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In a fury, Ivan resolved to pacify threats within before confronting enemies without. He issued several urgent edicts in succession, ordering the army groups directly under the Imperial Court, stationed around the Holy Capital and along the main routes north, to mobilize immediately. They were to encircle and annihilate the rebels before they could threaten the Holy Capital.

Yet this crucial command met inexplicable obstruction and delays as it was passed down.

An invisible web seemed to hang within the Imperial Palace. Someone was secretly interfering, causing orders to deploy troops to be either distorted or transmitted slowly. The commanders of several key units even claimed they had received no clear orders to advance.

Ivan felt as though he had fallen into a net that kept tightening around him. Within, his decrees went unheeded and the powerful nobles turned away from him; outside, rebels marched north and formidable enemies pressed against his borders. He had truly been driven into a desperate corner, beset by troubles within and threats without.

Meanwhile, Li Chen, the mastermind behind all this chaos, seemed entirely removed from it. He had already embarked on his journey of exploration.

He had set Sergei, his pawn, alight. After watching him ignite a raging blaze within the Great Luo Dynasty, Li Chen turned away with easy grace and set his sights on more mysterious lands in the distance.

Taking Yekaterina, Anastasia, Darya, and Katrian as their guide, his party of five left the whirlpool of power struggles behind and headed toward the mysterious tribe Katrian had spoken of, deep in the bitter cold of the far north.

According to Katrian, her tribe had a long history, and its people possessed a special bloodline that often produced powerful shamans. This greatly interested Li Chen.

Recalling how Katrian had once sensed