Meng Han was equally wary of your formidable battle record in his heart.

But having fought to this point with justified cause, he was clearly unwilling to retreat and let all his efforts go to waste.

Meng Han felt that even if both sides were evenly matched in combat power now, they still held the advantage in numbers. If a real fight broke out, they could swarm you, and there might still be a chance to win.

Meng Han looked at you and said with a smile, "Palace Leader Shangguan, you must have come to support us because Li Jiang offered you astonishing terms. But whatever Li Jiang offered you, my Mizhen Sect will double—"

"Last chance." Your expression remained calm as you directly cut off Meng Han's words.

Meng Han's mouth opened, but the rest of his sentence got stuck in his throat unspoken.

Meng Han instantly became furious, too annoyed to waste any more words on you.

He thought that while it was impressive you could charge through the encirclement of twenty-plus Ultimate Grandmasters alone, they now had fifty-seven people and had no reason to fear you.

His gaze turned fierce: "Shangguan Gousheng! Today I'll see just how much water is mixed into your title of Great Qian's number one!"

Meng Han directly charged forward brandishing a large halberd, and the other Ultimate Grandmasters from Jin Yue Nation surged forward following him.

Li Shen and the others immediately panicked. Many had only heard of your reputation but never seen you in action, so they weren't confident either.

These people all stirred their Source Power, preparing to engage in battle.

You spoke leisurely: "I gave you a chance, but you just couldn't take it."

Suddenly, all the Ultimate Grandmasters on both sides saw a flash of white before their eyes as chilling, fierce blade light instantly filled the space between heaven and earth.

"Ahhh—!!"

Multiple screams of agony rang out simultaneously.

A moment later, the blade light receded, and the world became bright again.

When the Great Qian side looked across at their opponents, they were horrified, a chill running straight from their backs to the tops of their heads.

They saw that the front line of Jin Yue Nation's charging forces had all been shattered limb from limb, falling like autumn leaves scattering to the ground.

With a series of crashing sounds, countless body parts smashed to the ground, stirring up dust.

With the power of a single blade strike, nineteen of Jin Yue Nation's Ultimate Grandmasters had fallen on the spot.

This included the top-tier Ultimate Grandmaster Meng Han who had been charging at the front.

The remaining Ultimate Grandmasters from Jin Yue Nation were scared out of their wits, rapidly retreating backward as they looked at you in disbelief, as if witnessing the greatest terror in the world.

They couldn't imagine that anyone in the world could kill nineteen Ultimate Grandmasters with a single move, including a top-tier Ultimate Grandmaster.

What kind of heaven-shaking power was this?

The Jin Yue Ultimate Grandmasters looked at you in terror, momentarily even forgetting to flee.

All of Great Qian's Ultimate Grandmasters also looked at your back with extreme fear.

The battlefield instantly fell silent.

Then, you smiled slightly and declared in a loud voice: "From now on, Jin Yue Nation may not cross beyond the Cangwang Desert by even half a step. Those who violate this will be killed by me!"

Your voice wasn't loud, but it made everyone tremble as if waking from a dream.

These words seemed to brand themselves into everyone's hearts, becoming an indelible thought-steel seal.

All of Jin Yue Nation's Ultimate Grandmasters nodded subconsciously.

Your energy locked onto everyone, the immense fear making them too terrified to even consider escaping.

But you didn't plan to kill the remaining people either;

intimidation was enough, as they posed no threat in your current eyes.

You spoke calmly to the Jin Yue crowd: "Alright, after returning, hand over Li Yu to Great Qian. You may disperse now."

Jin Yue Nation's Ultimate Grandmasters felt as if granted amnesty, hurriedly agreeing repeatedly before daring to stay no longer, scattering like locusts passing through.

Great Qian's crisis of overthrow had been easily resolved by you.

You turned to look at the dumbstruck Li Shen: "Hey! Wake up!"

Li Shen quickly collected his astonished expression: "Pa-Palace Leader!"

"Keep some people here to escort Li Yu to the capital."

Li Shen's expression turned serious: "Palace Leader, I'll personally wait here!"

You nodded: "Worthy of someone destined to become Guardian Duke. You've got prospects."

Li Shen detected your teasing tone and quickly bowed his head: "Palace Leader, I wouldn't dare, I really wouldn't!"

You didn't linger further, directly shooting into the sky and disappearing from sight.

All of Great Qian's Ultimate Grandmasters let out long sighs of relief.

They looked again at the nineteen Ultimate Grandmasters whose remains were scattered everywhere on the ground, staring blankly for a long time as their minds continued to surge with turmoil.

Today, your feat of instantly slaying nineteen Ultimate Grandmasters and stopping the war with a single blade strike gradually spread throughout Great Qian, causing enormous shock and awe.

The worried Li Jiang, upon learning the news, jumped three feet high with joy.

Li Jiang immediately declared the Palace of Ten Thousand Dreams as Great Qian's state religion, proclaimed himself an outer disciple of the Palace of Ten Thousand Dreams, and declared he would only revere the Palace Leader of Ten Thousand Dreams in this lifetime.

You paid no attention to Li Jiang's flashy but empty gestures, letting him do as he pleased.

Other Ultimate Grandmasters variously speculated about what height you had reached, but after much guessing, they couldn't arrive at a definite answer.

They only knew that you, the number one under heaven, were no longer on the same level as them.

After Jin Yue Nation's Ultimate Grandmasters returned, they immediately reported your situation to Mizhen Sect Leader Yu Xiuwen.

Losing nineteen Ultimate Grandmasters at once made Yu Xiuwen both heartbroken and shocked.

Yu Xiuwen immediately gathered the Ultimate Grandmasters within the sect skilled in divination to perform divination on you.

But all the Ultimate Grandmasters reached the same conclusion—no such person could be found.

Yu Xiuwen immediately became flustered, recalling that incredibly strong person he had once encountered who claimed to be from another world.

Yu Xiuwen speculated that there might be some connection between you.

That very day, Yu Xiuwen ordered the Jin Yue Nation ruler to withdraw the nation's border by a hundred miles and publicly declared it was out of respect for you.

You didn't pay much attention to your spreading fame.

At this time, you were bringing the two-year-old Lin Mo to appear in the Qianming Mountain Range.

The Qianming Mountain Range stretched vast and majestic, with trees covering the landscape.

"Palace Leader, what are we doing here?"

The adorably naive little Lin Mo looked up at you from beside your feet.

"Today I'll teach you the most top-tier cultivation technique."

Lin Mo looked somewhat confused: "Palace Leader, didn't you say what I'm cultivating now is already the most top-tier technique?"

You brought out the Jade Pure Purple Qi Art: "This one is even more top-tier among top-tiers!"

According to Ye Youyun, the Jade Pure Purple Qi Art was a Qi refining technique that could only cultivate up to peak Qi refinement at most.

You had memorized the entire text, but you hadn't attempted to cultivate it—not because you'd studied it for a long time without making progress, but simply because you didn't want to cultivate it.

The technique also explained spiritual roots—only those with spiritual roots could sense spiritual energy and cultivate.

Although you could sense spiritual energy, you didn't know if you had spiritual roots yourself.

Because the more Earth Sources you fused with, the stronger your ability to sense spiritual energy became, which seemed completely unrelated to spiritual roots.

Ye Youyun had given you a technique to detect spiritual roots, but you had no cultivation base and couldn't circulate energy to detect spiritual roots.

Only after you truly drew spiritual energy into your body could you detect spiritual roots for yourself and Lin Mo.

After hearing your words, Lin Mo's small eyes brightened—cultivation was his greatest joy.

"Palace Leader, really? Can I cultivate it right now?"

You handed the Jade Pure Purple Qi Art to Lin Mo: "Cultivate it! Right now!"

"Yay!"

Lin Mo extended his chubby little hand, taking the Jade Pure Purple Qi Art and beginning to read through it.

After a short while, Lin Mo said doubtfully: "Palace Leader, this technique's cultivation method seems completely different?"

You put on a profound expression: "This is testing whether you can recognize that. You pass this first test—continue comprehending."

Hearing that you were testing him, Lin Mo immediately became nervous, his small face tightening as he began reading with utmost seriousness.

Lin Mo seemed to be struggling with the reading. He occasionally glanced at you with an expression of wanting to speak but holding back, as if he had many questions to ask you.

You simply sat nearby with your eyes closed resting, afraid that Lin Mo would actually ask you questions—because you were completely clueless too.

Now you were like a student specifically avoiding the teacher for fear of being called on, while Lin Mo was like a student who couldn't do the test paper while being closely watched by the proctor—both of you felt somewhat guilty toward each other.

After quite some time, Lin Mo finally couldn't resist carefully asking: "Palace Leader, what is this 'spiritual energy' mentioned in the technique?"

Naturally, you needed to explain spiritual energy clearly to Lin Mo.

So after you carefully explained spiritual energy to Lin Mo, he nodded with partial understanding.

Lin Mo thought thoughtfully for a moment before simply asking: "Palace Leader, is this spiritual energy?"

Lin Mo extended his small index finger, at the tip of which flickered a wisp of transparent gas that felt very familiar to you.