Chapter 155: If You Want to Stir Up Trouble, I'll Stir Up Trouble Too

The meeting lasted from three in the afternoon until evening, spanning nearly four hours. Naturally, a banquet followed its conclusion.

The banquet hall was located not far from the main assembly building, and Li Yunfei walked toward it alongside the senior leadership of the Ziwei administration.

Turning to Daoist Yuling and Celestial Master Zhang, who were walking by his side, Li Yunfei asked, "Do the two revered masters have any leads regarding the boundary between the realms of Yin and Yang within the borders of Great Xia?"

Daoist Yuling nodded and replied, "We scouted out the boundary between Yin and Yang long ago, and earlier this year, Ziwei even led us inside for an expedition."

"It was precisely because of this that we were able to confirm that the so-called Netherworld and mortal realm are merely two parallel spaces overlapping one another."

"Once you enter through the boundary of Yin and Yang, it is still Planet Blue, with the exact same terrain and no differences whatsoever, except that that world is saturated with Yin energy and completely devoid of Yang energy."

"The atmosphere is shrouded in thick, heavy clouds all year round, preventing sunlight from penetrating at all. Much like the ancient battlefield of Changping, it contains only various kinds of specters and ghosts, making it impossible for living creatures to survive."

"Of course, there are no cities or architectural structures either; it is filled entirely with primitive forests and desolate wilderness, presenting a scene of utter desolation."

"The origin of the Undead Crisis is simply that the undead wish to reap the rewards of others' labor without putting in the effort to build things themselves. Therefore, they want to flood the mortal realm with Yin energy and completely replace the mortal world with the Netherworld."

Li Yunfei grew interested and pressed further, "Where is the exact location of the boundary between Yin and Yang?"

Daoist Yuling answered, "The boundary between Yin and Yang in Great Xia is located within your territory of Yuzhou, specifically upon Mount Pingdu in Pingdu County, Bashan Prefecture."

"Mount Pingdu? I have no impression of it." Li Yunfei searched his memories, but seemed to find no recollection of this mountain.

Eastern Yuzhou was a border region, far too distant from Yuzhou itself, and he had rarely visited Yuzhou in the past, so naturally, he was not very familiar with it.

Ziwei, who was walking half a step ahead, turned back and smiled, "Mount Pingdu is the modern name. In ancient times, it was called Mount Luofeng, and Pingdu County was not called Pingdu County, but Fengdu City."

A sudden realization dawned upon Li Yunfei. Fengdu City—was that not the legendary Ghost Gate Pass, the entrance to the underworld?

With a chuckle, Li Yunfei asked, "In other words, when the time comes, the two revered masters can simply dispatch Fu Rong and his underworld army to enter and build a city?"

Ziwei shook his head. "It is not nearly so simple. First, we must formulate the architectural plans for the underworld and produce detailed blueprints. At the same time, we must locate the weak points in the barrier between the Yin and Yang realms at the corresponding locations in the mortal world."

"Once the locations are determined, we need to set up arrays to open a breakthrough point for entry and exit. At that point, we must establish a City God Temple in the mortal world and pave the Road to the Yellow Springs in the underworld, stretching from that access point to Fengdu City."

"The laws of gravity in the underworld differ from those in the mortal realm. Ordinary wandering souls cannot float in the underworld and must walk step by step; possessing a certain level of cultivation is still required in order to fly."

"When that time comes, we will also have to gather paper-crafters with official traditions from all over the country to burn a large quantity of crafted vehicles for the underworld. Otherwise, relying on walking would be far too inefficient. Times are progressing, and the realms of Yin and Yang must synchronize as well!"

"Once the number of ghosts in the underworld reaches a certain level, and Fengdu City can no longer accommodate them, we will have to expand outward. In a way, the developmental history we underwent in the mortal world will have to be repeated in the underworld."

"However, because we now stand at a high vantage point overlooking the entire process, the few thousand years of developmental history will likely only take us a dozen or so years to complete."

Listening to this, Li Yunfei clicked his tongue in awe and smiled bitterly. "Just now in the meeting, I fancied myself modest and cautious, but seeing this now, if this matter had been entrusted to me, I truly might not have handled it well, and might even have been completely overwhelmed. It seems I was truly guilty of ignorance being bliss!"

"Hahaha..."

The revered masters and elders laughed heartily in unison, and Daoist Yuling even patted him affectionately on the shoulder.

They greatly appreciated this trait in Li Yunfei: he was free of pretense and boasting, straightforward and sincere in his conduct, acknowledging what he could do and admitting what he could not.

Moreover, he understood the importance of sharing benefits rather than monopolizing everything. How could anyone fail to like such a person?

In truth, regarding the development of the underworld, everyone tacitly and deliberately avoided a certain topic: the issue of national borders within the underworld's Planet Blue.

While Great Xia was already beginning to enter its next phase of development, the undead crises in countries around the world were intensifying by the day.

Without a doubt, transcendent beings in other nations were currently overwhelmed by troubles in the mortal realm; how could they possibly have the mental capacity to care about the underworld? Perhaps they had not even thought of this possibility at all.

When Great Xia took the lead in entering the underworld for development and began accumulating strength, if the territory within the underworld belonging to Great Xia proved insufficient, it would naturally have to expand toward other continents.

This raised a question: toward foreign souls, what attitude should the underworld army of Great Xia adopt?

The timeframe of seven to eight hundred years that Li Yunfei had previously mentioned as the point when living space would need to be considered was calculated based on Great Xia's annual mortality rate.

If calculated solely on the basis of the underworld territory within Great Xia's borders, the issue of living space would actually need to be addressed within a maximum of two hundred years.

In recent years, the average annual number of deaths in Great Xia was around ten million. A century later, there would be one billion souls in the underworld, and two billion after two centuries.

As for Li Yunfei's estimate that seven to eight hundred years would pass before living space became a concern, it was naturally calculated based on the land area of the entire Planet Blue.

His stance was therefore quite clear: he directly regarded the underworld of the entire Planet Blue as a prize destined for Great Xia's grasp.

Everyone else chose tacit agreement on this matter, sharing a mutual understanding without putting it into words.

***

After the banquet concluded, it was already midnight. Thanks to Li Yunfei's so-called superpower, the Ziwei headquarters was now well-supplied with spirit wine, and everyone had drunk to their heart's content.

By the time the gathering broke up, many people left the banquet hall in a hazy, swaying state, supported by attendants waiting outside and guided back to their apartments.

Gold Core grand cultivators and undefeated martial artists fared somewhat better. Their cultivation methods operated autonomously, constantly refining and absorbing the spiritual energy of the spirit wine. Although they were also thoroughly satiated with food and drink, they could still walk steadily.

Ao Jin's room was arranged right next to the rooms of Li Yunfei and Honghong. By the time the meeting ended, his photograph had already been captured by Guo Qilin and quickly entered into the archives.

Consequently, members of the Ziwei internal network across the country all saw his photo that night, and the number of heartthrobs among Ziwei's female members increased by one.

After all, his appearance bore an eight-tenths resemblance to Li Yunfei's, yet his demeanor and bearing were entirely different, placing him in a different category of handsome men.

When the banquet ended, Li Yunfei did not return directly to rest. After coordinating with Ziwei and agreeing to hand over the replicated storage rings in half a month, he directly called upon Honghong and Ao Jin, taking Zhang Ziying with them as they flew toward the southwest.

He intended to take them to cultivate outside the ancient grotto-heaven ruins, striving to push Zhang Ziying's cultivation realm to the peak of the Yin Spirit stage at the fastest possible speed.

The ancient grotto-heaven ruin closest to the capital was located on Mount Yunqiu in Hedong Commandery, Jinzhou.

Legend has it that Gun, the father of Yu the Great, once cultivated on this mountain and attained the Dao to become an immortal.

After attaining immortality, Gun swept from north to south, purging all manner of demons and evil spirits in the world, finally reaching Mount Wudang in the south, using it as his Daoist sanctuary to propagate the Dao he had comprehended. He was revered by the world as the "True Martial Subduer of Demons Great Emperor" and the "Patriarch of Nine Heavens Subduer of Demons," abbreviated as the "True Martial Great Emperor."

Following his ascension, the Jade Emperor appointed him as the "Zhensheng True Lord," one of the "Four Saints of the North," also known as the "Dark Heavenly Supreme Emperor."

Wang Lingguan, who blocked Sun Wukong outside the Hall of Transparency in *Journey to the West*, was his adjutant.

It is said that Zhang Sanfeng, the founder of the Wudang Sect, comprehended the legacy left behind by the True Martial Great Emperor through a fortuitous encounter on Mount Wudang, thereby creating the Dao of Tai Chi.

After Patriarch Sanfeng established the Wudang Sect, he took the True Martial Great Emperor as his primary object of worship, and the sect leader's token was also the "True Martial Sword."

Meanwhile, Qiu Chuji, the Master Changchun of the Quanzhen Sect, took Mount Yunqiu as his foundational ancestral home, establishing the Dragon Gate branch of the Quanzhen Sect.

Hence, Quanzhen Dao had long held the saying: "Mount Yunqiu in the north, Mount Wudang in the south."

Unsurprisingly, this ancient grotto-heaven ruin on Mount Yunqiu was in all likelihood related to the renowned True Martial Great Emperor, and might even be the grotto-heaven he left behind.

Regardless of what lay inside, as long as there were items present, it would constitute a tremendous gain for Ziwei. Even if there were nothing, there would be no loss; the dense spiritual energy radiated by these ancient grotto-heaven ruins alone was already enough to bestow immense benefits upon them.

Half an hour later, Mount Yunqiu came into view.

***

This mountain was situated at the intersection of the Lüliang Mountains and the Fenwei Graben, covering a total area of 210 square kilometers. The developed scenic area occupied a mere 35 square kilometers, while the remaining areas were untouched virgin land, featuring towering mountains, dense forests, and lush vegetation.

At this moment, the area surrounding the foot of Mount Yunqiu's main peak had already been placed under martial law by the troops of the Northern Theater Command, and the Ziwei Northern Combat Regiment had also dispatched personnel to maintain order.

Rows of military tents formed a concentric circle, enclosing an area four kilometers in radius.

Within the perimeter of the military tents stood another ring of civilian tents, which were occupied by Ziwei cultivators and students of the cultivation academy.

Though it was already late at night, many people wearing Ziwei uniforms could still be seen sitting cross-legged amidst the dense spiritual energy of heaven and earth, practicing their cultivation.

Tens of thousands of cultivators had gathered here, and it appeared that the vast majority of northern cultivation students had assembled in this place.

Yet, even with so many cultivators absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, the concentration of spiritual energy did not decrease in the slightest; it still condensed into mist, shrouding the entire region.

The source radiating this spiritual energy was a mountain ravine named "Immortal Ravine." It was precisely because Gun had cultivated and attained immortality here that later generations named this ravine Immortal Ravine.

Li Yunfei located the deputy commander of the Northern Combat Regiment, exchanged greetings with him, and then selected a spot closest to Immortal Ravine to deploy several tents.

Honghong and Ao Jin each entered a tent to cultivate. Outside his own tent, Li Yunfei set up an array that faced outward but not inward, and then entered a state of dual cultivation with Zhang Ziying.

It had to be said that these ancient grotto-heaven ruins were truly sacred grounds for cultivation. Cultivating here, Zhang Ziying experienced the thrill of a single day of practice surpassing several months elsewhere.

Her cultivation soared almost as if propelled by a rocket. Three days later, she smoothly broke through the Spirit Movement stage, reaching the Yin Spirit stage; one week later, she advanced to the mid-Yin Spirit stage.

When the half-month period agreed upon by Li Yunfei and Ziwei arrived, she was already at the late Yin Spirit stage, completely devoid of any signs of an unstable foundation.

Li Yunfei left her a Blaming-Flame Sword, a Blood-Drinking Flying Sword, a Purple-Gold Hammer, a set of Sun-Moon Golden Wheels, a Blaming-Flame Battle Armor, and an ample supply of Soul Pills for her to refine, while he himself returned to the capital to see Ziwei.

To get ahead of others and bring Zhang Ziying to the peak of the Yin Spirit stage so she could firmly secure the position of the卯兔 (Rabbit) Elder, the two of them had remained in a state of dual cultivation throughout the past half month, not separating even for a single moment.

Once he delivered the goods to Ziwei and they exerted themselves a bit more, within ten days at most, Zhang Ziying would be able to steadily break through to the peak of the Yin Spirit stage.

Of course, he himself was not cultivating in vain; his experience bar had risen by a massive margin, reaching Level 58 and 74%. Honghong had also advanced to Level 58 through independent cultivation. If the two of them casually cleared another Level 59 dungeon, they would be able to break through the Golden Core stage and enter the Nascent Soul stage.

However, finding dungeons between Level 56 and Level 60 was not particularly easy at present. Unlike before, when any random beast or ghost gathering place could generate a dungeon of an appropriate level, finding a suitable dungeon for them to clear now meant hunting down the lairs of mutated beasts that had gained sentience.

As for Yin lands and ominous lands of sufficient level, they no longer existed within the borders of Great Xia; supernatural-type dungeons could be considered exhausted.

Yet, how easy was it to find the lairs of mutated beasts? In an area as vast as Shennongjia, he had only encountered a single den of yellow-weasel spirits.

It seemed he would have to find an opportunity to go back and check on the wolf-headed monsters, because they knew the locations of the lairs of the Tiger King, Bear King, Wolf King, and Leopard King in Shennongjia. When the time came, he would have them lead the way.

Along the way, he could also check how much their cultivation levels had improved, aided by the blessed land of the spiritual stone mine and fueled by the massive amounts of wild boar monster meat they had consumed.

Li Yunfei wanted to test whether he could subdue the Tiger King and other such monsters. For those who could not be subdued, he would generate them into dungeons and clear them; for those who could be subdued, it would happen to resolve Ziwei's issue of lacking beast-type demon clans with high combat prowess.

The utility of beast-type demon clan members was by no means negligible. Putting them deep into the mountains and old forests and dispatching them to conquer and subdue demon clans—fighting demons with demons—would gradually turn the demon clans into vassals of the human race.

As for those so-called honorary elders currently in Ziwei, aside from Aobao and Xiaobei, who were "pseudo-beasts," almost all of them were weaklings—weaklings in the truest sense of the word.

If one were to cast them into the forests, would they be going on a military expedition or serving as rations?

Although Ziwei was vigorously nurturing them at present, imparting various cultivation techniques, Daoist methods, and martial arts ultimates to them, their growth required time after all. In the short term, directly subduing wild beast-type monsters was far more reliable.

Of course, the treatment and status of forcibly subdued demon clans could naturally not compare to those who joined of their own accord.

At the very least, voluntary members enjoyed absolute freedom, whereas forcibly subdued demon clans were required to surrender their true spirits as a basic operation. Otherwise, how could anyone trust them?

***

Ziwei Headquarters, top floor of the administrative building.

Li Yunfei walked up to the doorway of the secretariat, leaned against the frame, tapped on the open door, and smiled, "What are you busy with, beauty?"

Guo Qilin, who was sitting inside editing something on her computer, turned around abruptly. Seeing that it was Li Yunfei, she broke into a radiant smile and said, "You're back! Ziwei already gave word this morning that you'd be back today. Go on in yourself!"

"Oh! Alright."

Li Yunfei passed the secretariat and pushed open the door to Ziwei's office, only to see Yan Hexiang holding a folder, in the midst of handing over documents to Ziwei.

Seeing Li Yunfei enter, Ziwei nodded at him with a smile, then said to Yan Hexiang, "Send this order to the Western Theater Command and have them maintain a state of high alert. Once any incident occurs, they must handle it decisively without needing to request instructions and report beforehand."

"Understood."

"Go ahead."

Yan Hexiang turned and walked toward the door. As he brushed past Li Yunfei, the two of them simultaneously bumped their fists together.

Li Yunfei walked up to Ziwei's desk. Ziwei gestured to the chair in front of it and smiled warmly, "Sit. How is it? How is Ziying's cultivation progressing?"

Li Yunfei took a seat in the chair and casually replied, "She's already at the late Yin Spirit stage. In less than ten days, Ziwei will have one more卯兔 (Rabbit) Elder."

Ziwei said happily, "Splendid. I'll have Qilin prepare all the necessary credentials in advance so her file can be entered directly when the time comes."

Li Yunfei nodded and asked, "What's going on here? Did something happen in the Western Theater Command?"

Ziwei nodded. "There are indeed some developments, but for now, we're just taking preventive measures."

With a serious expression, Li Yunfei asked, "What happened?"

"Come take a look." Ziwei stood up, walked over to the world map hanging on the wall, pointed at Europe, and said, "After over three million of France's skeleton army were purified by the Holy See, they began to flee, and Paris has been recaptured."

Li Yunfei understood inwardly. After all, skeletal monsters were not malevolent ghosts brimming with resentment; they possessed spiritual intelligence, knew fear, and understood how to assess the situation. They would not stubbornly fight opponents to the death like malevolent ghosts whose minds were plunged in utter chaos.

"Whether it was intentional on the part of the Holy See or an autonomous action by the skeleton legion, after leaving Paris, they fled all the way east, passing through European nations such as Switzerland, Austria, and Hungary."

"Wherever the skeleton army passed, a storm of blood and slaughter was invariably stirred up. The primary reason for this was the presence of the Green-Poison Skeleton King—the one you once encountered—within the skeleton army, allowing the numbers of the skeleton legion to be massively replenished."

"Initially, the skeleton army only numbered six million. After rampaging through Paris and several surrounding cities for a period, their numbers briefly reached eight million."

"Later, three million were purified by the Holy See, leaving only five million. Yet during this flight all the way, they actually managed to replenish their numbers, regaining six million. It was equivalent to saying that after fighting for so long, they had suffered zero losses."

Li Yunfei's brows knitted together slightly as he asked, "Why do you suspect this was intentional on the part of the Holy See?"

Ziwei explained, "You know as well that skeletal monsters dare not emerge during the day. As soon as daylight breaks, they hide underground, entering the underworld to settle, and only emerge after dark to slaughter the living and convert them into companions."

"If the Holy See had wanted to completely wipe them out, they could entirely have made preparations during the day and carried out massive purification the moment they emerged. Had they done that, even if the skeletal monsters hadn't been eradicated long ago, their numbers surely wouldn't have increased instead of decreasing."

"Yet, according to the reports sent back by our special operations comrades, the Holy See adopted a strategy of 'surrounding three sides while leaving one open.' Do you know what this implies?"

Li Yunfei mused, "This implies that the Holy See had no intention of completely annihilating the skeleton army, but was deliberately driving them toward the east."

Ziwei nodded. "Precisely. And here comes the most suggestive part: originally, after the skeleton army reached Hungary, under normal circumstances they should have continued eastward and fled toward the direction of Ukraine."

"In the end, they would have entered Northern European territory, reaching the nation of the Rossiskis to clash to the death with the berserkers of the fighting nation."

At this point, Ziwei's finger, pointing at the world map, made a sharp turn downward. "Yet, precisely after reaching Hungary, they suddenly altered direction and headed southeast."

"Running all the way down like this, they will pass through countries such as Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan, pressing directly upon the western territory of our Great Xia."

A flash of cold light crossed Li Yunfei's eyes, and he said in a chilling tone, "Are they aiming at Great Xia? Do they want to launch another Crusade? Does the Holy See have the gall?"

Ziwei shook his head. "The Holy See may not dare to openly and flagrantly make an enemy of Great Xia. This incident is far more likely to be a probe. They want to test Great Xia's bottom line while inflicting some consumption upon us."

Li Yunfei looked at Ziwei and asked, "How do you plan to respond?"

A cold glint flashed in Ziwei's eyes as he said, "Although Great Xia is a land of ceremonial propriety and has always adhered to the Doctrine of the Mean, never taking the initiative to provoke external conflicts..."

"That does not mean that when people bully their way to our heads, we will still swallow our anger and bear it in silence. This time, the Holy See's actions are plain for the entire world to see. If we merely put up a passive defense against the skeleton army, it will inevitably cause nations across the world to look down upon us."

A sharp radiance gleamed in Li Yunfei's eyes. "So your meaning is... we strike?"

Ziwei said in a deep voice, "Precisely. Not only must we strike, but we must strike a heavy blow. We won't target the skeleton army; we will target the Holy See directly."

Blood surging with heat, Li Yunfei spoke in a loud voice, "Good, what boldness! What can I do to help?"

Ziwei smiled. "Naturally, there will be a time for you to play your part, but there's no rush for now. Given the speed of the skeleton army, it will still take about a month for them to reach Pakistan. You should first get our Rabbit Elder settled into her position."

"Pakistan has already formally requested assistance from us. I have dispatched Daoist Yuling to lead a team to rush to Pakistan, help them purge the rampaging undead within their borders, and simultaneously set up defenses along Pakistan's western border."

"Once the skeleton army arrives, they will have to get past that barrier first. Daoist Yuling and the others are carrying a dozen Yellow Wind Gourds provided by you; annihilating the skeleton army will be more than enough."

A faint flash crossed Li Yunfei's eyes, and a brilliant idea suddenly occurred to him. "Ziwei, I have a rather unrefined thought. Listen and see if it holds any merit."

Curious, Ziwei said, "Let's hear it."

With a wave of Li Yunfei's hand, the office door closed on its own, and he cast a soundproofing barrier before saying to Ziwei, "Actually, we could take a page from the playbook of the American nation. Don't they love supporting terrorist organizations to fight against government forces?"

"We could completely provide the skeleton army with a batch of weaponry and equipment, letting them go deal with those damn Holy Knights!"

Hearing this, Ziwei shook his head vigorously and said, "That won't do at all. Doing it that way would be far worse than openly and flagrantly declaring war on the Holy See! Once the truth is discovered by the world, it would be labeled as 'anti-humanity,' and we simply cannot bear such a massive hat."

Li Yunfei replied, "Hear me out first. Firstly, we don't show our faces. I'll dispatch my own skeleton puppet underlings to travel through the underworld to Europe and make contact with the skeleton kings of the French skeleton legion."

"Furthermore, we won't provide any equipment bearing distinct features of our country. We'll simply give them a batch of original-version Red Shield Xiu Luo guns."

"That weapon is styled after the Mauser C96 broomhandle pistol, and the broomhandle pistol was manufactured by Germany over a hundred years ago—it's been phased out for ages. What does that have to do with Great Xia?"

Having listened to Li Yunfei's words, Ziwei fell silent, his eyes flashing incessantly like the indicator lights of a computer processor.

After a long while, Ziwei suddenly let out a soft "ha" of laughter, then patted Li Yunfei on the shoulder and smiled, "You rascal! At a time when the nation faces eventful autumns, you ran off to a grotto-heaven ruin to cultivate with your girlfriend. What am I supposed to say about you?"

"Huh?" Li Yunfei was utterly bewildered. What kind of quirk was this? Ziwei's train of thought leaped far too wildly, didn't it?

Yet he heard Ziwei continue, "Still, you are an elder with the highest degree of autonomy; whatever you choose to do is not something I can control, as long as you can properly accomplish the tasks you've taken on. How is it? How many storage rings have been replicated?"

A flash of lightning crossed Li Yunfei's mind, and a trace of sudden comprehension welled up in his eyes.

He looked at Ziwei with a strange expression, holding his gaze for a full minute, while Ziwei met his eyes with an unperturbed, smiling expression.

"Ha."

Li Yunfei also let out a soft laugh, looked at Ziwei, and scolded with a smile, "You old fox, taking such a huge detour just to wait for me here!"

Ziwei cupped his fists in a salute and smiled, "Thank you for the compliment."

Having lowered his hands, he turned and walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window, letting out a deep sigh as he looked out at the scenery. "Yunfei! With your cultivation level, calling you the number one person in the world is no exaggeration. Not only is your cultivation high, but your progression is also swift. There are certain things you are entirely capable of carrying."

"A nation is different from an individual. What an individual can shoulder, a nation may not necessarily be able to bear. After all, this country still contains over a billion ordinary people, so some matters truly can only rely on you to help carry them."

Li Yunfei walked to his side, draped an arm around Ziwei's shoulder, and said warmly, "Rest assured, I understand it all. You bear the rise and fall of the entire nation on your shoulders; it's not easy!"

"Do you know why I am unwilling to sit in your position? Precisely because it is far too heavy, and I simply lack the courage to sit in it."

"The only thing I can do is exert my utmost ability to do a bit more for this country."

With that, he patted Ziwei on the shoulder, then turned and walked toward the desk, pointing toward its surface.

*Swish.*

A full five hundred storage rings, each possessing a ten-cubic-meter space, materialized upon the desk. Then, striding smoothly toward the door without looking back, he said, "Within two months, you will receive news of the Holy See suffering heavy losses and casualties."

"I will continue replicating the storage rings, along with other equipment. If the warehouse runs short of stock, just give me a call anytime."

Ziwei's meaning was actually quite simple: regarding the method Li Yunfei proposed, he neither agreed nor objected, choosing to act as though he knew nothing of the matter.

If Li Yunfei wished to carry it out, he was free to proceed; as long as the truth was not exposed to the world, everything would naturally be fine and dandy, with no issues whatsoever.

Once discovered by the world, however, the matter would be deemed as having been carried out by Li Yunfei of his own accord, without Great Xia's knowledge.

Whatever actions nations around the world might take against Li Yunfei, Great Xia could not step forward to shield him, and might even need to issue a condemnation of him in order to distance itself and clear its name.

In truth, this was quite unfair to Li Yunfei, but Li Yunfei was willing to shoulder burdens for the country—the logic had already been laid out quite clearly by Ziwei.

As the saying goes, when the sky falls, the tall ones hold it up. Without a doubt, Li Yunfei was that tall one.

Turning around, Ziwei watched Li Yunfei's retreating figure, a rare touch of deep emotion welling up in his eyes. Only after Li Yunfei had stepped out of the office did he murmur softly, "Thank you."

Li Yunfei, who had just rounded the doorway, paused in his steps, the corners of his mouth curving upward, before continuing onward. Passing the secretariat, he greeted Guo Qilin, "I'm heading out, beauty."

"Oh, leaving so soon? Not staying for lunch?"

"No can do, heading back to eat with my wife."

"Heh, Yingzi isn't your wife yet!"

"Sooner or later."

At that very moment, an exasperated roar echoed from within the office: "You brat, at least find a box to pack these up in!"

Guo Qilin merely watched as Li Yunfei transformed into a streak of electrical light with a *whoosh*, flying straight out through the open corridor window.

Perplexed, she walked up to the doorway of the office and peeked inside, only to see a massive pile of storage rings dumped casually upon the desk like two-yuan street-stall goods. She couldn't help but chuckle dumbly, and hurriedly went off to find a cardboard box to pack the rings for Ziwei.

Estimated to be the only organization in the entire world arrogant enough to pack storage rings in tattered cardboard boxes was none other than Ziwei.