My brother entrusted his child to me, and I livestreamed raising the baby, making the Empress cry wi

Beyond the borders of the Great Flame Kingdom lies the Western Regions.

As early as last year, Ashina Tuoba, the current king of the Western Regions, had already completed the unification of the entire Western Regions.

This has never happened before in history—

For thousands of years, the Western Regions have been a loose jigsaw puzzle composed of countless states, city-states, and tribes.

Different languages, different scripts, and even different deities are worshipped.

But Ashina Tuoba transformed this scattered land into a solid iron plate in less than ten years.

It can be said that all the land west of the Great Flame now belongs to Ashina Tuoba.

Ashina named his new kingdom Shiyan (噬炎), revealing his ambition for the Great Flame Kingdom and his long-standing plan to put it into action.

However, the scouts he sent a few months ago reported back about the Sky Curtain, which made him very wary, so he held back for the time being.

He was drinking in the royal tent when he first heard the words "Sky Curtain," and the sheepskin map still bore the attack routes he had drawn with his finger.

The scout knelt in the tent, covered in dust and sweat, and said that a huge curtain of light had suddenly appeared in the sky above the Great Flame Kingdom.

Inside, you can see images of immortals in action, and people from the Great Flame Kingdom can speak up and communicate with the immortals from afar.

That immortal could even cause sores to grow on people's mouths from a distance; he truly possessed extraordinary abilities.

Before confirming the identity of the immortal, Ashina dared not make any rash moves, and the attack had to be put on hold for the time being.

Later, when the Great Flame was in turmoil, he sent someone to secretly approach the neglected Second Princess Shu Rou.

Originally, they planned to wait until Wang Meng and the Great Flame Empress were both exhausted from their battle, then put her on the throne as a puppet, with their own people as regents, and work together to gradually devour the Great Flame Empire.

Unexpectedly, the Empress of the Great Flame was so easily defeated.

Wang Meng's advance was unstoppable. He marched south from the northern border, and cities along the way surrendered at the mere sight of him. The defending troops either defected or collapsed.

It could almost be said that he fought several battles along the way, and then marched all the way into the palace. No one could stop him and his iron cavalry even for a moment.

His men had to leave first, otherwise, if they were discovered and traced back to him, he didn't want to confront this newly rising general of the Great Flame Army head-on without being prepared.

Then, under Wang Meng's leadership, the Great Flame gradually stabilized, and it was said that the Celestial Immortal bestowed divine weapons and books to help them.

He was even less likely to act rashly and could only continue to wait for a possible opportunity.

Ashina was a man who could lie in ambush in the desert for a day and a night without eating, drinking, or moving, just to wait for a prey to pass by. His patience was enough to make anyone in the Western Regions feel ashamed.

But this time, the wait only made him more anxious, because this time it was different; this time it wasn't just about waiting—

He would have to wait and watch helplessly as his prey grew stronger and stronger.

He didn't believe the divine weapon's power at all when the scouts first reported it.

What?! A single stick can carve through mountains and pierce armor, allowing one to fight ten men, or someone with profound martial arts skills can even take on a hundred? Is this some kind of story?! Does he think he's someone who's never been on a battlefield?!

Until he saw it with his own eyes.

Weicheng, located on the western border of the Great Flame, is the land border between the Devouring Flame and the Great Flame.

Meanwhile, ahead, Wang Meng's troops, which had marched south, were engaged in battle with Shu Jingwei's garrison in Weicheng.

The Weicheng garrison, which had once fought the Western Regions troops to a standstill, couldn't even hold out for a single encounter!

The battle ended in a very short time.

Those Wang Meng soldiers, wielding gray iron rods, pierced through the stone bunkers like tofu with a single blow, sending rubble flying several meters away.

One by one, the soldiers swept the sticks horizontally, and the defenders at the forefront were swept away and fell to the ground, never to get up again.

The screams were drowned out by the shrill whistling of metal cutting through the air, and the shadows on the ground fell haphazardly, like withered grass snapped by the wind.

If divine weapons are already so powerful, what about those divine books?

His people could only access the teachings on planting, but according to legend, the divine book also recorded iron smelting and even more advanced magic.

The flames were growing stronger and stronger.

Ashina stood atop the highest tower in the capital, gazing at the vast continent to the east, his hands clenched tightly.

As time goes by, once they have thoroughly studied those divine books, they will be able to create their own divine weapons and master advanced magic...

By then, Great Flame's strength will far surpass that of Devouring Flame. No matter how fast his cavalry is, it cannot outrun magic; no matter how sharp his scimitar is, it cannot pierce divine weapons...

Will he still have a chance to crush the Great Flame and wash away the shame Ye Fan brought to his father's clan?

Ye Fan!

Every time he thinks of that name, he subconsciously clenches his fists and grits his teeth.

That was the most unforgettable humiliation for his father's clan—

Back then, his father, the king of the largest kingdom in the Western Regions, the Kingdom of Zhu, once led his army eastward, wanting to take a bigger piece of the fat from the Great Flame.

But then they encountered Ye Fan, who rose to prominence unexpectedly. Ye Fan, with fewer troops, defeated his father's soldiers, leaving none alive.

When Father fled back to the royal tent, his hair was disheveled, and he could barely hold his sword. He sat in the tent for three whole days before finally speaking his first words on the fourth day:

Ashina, in this lifetime, never go east again.

After that, my father lost all his former vitality, became depressed, and died not long after, with his eyes open.

His head was tilted to the side, his two cloudy eyes fixed on the east, gazing at the direction that had brought him to his utter defeat.

Ashina remembered clearly the oath he swore while kneeling before his father's coffin:

He vowed that one day he would crush the Great Flame and use Ye Fan's blood and the Great Flame's territory to wash away the shame of his father's clan.

Ye Fan is no longer here, but the great flame is growing stronger and stronger...

Ashina lived in such anxiety and resentment, each day feeling like an eternity, until today.

Before these people even got close to the South China Sea, the people stationed at the Western Regions had already spotted them.

In the drizzling rain, a fast horse galloped out of the coastal watchtower, its hooves flying.

Ashina's chosen capital was located on the coast, and the spies delivered the message to the capital within the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

He was in the royal study at the time, with a parchment map spread out in front of him and two documents that he had not yet finished reviewing beside him.

The scout tumbled off the horse and knelt down the moment his feet touched the ground, covered in mud and sweat, panting heavily.

He reported in a deep voice, "Your Majesty, a large number of unidentified ships have been discovered along the coast. I estimate there are at least a hundred of them. The ships are of various types, including those used for trade and warfare."

Ashina frowned. Unidentified vessel?

His first thought was of Da Yan, after all, ever since he adopted that name, he had been prepared to become enemies with Da Yan.

Then it dawned on them that the navy of the Great Flame Kingdom was not strong, but the Great Flame Kingdom was a powerful land power with elite infantry. Now, with the addition of divine weapons, they were even more unstoppable.

But the situation at sea is different, and the nearest coastal defense garrison in Dayan is several days' journey away, and it is not large in scale, so it is impossible for it to have hundreds of ships.

If it's not Da Yan, then who could it be?