Daluo bowed in submission and sought an audience with Li Chen! (Please subscribe and vote with monthly tickets)

Although Matvei's words left some old-guard nobles feeling stifled, they also drew an enthusiastic response from the many officials at court who favored peace.

After all, for most officials and the Lineages behind them, avoiding war and preserving their existing status and wealth mattered most.

As emperor, Matvei too had wanted to stand tall between heaven and earth. But the tide had turned against him, and this was an opportunity his master had fought hard to secure.

As he had said before, even if he wanted to bow his head and become a vassal, the Emperor of Heavenly Strategy might not agree.

For a time, cries of "Your Majesty is wise!" and "For the sake of the realm!" dominated the Imperial Court.

Before long, that earnestly worded Letter of Submission would surely be delivered through official channels and formally placed upon Li Chen's imperial desk.

While the winds and clouds shifted across the continent's north and west, another power was quietly growing across the vast lands to the northwest.

Tuoba Zhen, once a rebel general of the Great Luo Dynasty and the Khan of the Snow Eagle Court, unleashed winds of blood and rains of gore among the northwestern kingdoms, drawing on his formidable Saint Realm strength and the military experience he had gained maneuvering against the Heavenly Strategy Army.

Facing an ambitious warlord who had carved his way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, those small kingdoms and tribes were like toddlers confronting a grown man. They were utterly outclassed.

Tuoba Zhen fed his wars with the spoils of war. Wherever his iron hooves thundered, he swallowed up one small kingdom after another and dozens of nomadic tribes, seizing vast numbers of people, immense wealth, and extensive lands.

His power swelled like a rolling snowball, though it