The second day.
A piece of news exploded across the Southern Wasteland.
Emperor Arthur Yang of the Profound Origin Empire had proactively issued a challenge to battle Emperor Dominic Su of the Heavenly Martial Empire!
As soon as this news came out, the Seven Kingdoms of the Southern Wasteland were all thrown into shock.
Because it had been many years since an emperor had proactively challenged another emperor to a battle.
This was a contest between monarchs.
It wasn't just about the victory or defeat of two emperors; it concerned the dignity of two great empires.
A slight move in one part would affect the whole situation.
If a battle like this was lost.
The blow to one's own empire would simply be too massive.
Yet Arthur Yang had done exactly that.
And he had done so with great fanfare.
This was enough to show that Arthur Yang came prepared, harboring extremely strong confidence.
For a time, the Southern Wasteland was abuzz with discussion.
"Didn't they say the Profound Origin Empire was going to form an alliance with the Heavenly Martial Empire? Why did things suddenly turn out like this?"
"Who knows? But it's still unknown whether Dominic Su will accept the challenge or not."
"Arthur Yang is truly decisive. By proactively issuing the challenge, if Dominic Su doesn't accept, he will inevitably be called a coward."
"But if he does accept and ends up losing, that would be a massive loss of face."
"Hehe, either way, I reckon there'll be a good show to watch."
...
When the news reached the Heavenly Martial Empire, it also caused massive waves.
The Capital City.
The Imperial Palace Main Hall.
Listening to the reports from the crowd below, Dominic Su's expression remained normal, without any strange reaction.
"Your Majesty, our dynasty can completely ignore the Profound Origin Empire's challenge, and we can even question them whether they intend to tear up the alliance treaty!"
"Indeed, Your Majesty. This battle is completely meaningless. If we truly accept the challenge, it won't bring any benefits to either empire."
"We implore Your Majesty to judge clearly."
"Your Majesty, please judge clearly!"
...
The crowd of ministers all spoke up one after another.
They all felt that the Profound Origin Empire's challenge was extremely rude, and there was absolutely no need for their Heavenly Martial Empire to respond.
Dominic nodded slightly but didn't speak.
"Reporting to Your Majesty, the envoy of the Profound Origin Empire has arrived!"
Outside the hall, a guard announced loudly.
"Enter."
"Yes!"
Soon, an envoy wearing brocade clothes walked in.
The ministers in the main hall all glared at this person furiously.
The brocade-clothed envoy showed no fear and calmly walked to the center of the main hall.
"Shangyuan Cui, envoy of the Profound Origin Empire, pays his respects to Your Majesty the Martial Emperor."
Shangyuan Cui bowed deeply to Dominic.
"Honored Envoy, dispense with the formalities."
Dominic spoke mildly.
Shangyuan Cui straightened his posture and presented a letter of challenge with both hands.
"Your Majesty the Martial Emperor, this is a letter of challenge written personally by the Emperor of my dynasty. I implore Your Majesty to look it over."
Hearing this, Dominic narrowed his eyes slightly.
The officials present, however, were incomparably enraged.
"What audacity!"
"How dare you come to my Heavenly Martial Empire to deliver a letter of challenge?"
"Your Profound Origin Empire is simply too arrogant!"
...
The officials reprimanded him.
But Shangyuan Cui's expression remained unchanged, turning a deaf ear to them.
Seeing this person remain so calm and collected, Dominic secretly praised him in his heart.
If a person sent as an envoy to deliver a letter of challenge couldn't even handle this kind of scene, they wouldn't be fit to be an envoy.
Dominic opened the letter of challenge. There were no superfluous words inside.
There was only one large, vigorously written character.
BATTLE!!!
Only the word "Battle" was written on the letter of challenge.
An awe-inspiring fighting intent immediately rushed at his face from the letter.
It was as if Arthur Yang had already arrived and wanted to fight Dominic with all his might.
Dominic couldn't help but be moved.
Following that, he became excited.
He stood up abruptly.
Gripping the letter of challenge in his hand.
"Go back and tell Arthur Yang that this letter of challenge..."
"I accept it!!!"
Whoosh!
The officials were in an uproar.
They hadn't expected that Dominic would ultimately accept the challenge.
"Your Majesty, you absolutely must not."
"If this battle is lost, where will the face of my Heavenly Martial Empire be?"
"We implore Your Majesty to think thrice."
...
It was a pity that at this moment, Dominic's mind was already made up. He simply couldn't listen to any advice.
Shangyuan Cui revealed a smile.
"Then I implore Your Majesty the Martial Emperor to set the date and location for the battle."
Dominic pondered slightly.
"It will be seven days from now."
"As for the location of the battle, let it be Heaven-Rending Peak, at the border of our two nations."
"Yes!"
Shangyuan Cui cupped his hands in a salute, then excused himself and left.
Dominic also immediately announced the end of the court session.
The officials shook their heads and sighed, leaving one after another.
Dominic returned to the rear hall.
"Your Majesty, are you really going to accept the challenge?"
Julian appeared, looking at Dominic somewhat puzzled.
Dominic glanced at Julian.
"You've followed me for so many years; do you still not understand me?"
Julian froze, then fell silent.
He understood Dominic far too well.
Dominic wasn't just the Emperor of the Heavenly Martial Empire.
He was even more so a martial arts powerhouse.
In Dominic's heart, his pursuit of the martial dao was even higher than the position of Emperor of the Heavenly Martial Empire.
To put it bluntly, Dominic was actually still a pure martial artist at heart.
When faced with a challenge, if Dominic didn't accept it.
Then he wouldn't be a generation's Martial Emperor.
Your Majesty, you will definitely win!
Julian said secretly in his heart.
...
Once the news of Dominic accepting the challenge spread, the Southern Wasteland became even more lively.
Many martial artists came from all over, rushing to the Heavenly Martial Empire one after another.
They all wanted to see with their own eyes who would have the last laugh in this clash concerning two great emperors.
Meanwhile.
The Handsome Lad of Cloud-Drifting Mountain, Quinn Ye, was completely unaware of what was happening outside.
He had been truly too bored these past few days.
So he thought about going out for a stroll.
Quinn managed to get his hands on a map of the Heavenly Martial Empire.
He studied it for the better part of a day.
He finally made a decision.
He wanted to go to a place called Heaven-Rending Peak for a stroll.
Heaven-Rending Peak was located at the border of the Heavenly Martial Empire and the Profound Origin Empire. Half of it was in the Heavenly Martial Empire, and half was in the Profound Origin Empire.
This place had overlapping peaks and magnificent scenery, truly a masterpiece of nature.
Quinn planned to go there for a walk.
However, he also knew that he was just a mortal. Going to such a faraway place, if he ran into any trouble on the road, it would probably be hard to keep his little life safe.
So Quinn sought out Monk Hugo.
He asked Hugo to accompany him on a trip to Heaven-Rending Peak.
Once Hugo found out, he agreed without hesitation, and he was extremely happy about it.
"To be able to accompany the Holy Son on an excursion is this poor monk's supreme honor!"
Hugo immediately decided to take all the monks at the foot of the mountain to follow Quinn on his excursion.
Quinn quickly stopped him.
He didn't want to take a huge group of people with him, especially a huge group of monks.
That would be way too conspicuous.
He just wanted to quietly go out for a stroll; he didn't want to make a big scene.
In the end, Hugo only brought the people from the Shaolin Temple to follow Quinn.
Just the Shaolin Temple alone had quite a few people.
Besides Hugo, there was the father-and-son duo, Void Sea and Void Bamboo.
Plus the blind fortuneteller and his junior brother, Hanyang Chu.
And also Rosie Song.
A total of six people.
All of them were going to follow Quinn on his excursion.
Standing in front of the main gates of the Shaolin Temple, Quinn looked at these six people, feeling a burst of helplessness in his heart.
What kind of combination is this?
The Seven Freaks of Jiangnan?
"Holy Son, it's time for us to set off," Hugo said, pressing his palms together.
"If we set off now, it should take about six or seven days to reach Heaven-Rending Peak."
"Alright, then let's set off."