[The sacrificial altar stood towering, solemn and imposing.]
[The grand rites resounded in concert, stately and reverent.]
[Through the curling smoke, the emperor's devout face was illuminated as incense was offered to Heaven and Earth.]
[Prayers were made for favorable winds and timely rains, peace and prosperity for the land, and enduring fortune for the Great Qing Kingdom.]
[The hundred officials kowtowed!]
[You stood beneath the sacrificial altar, looking up at wisps of clear smoke rising straight into the clouds, drifting away to an unknown destination. Your mind wandered slightly.]
[A voice rang out, and only then did you come back to yourself.]
["Junior Guardian, it has been many years since we last met. Have you been well?"]
[The voice was rough and carried no small measure of emotion.]
[You turned and looked over. Among the delegations from the four nations stood a man dressed in plain clothes. Though he silently stood behind the others, the authority concealed within him could not be hidden.]
[Only a man of high rank and great power could cultivate such a bearing.]
[And he was an old acquaintance.]
[This man was the envoy who had once come from North Wind to seek peace, as well as Tuoba Shuyi's eldest legitimate son—Tuoba Hongyan.]
[You narrowed your eyes slightly and scrutinized the prince.]
[Though he appeared calm, he could not help recalling the Lu Family Army's once-glorious reputation. His heart shuddered.]
[Over four years, North Wind had indeed been frightened out of its wits by that unbroken stretch of warfare.]
[In several past wars against forces other than the Lu Family Army, victory had clearly been within reach. Yet the moment the opposing side raised the Lu Family Army's banner, their own soldiers' morale would collapse again and again, until they were ultimately defeated.]
[North Wind had truly been beaten terrified by the Lu Family Army—terrified to the marrow.]
[From then on, the Northern Region had hung Lu Family Army banners everywhere.]
[Tuoba Hongyan had followed his father on campaigns north and south since childhood and was familiar with you. The more he looked at you, the more frightened he became. He hurriedly said, "I came with the North Wind Delegation and have already sought an audience with your emperor!"]
["Our two nations are already allies. Junior Guardian, do not damage the harmonious relations between our countries!"]
[You smiled with narrowed eyes and said nothing.]
[Tuoba Hongyan felt some regret. He should not have provoked you, but this was also his father's instruction for this journey.]
[His father, Tuoba Shuyi, had once been the man closest to North Wind's throne. Yet because of Lu Chen's sudden emergence, all his efforts had come to nothing.]
[In that battle, Lu Chen had shattered eight hundred thousand Northern Wind Cavalry with the force of thunder and lightning, his troops pointing straight at Huanglong Prefecture.]
[The court's pro-war faction never recovered. In the end, the third prince of the peace faction ascended the throne, and only an edict calling for peace made him withdraw his forces.]
[That battle had also crushed his father's lofty ambitions. Afterward, he locked himself in his room all day, studying the old map of the Northern Region and trying to find the true decisive move. He reviewed the battle time and again, calculated and deduced it again and again, but no matter how he shifted and maneuvered, every road led only to death.]
[Because the man who had played against him in the Northern Region back then wielded troops and controlled men like a ghost or a god!]
[How could man defeat a god?]
[Back when Lu Shenzhou retired into seclusion on Mount Zhongnan, the imperial clan and generals of the Northern Region seemed to have cast off a burden of a thousand catties.]
[They all said, "Great Qing's move is like releasing a tiger back into the mountains."]
[At this moment, Tuoba Hongyan's heart was uneasy, but he had no choice but to brace himself and say, "Junior Guardian, Father has entrusted me with words for you."]
[You were rather curious what Tuoba Shuyi had to say.]
["Father said that if you can come down alive from Mount Zhongnan, he will challenge you again."]
["In this life, he swears he will defeat you once. Otherwise, even in death, he will not close his eyes."]
[There was one more sentence, but Tuoba Hongyan truly did not dare say it!]
[Yet recalling his father's stern face, he hardened his heart and spoke.]
["However, if Junior Guardian cannot walk down Mount Zhongnan alive, he will personally lead iron cavalry to flatten all nine branches of your Lu Clan, dig open the Lu Clan's ancestral graves, and comfort your spirit in Heaven."]
[Hearing this, your expression did not ripple.]
[Yet something stirred in your heart.]
[As far as you knew, North Wind's third prince had ascended to the supreme throne during that struggle four years ago.]
[After taking the throne, the first thing he did was place Tuoba Shuyi, his former rival, under house arrest in the Imperial Clan Court.]
[The second was to marry off the hardline Northern Eldest Princess to Great Qing, turning her into a tool for an alliance marriage between the two nations.]
[With those sweeping measures, North Wind had long since changed its entire leadership.]
[By rights, with Tuoba Hongyan's current status, he should have long been a prisoner beneath the steps and could not possibly have appeared here.]
[Much less bring you words about settling the score once and for all.]
[There was only one possibility!]
[Unless something had changed in North Wind!]
[Unless the Sixth Prince, Tuoba Shuyi, had seized power once more.]
[Tuoba Shuyi was no ordinary man. Before you encountered him, he had already swept across the world.]
[Had it not been for defeat in battle, he would already have become North Wind's ruler.]
[As for that earlier line—unable to come down Mount Zhongnan?]
[You were still pondering it!]
[For the blessings at Mount Zhongnan, Great Qing had heavily stationed twenty thousand Imperial Guards here, all carefully selected soldiers of formidable might.]
[And Ma Bao, that palace expert, along with many other generals, were all standouts among martial arts masters. There was no shortage of figures at the Grandmaster level among them.]
[With such tight defenses, who could possibly carry out such a shocking deed on Mount Zhongnan?]
[Kill you, Great Qing's Junior Guardian.]
[With precautions like these, who could kill you?]
[And the other party spoke with absolute certainty.]
[There was no lack of warning in those words.]
[All at once, you thought: could someone above the level of Grandmaster have come to Mount Zhongnan?]
[Lu Yu sneered. "If anyone wishes to harm my brother, I would like to see who in this world dares!"]
[Tuoba Hongyan said no more. He quietly retreated and disappeared into the crowd.]
[Lu Yu looked at you, waiting for your decision.]
[Naturally, you understood what Lu Yu meant. Capture the man and interrogate him, and the truth would be known.]
[You had already made your calculations.]
[Though Tuoba Hongyan's warning contained only a few sparse words, you could glimpse a trace of the situation from them.]
[Yet you could tell that he perhaps knew only the tip of the iceberg and did not understand the true cause. Capturing him would be futile and might easily alert the enemy.]
[Thus, you smiled calmly and said softly, "No matter. Let him go."]
[You gazed indifferently toward the sacrificial altar. You had a premonition that something earth-shaking would happen today.]
[You could not help feeling somewhat vexed.]
[Tuoba Shuyi had specifically sent his son to warn you!]
[Something might happen on Mount Zhongnan.]
[Apart from North Wind's delegation, you had dealt little with the other three nations.]
[Yet several among them were quite interested in you.]
[Especially Qianyuan's delegation.]
[Among all the nations, Qianyuan possessed the greatest strength. Yet whenever imperial power changed hands, its struggles were also the fiercest.]
[Qianyuan had now been consumed by civil strife for ten years, yet victory still had not been decided. Several princes and princesses fought for the throne, throwing the realm into chaos.]
[Moreover, the most famous person in Qianyuan these past years was a woman—the Sixth Princess of Qianyuan. As a woman, she commanded an army of one hundred thousand, and whenever she went into battle, she wore a ghost-faced mask.]
[Though the various nations all harbored covetous intentions, they tacitly refrained from making any rash move.]
[They knew well that once outside forces intervened, Qianyuan's civil strife would swiftly settle. Such an outcome was not what they wanted.]
[Therefore, they instead hoped Qianyuan would grow ever more chaotic, so they could reap greater benefits from it.]
[Several members of Qianyuan's delegation held you in high regard and wished to speak with you. To avoid suspicion, you took the initiative to avoid them.]
[Since you wished to stay away from court, you had to avoid such unnecessary social dealings and suspicions.]
[Time passed.]
[The second group entering the mountain had arrived!]
[Members of the imperial family, concubines from the inner palaces, and the families of the hundred officials made their way up the mountain one after another.]
[You raised your head and looked at the sky. It was high and broad, the clouds vast.]
[The tree longed for stillness, but the wind would not cease!]
[Lu Yu laughed instead. "The wind howls beneath a high sky—perfect weather for killing!"]
[You merely smiled as well.]
Before you continue