Level with the Emperor? Border Victory Report Arrives

News of the great victory at the Capital City spread to every corner of the Great Gan Dynasty within a mere few days.

For a time, the entire world was shocked, and the masses were in an uproar.

That White-Haired Sword Saint who had emerged from nowhere had used only his person and his blade to slay two Grandmasters before the battle lines, ultimately defending the national capital.

The commoners and soldiers within the city embellished his legendary deeds as they spread them far and wide.

In the mouths of storytellers, he was a guardian deity standing thirty feet tall, capable of blowing away an army of one hundred thousand with a single breath.

Under the brushes of scholars and poets, he was a peerless sword immortal whose "single blade's cold light chills nineteen provinces."

Regardless of the version, the name Lin Hanzhou had become world-renowned.

In the image of that white-haired State Protector, he was deeply branded into the hearts of every citizen of the Great Gan Dynasty.

His prestige reached its zenith at this moment, even faintly showing signs of surpassing the Founding Emperor.

Seven days later, within the imperial court.

An unprecedented grand assembly was being held.

Inside the great hall, civil and military officials were gathered together.

Unlike the chaotic and oppressive coronation ceremony half a month ago, the atmosphere in the court today was solemn and deathly silent.

All the ministers lowered their heads, gazing with heartfelt awe at the two figures seated side-by-side on the throne.

One was Empress Yue Chan, dressed in a black dragon robe and wearing an imperial crown, already possessing the initial air of imperial majesty.

The other was the State Protector, Lin Hanzhou, dressed in black with a full head of hair as white as snow and a detached expression.

His white hair served as the best proof of his Burning Life for the nation.

It made everyone who saw him involuntarily feel a sense of reverence and fear.

"By the grace of Heaven, the Emperor decrees!"

The eunuch's shrill proclamation echoed throughout the great hall.

"State Protector Lin Hanzhou, at the time of national crisis, turned the tide and preserved the state, his merits covering the ages."

"My heart is greatly comforted, and having no other way to repay him, I hereby confer upon the State Protector the title of Protector Grand Master, with a status equal to my own."

Boom!

This decree of ennoblement struck the hearts of all the ministers like a thunderbolt.

Equal to the Emperor?

What kind of reverence was this? What kind of glory?

Looking back over the hundreds of years since the founding of the Great Gan Dynasty, there had never been such a precedent.

This was no longer a subject; this was practically a co-ruler.

Yet, faced with this decree that was enough to overturn ancestral rites and laws, the great hall remained silent.

Not a single minister dared to stand up and voice any objection.

Objections?

Would their objections even matter?

The fates of those princes and ministers who had once held objections were still fresh in their memories.

"We, your subjects, congratulate the Protector Grand Master."

After a brief silence, all the ministers bowed in unison toward Lin Hanzhou.

Lin Hanzhou merely nodded calmly, accepting the conferment.

He did not care for these empty titles.

In the previous Dream World, what empty title had he not experienced?

However, this status, equal to the Emperor, could save him countless unnecessary troubles.

In the imperial court, a brand-new structure had been initially established.

Meanwhile, the three vassal kings in their distant fiefdoms were filled with disbelief when they received the battle report from the Capital City.

It was not until their own scouts returned and confirmed that the intelligence matched the report from the Capital City that they could barely believe the fact.

Their original plan had been to wait for the Capital City to be breached by the Qing Army and for the Great Gan imperial family to be completely wiped out.

They would then have been able to rightfully raise an army to vie for the Central Plains in the name of "avenging the late Emperor."

For the sake of this plan, they had even secretly provided many conveniences for the Qing Army's surprise attack.

But now...

That mysterious State Protector had slain two Grandmasters outside the Capital City?!

This news completely shattered all their ambitions and wishful thinking.

They realized with terror that their so-called elite troops and strong generals...

Before that White-Haired Sword Saint, it would likely be a matter of a single sword strike.

Consequently, the Three Feudal Lords, who had previously been restless, became completely docile.

They acted in unison, personally preparing the most lavish gifts with their trusted aides and dispatching them to the Capital City with the utmost haste.

They feared that if they arrived too late, they would incur the dissatisfaction of that Grand Master, prompting him to "pay a visit" to them in person.

Before long, the Three Feudal Lords appeared in the imperial court to present the gifts they had brought.

One by one, they groveled and wept, using the most respectful language to express their boundless loyalty to the Empress and their adoration for the Protector Grand Master.

They swore that they were willing to guard the borders for the Great Gan Dynasty forever and would never rebel.

They knew clearly in their hearts that with that god-like White-Haired Sword Saint sitting in the Capital City, any act of treason was simply courting death.

Just as the Capital City and its surroundings became stable as never before due to the formidable divine might of Lin Hanzhou, incredible news of victory arrived from the border battlefield.

The Grandmaster of the Qing Army who was guarding the front line in Qing Province fled overnight after learning the news from the Capital City.

He could not even begin to imagine what kind of terrifying existence that was.

Those two Grandmasters were his peers, equal to him in strength and among the highest cultivators in the world.

Yet, two such powerful figures had been slain together by a mysterious Sword Saint.

Upon first hearing the news, he even thought his own scouts had been bribed by the enemy to pass on false intelligence.

But when he personally verified the authenticity of the information, he was forced to believe this absurd news.

Following the flight of that Grandmaster, the remaining master generals followed suit upon hearing the news.

They were terrified that the god of slaughter would come to the border; the fate of the master generals of the one hundred thousand Snow Wolf Iron Cavalry outside the Capital City was still fresh in their minds.

For a time, because a large number of Qing Army generals deserted their posts, the two hundred thousand Qing troops were left leaderless, and their morale collapsed.

The Grandmaster guarding the Great Gan Dynasty border seized the opportunity to launch a general offensive, advancing like a hot knife through butter and driving the Qing Army into a full retreat.

In just one week, the Qing Army's front line completely crumbled.

The more than two hundred thousand Qing troops were either wiped out or surrendered; without their generals, they had no will to fight.

The two provinces that had been occupied by the Great Qing for nearly a decade were reclaimed with such ease.

This news pushed the reputation of Lin Hanzhou directly onto a pedestal.

The Grandmaster guarding the border even praised him, saying:

"As the General of the State, I can only lead an army to stalemate with a single Grandmaster."

"Yet the Protector Grand Master, even from the Capital City a thousand miles away, can scare off a Grandmaster. This is truly subduing the enemy without fighting."

This was the true, supreme divine might.

Under the absolute military deterrence of Lin Hanzhou, the precarious situation of the Great Gan Dynasty miraculously stabilized once again.

The once ambitious Three Feudal Lords bowed their heads in submission.

The three major sects that had been restless also sent people to deliver congratulatory gifts, expressing their willingness to obey the orders of the imperial court.

A brand-new power structure, with the young Empress as the political core and the mysterious Grand Master as the military pillar, began to take shape.

The Great Gan Dynasty, which had been on the verge of collapse not long ago, seemed to be truly on the verge of a rebirth.