[Your descendant Li Tianyue fought a lone battle against the Wu Race. Refusing to abandon her army of 320,000, she led her 320,000 soldiers in a bloodbath, slaughtering a million Wu tribesmen. Acquired Trait: Wu Slaughterer]
[Unwilling to abandon the Soldiers who had followed her from the Eastern Border even unto her last moment. Acquired Trait: Army Soul]
[Acquired Traits: God of Slaughter, Eternal Guardian of the Western Border...]
[Your descendant Li Tianyue...]
[Has fallen in battle.]
....
The Imperial Capital.
Within the imperial court of the Heavenly Palace, the dynasty's myriad officials were in an uproar, all stricken with panic.
"The Western Border has fallen! Has the Wu Race truly become so shameless as to send a Sage Elder?!!"
"Lotus Ferry Nunnery, what a fine Lotus Ferry Nunnery!
Abbess Dairou, with her Body Integration Realm cultivation, actually avoided the battle!
If she had merely delayed them for a few days, how could our dynasty not have sent reinforcements?
And what of Prefecture Lord Yun Manlou and Marshal Bi Shihu? Where are they?!!"
"The most pressing matter is to find His Highness the Crown Prince.
The Western Border has been breached, and the three prefectures have fallen into the hands of the Wu Race.
Since the Wu Race has broken the rules, we must not show any mercy either.
Dispatch Body Integration Realm cultivators to fight!"
"Conscript the cultivators! Fight to the death!"
"..."
Li Chang'an stood within the imperial court, coldly surveying these officials who had lost their backbone.
He could no longer hear their chaotic clamor in the slightest. Letting out a long breath, he walked out of the Heavenly Palace and headed toward the Heavenly Prison.
Although these officials were gripped by panic over the fall of the Western Border, the matter was ultimately handled properly. Yet, Li Chang'an remained restless and troubled.
"Great-Aunt..."
Li Chang'an felt his head spinning. His great-aunt had lost her life in the Western Border, yet there was complete silence regarding it in the imperial court.
Even though he knew this was not the time for the dynasty to bring the matter up, Li Chang'an was still unreconciled, an inexplicable anger burning within him.
Before long, he arrived at the Heavenly Prison.
This time, Li Chang'an walked straight into the area where Min Youguo was detained.
When this old State Preceptor was away from the imperial court, he was truly amiable and approachable, even pouring tea for a junior.
Seeing Li Chang'an so absent-minded—his face pale as he picked up his teacup, lacking his usual meticulousness, and seemingly unaware even when the tea spilled onto his robes—Min Youguo asked with a smile,
"Has something happened in the imperial court?"
"The Western Border has been breached. A Sage Elder of the Wu Race descended in person, and the Crown Prince is missing. My great-aunt... perished in the Western Border."
Hearing this, Min Youguo frowned and replied,
"This matter has nothing to do with me. For the past two years, I have been in the Heavenly Prison, never interacting with the outside world.
You can very well ask Ah Hei about this. Back then, Crown Prince Sheng bullied me, but Crown Prince Fei Heng has treated me well.
I have no reason to harm him. Even when the incident with my son occurred, he did not hold me accountable."
"State Preceptor, you overthink things. I did not come here to test you; there is merely one matter I do not understand."
Min Youguo breathed a sigh of relief. "Speak."
"It is just that I do not understand. My great-aunt guarded the dynasty for hundreds of years, but what did she truly gain in the end?"
Li Chang'an's face was ashen.
"The Eastern Border bullied my great-aunt, and the Western Border abandoned her amidst a heavy siege, yet she did not retreat a single step, even at the very end. Why? Why did you all have to harm her like this?"
Min Youguo fell silent.
He also did not know what had transpired at the Western Border.
After pondering for a long time, he said,
"Human nature. A choice must be made between loyalty and valuing one's own life.
Your great-aunt chose loyalty, while those who abandoned her chose to value their lives."
"Yet the life they valued was not my great-aunt's."
Li Chang'an had indeed found someone he could converse with.
He detailed the matters of the Western Border one by one, carefully observing the other's expressions.
Although Min Youguo claimed the affairs of the Western Border had nothing to do with him, Li Chang'an still maintained a skeptical heart.
During their conversation, Ah Hei of the Emberwing Guards also arrived outside the room.
Seeing Li Chang'an present, he did not interrupt.
Min Youguo took it all in, then said in a solemn voice,
"Do you remember when my son allowed the Wu Race to slaughter their way into the Central Plains?"
Seeing Li Chang'an nod, Min Youguo continued,
"A probe. That was the Wu Race probing us, testing whether our dynasty still had the strength to resist.
When the Xu Weng Demon Emperor of the Northern Border intruded into the north and confronted Lin Jiu, that was likewise a probe.
Through these repeated probes, they have already seen that our dynasty is decaying.
But what they are testing is not only the mortal realm; they are also testing the mighty figures of our dynasty."
"A probe?" Li Chang'an's grip on his teacup tightened.
"Indeed. There is no telling how many people in this world wish for it to descend into chaos. You hold onto the concepts of family and nation, but once they reach their realm of cultivation... heh."
Min Youguo smiled and said,
"What I refer to as the decay of the dynasty is not political corruption, but the human heart.
For the hundreds of thousands of years of our dynasty, His Majesty has been mighty, capable of suppressing all people in the world.
Experts in the Mahayana Realm are exceedingly difficult to kill or destroy, yet the Human Emperor can slay them.
If even a Mahayana Realm does not dare to bring chaos to the world, how could those in the Body Integration Realm dare?"
"But over these hundreds of thousands of years, quite a few Void Refinement, Body Integration, and Mahayana Realm cultivators have emerged in the world.
Having cultivated to such an age and witnessed all the prosperity the world has to offer, their humanity is slowly fading away.
How many of them no longer have any earthly ties or shackles?
The only things they truly care about are eternal life and becoming an Emperor(Twenty-Four Imperial Thrones)."
"For this, they are willing to pay any price."