Equal to the Emperor? News of Victory Arrives from the Border

News of the great victory in the Capital spread to every corner of the Great Gan Dynasty within just a few days.

For a time, the entire realm was stunned, and the people were in an uproar.

The White-Haired Sword Saint, who had appeared out of nowhere, had slain two Grandmasters on the battlefield with nothing but a man and a sword, ultimately defending the capital.

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

In the storytellers' mouths, he stood thirty feet tall and could blow away an army of a hundred thousand with a single breath—a divine protector of the state.

In the writings of the literati, he was an unparalleled sword immortal whose "single sword's icy light chilled the nineteen provinces."

Whatever the version, the name Lin Hanzhou had become renowned throughout the realm.

His image as the white-haired State Protector had been deeply imprinted on the heart of every citizen of Great Gan.

At that moment, his prestige reached its peak, even seeming to surpass that of the Founding Emperor.

Seven days later, at court.

An unprecedented grand assembly was underway.

The civil and military officials had gathered in the great hall.

Unlike the chaotic, oppressive coronation ceremony half a month earlier, the court was solemn and utterly silent today.

Every minister bowed his head, gazing with heartfelt reverence at the two figures seated side by side on the imperial dais.

One was the Empress, Li Yue Chan, clad in a black dragon robe and wearing an imperial crown, already beginning to exude the dignity of an emperor.

The other was Lin Hanzhou, the Grand Protector State Preceptor, dressed in black, his head of silver hair as white as snow, his expression indifferent.

His white hair was the best proof that he had burned his life for the nation.

Everyone who saw him couldn't help but feel reverence and fear.

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

The eunuch's shrill proclamation rang through the hall.

"State Protector Lin Hanzhou turned the tide in the nation's hour of peril and preserved the realm. His achievements will endure through the ages."

"I am deeply gratified, yet have no way to repay him. Therefore, I hereby elevate the State Preceptor to Protector Grand Master, granting him status equal to Mine."

Boom!

The decree of elevation struck every minister's heart like a thunderclap.

Equal to the Emperor?

What unparalleled honor! What supreme glory!

In the several hundred years since Great Gan was founded, there had never been such a precedent.

He was no longer merely a subject. He was practically a co-ruler.

Yet in the face of this decree, which was enough to overturn the rites of the ancestors, the great hall remained utterly silent.

Not a single minister dared step forward and raise even the slightest objection.

An objection?

Would their objections matter?

The fates of the princes and ministers who had once objected were still fresh in everyone's minds.

"We 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 appointment.

He didn't care about such empty titles.

In the last Dream World, what kind of empty titles hadn't he experienced?

Besides, this status equal to the Emperor could spare him countless unnecessary hassles.

A new order at court had begun to take shape.

Far away in their fiefs, the Three Feudal Lords stared in disbelief when they received the battle reports from the Capital.

They only just managed to believe it after their own spies returned with accounts that matched the reports from the Capital.

Their original plan had been to wait for the Qing Army to breach the Capital and the Great Gan royal house to be utterly destroyed.

Then they could raise their armies under the legitimate banner of "avenging the late emperor," compete for supremacy, and claim the Central Plains.

To further this plan, they had even secretly made things easier for the Qing Army's surprise attack.

But now...

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

The news utterly crushed their ambitions and any lingering hopes.

They realized in terror that their so-called elite troops and powerful generals

would probably be no more than a single stroke of the white-haired State Preceptor's sword.

And so the three feudal lords, who had once been itching to make a move, settled down completely.

Without exception, they personally gathered their trusted aides, prepared the most lavish gifts, and sent them to the Capital at top speed.

They feared that if they arrived too late, they might displease the State Preceptor and prompt him to pay them a personal "visit."

Before long, the three feudal lords appeared at court and presented the gifts they had brought.

They groveled, weeping as they spoke, and used the most respectful words

to express their boundless loyalty to the Empress and their admiration for the Protector Grand Master.

They swore they would defend Great Gan's borders forever and never rebel.

They knew full well that with that white-haired Sword Saint, a being like a god or devil, sitting in the Capital,

any attempt at rebellion would be inviting their own deaths.

And just as Lin Hanzhou's fearsome might brought unprecedented stability to the Capital and its surroundings,

astonishing news of victory arrived from the border battlefield.

When the Qing Grandmaster stationed on the main front in Qing Province heard the news from the Capital, he fled under cover of night.

He didn't dare imagine what kind of terrifying being could have done such a thing.

Those two Grandmasters had both been his colleagues, and their strength had been on par with his; they were among the most powerful cultivators of the age.

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

When he first heard the news, he even suspected that his own spies had been bribed by the enemy and were feeding him false intelligence.

But after personally verifying that the report was genuine, he had no choice but to believe the absurd news.

As this Grandmaster fled in panic, the other Grandmaster commanders followed suit once they learned what had happened.

They were terrified that the god of death might come to the border. The fate of the Grandmaster commanders among the hundred thousand Snow Wolf Iron Cavalry outside the Capital was still fresh in everyone's minds.

For a time, with so many Qing commanders deserting in the middle of battle, the more than two hundred thousand Qing troops were left without a leader, and their morale collapsed.

The Great Gan Grandmaster guarding the border seized the moment to launch a full assault. His forces advanced like a knife through bamboo, driving the Qing Army back at every turn.

In just one week, the Qing Army's entire front collapsed.

More than two hundred thousand Qing troops were either wiped out or surrendered. Without their commanders, they had no will to fight.

The two provinces occupied by Great Qing for nearly ten years were thus easily reclaimed.

This news pushed Lin Hanzhou's fame straight to the altar.

The Grandmaster guarding the border praised him, saying:

"As General of the State, all I can do is lead an army to stand against one Grandmaster."

"But the Protector Grand Master can make a Grandmaster flee even from a thousand miles away in the Capital. This is the art of subduing the enemy without a fight."

This was true, supreme divine might.

Under Lin Hanzhou's absolute military deterrence, the Great Gan Dynasty's precarious situation miraculously stabilized once more.

The Three Feudal Lords, who had once been ambitious, bowed their heads and submitted.

The three great sects, which had been itching to make a move, also sent people with congratulatory gifts, declaring their willingness to obey the court's commands.

A new power structure had begun to form, with the young Empress as its political center and the mysterious State Preceptor as its pillar of military strength.

Great Gan, which had seemed to be setting like the sun not long ago, appeared to be on the verge of rebirth.