The Plan

After the battle in Capital City, Chen Yuan had learned from Qin Suguan's letter how the princes' fierce struggle for power had ended.

Emperor Zhao Guang's response could only be called ruthless. He had killed three sons in a single day, utterly cementing his imperial authority. Then, with the promise of a grand prize, he had set Zhao Wuji loose to stir up such a storm across the martial world. The Radiance Cult now faced its greatest crisis since it had begun recuperating.

And what had Zhao Guang paid? Nothing. He had merely dangled that grand prize before Zhao Wuji.

If Zhao Wuji won, he would claim his prize, and the imperial court would be rid of a formidable enemy in the Radiance Cult.

If Zhao Wuji lost, there would be no great loss in the death of an imperial kinsman who resented the court. The promises Zhao Guang had made to the major martial sects would naturally become void as well.

Zhao Guang had displayed the full extent of his political cunning with this move. Was an emperor like that an idiot? Could he really not see the many problems plaguing Great Xia?

Chen Yuan was certain he could see them. Yet Zhao Guang refused to change. He had even intensified his exploitation of the Nine Provinces, the only lands Great Xia still held directly, as though he meant to drive their people into rebellion. That was what Chen Yuan could not understand.

They saw plenty of misery along the way. Chen Yuan kept shaking his head, while Gu Linchuan cursed without pause.

Most of that misery had not come from the fighting. It had come from the imperial court's army—the Dingnan Army.

Bandits passed through like a comb; soldiers passed through like a fine-toothed comb.

As a front-line