Chapter 157: Preparing for Battle

Li Jiahao had raised the banner of rebellion.

Although Zhou Tian knew that Li Jiahao harbored ambitions, he honestly had not expected Li Jiahao's movements to be so swift. The moment ripples of unrest stirred in Kirin City, Li Jiahao had eagerly and impatiently jumped straight into the fray.

Through Wu Zhao, Zhou Tian had already gained a clear picture of the situation within the Yanhuang Empire, so while Li Jiahao's current reaction surprised him, it did not seem entirely unfounded.

In any other empire, the existence of a council of old fogies meant that the succession of the throne was almost entirely decided by those ancient entities. Even if someone harbored secret ambitions, they would likely lack the courage throughout their entire life to actually put those thoughts into action.

However, because the divine beast clan backing the Yanhuang Empire rarely interfered, and despite their absolute military superiority over the supporters of ordinary empires, they simply did not care who sat on the throne. Consequently, ambitious men like Li Jiahao naturally had the audacity to commit treason and rebellion.

In the past, Li Jiahao had not made a move not because he lacked the desire, but because he lacked a proper pretext. Now, the events Zhou Tian orchestrated in Kirin City had provided him with a flawless justification to dispatch his troops.

The emperor's aversion to women in favor of eunuchs could already be considered a royal scandal. Under such circumstances, the newly selected empress consort had actually engaged in illicit affairs with a fake eunuch, and the entire scandal had eventually become common knowledge. With an emperor like that, regardless of his past deeds, once these two matters spread, he had undoubtedly lost the hearts of the people entirely throughout the Yanhuang Empire.

When an emperor has already disappointed his subjects, even if someone rebels against him, very few people will step forward to oppose them.

It was precisely because he saw through this reality that Li Jiahao chose this exact moment to stage his rebellion.

In fact, Li Jiahao was far from the only one who acted. Numerous ambitious figures who previously harbored similar desires but were constrained by various factors now emerged in full force.

Within just these few short days, dozens of insurgent kings popped up in succession across the Yanhuang Empire.

Among them were not only imperial princes of the blood, but also a significant number of city lords wielding genuine military authority who leaped out to stir up trouble. The reason Zhou Tian targeted Li Jiahao first was not only because Li Jiahao commanded the largest momentum among all the rebel factions, but also because his territory was not far from the capital, causing his rebellion to directly impact the imperial seat.

If Wu Zhao had not been stubbornly set on becoming the empress regnant, Zhou Tian would not have had the leisure to care about whatever Li Jiahao was doing. But now that Wu Zhao desired that throne, Zhou Tian naturally could not allow Li Jiahao and the other rebel lords to succeed.

Unfortunately, the clandestine relationship between Zhou Tian and Wu Zhao was handled with extreme secrecy. Apart from the two individuals directly involved, Aphra was likely the only other person in the know.

Under these circumstances, when everyone rose in rebellion against Wu Zhao, they probably had no idea that aside from facing the counter-offensive of the orthodox imperial loyalists, they also needed to guard against an ascending powerhouse like Zhou Tian.

Because his territory was not far from the capital, Li Jiahao had even sent a letter to Zhou Tian prior to dispatching his troops. The contents largely detailed his reasons for rising in arms. After demonizing the emperor and Wu Zhao, he framed his current actions as acting on behalf of heaven.

Having thus manufactured a righteous and legitimate excuse for treason, Li Jiahao did not forget to promise Zhou Tian numerous lucrative benefits. To win over Zhou Tian and secure his support in this endeavor, Li Jiahao even implicitly laid out his conditions: as long as he successfully ascended the throne, he would hand over all the power he currently possessed to Zhou Tian. In other words, once Li Jiahao became emperor, provided Zhou Tian was willing to assist him, Zhou Tian would become the undisputed overlord of the northern Yanhuang Empire.

The conditions offered by Li Jiahao were undeniably generous. Given the current turmoil in the Yanhuang Empire, anyone could deduce that if Li Jiahao's rebellion succeeded, the empire would unquestionably become his absolute domain. As for the dukes and princes currently guarding the four frontiers, given Li Jiahao's temperament, he would certainly never let them off.

Under such circumstances, although Li Jiahao only offered the position of the Northern Overlord, the moment Li Jiahao became emperor, Zhou Tian would undoubtedly hold a position second only to one and above all others. Anyone else hearing such terms would have probably rushed over to help Li Jiahao with eager servility!

Yet Zhou Tian was no ordinary man. While Li Jiahao's terms held great attraction for most people, to Zhou Tian, those promises truly lacked any significant allure.

Given Zhou Tian's current strength—to be frank—if he were not burdened by so many enemies, he could simply sever ties with the Church of Light and forge an empire far more powerful than the Yanhuang Empire out of thin air. Even now, although his status as a church member prevented him from personally founding a nation, his current might allowed him to go to any empire and compel its sovereign to willingly execute his commands. A mere Northern Overlord held no major appeal for Zhou Tian anymore.

Not to mention, given his relationship with Wu Zhao, if she became empress, the Yanhuang Empire would essentially belong to their household. For Li Jiahao to attempt to bribe Zhou Tian with Zhou Tian's own possessions—it would be a miracle if Zhou Tian even bothered to acknowledge him.

Without waiting for Zhou Tian to return and handle the matter, the administrative staff in the capital, acting with the permission of City Lord's wife Aphra, directly rejected Li Jiahao's enticements. However, because Aphra remained unaware of the events that had transpired in Kirin City, she merely turned down Li Jiahao's proposal. Adhering to the church's rule prohibiting intervention in the political affairs of the continental empires, she had no intention of dispatching troops to engage in combat with Li Jiahao.

Undoubtedly, the capital's response was not what Li Jiahao had hoped for, but it was a barely acceptable outcome.

However, the moment Zhou Tian returned to the Heavenly Capital and issued a series of directives, Li Jiahao was instantly thrown into a state of acute anxiety.

"Order all legions to prepare for combat!"

"Instruct the Commercial Department to procure massive quantities of grain and provisions from various empires across the continent. I only care that they secure a sufficient supply; a slightly elevated price is of no consequence."

"Issue a decree: every resident in the city who has reached the age of eighteen must undergo basic military training. We do not demand they march onto the battlefield immediately, but they must at least serve as reserve manpower."

"..."

Upon returning to the capital and learning the news of Li Jiahao's rebellion, Zhou Tian did not even spare the time to gather his subordinates for a meeting. Instead, he proactively sought out the officials in charge of various municipal affairs and issued his commands directly.

What did Zhou Tian's actions signify?

Even a fool could see that Zhou Tian was preparing to plunge into the Yanhuang Empire's civil war!

Given the current situation in the empire, whom would Zhou Tian intend to target by entering the war?

Without Zhou Tian needing to take any further action, the moment his directives were leaked, Li Jiahao immediately grew tense.

Li Jiahao's greatest fear was Zhou Tian deploying his forces. Regardless of whether Zhou Tian intended to target him, as long as the troops marched out for any purpose other than aiding him, the news of Zhou Tian's mobilization could never be construed as good news for Li Jiahao.

If Zhou Tian chose to move against him, given the current strength of the capital—leaving everything else aside—the terrifying might executable by those twelve divine statues alone would be enough to give Li Jiahao a severe headache. Not to mention that the capital's overall strength across all tiers had experienced massive growth during this period. If Li Jiahao were to wage war against Zhou Tian now, it was almost certain that his probability of defeat would exceed ninety percent.

Even if Zhou Tian's military mobilization was not aimed at him, it was still far from reassuring news for Li Jiahao. With the Yanhuang Empire just descending into chaos, why else would Zhou Tian mobilize his troops? Could it be that Zhou Tian coveted the imperial throne himself?

Judging others by his own standards, upon hearing the news of Zhou Tian's war preparations, even without fearing a direct strike, Li Jiahao dreaded the prospect that Zhou Tian had set his sights on the imperial crown. Given Zhou Tian's prowess, if he truly decided to contend for it, Li Jiahao knew he stood no chance of competing. After all, he lacked the backing of supreme top-tier combat power; suffering a deficit in that category alone would seal his defeat.

Driven by desperation under these circumstances, Li Jiahao made a disastrous miscalculation.

Naturally, Li Jiahao lacked the confidence to confront Zhou Tian directly. Yet, lacking the courage to fight yet unwilling to relinquish his ambitions, Li Jiahao was forced to turn his thoughts toward a direction he never should have touched.

Was Zhou Tian not a bishop of the Church of Light? How could someone of his status participate in the Yanhuang Empire's struggle for the throne? Since he could not handle Zhou Tian himself, he would let the higher-ups of the Church of Light deal with him instead. Although such a move might incur Zhou Tian's resentment, compared to the prospect of facing him on the battlefield, Li Jiahao would rather offend Zhou Tian than allow him to deploy his forces unchecked.

Once conceived, action followed. Having set his mind on this course, Li Jiahao moved swiftly. He compiled 'criminal evidence' of the capital's recent troop movements and dispatched bribes to smooth the waters in the Holy City. Before long, the accusation letter penned by Li Jiahao was officially delivered into the hands of the higher-ups of the Church of Light.

To be honest, although Zhou Tian had kept a relatively low profile for several years, he remained a prominent figure across the continent. Within the Church of Light, two distinct attitudes toward Zhou Tian prevailed.

One faction believed that individuals like Zhou Tian, who could continuously enhance the church's prestige, deserved vigorous cultivation. Ideally, Zhou Tian should be raised as a banner for the Church of Light. Another faction argued that Zhou Tian possessed no genuine religious faith. While nominally a member of the flock, he maintained an attitude of complete indifference toward the church and had even scammed the institution during their previous transaction involving divine statues. Facing such a person, support was out of the question; he should have been expelled from the church from the very beginning.

Under these circumstances, had Zhou Tian remained quiet, the church's higher-ups might not have taken action. But the moment Li Jiahao's accusation letter arrived, it instantly ignited intense debate among the church's elite.

In the end, the faction opposed to Zhou Tian secured ultimate victory in this matter.

Although many supported Zhou Tian, the church's ironclad rule forbade intervention in the political affairs of continental empires. Since Zhou Tian was a bishop of their church, interfering in the Yanhuang Empire's succession struggle looked inappropriate from any angle. Thus, regardless of how Zhou Tian might ultimately be disciplined, the Church of Light had to first prevent the capital under his command from participating in the Yanhuang civil war. Otherwise, if Zhou Tian truly shattered that continental taboo, the reaction of the other continental empires would give the church's leadership grave cause for concern.

Against that backdrop, the Church of Light quickly mobilized in response.

To arrest Zhou Tian?

The church would naturally not make such a foolish decision. Although Zhou Tian had consistently performed well, just as one faction within the church pointed out, the man simply lacked true faith. If the church issued a formal order for his arrest, one could be certain that upon arrival, far from surrendering meekly, Zhou Tian would likely fly into a rage and sever ties with the church altogether.

Furthermore, the Church of Light possessed more intelligence regarding the capital than any other faction on the continent. While they remained unaware that the newly upgraded Twelve Capital Heavenly fiend Gods Array possessed power a hundred times greater than before, even if it retained its former semi-divine potency, coupled with the divine beast they were already aware of, Zhou Tian's forces might still fall short of the church, but a falling out would force the church to pay a heavy price to subdue him.

Although Zhou Tian's intended course of action was something the church utterly wished to prevent, Zhou Tian had not yet actually committed the act. The higher-ups were certainly unwilling to fight to the death with Zhou Tian's faction over a mere hypothetical.

Consequently, while Li Jiahao's accusation letter had some effect, the church's reaction was relatively subdued. They merely dispatched an investigative team to the capital and refrained from taking any further steps.

The church's current stance clearly signaled their attitude: they would not permit Zhou Tian to violate the church's ironclad rule, but neither would they drive him to harbor deep resentment against the institution. As long as he was contained during the period of Yanhuang's turmoil and prevented from diverting energy to meddle in the civil war, that would suffice. As for punishing Zhou Tian later, whether such a penalty would materialize was uncertain, and if it did, it would likely be purely symbolic.

Yet even with such a modest outcome, Li Jiahao felt immensely satisfied upon hearing the news. He was no fool and knew the church would not move against Zhou Tian lightly given his strength. The mere fact that the church was willing to help him bog Zhou Tian down in the capital left him supremely content.

Yet, would Zhou Tian truly remain obediently cooped up in the capital as Li Jiahao hoped?

……………………(Divider)……………………

Before the Church of Light's delegation even reached the capital, Zhou Tian had already received relevant intelligence. He not only knew that Li Jiahao had submitted an accusation letter to the church and learned of the church's ultimate decision, but he was also fully aware of the debate process—specifically, which individuals chose to support him and which ones seized the opportunity to kick him while he was down.

Previously, due to unfavorable conditions, Zhou Tian had not invested heavily in that area. However, ever since he established his roots in the capital, Zhou Tian, much like any major faction, began setting up his own intelligence network.

Undoubtedly, once Zhou Tian resolved to build an intelligence web, aside from a minor shortage of time, he possessed every other requisite resource in abundance.

Zhou Tian was far from short on cash; one could even say he was exceedingly wealthy. Armed with such capital, Zhou Tian paved his way with gold, directly buying off various peripheral members of major factions. He also possessed rare treasures, allowing him to recruit key figures within other factions who had specific needs after they accepted his benefits, turning them into covert intelligence operatives under his command.

Beyond these methods, Zhou Tian also commanded numerous mind-control techniques. Anyone controlled by him, willingly or not, would ultimately obey his commands. Under such conditions, once Zhou Tian had sufficient time, his intelligence network naturally unfurled completely.

Although the church knew Zhou Tian had cultivated informants within their ranks, they could never have imagined the extent to which his intelligence network had infiltrated them. Unbelievers joining the church were hardly rare; Zhou Tian merely stood out because he was the only one too lazy to maintain even a superficial facade. Once Zhou Tian showered them with vast sums of gold and rare treasures, even many staunch church loyalists who had publicly expressed distaste for Zhou Tian's demeanor were successfully co-opted as intelligence assets.

Therefore, neither Li Jiahao nor the anti-Zhou Tian faction within the church could ever have anticipated that Zhou Tian would be crystal-clear on every single move they made. Had they known the sheer efficiency of Zhou Tian's intelligence web, it remains debatable whether those vocal opponents would have labored so zealously against him.

Upon receiving the intelligence report, Zhou Tian merely glanced over its contents before tossing the document aside with a cold sneer.

Who supported him and who constantly targeted him was no revelation to Zhou Tian; he simply lacked the leisure to deal with certain individuals within the church for the time being. When the day came that Zhou Tian truly set his mind to it, he would naturally settle those accounts one by one.

As for Li Jiahao, Zhou Tian understood the motives behind his actions. Faced with a formidable adversary like himself, Li Jiahao's conduct to protect his own interests was understandable. Understanding, however, did not mean Zhou Tian was entirely indifferent to Li Jiahao's actions.

Since a clash between them was destined anyway, Zhou Tian saw no urgent need to seek out Li Jiahao to cause trouble prematurely. Otherwise, upon receiving that intelligence, Zhou Tian's reaction would not have been so nonchalant.

"Ignore those people and continue with the previous preparations!" Acting as though he had never laid eyes on that report, Zhou Tian let out a faint laugh upon learning of those developments and reaffirmed his command for all preparations to proceed as planned.

Many people found Zhou Tian's orders difficult to comprehend. After all, if Zhou Tian truly intended to participate in the Yanhuang civil war, the pressure he would face would be immense. With the Church of Light already reacting to the situation, Zhou Tian's insistence on pressing forward with his original plan struck many as utterly incomprehensible.

Could the capital be mightier than the Church of Light? If Zhou Tian acted so recklessly and severely offended the church, prompting them to move against him in earnest, the capital possessed no means of defense.

Regrettably, despite the objections held by many, Zhou Tian's prestige in the capital meant no one dared to openly challenge his commands. People dared only murmur in private. Zhou Tian controlled the vast majority of the capital's combat units; while individuals lacking personal loyalty to him might hold a degree of political voice in administrative matters, once military affairs were concerned, no one in the capital dared counter Zhou Tian's word.

Thus, under Zhou Tian's directives, willing or not, everyone in the capital continued their war preparations, awaiting only Zhou Tian's single command to plunge into the Yanhuang Empire's civil war.

Amidst Zhou Tian's active preparations, the investigative delegation sent by the Church of Light finally arrived outside the capital.

Because of Zhou Tian's war footing, the external teleportation arrays connected to the capital had all been shut down. The church envoys had been forced to use a teleportation array in a city controlled by Li Jiahao's subordinates, from which they traveled the rest of the distance to the capital entirely on foot.

"We are envoys of the Church of Light! Open the gates at once!" Arriving at the capital's gates, a bishop directly lifted his chin and issued a command to the soldiers stationed above.

Yet upon hearing the bishop's words, the soldiers on the city wall did not immediately reply. Instead, they cast their gazes downward, scrutinized the group carefully for a moment, and then shouted back: "Do you possess an entry token?"

"Dammit! We come from the Holy City; how could we possibly have your city lord's token?! Open the gates immediately, or when I see your city lord later, I will make sure you regret this!" Hearing the soldiers' words, the church members below were incensed. The bishop who spoke earlier threw his head back and began to curse aloud.

The reaction of the church members below naturally did not escape the soldiers' notice. Hearing those insulting remarks, a cold gleam flashed in the eyes of the guard who had previously maintained a courteous expression. His smile vanished entirely, and he ceased paying any attention to the church members below.

Witnessing this scene, the church members finally drove themselves to the brink of madness.

"I've long heard that the bishop in the capital named Zhou Tian is arrogant and despotic. I used to doubt it, but I never imagined this fellow would be even worse than the rumors suggest. As a member of our Holy Church, to treat church envoys in such a manner—does he still have the church in his heart? Does he still have our God?" A cardinal witnessed the entire sequence of events and, in his fury, stamped his foot heavily, directly denouncing Zhou Tian's misconduct.

To his surprise, the moment the cardinal's words reached the top of the city wall, the soldiers stationed there immediately drew their bows, notched arrows aimed directly at the cardinal, and shouted without a shred of politeness: "Audacious! How dare you slander the city lord outside the capital! Submit immediately, or do not blame us for treating you without courtesy!"

"This is rebellion! Absolute rebellion!" Apart from a few individuals without backing, most church members sent to the capital belonged to the anti-Zhou Tian faction. Already displeased with Zhou Tian's behavior, experiencing such treatment from his subordinates outside his own city pushed these pampered church members over the edge, and they began hurling furious curses at Zhou Tian.

"Screw this! Since that fellow dares to avoid us, listen to me: we force our way in together! I refuse to believe he can keep hiding from us forever." Seeing the increasingly hostile attitude of the capital's soldiers, a church member suggested forcing entry in a fit of rage. To his surprise, a majority of the church members actually agreed to the proposal.

"But if we force our way in, won't they actually attack us?" Gazing at the wall lined with drawn arrows, some of the more timid church members felt a wave of cowardice. Hearing their companion's suggestion, their primary concern remained the reaction of the capital's troops.

"They wouldn't dare!" Utterly oblivious to the danger of their actions, the proposer waved a hand dismissively at his companion's worry. "Since Zhou Tian is a bishop of the Church of Light, everything within this capital belongs to the Church of Light! We are envoys from the Holy City; would these subordinates really dare to attack us? They're merely trying to scare us off, hoping we'll retreat in defeat. What a joke! If we slunk back like this, how could we ever show our faces in the Holy City again?"

With the final sentence uttered, the members of the church delegation unanimously dropped all opposition.

Although the capital's reaction appeared genuinely hostile, as they analyzed it, the probability of Zhou Tian actually attacking them remained extremely low. Conversely, if they allowed themselves to be intimidated by Zhou Tian, they could forget about holding their heads high upon returning. Putting aside the mission they were sent to accomplish, for the sake of their own pride, they absolutely could not retreat.

With consensus reached, the church envoys exchanged glances and suddenly, in unison, unleashed their magic and battle qi, soaring directly toward the capital's city wall.

In that exact moment of movement, the defending soldiers reacted synchronously.

They wouldn't dare move against them?

What a joke; those people vastly overestimated themselves. Zhou Tian indeed had no immediate intention of falling out with the Church of Light, but that applied only to the institution as a whole. As for these few church envoys, they simply lacked the standing to command Zhou Tian's serious regard.

Long before their arrival, Zhou Tian had already issued corresponding orders. Thus, while the envoys' status carried a certain deterrent weight, as soldiers under Zhou Tian's command, compared to the so-called Church of Light, they preferred to obey Zhou Tian above all else.

Therefore, just as the church envoys flew forward in confident assumption that the wall guards wouldn't dare touch them, the soldiers, at a single command from their officers, unhesitatingly loosed a volley of arrows toward the incoming figures.

"They actually dare!" Witnessing the wall guards' reaction, the thought flashed simultaneously through the minds of every church envoy.

Realizing the soldiers above truly dared to attack them, the church members felt a jolt of shock and hastily scrambled in frantic defense.

Some tore open magical scrolls, while others channeled battle qi barriers. Utilizing their respective methods, the formidable group managed to deflect the volley of arrows fired by Zhou Tian's soldiers. However, disrupted by the attack, their original intent to breach the wall failed. Before they could officially set foot on the ramparts, the sheer intensity of the arrow volley forced them to retreat in frustration back to the ground.

"Bastards!" The church envoys had never imagined the capital's soldiers would genuinely attack them. Enraged to the extreme, they cursed aloud and, without a second thought, launched a collective assault against the guards on the city wall.

Even at this juncture, none of the church envoys believed the soldiers' actions stemmed from Zhou Tian's explicit orders. They stubbornly maintained their conviction that no matter how rebellious Zhou Tian might be, he would never dare to personally authorize an attack on church envoys. Thus, despite being ambushed by the wall guards, the envoys felt no fear of being annihilated by the capital's military. Driven by blind fury and a hotheaded impulse, they launched a direct attack upon the capital's ramparts.

"Die!" Dismissing the soldiers on the wall entirely, several church envoys cast advanced spells that surged directly toward the top of the fortification.

"Enemy attack!" Yet the moment those spells left the envoys' hands, the soldiers on the wall suddenly raised a shout.

Hearing the soldiers' cry, a visceral sense of foreboding rippled through the church envoys. Before they could react, the danger they sensed descended directly upon their heads.

"Boom!"

Before the envoys' spells could strike the wall, a divine statue facing their direction was instantly activated by their assault. A demonic god with five beast-like heads and human bodies, draped in red scales, ears pierced with fire serpents, and treading upon a fire dragon, descended from the skies, directly blocking the path of the envoys' magic.

With a deafening crash, the demonic god remained unscathed by the envoys' offensive. As soon as the magical barrage ceased, the entity prepared to launch a counter-attack against the envoys.

In reality, Zhou Tian, who had been observing them from the shadows, hurriedly halted the operation of the Twelve Capital Heavenly fiend Gods Array upon witnessing this development.

Are you kidding me? The entity provoked by the church envoys was Zhurong, the Ancestral Witch manifested through the active operation of the Twelve Capital Heavenly fiend Gods Array. Given an Ancestral Witch's might, the envoys' spells could naturally not harm him. However, if the array had counter-attacked those envoys, Zhou Tian did not believe for a second that their strength would allow them to survive an Ancestral Witch's strike.

The moment Zhou Tian shut down the array, the church envoys were already drenched in cold sweat.

When had they ever encountered such peril?

Initially, those church envoys had banked on the certainty that Zhou Tian wouldn't dare touch them, which fueled their arrogance. Now, suddenly discovering that the guardian statues protecting the capital genuinely treated them as enemies, the envoys realized the situation was far more complex than they imagined. If they truly caused a scene, whether Zhou Tian would show them mercy remained a genuine question.

What caused even greater apprehension among the envoys was the terrifying power displayed by the Twelve Capital Heavenly fiend Gods Array.

How could people from the Holy City be entirely ignorant? Ordinary faction members might fail to perceive anything remarkable upon witnessing the array's activation. But these envoys were individuals of discernment. If they couldn't see through it, who could?

Twelve divine statues had actually come to life, and the power emanating from just one of them had reached divine tier. What did this signify? It indicated that the capital's current strength vastly exceeded their prior estimates by more than a hundredfold. If the capital had previously been a power the Church of Light was merely reluctant to provoke lightly—yet could still easily crush on a whim if thoroughly displeased—then after witnessing the true manifestation of the Twelve Capital Heavenly fiend Gods Array, these envoys understood that the capital was no longer a pushover easily manipulated by the church.

Given the capital's current might, unless Zhou Tian committed a crime that truly infuriated both gods and men, no matter how insubordinate he acted, the church leadership would likely tolerate his various behaviors. Such was the advantage of formidable strength. Nobody wished to make an enemy of a powerhouse like Zhou Tian without cause. Therefore, Zhou Tian possessed the confidence to act as he pleased, while the envoys, lacking sufficient strength, had completely lost their initial bravado when facing him.

"Let them in!" Zhou Tian observed the expressions on the church envoys' faces. Seeing that they were now suitably intimidated, he knew the desired psychological effect of his arrangement had been achieved. Consequently, there was no need to keep the envoys stranded outside the city gates. They were, after all, church envoys; Zhou Tian preferred not to push matters to an unnecessary extreme.

Upon receiving Zhou Tian's command, the soldiers on the city wall finally swung the gates open.

This time, without requiring any warning from the capital's guards, the church envoys behaved with exemplary obedience. They docilely submitted to inspection by the soldiers, verifying they carried no hazardous items, before being permitted entry into the capital.

They felt utterly aggrieved. None of the envoys had anticipated that Zhou Tian possessed such formidable strength. Confronted with his actual power, they were forced to lower their lofty heads. Yet for individuals accustomed to looking down on others to be forced to act like obedient grandsons—while they could still perform their new roles, discomfort gnawed bitterly at their hearts. If not for the uncompleted mission hanging over their heads, these church envoys would likely not have stepped foot through the capital's gates at all!

"Sigh!"

Exchanging mutual glances and releasing synchronized sighs, the church envoys resigned themselves to their fate and walked toward the residence where Zhou Tian stayed.

Escorted by the soldiers, the group of church envoys arrived outside Zhou Tian's courtyard. After gently rapping on the door, one of them called out: "Church envoys request an audience with City Lord Zhou!"

They deliberately avoided using the title 'Bishop'. The truth was, the envoys found themselves utterly unable to utter the word. While a bishop counted as high-ranking within the church, among those dispatched as envoys, bishops sat at the very bottom of the hierarchy. Asking individuals whose status in the Church of Light nominally outranked Zhou Tian to bow their heads to him was too much; they would rather humble themselves before a mere lord of a Yanhuang city than acknowledge a church subordinate as their superior.

Zhou Tian was unaware of the internal thoughts troubling the church envoys, and even had he known, he would not have cared. Upon hearing their announcement, he instructed his men to unbar the courtyard gates and allowed the church envoys to enter his courtyard...