Inside Green Maple Valley.
Lanterns and festive decorations abounded, filling the valley with joy.
A victory banquet of outrageously high prestige was underway in a magnificent hall.
It celebrated the great victory in Desolation Province and the further expansion of the Chu Kingdom's territory.
Inside the hall.
Celestial music drifted through the air as over a hundred fair-skinned, beautiful dancers with graceful figures danced.
Gauzy veils swirled, and rainbow-colored robes fluttered.
In the seats on either side.
Sat a full assembly of Divine Mansion Realm Great Experts.
Cui Yuan, the Li Family First Elder, Sage Xuanji, Blood Abyss Demon Venerable, Sky-Eating Demon Venerable, Jade Shark Lord... and many more.
Twenty-four Divine Mansion Realm Great Experts in all.
A truly terrifying gathering.
And in the seat of honor.
Li Xinge, the King of Chu, wore a Black-Gold Royal Robe, smiling as he chatted merrily with everyone.
Just as hosts and guests were enjoying themselves.
An earth-shaking pressure descended without warning.
Immediately afterward.
A roar of utter arrogance exploded beside everyone's ears like thunder from the nine heavens.
"Li Xinge!"
"Get out here and die!"
The murderous voice seemed to make heaven and earth themselves shudder.
Inside the hall.
The music of strings and pipes stopped abruptly.
The surging sound waves knocked the dancers to the floor, where they trembled.
The entire hall instantly fell into a deathly silence.
Every Divine Mansion Realm Great Expert froze with his wine cup halfway raised.
They exchanged looks, their eyes filled with disbelief.
What was going on?
His Highness the King of Chu had just pacified the Southern Wasteland and driven back an ancient exotic beast at the great perfection of Divine Mansion. His prestige blazed like the sun at noon.
Who beneath the heavens did not know the King of Chu's might?
Yet someone