In the Nine Nether Palace, Jiuyou—who had originally been in seclusion—sat upon the throne in the grand hall, looking down at Tang Bing, whose face was filled with anger. She spoke calmly,
"Tell me. What happened this time?"
From Tang Bing's expression alone, it was obvious that this was not good news.
"Jiuyou-jie, the Blood Hawk Palace has struck at us again. I just received news that three more cities have announced their withdrawal from our Nine Nether Palace and have defected to the Blood Hawk Palace."
Jiuyou's brows tightened, and a trace of fury flashed through her eyes.
If those cities had left earlier when she was absent, it might have been understandable. But now, this was nothing short of a blatant slap to her face.
There was no need to guess—it was clearly the Blood Hawk King making another move.
"Alright, you don't need to concern yourself with this for now. Have the Nine Nether Guard make preparations. We'll talk again once that fellow Liu Bai comes out of seclusion," Jiuyou said coldly.
There was no other way. As long as Jiuyou herself could not act, the current Nine Nether Palace truly had no one capable of standing alone and handling matters independently.
Although Tang Bing had broken through to the Sovereign Realm with the support of Liu Bai's Sovereign Spiritual Liquid during this period, she had yet to condense a Celestial Body, nor had she fused her spiritual power's spirituality. Her combat strength was basically unreliable.
After all, not everyone was a freak like Liu Bai, with so many trump cards at his disposal.
Tang Bing clenched her teeth and was just about to speak when a voice carrying a hint of laughter suddenly rang out beside them.
"Eh? What's wrong? Why does everyone look so gloomy? Who bullied you?"
The three women present all lit up at the sound of the voice. Immediately after, they saw a tall, straight figure walk into the hall.
"Liu Bai, did you break through?" Tang Bing asked quickly.
Liu Bai chuckled. Seeing that this usually cold and aloof woman was now showing such a nervous and eager expression, he teased, "Well now, that's rare—being so concerned about me. Tell me, do you have some ulterior motive toward this young master?"
Tang Bing: "..."
"Don't joke around with my sister anymore," Tang Rou stepped forward and explained the situation briefly. "We just received news that several cities under our Nine Nether Palace have defected to the Blood Hawk Palace. Sister and I are both furious."
To this, Liu Bai showed no surprise or anger. Instead, he smiled and said, "Wasn't this already expected? Jiuyou snatched a slot from the Blood Hawk King during the Assembly of Kings. With his domineering and arrogant personality, how could he not retaliate?"
"Snatched?" Tang Bing said coldly. "That slot should have belonged to us in the first place!"
Liu Bai shrugged. "That's just your perspective. In the Blood Hawk King's eyes, it was his."
"Alright, don't be angry. Didn't I already say it before? Leave it to me. There's still some time before the Greatlaw GoldPond opens—perfect for me to stretch my muscles a bit…"
From the moment Liu Bai appeared, Jiuyou had not spoken a word.
She believed that since Liu Bai had said this, he would surely give her a satisfactory result.
"From now on, you are the sole commander of my Nine Nether Palace. Do whatever you want, boldly. If there's anything you can't resolve, Jiuyou-jie will back you up!"
Liu Bai smiled and nodded. "Jiuyou really understands me. Just wait in the Nine Nether Palace for my good news."
With that, Liu Bai turned to leave.
"Wait, I'm going too!"
Tang Bing suddenly spoke.
Liu Bai frowned slightly and looked her over. "You just broke through, right? You haven't even fused your spiritual attributes yet. You won't be much help—better stay in the Nine Nether Palace and cultivate."
Tang Bing, however, remained stubborn, staring straight at Liu Bai. "I know the situation of those cities well, and most of them are familiar with my identity."
This made Liu Bai pause in thought.
Although he was now the commander of the Nine Nether Palace, he had only just taken the position. The subordinate cities might not recognize him yet. With Tang Bing—the Nine Nether Palace's chief administrator—by his side, it would indeed reduce many unnecessary troubles.
"Alright then. You can come along. Perfect timing to take the Nine Nether Guard out for some real training. With you leading them, it should save a lot of trouble."
This sentence instantly caused large question marks to appear over the heads of the three women present.
Tang Bing: "Me leading the Nine Nether Guard? Shouldn't that be your responsibility as the official commander?"
As the direct army of the Nine Nether Palace, the Jiuyou Guard should have been Jiuyou's sharpest blade. However, due to past circumstances, not only had their former commander defected, but their overall strength and numbers also lagged far behind the armies of the other Kings.
Yet as a crucial force in stabilizing the Nine Nether Palace's domain, improving the Jiuyou Guard was indispensable if they wanted those cities to return.
This was not something that could be achieved overnight. Hence, Liu Bai had no intention of dealing with these matters personally and simply handed them over to Tang Bing.
Liu Bai was different from Mu Chen in the original story. The latter lacked the strength to easily suppress subordinate cities and thus had to rely on armies and battle intent to enhance himself.
Liu Bai did not need that. Moreover, he had no interest in battle formations at all.
Even when reading the original work, he found the concept of battle formation masters confusing. At first, leading an army to condense battle intent and fight powerful enemies was fine. But later, when Mu Chen truly became a battle formation master, the army essentially became nothing more than batteries supplying battle intent.
Could you imagine a commander of ten thousand troops leaving his army behind to provide battle intent, while he personally charged forward with a blade to fight another commander to the death?
Liu Bai simply didn't like that sort of thing.
"Forget it. Jiuyou and I are the same—we don't have talent in training or commanding troops. Over these years, you managed to preserve the Nine Nether Guard by yourself, which already proves your ability. I think it's better to leave it to you. You've been with them for so long; they genuinely acknowledge you. Under your command, they'll show even stronger cohesion."
Jiuyou fully agreed with this assessment. However…
"What do you mean 'the same as me' with no talent for commanding troops? That's just you—don't drag me into it!" Jiuyou said unhappily.
Liu Bai chuckled and did not refute her. After all, he had personally heard Jiuyou admit that the Nine Nether Guard was now far more united and powerful than before.
At the Nine Nether Palace training grounds, Liu Bai and the others quickly arrived atop the high platform.
Below, the field was densely packed with figures clad in black armor. Standing still, they resembled immovable boulders. Their breathing was perfectly synchronized; each exhalation was like thunder, exuding a terrifying aura.
"Greetings, Palace Master!"
When Jiuyou appeared, nearly a thousand stone-like figures bowed respectfully, fists to chests. Their unified voices boomed like thunder, echoing through the air.
This was Liu Bai's first time witnessing such a scene. The sensation of nearly a thousand people sharing a single, perfectly rounded aura was enough to make even his heart tremble.
Jiuyou nodded. She was extremely satisfied that, under such difficult circumstances, Tang Bing had still managed to preserve such a force for the Nine Nether Palace.
At this moment, much of the coldness had faded from Tang Bing's face as she introduced, "The Nine Nether Guard has always maintained a scale of one thousand members. We use an elimination system—each year, the bottom hundred in evaluations are eliminated and reassigned to other Nine Nether Palace forces. Outstanding newcomers then take their place."
This method was cruel, but it ensured that the Nine Nether Guard's combat strength never declined. Under constant competition, everyone trained desperately, naturally growing stronger.
The only thing lacking was sufficient resources. Otherwise, this Nine Nether Guard would definitely not be inferior to the armies of the other Kings.
This was precisely why Liu Bai believed Tang Bing was suited to lead them. Her personal strength might be lacking, but her ability to train troops was unquestionably solid.
"Well done," Jiuyou praised once more.
It seemed that handing the Nine Nether Guard over to Tang Bing back then had indeed been a very wise decision.
"Actually, the reason we do this is because our Sovereign Spiritual Liquid can only support an army of this scale," Tang Bing said with a helpless smile.
She would have liked to expand the Nine Nether Guard, but unfortunately, the amount of Sovereign Spiritual Liquid produced by the Nine Nether Palace each year was limited. Expanding the army would instead harm the very foundation of the Nine Nether Guard.
"You've worked hard," Jiuyou said as she patted Tang Bing's fragrant shoulder. Over the years, Tang Bing had even contributed her own share of Sovereign Spiritual Liquid to the Nine Nether Guard. Her sacrifices made even Jiuyou feel a little ashamed.
"It's nothing," Tang Bing smiled faintly. Then she turned toward the Nine Nether Guard, her crisp voice becoming colder and more solemn.
"From today onward, Liu Bai will serve as the commander of the Nine Nether Guard."
A wave of silence spread below. More often than not, silence represented resistance.
Tang Bing's gaze sharpened as an intimidating chill radiated from her body.
Don't be fooled by her youthful and beautiful appearance—within the hearts of the Nine Nether Guard, she was nothing short of a female devil!
However, Liu Bai waved his hand, stopping Tang Bing before she erupted. He looked at the crowd and said, "Relax. This commander position is only in name. I have no interest in managing so many people. From now on, Tang Bing will still oversee everything as usual."
Upon hearing this, the Nine Nether Guard below clearly let out a collective sigh of relief.
Liu Bai looked them over and found that not only was the Nine Nether Guard solid as a whole, even their individual strengths were impressive.
Among them were three who had also broken through to the First-Grade Sovereign, though they clearly had yet to condense their own Sovereign Celestial Bodies.
"The tallest and sturdiest one is called Qiu Shan. The one to his left is Bei Mo, and the one to his right is Lan Hai," Tang Bing introduced.
"They were originally independent cultivators. After offending a certain sect, they were hunted down everywhere. I happened to save them by chance, so I had them join the Nine Nether Guard. Over the years, the three of them have remained loyal, never leaving even when the Blood Hawk Palace tried to lure them with a high price."
Jiuyou nodded.
"In that case, these three are indeed worth nurturing."
The Nine Nether Guard would certainly not remain at this scale forever. Relying on Liu Bai, that lazy fellow, was out of the question, and Tang Bing alone would inevitably be overwhelmed. Cultivating new figures capable of standing on their own was imperative.
Their loyalty had already been proven. What remained was improving their cultivation.
Ordinary Sovereign Celestial Bodies were not difficult to obtain. The real challenge lay in those truly powerful Sovereign Celestial Bodies.
After all, the stronger the Sovereign Celestial Body, the greater the resources required. Finding the right balance was crucial.
Liu Bai was not without cultivation methods for Sovereign Celestial Bodies. He had obtained some earlier from the Taiyi Palace and the Divine Wood Hall, though their power was only average.
They were roughly on par with Zhao Zhong's Absolute Ice Celestial Body from before.
"Actually, that level is already good enough…" Liu Bai calculated inwardly.
More importantly, the required materials were not too difficult to find. It shouldn't consume too much Sovereign Spiritual Liquid to gather them.
Thinking of this, Liu Bai said to Jiuyou and Tang Bing, "I have an Azure Wood Celestial Body and a Profound Ice Celestial Body. Although neither is ranked on the Sovereign Celestial Body List, their power is still quite respectable. The three of them can choose whichever they prefer to cultivate."
Not only were Jiuyou and Tang Bing shocked by these words—even Qiu Shan and the other two, who had been maintaining a stern demeanor below, couldn't help but have their auras fluctuate.
Sovereign Celestial Bodies? And two of them at once?
Just who exactly was this young man, to be so generous?
All of a sudden, the three of them felt that letting him be the commander wasn't such a bad thing after all…
"You brat, you really do have quite a few good things on you!" Jiuyou said as she looked Liu Bai up and down in astonishment. Then her gaze suddenly sharpened as she interrogated him fiercely,
"Speak! What other good stuff are you hiding? Confess everything to your big sister right now!"
Seeing this, Tang Bing and Tang Rou couldn't help but twitch the corners of their mouths. The sisters exchanged glances, both sensing something ominous.
Could it really be like what they were secretly suspecting—was there that kind of relationship between Sister Jiuyou and this Liu Bai…?
"No more, really none!" Liu Bai immediately put on a weak, pitiful expression, hugging his chest as if begging for mercy, fully committing to the act.
"Really?" Jiuyou looked suspicious.
Liu Bai nodded vigorously.
"In that case, Little Bing'er, you'll just have to make do and choose one of these two Celestial Bodies as well."
"Eh? I just remembered—I actually have another Sovereign Celestial Body here…"
Jiuyou: "...!"
Tang Bing: "..."
Tang Rou: "...?"
"Alright, joke's over!" Liu Bai waved his hand.
All three women rolled their eyes at him simultaneously.
"Sovereign Celestial Bodies and Sovereign Spiritual Liquid are all here. But if you want them, then earn them with your own abilities—earn them with military merit."
Liu Bai looked at the crowd. Though he had no desire to manage these "burdens," proper incentives were still necessary. Otherwise, why would they fight with their lives on the line?
"I believe you all understand the current situation of the Nine Nether Palace. Next, I will lead you to reclaim everything that originally belonged to us."
"And this—will be your chance to prove yourselves…"
"To prove that you are qualified to receive these rewards!"
....
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