Inside the council chamber.
A middle-aged man was sitting in a high position, with a young warrior in armor in front of him.
The middle-aged man simply sat there calmly, yet he unconsciously exuded a powerful aura, an aura as if he were the leader of thousands of generals, capable of commanding thousands of troops with a single wave of his hand.
Standing before the middle-aged man, the young man was a few years older than Liu Linxu, but his face was resolute, as if he had experienced countless battles to have such an arrogant posture.
In front of the two was a vast map of the Great Xia Dynasty.
This map marks all the towns and military deployment points of the entire Xia Dynasty.
The conversation between the two abruptly ended after they noticed someone entering the council chamber.
"Lord of the Manor, brother."
Upon seeing the two people before him, Liu Lin greeted them respectfully, his previous arrogant demeanor vanishing instantly, as if he felt a deep reverence for them from the bottom of his heart.
Upon seeing the three approaching, the middle-aged man sitting in the high position immediately focused his gaze on Qin Xin.
The powerful aura emanating from him caused Qin Xue and Liu Lin, who were standing beside Qin Xin, to frown.
Soon, the corners of their mouths turned slightly pale, and they were so overwhelmed by the imposing aura that they could hardly breathe.
Qin Xin naturally felt the pressure of this aura as well. However, as a spiritual cultivator, his soul was already much stronger. Under the pressure of this aura, his spiritual body, sitting cross-legged on the Spirit Devouring Stone, slowly mobilized the spiritual consciousness in his sea of consciousness.
This was enough to withstand the powerful pressure, but even so, Qin Xin could still feel discomfort in his body.
"Father! Is this how you treat my friends?"
Just as Qin Xue and Liu Lin were retreating rapidly because they could no longer withstand the oppressive aura, a beautiful figure strode into the council hall, saying with some dissatisfaction.
Upon hearing this voice, the middle-aged man hurriedly withdrew the aura emanating from his body, seemingly terrified of the girl who had appeared before him.
Qin Xin naturally recognized the woman; she was Shui Qingxi, who had already joined the Central State Spirit Beast Sect.
The middle-aged man was Shui Qingxi's father, Shui Sheng, the lord of Zhennan Prefecture.
"Qin Xin, right? I often hear Qingxi mention you. Your talent is indeed quite good."
With his daughter watching over him, Shui Sheng couldn't continue testing Qin Xin's strength. However, he was somewhat surprised that Qin Xin could completely withstand his pressure.
In Shui Sheng's eyes, a disciple like Qin Xin, who cultivates in the academy and has never experienced the battles of war, could be scared out of his wits by simply releasing some of his aura.
Clearly, Qin Xin's performance exceeded his expectations.
"Lord of the Water Palace, you flatter me!"
Facing Shui Sheng, Qin Xin bowed slightly to greet him. After all, they were in someone else's territory, and the members of the Tianyuan Qin Clan were under someone else's protection. Being too upright was not a good thing.
"Senior Sister Qingxi, it's been a long time!"
Then Qin Xin turned his gaze to Shui Qingxi beside him and said with a smile.
It has been almost two years since he last saw Shui Qingxi. Although they are both in Zhongzhou, the Tianxuan Sect and the Spirit Beast Sect are quite far apart, making it rather troublesome to travel between them.
"It really has been a long time. When we heard the news of your death, it really startled Xia Yue and me," Shui Qingxi said with a smile.
"Let me introduce you. This is Liu Kang, my father's right-hand man."
Xia Yue then introduced the young man standing next to Shui Sheng to Qin Xin.
Qin Xin looked Liu Kang up and down and found that, as Liu Lin's older brother, the two did not look very similar. Liu Lin appeared more youthful and spirited, while Liu Kang seemed more mature for his age, perhaps because he had too many things to do in the army.
"Hello, I am Liu Kang. I learned from the Lord of the Manor that you are the son of Young Master Qin Xiao. Your father once saved my brother and me, but we have lost contact with our benefactors."
After Liu Kang stepped forward, he spoke very politely.
Qin Xin then understood why Liu Lin had previously been so arrogant and even wanted to kill him, but now had changed his attitude. It turned out that Liu Lin knew about Qin Xin's background.
“I didn’t know you were the son of my benefactor before. Please forgive me if I have offended you.”
As Liu Kang spoke, he glared at Liu Lin, who was standing behind Qin Xin.
Liu Lin was clearly unwilling after being glared at like that. In his mind, Qin Xin was his rival for Shui Qingxi's affections, and now that his rival had become his benefactor's son, he couldn't accept it for a while.
However, seeing the anger in his brother's eyes, Liu Lin could only lower his head and say in a voice barely above a whisper, "Qin Xin, I'm sorry."
"Let's get down to business first!"
Seeing that the atmosphere was getting a little awkward, Shui Sheng interrupted.
"Qin Xin, I imagine you're also curious as to why I would help your Tianyuan Qin Clan."
"My daughter's relationship with you alone is not enough to make me mobilize the Zhennan Army."
"After all, your Tianyuan Qin Clan is now facing the Great Xia Dynasty. If my Zhennan Army gets involved, it will be openly opposing the Great Xia Dynasty."
"Old Mo, why don't you explain what happened next?"
As Shui Sheng was speaking, at the main entrance of the council hall, Elder Mo led the second and third elders of the Tianyuan Qin Clan slowly in.
After hearing Shui Sheng's words, Old Mo stepped forward with a gentle smile. The two nodded to each other as if they had known each other for a long time.
"Young Master Qin Xiao once saved Lord Shui, but I never expected that a lowly soldier abandoned by the army would become the Lord of Zhennan Prefecture."
Mr. Mo continued his narration.
Qin Xin then realized that the Qin clan in Tianyuan City had always been protected by the Zhennan Prefecture.
However, for many reasons, Zhennan Prefecture has not appeared directly, only to draw out the person behind it who is truly going to deal with the Tianyuan Qin Clan.
This also made Qin Xin understand why Shui Qingxi took extra care of Qin Xue and him after they joined the Eastern Wilderness Academy; perhaps it was all related to this aspect.
"Now that Zhennan Prefecture has stepped forward, is it preparing to go to war with the Great Xia Dynasty?"
Through various associations, Qin Xin also guessed some clues.
When Shui Sheng saw that Qin Xin had guessed it, a smile appeared on his face. "Truly worthy of being Young Master Qin Xiao's son, so intelligent."
"For many years, Zhennan Prefecture has been suppressed by the Great Xia royal family. But now, in the Eastern Wilderness, the power of the three dynasties has long reached a balance, and no one wants to see this balance broken."
"If any family or force tries to disrupt this balance, it will be directly suppressed by the combined forces of the three dynasties."
"Now that the Great Xia Dynasty has taken action against the Tianyuan Qin Clan, taking away the old and new clan leaders without any reason, I have already spread the news of this matter."
"In this way, our Zhennan Prefecture can use the pretext of rescuing Qin Lin and Qin Qianfan to directly attack the capital of the Great Xia Kingdom!"
Shui Sheng spoke calmly, but Qin Xin could tell from the murderous intent in his eyes that he harbored a great deal of hatred towards the Great Xia royal family.
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