「In the Great Zhou Imperial Palace.」

Li Chang’an handed over all the authority of the Emperor to his younger brother, Li Yuanqing. He then traveled directly to the Da Yuan Imperial Palace with Lu Shang and Elder Hun.

The armies clashing below were not the heart of this conflict. At best, they were merely a side effect—the spillover from the real war.

The true core of this battle was the high-ranking officials of each nation and the Cultivators who could appear at any moment!

Li Chang’an’s plan was to go from nation to nation, killing every high-ranking official who was colluding with the Cultivators.

Of course, his enemies weren’t fools. They wouldn’t just wait for him to pick them off one by one.

Thus, the moment they entered the Da Yuan Imperial Palace, both Li Chang’an and Lu Shang felt a succession of seven or eight incredibly powerful and dangerous auras.

Clearly, the enemy was already prepared for them!

When the seven ambushing Cultivators revealed themselves within the Da Yuan Imperial Palace, both Li Chang’an and Lu Shang’s expressions grew grim.

Of the seven powerful auras, three were on par with Great Zhou’s old ancestor. The remaining four, while slightly weaker, were still far beyond what any ordinary Martial Artist could handle.

Fortunately, like the Great Zhou ancestor, they had all descended as Soul Bodies. Otherwise, even if Li Chang’an and Lu Shang sprouted extra arms, they would have struggled to contend with so many Cultivators.

Upon seeing Li Chang’an and Lu Shang appear,

a hoarse-voiced elder stared intently at them, his expression a mixture of shock and suspicion. "Which one of you," he demanded, "destroyed a fragment of Elder Xiao’s soul?"

Elder Xiao?

Both Li Chang’an and Lu Shang froze for a moment before the realization dawned on them.

’The Elder Xiao he’s talking about must be the old ancestor of Great Zhou.’

Because Li Chang’an had used his Soul Fire to devour the man’s entire soul, they had no way of knowing the specifics of what had happened.

All they knew was that their connection to that soul had been abruptly severed.

This was precisely the outcome Li Chang’an had hoped for.

As the Cultivators’ scrutinizing gazes swept over them, Lu Shang, who was beside Li Chang’an, took a deep breath. Steeling himself, he stepped forward and declared proudly, "I did it. What are you going to do about it?"

At his response,

all the Cultivators’ eyes focused on Lu Shang.

The hoarse-voiced Cultivator’s eyes glinted as he stared at Lu Shang. "Elder Xiao’s soul was severely wounded," he asked sinisterly. "How did you manage that?"

As he spoke, the hoarse-voiced Cultivator seemed to recall something.

After sizing Lu Shang up, his expression suddenly darkened, his face contorting with killing intent. "I see now. You are the Child of Destiny, chosen by this world’s Will. No wonder you could threaten Elder Xiao and cause such a stir..."

This Cultivator was clearly well-informed.

He hadn’t recognized Lu Shang’s status at first glance, but it didn’t take him long to figure it out.

The others were clearly a beat slower, only now coming to the same realization.

The hoarse-voiced elder’s eyes lit up as he stared at Lu Shang. "Our Profound Celestial Sect searched long and hard for this world’s World Consciousness, but we found nothing. We thought this world didn’t even have one. To think it was just that good at hiding!"

At this, the elder licked his lips, his voice filled with greedy impatience. "If we capture you, we should be able to find that old thing. A World Spirit—the physical manifestation of a World Consciousness—is a rare and precious treasure! Selling it would be enough for each of us to forge a Celestial-level Treasure!"

Hearing the words "Celestial-level Treasure,"

the faces of the other six Cultivators lit up with excitement.

Clearly, Lu Shang’s presence had successfully captured their full attention.

This was all part of the battle strategy Elder Hun had devised for Li Chang’an: use Lu Shang as bait to make the other Cultivators overlook Li Chang’an himself.

Then, at the critical moment, Li Chang’an could seize the opportunity to land a fatal blow.

Li Chang’an had originally thought the plan was rather crude.

He never expected it to be so effective in practice.

’It seems Elder Hun really understands Cultivators. Otherwise, he couldn’t have predicted their mindset so perfectly from the very beginning!’

As he watched the seven Cultivators charge toward him,

led by the hoarse-voiced one, their gazes weren’t fixed on a mere Martial Artist from the Lower Realm. Instead, they stared at him as if he were a walking gold mine.

Even though he knew they were all just avatars, being targeted by so many pairs of eyes made Lu Shang’s scalp tingle. He nearly jumped out of his skin in fright.

He was, after all, now a Martial Artist at the Martial God Realm.

Moreover, thanks to his cultivation of the Martial Scripture, his combat prowess had increased significantly in that time.

Therefore, after taking a deep breath, he was just barely able to steady his nerves.

"Seize!"

One of the Cultivators flicked his wide sleeve, intending to capture Lu Shang within it.

The Cultivators were clearly determined to take him alive, so they were restrained in their use of Techniques.

Lu Shang dodged and weaved. Though his footwork was clumsy and he looked utterly wretched, he managed to withstand their coordinated assault for several exchanges.

"Hmph..."

After dodging a grasping hand at the last possible second, Lu Shang panted heavily and shot a glance at Li Chang’an, who was standing off to the side, watching the show while looking for an opening.

’Damn it!’

If he had a moment to spare for words, he would have already let loose a string of colorful curses.

...