Please be my partner.

Wan'er chuckled and said, "Although I know it's impossible, I still want to say that if Mr. Zhao were willing to tie his own hands and feet and come back with me, he might be able to avoid this calamity today. What do you think, Mr. Zhao?"

Zhao Jian's eyes turned cold, having lost all interest in conversation. He suddenly leaped into the air and shouted, "Sharp-tongued! I'd like to see if you'll still be laughing when I catch you!"

With a single leap, Zhao Jian arrived before Wan'er. A hazy aura suddenly emanated from his body, and this aura was extremely peculiar, containing substantial black mist.

Wan'er's gaze sharpened, and she shouted softly, "Kill!"

The five thousand soldiers behind her immediately exuded their military spirit and blood essence, which flowed into Wan'er's body.

Wan'er drew the long sword from her waist; the once gleaming blade had completely turned black and red.

"Ding!~"

With a crisp clash of weapons, Zhao Jian withdrew, exclaiming in astonishment, "He's not a Martial Saint, yet he can mobilize such a powerful military formation? That's impossible!"

Wan'er twirled her sword and laughed, "The Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend Qi is indeed quite interesting. No wonder the Nine Provinces Alliance has made such a name for itself. Just the enhancement of the inner and outer realms by these two treasures is enough to give the Martial Saints of the Nine Provinces Alliance combat power that surpasses that of their peers."

The Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend Qi that Wan'er mentioned are not just figments of her imagination, but real treasures that exist in this world. They are Earthly Fiend Qi and Heavenly Gang Qi, respectively. These two treasures can be integrated with the inner and outer landscapes, allowing martial saints to unleash even greater power.

However, the Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiends have many properties, some of which even conflict with each other. If they are absorbed and integrated indiscriminately, it will not only be useless but also harmful. On the other hand, some can complement each other and produce wonderful synergistic reactions.

The Kyushu Alliance has conducted the most in-depth research on this topic.

When Mellen went on his martial arts tour, he naturally visited the Nine Provinces Alliance. However, for him at that time, the so-called Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiends were just external things and were no longer of much use.

Realizing that these soldiers were no easy rabble, Zhao Jian held back and shouted, "Kill!"

Behind him, more than three hundred elite soldiers shouted in unison, "Kill! Kill!! Kill!!!"

Although they numbered only one-tenth, these elite troops of Dayong unleashed a powerful aura like a thousand troops.

The two armies collided with a deafening roar, their military spirits and bloodlust faintly transforming into ferocious beasts that tore and gnawed at each other in mid-air.

While Wan'er and Zhao Jian were entangled, two ordinary soldiers in the Three Kingdoms Allied Forces suddenly burst forth, instantly killing more than ten Dayong soldiers. Using them as the spearhead, the latter's formation was quickly broken and scattered, and the military formation immediately became useless. The military spirit Blood Fiend in the sky also let out a mournful cry and was torn to pieces by another ferocious beast of a larger size.

By the time Zhao Jian realized he had fallen into a trap, it was too late to turn the tide.

Even though Zhao Jian was a Martial Saint, he could only die in the end under the siege of the army and the suppression of the military formation.

Wan'er calmly looked at Zhao Jian's corpse, lightly flicked her sword to shake off the blood, and then sheathed it.

The two who had played a crucial role approached Wan'er and said with grins, "Congratulations, elder sister, on slaying a Great Yong Martial Saint! Even Master would be astonished to hear of such a feat!"

Wan'er's expression softened, and she said, "Xiao Qi and Xiao Ba, it's all thanks to you. If you hadn't stepped in to defeat the Dayong elites, this battle wouldn't have been so easy."

Xiao Qi shook his head and said, "Speaking of which, the elite troops of Dayong are indeed formidable. They can fight even more fiercely under such pressure. Even though our numbers are ten times that of theirs, the casualty ratio is almost one to one."

Xiao Ba added, "Indeed, on the right battlefield, the role of this elite force would probably be no less than that of tens of thousands of troops."

Wan'er said, "According to the news from the Kaga clan, this team should have originally had about five hundred people. Even if some were lost in the poisonous fog, the number still doesn't match up. They must have left those who were more seriously poisoned in a secluded place to recuperate. Each of you should lead a team to search the route they came from and try to find those people. Don't leave any hidden dangers behind."

Xiao Qi and Xiao Ba responded in unison, "Yes!"

On the other side, on the vast grassland.

The 100,000-strong vanguard of Xue Rong also stopped in their tracks, but what stopped them was not the enemy's army, but... one person!

Three Snowy Martial Saints stepped forward from the crowd, looking at the figure floating in front of them, back to the rising sun, resembling a celestial being, and shouted: "Heavenly Shaman, do you really want to be an enemy of Snowy? Aren't you afraid that Snowy's million soldiers will crush the Heavenly Mountain Sect?!"

The Heavenly Shaman's face was calm, with a hint of divine compassion, and he said softly, "Everyone, please go back."

"Go back to your grandma's leg!"

One of the martial saints, being a former soldier, didn't stand on ceremony and immediately launched into a tirade: "You old codger, you think you're something special just because we call you one of the three great martial saints of the world? You're nothing but a coward hiding in the snowy mountains all day long!"

"Why waste words with this old bastard? Let's join forces with the army and take him down!"

With that, he launched an attack.

The three Martial Saints and their army were already connected by their energies. At this moment, a single move would affect the whole body. Even though the other two Martial Saints had no choice, they could only cooperate and attack. At the same time, the blood spirit of Xue Rong's 100,000-strong army was also activated.

"Roar!~"

Under the influence of the military formation, the power of the three Martial Saints and the army converged into a nearly tangible black and red ferocious beast, which lunged at the Heavenly Shaman. The oppressive aura it emitted was so strong that even a Heavenly Phenomenon Martial Saint would be suppressed to some extent, unable to unleash his full power.

The shaman's peaceful expression gradually turned indifferent, and upon closer inspection, he even resembled some of the expressions of Mellen back then.

Time seemed to slow down; the black and red beasts, the three martial saints, the snow-covered army—everything was vividly clear, as if it had been transformed into a slow-motion scene.

The Heavenly Shaman raised his right hand, and the earth trembled and rumbled faintly. The power of the earth veins, almost endless, surged and boiled, connecting to him in strands. Everyone could vaguely hear the ancient, wild roar.

The Heavenly Shaman is hailed as one of the three great martial saints of the world, which is no doubt because he has real skills. He has been stationed in the Great Snow Mountain for hundreds of years, and his aura has long been integrated with the Great Snow Mountain. The Great Snow Mountain is the master of the earth veins of the vast grassland for thousands of miles around.

Being on their home turf, the power that the Heavenly Shaman can unleash will far exceed everyone's expectations.

The reason why the Heavenly Shaman lost to Mellen was not because he was too weak, but because Mellen was too strong!

After receiving the teachings from Melen, the Heavenly Shaman had a profound awakening. In the past three years, not only did his strength fully recover, but he also reached a higher level. As long as he was within a thousand miles of the Great Snow Mountain, he could use this power as if it were his own arm.

When the winds of change meet, heaven and earth unite.

A surging, powerful force erupted from the earth, engulfing everything in its path.

Amidst the earth-shattering rumble, a figure fled in disarray.

In this battle, the entire 100,000-strong Snowflake Army was annihilated, and two of the three Martial Saints died and one was seriously injured.

The one who made the move was the Tianshan Sect, the Heavenly Shaman!

At this point, both Dayong and Xuerong entered a wait-and-see mode, ceasing all their efforts.

The successive defeats of Dayong and Xuerong made everyone realize that something was wrong, and the eyes of all forces once again focused on the chaotic Dayu.

Meanwhile, the allied forces of the three kingdoms, having captured Yanshan City, marched swiftly towards the heart of Yunju Prefecture. In just half a month, they captured the unsuspecting prefectural city, and in the following month, they used various methods such as coercion, enticement, and forceful attacks to take control of all the important cities in Yunju Prefecture.

As a prefecture on the border of Dayu, Yunju Prefecture was originally sparsely populated and relatively barren. Almost all of its resources were concentrated in the border cities of Yanshan and the prefectural city. After these two cities fell, coupled with the turbulent situation in Dayu at the time, it was only natural that other towns would fall. The allied forces of the three kingdoms did not even experience much fierce resistance.

The situation in Yunju Prefecture undoubtedly greatly encouraged the ambitious figures of Dayu. Various voices rose up, some established their own strongholds and declared themselves kings; some began to amass wealth and recruit soldiers under the guise of bandit suppression; and some still cared about Dayu, but in the chaotic situation, they could only rely on their own troops for self-preservation...

In Qingzhou Prefecture, the Wudang Sect, which was originally closed off, suddenly opened its gates, and dozens of disciples ran around under the mysterious gaze of various forces.

At this moment, regardless of whether Mellen is good or bad, he has already implicitly earned the title of the world's number one based on the strength he has displayed. And all the events that have happened during this period can be clearly seen from the perspective that this is not a sudden and reckless act, but a premeditated prelude.

Therefore, the actions of the Wudang Sect at this time are quite intriguing.

One of the Wudang Sect disciples, about fifteen or sixteen years old, quietly slipped past others and entered the city of Qingzhou Prefecture.

Several days later, the leaders or representatives of various forces, large and small, in Qingzhou Prefecture began to gather in the prefectural city.

Meanwhile, in the city lord's mansion in the prefecture, the chief steward of the Wind Chime Pavilion looked at the young man sitting in the main seat with a complicated expression.

The young man had an innocent face and clear, bright eyes, almost like a naive child. But even the seasoned chief steward would have the illusion that he was completely seen through in front of him.

Without hesitation, the head steward bowed respectfully and said, "Greetings, Second Young Master."

Although the Grand Steward and Mellen had chatted and laughed together back then, and even showed some condescending appreciation and guidance, times have changed and their statuses have been reversed, creating an insurmountable chasm. Now, when he sees the other's disciple, he can only greet him respectfully.

Lou Wuwei smiled and said, "Grand Steward, please don't be so polite. You are on good terms with my master, so you are my elder. Before I left, my master told me to learn more from you."

Although he knew that Lou Wuwei was probably just being polite, the chief steward still felt a sense of pride, which was the effect of the change in status.

Lou Wuwei continued, "The reason I called you here earlier than planned is because there is something important to discuss."

As he spoke, Lou Wuwei pushed a token and a sealing wax seal to the chief steward.

The chief steward's eyes narrowed. He recognized the token; it was a secret order from the Prince Jing's residence, and the sealing wax on the envelope also bore the Prince Jing's seal.

Without hesitation, the chief steward tore open the envelope and began reading the contents of the letter. After only a moment, his hand trembled involuntarily, and his pupils dilated violently.

Lou Wuwei chuckled and said, "I presume the Grand Steward understands what Prince Jing means?"

The chief steward read the letter carefully several times, confirming that he had not misinterpreted the coded messages. Then he took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, "Understood! From this moment on, the Great Yu Wind Chime Pavilion will fully assist the Second Young Master!"

Indeed, this was the order in the secret letter. At this moment, the Grand Eunuch's mind raced with speculation, even suspecting that the sudden blockade of the capital by Mei Lun, which plunged the Great Yu into chaos, might have been pre-arranged with Prince Jing, with the ultimate goal of...

As a close advisor to Prince Jing, the Grand Steward was assigned to manage the Wind Chime Pavilion, a prefecture-level institution. Naturally, he was a trusted confidant of Prince Jing and could guess some of his master's thoughts. It's not hard to understand why he had these ideas.

Although the chief steward's guess was wrong in process, the result was at least pretty close to the truth.

The secret letter and order from Prince Jing were an unexpected result of Mei Lun's casual divisive remarks about the Dayu royal family. Although he had his eye on the Wind Chime Pavilion, he did not expect everything to come so easily, which saved him a lot of trouble.

Seeing that his goal had been achieved, Lou Wuwei smiled sincerely and asked, "Grand Steward, are you sure you can take over the entire Fengling Pavilion of Dayu smoothly?"

The head steward smiled confidently and said, "Second Young Master, rest assured, Fengling Pavilion has prepared for similar situations. With the Prince's secret letter and order, I will definitely complete the unification of Fengling Pavilion in Dayu within a month."

Lou Wuwei smiled and said, "You've worked hard. Well then, let's go and meet the others from Qingzhou Prefecture."

Just then, there was a knock on the door. After receiving a response, a middle-aged man pushed the door open and entered. He was the lord of Qingzhou Prefecture.

The head of the manor bowed to Lou Wuwei first and said, "Senior brother, the junior brothers and sisters have arrived. Would you like to meet them first?"

Lou Wuwei looked helpless and said, "Senior Brother Jiang, you entered the sect earlier than me, so I should be calling you Senior Brother."

Lord Jiang said solemnly, "Propriety cannot be disregarded. I am only an outer disciple, while Senior Brother Lou is a disciple of the Mountain Lord. Therefore, it is only right that I address you as Senior Brother."

The chief steward recalled a piece of information: Lord Jiang had also studied martial arts at Wudang Mountain when he was young, but there had been no further news about him since. In fact, there was a lot of similar information. Many powerful families in Qingzhou Prefecture liked to send their second sons or illegitimate sons to various major sects. This could be considered as diversifying their investments so as not to put all their eggs in one basket.

So, the 'junior brothers and sisters' that Lord Jiang mentioned...

Thinking of this, a look of horror flashed in the head steward's eyes.

Lou Wuwei chuckled and said, "We are all from the same sect, so since we're here, we should naturally meet."

Chapter 652 Union and Expansion

Outside of the capital.

The 500,000-strong garrison has been stationed here for over four months, yet they have accomplished nothing. There are daily arguments in the camps, but no resolution has been reached.

Since Mellen issued the warning that day, the four generals and six martial saints who commanded the 500,000-strong garrison have remained here. They did consider ignoring the warning and leaving, but every time they saw the towering cloud pillar that covered the entire capital, all their courage would vanish.

As for those few who stayed behind to let the main army leave?

There's no need to even consider this!

As a result, the situation in Dayu became increasingly out of control.

Of course, the chaos was only temporary, and until recently, Dayu entered a relatively stable phase.

However, anyone can see that the 'stability' here is actually the calm before the storm. The ruthless and ambitious have already completed the initial division of interests, and once they have accumulated enough power, even greater chaos will erupt.

Under these circumstances, even if the capital is reopened and the royal family speaks out again, things will never be the same as before.

Under such circumstances, even the most loyal garrison commanders couldn't help but harbor some ulterior motives.

On this day, just as the ten supreme commanders of the Acropolis army were having their routine argument—a debate that everyone knew would be fruitless—…

Without warning, the might of heaven descended, and a huge energy swept across the tent. Not to mention the four generals, even the six martial saints were overwhelmed without any time to react.

When everything settled down, eight out of ten were gone, leaving only the general and the martial saint of Nanwei City. They looked at each other in shock, completely bewildered by the current situation.

Then, they saw the towering cloud pillar slowly dissipating.

This is... the siege of Shangjing, is it over?

After calming down, the general and the martial saint regained their usual sharpness and vaguely understood why only the two of them had survived.

Sure enough, not long after, a secret order from the capital was handed to them, and the hidden seal clearly came from... the Prince Jing's residence!

Indeed, the general and the martial saint of Nanwei City had long been bribed by King Jing, or rather, it was precisely because they pledged allegiance to King Jing that they had the opportunity to become the rulers of Nanwei City.

After quite some time, the emperor's order finally arrived.

Looking at the two orders laid out on the table, the general and the martial saint's expressions turned somewhat grim. The former said in a deep voice, "What do you say?"

The Martial Saint's expression gradually turned cold, and he said, "Whether it was in the past or now, we have no choice."

The general naturally understood the meaning of the Martial Saint's words. He had previously said that once their identity as vassals of Prince Jing was exposed, even if they actively sought to align themselves with the emperor, they would lose everything, including their lives. Now, he was referring to Mei Lun. Eight out of ten people died, and only the two of them survived. The meaning that the number one person in the world wanted to express was already very clear.

At the same time, this move also puts them in the open. It's just that the people in the capital are unaware of the specific situation here; otherwise, anyone would probably be able to see the problem.

The general exhaled, abandoning all hope, and said, "Then, let's begin!"

The 500,000-strong garrison faced an unprecedented bloody purge.

Meanwhile, in the outer city of Shangjing, there are luxury mansions.

Prince Jing sat calmly in the head seat, surrounded by many people: members of the royal family, nobles, and court officials. Some were his former confidants, while others had recently joined his cause.

All of these were the teams that Mellen assembled in a short period of time after he made the statement about splitting the Great Yu.

Since openly siding with the emperor, Prince Jing moved out of the inner city and into a mansion in the outer city.

As for Prince Jing, he naturally longed for the supreme throne, but he also understood that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, he would have absolutely no chance of obtaining it in his lifetime.

The reason for engaging in so many underhanded tactics is partly due to an instinctive thirst for power, but more so for political self-preservation.