Prince Pingnan

Chen Fan leaned his head on his father's shoulder, glanced at Mo Wendao indifferently, and then moved his lips slightly to send a secret telepathic message.

"Elder Mo, internally, the Azure Cloud Sword Sect remains as usual; externally, the Sword Sect reigns supreme. Do you understand?"

Mo Wendao was shocked and immediately stopped his head from bowing halfway. He wiped the cold sweat from his face and nodded repeatedly.

Just then, Han Mo, the Grand Elder of the Myriad Phenomena Academy, crawled up on his knees, holding up a large red-gold seal with nine dragons coiled around clouds and a thick stack of ancient jade books engraved with the veins of mountains and rivers.

"Reporting to the Supreme Wuji!"

Han Mo's voice trembled, and his forehead pressed against the ground again.

"The wicked chief Cangming has been slain, and the Immortal Alliance Divine Mountain cannot be without a leader for even a day! On behalf of the thirty-six sects and seventy-two ancient clans of the Southern Nation, I respectfully invite the Azure Cloud Sword Sect to take over the Divine Mountain, and to honor its leader, Chen Changqing, as the Supreme Emperor Sect of the Southern Nation, commanding countless miles of mountains and rivers!"

Hundreds of thousands of cultivators responded in unison, their shouts as loud as mountains and as vast as the sea.

Chen Changqing's sobs paused as he snapped out of his trance, looking at the supreme seal that represented the highest authority in the Southern Nation. He was once again plunged into a deep daze.

One moment he was preparing to self-destruct his nascent Nascent Soul to buy his son time to escape, and the next moment... he had become the Supreme Emperor Sect of the entire Southern Nation?

"Father, since they're giving it to you, you should accept it."

Chen Fan crawled out of his father's arms and casually brushed the dust off his robes.

"So that when we return to the sect, those few broken spiritual veins in the back mountain won't even be able to grow enough medicinal herbs for soup."

Chen Changqing nodded mechanically, his hands trembling as he accepted the incredibly heavy Supreme Golden Seal.

The moment the golden seal was obtained and the title was established.

Buzz!

Above a clear blue sky, the vast Fortune of the Southern Nation transformed into an invisible dragon shadow, thunderously converging from all corners of the world.

At the heart of all this, a pure and unadulterated sense of protection and pride welled up within Chen Changqing.

This intense Mortal World Karma transformed into rolling white waves, flowing unreservedly into Chen Fan's brow.

Deep within the Sea of Consciousness, the "Myriad Realms Red Dust Scripture" shone with golden light!

Within Chen Fan's Miniature Divine Kingdom, the pure white ocean of life churned violently, and the chaotic mist at the boundary was forcibly pushed outward for a full hundred miles amidst a series of booming sounds!

The twenty-fourth restriction within the clone's body was beginning to loosen.

Late at night, in the core secret hall of the Immortal Alliance Divine Mountain.

The entire hall was carved from ten-thousand-year-old warm jade, and ancient restrictions were engraved all around to prevent any Divine Sense from probing it.

In the outer hall, Chen Changqing was fawned over by the leaders of various sects as they checked the accounts, while in the inner hall, only Chen Fan sat cross-legged in the main seat.

The palace doors opened softly, and Han Mo from the Myriad Phenomena Academy and the gray-robed old woman from the Taiyin Demon Sect, their faces pale, bowed and entered, both kneeling on the ground.

With trembling hands, Han Mo took out a top-secret blood-stained beast-hide scroll, its entire surface radiating a dark red deathly aura, from his bosom and respectfully presented it above his head.

"Your Majesty, this is a handwritten letter written in blood that I found in the secluded chamber of the old monster Cangming. The reason why Cangming and committed this blood sacrifice and extermination was... truly, there was a reason for it!"

Chen Fan slightly raised his fingertips, and the blood-stained book fell into his hand from mid-air. He casually flipped it open.

The handwriting on it was frantic and chaotic, each word dripping with blood; it contained not some demonic martial arts manual, but a desperate death warrant.

"Explain."

Chen Fan slightly raised his eyelids, his tone indifferent.

The Old Woman of the Taiyin Demon Sect took a deep breath and said in a trembling voice.

"Does Your Majesty know what this vast Southern Nation land, spanning billions of miles, truly is compared to the Myriad Heavens and Worlds?"

Chen Fan didn't answer, he just looked at her quietly.

The old woman gave a bitter laugh, her eyes filled with helplessness.

"Under the command of the Supreme Immortal Realm, the vast starry sky is divided into three thousand great states, beneath which lie ten imperial dynasties, and below those dynasties are one hundred and eight thousand Immortal Dao dynasties!"

"Our Southern Nation isn't even a legitimate Immortal Dynasty; it's merely a low-level cultivation country residing in the extremely remote heartland of the Xianyu Dynasty!"

Han Mo took over the conversation, his voice filled with a deep-seated fear.

"The Xianyu Dynasty has established an ironclad rule that all its vassal states must undergo a national strength assessment every three hundred years. If a nation lacks Seventh Rank Void Refinement Realm cultivator to govern it, it will be stripped of its title and roster as a 'Cultivation Nation,' and trillions of its inhabitants will be reduced to criminals of the dynasty, destined to be sent to extraterrestrial planets for generations to become Mine Slaves, extracting Void crystals until their demise!"

"The old monster Cangming has been stuck at the peak of the Sixth Stage Deity Transformation for three thousand years, his lifespan is about to end, and there is no hope of breaking through. This year... is the last year of his three-hundred-year limit!"

Chen Fan's eyes flickered slightly.

The Seventh Rank of Void Refinement corresponds to the Seventh Rank of Divine Realm in the Martial Dao system.

So that's how it is. No wonder the Cangming was willing to defy the world to set up the Ascension Killing Scheme to devour the essence and blood of all the city's Prodigies in an attempt to force his way through the barrier.

"Since it's a dynastic system, why is it so harsh in the Southern Nation?"

Chen Fan closed the blood-stained book and asked calmly.

Han Mo's body trembled violently, and he collapsed to the ground, tears streaming down his face.

"Your Majesty! Because three thousand years ago, our founding ancestor of the Southern Nation offended the infamous ruler of the Xianyu Dynasty — the Prince Pingnan —in an ancient secret realm!"

"That prince is a true Seventh Rank Void Refinement Peak master, just one step away from reaching the Eighth-Order Dao Integration!"

"He personally issued the decree, severing the ancestral spiritual veins of the Southern Nation and branding its name with death on the register of investiture! He wanted to watch the Southern Nation decline generation after generation, ultimately turning Southern Nation into his private mine with a legitimate reason!"

At this point, Han Mo suddenly looked up and pointed to the dark and desolate depths of the sky outside the hall.

Above the endless sea of clouds and starry sky, a hideous and enormous black dragon battle banner could be vaguely seen, tearing through the Void, appearing and disappearing intermittently.

The chilling aura of killing intent, even across billions of miles of Void, caused the entire Divine Mountain to groan softly.

Han Mo's voice was filled with near-collapse and despair as he kowtowed heavily.

"Your Majesty's wise judgment!"

"Just now, according to the stellar orbit sensing, the black dragon warship patrolling the borders of the Prince Pingnan's Residence... will arrive in the Southern Nation in at most a month to inspect the land and rivers and carry out the order to destroy the country!"

A heavy, oppressive silence fell over the hall.

Han Mo and the old woman lay prostrate on the ground, their faces ashen, awaiting the new ruler's decision.

In their view, even if Chen Fan's methods were extraordinary, he was no match for the vast Xianyu Dynasty, which ruled over hundreds of millions of territories and had a peak-level Void Refinement expert in charge.

However, Chen Fan, who was sitting at the head of the table, was just casually turning the storage bone ring on his thumb.

He raised his eyes and looked at the black dragon battle flag that was faintly visible in the Void outside the hall, feeling the powerful aura belonging to a Sixth Stage Peak expert.

That's not fear.

In the depths of the boy's profound pupils, which shimmered with the divine light of Taiji Chi, a dark glint flashed, as if prey had willingly offered itself up.

The dormant Five Declines Dao Seed within his body emitted a greedy buzz at this moment.

"The Xianyu Dynasty? The Prince Pingnan?"

Chen Fan's lips curled slightly, forming a cold arc:

"It seems the ceiling in this Southern Nation is still a bit too low."