Kang Youde's furious shout echoed through the great hall. To everyone's ears, it stirred wave after wave of shock. For a moment, the entire venue fell into an unprecedented dead silence.
Everyone stared wide-eyed at Kang Youde, as though trying to determine whether his words were true or false. For no other reason than that this news was simply too earth-shattering for them to believe.
In the Northern Lands today, there were two men whose fame and reputation were so towering that practically no one had not heard of them.
The first was Beitang Shu, the Ninth Prince of the current ruler Beitang Sheng. While the southern rebellion raged like wildfire and the Hu Man tribes of the north stirred restlessly, he had stationed troops beyond the passes, drilled military formations, intimidated those with ill intent, and quelled the flames of war. Now, he was the Prince of Fu, Governor-General of the two provinces of Jiliang. His momentum had faintly surpassed even that of the current Crown Prince. Quite a few people had already placed their bets on him, including some of those exiled to Jianan Pass.
There was not much to say about that. Beitang Shu was simply too distant from them. An Imperial Scion, he was like an immortal in the heavens—unseen and untouchable.
The second was Meng Zhao. Though he was far inferior to Beitang Shu in that regard, his miraculous rate of improvement over a mere two years had shocked the world. His outstanding, tangible battle records had won him widespread praise, and together with Shen Tianci, he was one of the Peerless Twin Prodigies of the younger generation.
Of course, from every angle, Meng Zhao still fell short of Shen Tianci's solid, deeply ingrained talent. Yet there was no denying that being ranked alongside Shen