On the third day of the third month, deep in a valley of the Blessed Land on Chess Mountain's Spirit Peak.
Verdant mountains embraced lush greenery, and trees cast dense shade. Rustic buildings with white walls and red tiles stood amid them, forming Chess Mountain's Spirit Valley, a tranquil place that resembled an immortal's blessed retreat.
The Chess Mountain Blessed Land, where members of the Commercial Alliance held their assemblies, was established here. It was the nerve center of the Chess Mountain faction.
At that moment, Commercial Alliance elders in splendid robes, each bearing an imposing air, were arriving from all directions to attend the assembly of elders held here.
They had come to discuss the recent course of the war and decide how to respond to the current situation.
Before long, everyone had gathered in the main hall.
"Over the past month, Guangyun has dispatched three armies, advancing simultaneously from the east, south, and west through Grain Valley, Cloud Territory, and the secluded forests, with their sights set on the commanderies of the Eastern Kingdom."
"According to reliable projections, his next target should be Hui City, a major city in the Eastern Kingdom's Fei Commandery, home to tens of millions of mortals!"
An Elders' Council steward read aloud the intelligence compiled from various sources before the assembly. With the advisers' projections added, he conducted a war game on the sand table in the great hall.
"This Li Chen is a strange one. He does nothing but attack useless mortal cities and secular kingdoms."
"Those mortals may be useless, but their Territorial Lords are mostly descendants of elders who left Chess Mountain. Most of those families have declined, with cultivators no longer governing them, but plenty of apprentices and craftsmen still hail from those places..."
"Could he be trying to