Chapter 24: Do You Know? I Was Never Satisfied with the Outcome of That Great War!

Prince of Qin Manor, study.

Su Can strode in with great steps, excitement plain on his face.

“Big Brother Xu, just as you predicted.”

He closed the door behind him and leaned in close to Xu Tian with a secretive look.

“There’s a big fish in the western outskirts.”

As he spoke, he pulled a pitch-black wooden casket from his robes.

“It’s this. I have no idea what this thing is, but those Shan Kingdom bastards would rather risk their lives than give it up. They even went all out against another group of Third-Rank wandering cultivators over it.”

Xu Tian set down the brush in his hand.

His gaze fell upon that utterly ordinary wooden casket.

“It isn’t surprising that people from the Shan Kingdom were involved.”

Xu Tian’s tone turned somewhat strange.

“But those Third-Rank wandering cultivators you mentioned… where did they come from?”

“The black market.”

Su Can nodded.

“According to the confessions of those captives, some fellow called the Carefree Young Master was leading them. That bastard was slippery as an eel. The moment things turned bad, he used some kind of technique I’ve never seen before and ran.”

Su Can scratched his head. Recalling the scene from earlier, there was still a trace of shock in his eyes.

“That movement art was too strange. It was as if he vanished in an instant. I’ve seen plenty in battle, but I still couldn’t even catch his shadow.”

Xu Tian narrowed his eyes slightly, his fingers tapping lightly on the desk.

“To break through Draw a Prison Upon the Ground in a single instant? This capital truly does hide crouching tigers and coiled dragons.”

He reached out and took the wooden casket.

With a click, he opened the lid.

Buzz!

The instant the casket opened,

a dense golden light, so rich it was almost tangible, burst forth, illuminating the entire study.

A vast and majestic aura, yet tinged with a hint of desolation, rippled outward like a tide.

Xu Tian’s heart shuddered violently.

This was the manifestation of national fortune.

【Detected Heavenly Dragon Ginseng, nourished for years with Great Xia’s national fortune…】

The system notification rang out in his mind, and Xu Tian instantly understood everything.

Slowly, he took an extraordinary ginseng from the box.

The ginseng was entirely golden, its roots twisted like coiling dragons, faintly taking on the shape of a dragon wound around itself.

One could even make out its half-closed dragon eyes and its fine scales.

“W-what is that thing?”

Su Can stared with eyes wide open.

Feeling the pressure rushing toward him, even breathing became difficult.

“I’ve never seen this aura before, but… why does it feel so familiar?”

Xu Tian looked at the marvel in his hand, and the cold light in his eyes surged.

“This is Nourished Heavenly Ginseng. No—now it should be called… Heavenly Dragon Ginseng.”

Xu Tian’s voice turned low and eerie, carrying a chill that made the heart quiver.

“This is a supreme treasure nurtured little by little over several years with Great Xia’s national fortune.”

“That Second Prince of the Shan Kingdom made such a grand fuss over the merchant ships on the surface, but in truth, it was all for this treasure of Heaven and Earth.”

Crack!

Xu Tian suddenly tightened his grip on the Heavenly Dragon Ginseng in his hand.

“They are… stealing the national fortune of Great Xia.”

“What?!”

Su Can felt his mind explode. He nearly jumped straight up.

“Stealing national fortune?! Those bastard dogs!”

In an instant, he linked together everything that had happened recently.

The Zhao Family’s betrayal, the strange stronghold in the western outskirts, the farce of the Shan Kingdom envoy, and the personal arrival of the Shan Kingdom’s Second Prince…

“The traitors of the Zhao Family, feeding on Great Xia while selling it out—they died far too easily.”

Su Can trembled with anger and ground his teeth as he spoke:

“Back then, among all the dogs on Great Xia’s borders, the Shan Kingdom was the one that rampaged most fiercely. We beat them back, yet they still haven’t given up. And now they’ve started stealing national fortune? Are they truly not afraid of death?”

“No. The people of the Shan Kingdom have simply never once given up.”

Hum.

The Heavenly Dragon Ginseng in Xu Tian’s hand seemed to sense something. It turned into a stream of golden light and slowly merged into his palm.

As that light fused into him, the aura around Xu Tian became even deeper.

It was as though an invisible dragon had coiled itself behind him.

His voice sounded low and distant, carrying the weight of someone who had seen through all things.

“For the Shan Kingdom, the land is small and its resources are scant. Struggle and plunder are the only ways it can survive. If the gap in strength between them and us were not so great, they would surely invade Great Xia again without hesitation.”

Su Can nodded repeatedly as he listened, the hilt of his blade creaking in his grip.

“Exactly. I’ve spent a long time on the frontier. Those dogs of the Shan Kingdom never stop provoking us. Even after we’ve slaughtered wave after wave of them, they keep coming like madmen… Sometimes I honestly wonder whether there’s something wrong with their heads.”

“There’s nothing wrong with their heads. They simply have no choice.”

As the final trace of light was absorbed by Xu Tian, he slowly opened his eyes. A flash of golden radiance vanished within them.

“The Emperor of the Shan Kingdom understands very well that he wants to imitate Great Xia and establish a dynasty, yet he also refuses to give up the fighting strength of the sects. In the end, he has taken a dynasty as the foundation, but governs through sects. It is an ill-matched monstrosity.”

Xu Tian rose to his feet and walked to the window.

His gaze passed through layer upon layer of palace towers and looked toward the distant west.

There, upon the western continent, lay the colossal existence known as the Great Li Immortal Dynasty.

“They dare provoke us so brazenly and use this to divert their internal conflicts because they are betting that we will not truly dare strike, and will not dare ignite a full-scale war.”

Xu Tian let out a cold laugh.

“Because standing behind them is the Great Li Immortal Dynasty.”

The moment he heard those four words, Great Li Immortal Dynasty, Su Can’s heart sank sharply.

He understood all too well what kind of existence that was.

Great Xia possessed only one First-Rank Xia Emperor, and with him alone, the national fortune could be suppressed and the surrounding nations overawed.

Enough to keep neighboring countries awake at night.

But in that distant Great Li…

there were dozens of First-Rank Heavenly Men.

Second-Rank experts who in Great Xia could dominate an entire region—there, they were as common as carp crossing a river, too numerous to count.

Rumor held that Great Li’s national fortune was not any concrete object at all.

It was… a sky.

That terrifying national fortune could even ignore the laws of Heaven and Earth and forcibly cross the Boundless Boundary Sea.

Like a suffocating net, it spread overhead without a single gap and covered the whole world.

Most small nations had never even thought of resisting. All they wanted was to kneel and be good dogs.

No—not merely that. They fought each other for the chance to be good dogs!

“Damn it, that Shan Kingdom really is a good dog.”

Su Can could not help cursing aloud:

“As long as they don’t care about being human and have no shame at all, then with Great Li as the tree behind them, they really can do whatever they want.”

He turned to Xu Tian, his eyes filled with fighting spirit.

“Big Brother, what do we do? I can’t swallow this insult.”

“Kill.”

Xu Tian turned around and looked at the agitated Su Can, a cold curve appearing at the corner of his lips.

“You cannot reason with dogs like them. There is only killing—kill until they tremble with fear, kill until their nation is destroyed and their lineage extinguished.”

“But…”

Su Can’s face wrinkled into a knot. Much of the boldness from earlier faded, and he began to hesitate.

“Back then, for the sake of recuperation and recovery, Big Brother, you signed many treaties that imposed restrictions on ourselves. If we strike first and break them, will it affect your reputation? Will it give Great Li an excuse to interfere?”

Xu Tian looked at Su Can as though he were a fool, his face full of bafflement.

“What does that have to do with you?”

“Ah?”

Su Can was stunned.

“The one who signed those treaties was Crown Prince Xu Tian of those years. As for me now, I’m merely an idle prince!”

Xu Tian spread his hands in perfect righteousness.

“So what do those treaties have to do with you? I am but a mere Confucian scholar. How could I possibly control you arrogant soldiers and fierce generals?”

“As for Great Li intervening…”

Xu Tian smiled with perfect ease.

“What? Do you think that if we endure it, Great Li will refrain from interfering?”

He looked at Su Can, and beneath his tone there was a faint note of yearning.

“Su Can, do you know? I was never satisfied with the outcome of that great war.”

Su Can stood there stunned for a full three breaths.

Then his eyes lit up in an instant.

The hand gripping his blade began trembling violently—not from fear, but from excitement.

“B-Big Brother… I… I understand now.”

Xu Tian nodded in satisfaction.

This boy was sometimes a little slow on the uptake, but he made up for it by being obedient.

Unlike Second Brother and Third Brother. The moment those two heard the news, they had already started moving.

By now, they had probably nearly finished their preparations.

“So then, the Shan Kingdom’s Second Prince has come to Great Xia to run wild. What should you do?”

Xu Tian’s voice carried a trace of laughter.

Su Can suddenly clenched the long blade in his hand, murderous intent blazing around him.

“Kill him. Let him come, and never leave.”

“Good.”

Xu Tian patted him on the shoulder.

“But the other side has a Second-Rank expert at hand. To make absolutely certain, let us wait until Uncle Li returns tonight.”

Xu Tian turned and looked at the information flickering across his system panel.

【Heavenly Dragon Ginseng obtained. Body of Mountains and Rivers evolved. Physical strength raised to peak Second Rank. Divine Ability obtained: Myriad Manifestations of Mountains and Rivers!】

【Myriad Manifestations of Mountains and Rivers: Your body may use all forms of energy for tempering, and return feedback in kind.】

【Absorbing and exhaling national fortune....】

He felt the Vast Righteous Qi within him, the Heaven and Earth Essence almost within reach, the majestic and boundless national fortune…

And under the blessing of all of them, his body continued growing stronger…

For a moment, endless anticipation rose within his heart.