Life rarely runs smooth for long. Ripples and complications are simply part of the current.
The positions that Fengxian was preparing to assume as Tianhua Domain Empress, and that the Southern Wilderness Demon King had already taken as Gentle Breeze Queen, were meeting resistance from multiple directions. Some of it was open, some hidden. There were challenges from subordinates of the former Radiance, Rage, and Revenge Domain Emperors who questioned the legitimacy of the new order; there was quiet agitation from the Water Palace Master’s remaining followers working in the background; there were provocateurs from the Solar King’s embedded informants stirring up division; and there were powerful merchant conglomerates that had profited handsomely from the ongoing conflict and had no interest in seeing it end. None of these parties wanted peace in the Tianhua Domain, and none of them wanted a unified voice to emerge.
Because no one knew the Divine Punishment Empress’s actual strength or true origins, the Central Divine Hall’s people were operating under the mistaken assumption that she was one of their own — and so rather than actively sabotaging her, they limited themselves to muddying the waters behind the scenes, keeping things unstable enough to fish from.
The veteran generals and commanders who had served under the Radiance, Rage, and Revenge Domain Emperors — men who had fought across a thousand years of conflict — were not the sort to act on impulse. The major financial conglomerates were even more calculating. Open opposition was out of the question. If the Divine Punishment Empress turned out to be exactly as powerful as claimed, picking a direct fight with her would simply make them her chosen example. None of them were willing to be that.
So instead, the assembled forces settled on a subtler approach.
Test the Gentle Breeze Queen first.
See what the Divine Punishment Empress’s younger sister could actually do. Gauge how the Divine Punishment Empress reacted when her sister was provoked. Find out how she treated those who were merely watching and waiting. All of it needed to be established before anyone committed to a position. As for whether the Radiance and Rage Domain Emperors were truly dead — outside of a handful of agents with specific intelligence from the Solar King’s network, most people considered it simply impossible. Domain emperors were not made of clay. Two of them didn’t just die without explanation. And if the Radiance and Rage Domain Emperors had genuinely fallen, then who had done it? Who in the world had the power to take down two domain emperors in one engagement?
“How irritating. We finally get some time alone together.” The Southern Wilderness Demon King was genuinely annoyed. The warmth of a private world she’d been sharing with the person she loved had just been interrupted by this collection of fools with questionable judgment.
“Three parties have been selected to do the challenging. They represent the Radiance faction — a man called Shimmer — the Rage faction — a man called Ink-Flame — and the Ten Major Conglomerates — a man called Savage Force. None of the three are weak. Their level is roughly average for the Solar King’s Eight Generals — a step below the Poet, but considerably above the Tribesman and the Fat One.” The Dragon Emperor spread out a briefing document and walked his daughter through the details. He was not blind to what had changed between her and Yue Yang since they’d returned from the hot spring — the two of them were now clearly inseparable, carrying the particular closeness of people who had crossed a certain threshold together. For the sake of his daughter’s happiness, he chose to see nothing. He filed it away and moved on.
However much his people needed a powerhouse like Yue Yang to lead them. However steep the road ahead for the Eastern Demon Clan to return to the Sky Realm and be recognized. None of it was worth placing any pressure, however slight, on his daughter’s path to love. To truly care for this daughter meant letting her love without worry and live without constraint. He had learned what that looked like from the fathers he’d come to know on the Dragon Soaring Continent — had seen what it meant to give one’s child genuine support rather than a burden disguised as love.
In raw cultivation, Jun Wuyou and Old Fox and the others were no match for him, the Eastern Demon Clan’s Dragon Emperor.
But as fathers, they were in a class of their own.
They could have leveraged their daughters’ closeness to Yue Yang for every advantage their families might extract from the arrangement. They hadn’t. All they asked was that their daughters be happy.
It was precisely their example that had shown him what he should be doing.
Let her fly freely. Let her pursue her happiness without looking over her shoulder.
She was his treasure.
If she was happy, what in the world could possibly be worth more than that?
He watched his daughter sitting on the national ruler’s throne with a glow about her, her gaze drifting to the man she loved at every unguarded moment, and he thought that whatever kind of father he’d been, at least he hadn’t made her cry for love’s sake through his interference.
That smile was the greatest thing he had achieved in his life.
The Eastern Demon Clan’s rise did not require their princess to trade away her happiness and her heart.
On the contrary — the clan’s warriors would gladly make sacrifices to protect the smiles of their princess and their children.
When his daughter glanced over at him, the Dragon Emperor said nothing. He simply gave a quiet, unobtrusive nod — a small, private signal of support.
The Southern Wilderness Demon King went pink with a mixture of shyness and joy. If they hadn’t been standing in the great hall of the national ruler’s residence with everyone present, she would have leaped up and thrown herself into Yue Yang’s arms to share this news that had been sitting in the back of her mind with just a little edge of worry.
Such a silly girl. The Dragon Emperor watched his daughter’s face go bright with emotion that threatened to spill over, and felt something simultaneously fond and aching. She had grown into someone powerful enough to issue commands from a sovereign’s seat, and she was still the same little girl he’d always worried about.
“Who’s pulling strings behind all three of them? Is that trackable?” Yue Yang considered for a moment, then asked.
“Behind Shimmer stands Polar Day — the Radiance Domain Emperor’s eldest son. Behind Ink-Flame stands Thunderstorm — the Rage Domain Emperor’s most senior commander and his original sworn companion. And behind Savage Force stands Teng She — the Water Palace Master’s younger brother. The conglomerates have national-ruler-level powerhouses of their own, but their alignment with figures like Polar Day and the others is purely opportunistic. They look like a coalition; they’re actually sand. Eliminate Polar Day, Thunderstorm, and Teng She, and those conglomerates will be smiling and offering partnerships before the dust settles.” The Underworld Emperor handled intelligence primarily — it was his strength and his inclination. The Dragon Emperor focused on diplomacy and administration. As for Tianzhu, he concerned himself with exactly one thing — cultivation — and delegated everything else to his deputies, Tianjian and Tianzui, making him, in practice, about as hands-on an administrator as Yue Yang.
Fengxian listened to the assessment. The strongest of the three — Thunderstorm — capped out at Lion King level. Her expression shifted toward something between mild disappointment and mild boredom.
“The Tianhua Domain really is a backwater. No real talent anywhere. Honestly, this doesn’t seem worth the complication — just kill them and be done with it.”
Steward Ye and Gold-Tooth, kneeling in attendance below, very nearly burst into audible weeping.
Your Majesty, you consider the Tianhua Domain a backwater?
Three domain emperors had been fighting each other bloody for thousands of years over this territory and come away with nothing, and she’d picked it up as an afterthought — and she still wasn’t impressed?
That said, not a soul among them questioned the remark. Titan’s wife, the Divine Punishment Empress, reportedly outclassed Tianzhu, the Dragon Emperor, and the Underworld Emperor combined. Her failing to rate Shimmer, Ink-Flame, and Savage Force was entirely expected. Anyone capable of giving the Divine Punishment Empress and Titan real trouble would need to operate at the Solar King’s level. Polar Day, Thunderstorm, and Teng She couldn’t even sniff at domain emperor rank. Of course she wasn’t impressed. These three were probably only useful as the Gentle Breeze Queen’s warm-up exercise.
“Killing them outright isn’t ideal,” the Southern Wilderness Demon King said. “Cut down the big trees and the undergrowth fights for light. We’ve just arrived, and the Tianhua Domain isn’t stable yet — excessive purges would be counterproductive. A targeted demonstration is enough. Kill a few as an example, make use of the rest where possible. Otherwise we’ll be dealing with brushfires every day, and that’s exhausting.”
The room’s general consensus shifted in her direction.
“Then let’s remove Teng She,” Fengxian said, looking toward Yue Yang with the quiet expectation of someone whose guard captain should have something to say — because ultimately, it was always his call. “He’s Cang Long’s brother. Unlikely to be anything but trouble.”
“Cang Long’s people need to be cleaned out entirely. The Solar King’s loyalists should be dealt with gradually. As for everyone else — anyone we can’t use, they leave, one way or another. We don’t need to kill them all, but they don’t get to stay. We came to the Tianhua Domain as its masters, not as its servants. Who exactly do they think they’re posturing at?” Yue Yang paused. “That said, give people room to adjust. We’re not demanding absolute loyalty — only that they stop working against us. Anyone who can’t manage that becomes flower fertilizer.”
Yue Yang was well aware that compassion had no place in command decisions. A leader who showed mercy to enemies showed cruelty to his own people. Set the right example early, or no one would follow later.
“Strength determines everything.” Tianzhu voiced his agreement. In his worldview, the weak were permitted to exist — but they needed to understand what they were. If you didn’t want to be weak, you got stronger. Simple.
“In that case,” the Dragon Emperor said with a broad laugh, “Steward Ye — deliver the Gentle Breeze Queen’s declaration on her behalf. And make it as uncompromising as possible. We speak through strength.”
“Yes!” Steward Ye and Gold-Tooth were entirely delighted. Subordinates always preferred masters with backbone. A powerful master reflected well on everyone beneath them.
The previous Windstill national ruler had never been able to lift his head in the presence of Sky-rank cultivators or anyone stronger — which meant they’d always had to be careful and deferential too. None of that now. Under the Titan young master, it didn’t matter who showed up — domain emperor, divine hall master, or even the Solar King himself from the Solar Divine Palace — they all ended up on the ground. That was the kind of master worth following for a lifetime.
Steward Ye and Gold-Tooth withdrew, and within short order, the Gentle Breeze Queen’s residence issued a declaration to the assembled foreign delegates that made every witness do a double take.
In response to the disrespectful challenges leveled at the Gentle Breeze Queen by the national rulers Shimmer, Ink-Flame, and Savage Force, the Gentle Breeze Queen would offer her reply through direct and overwhelming force at noon tomorrow. Unless the three national rulers presented themselves before the Gentle Breeze Queen beforehand — on their knees, bearing their own rods for self-flagellation, one hundred strokes apiece, with full sincerity and public apology — whatever followed would be entirely their responsibility. All consequences arising from the reckless disrespect shown to a superior’s dignity would rest with them alone.
The declaration sent a shockwave through every observer.
The Gentle Breeze Country — formerly Windstill Nation — was, by any measure, a minor nation. Most of its territory was the notoriously ungovernable Windstill Swamp. The previous Windstill national ruler had been primarily a logistical administrator for the war effort, ranked far below the true combat powers of the domain. By comparison with the real fighting nations, Windstill had been a junior partner. In the full scope of the Tianhua Domain — its scores of regions, thousands of continents, tens of thousands of nations — there were at minimum several tens of thousands of nations larger than Windstill. The previous national ruler had ranked somewhere beyond the ten-thousandth position.
And now the successor Gentle Breeze Queen, however powerful she might actually be, was demanding that three national rulers ranked in the Tianhua Domain’s top hundred — Shimmer, Ink-Flame, and Savage Force — kneel before her, beat themselves with rods in public, and beg forgiveness?
And she was proposing to do it alone against all three?
On what basis?
Because her sister was the Divine Punishment Empress?
Did she think that made her untouchable? The Sky Realm operated on absolute power. Without sufficient strength of her own, even the Divine Punishment Empress being her sister wouldn’t save her — especially since the Divine Punishment Empress hadn’t actually formally assumed the domain emperor’s seat yet, and whether that would come to pass at all remained an open question.
Shimmer, Ink-Flame, and Savage Force received the declaration and went from irritated to incandescent. Their reply was immediate.
Battle.
They had expected to be taken seriously. To be received. To negotiate terms and exchange support for concessions.
Instead this Gentle Breeze Queen had insulted them publicly with brazen arrogance.
Throughout the Tianhua Domain, everyone who had been sitting on the fence watching the situation suddenly had a reason to move. Word spread rapidly, and people began converging on the previously obscure Greenvalley City from every direction — to watch what promised to be a wildly lopsided first battle for a queen not yet certain of her crown.