Today is the first day of the lunar new year, and the author wishes all dear readers a Happy New Year and all the best!

When Yang Xiao captured Luoying City overnight, the news reached the ears of Chi Lin, the king of Green Dragon City, who was shocked.

"Fortunately, I didn't recklessly attack Luoying City back then, otherwise I would have been put in a passive position. Now Yang Xiao possesses four provinces, becoming a peer of Gu Beifeng and Du Tianxing, and a potential future southern hegemon. Xuanming Country might soon enter a tripartite standoff."

In Magic City and Wentian City, Du Tianxing and Gu Beifeng also received the news of Yang Xiao seizing Eastern Province and Luoying City Province, but their reactions were different.

Gu Beifeng was initially shocked,

"This young man, I underestimated him initially; I didn't expect him to create such a stir and suddenly possess four southern provinces, similar to Liu Bei capturing Jingzhou in Three Kingdoms history, becoming a dragon in the sea and finally establishing his dynasty!"

Upon saying this, Gu Beifeng was internally shaken,

"Holy shit, isn't North City the capital in the history of the Three Kingdoms?"

Then he laughed:

"I'm in the far north, Yang Xiao is in the south, and Du Tianxing is still in between us. Now the relationship between Du Tianxing and Yang Xiao is quite tense, heh, I suppose Du Tianxing won't be able to sleep well anymore."

Thinking of this, Gu Beifeng burst into loud laughter, then picked up a pen and paper beside him, wrote a few words, put it into an envelope, and called over a guard:

"Take this to Magic City for King Du Tian."

Between Wentian City and Magic City, there remains a teleportation channel that only allows three people to pass within 24 hours, facilitating normal communication between the two without posing a threat to each other.

In Magic City, Du Tianxing was holding a meeting with his subordinates to discuss the threat posed by Yang Xiao.

"Yang Xiao has seized Eastern Province and Luoying City Province, becoming the southern hegemon with four provinces, directly bordering our territory and posing a direct threat to us. Think about it, what should we do? Should we attack him now while his foundation is unstable, or should we reconcile and form an alliance?"

There was initial silence among the crowd, followed by discussions.

Yang Xiao's actions had already shaken everyone in Magic City.

Some advocated for war,

"King Du Tian, we cannot sit idly by and watch Yang Xiao grow stronger. He has just captured Eastern Province and Luoying City Province, and his foundation is not yet stable. At this time if we mobilize our forces and strike quickly, we can definitely deal him a heavy blow. Even if we can't kill him, we can take places like North City from him, limiting the base for his future growth."

"Yes, King Du Tian, he who hesitates is lost, we hesitated last time and didn't seize the opportunity to quickly dispatch troops to Luoying City, resulting in Yang Xiao capturing it overnight and putting us in a difficult position."

"Yang Xiao now owns four provinces, with relatively strong evolution resources. Given time, Yang Xiao will evolve to King Level, becoming strong and formidable, bound to be a major threat to us."

"King Du Tian, don't hesitate, dispatch the troops immediately."

...

Some advocated for peace,

"We already missed the best opportunity to attack Yang Xiao. When he attacked Eastern Province, we should have immediately dispatched troops to Luoying City. Now that he has taken East City and Luoying City, his forces have increased several times, and attacking him now will surely lead to heavy losses."

"Don't forget, our biggest opponent is still Gu Beifeng, and in the entire Xuanming District, there are many other local kings. If we battle Yang Xiao and both sides suffer, other forces will seize the opportunity to rise, and Gu Beifeng might even stab us in the back."

"Yes, Yang Xiao can also ally with Green Dragon City; in that case, we will definitely not be able to defeat Yang Xiao. Instead, we will face enemies on both fronts."

"Moreover, we just gained access to the Wuji Mountain passageway. With hundreds of thousands of square kilometers rich in resources, far exceeding the current Luoying City Province and Eastern Province, if we go to war with Yang Xiao now, how can we develop the resources of Wuji Mountain?"

...

People advocating for war and those advocating for peace both have their reasons. After listening, Du Tianxing glanced at Zhou Jian and said:

"Zhou Jian, you're good friends with Yang Xiao. Tell us, what should we do with our current situation?"

Zhou Jian, now at the High-Level Enhanced Gene, is one of Du Tianxing's proud subordinates. After contemplating for a moment, he said:

"If King Du Tian wants to compete for the overall situation, he should not be blinded by the details."

"What is the overall situation? What are the details?"

"Humanity has just stabilized from the post-apocalyptic terror and entered an era where warlords vie for supremacy. This era is similar to the Warring States period or the Three Kingdoms period in the ancient history of Xuanming Country. Regardless of the future fate of mankind, the dominance of Xuanming District is always the main direction. Therefore, in my view, unifying Xuanming Country is the overall situation, and local conflicts are merely details.

Magic City has been gifted from the beginning. After some time of development, the only real competitor to Magic City now is Wentian City. Therefore, all our competition should focus on Wentian City, not with Yang Xiao.

We are now in the era of Genetic Evolution, and the most important thing is the evolution resources. I want to ask everyone here, where in the entire Xuanming District are the resources most abundant and robust?"

Someone said:

"Nonsense, it's obviously the Primitive Forest, Wuji Mountain, and Changling in the Eastern Province."

Zhou Jian nodded,

"Exactly, it's the Eastern Province. Gu Beifeng has already entered Wuji Mountain. East King Zhao Benling can't contend with Gu Beifeng, and to avoid being swallowed up by Gu Beifeng, hence after the martial arts conference in Wentian City, Gu Beifeng introduced Yang Xiao and our King Du Tian into Wuji Mountain. This is all to restrain Gu Beifeng and prevent him from monopolizing the power.

If we fight Yang Xiao to the death now, depleting our Qi, where will we have the energy to develop the resources of Wuji Mountain? Gu Beifeng can then seize the chance to take over the entire Wuji Mountain, or even capture the Eastern Province. At that time, Gu Beifeng will naturally become the future ruler of the Xuanming Country region. Even if we defeat Yang Xiao, we will still be at a disadvantage in the struggle for the unification of the Xuanming Country.

'Whoever gains Tis City gains the world,' this is the overall situation!"

Zhou Jian's words made Du Tianxing and the dozens of senior leaders present all find it very reasonable, nodding continuously.

Du Tianxing fell silent for a moment and then said:

"Alright, Zhou Jian is right. We will then adjust our strategy. For the time being, we shall seek peace with Yang Xiao and focus fully on entering Tis City and Wuji Mountain, seizing the highest resource points. Zhou Jian, you used to be friends with Yang Xiao in the desert, and you also saved Gong Yu's life. I heard that Gong Yu is now Yang Xiao's top general, in charge of the Eastern Province. You will personally go to Kongming City to meet Yang Xiao and Gong Yu and express our intention to negotiate peace. Of course, we can't be too humble, lest we undermine our own authority."

Zhou Jian immediately said:

"King Du Tian, rest assured, I will certainly fulfill the mission. After all, we are also monarchs of Magic City and won't lose our presence. It's just temporarily giving them a break. With Yang Xiao's intelligence, he will certainly understand the priorities. In fact, Yang Xiao is now more afraid of war than we are, as he needs to recuperate and regenerate."

Just then, a guard came in to report,

"King Du Tian, a messenger from Wentian City's Gu Beifeng has brought a letter."

Du Tianxing nodded and said:

"Bring the person in."

A majestic young man walked in, presenting a letter with both hands.

"King Du Tian, our King Gu Tianwang asked me to deliver this personal letter to you."

The guard by his side had already taken the envelope and handed it to Du Tianxing. Du Tianxing opened the envelope, pulled out the letter inside, unfolding it to read:

"Should one tolerate others snoring beside their couch?"

(Thanks to the book friend 'Low-key Reading' for the reward of 10000 Qidian Coins, book friend 'Xingyun Piaoxue' for the reward of 8700 Qidian Coins, and book friend 'Wuxin Zhi Ren' for the reward of 300 Qidian Coins. Thank you all for your support, today there will be four updates, one additional for both 'Low-key Reading' and 'Xingyun Piaoxue', thanks!)