Heavenly Gate City.
Inside the council hall.
"The Northern Barbarians' State Preceptor is waiting for one of the others who stand alongside him as Second Under Heaven," Jiang Ning said.
"Waiting for someone?!" The Northern Pacifying King's gaze froze.
Jiang Ning nodded. "Before entering the city just now, I caught a distant glimpse of that Northern Barbarian State Preceptor. His aura carried the presence of that deity from Big Snow Mountain. With the empowerment of that aura, his strength is far more than merely Second Under Heaven!"
Upon hearing this, the Northern Pacifying King, Xu Zhen, narrowed his eyes.
"Your Highness means that the deity of Big Snow Mountain is now actively intervening between the Northern Barbarians and Great Xia?"
Jiang Ning nodded slightly. "That is precisely what I mean. Although that deity of Big Snow Mountain has, since ancient times, been imprisoned within Big Snow Mountain's divine domain and cannot leave it by even half a step, it is not wholly incapable of interfering with the outside world. The entire Northern Barbarian Great Grassland consists of its believers. The aura on Wheel-Turning King came from that deity of Big Snow Mountain and must be connected to it."
Having said that, Jiang Ning paused again, then looked toward the northern sky beyond the hall. "Since that deity has actively intervened and entered the fray itself, it means it has begun laying out its plans. As for its goal—whether it is probing the Martial Saint's true strength or plotting something else—we cannot yet say. There is no way to guess."
After hearing this, the Northern Pacifying King, Xu Zhen, grew solemn. "If it is truly as Your Highness says, then the Northern Barbarians' southward advance this time is not merely a simple matter of battering the passes and plundering. With the