Chapter 2474: Chapter 95: Though the World Is Like a Chessboard, Do Not Assume Others Are Mere Pieces

Jiang Wang looked at Ruan Qin in surprise.

Amid the head‑on heavenly wind, Ruan Qin asked calmly, "Do you think Huo Shiji is really dead?"

After thinking it over carefully, Jiang Wang replied, "From what I know, yes. And Master of the Archive, Director Chen, and Master Wu all think so as well... Why would you ask that?"

"If the Blood River Sect had no other issues, and it truly wanted to invite Marquis Champion to take over, with no other entanglements involved, and if Kou Xuejiao was genuinely respecting Huo Shiji’s dying wish... When it concerns the Blood River Sect’s ten‑thousand‑year inheritance, on what grounds would she respect a casual Thought Huo Shiji once mentioned while alive?"

Jiang Wang thought for a moment: "You mean to say she received Huo Shiji’s instruction?"

Ruan Qin said, "That’s only one possibility I’ve conjectured. But when it comes to vital interests and the Blood River Sect’s future, the wishes of the dead will never be more influential than the will of the living."

"But why?" Jiang Wang was puzzled. "He is the Lord of the Blood River Sect, at the Absolute Summit of the Transcendent world today. Why would he need to feign death? What necessity is there in that?"

"Xu Mingsong peered into the path of Yan Dao, stirring the Saint Water into turmoil and causing the Bodhi Evil Ancestor to emerge ahead of time. Huo Shiji kept trying to conceal the truth, and in the end he simply couldn’t hide it any longer, was roused by True Man Moving‑Mountain Peng Chongjian, and heroically filled the sea with his own body... This is indeed a very logical chain of events, and it was witnessed by those several True Monarchs." Ruan Qin shook his head. "Even I cannot think of exactly what problem exists within it. Perhaps there is no problem at all."

"However." He came to the however.

"Judging by Huo Shiji himself alone, he did in fact have a strong need to feign death. Because this is the only way he could throw off the control of our Qi Country."

"Throw off... our... Qi Country’s... control?" Jiang Wang was completely stunned.

How could it be that the dignified True Monarch Xuehe Huo Shiji had all along been under Qi Country’s control?

Then, throughout the entire Qi Xia war, unless that one time Jinguo truly intervened with overwhelming force and joined battle with Emperor Qi himself, who had sworn to don armor personally, otherwise, when had Summer Country ever had the slightest hope?

Even to the point that even if that time Jinguo really had marched, Qi Country would still have had great hope of withstanding Jinguo’s offensive and destroying Summer Country—if True Monarch Xuehe Huo Shiji had truly been controlled by Qi Country, and not merely engaged in a single transaction.

To say nothing of the current era of the Nanxia Governor’s Mansion, with the Sword Pavilion still standing proudly independent there, and Liang Country still baring its fangs and glaring—what need would there have been for any of that?

Facing Jiang Wang’s shock, Ruan Qin said in a slow voice, "You’ve been to the Changluo Cavern, so you should know that the arrangements there are methods left from the time of Emperor Xia Xiang."

Jiang Wang nodded.

Ruan Qin said unhurriedly, "First you need to understand one point: the Changluo Absolute Array in Emperor Xia Xiang’s hands, and the Changluo Absolute Array later in the hands of people like Si Jiao, are worlds apart in power. Emperor Xia Xiang already realized back then that the situation was not favorable to Summer Country, so with painstaking effort he made this move, hoping to use the Changluo Absolute Array to force us to withdraw. He wanted to rely on the threat of mutual destruction to achieve a forced peace."

He asked this: "You personally suppressed the Saint Water in the Changluo Cavern. Given the level of calamity you sensed, do you think it could have posed a threat to His Majesty, who personally led the campaign back then?"

Thinking of those dazzling names from the first Qi Xia war. To say nothing of Emperor Qi himself, there were also Duke Loulan, National Guardian Grand Marshal Jiang Mengxiong, State Minister Yan Ping, and the Ruan Jianzheng—Ruan Qin—standing before him...

When that war began, Fierce Slaughter Chongxuan Chu Liang was still only an inconspicuous branch General of the Chongxuan clan. The last King of Yang Country, Yang Jiande, was merely a young junior General fighting under an assumed name.

Given the scale of disaster he had felt in the Changluo Cavern, at most it could overturn the Jiangyin Plains and annihilate the Qi Army’s main force at the time; it should not have been enough to impact the entire territory of Summer Country, nor to make Emperor Qi in that first Qi Xia war feel a threat of perishing together.

"It shouldn’t be enough." Jiang Wang’s tone was a bit strained.

The Qi Xia struggle for supremacy back then was truly a glorious Chapter in history. Although it was cut short by Jinguo’s forceful interference, the brilliance that both Qi and Xia burst forth with in this war for hegemony could not be concealed even after several dozen years.

Those who came later, whenever they flipped through the history and caught even a fragmentary glimpse of those scenes, could not help but marvel.

Ruan Qin asked again, "Then what do you think caused such a huge disparity between the Changluo Absolute Array back then and the Changluo Absolute Array now? Aside from the difference in ability between Emperor Xia Xiang and King Wu Si Jiao, what else is there?"

Jiang Wang already knew the answer, yet still could not suppress his shock and doubt: "True Monarch Xuehe?"

Ruan Qin said lightly, "Do you think that without True Monarch Xuehe’s cooperation, Emperor Xia Xiang could have completed the true Changluo Absolute Array, and used the Saint Water to create a world‑ending level of disaster capable of threatening the Qi Army of that time?"

Jiang Wang was stunned.

Only after a while did he say, "The Changluo Cavern is also connected to a fissure in the Saint Water. With Emperor Xia Xiang’s ability, he probably... could have done it as well, right?"

"It seems your understanding of the Blood River Sect is somewhat skewed. The current Evil Sea takes the Blood River as its boundary—you don’t really understand what that means. Is it because this time they nearly abandoned the Blood River that you feel the Blood River is nothing remarkable after all?"

Ruan Qin shook his head. "That was only because the Bodhi Evil Ancestor is too terrifying. The power of this Blood River is beyond your imagination. Many Dao Techniques of the Blood River Sect originate from this river. Many Secret Techniques all borrow the power of this river. I’ll only tell you one thing—within the Blood River Sect’s own fifty‑four‑thousand‑year history, there has never been a break in True Monarch‑level combat power; in every era, there has always been power at the True Monarch level! Do you understand what that means? Why do you think the Blood River Sect has been able to pass down for so long?"