"You're insane. You must be mad." Among the group, someone with a relatively strong will shouted at Lin Qian, "Your Huaxia Empire's soul cannons—almost every force has found ways to counter them. They're nothing to worry about."
"Waging war against the entire Southern Region? The one who will lose will be your Huaxia Empire."
Lin Qian remained silent, simply staring at the person who had spoken. After a moment, he slowly began to speak, "Zuo An, from Tianning Prefecture. Currently the ninth elder of Shuixian Tower, at the first level of the Awakening Realm."
"Right now, Tianning Prefecture's Springwater City is controlled by the Zuo family. The city originally had four major families, but the other three—Lu, Fan, and Pei—were wiped out by the Zuo family after it rose to power."
"You have some talent. You reached the Breaking Void Realm at twenty, broke through to the Life and Death Realm at forty, and achieved the Awakening Realm at a hundred. Compared to me, that's nothing, but within the Southern Region, you are considered a promising elder."
"Your cultivation technique is called 'Water Wave Shock.' Interesting name. Your martial soul is the Water Pattern Blade. You have participated in 864 battles, winning 712, losing 140, and drawing 12. Most of your losses were from sparring matches, so your life was never really in danger."
"You have one wife and two concubines, eight sons, and fifteen daughters—a life filled with descendants and prosperity."
Each of Lin Qian's words struck Zuo An like a hammer to the heart. He couldn't understand how Lin Qian knew so much about him.
After all, Shuixian Tower was a full twenty-four provinces away from the Huaxia Empire.
But Lin Qian continued, calmly revealing the identity and background of every single person present from the Southern Region forces, detailing their past experiences.
What Lin Qian said next, however, filled them with deep fear.
"Let's take Shuixian Tower as an example. It controls five provinces. The Tower Lord is an Awakening Realm master at the Grandmaster level, with ten Supreme Elders who are high-level soul martial artists. There are a total of 124 Awakening Realm warriors in your force—this is the pinnacle of your power."
At this moment, Lin Qian was revealing the full details of their forces, leaving no secrets hidden.
They couldn't fathom how Lin Qian had managed to gather such comprehensive intelligence.
Knowing the details of one faction might be understandable, but to know the inner workings of all the forces across the Southern Region was truly terrifying.
Seeing the terror etched on the faces of the people sprawled on the ground before him, Lin Qian felt a surge of pride, knowing it was all thanks to Ye Xin's efforts.
When Lin Qian had gone to the Ancient Forest Province, the spatial disturbances had severed communication between the Heavenly Works Department on the surface world and the Huaxia Empire on Fantasy Star.
Thus, the intelligence gathering and organization that Lin Qian had initiated before leaving were managed by Ye Xin.
Scout Beasts and the Wind Shadows were sent out en masse, spreading across the Southern Region to gather the information the Huaxia Empire needed.
Ye Xin's incredible talent had even earned high praise from Zhuge Ming.
Compared to Lin Qian, Ye Xin's aptitude in cultivation was indeed somewhat lacking.
But unlike Lin Qian, who was always blowing things up with alchemy and artifact crafting, Ye Xin was a true polymath.
Alchemy, artifact crafting, formation arts—she excelled in every field, with unparalleled talent and a formidable capacity for learning. She could juggle multiple disciplines at once.
Even with her divided focus, her cultivation progress never slowed down. According to Zhuge Ming, the Huaxia Empire was incredibly fortunate to have an empress like her.
Furthermore, as Lin Qian had observed over time, the Huaxia Empire could function smoothly even without much interference from him.
In fact, Lin Qian had kept one thing from Ye Xin: her fortune seemed to be merging with that of the entire Huaxia Empire, becoming inseparable.
According to Zhuge Ming, the Huaxia Empire's national fortune used to be solely dragon-focused—too rigid, without the balancing influence of phoenix energy.
Ye Xin's arrival filled the vacancy of the empress position, making the Empire's fortune noticeably softer and more balanced.
Too much rigidity leads to breaking, and only by combining strength and gentleness, with dragon and phoenix in harmony, could the Huaxia Empire become truly powerful.
Zhuge Ming explained that once Ye Xin's fortune fully merged with the Empire's, the national fortune of the Huaxia Empire would be flawless.
The emperor would remain the central figure, controlling the core of the Empire's fortune with absolute authority.
The empress, while not wielding direct control, would be able to manage and harmonize the different aspects of the nation.
"The Empress has earned her position not because you gave it to her, but because the Huaxia Empire's fortune itself recognized her," Zhuge Ming had whispered in Lin Qian's ear. "Her loyalty to you and her dedication to the Empire have led to this result."
Now, Lin Qian stood outside the Huaxia Empire's palace city, hovering above a desolate landscape. Generals flew past him in all directions, and behind them appeared floating warships, assault ships, and the mighty Imperial Army.
Some of the warships were carrying troops, while others were loaded with scattered components.
These components were the materials for constructing soul cannons and annihilation cannons, pre-forged and ready to be assembled on-site by the skilled men of the Fireworks Department.
Since these forces from the Southern Region claimed they had found a way to counter soul cannons, Lin Qian was eager to see what kind of formations they had developed that gave them such confidence.
With no one around, as the Imperial Army had secured the perimeter, Lin Qian ensured that no one would witness how he summoned his forces seemingly out of thin air.
Lin Qian slowly turned to look back at the palace city, where the imposing palace stood.
Inside, Ye Xin was still managing the affairs of the Huaxia Empire, holding down the fort.
In the past, when he hadn't awakened his martial soul and the Huaxia Empire was still in ruins, he had been nothing but a useless figure.
Yet Ye Xin had stayed by his side, protecting him.
When he was captured and taken to the Prison Island, disappearing without a trace, Ye Xin had never stopped worrying about him, training tirelessly in the hopes of one day finding him.
She swore she would marry no one else but him.
Even when he went to the Ancient Forest Province, she refused to rest, working herself to the bone until she, a soul martial artist in the Life and Death Realm, fell asleep at her desk from exhaustion.
All she wanted was to protect the Empire of the one she loved while he was away.
With a wife like her, what more could a man ask for?
Lin Qian turned back to face the massive army spreading out in all directions, his gaze fixed on the horizon, his resolve unshakable.
He was determined to transform this world, to merge the cultivation culture of this realm with the civilization of his past life.
He had only one woman—his one and only Empress.
When he was provoked, he would simply make an enemy of the entire world, allowing the Huaxia Empire's unstoppable force to crush any obstacles in its path.
All land under the heavens would be his domain.
He was the Benevolent Martial Emperor, a stranger in this world, an existence like no other.
Supreme and unrivaled, he was the Peerless Emperor.