At this thought, Zhang Jingxiang’s gaze toward the two maids beside her turned sharp. For the sake of her son and husband, she had no other choice.

"Madam..." From Zhang Jingxiang’s expression, the two maids had already guessed what was coming. They immediately knelt on the ground, begging for mercy.

Just as they were about to speak, Zhang Jingxiang cut them off. "Say no more. Each of you will receive one hundred thousand Gold Coins. Tonight, I will arrange for someone to send you to the Nan Feng Kingdom. You are to never set foot in Yanhuang Country again."

Sparing their lives was already the greatest concession Zhang Jingxiang could make. Since they knew what had happened today, she absolutely could not allow them to remain in Yanhuang Country.

A more ruthless person would have likely just killed the two maids to tie up all loose ends.

Hearing that Zhang Jingxiang was only banishing them from Yanhuang Country, the two women let out a slight sigh of relief. Escaping with their lives was a blessing. They thanked Zhang Jingxiang profusely, and finally, with a wave of her hand, the two maids respectfully withdrew to pack their belongings.

Left alone, Zhang Jingxiang sighed and murmured, "Yun’Er, you must come back safely."

After dealing with the matter at Iron Gate Pass, Lin Yun’s heart was heavy, but it also strengthened his resolve to get on the Green Talent List. It was the only way his family could be reunited.

’Next, the Mysterious Forest in the Nan Feng Kingdom.’ Lin Yun’s eyes were firm. He then found the Monk and the Daoist, and the group set foot on the soil of the Nan Feng Kingdom.

"Young Master Lin, you’ve never been to the Nan Feng Kingdom, have you?" the Monk asked.

After Lin Yun had shown his Identity Token, the soldiers at Iron Gate Pass had let them through without issue. Now, they were already within the borders of the Nan Feng Kingdom.

Lin Yun nodded slightly in response to the Monk’s question. He had indeed never been to the Nan Feng Kingdom.

"The Nan Feng Kingdom is very different from Yanhuang Country. Here, the army and the Court aren’t the most powerful forces. The one that truly controls the Nan Feng Kingdom is the Wind Forest Sect. They manage all affairs in the kingdom, big and small."

"Unlike Yanhuang Country, whose Royal Family is a single, unbroken bloodline—solid as a rock—the Wind Forest Sect is, well, a Sect. It’s divided into many factions, which makes the Nan Feng Kingdom far more chaotic than Yanhuang Country. Even disciples from the same Wind Forest Sect frequently clash with one another."

The Monk explained, looking quite smug as he spoke of matters unfamiliar to Lin Yun.

Ignoring the Monk’s smug, punchable expression, Lin Yun listened quietly and gained a deeper understanding of the Nan Feng Kingdom. ’From the sound of it, they probably spent some time running scams here, too,’ he thought.

Furthermore, according to the Monk’s explanation, the Nan Feng Kingdom was significantly larger than Yanhuang Country. Its overall strength was greater, and its martial culture was more aggressive. If not for the fact that it was internally divided into several factions, Yanhuang Country would have likely been conquered long ago.

’But that makes sense,’ Lin Yun thought. The Wind Forest Sect was a Sect. To grow stronger, it had absorbed many experts of the Primordial Ocean Realm. When so many powerful individuals gathered, they naturally wouldn’t be as united as the Yanhuang Royal Family. The emergence of different factions was inevitable.

A mere fifty li from Iron Gate Pass was the Nan Feng Kingdom’s major border town: Chiyang Pass.

In the Nan Feng Kingdom, Lin Yun’s status as a member of the Academy’s Genius Class took on a whole new meaning. Far from offering any advantages, it had become his death warrant.

If his identity as a student of the Yanhuang Academy’s Genius Class were exposed in the Nan Feng Kingdom, he would undoubtedly be hunted down by disciples of the Wind Forest Sect.

He shed his Yanhuang Country attire and changed into a set of Nan Feng Kingdom clothes bought by the Monk and Daoist back at Iron Gate Pass. As two old hands at this sort of thing, they were far more experienced in such matters than Lin Yun.

"Halt! Where are you from?" As they reached the gates of Chiyang Pass, Lin Yun’s group was stopped by soldiers of the Nan Feng Kingdom. Since they were coming from the direction of Yanhuang Country, the soldiers were naturally suspicious and had to question them.

"You’ve got some nerve! Don’t you recognize my young master? I’ll have you know, he’s the Direct Disciple of an Inner Sect Elder of the Wind Forest Sect! Are you blind?" the Monk barked, not giving the soldier an inch of respect.

The soldier eyed Lin Yun with suspicion. Just then, the Daoist chimed in, "Hurry up and let us through! Didn’t you see that Black-striped Tiger? I’m telling you, that’s the mount of a Wind Forest Sect Inner Sect Elder!"

Sure enough, upon seeing the imposing Black-striped Tiger, the soldier’s expression shifted. He was beginning to believe their story.

They bluffed their way through with ease. The main reasons were that the Wind Forest Sect had far too many Elders for a mere gate guard to know, and it was highly unlikely these soldiers had ever even seen one. This, combined with the imposing presence of the Black-striped Tiger and the fact that Lin Yun’s group was dressed in Nan Feng Kingdom attire, allowed them to enter Chiyang Pass without a problem.

As the two kingdoms bordered each other, the architecture and local customs of the Nan Feng Kingdom weren’t all that different from those of Yanhuang Country.

They hadn’t walked far into Chiyang Pass before Lin Yun witnessed the Wind Forest Sect infighting the Monk had spoken of.

"Hasn’t the Grand Elder’s faction gone too far?! Chiyang Pass has always been garrisoned by the Third Elder’s faction. You think you can just take it back because you say so?" a young man in the Wind Forest Sect’s uniform yelled.

"Hmph. The Third Elder’s faction will be gone sooner or later. I’d advise you to choose the winning side. Don’t be so stubborn," retorted another young man, also dressed in the Sect’s attire.

Watching the two groups on the verge of drawing weapons, Lin Yun was bewildered. ’How can the divisions within the Wind Forest Sect be this severe? If the fight over a single Chiyang Pass is this intense, what must the major cities in the Nan Feng Kingdom be like?’

"Heh heh, lucky you. You get to see their infighting the moment you set foot in the Nan Feng Kingdom," the Monk chuckled beside him.

In fact, what Lin Yun didn’t know was that many of the major cities in the Nan Feng Kingdom were jointly administered by several factions of the Wind Forest Sect. Even the Capital City, which was where the Wind Forest Sect was based, was carved up and co-managed by the major factions.

The root cause of all this factional strife within the Wind Forest Sect was the Sect Leader’s decision to enter a life-or-death seclusion.

Thirty years ago, the Sect Leader of the Wind Forest Sect, whose Cultivation had reached the Peak of the Ninth Layer of the Primordial Ocean Realm, chose to enter a life-or-death seclusion to break through to a higher Realm. At first, nothing changed within the Sect.

However, after ten years passed without the slightest sign of the Sect Leader emerging, many people began to believe his attempt had failed.

From that point on, the Sect’s most powerful Elders began to vie for the position of Sect Leader.

Simply put, the entire Wind Forest Sect was divided into three main factions, led by the Grand Elder, the Second Elder, and the Third Elder, respectively.

The factions of the Grand Elder and the Second Elder were the most powerful, and those two coveted the Sect Leader’s position more than anyone.

As for the Third Elder, he remained loyal to the Sect Leader and was doing his utmost to support the Sect Leader’s daughter. However, his faction was the weakest and was constantly being suppressed by the Grand Elder and the Second Elder.

In recent years especially, the Third Elder’s faction had reached a point of crisis. If nothing changed, it would very likely be swallowed up by the factions of the Grand Elder and Second Elder.

(It’s been confirmed that *Divine Emperor Demon Emperor* will be going premium tomorrow. I, Wufeng, have said a lot about this before, but there’s one thing I’ve always wanted to say to you, my brothers: all pirated novels exist on the foundation of the official ones. If no one is willing to support the official novels, I ask you, would pirated novels even be able to exist? So I, Wufeng, sincerely implore you, my brothers—at a price of just a few cents per Chapter—I truly hope you can support the official release. Finally, I want to once again thank all the brothers who have accompanied me and *Divine Emperor Demon Emperor* this far. I hope you will all continue to accompany me and the novel until the very end!)