He had thought Li Qingming was dead, perhaps long since killed without even a body left to bury.
After all, when Ye Xishui and Long Xiaoyao finally returned, neither had mentioned the outcome of their pursuit of Li Qingming. He had taken that to mean Li Qingming was dead.
So he was genuinely surprised now that this brother of his was still alive.
What was more, Li Qingming claimed to have brought back fighting strength on par with Ye Xishui and Long Xiaoyao. That news was staggering.
Li Qingming had also demanded that they stay out of it, which left him shaken.
As he read the letter, Xu Tianran's gaze flickered. Under normal circumstances, he would naturally have refused.
After all, Ye Xishui and Long Xiaoyao had already returned, and both were vital to the Sun Moon Empire as it stood.
But if Li Qingming truly had the ability to kill either of them, Xu Tianran was willing to cooperate with him.
Ye Xishui currently controlled the entire Holy Spirit Cult, and the cult had practically gone mad.
Not only were they carrying out such horrifying practices as refining corpses, puppets, and souls within the army,
but worst of all, they had begun infiltrating its command structure, exerting influence over the Sun Moon Empire's army and Soul Engineer legions.
This had already encroached on his authority as emperor, yet under normal circumstances, he could neither intervene nor resist.
But with Li Qingming here—or rather, now that Li Qingming had returned—
he effectively had a card of his own to play against Ye Xishui.
Compared with Ye Xishui, who controlled the entire Holy Spirit Cult, possessed an intricate network of connections, and harbored great ambitions, Xu Tianran naturally trusted Li Qingming more.
He knew the young man was greedy, but what