Starting as the heir of a marquis's mansion, I gained access to a summoning system.

The night breeze, carrying the dampness of Yangzhou, swept through the corridors, fluttering the hem of Bai Yujing's robe beneath them.

He had been standing outside the secret room for almost the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the urgent report from the western border in his hand was slightly crumpled from being squeezed between his fingertips, but he still did not raise his hand to knock on the door.

The door opened.

When Dongfang Weiwo pushed open the door, the aftershocks of his spiritual energy had not yet completely subsided, and faint golden arcs of electricity flickered along the edge of his black robe.

He looked up and saw Bai Yujing, his gaze lingering on the urgent report for a moment.

"Young master."

Bai Yujing stepped forward, her voice low and urgent, "Guan Yutian has arrived. Guangming Palace has retreated thirty li."

Dongfang Weiwo received the urgent report.

The pages were still covered with fine sand from the western desert. Guan Yutian's handwriting was as strong as iron strokes and silver hooks. The three characters "thirty li" were powerful and penetrating the paper. The ink traces faintly retained the warmth of innate qi.

He scanned the contents without moving his lips, simply folding the page twice and handing it back.

"Inform Pang Ban. The Western Ghost Emperor has returned to his position, and the western front of the Underworld is now secure. Tell him to focus all his attention on the south and not to be distracted."

"Yes." Bai Yujing took the paper, bowed, and took three steps back. When she turned around, her steps were three times lighter than when she came, and her blue figure quickly disappeared at the end of the corridor.

I stood alone under the eaves in the east, hands behind my back, gazing at the southwest horizon.

That ever-present white light still stretched out at the edge of the horizon, like a frozen snowfield hanging on the edge of the sky—the encampment of the 100,000 Radiant Armors.

They stopped thirty miles away and did not go any further. The boundary line was drawn so clearly, as if someone had carved a deep line between heaven and earth with a knife.

When the Western Ghost Emperor arrived, he became a wall.

At the same moment, on the western border.

The desert wind, carrying scorching sand, lashed my face; the air was so dry it felt like it was about to ignite.

As Guan Yutian rode alone against the pale, scorching sun to the edge of the desert, a line of snow-white finally appeared on the horizon—the patrolling cavalry of the Bright Heaven Palace.

The centurion riding the Sunbeast was entirely silver-white, its four hooves gleaming when they touched the ground. Its armor was as white as fresh snow, and the way it held its hand on the hilt of its sword was so perfect it looked as if it had been copied from a painting.

Ten riders stood behind him, their breaths rising in white mist that formed a chilling curtain of light.

"stop!"

The centurion's voice was clear and bright, like the clash of metal. His blade was already three inches from its sheath, and the sunlight reflected off the blade, making one's pupils shrink slightly.

"The area ahead is the headquarters of the Light Legion. Unauthorized personnel are strictly prohibited from approaching! Violators will be punished—"

His words trailed off.

Guan Yutian reined in his horse and stopped. He didn't even change his posture much, but he slightly turned his gaze from his horse and glanced at the centurion.

That glance wasn't significant. It was just a look.

The centurion's hand holding the knife began to tremble violently, from his knuckles to his wrist, shaking like a withered leaf in the autumn wind.

The scabbard made a soft clinking sound in his palm before falling into the sand with a "thud".

The sun-beast beneath him suddenly went limp, letting out a mournful "woof" as it knelt in the dust, its silvery mane desperately trying to shrink back against the sand.

The ten Sunbeasts in the rear followed, swaying and bobbing. The silver-armored knights struggled to pull on the reins, only to be dragged about by their own mounts.

Guan Yutian withdrew his gaze, as if he had looked at a boring blade of grass and then looked away.

He took a deep breath, and the instant his chest swelled, his innate inner energy surged from his dantian, rushing straight up along the meridians in his throat.

"Go back and tell Dharma King Jingguang—"

The sound was carried a hundred miles away by the force of the energy, echoing endlessly in the desert sky, shaking the sand and causing the palm leaves of the distant oasis to tremble.

"The Western Ghost Emperor, Guan Yutian, is here to guard the pass for you, young master. Take another half step—and it will be a matter of life and death!"

As the last four words fell, the centurion coughed up blood and collapsed onto the sand, unable to lift his head again. Guan Yutian turned his horse around, and the two of them, one on horseback and one on foot, slowly rode away with their backs to the light barrier, their hooves leaving deep indentations in the sand.

Three days later.

Outside the main hall of the Bright Heaven Palace, on the plaza paved with sunstone, 100,000 soldiers in bright armor stood in formation like snow.

The shields were pieced together to form a blazing light curtain, and the Sunstone absorbed the ultimate yang energy of heaven and earth under the scorching sun. The entire floating palace was filled with the light and spewed out a magnificent white flame.

Guan Yutian stood alone at the edge of the square, his hands behind his back.

He wore a long robe of dark gold, which made him look like an inappropriate ink dot in this blindingly white world, yet also like a deeply driven iron nail, unmoved by the erosion of light and tide.

Golden energy condensed around him into a huge phantom of a golden bell, with ancient seal script patterns faintly appearing on its surface. Each time the light barrier approached, it was silently shattered.

He raised his right hand. Golden dragon-shaped energy swirled out from his palm, transforming from the size of a thumb into a golden dragon over ten feet long in the blink of an eye, complete with scales and claws, its whiskers and eyes bulging, its roar deep like distant thunder.

"Mighty Dragon God Palm."

His tone was even calm when he uttered those four words. With a single palm strike, the golden dragon was released from his grasp.

The shield formation of 100,000 Radiant Armorers in front of them shattered instantly.

The fragments of the Sunstone were blasted into a shower of sparks by the force of the palm strike, like an inverted meteor shower. The golden dragon-shaped energy penetrated nearly a hundred feet deep into the array, tearing a charred crack in the light barrier.

The force, undiminished, pierced straight through the main gate of the holy city and slammed heavily into the Sunstone dome.

The entire floating palace swayed three times.

In the first breath, the light curtain rippled like a shattered mirror. In the second breath, fine white dust fell softly from the cracks in the roof.

The third breath—the palace stabilized, but the indentation left by that palm strike was deeply embedded in the center of the main gate, like a palm-sized golden brand.

The palace doors slowly opened.

The Dharma King Jingguang walked out of the main hall. He wore a white robe and was barefoot, his feet were not covered with a speck of dust, his face was compassionate and solemn, and the sun mark between his eyebrows flickered like a lamp in his breath.

His aura was vast and clear, like an endless expanse of white daylight spreading out. His late-stage Celestial Realm was as stable as a mountain, unmoving.

"Who are you?" The Dharma King stopped at the top of the steps, his gaze falling on Guan Yutian.

Guan Yutian withdrew his palm, stood with his hands behind his back below the steps, and looked back.

The way he looked at the Dharma King Jingguang was not much different from how he looked at the centurion, except that the corner of his lips twitched slightly—as if he was confirming the weight of his opponent.

"The Heavenly Emperor. The Western Ghost Emperor of the Underworld."

Then he tilted his head slightly and raised his chin toward the dark golden pillar of spiritual energy in the east.

"I'll guard this pass for you, young master. Once your troops cross the line, I'll come and give you a heads-up."

The Dharma King Jingguang remained silent. His gaze passed over Guan Yutian's shoulder and looked towards the eastern horizon, where a dark golden pillar of light stood like a ladder to heaven a thousand miles away, its light steady and profound.

Beneath the beam of light, he could vaguely see the outline of a young man in black standing in the light. His face was not visible, but he could sense that the man's breathing resonated with the beam of light.

"Young master is...?" the Dharma King asked in a low voice.

"Young Master Dongfang," Guan Yutian answered readily, "He's in charge of my passes."

The Dharma King nodded. There was no anger, no questioning, no intention to establish his authority. He simply turned around, his white robe brushing against the threshold, and stepped barefoot into the shadows of the hall. The hall doors slowly closed behind him, making a dull thud.

The 100,000 Radiant Armorers retreated in formation like a white wave, heading towards the outskirts of the oasis. The light from the Sunstone remained bright during the retreat, but the scorch mark carved by the palm strike lay across the center of the plaza, and it would not fade anytime soon.

Guan Yutian turned and left. After taking three steps, he took out a jade slip from his sleeve, inscribed five characters with his fingertips, and tossed it eastward. The jade slip shot out in a golden light, unaffected by wind, sand, rain, or snow during its journey.

"They have retreated thirty li."

There was no pride, no elaboration. He simply carried out the young master's orders.

The core area of ​​spiritual energy on the west side.

He took action on the very day he took office.

He walked three laps around the outer edge of the pillar of spiritual energy, each step leaving a half-foot-deep footprint in the sand, with three swirling traces of spiritual energy condensing at the edges. He stopped after the third lap and suddenly stretched his arms outwards.

Three vortexes of energy surged out of his body simultaneously.

To the west, the chilling aura of the Heavenly Frost Fist surged up from the ground, turning the hundred-foot-wide desert into an ice wall. The ice layers piled up at a visible speed, each layer adorned with frost-like patterns of fist intent. As the cold wave advanced into the distance, the sand along its path froze into tiny ice beads, which fell to the ground with a crackling sound.

To the north, the wind god's leg whipped up a wind barrier that blotted out the sky, drawing yellow sand into the cyclone to form a yellowish-brown tornado that stretched from the sky to the ground, its roar like the howl of ten thousand beasts.

To the south, the clouds gathered in the sky like a giant canopy, the gray-white cloud curtain pressed extremely low, with faint flashes of lightning and muffled thunder in the clouds.

The three elements merged into one. The Qi of the Three Elements Returning to Origin expanded rapidly within the radiant light of the heavens and earth at the core of spiritual energy, forcibly incorporating a territory of three thousand miles into the jurisdiction of the Azure Dragon Society.

The scouts sent by the Bright Heaven Palace observed from afar for a whole day, and lay behind the sand dunes, using their magic mirrors to reflect the three barriers that appeared as tall as mountains.

On the morning of the third day, the scout captain withdrew his equipment and sent an urgent report back to the Holy City, consisting of only one sentence: "Do not advance rashly."

After that, not a single patrol team of the Light Armor dared to step out of the oasis again.

Xiong Ba sat cross-legged atop the pillar of spiritual energy, overlooking the vast wilderness below.

Spiritual energy surged from the pillar of light, flowing into his entire body and meridians. The resonance between the Threefold Returning to Origin Qi and the radiance of heaven and earth caused the barriers within his body to begin to loosen—there was still a path beyond the peak of the Celestial Realm, and that path was unfolding inch by inch in this spiritual land beneath his feet.

He took a deep breath, and the three vortexes of energy in his chest emitted a satisfied low hum at the same time.

Half a day later, a jade slip flew in from the east and hovered outside the pillar of light.

"Xiong Ba."

Dongfang Weiwo's voice emanated from the jade slip, calm as ever, "As the Great Leader of the Azure Dragon Society, after the defenses are in place, dedicate half your energy to guarding the pass. The other half—cultivate. I need you to become stronger."

Xiong Ba reached out and grasped the jade slip in his palm. As he closed his fingers, he crushed the jade slip into powder with a "crack." The powder fell from between his fingers, scattering in all directions as it was swept away by spiritual energy.

He closed his eyes, a slight upturn of his lips revealing an almost blissful smile.

"Yes, sir."