And now, apart from the king of Great Yu, every other ruler had been captured and taken to Chen City.
With no leaders to guide them, the kingdoms fell into chaos.
The Yan Kingdom returned to its old methods, making no rush to unite the world openly.
Instead, it used the captive kings as leverage and slowly swallowed their kingdoms.
The Bai father and son knew that biting off more than they could chew would do them no good. They advanced steadily, without haste.
On the military front, their overwhelming strength crushed all opposition.
The kingdoms watched themselves being eaten away, bite by bite. They wanted to resist, but lacked the strength.
In the tenth year after Li Shun's arrival,
the Yan Kingdom successfully annexed the Xiang, Yong, Liang, and Xu Kingdoms.
It held nearly half the land under heaven.
After a brief pause to regroup, it finally launched an assault on Great Yu, the former homeland of the Bai father and son.
Having conquered five kingdoms in succession, everyone in the Yan Kingdom brimmed with a feverish confidence that they were invincible under heaven.
With the Crimson Blood Elite's overwhelming strength behind them, the Yan Kingdom's armies drove Great Yu back wherever they struck.
Great Yu could offer no resistance.
In less than three months, most of its territory had fallen.
Only its capital remained, holding on by a thread.
That day, the army surrounded Yu Capital on every side. The Bai father and son came to the city walls, escorted by a vast throng.
Gazing at the familiar yet aged capital before them, both men felt a thousand emotions stir.
"Ten years away, and now we return home to find everything changed—as though heaven and earth have become another world." Bai Xianding stroked his beard and sighed, though