Xue Qinghe and Bing Jiu's Political Marriage! The Letters Made Public!

"Warriors of Spirit Hall! This tour is not merely an exchange with the Heaven Dou Empire. More importantly, Spirit Hall's majesty must not be profaned by anyone—especially within the two great empires!"

"Spirit Hall is no easy target. Tell me, what will you do from here on out?!"

"We swear to burn through thorns for the Saintess! We swear to cut down fools for the holy judgment! Saintess, we are willing to follow you!"

"Good. Now, remember those words. Then—"

Bing Jiu drew the fine steel sword at her waist, its blade pointing straight toward the distant Heaven Dou.

"Move out!"

"By your command!"

At Bing Jiu's command, the cavalry charged out of Spirit Hall first, galloping down streets that had long since been cleared.

"Little Jiu, I won't say anything else. Just one thing: if anything happens to you, every citizen of the Heaven Dou Empire will be buried with you!"

Bibi Dong patted Bing Jiu's shoulder, her tone carrying not the slightest hint of jest.

Bing Jiu nodded, bowed to Bibi Dong, then turned and boarded the carriage.

Tuoba Xi personally took the reins before the carriage. Only after confirming that Bing Jiu was seated did he set off.

The grand procession departed Spirit City.

Along the way, the people of Spirit City cheered without pause, and Bing Jiu enthusiastically drew back the curtains to respond to them one by one.

"Hello."

Seeing that Bing Jiu had actually responded to them, the crowd immediately erupted in cheers.

She was the Spirit Hall Saintess, a towering figure on par with the Crown Princes of the two great empires, yet she had responded to them.

If this had happened in either of the two great empires, anyone who treated a Crown Prince this way would likely have lost their head.

Bing Jiu's casual manner, utterly devoid of arrogance, etched itself deeply into their hearts.

Though it seemed rather useless, Bing Jiu knew better.

Given time, these commoners, who appeared to possess the least power, would often be the ones most capable of determining the continent's course!

Unfortunately, the trash of the two great empires failed to notice that.

Meanwhile, within Spirit Hall, Bibi Dong watched Bing Jiu leave Spirit City. She smiled briefly before once again putting on that icy expression.

Upon returning to the hall, she waved her hand, and a fiery red figure immediately appeared.

"Your Holiness, you summoned me."

"Ling Yuan Douluo, I command you to protect the Saintess in secret. If she is injured, bring me your head."

"Yes!"

Ling Yuan Douluo replied in delight.

Bing Jiu was currently Spirit Hall's rising star. As long as she could establish a connection with her, Ling Yuan Douluo did not even dare imagine the achievements that awaited her in the future.

"Thank you, Your Holiness, for granting me such an honor. I will not fail your command!"

After Ling Yuan Douluo left, Bibi Dong leaned wearily against the back of her chair. The hand covering her face gradually turned cold, and a lonely look appeared on her face.

After staring blankly for a long while, she looked around the Papal Hall, lavishly decorated yet empty, and murmured softly.

"So it's just me again..."

Half a month later.

Bing Jiu's carriage was a custom-made model from Spirit Hall. At full speed, it could reach the capital of the Heaven Dou Empire within three days.

Yet Bing Jiu deliberately chose not to do so.

From within the carriage, she issued three orders to the accompanying knight order.

The first order: recruit tenant farmers.

Around Spirit City, eight new cities under Spirit Hall had been built, and over a thousand mu of land had been opened up! People were needed to cultivate it.

The second order: recruit Soul Masters.

Aside from martial souls with clan-specific traits, independent Soul Masters were often far more useful than people imagined. Spirit Hall offered them benefits worth three times their own value to draw them in.

The third order...

When issuing this order, Bing Jiu glanced at the large pile of letters stacked beside her, her ears flushing slightly.

Chuan took a bite of a huge chicken leg and looked at her with utter disdain.

"Hey, you. These letters are supposedly the correspondence between you and Xue Qinghe, right? Oh my, calling each other little darling over and over, saying how beautiful you are... You two are really so mushy. Hee hee hee—"

Bing Jiu clicked her tongue and kicked her straight back into the Clear Sky Pagoda.

It made Chuan curse furiously.

Of course, though Bing Jiu felt embarrassed, she still had no choice but to issue this order.

Make the letters public!

She had the letters Xue Qinghe had sent her over the past four years.

1,289 letters!

That was practically one every day! And every envelope contained a gold nugget the size of a goose egg.

Heh, truly worthy of the "Saintess." She really did not treat the Heaven Dou Empire's treasury as anything important.

Bing Jiu made all of these letters public. At the same time, Xue Qinghe's 1,289 replies to her would also be released according to plan.

The difference was that his letters to her came with gold nuggets. What did hers contain?

Though she had wanted to put bird droppings inside every time, Bibi Dong would not allow it, so she had no choice but to use envelopes embroidered with gold thread instead.

Setting aside all external factors, these letters would arrive at the capital of the Heaven Dou Empire ahead of them. With Xue Qinghe's maneuvering, they would surely cause an uproar throughout Heaven Dou.

Naturally, Star Luo would learn of it as well!

That was right. As three of the continent's greatest powers, Spirit Hall, the Spirit Hall Saintess, and the Crown Prince of the Heaven Dou Empire had their love letters made public.

What would come next?

A political marriage!

Bing Jiu refused to believe that the Star Luo Empire could remain seated!

Even so, Bing Jiu had still underestimated the speed at which news traveled.

By the time they reached a satellite city near Heaven Dou City, quite a few people were already standing by the roadside with bright red roses in hand, welcoming her.

Their cheers grew louder with every wave.

"Saintess! Is that the Spirit Hall Saintess? I saw the letters between you and our Crown Prince. Wow! They were really so mushy!"

"If the Saintess is willing to enter a political marriage with the Crown Prince of our Heaven Dou Empire, that is surely a blessing for Heaven Dou!"

"Saintess, may you and our Crown Prince forever remain an immortal couple."

"...Sigh."

Listening to the cries outside, Bing Jiu felt numb all over.

But there was nothing she could do. She could only take things one step at a time. After all, this had all been planned long ago.

"Saintess, the capital of the Heaven Dou Empire lies ahead."

"Got it."

Hearing Tuoba Xi's report from outside the carriage, Bing Jiu stretched her arms, stopped cultivating, and drew back the curtain to look outside.

A cold smile could not help appearing at the corner of her lips.

Sure enough, this place had not changed one bit from when she had been here before.

The land would rather lie barren, while the nobles, in order to maintain commodity prices, refused to let anyone cultivate it.

There were hardly any people walking along the prosperous streets.

Because beggars were not allowed to enter Heaven Dou City.

And outside Heaven Dou City?

Starving corpses everywhere?

Gatherings were forbidden outside the city gates, so they could only struggle on together in a ruined temple twenty li beyond the city.

They waited only for the great figures above to grant them charity.

But in truth, endless forbearance and waiting would never bring them anything.