The Battle Begins!

Empress Ji had left Zhao Zhugui speechless.

Indeed.

Zhao Zhugui had long since realized that his weakness was why he had always been at the mercy of others.

If he continued to remain this weak, could he really travel the world?

He didn't know why he had been given such a mission.

But...

He looked around.

Cicadas shrilled, ripping through the lush green. Waves of rice rolled over the field ridges. In the distance, cooking smoke curled into the evening clouds, and frogs' cries drifted up from the heart of the lotus blossoms.

Yet far away, at the edge of his sight, mountains were collapsing, thick smoke billowing into the sky.

This was one of the few intact regions left inside the shattered royal court.

"I really... love this world..."

His wistful words carried such sincere feeling that Empress Ji's expression trembled.

Zhao Zhugui was an oddity, perhaps even just a tool.

But his love for all things beneath heaven was something most people lacked.

That was why, even though Zhao Zhugui had spoken coldly to her time and again, Empress Ji still couldn't bring herself to get angry.

"You need to grow stronger, and I have a lifetime's worth of Martial Dao knowledge and experience," Empress Ji said gently.

"You'll teach me?" Zhao Zhugui asked.

"Yes." Empress Ji nodded.

"In exchange, you'll help me find a Divine Level... no, a demigod-level spirit item to serve as my body."

As she spoke, Empress Ji sensed the stirrings in Zhao Zhugui's heart and waited quietly.

Zhao Zhugui was a tool, one who might be reclaimed at any moment by the person who had created him.

Yet even Empress Ji found it difficult to use such a tool.

So she had proposed a deal.

"You have a Divine Level Formation that can