Demon Slaying, Gaining 60 Years of Cultivation From the Start

Tiandu, the main gate.

At this moment, not far from the continuous, mountain-like outer walls of Tiandu, a procession of riders on tall horses was slowly approaching the city.

In the group of roughly a dozen people, the leader was a middle-aged man with a sturdy physique, strong features, and an extremely concentrated aura that did not reveal the slightest hint of frivolity.

He had a pair of brown eyes, light yellow skin, and hair braided into strand after strand. His prominent cheekbones and flat bridge of the nose bestowed upon him a visage greatly characterized by the style of Da Yuan.

Beside this man was a young man with slightly delicate features, a shining bald head without a single hair, draped in a red kasaya—it was a monk.

This group of people was precisely the delegation dispatched by the Great Yuan to Da Xia.

At that time, the middle-aged man Zha Jiedunzhu pointed to the majestic city not far away, as magnificent as towering mountains, and said, "Do you see that? That is the capital of Da Xia. How does it feel?"

Next to Zha Jiedunzhu, the young monk lowered his eyes and brought his palms together, saying softly, "Powerful!"

Zha Jiedunzhu nodded, sighing, "Yes, powerful. Da Xia is too strong, possessing a good thirteen states, with the nine richest in their grasp. With such plentiful resources, it's no wonder Da Xia's national strength is so immense!"

"Especially since this generation's sovereign of Da Xia is peerlessly brave. Even the national teacher calls him a once-in-a-thousand-years emperor. Our Great Yuan wishes to rise in this generation, but it is indeed very, very difficult."

The young monk in the red kasaya simply kept his eyes lowered, remaining silent.

Zha Jiedunzhu, seeing this, was not annoyed. This young monk had an unusual background, and as they had traveled together, he had grown accustomed to the monk's demeanor.

He continued to ask, "What are your feelings on the journey thus far?"
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"Prosperous!"

Zha Jiedunzhu nodded, then added, "Truly worthy of being the rightful ruler of the Nine States!"

After a pause, he said again, "If we could take Da Xia's vast territories into our hands, how would Great Yuan stand?"

The monk in the red kasaya spoke softly, "As the ruler of the Central Plains and the holder of the state, it would stand as the foremost in the world."

Zha Jiedunzhu took a deep breath, his expression solemn, and said loudly, "Indeed, with the strength of Great Yuan's iron cavalry sweeping across the world, one day the armies of Great Yuan will occupy this fertile land of the Central Plains, surpass Da Xia, and grasp the National Artifacts of the Nine States!"

"The era of Da Xia has passed, and now the opportunity has come. It won't be long before this world will eventually be ours. The sons of the steppes will gallop across the Nine States just like eagles in the sky—free to venture throughout the vastness of the twenty-one states, without being confined to just the Seven States!"

"Very well," the young monk murmured in agreement.

Zha Jiedunzhu, filled with ambition, stared proudly at the distant city of Tiandu. His brown eyes seemed to burn with a fierce fire—this time, he and his delegation had been sent by the ruler of Great Yuan to gauge the current strength of Da Xia.

Ever since the day the Summer Emperor emerged from seclusion, battled the lightning tribulation, and shook the Nine States, even the national teacher of Great Yuan, who had sequestered himself for more than a decade, felt a disturbance, and a command was sent from afar.

The current ruler of Great Yuan had dispatched Zha Jiedunzhu and his men to Tiandu after hearing a transmission from that foremost martial figure of Great Yuan.

They wanted to know, after twenty-three years, how much of Da Xia's strength remained compared to before?

Although the calamity of demons had spread across the world, Great Yuan, occupying only the Seven States, had seen significantly fewer demons compared to Da Xia. Hence, the nation had not spent as much of its strength in eradicating demons as Da Xia, which had seen its zenith of power diminish compared to the past due to the increasing demon threats.

Soon, as the horses continued to advance, the towering walls of Tiandu were now close at hand.

Zha Jiedunzhu took a deep breath; he knew that once he entered Tiandu, it would be as if he had stepped into the sight of the fabled Tower Supervisor of Qintian Monitor.

But Zha Jiedunzhu was unafraid because he was the closest disciple of the Great Yuan national teacher Bastu, possessing immense strength, having fully inherited the true teachings of that preeminent martial figure, and his power had surpassed even that of a Great Master in the Xiantian realm, reaching an entirely different realm!

It was for this reason that the current ruler of Great Yuan and the secluded national teacher Bastu had sent him with a mission to personally investigate the reality of Da Xia.

Only at the level reached by Zha Jiedunzhu, in harmony with heaven and earth, could one faintly perceive a strand of the heavenly will. Even for someone of the Summer Emperor's stature, as long as he was within Tiandu, Zha Jiedunzhu was confident he could detect a trace of his presence.

Zha Jiedunzhu was neither panicked nor flustered upon his arrival in Tiandu; rather, he was brimming with confidence, feeling that even if the Summer Emperor had survived that terrifying lightning tribulation, he must have been gravely wounded. In all of Tiandu, if he wished to leave, no one could stop him.

As for advancing to the Heavenly Man realm—which would be perceived by the entire world, akin to a Co-Owner emerging in the Nine States—both Zha Jiedunzhu and even the Great Yuan national teacher Bastu considered this an impossibility.

Even in the heavily guarded Tiandu, Zha Jiedunzhu believed he had the freedom to come and go as he pleased, so what was there to fear?

With that, Zha Jiedunzhu led his group of riders to the main gate of Tiandu.