26th February, Jinyang, Royal Palace.
At this time, in a royal chamber, Jin Long sat quietly. Soft lantern light illuminated the room, reflecting faintly against polished jade walls and rows of neatly arranged scrolls.
A large desk stood before him, covered with official documents, tax records, military reports, and requests from noble clans and cultivation sects. With calm focus, he reviewed each scroll one by one, occasionally marking decisions with a brush dipped in black ink.
At this moment, there was a knock on the door. A shadow flashed beside Jin Long and disappeared.
Jin Long silently stood up, walked to the door, and opened it. A eunuch was standing outside with a scroll.
"Your Majesty, someone sent a secret scroll!"
Jin Long took it and nodded to him.
The eunuch retired after bowing.
Jin Long closed the door and returned to his seat. As soon as he sat down, the shadow appeared again, standing beside him.
Jin Long calmly opened the scroll.
"Shi Tian hasn't betrayed us, but his actions are against the Golden Crow Dynasty."
The shadow said mockingly, "This is the second time you're receiving this news. Who is sending it this time?"
Jin Long's eyes were deep as he replied lightly, "Who else could it be? It's him. Li Gang!"
It was quite apparent that Jin Long trusted this person a lot. In fact, besides Jin Long, no one else was aware of his existence. He was Jin Long's childhood friend, and his strength was second only to him, having reached the Rank 6 Peak Stage.
However, his identity had always been hidden, and he worked exclusively for Jin Long. His name was Shang Chi, a commoner with extraordinary talent.
Shang Chi frowned, but putting aside his confusion, he asked lightly, "I've always wondered, why did you send Old Man Shi Tian to handle the attack on the Shi Dynasty? His position in the military is very important, and he is being watched by hidden spies. It's too risky! You could have sent me instead."
Jin Long smiled faintly. "You don't see the bigger picture."
Shang Chi narrowed his eyes as he took a bite of the apple that had appeared out of nowhere in his hand. "The bigger picture? Shi Tian has betrayed us. The attack and conquest of the Shi Dynasty are bound to fail. With House Yin sent away to attack the Shi Dynasty, the northern shoreline is completely exposed. I can't understand what could be a bigger picture than that."
Jin Long, who had just picked up his brush, put it back down as he looked to the side.
He stood up and smiled. "Do you know why there were two secret scrolls reporting Master Shi's betrayal?"
Shang Chi frowned and shook his head. "You told me the last one was from Li Gang, and you're saying the same thing now. Why would he send it twice?"
Jin Long walked toward the window and opened the curtain. He glanced at the three moons in the sky and said slowly,
"Both are from Li Gang, yet they aren't."
He continued, "A few days ago, I was discussing the formation shared by Li Gang with Shi Tian. He thought he hid it well, but how could I fail to see through someone who has been close to me for so many years?"
"There are very few people who know that all the formations I have mastered came from Master Shi. I learned them secretly and later achieved many victories on the battlefield because of them. He was far better than me at setting traps and became famous for them. However, he was just as skilled with formations. It's just that he never had the chance to enter an open battlefield. Unlike me, he never initiated frontal confrontations and prioritized the safety of his soldiers above all else."
"Whenever we discussed our strategies alone and reviewed the mistakes we had made, Master would always take the lead in explaining. When I invited him recently, it was always me leading the discussion while he passively responded. I became suspicious then. However, the way he responded and acted was too flawless. Even when discussing situations where only Master Shi and I had been present, he answered perfectly."
"My suspicions were confirmed when Master Shi's youngest son visited his mother's family. Although he hid it quite well, I sent someone to check on his son, and he wasn't there."
Shang Chi narrowed his eyes. He had some guesses, but they were too unbelievable.
Jin Long turned and smiled. "You guessed correctly. Shi Tian has been replaced."
"I always felt the deaths of those two Monarchs were too smooth. How could they not prepare for the worst-case scenario? It appears this was their preparation."
"If I'm not mistaken, Li Gang's body is occupied by one of them, while the other has occupied Shi Tian's body. There must be some drawback to this. For example, they may not be able to maintain control continuously."
"If my guess is correct, when the Monarch took over the body, he manipulated Master's youngest son into leaving. Then his hidden warriors kidnapped him. Using his son as a hostage, he controlled Master Shi. Master has only one son and one daughter. His son is his only male heir, and he loves him deeply."
"At this time, I can see two flaws. They can't control the body all the time. And, both the Monarchs are against each other. The one within Master Shi holds more advantage!"
Shang Chi frowned. "Isn't that a little far-fetched? It's also possible that Shi Tian sent his son somewhere else for another purpose. Even if that weren't the case, perhaps the Rank 8 Warrior kidnapped his son and blackmailed Shi Tian, causing the change in personality you noticed earlier."
Jin Long shook his head.
"No. His son disappeared after I noticed the change in his personality. I had already assigned a few warriors to monitor him from a distance that wouldn't attract attention. Even if it were a Rank 8 Warrior, his cultivation would still only be equal to Shi Tian's while occupying his body."
"It was he who asked his son to leave. Although the warriors I sent couldn't keep track of him afterward, it was obvious that something was wrong. Combined with how smoothly the Rank 8 Warriors died and the destruction of the Shu Dynasty's entire force, it's clear there were deeper plans behind it."
"Besides, this letter further confirms my suspicions!"
Jin Long's eyes narrowed as he spoke with a cold smile. "I never understood why Li Gang stubbornly took only ten thousand warriors to face the Shu Dynasty. It seems things weren't so simple back then. How could merely ten thousand warriors defeat five million enemies, especially with Lao Zhang hiding in the shadows and watching everything?"
Shang Chi frowned. "You mean?"
Jin Long nodded. "Yes. Li Gang knew he would win that battle no matter how small an army he brought with him. If I'm not mistaken, the two Monarchs had promised to help both dynasties. The only thing they could offer in such a deal was territory and unification, so how could they truly support both sides? They would inevitably betray one, and they chose the Shu Dynasty. Li Gang saw through their disguise. But, how did he realize it?"
Jin Long sighed and shook his head. He couldn't figure it out, so there was no point dwelling on it.
Was Jin Long right to think Li Gang knew he would win regardless? Yes and no.
Li Gang understood his opponents' mindset. Huang and Lei wanted to kill him, and to do that, they first had to trap Spatial Order.
There was only one way: create some kind of Space Lock Formation. Constructing such a formation on a chaotic battlefield without alerting the opponent required a great deal of time. Li Gang precisely targeted this weakness. He deliberately brought only ten thousand warriors, forcing Huang and Lei to sacrifice the Shu Dynasty's soldiers to buy time.
Huang and Lei already knew how many warriors Li Gang would bring, and they weakened the cognition of the Shu Dynasty's soldiers through poison. They had to ensure Li Gang remained on the battlefield until the formation was completed, and it didn't matter whether the Shu Dynasty's warriors lived or died. This was also part of their agreement with Guo Chen: to weaken the Shu Dynasty.
Jin Long smiled faintly. "I can only imagine the situation Li Gang is in now. He is probably already captured. What I wonder is how he managed to send a message to me."
Shang Chi said thoughtfully, "So the reason they reminded you that Shi Tian is a traitor is—"
Jin Long nodded. "To eliminate an unknown factor."
For each of Lei, Huang and Li Gang; Jin Long was an unknown factor. They don't know whether he saw through Lei's identity or not. Their future schemes would depend heavily on it!
He continued, "This is why I gave Master Shi a hidden identity and allowed him to leave."
It should be noted that Jin Long's method was truly scheming. How so?
You need to understand the perspectives of Huang, Lei, and Li Gang.
Huang's perspective:
He sent a letter saying: "Shi Tian is a traitor!"
Despite being informed of Shi Tian's betrayal, Jin Long gave Shi Tian a hidden identity and allowed him to lead House Yin in attacking the Shu Dynasty.
What does this imply?
Either the letter was intercepted, meaning Lei was much closer to Jin Long than Huang believed—even capable of reading private letters intended for the king. Or Jin Long read the letter but didn't trust him. He may have tested Shi Tian, and Lei somehow used Shi Tian to pass every test.
Conclusion: Huang doesn't know that Jin Long is now aware of all their schemes.
Lei's perspective:
Huang would never reveal everything to Jin Long. Why? Because Huang doesn't know how deep Li Gang's connection to Jin Long truly runs. If he did, it could backfire. Jin Long might deduce the entire chain of events and trace it back to Li Gang being replaced as well.
If Jin Long were extremely attached to Li Gang, he might mobilize his forces to track Huang down, and that would do him no good. The most Huang could do was create trouble by sending a letter claiming Shi Tian was a traitor.
However, Lei had always monitored the situation. The fact that he was allowed to lead House Yin and was provided with a convincing disguise meant everything was proceeding according to plan.
What he didn't know was that Jin Long had placed him under surveillance, and every letter he monitored ultimately passed through Jin Long's hands.
Conclusion: Lei doesn't know his identity has been exposed.
Li Gang's perspective:
He sent the letter after Lei had already left. In the letter, he also hinted that Shi Tian had been replaced. Since Lei had already departed, no one could intercept the message, and Jin Long couldn't test Shi Tian directly. As a result, Jin Long would become suspicious and take precautions against Shi Tian.
Conclusion: Li Gang knows that Jin Long is aware that Lei and Huang's identities have been exposed.
Both Huang and Li Gang wanted to eliminate the unknown factor represented by Jin Long. Li Gang succeeded and Huang remained in the dark. Jin Long wanted to keep all of them in the dark, but he failed in Li Gang's case.
Given Li Gang's current situation, every piece of information is extremely valuable. Having an information advantage over your opponent is important.
Now the question arises: why didn't Huang send the letter after Lei left?
What Huang cared about most was taking over the body and escaping safely. He sent the letter only to trap Lei, but Lei escaped and could no longer be trapped.
From Huang's perspective, sending another letter wouldn't close the information gap that had already formed. He wouldn't know whether the first letter failed because Jin Long didn't trust him or because Lei intercepted it.
In either case, another attempt would fail. If the letters could be intercepted, Lei could simply arrange for them to be intercepted again. If Jin Long had seen the letter and still didn't trust him, then another letter wouldn't change anything either.