Mount Qi City had fallen, and the state of Xiqi had been destroyed.
The news seemed to sprout wings, spreading throughout the Primordial Three Realms in just a few days.
The mighty beings watching this civil war of Humanity fell into a long silence.
They had thought this would be a protracted tug-of-war, a lengthy contest between the Chan Sect and the Interception Sect, between the Heavenly Mandate and Humanity's Dao.
Yet no one had expected the end to come so swiftly, so utterly.
From Yin Jiao personally leading the campaign to the collapse of Xiqi's capital, no more than ten days had passed.
With overwhelming force, Great Shang's iron cavalry had swept the so-called Heaven-mandated Zhou into the dust of history.
Yin Jiao did not linger in Mount Qi City.
After purging the remnants of the Ji royal clan's forces and reassuring the city's people, he led his army in a sweep of the entire Xiqi Territory.
What he sought was not merely military occupation, but to bring this land back under Humanity's control in both fortune and rightful authority.
Half a month later.
At the edge of the Nine Provinces Barrier.
This was the westernmost tip of Southern Jambudvipa on the Primordial Continent. Beyond it lay the barren lands of the Western Ox Continent.
Clad in royal armor, Yin Jiao stood in the air with his hand on his sword.
Behind him stood Wen Zhong, Huang Feihu, and the other generals of Great Shang.
Below him, Guangchengzi, Chijingzi, and the other Chan Sect immortals stood in disarray outside the barrier, accompanied by the ashen-faced Ji Fa, Nangong Shi, and several thousand surviving diehard followers of Xiqi.
They had been banished.
"Yin Jiao!"
Guangchengzi stared at the invisible barrier formed from Humanity's Dao Fortune, his eyes filled with resentment