[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-peace-decree":3,"chapter-the-peace-decree-the-peace-decree-chapter-536":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Peace Decree",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2328711,4553,"Chapter 536: Legend!","the-peace-decree-chapter-536",536,"\u003Cp>The Fifth Divine General of the Realm, Divine Might Grand General Yuwen Lie, personally escorted him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The holder of the White Tiger Manifestation from the Ninth Heaven, the peerless titan of this age, swept all who stood in his path flat with a single White Tiger Heavy Spear—no words wasted, carving out a righteous Dao through slaughter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Countless elite masters from the Central Plains’ great clans fell to Yuwen Lie’s hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And according to Yuwen Lie’s words, these nameless fools, dying at his hands, were privileged beyond measure in this life, and should die without regret or resentment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ji Yanzhong, knowing Ji Ning’er was safe, finally felt some relief, yet his expression remained complex.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They rode in silence for a long, long time, lost in thought.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet before Yuwen Lie departed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He Ruo Qinhu finally sighed softly; this seasoned, ruthless, and shrewd general fell silent, saying nothing. Jiang Wanxiang dismissed the crowd, released the commoners, and ordered all noble families and officials to return to their homes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Flames surged wildly, about to consume the Nine-Tiered Pagoda.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As if tearing open the heavens, staining the vast expanse of sky crimson.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang watched the roaring flames atop the Nine-Tiered Pagoda, then smiled faintly. Though weary, his tone carried blessing: “Your Majesty, you may rest in peace now. The many matters ahead are ours to handle.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The many duties, the eight-hundred-year burden—you may lay them down.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang shook his sleeve, placing his right hand atop his left; the ink-blue sleeve, embroidered with hidden coiling dragons, lowered as he bowed deeply before the surging flames and the Chi Xiao Sword. His white hair, his golden imperial crown—only these words:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your loyal subject, Jiang Wanxiang.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We send Your Majesty on your way!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His voice was aged, yet as hard as iron. When he raised his gaze, the faint traces of awe and bewilderment born from the Red Emperor’s resolve were swept away by greater determination.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Go well!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Rest in peace. Dreamless.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang bowed deeply, then rose slowly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your loyal subject, no—”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His voice paused, then softened into a smile, calm as one who had already seen the end and the path ahead: “I, the Lone King, will likely come to find you soon, ha ha.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang chuckled a few times, sensing within his body the stark contrast between vigor and frailty, then walked away slowly. Yuwen Lie pursued to intercept and kill Ji Yanzhong and Ji Ning’er; He Ruo Qinhu, seasoned and sharp, remained to quell the current chaos.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang went alone to the Academy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The vast sky rippled; wind shook the eaves, sending out a series of soft chimes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once, the Academy had been bustling and vibrant—young scholars debating their ambitions and grand dreams, elders smiling as they watched these new flames of youth. Now, it stood lonely and still, hollow and cold, as if emptied of all life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The tea grows cold when the guest departs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before the ancient Confucian path, Gongyang Sumwang sat in quiet repose.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A qilin lay curled beside him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of the six famed Academy Masters who once held renown, all had ascended to the Ninth Heaven, forging their own supreme paths—now only Sumwang remained here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang walked slowly forward, laughing aloud: “Sumwang, what leisure you have.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’ve done well.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongyang Sumwang replied calmly: “Merely a scholar reading, acting, and drinking tea.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang swept his sleeve and sat down calmly opposite Gongyang Sumwang, gazing at the chessboard before them. He picked up a piece and dropped it casually. Sumwang said nothing, then took his own turn.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For a while, neither spoke—only quiet moves, the whisper of wind, the soft clack of stones—until the game ended. Then Jiang Wanxiang spoke, with a touch of lament:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The world’s great tides have churned so long, I’ve not had such leisure to sit here, talk of Dao, drink tea, and play chess.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“In youth, one always feels there’s endless work to do—thinking, ‘There’ll be time later, there’ll be chances.’ So one keeps postponing chess, postponing joy—until, at last, there’s none left.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongyang Sumwang said plainly: “The Emperor’s pursuit of dominance, his fixed will—how could he find peace?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang smiled: “If one has no fixed will, what’s the point of living?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You, of the Gongyang School of Confucianism—how did you start speaking like a Buddhist?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongyang Sumwang placed a stone:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Among the six Academy Masters, we debated often. The Dao is singular, yet only the ‘self’ matters. Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism—all converge at last. Self-cultivation is merely selecting one’s own path from the boundless Dao.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang placed his stone, smiling faintly: “Then how does one cultivate dominance?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongyang Sumwang asked: “What Dao did the Red Emperor see when he met the Emperor?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Both answered with questions, and countered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang thought long, then replied: “The Red Emperor, Ji Zichang—I once underestimated him, for he truly lacked the grandeur or skill to command respect. Yet in the end, I admired him—and beyond admiration, I envied him.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongyang Sumwang raised an eyebrow: “You envy him for being forced to die?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang said coolly: “You know, Master, I never sought to force his death.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The Red Emperor’s deepest desire was to find his own home, a quiet place beneath peace—to shed the golden chains of eight centuries of Red Emperor glory, to shed the expectations of his kin, his ministers, his people, the whole world.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I gave it to him.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yet in the end, he did something even I could not have foreseen.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Had Ji Zichang been an ordinary man, he could have lived a life of wealth and peace, a quiet retirement after decades bearing the burden. But alas—Ji Zichang was no ordinary man.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang thought of the figure slowly walking into the flames: “To bear such a duty, to follow one’s heart, to make one’s own choice—”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That is how a true emperor acts.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But Sumwang—your martial prowess, had you acted before this happened, you could have taken the Red Emperor away. Why didn’t you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sumwang fell silent long, then answered: “I could not humiliate him.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Nor could I let his lifelong dream become a joke.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Sumwang played his stone, his aura subtly clashed, entangled, and clashed again with Jiang Wanxiang’s, stirring the vast sky above the Academy. Sumwang picked up a white stone: “Before coming here, I sought counsel from Ziyang Zhenren.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ziyang Zhenren showed me a letter left by the Dao Sect before their departure. I opened it—and saw only one character: ‘Ge.’”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang said: “‘Ge’—the forty-ninth hexagram.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sumwang replied: “Yes. Then, I did not understand its meaning. Now, I do.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Only by discarding the old can the new be forged.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Otherwise, one merely treats symptoms—not the root—and nothing endures.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sumwang’s voice halted, as if seeing again the blazing figure walking toward his path and end—and now, before him, the white-haired Jiang Wanxiang, his vitality nearly extinguished. He sighed:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“‘Ge’—I understood it only today.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What a radiant, yet how bloody a word.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang smiled: “Well said. To discard the old and forge the new—can it ever be done without blood?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Let us drink a cup of wine!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“To expect success without hardship, without great effort, without struggle—that is but fantasy.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The aged emperor placed a stone, his bearing utterly serene. Sumwang gazed at the man before him—calm in spirit, firm in his own Dao—and finally asked: “So why did the Emperor come here, to seize a title?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang answered: “To discard the old and forge the new.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His fingers showed protruding bones, veins like rotting trails, deep blue in hue. He picked up a black stone, pointed to his chest: “As Master said, my life is nearly spent.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Perhaps only a few days remain.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Chen Chengbi’s death was a blade plunged straight into my heart.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Deep. And agonizing.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“After years of war across the land, my life has been a candle in the rain. I rose from obscurity, a lesser son, seized the throne, waged wars in all directions, and now hold half the realm—yes, I’ve known triumph. Yet I am still not satisfied.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“In the end, it is only unwillingness.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongyang Sumwang said: “Unwillingness.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang narrowed his eyes: “Yes.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongyang Sumwang placed a stone: “Because of victory or defeat?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang replied coolly: “Because I must die without having fought my all.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Because I die before the dawn breaks over this world!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I cannot accept it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So I came here, seeking only to absorb the Qi-yun, to gain one final battle. My work remains unfinished—I cannot die.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongyang Sumwang’s eyes flickered with shock: “The Red Emperor burned his Qi-yun as fire, destroying eight centuries of fate and righteousness. What remains is a searing poison, a sediment of filth—called Qi-yun, yet laced with the desires of all beings, the final resolve.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It is poison. If you seek to wield it, you will die in unbearable agony, with no grave to hold your bones.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang replied calmly: “Scholars never understand the heart of a hero.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“All is done. How could I still cling to my life?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang softly placed his stone: “Let the old age remain in the old. Yet what is old is often what people cherish, is it not, Sumwang? You and I are both relics of that past age.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The young have their dreams. But the old have their stubbornness. After a lifetime of seeing, a lifetime of doing—can we let three words break it all? Abandon it? Then all we’ve done, all we’ve lived, becomes a farce.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Are we the farce?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“‘Old’ is the young’s contempt for us.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Disdain is our contempt for the young.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Only in final battle—only in victory or death—can history judge us. This world has been in chaos for three hundred years. Too long. Far too long.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Now, the final moment has come. The battle to end three centuries of turmoil—that was my dream in youth. Now, as I near death, I shall see it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I will seize it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongyang Sumwang looked at Jiang Wanxiang before him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gaunt, near death, his once-fitted sleeves now hung loose, trembling like a dragon about to wither. The candlelight flickered, casting shifting shadows across his face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like a sword, resolute and sharp, cleaving forward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Let me show you, Master.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No matter how base, no matter how grotesque the extension of life for this war, I must continue forward. Ji Zichang merely severed the Chi Emperor’s eight-hundred-year lineage; what I seek is different.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang placed his final stone, smiling like a celestial dragon, and whispered:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Let this old era clash with these so-called young ones.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The earth is choked by decaying branches and trees; only a total wildfire can burn it all away. This fire must be absolute—only then can new grass and trees grow upon the land. That is spring.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Eight hundred years of accumulated weight is too heavy; without the most thorough suffering, true hegemony cannot be achieved.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Without bone-deep transformation, true peace will never come.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongyang Suwang realized what this emperor intended to do.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang said: “Gongyang Suwang, you say each headmaster in the Confucian academy has his own pursuit and studies the doctrines of other schools—then did the Master ever study the Annals?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Do you know how many reforms occurred during each dynasty’s revival?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Do you know why they failed? Do you know why those scholars who understood heaven and earth, who pitied all living beings, whose reforms struck straight at the core, still could not succeed?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongyang Suwang looked at the emperor before him: “Like a sword.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“To point the blade at oneself is exceedingly difficult.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang said: “Yes—because they themselves, from within, were the high and mighty nobility. To reform and renew is like a man holding a sharp blade, yet slashing at himself. How could it succeed?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Wen Zheng Gong, Banshan Gong—how many great scholars’ so-called reforms, their so-called changes, ceased the moment they touched pain. In the end, it was always for this reason.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Incomplete reform is no reform at all.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang pinched a go stone, murmuring softly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Scholars are useless in a hundred ways. Scholars, scholars…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Too soft. Not firm or ruthless enough.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Only violent, absolute power can accomplish true reform. Only by crushing all that came before can this world briefly regain clarity, awaiting the next great age of contention.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Now, this opportunity has come.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongyang Suwang looked at Jiang Wanxiang and saw the tide within this emperor’s breast.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang placed his stone, rose, and smiled: “Do you remember when we were sixteen or seventeen? The Master—of course, you were much older than I. When you were sixteen or seventeen, when I was sixteen or seventeen—we were both young.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We looked at the world and thought our elders and seniors were rotten beyond repair. We thought they didn’t understand our great aspirations. We thought they were mere puppets shaped by this age and this world, devoid of spirit.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We were different.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We had dreams.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Now, I am the elder generation. Life is but a span. What must be done must be done—otherwise, if the dreams of youth rot away, it will be too late.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“After this war, I will settle the outcome with the King of Qin.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If he wins, no need to say more.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If we win…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang’s voice halted. He fell silent for a long while, then smiled faintly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I will die too.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongyang Suwang sighed. The qilin seemed to understand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All living things yearn to live.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There are no exceptions—only some value other things more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang pinched a go stone, silent for a long while, then smiled like a father, looking at Gongyang Suwang and asking: “Master, what do you think of my son Jiang Gao?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongyang Suwang replied succinctly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A gentle prince. In times of peace, he would be a benevolent ruler.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang laughed loudly: “He too is young.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If I win, Master, please witness the peace he will forge!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The elder generation must burn utterly. I will ignite the fire of this age, dragging with me all the old world’s power—the clans, the lingering great scholars, the rotting things—into battle against the King of Qin.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I alone will carry the shadow and distortion of this eight-hundred-year world.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“And fight Li Guanyi to the death. Whether I win or lose, these rotting things will be shattered by the King of Qin’s blade. The final outcome? Whether the blade breaks.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongyang Suwang said: “Your imperial spirit is grand, but to use the King of Qin’s edge to achieve your own hegemony—do you not fear being devoured in return?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang said: “And if I am devoured?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang spoke his choice, calm and unruffled:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Use the King of Qin to sweep the world clean.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If I succeed, I die. The King of Qin dies. The old clans, the nobility, the rotten things—all perish with us. I go down to drink and gamble with the King of Qin, leaving behind for this world and for Gao’er a vast, unshackled realm.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If my plan fails, I die. The old world, the nobility, the rotten things—all perish with me. The King of Qin lives, utterly crushing the chaos of this age and the eight-hundred-year shadow, leaving behind a realm founded with the purest legitimacy.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No matter if the blade breaks, no matter who wins or dies—there will be one outcome.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A free world.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongyang Suwang fell silent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang said: “You have not read the Annals deeply enough.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongyang Suwang said: “Your Majesty, please clarify.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang smiled: “If I told you the Annals boil down to one sentence…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What sentence?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Only the sword opens peace!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Gentle words cannot change the world, Master.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Only violent, direct, absolute battle can crush the sediment and reshape the bones of peace. This time, let me carry this old era into this great dream.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Whether I succeed or not, my dream will be fulfilled. From this vantage, I am already undefeated. I already see the coming age of peace. All I need do is step onto the battlefield and complete this great dream.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“There is no better thing in this world.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Will heaven favor me?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongyang Suwang pinched a go stone, yet found he could not place it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After placing a few stones, Jiang Wanxiang looked at the board and said: “Master, you’ve lost this game. When we were young, you told me that go mirrors the tide of the world—that one must remain calm. But now I see you cannot.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hahahaha.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I too am a true man.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He rose, turned, and walked slowly forward. White hair fell as he murmured softly: “I must reach my end through ugliness, through any means necessary. When the annals of a thousand autumns are written, I await the judgment of future generations.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Today’s parting is final. We shall never meet again. Master, when you see the world at peace, go and look upon it. When I was young, I saw you beneath the academy’s eaves—we drank and chatted then.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I played ten games with you—and lost every one, badly.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You said my dream was but a fantasy.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Heh…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang laughed. He glanced at Gongyang Suwang. He said he would die, yet even now he stood vast and grand. Before this man—the so-called first sage of Confucianism—he felt only regret, weariness, and indifference.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“In the end, you are but a Confucian.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“How could you understand the Way of the Emperor of the Central Realm?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongyang Suwang was awed by the emperor’s spirit—until Jiang Wanxiang left.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The qilin suddenly cried out: “That bastard just swapped the stones while you weren’t looking!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongyang Suwang was stunned. He looked again—the board had been tampered with.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The grand imperial bearing shattered at once.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The liveliness of youth returned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mischievous, spirited, bold, cunning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Sage wanted to laugh—but could not. That ancient dragon was still the same boy: the illegitimate youth who slept under the tree, wearing straw sandals, talking of heaven and future, the terrible go player.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was him—and yet not him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongyang Suwang sat there, murmuring: “The world…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>………………\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yuwen Lie had departed. He Ruo Qinhu, ruthless and sharp, remained here to oversee Jiang Wanxiang’s scheme. Jiang Wanxiang issued an edict: summoning the families of the central state’s clans and civil-military officials to join the campaign against the King of Qin, Li Guanyi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The officials feared. The clans evaded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was only natural.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was the very method they excelled at: twisting themselves within the rules to gain advantage, exploiting loopholes. But now they faced a monarch whose ambition was vast, whose death was near, and who would stop at nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the cold, unyielding, battle-scarred general of the Military School—who had spent forty-seven years conquering the realm, seeing good and evil as one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One was the maker of rules.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One was the breaker of rules.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang then issued an imperial summons, inviting the dissenting clans and nobles to a meeting. On that day, some came furious, openly rebuking Jiang Wanxiang. Others used drinking to voice their stance. Some claimed willingness to help—but said their families were poor, with no manpower.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The myriad faces of men, the hundred forms of heart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Enough to fill a thousand scrolls, countless masterpieces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The historians of the academy recorded the outcome in four characters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【SLAIN BY THE EMPEROR】\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The annals recorded: the Emperor of Ying slaughtered cruelly in the Central State.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In mere days, over seventeen hundred nobles, clansmen, ministers, and great Confucians were slain. Beneath the blade, all clans and hundred lineages became vanguards, eager to join the campaign. Emperor Jiang Wanxiang relocated the clans and nobility into Ying.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Vast winds blew as Jiang Wanxiang walked alone through the Chi Emperor’s palace.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under the watchful gaze of Gongyang Suwang and the qilin, far within the academy, he calmly reached out, grasping the lingering Chi Emperor’s qi—what Ji Zichang had left, what the Chi bloodline had left.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once glorious, now utterly rotten, the qi twisted visibly around Jiang Wanxiang’s arm, spreading upward. Beneath flesh, black traces flowed swiftly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang’s aura surged, his heart beating stronger than ever.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ancient qilin and Gongyang Suwang both sensed Jiang Wanxiang, who had taken that step under the assault of eight hundred years of twisted fate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Heaven and earth trembled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A presence of pure power and height, stepping directly into the realm of martial legend.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet in Gongyang Suwang’s perception, it carried a profound desolation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongyang Suwang whispered: “Such is human life—people always say living long is good.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But it isn’t necessarily so.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Live long, and all old friends become autumn leaves, blown away by rain and wind…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ancient qilin asked: “Is this truly a martial legend?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongyang Suwang whispered: “It carves its own path, not a martial legend—but neither is it an ordinary Grand Master. This momentum is like fire, drawing upon eight hundred years of aura and fate; the rest Jiang Wanxiang bears upon his back.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“He seeks only one final battle.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“At any cost.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“To die for great righteousness, to endure for a grand vow…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongyang Suwang drank, murmuring:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yet only these few days.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ji Zichang and Jiang Wanxiang are both dead.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Wanxiang turned, and the Emperor of Ying’s smile remained calm—he felt the twisted vitality, the accumulated hearts and desires of generations trying to corrupt him, yet he suppressed them with ease.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Emperor of Ying said: “Heroes of the world kill one another.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“All great heroes of the world are dead.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Li Guanyi, I shall be your opponent!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Let the fire in our hearts renew the spirit of the world for another eight hundred years!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>?? Please vote for monthly tickets, friends~\u003C\u002Fp>",3598,"2026-06-20T19:20:36.387Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","3a6694521fc894af5d310f388f3ecef2fa8bb6d4ba2534e391a85a566cefeba4","the-peace-decree-chapter-537","the-peace-decree-chapter-535",593,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-peace-decree-cover.jpg"]