Translator: Sparrow Translations  Editor: Sparrow Translations

Zhao Huan had always been very a.s.sured of Guo Zonghuang, and he also believed in his bright future.

He continued to focus on conversing with the Vivant Joy Holy Man and the others after giving his disciples a little more advice.

His gaze also swept across the view of the Arctic State at the same time. He had never seen such a view before, but his parents and people around him often described the Arctic State"s view and culture to him when he was growing up.

They described the past glory of the Arctic State to him, before it was desecrated under the hands of the Great Zhou Empire.

Although everything seemed surreal to him, Zhao Huan still remembered everything clearly in his heart. He couldn"t forget them.

When the Covenant of Liefeng was destroyed by Zhang Lie and Zhao Huan"s parents were killed, the view of the Arctic State became clearer and clearer in his mind.

All these years, Zhao Huan did venture into the Arctic State"s past territory, but they had already become the Great Zhou"s Blizzard County. It didn"t feel like now - a sense of his hometown.

Zhao Huan felt especially relieved after relocating his parents" cenotaphs to the foot of Mount Lan. It was a magical feeling.

Zhao Huan looked at the Nascent Soul Stage cultivator from the Great Zhou Empire ad said, "We"ve had some conflicts over this period of time, but I hope that we can work to resolve them."

The Nascent Soul Stage Grandmaster nodded his head, "This is not a problem."

Besides meeting Zhao Huan on this trip to the Blizzard County, another of his mission given by Liang Gan was to deal with the Great Zhou cultivators that clashed with the Arctic State and Celestial Sect of Wonders" cultivators.

The Great Zhou"s troops retreated, and the Arctic State was rebuilt. In the short term, there were still some loose ends to take care of. After all, both parties shared a horrendous relations.h.i.+p before this and there was still a great deal of enmity that existed. In addition, the land to be handed and taken over between the Great Zhou and Arctic State was quite substantial in size, which would require some time.

Liang Gan just ascended the throne and Liang Jingcheng as well as the Frontier Galleon submitted to him. If Liang Pan and Zhu Hongwu didn"t return to the Divine Lands, his throne would be very stable.

However, he needed some time if he wanted the entire Great Zhou under his control and to appease the local forces that had turned impatient because of the sudden changes.

These local forces communicated with one another in secret and harbored some of the Great Zhou cultivators that retreated from the Arctic State.

The re-establishment of the Arctic State also caused the benefits of some to be affected negatively. They might not dare to clash head-on with the Arctic State, since the Celestial Sect of Wonders was backing them. However, they supported some minor revolts secretly.

At the border between the Great Zhou Empire and the Arctic State, criminal activities that were usually rare started to become rifer.

Things appeared to reverse now. In the past, the Covenant of Liefeng and other smaller organizations liked to cause trouble and revolt near the Great Zhou borders. But now, it was the turn of the Great Zhou cultivators.

Liang Gan wouldn"t ignore this matter naturally. He was begging for this opportunity. The shortsighted behavior of the other party gave him a starting point to deal with the local forces.

The Nascent Soul Stage Grandmaster from the Great Zhou Empire came here for this reason apart from meeting Zhao Huan. He would deal whatever he needed to deal with and take care of an unyielding individuals who resisted.

The Great Qin Empire"s Vivant Joy Holy Man and Royal House"s Advanced Nascent Soul Stage cultivator didn"t really react to this.

However, both Zhao Huan and the Great Zhou cultivators knew that the Great Qin and Royal House would try to support and garner the support of this local forces for their own convenience. Their purpose was to cause uncertainty under Liang Gan"s rule.

This was very common between all 3 parties and even more common between the Great Zhou and Great Qin Empires.

Although both parties had switched their directions towards the Celestial Sect of Wonders, it didn"t mean that they shared a close relations.h.i.+p.

Besides the compet.i.tion that naturally existed between both parties, the past enmity didn"t just disappear following Liang Pan and Zhu Hongwu"s downfall. Liang Gan might be new to the throne, had to clean up Liang Pan"s mess and even had to offer some reparations to the Great Qin, but it didn"t mean that he was willing to lower his head to the Great Qin Empire.

Even while the matter from the War of the Two Worlds had concluded, both parties would still continue to compete with each other. This was inevitable when there were two great empires existing in the same era.

However, their conflict would remain behind the scenes as of now.

That"s because they both shared the same problem - the Royal House of the Northern Tribes. Although the Royal House couldn"t challenge them in the past, they had risen so much that they were now comparable in terms of strength.

During the War of the Two Worlds, the Great Qin Empire suffered greatly. This wasn"t just a great damage of their vital energy. They were almost exterminated from the Divine Lands.

Following the previous battle, the Great Zhou Empire also became much weaker after Liang Pan and Zhu Hongwu absconded with the Imperial Palace of Emperor Tai and Great Heavenly Wheels.

The Royal House of the Northern Tries took control of the Heaven Lake Sect"s territories, benefited greatly after the Anti-Celestial Sect War and harvested lots of rewards from the War of the Two Worlds. All these enabled their power to rise and become a formidable strength in the Divine Lands.

The Great Qin Empire and Great Zhou Empire now had to accord the due respect and attention to the Royal House of the Northern Tribes now.

The Royal House also shared a closer relations.h.i.+p with the Celestial Sect of Wonders than both empires with the Celestial Sect of Wonders.

The Celestial Sect of Wonders had already expressed their att.i.tude through the various details previously. They wouldn"t interfere in the internal development of the Great Zhou, Great Qin and Royal House. This added a lot of considerations for both the empires as they were on their guards.

Moreover, there was even news that suggested Emperor Gu"s descendants that had re-appeared were about to return to the Divine Lands.

The Emperor Gu"s lineage was much more powerful than the Great Qin, Great Zhou and Royal House. If they gained the Celestial Sect of Wonders" support and returned to the Divine Lands, it would not be a good thing for all 3 parties.

This was also what sparked a gradual return to peace in the situation of the divine Lands.

Of course, this didn"t affect the behind-the-scenes fighting between these 3 parties.

Zhao Huan creased his brows as he conversed with the Great Zhou cultivator, while that Nascent Soul Stage Grandmaster"s expression also changed slightly. The both of them received news at the same time that Great Zhou cultivators had caused trouble once again. This time, the cultivators that caused trouble weren"t of low masteries too. There were even some Nascent Soul Stage cultivators involved. The situation was very dire.

The Nascent Soul Stage Grandmaster turned dismal. In Tianjing, Nascent Soul Stage cultivators were nothing much. But along the borders, their strength couldn"t be ignored.

His face was lost as they started to cause trouble along the borders.

"I will go and settle the matter before giving everyone an explanation." The Nascent Soul Stage Grandmaster said in a deep voice.

After Zhao Huan and Ke Jing looked at each other, they both nodded their heads slightly. Zhao Huan turned to his side slightly and said to Guo Zonghuang beside him, "Zonghuang, some of you can follow Grandmaster Huang Yang. Take it as a training experience."

Guo Zonghuang nodded his head and answered, "Yes, Master."

After he finished speaking, he moved out with a few Blizzard Valley disciples. Grandmaster Huang Yang didn"t have any objections to this. They weren"t offended either. They only said, "Let"s go then."

Some of the Great Zhou cultivators remained where they were, while Grandmaster Huang Yang dragged a part of them before breaking void s.p.a.ce and flying into the distance.

A radiance flashed above Guo Zonghuang and a crown shone brightly. The crown shot out two void projections. One of the void projection appeared very saintly, while the other void projection appeared evil and domineering.

The two projections combined together and formed an intense ripple of strength. Void s.p.a.ce was about to be torn apart.

It was the Nascent Soul Stage magic item, the Golden Crown of Angels and Demons. After establis.h.i.+ng Guo Zonghuang"s ident.i.ty as a third-generation First Disciple, this Golden Crown of Angels and Demons and another Aurous Core Stage magic item, the Ancient Jade Armor, were given to Guo Zonghuang. Zhao Huan retained the Heavenly Fury Spear and Devil Protective Seal that Zhu Yi gave to him.

While Guo Zonghuang was a Beginner Aurous Core Stage cultivator, summoning the power of the Golden Crown of Angels and Demons enabled him to break apart void s.p.a.ce and lead his comrades in the direction that Grandmaster Huang Yang flew towards.

They proceeded quickly and came to a mountain valley where the border between the Arctic State and Great Zhou Empire was.

This was a route that needed to be cross in order to move between the Arctic State and Great Zhou Empire. Formations would be set up at checkpoints along the route to protect those who were crossing the border. Many ordinary people and cultivators often rested at this mountain valley.

Although Aurous Core Stage cultivators couldn"t break open and traverse across void s.p.a.ce, they could still walk on air. If they wanted to stop temporarily, they would choose such places with formations erected for protection.

This place was also like a marketplace. It bustled with people and many people would even engage in trade over here.

However, the formation that engulfed the mountain valley had been completely destroyed now. The mountain valley was also in bad shape. The survivors were shaken and there was even a body on the valley.

Guo Zonghuang furrowed his brows as he took a look at the mountain valley. It was the corpse of an Aurous Core Stage cultivator. He even knew this Aurous Core Stage cultivator. He was from the Arctic State and went into hiding in the past as the Great Zhou Empire was after his life. After he learnt of Liang Pan and Zhu Hongwu"s downfall as well as the re-establishment of the Arctic State, he returned to his hometown.

He even came to find Zhao Huan. While he was much older than Zhao Huan, he was very respectful and grateful towards Zhao Huan. Guo Zonghuang was present when they met.

Besides this Aurous Core Stage cultivator, there were other victims in the mountain valley. After questioning a few survivors, Guo Zonghuang realized that all the victims were Arctic State cultivators.

Grandmaster Huang Yang"s expression turned serious too. He clasped his hands to form a seal that transformed repeatedly. A yellow projection appeared and gathered the spiritual energy in void s.p.a.ce.

In the next moment, Grandmaster Huang Yang pointed with his finger and a yellow spiritual light flew into the distance and pointed in a certain direction.

Guo Zonghuang and Grandmaster Huang Yang didn"t even utter a word as they followed the spiritual light.