"I wanted to snatch that Imperial Concubine away right then. My body nearly slipped out of my control."
"In my desperation, I had no other way. I could only beat myself up viciously and use the pain to regain my senses."
Jiang Li's smile faded, and his expression gradually turned solemn.
When Zhang Konghu had said earlier that the Wei Emperor and Meng Jiang Emperor had fought over an Imperial Concubine, Jiang Li had not thought much of it. In his eyes, the two had become emperors only because they were the tallest among dwarfs; there had been no one in their royal families capable of shouldering the burden. Compared with the Zhou Emperor, they fell short by far. Calling them upright rulers would already be flattering them. It was not impossible for them to stake their nations' fortunes on beauty.
But Zhang Konghu was different. To become the commander of the Human Emperor Palace, putting cultivation aside, his character had to be among the very best. For an Imperial Concubine to be so beautiful that even a rough man like Zhang Konghu would be moved beyond his control, there had to be something wrong here.
"I understand the matter. How many days remain until the two nations' agreed date of battle?"
Zhang Konghu revealed a bitter expression. "Originally, they agreed to decide victory and defeat at the Earth Mother Riverbank one month from now. But their quarrel kept getting worse. They have now agreed to go to war in twenty-five days."
After saying that, Zhang Konghu tilted his head slightly, as though he had heard something. "Oh, now the two of them have changed it again. They will settle life and death in twenty days."
Jiang Li could only exclaim, "Good heavens." Not only had the time been shortened, but it had gone directly from deciding victory and defeat to deciding life and death.
He had originally planned to have Zhang Konghu contact the former Human Emperor Candidates and ask them to investigate whether any of their relatives or friends had encountered the Black-Clothed Man. But now, it seemed better to leave the matter of the Black-Clothed Man to the other commanders while he went to the Meng Jiang Dynasty first to see what was happening.
As for the system's mission, it would have to be postponed for now.
"I'll head over immediately."
Leaving those words behind, Jiang Li immediately cut off contact with Zhang Konghu. On his way to the Meng Jiang Dynasty, he contacted another commander and had him notify the former Human Emperor Candidates.
At this moment, the Meng Jiang Dynasty's imperial palace resembled ruins. These were the traces left behind by the battle between the Meng Jiang Emperor and the Wei Emperor. Had Zhang Konghu not intervened in time to save people, who knew how many would have been killed or injured.
Amid the ruins, only one glittering golden house was especially eye-catching, entirely unscathed. Clearly, when the Meng Jiang Emperor and Wei Emperor had exchanged blows, they had deliberately avoided the Golden House. Zhang Konghu had driven away the guards of both emperors, leaving only himself near the Golden House.
Hearing the increasingly fierce argument inside the Golden House, Zhang Konghu felt that before Jiang Li arrived, the two might bring the day of war forward by another ten days.
How could a war concerning the lives and deaths of millions be treated so childishly?!
Gritting his teeth, he resolved to dissuade the two emperors. He first slapped himself twice, then barged into the Golden House with his head held high despite the danger.
"Listen to my advice. Stop arguing. You are both rulers of a nation—how can you delay your nations' fortunes for beauty's sake... This beauty should be given to me instead!"
With Jiang Li moving at full speed, he crossed more than half of the Nine Provinces in merely half a day, rushing from the eastern Great Zhou Dynasty to the western Meng Jiang Dynasty.
Such speed was utterly terrifying!
Before Jiang Li even reached the Meng Jiang Dynasty's capital, he could hear rumbling sounds like muffled thunder. Looking into the distance, he saw three figures flying above the capital, battling fiercely.
It was Zhang Konghu fighting the Meng Jiang Emperor and the Wei Emperor! Neither the Meng Jiang Emperor nor the Wei Emperor was particularly talented on the path of cultivation. In terms of true cultivation, they were probably only in the Nascent Soul Realm. Yet bolstered by their nations' fortunes, the two together could match Zhang Konghu, and even showed signs of surpassing him time and again. If Zhang Konghu had not possessed abundant combat experience, he would have long since been taken down.
This was also because the Wei Emperor was too far from Great Wei, so the empowering effect of his nation's fortune had not reached its peak!
Zhang Konghu fought with wild exhilaration, his Witch Clan Bloodline pushed to its utmost limit. The tattoos of the Twelve Ancestral Witches on his back even glimmered faintly, exuding an ancient, heavy aura that rushed straight at them.
The Star River in the heavens glittered, countless starlights pouring over the Meng Jiang Emperor and making every one of his punches seem like a falling meteor, battering Zhang Konghu until he ached all over.
The Wei Emperor held the Imperial Jade Seal. The eight seal-script characters, "By Heaven's Mandate, may the reign endure forever," were stamped into the sky. Like Heaven's will descending overhead, they blotted out the heavens and covered the earth, summoning wind and rain.
"Only the strong deserve beauty!" Zhang Konghu roared.
"Get lost, you uncouth brute!" the Wei Emperor shouted.
"This is the Meng Jiang Dynasty. You all have to listen to me!" The Meng Jiang Emperor refused to be outdone.
"Calm down, all of you."
Jiang Li instantly appeared above the three of them and slapped the three fools who had lost their minds straight into the earth.
The tattoos of the Twelve Ancestral Witches dimmed, the Star River vanished into the sea of stars, and the eight words "By Heaven's Mandate, may the reign endure forever" were wiped clean.
The three spent quite some time before crawling out of their human-shaped craters.
"Jiang Ge, that was a little harsh. You nearly slapped my bones apart." Zhang Konghu chuckled foolishly. Jiang Li's slap had knocked him awake.
Jiang Li scolded him without mercy. "Luckily, you still had enough sense to know not to let your battle affect others, so you flew into the air to fight. If you had dared battle inside the capital, I would have slapped you straight into the Underworld!"
Zhang Konghu did not dare say anything and could only chuckle foolishly.
Anything he said now would be wrong.
Zhang Konghu prided himself as the strongest beneath the Tribulation Transcendence Realm. Even against a mighty cultivator in the Tribulation Transcendence Realm, he had the courage to fight. But before Jiang Li, he did not dare say anything about having a match.
One slap had rendered the Twelve Ancestral Witches tattoos he was most proud of dull and lightless. With another slap, Jiang Li could literally leave him unable to find his own head.
"Human Emperor Jiang."
"Human Emperor Jiang."
Upon seeing Jiang Li, the Meng Jiang Emperor and the Wei Emperor seemed to have forgotten that previous slap and both saluted him. Jiang Li politely returned the gesture.
"Could you let me meet this extraordinary woman?"
"Please, Human Emperor Jiang." Since Jiang Li had made a request, the Meng Jiang Emperor naturally did not dare refuse.
The imperial palace was nothing but ruins, making it difficult even to find a place to set foot, much less a corridor or path.
The four flew three zhang above the ground toward the Golden House. Seeing the miserable state of his own palace, destroyed by his own hands, the Meng Jiang Emperor could not help sighing. "Beauty has led me astray!"
"To obtain such a beauty, never mind destroying one imperial palace—even if I rebuilt it ten times and destroyed it ten times again, I would still be willing." The Wei Emperor shook his head and spoke as though it were nothing.
"Tyrant King!"
"Fathead King!"
The two rulers cursed one another and showed signs of starting another fight. Jiang Li gave a light cough, and only then did they settle down.
The Golden House was lavish beyond anything Jiang Li had ever seen. Outside, it was built from piled Merit Golden Bricks; inside, Top-Grade Spirit Stones paved the floor. Dozens of spirit treasures decorated the walls, Golden Spring gushed forth, and Green Lotus took root.
Jiang Li suspected that the Meng Jiang Emperor had emptied the national treasury and poured it all into this Golden House.
Nothing drove men mad like beauty.
The red-clad beauty lay quietly asleep upon a golden bed. Her petite body was slightly curled, her cherry lips parting and closing, like a sleeping kitten—utterly adorable.
The woman's features were exquisitely delicate, her beauty seemingly not of this mortal world. Her snow-white neck was slender and graceful, her curves captivating, and her pair of jade-like feet were delicate and exquisite, making one unable to resist taking them into one's hands to play with them.
The instant Jiang Li saw her, even his unruffled state of mind wavered.
He had seen her before! More precisely, he had seen a portrait of her!
That portrait had been painted with ordinary paper and ordinary ink, yet it had been listed as forbidden contraband precisely because it depicted this woman!
A woman who should have been dead!
Before you continue