North America, the western United States Region, San Francisco, San Francisco Royal City.
A month had passed since the San Francisco Decisive Battle. It had also been a month since Huan Emperor Jian Shang disappeared.
For that entire month, the Great Huan Dynasty had swayed amid wind and rain.
Internally, word of the Huan Emperor's disappearance, and even his death, spread ever wider. Rumors ran rampant, and hearts wavered. Dark currents surged through southern Yue Province in particular. Along its borders, the Laos Region, Cambodia Region, and others joined forces with the Thailand Region's army, massing troops at the frontier to threaten Yue Province. Yet its ruler, Dragon Consort Chong Shiqie, remained far away in North America rather than returning to suppress the unrest, leaving her stance unclear. Rumors multiplied of ministers maintaining close ties and using their troops to bolster their own power, while faction-building for private gain grew increasingly rampant. It could be said that, throughout the Great Huan Dynasty, orders from the Three Ducal Ministers, Nine Ministers, and officials at every level carried less and less weight, unless they came as decrees from Huan Empress Qi Ji.
Externally, the forces of Western Chu and the Han Kingdom's armies had long been massed along the Great Huan Dynasty's northern and northeastern borders. Friction was constant. There were no major battles, but countless small clashes, with groups of dozens, hundreds, or thousands of soldiers fighting almost every day. Once their numbers exceeded ten thousand, a clash would become a war, deepening the tension within the already unstable Great Huan Dynasty. Fortunately, Qin Shi Huang of the Great Qin Empire had personally led an expedition into the India Region and was occupied with India's Demon Soul, keeping him out of the turmoil in China's Divine Land. This allowed the Great