Chapter 2267: Dragon Submerges

Jiang Wang entered the game!

This made Wen Jingxiu happy, and it was also what Bai Yuxia desperately tried to avoid.

On the Xingyue Plain, the meticulous Shopkeeper Bai, a man of the Bai family bloodline in Langya City of the Southern Kingdom, did not hesitate to sever ties even unto death, using his life to declare this was a game—

But Jiang Wang still came.

He calmly walked into the game, facing the danger with his body, wanting to see what Wen Jingxiu could do to him.

In the blink of an eye, he had lived twenty-eight years. Many people had wanted to plot against him, but in the end, they all became lessons for others.

Bai Yuxia’s life up to this point, the most brilliant sword light, exploded and shone today. It helped him gain the freedom to die under the clamp of the Yue Kingdom's national power.

But this determination to go to his death was not allowed by Jiang Wang.

He was the shopkeeper of the Bai Yujing tavern, the owner of Bai Yujing who couldn’t understand the account books but was still very stingy, and wouldn’t give him the freedom to die.

The Yue Kingdom's protective country great array had already activated. Unless the protective country great array was forcibly broken, at this moment, the Yue Kingdom was in a state where gods and ghosts could not measure.

So Jiang Wang did not use Taixu Wuji to rush here.

He had concealed his presence from everyone, secretly hiding in the land of Yue without anyone knowing, enabling him to act in time at this critical moment.

The completely out-of-control sword qi inside Bai Yuxia’s body was instantly suppressed, becoming orderly, thousands upon thousands of threads returning to the human body’s four seas.

That cluster of dazzling and eye-catching brilliant light, almost melting, slowly returned to the shape of a person.

The mad waves of the breached dike, seemingly about to flood the heavens, were being pressed back into a still sea drop by drop.

This was a very complex process, requiring extremely fine control force, yet Jiang Wang appeared very relaxed. He didn’t even look at Bai Yuxia the entire time, only staring at Wen Jingxiu.

He smiled and said: “Yue Kingdom Emperor, you said this elder supported you, and this elder is also very curious—what did this elder support you in?”

Under the night sky, Wen Jingxiu, who was originally completely in his true form, became hazy and turned into a virtual shadow the instant Jiang Wang appeared.

This monarch stood in front of the throne, not sitting down again, yet the expression on his face was very composed, not at all showing the embarrassment of being caught in a lie face to face. He casually waved, wanting to isolate their conversation and prevent others from hearing. But the sound barrier dissipated as soon as it formed, the sound gulf appearing and then being filled. He did not thus initiate a war or plan to personally draw his sword, and simply gave up.

At such a moment, he still smiled, with a king’s demeanor, and looked at Jiang Wang levelly: “Since Dao Li began until now, three thousand nine hundred and twenty-eight years have already passed! In the present world it is only a fleeting moment, but in the human race, who knows how many generations have turned over, enough for a True Person to exhaust their lifespan three times.”

“The era of state system reform, but the new system is also gradually aging. Today’s world is plagued by ills, accumulating small diseases into great harm, unceasing throughout history! Elder Jiang has always supported reform, I am very clear on this.”

He said very earnestly: “Emperor Han Xu of Yong reformed, and Elder Jiang once praised him endlessly. The new policy of the Zhuang Kingdom Qi Ming, it is said, was supported by Elder Jiang from behind. The spread of the Star Road method, the establishment of Taixu Xuan Zhang, these were even more personally pushed by Elder Jiang—Elder Jiang, since you have a heart to do something for the people of the world, to explore a more correct system, to pursue a fairer future, isn’t the Yue Kingdom the most suitable place?”

Jiang Wang’s eyelids lifted slightly: “Yue Kingdom Emperor should probably understand Emperor Yong well, then you will know why this elder praised him endlessly. As for the Zhuang Kingdom’s new policy, this elder only observed from the side and never participated. You are the ninety-five supreme, the lord of these ten thousand li of mountains and rivers. Originally, your words should be golden. You really shouldn’t be like tonight, with every sentence not landing on solid ground!”

“Misunderstandings are inevitable in life. I also often have times when I cannot penetrate the truth, instead making Elder Jiang laugh.” As the true emperor of a country, and within his own territory, with the national power supporting him, Wen Jingxiu’s attitude could truly be called humble.

He frequently showed goodwill to Jiang Wang, even saying something like ‘accompanying a laugh’: “But I think some misunderstandings cannot obstruct the eye that can penetrate the truth. You are a person with great ambitions, you will not let emotions affect you for small matters, and you will not make decisions under the interference of emotions—what do you think of the Yue Kingdom’s new policy? Has it injected vitality into the Qiantang River, has it given fairness to the common people?”

Objectively speaking, the Yue Kingdom’s new policy was at least well-established in its planning. Compared to the ‘Qi Ming new policy’ made by several young people in the Zhuang Kingdom, it was too much more mature.

So Wen Jingxiu had the confidence to let Jiang Wang evaluate it.

“You are really very humorous.” Jiang Wang just smiled: “This elder’s warning to Ge Fei, he listened to, but you seem not to have listened?”

Wen Jingxiu furrowed his brow. He indeed did not know about this matter: “What warning?”

“If there is still an opportunity—you should ask him yourself.” Elder Jiang withdrew his gaze, no longer conversing with the Yue Kingdom’s emperor.

Because all the sword qi inside Bai Yuxia’s body had been withdrawn, preserving his golden body and jade marrow, he could now speak.

“How does it feel?” Jiang Wang asked, looking at Bai Yuxia.

Bai Yuxia pulled at the corner of his mouth: “Are you asking about my body or my psychology?”

“Both.”

“The former is quite bad, the latter is very bad!”

Jiang Wang laughed heartily.

Bai Yuxia said: “So, did the owner know about my actions early on? Or was it Bo Wang Marquis who gave you a suggestion?”

This matter truly had nothing to do with Chong Xuan Pang!

No matter how high the strategy, it was impossible to calculate everything in a situation where information was missing. The Yue Kingdom's chessboard was now a mess; outsiders fundamentally couldn’t find the threads.

But Jiang Wang also couldn’t boast about his own divine calculation in front of Bai Yuxia. After all, Bai Yujing’s accounts were all calculated by Bai Yuxia, this was an insider who knew the ins and outs.

He thus said: “Although he’s very lazy in moving forward, when it comes to caring about friends, he’s still willing to take a bit of initiative—he contacted me.”

Bai Yuxia’s tone was complex: “He promised not to tell you.”

Jiang Wang said: “Although his mouth is very strict in moving forward, what would he do if I beat him once?”

Bai Yuxia laughed: “Then he can only betray me.”

“Elder Jiang!” Wen Jingxiu’s voice rang out at this moment: “There’s no rush to reminisce about old times. Just right, beloved minister Bai was promoted to chief censor today. I’ll have people set a table in the palace, and we can celebrate his achievements together, how does that sound?”

The fireworks that had already exploded, being pressed back to their appearance before the fuse was lit, this move made him intuitively feel the power of True Person Jiang.

Killing six True Persons in Tianjing City, surrounding Asura outside the Great Wall, those were all too remote, like legends, not too realistic.

Respecting the wise and valuing talent is a monarch’s virtue. In front of a true heavenly pride, Wen Jingxiu was very willing to display his quality.

But Jiang Wang was obviously not sensible enough.

He withdrew the hand that was pressing Bai Yuxia, helping him suppress the chaotic sword qi, and placed it on the hilt of Chang Xiang Si. He turned around expressionlessly and looked at Wen Jingxiu: “The ancients said that executing without teaching is abuse. So, perhaps this elder needs to properly speak with Emperor you once—”

He said word by word: “Bai Yuxia is the shopkeeper of the Bai Yujing tavern, the person in charge of this elder’s money bag. He is not your beloved minister.”

Since there is “teaching,” there will naturally be “execution.” These words were almost a naked threat.

For a time, the great land of the Yue Kingdom, the Qiantang roared!

Zhou Sixun, the commander of the Yue Kingdom’s navy, drove the virtual shadow of a huge warship, appearing in the high sky, wearing a helmet and armor, staring angrily at Jiang Wang: “Our great Yue Emperor is the orthodox emperor, the lord of the state and society! Your Majesty is magnanimous and unwilling to argue about vulgar rites. But a master insulted a minister to death, I cannot remain silent—Cabinet member Jiang, please note your identity and also correct your attitude!”

“Orthodox emperor?” Jiang Wang looked over coldly: “Has this elder not killed before?”

How many years has it been since Zhuang Gao Xian died?

People seemed to have forgotten how that ambitious orthodox emperor of the Western Border was dragged down from the dragon chair. He once had great ambitions, coveting the world, but in the end, he was stabbed into a mess, and then his head was delivered to the dragon palace.

This gaze…

The bright moon was as if frosted.

Killing intent became substance, violent as a prison, boiling and surging for ten thousand li, like a suddenly descended sea, pressing down on the roaring Qiantang. Pressing until Zhou Sixun’s figure sank several zhang, that huge warship virtual shadow was almost crushed!

As the first person in the Yue Kingdom’s military commanding the Qiantang navy, Zhou Sixun himself was in the Shenlin realm. Borrowing the military power of the Yue Kingdom’s strongest army, he could even rival Dongzhen. But even under Jiang Wang’s single gaze, his flames were extinguished and his qi collapsed.

This was not an ordinary gap.

And Jiang Wang’s might was still diffusing.

Even the figure of the Yue Kingdom Emperor Wen Jingxiu rippled like water waves at this time.

Even as the lord of a country, an orthodox emperor, facing the current Jiang Wang, the Jiang Wang who had begun to show hostility, he was not even qualified to be seen as a virtual shadow.

“Owner!” Bai Yuxia spoke at this moment, almost shouting tragically: “Forget it!”

Forget it.

He would not take revenge.

Let tonight be his last night in the Yue Kingdom, let this time be his last contact with the Yue Kingdom.

He was deeply trapped in the game, deeply aware of the danger. He deeply hated the Yue court and had once sworn revenge, and yet he said… forget it!

But once the mad waves were stirred up, how could he, a person whose life and death were not autonomous, announce the end?

People with insufficient strength, even saying “forget it,” cannot count.

The entire Yue Kingdom’s national power was all shaking.

And the ten thousand li waves, actually still in an instant—

The nearly scattered virtual shadow of the warship driven by the Qiantang commander, and Wen Jingxiu’s shaking figure, all became fixed.

Bai Yuxia still maintained the posture of shouting.

Even Jiang Wang was pressing his sword, his eyes cold and unmoving.

The entire Fuan City, for a time, was like a land of ice sculptures, silent without a sound.

Time and space were fixed at this moment!

And in the sky, a huge copper-cast si nan appeared.

The “ground plate” was square and regular, with many lines even from afar, extremely resembling a chessboard. Around the board face were engraved the twenty-four directions, and in the center was embedded a smooth semicircle, inside which were marks symbolizing the seven stars of the Big Dipper.

A copper long-handled spoon rested in this semicircle, just slowly rotating.

Time and space were still, the five elements chaotic, ghosts and gods immeasurable.

Fuan City at this moment, as if independent from the present world.

Then, as if there was an invisible giant brush, shaking the sea of clouds, a stroke passed across the night sky, taking away the cause and effect. The night was still that night, the moonlight was still that moonlight, Fuan City was still Fuan City…

But Jiang Wang’s figure disappeared!

Like a drop of water mixing into water, from then on, there was no trace.

The protective country great array is a country's heavy weapon. To some extent, it is a mark of a country's power reaching a certain level. The initially ambitious Zhuang Gao Xian of the Western Border never waited for his protective country great array to be completed until his death. The Yang Kingdom, which was once in decline with a weak army, could have a protective country great array, only because of the afterglow left by its glorious ancestors.

The Yue Kingdom’s protective country great array was built by Yue Taizong Wen Zhong in the past, regardless of court officials' opposition, by emptying the national treasury. It still protects this piece of land today.

Once activated, it consumes massive amounts of yuan stones every breath.

Under the cover of the protective country great array, everything happening within the Yue Kingdom’s borders echoes only within the border and will not transmit waves.

Fuan City moved.

Ordinary common people were still kneeling, fundamentally unaware of what had happened. Those who were bold enough to lift their heads and look at the sky would only, at a certain instant, suddenly discover that Elder Jiang had disappeared—in their view, it was a piece suddenly wiped from their vision. The vast majority of people would only think that Elder Jiang had voluntarily left the Yue Kingdom.

Only those whose cultivation reached the Shenlin realm could vaguely sense what had just happened.

Only when one was a True Person of the world did one have the opportunity to see through the truth!

And the only True Person of the world present at this moment, the Yue Kingdom’s emperor Wen Jingxiu, lowered his eyelids before the throne, looked at Bai Yuxia, and said with doubt: “What’s the matter? Where did Elder Jiang go?”

Bai Yuxia was silent!

After Ge Fei escaped, Wen Jingxiu's virtual shadow descended upon Fuan City, activating the protective country great array for the first time, ostensibly to seal the borders and capture Ge Fei. The real purpose was to fix Bai Yuxia in the game, preventing others from interfering. But there was actually a third layer, specifically for this moment—for Jiang Wang.

Wen Jingxiu truly had no reason to scheme so exhaustively against Jiang Wang.

So Bai Yuxia finally knew who the chess player sitting on this chessboard, after Gao Zheng, was!

Initially on the Guanhe Platform, that was Dao Li three nine one nine year, the first meeting between the Bai Yujing owner and the shopkeeper. Bai Yuxia said at that time— “Thank you, Heavenly Pride Jiang, for recognizing my strength. But my self-respect does not allow me to accept.”

Today, he was likewise unwilling to accept all of this.

But he was no longer allowed to refuse.

“Beloved minister Bai?” Wen Jingxiu asked again.

Bai Yuxia lifted his eyes to look at this monarch and slowly said: “You will regret this.”

From this sentence onwards, his words could no longer be heard by others.

Wen Jingxiu also then no longer feigned confusion, only calmly looking at Bai Yuxia: “If I had known earlier that Prime Minister Gao would die, I would rather not have started all of this—is regret useful?”

“Your Majesty, until today, I have to admit that you are a monarch with both means and courage.” Bai Yuxia said: “If the Yue Kingdom had no Crouching Tigers beside it, the new policy would indeed make people see hope. At the country’s level, I think you are doing very well. But you have made the wrong choice now, and you think this is not fatal.”

Wen Jingxiu did not speak.

Bai Yuxia continued: “Bai Pingfu could die because he was foolishly loyal to you. Bai Yuxia could die because he was so mediocre. But what kind of person is Jiang Wang? He is not a chess piece you can pry. You have pulled a divine dragon into your small pond, thinking you can tame it. In fact, when the divine dragon soars to the abyss, this pond is at most only a small puddle not over the sole of a shoe. A slightly heavy sigh can crush it.”

Wen Jingxiu said: “Beloved minister, what chess piece are you talking about? Why am I more and more confused? Where exactly did Elder Jiang go?”

“I sincerely offer a piece of advice—if Your Majesty still cares about this state and society, still remembers Prime Minister Gao’s efforts, it is still not too late to regret.” Bai Yuxia said: “All that has passed, I will forget it all. I can admit that it was just my fate. This time’s matter, I can also advise the owner not to care. The Bai Yujing tavern and the Yue Kingdom can have no connection.”

Wen Jingxiu sat down on the throne, his expression calm, and waved his large sleeve: “Beloved minister Bai, you are also tired. The new policy has just been implemented, and you are still needed for many efforts—come, take him down to rest. Remember, do not let people disturb him.”

Bai Yuxia, whose golden body and jade marrow had not yet completely recovered, was just taken down like this. His struggles were completely meaningless, his voice unheard.

The virtual shadow of the Qiantang warship condensed out once again.

Zhou Sixun stood at the bow of the ship. He thought for a moment and still spoke: “Your Majesty, Elder Jiang’s matter…”

Wen Jingxiu raised his palm to stop him: “I gave him an opportunity. At any time, as long as he nodded once, I would support him without reservation. This multiple-choice question was originally very simple. But Bai Yuxia is iron-hearted, and Jiang Wang is also iron-hearted—I can only harden this heart as well.”

“Zhou Qing.” He raised his head and looked at the distant night sky: “We have no road back.”

Zhou Sixun lowered his head.

“What about Ge Fei?” Wen Jingxiu asked again.

“Currently… still unknown.” State minister Gong Zhiliang’s voice rang through the protective country great array.

“Unknown?” Wen Jingxiu withdrew his gaze, suspecting if he had heard wrong.

Gong Zhiliang’s voice also carried doubt: “He seems to have… really run.”