Within New Xia, attitudes toward the Wei Kingdom were sharply divided into two opposing camps.

Moreover, Yu Huaizhen knew that the Queen had privately made an agreement with Yun Ya to help Wei resist Yan.

Chen Dachang shrugged. “I don’t know.” His attitude was very sincere because he truly didn’t understand Feng Miaojun’s calculations. Logically, this should be the “turning point” the Queen had been waiting for. Would she use military aid as leverage to secure an opportunity to visit Yun Ya?

But as the most capable subordinate of the Queen of New Xia’s side, he also understood that Feng Miaojun approached the matter of sending troops to assist Wei with extreme caution.

Trading with the Wei Kingdom was the bottom line for most New Xia people. Once crossed, would it trigger an uprising among the commoners?

The court session had just ended, and Yu Huaizhen, watching Feng Miaojun’s silhouette disappear behind the palace, couldn’t help but sigh: “If I were in her position, I fear I wouldn’t know what to do either.”

On one side was a promise to her lover, on the other were national interests. How should the Queen balance these?

Speaking of this, she suddenly asked, “Has something happened to the State Preceptor of Wei?”

Chen Dachang walked alongside her, his gaze shifting slightly. “What makes you say that?”

“Such a severe earthquake in the Wei Kingdom—I’m afraid more than half the reason can be attributed to elemental power imbalance.” Besides strengthening the military and cultivators’ combat power and assisting cultivation, the greatest use of elemental power was to regulate a country’s fortune, ensure favorable weather, and counter natural disasters.

“State Preceptor Yun’s experience is so profound—even during the Wei-Yan war, he shouldn’t have made such an oversight.” Yu Huaizhen herself was a State Preceptor, so naturally, her understanding of elemental power far exceeded ordinary people. Xi Kingdom and Wei Kingdom had once fought side by side, and she had a deep understanding of Yun Ya’s methods. “The only plausible reason is that he has encountered problems.”

She paused. “I recall that State Preceptor Yun seems to have gone into seclusion after the northwestern campaign, and was reportedly injured before that.” Her beautiful eyes turned to scan Chen Dachang’s face. “Don’t you know?”

He was the Queen’s confidant, privy to first-hand information. She wouldn’t believe he hadn’t heard anything at all.

Feng Miaojun had not spoken of this matter to anyone else, so Chen Dachang could only say in a low voice, “Let’s hope he hasn’t met with any misfortune or the Queen would be devastated.”

This answer was quite subtle. Yu Huaizhen pressed her cherry lips together, and just then, Fu Lingchuan came looking for her, so she turned and left.

Chen Dachang watched her retreating figure, but in his mind he was thinking: if even Yu Huaizhen, an outsider, could discover this problem, how could the King of Yan not notice Wei Kingdom’s lack of a State Preceptor’s oversight? How much longer could this secret be kept from the world?

Over the next two days, he noticed the Queen’s expression growing increasingly relaxed, even showing smiles. He relayed Yu Huaizhen’s deduction to her. Feng Miaojun looked at him meaningfully and said, “This wasn’t your conclusion, was it?”

“It was State Preceptor Yu’s words.”

“Well said.” With no one else around, Feng Miaojun’s eyes finally revealed a hint of eager anticipation. “The turning point we’ve been waiting for may soon arrive.”

Hmm, wasn’t the earthquake already a turning point? Chen Dachang scratched his head, realizing that the Queen was remarkably patient.

At Huachao Plateau, the Wei army suffered an unprecedented major defeat.

When the news spread, the world was in an uproar.

The Wei-Yan war had been ongoing for three years. In terms of weapons and equipment, tactics and strategy, troop quality, and number of cultivators, the performance of both sides was almost evenly matched. Even if the Yan army was slightly better, this advantage was offset by the disadvantage of fighting away from home. This was one of the main reasons the war had remained deadlocked.

But in the dozen or so battles, large and small, that took place on the Huachao Plateau, the Wei army, despite its home advantage, still lost more than it won. Yesterday’s evenly matched opponent seemed to have become exceptionally powerful, frequently pushing the front line northward and westward.

The blocking battle after the earthquake could be attributed to low morale due to natural disaster and the army being isolated without support. But the series of battles on the Huachao Plateau were almost all straightforward, hard fights between the two armies without fancy tactics.

Yet the Wei army was defeated so decisively. No matter how many generals the Wei court dispatched or how many strategies were employed, the Huachao Plateau was still lost.

It took only two months.

This was enough to demonstrate the enormous gap in military power between the two sides.

The Wei Kingdom had deep foundations; although the earthquake’s impact was far-reaching, it shouldn’t have been enough to shake its very core. So, where exactly had the problem occurred?

In fact, when half of these dozen or so battles had been fought, reports from the front lines flew into the hands of various countries’ high officials, directly pointing out the crux of the matter—elemental power.

In all the battles that took place after the earthquake, the Wei army lacked the enhancement of elemental power.

When covering troops, elemental power would display a faint glow, visible to the naked eye. Therefore, anyone with even a bit of military knowledge would notice the absence of Wei’s elemental power.

Considering the earthquake that occurred in the Wei Kingdom, the answer was obvious—it wasn’t that the Yan army had grown stronger, but that the Wei people had weakened.

Without elemental power enhancement, the Wei army’s combat effectiveness was reduced by at least twenty percent. This gap on the battlefield was a chasm that neither good generals nor strategies could bridge.

The importance of a State Preceptor was thus evident.

Upon receiving the news, the King of Yan slapped his nearby sandalwood table in half with one palm and laughed loudly: “It seems Yun Ya is either dead or severely injured. Wonderful, truly wonderful! Pass down my order—next spring, I will celebrate the New Year in the Wei capital!”

Without Yun Ya, Wei Kingdom was a toothless tiger—why should he fear it? Just as the Yan King was about to leave the hall, he suddenly stopped and asked, “Have the people we sent to the Wei capital not sent back any news yet?”

Xu Ke, who was following behind him, replied, “There is no news of the Wei State Preceptor.”

“Useless!” The Yan King snorted. “He has an attendant, hmm, what’s his name again?”

Xu Ke quickly reminded him: “Lu Ming.”

“Right, Lu Ming. Where is he now?”

Xu Ke hesitated briefly. “In the Wei capital.”

“Why not start with him?” The Yan King’s tiger eyes narrowed, a hint of sharpness flashing through them. “He must know Yun Ya’s whereabouts.”

They were already closely monitoring him, but Xu Ke knew that the king didn’t like excessive explanations from others, so he could only respond with “Yes.”

Meanwhile, the Wei court had to face the embarrassing situation of wild rumors flying everywhere.

The country never lacked clever people who could immediately see that elemental power had been absent in numerous major battles. Thus, the theory that “the State Preceptor is dead” was rampant. Despite the Wei court’s efforts to suppress it, they couldn’t contain the rumors spreading freely through the streets and alleys, fueled by people’s fears.

When this news reached New Xia, the Queen’s mood gradually improved, and she even found leisure to take Princess Hanyue and her son to a suburban estate for relaxation.

While palace attendants accompanied Miao Hansheng to pick cherries and apricots, Princess Hanyue curiously asked, “The Wei Kingdom is being beaten nearly to death, and your lover’s life hangs in the balance, yet you seem positively radiant. Why?”

On the table, a small mountain of washed, crystal-clear cherries was piled on a golden plate. Feng Miaojun picked one up, put it in her mouth, and savored it slowly. After a while, she replied, “Don’t jinx it. He’s not dead.”