"Fellow Daoist Tianwu, there is no need to be nervous."
Zhao Rui wore a genial smile. "I bear you no hostility—at the very least, not for now."
"You want me to withdraw my troops?"
Based on the connection between the two of them, Chen Sanshi guessed the other man's purpose. "You might as well strike directly. If you can kill me, Great Han will naturally fall into chaos."
"Fellow Daoist, you truly are a clever man, but that is not entirely correct."
Zhao Rui spoke unhurriedly. "I do not want Your Excellency to withdraw your forces. I want our armies to join as one."
"Join our armies?"
Chen Sanshi looked into the other man's eyes, voicing his confusion.
"Fellow Daoist Tianwu."
Zhao Rui clasped his hands behind his back and looked up at the distant sunset. "Don't you think the two of us are very alike?"
"Alike?"
Chen Sanshi could not leave, so he simply spoke with him calmly. "How are we alike? Because we are both rulers of a nation?"
"No."
Zhao Rui shook his head. "I mean our ambitions.
"I know something of the Eastern Continent. After Great Han was established, Fellow Daoist ordered the eradication of spirit grain, built Tianyong City, and ensured that immortals and mortals would not disturb one another.
"Afterward, you declared war on the Tianshui Sect. This time in Guangren Dao, you again demanded that spirit grain be eradicated everywhere.
"From this, it is clear that Fellow Daoist and I are alike: our greatest pursuit is to establish order and set Heaven's Way aright!
"For tens of thousands of years, the Tianshui Sect has stood in abundance, while cultivators have fought without cease. Where is even a shred of what those who cultivate 'immortality' ought to be?
"Since you and I share the