Xu Qi An drew the Nation-Stabilizing Sword, channeling his qi into the brass blade. The surging energy made the sword glow like a red-hot brand, causing the surrounding seawater to boil instantly.

He swung his arm wildly, sending golden sword beams slashing into the deep sea trench.

The first beam struck the trench’s edge, stirring up clouds of silt and dislodging massive boulders.

The second, third, and over a dozen more sword beams vanished into the pitch-black depths. After several seconds, the entire seabed began to tremor, disturbing silt that had settled there for countless ages.

The soft mud layer exploded outward, instantly turning the clear seawater into murky soup.

A deep, resonant roar echoed from the trench, made even more terrifying as it was distorted by the water.

The ancient monster sleeping in the trench had been provoked…

In the next moment, five tentacles burst forth from the depths, carrying hundreds of millions of tons of dark currents as they slammed toward Xu Qi An.

At that instant, equally massive snow-white fox tails shot out from behind Xu Qi An, meeting the tentacles head-on. The collision sent shockwaves through the entire sea region.

If this area had been near the coast, it would have spelled disaster for any coastal town. The resulting tsunami would have swept away everything in its path.

The snow-white fox tails entwined with the six tentacles, like intertwined ropes, pulled taut.

The silver-haired beauty’s pale face flushed red, veins bulging on her forehead as she transmitted: “I can hold it for at most the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.”

Xu Qi An wasted no more words. He dove sharply downward like a launched torpedo, trailing boiling bubbles as he entered the trench.

He plunged through the lightless darkness for a long while, occasionally throwing out and detonating shells to illuminate his surroundings.

There were no fish here, and even seaweed was rarely seen. Xu Qi An weaved between the six pillar-like tentacles until his divine sense detected the fallen deity’s true form.

He threw out dozens of shells at once and detonated them simultaneously.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

In the muffled explosions, the fire elements expanded into balls of flame, bringing the first light this place had seen in ages.

The light revealed the remains of the ancient deity.

It was a monster of unimaginably vast proportions, resembling an octopus. Its body nearly filled the entire trench, broken and incomplete, covered in bite marks.

Only a single gray-white eye remained, set in its scale-covered head. When the flames lit up the deathly quiet deep sea, Xu Qi An found himself less than a hundred zhang from it.

The gray-white eye stared lifelessly at Xu Qi An as if looking at a speck of dust in the air.

Such was the difference in their sizes.

“Good thing I don’t have thalassophobia,” Xu Qi An thought as he noticed by the fading firelight that the monster should have had over a dozen tentacles, but most had been torn away.

There was no divine soul fluctuation – it had long since died. How had it endured these countless years? After this initial exploration, Xu Qi An found himself in a quandary.

To set up the formation to refine its essence, he would need to subdue the enemy. For an opponent of this level, killing it would normally be the only option.

But it was already dead and had been for countless ages.

What to do?

Xu Qi An silently gazed at the “octopus monster’s” true form and suddenly understood.

It had died in ancient times, but its unyielding will and fearless fighting spirit remained. It was this obsession that had allowed it to persist across endless ages.

“When it died at that enemy’s hands, this ancient deity was unwilling and unconvinced. The way to dispel its obsession is simple.”

What he needed to do wasn’t to kill it, but to defeat it.

Above the trench, the Nine-Tailed Fox who was struggling against the tentacles received Xu Qi An’s transmission:

“Your Majesty, you can go up now. There’s no need to interfere in this battle anymore.”

Yier Bu had never experienced such rapid flight before. Mountains and lands blurred past his eyes, and when the Great Shaman’s magic was exhausted, he found himself already through Great Zhou territory and into the Western Regions.

“Having me deliver the Imperial Seal – isn’t this sending me to my death?” Yier Bu cautiously flew through Western Region skies, recalling the path he’d taken, as a question arose in his mind:

“Why am I always the errand runner?”

Since the Northern Warlord’s Blood Refining Pills incident, he had always played the role of messenger and fighter.

The other Spirit Wisdom Master, Wuda Baota, had never even met Xu Qi An, although he had crossed paths with him several times.

Yier Bu was extremely cautious. Without venturing deep into the Western Regions, he found an ordinary corpse and controlled it to fly toward Arantha.

“If I went deep into the Western Regions, I’d be devoured by the Buddha.”

“I might as well use this puppet to scout around and see what the Western Regions are like now.”

At his level as a Spirit Wisdom Master, controlling a single corpse allowed him to exert about half his full power.

After flying swiftly for a while, Yier Bu’s strongest impression was desolation.

No signs of human life, just barren emptiness.

The villages and towns he passed were all empty.

“They’re all gone. Tens of thousands of li in Western Regions are devoid of life. What a cruel battle for supremacy. Those fools in Great Zhou probably don’t even know what’s happening.”

“Without a Supreme-level expert in their era, they can’t know the secrets of this great calamity. In the future, they won’t even know how they died.”

“If the Buddha replaces the Heavenly Dao, our Shaman system – no, all systems in the world will perish, becoming dust in history. I really can’t understand why the Great Shaman wants to give the Flame Nation’s destiny to the Buddha.”

Yier Bu’s puppet flew toward Arantha while pondering.

“The Mahayana Buddhism split away the Buddha’s destiny, preventing Him from fully becoming the Western Regions. But with the Buddha’s divine power and Buddhism’s foundation, they certainly won’t stop there. They must have other methods. But it might take an enormous amount of time, which benefits the Shaman God.”

“The Great Shaman giving the Flame Nation’s destiny to the Buddha, if the Buddha then becomes the Western Regions, the next step would be to devour the Central Plains…”

At this thought, Yier Bu had a flash of insight and continued his analysis:

“Great Zhou’s supernatural forces will certainly resist to the death. Faced with the Buddha’s move, that Half-Step Martial God in the Southern Borders probably can’t stand idly by. Add in the supernatural experts, and when two tigers fight, one must be injured. This way, our Shaman Religion can benefit from their struggle.”

“No, even a Half-Step Martial God, with his power alone, absolutely cannot stop a Supreme-level expert. The Great Shaman is playing with fire. This doesn’t match his personality – what makes him think Great Zhou can stop the Buddha? Xu Qi An is overseas, and the Director is sealed…”

Yier Bu froze as he suddenly understood the Great Shaman’s true intentions.

Although that old fox Director had met with misfortune and been sealed by Liu Pingfeng, Garuda Tree, and others, he was still a Destiny Master, the most skilled at planning.

The Director calculated everything – how could he not have calculated this calamity?

He must have left corresponding measures, and hidden trump cards.

In this way, the Buddha was their scout.

“This is the true meaning of ‘when the snipe and clam fight, the fisherman profits.’ If Great Zhou still can’t match the Buddha, at worst we can ally with the Insect God to oppose the Buddha in the future…”

At this moment, Yier Bu saw the majestic Sacred Mountain appear on the horizon – Arantha had arrived.

He immediately stopped thinking and controlled the puppet, transforming into a black light streaking toward Arantha.

Before he could get close, a white figure flashed before him – the Glazed Bodhisattva, with delicate features, white robes, bare feet, and flowing azure hair, blocked his path.

This stunning beauty with Western Region features spoke flatly:

“Yier Bu of the Shaman Religion, why have you come to Arantha?”

The corpse puppet froze, blurting out:

“How did you know it was me?”

The Glazed Bodhisattva was as beautiful as a peach blossom yet cold as ice, her voice without inflection:

“Aren’t you the one in charge of running errands?”

Though I mostly handle external affairs, that doesn’t mean I’m an errand-runner. I am Spirit Wisdom Master Yier Bu! He cursed inwardly while maintaining an aloof exterior, saying coolly:

“The Great Shaman entrusted me to deliver destiny to the Buddha.”

To salvage his dignity and emphasize his status, he avoided words like “dispatched” or “ordered.”

The Glazed Bodhisattva raised an eyebrow, and after several seconds said:

“Saren Agu wants our Buddhism to charge forward and exhaust the Central Plains’ supernatural forces?”

This woman is quite clever… Yier Bu said coldly:

“You can refuse!”

The Glazed Bodhisattva closed her beautiful eyes, listening for a moment, then opened them and said:

“Where is it?”

“Buddhism is indeed confident.” Yier Bu sneered, saying:

“The Imperial Seal is with my true body. If you want it, just follow me.”

The Glazed Bodhisattva shook her head:

“No need. Just bring the Imperial Seal westward.”

With that, she vanished, returning to Arantha.

Yier Bu pondered for a moment, then cut off control of his puppet.

At the Western Regions border, Yier Bu wearing his shaman robe opened his eyes. “Let me deliver it?”

He thought for a moment, then reached his right hand out from his robe, making a grabbing motion toward the distance.

He caught a camel, which died with blood flowing from its seven apertures, then transformed into a corpse puppet.

The camel walked forward, took the Imperial Seal from Yier Bu’s hand in its mouth, and with a kick of its four hooves, flew into the sky.

The camel flew and flew until it finally reached a desolate area. Suddenly, it saw a pair of eyes open in the sandy ground below.

Then, a huge mouth split open in the sand. A wave of earth shot skyward, pushing the mouth to bite and swallow the camel.

After swallowing the camel and the Flame Nation’s Imperial Seal, the earthen wave didn’t fall back. As if stimulated, it continued to surge upward, instantly becoming a hundred-zhang-high “giant wave” rolling eastward.

The Buddha had obtained new proof, continuing to assimilate rules, replace rules, and devour everything in its path.

Meanwhile, Yier Bu leaped up, trembling as he rode a black light into the sky.

Through the shared vision, he had clearly and directly felt the terror of a Supreme-level expert – that soul-shaking aura and the involuntary feeling of insignificance it inspired. Especially the latter, which Yier Bu had never experienced before.

Even facing the Shaman God, though terrified as if on the edge of an abyss, Yier Bu had never felt insignificant.

Too terrifying, too terrifying…

Southern Borders.

Li Lingsu drank mountain tea produced in the Ten Thousand Great Mountains while glancing at the beautiful women gathered nearby discussing important matters.

Besides Xu Qi An’s concubine Ye Ji, there were three fox clan beauties whose looks, temperament, and figure were in no way inferior.

Wearing a light cyan dress with a gauze veil, maintaining a reserved and cold demeanor was Qing Ji. She reminded Li Lingsu of a refined and virtuous young lady from a noble family, well-educated and cultured.

She was politely distant with everyone, neither warm nor cold.

The beautiful matron wearing an intricate black dress was called You Ji. She possessed both the mature charm of a forty-year-old woman and the beauty of a twenty-year-old.

In every smile and glance, every turn of her head, she had shed a maiden’s naivety, like a noble lady who had long dwelt in deep chambers.

She had a kind and gentle maternal nature, along with the same enchanting allure as other fox clan women.

The third young lady was called Ling Ji. Her lively and cheerful nature reminded Li Lingsu of the new Director of the Bureau of Astronomy, Chu Caiwei.

The difference was that while the Director was cheerfully silly and carefree in her liveliness, innocent and pure,

The fox clan girl Ling Ji was more impish and clever, a lovable little demon who enjoyed teasing others.

My destiny has come again… Li Lingsu thought, then touched his waist and mentally added: Probably!

“The Queen and Young Master Xu have been at sea for months without returning, while the situation in the Nine Provinces grows increasingly dire,” said Ye Ji, her delicate brows furrowed with worry.

“If Sir Xu can’t advance to Half-Step Martial God, going to sea will have been pointless. Father Shen Shu alone can’t stop a Supreme-level expert.”

Ling Ji rested her chin on her hands, widening her bright eyes as she said with a grin:

“Sister Ye Ji must be missing her lover. After such a long abstinence, aren’t you lonely? When will you let me play with your lover?”

Ye Ji glanced at the young girl’s barely developed tender figure and sneered disdainfully.

The relationship between the nine sisters wasn’t all harmony and love. Except for You Ji, whose maternal nature won all the sisters’ respect, and Bai Ji, who was too cute and still unable to take human form to be universally loved by her sisters, the other sisters all had some degree of scheming against each other.

You Ji flicked her finger against the young girl’s smooth forehead, gently reproaching:

“We’re discussing serious matters, don’t fool around.”

Ling Ji covered her forehead, pouting as she mumbled:

“We’re going to marry Xu Ningyan anyway. Sister Qing Ji said the Queen probably can’t escape Sir Xu’s clutches. If the Queen ends up with Sir Xu, won’t we have to accompany her as part of her dowry?”

Qing Ji’s expression changed slightly:

“Nonsense, I never said such things.”

What? They’re also destined to be that fellow Xu Ningyan’s concubines? How can this be? Xu Ningyan you dog, I’ve never seen such a lecherous fellow, this is too much, too much… Li Lingsu’s face gradually froze.

At this moment, he felt a familiar heart palpitation.

He took out the Earth Book fragment to check the message.

[Two: Senior Brother, disaster! Quickly have Shen Shu come to Lei Province to save us!]