Ming.
Nearly a year had passed since Yu Huatian and the others entered the Sword Realm.
Over that year, Ming had quelled its internal unrest and dealt with all the Dongying people who had infiltrated Ming territory a year earlier. Moreover, Yuan Province in the north, which had originally belonged to the Great Yuan Dynasty, had been fully integrated into Ming's domain.
In terms of national strength alone, Ming now stood indisputably first across the entire Divine Land. Not a single nation could rival it!
Even without Yu Huatian presiding over it, Ming was no longer the feeble dynasty it had once been.
Even in terms of top-tier experts, although Yu Huatian, Bai Yujing, Xie Xuan, Ye Gucheng, Lian Chengbi, and the others had entered the Sword Realm this time, Ming still had three Heavenly Beings-Xu Hongru, the Five Elements Ancestor, and Zheng He-standing guard.
Furthermore, half a year earlier, Xu Ruowu of Ghost King Manor had successfully opened his Bridge of Heaven and Earth and entered the realm of Heavenly Beings.
In other words, even without Yu Huatian and the others, the Ming Imperial Court had a full four Heavenly Being experts.
These four Heavenly Beings were already enough to safeguard the stability of Ming's Capital.
Not to mention the many experts of the Eastern and Western Depots and the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
With the aid of the dragon meat and dragon blood Yu Huatian had brought back from the Eastern Sea, the Eastern and Western Depots and the Embroidered Uniform Guard now had over twenty Great Grandmasters, more than a hundred Grandmasters, and an astonishing thousand-plus martial artists in the Xiantian Realm.
Never mind Ming-even among all the nations of the Divine Land, this force, united, would be an indisputable colossus, enough to topple any nation with ease!