Secret Letters Convey Two Missions, the Saint's Struggle

Inside the Imperial Study, the smoke of ambergris incense curled upward.

Wang Hao sat upright behind the wide imperial desk, playing with a top-quality wolf-hair brush in his hand, a wicked smile that would make anyone shudder playing at the corners of his mouth. Spread out before him were two pieces of imperial stationery flowing with faint golden light. They were the top-secret family letters to be sent to the Ice and Snow Divine Palace and the Illusory Sea Immortal Sect.

What should I write... Wang Hao stroked his chin, his eyes as deep as a bottomless ancient well.

If it were just a simple official document, it would be too boring; if it were just pure flirting, it would make him, the Emperor of Great Zhou, look like a brainless horndog. What he wanted was the kind of letter that would make Shen Xue and Yun Meng explode with anger on the spot, while also making the higher-ups of the sects behind them act like sharks smelling blood, biting fiercely onto the bait he threw out.

The deeper a woman hates, the deeper she will eventually love. Wasn't that how all the novels in his past life were written?

He picked up the brush, dipped it in ink, and wrote with flying strokes.

To the Holy Maiden of the Ice and Snow Divine Palace / Illusory Sea Immortal Sect:

I have heard of abnormal movements in the Crimson Moon Demonic Cult, and the shocking appearance of an ancient Martial God's corpse. Demonic flames surge to the heavens, and the common people suffer. The hidden sects should have stood united, yet Xie Wujiu of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion harbors wolfish ambitions, vainly attempting to coerce the sects of the world to resist My Great Zhou. The so-called Justice Alliance is nothing but cannon fodder in Xie Wujiu's hands. As the winds and clouds of the Great Wasteland rise, when the nest is overturned, can any egg remain intact?

Writing up to here, Wang Hao paused for a moment, looking with satisfaction at the compassionate imperial bearing exuding from his words. This passage was written for the old fogeys of the two sects to see, and its core idea was just one word: intimidation.

Don't think that the Crimson Moon Demonic Cult's Martial God corpse only attacked my Great Zhou's home-raiding squad. Once the Demonic Cult grows powerful, the first ones they will swallow up are you aloof, orthodox sects. And then there's that Heavenly Secret Pavilion, inciting you every day to fight to the death with me. If a real fight breaks out, it will be your foundations that are destroyed, while Xie Wujiu hides in the back counting money.

Next, Wang Hao changed his tone and began to throw out some benefits.

My heart aches deeply, and I cannot bear to see your noble sect's ten-thousand-year foundation destroyed in a single day. Therefore, I am willing to form a century-long alliance with your noble sect. The foundation of the Great Zhou imperial family is enough to protect your sect completely. After forming an alliance, I am willing to share the core secrets of the Crimson Moon Demonic Cult—deep within those mountain ranges, there is more than just one Martial God corpse.

After writing the words more than just one, Wang Hao almost laughed out loud.

This was, of course, completely made up by him, but in intelligence warfare, a mix of seventy percent truth and thirty percent lies was the most terrifying.

In the intelligence brought back by Old Man Ren and the others, that altar was ridiculously large. Who could guarantee that a reinforced platoon of Martial Gods wasn't buried underneath? As long as the sect masters of the two sects weren't fools, they would definitely break out in a cold sweat upon seeing this sentence, thereby urgently desiring Great Zhou's inside intelligence.

Next came the main event of this secret letter.

Wang Hao switched to a finer brush and, at the very end of the letter, added a separate paragraph of private whispers for Shen Xue and Yun Meng in an extremely lingering and utterly shameless tone.

...With this, official business is concluded. However, whenever I wake from my dreams in the dead of night, I always see the peerless grace of Fairy Xue/Meng on the dragon bed that day. I have already ordered someone to carefully preserve those fallen red blossoms on the ground. I am not a heartless ruler; since we have shared a night of pleasure, I will naturally take full responsibility. The position of a Great Zhou Imperial Consort, or the authority of Great Zhou's Special Envoy stationed at the sect, the Fairy may choose either. Personal grievances should not hinder the overall alliance. If the Fairy is willing to submit, I guarantee that in the future, we will only talk about interests, and I will never use force... unless the Fairy takes the initiative.

Signed: The Emperor of Great Zhou who never stops thinking of you, feels deeply guilty, but would dare to do it again next time, Wang Hao.

After writing the last word, Wang Hao blew the ink dry, inspected it carefully, and couldn't help but let out a low, villainous chuckle, Jie jie jie.

Perfect. If this letter is sent over and those two little wenches don't vomit blood from anger, my surname isn't Wang.

He sealed the two secret letters into specially made jade boxes and casually tossed them to Yu Huatian, who was waiting to the side.

Pass these to the West Factory's highest-level hidden agents lurking in the two sects. Make absolutely sure that these letters pass through the hands of the Sect Masters first before falling before the eyes of the two Holy Maidens, Wang Hao ordered coldly.

This servant obeys the decree!

Yu Huatian caught the jade tubes, his internal understanding of his Majesty's deviousness refreshing once again.

Letting the Sect Masters see it first was forcing the higher-ups of the sects to pressure the Holy Maidens! His Majesty was going to forcefully turn the two lofty Holy Maidens into bargaining chips used by their sects in exchange for Great Zhou's protection.

Too ruthless! Too sinister! But also... too thrilling! This servant loves it so much, hehehe.

...

Three days later, in the extreme north, at the Ice and Snow Divine Palace.

The temperature inside the grand hall dropped to the freezing point. It was not because of the wind and snow outside, but because the Palace Master of the Ice and Snow Divine Palace standing in the center of the hall, along with several Supreme Elders, all had extremely solemn expressions at this moment.

Shen Xue stood to the side in a snow-white dress, cold and aloof, like a fairy who did not eat mortal food. However, if one looked closely, they would find that her jade hands hidden in her sleeves were clenched tightly, her knuckles turning white.

Palace Master, this little tyrant is simply going too far! A fiery-tempered Supreme Elder fiercely smashed the ice-sculpted chair beside him. The first half of this secret letter is full of threats in every sentence, and the second half... the second half is simply too unbearable to look at! He actually dares to use the purity of our Palace's Holy Maiden as a threat for an alliance!

The Palace Master was a beautiful woman who looked to be in her early thirties, but her eyes had experienced the vicissitudes of life. She ignored the furious elder and instead cast her gaze toward Shen Xue.

Xue'er, what the last paragraph of this secret letter says... that night in the capital, were you and Yun Meng of the Illusory Sea Immortal Sect really... by the Emperor of Great Zhou... The Palace Master's voice trembled slightly.

Shen Xue's delicate body trembled violently. That stunning face, which was usually as cold as frost, instantly flushed bright red. Her eyes were filled with humiliation, anger, and a trace of imperceptible panic. The image of that morning reappeared in her mind: her clothes disheveled, her whole body aching, while that shameless tyrant lay sprawled out next to her, snoring.

Palace Master... I... Shen Xue bit her lower lip fiercely, a trace of bloody metallic taste spreading in her mouth. How she wished she could deny it loudly and say it was Wang Hao's slander.

But she couldn't. Once Great Zhou really made the evidence, that damned bedsheet with the fallen red blossoms, public, the face of the Ice and Snow Divine Palace would be completely lost.

Looking at Shen Xue's humiliating appearance of tacit admission, the grand hall fell into a deathly silence.

After a long time, the Great Elder let out a long sigh. What a sin... But Palace Master, setting aside the Holy Maiden's personal grievances for now, we cannot help but guard against what Wang Hao said in his letter about more than just one Martial God corpse and Xie Wujiu's schemes from the Heavenly Secret Pavilion.

Indeed! Another elder who advocated weighing the pros and cons immediately chimed in. The Heavenly Secret Pavilion already sent a flying sword message yesterday, demanding that our Ice and Snow Divine Palace dispatch three Void-Soaring Realm mighty figures to join the Justice Alliance and jointly crusade against Great Zhou. But that tyrant of Great Zhou can strike dead over fifty patriarchs with a single bolt of lightning! If we go, wouldn't we just be cannon fodder? On the contrary, if we form an alliance with Great Zhou, we can borrow Great Zhou's power to resist the Heavenly Secret Pavilion, and we can also obtain intelligence on the Crimson Moon Demonic Cult...

Bastard! Are we going to sacrifice Xue'er for the sake of the sect's interests? the fiery-tempered elder roared.

"This isn't a sacrifice, it's a win-win!" Elder Quanheng retorted. "Wang Hao said in his letter that he can give her the status of a 'Sect Envoy,' and they won't interfere with each other's personal grudges. As long as we form an alliance, the Ice Snow Shrine will be able to survive this chaotic era in the Great Wasteland!"

Listening to the elders' arguments, Shen Xue's heart grew colder and colder, as if she had fallen into a bottomless abyss of ice.

She finally understood the viciousness of Wang Hao's letter.

That utterly ruthless man never treated her as a woman with feelings, but rather as a precise bargaining chip! He didn't even need to send his own people to pressure her; he only needed to lay out the cruel situation of the Great Wasteland and the benefits before the higher-ups of the Ice Snow Shrine. The elders of her sect would automatically become accomplices in forcing her to submit!

"Stop arguing." The Palace Master rubbed her temples wearily and looked at Shen Xue. "Xue'er, you are the Holy Maiden of the Shrine, and you have enjoyed twenty years of our full cultivation. Now that a great calamity is approaching, the survival of the Shrine... perhaps lies in your hands. Go to the Great Zhou Dynasty. Whether as an imperial concubine or an envoy, stabilize Wang Hao. This is not just for the Shrine, but also for your own reputation."

Boom!

Shen Xue felt as if she had been struck by lightning, stumbling back a step. She looked at the Palace Master and elders who had always doted on her in the past, their eyes now filled with the expectation of "considering the big picture." She only felt an overwhelming sense of irony.

"I... obey." Shen Xue closed her eyes, two clear tears of humiliation rolling down her cold cheeks.

Wang Hao! You despicable, shameless beast! I, Shen Xue, swear that one day, I will slice you into a thousand pieces!

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of miles away in the Phantom Sea Immortal Sect.

Bang!

With a loud crash, a dressing table made of top-grade jade was shattered to pieces by Yun Meng's palm strike.

"Wang Hao! You bastard! Lecher! Shameless scum!"

Yun Meng currently lacked even a shred of her usual soul-stirring, enchanting appearance. Her hair was disheveled, and she trembled all over with rage, her chest heaving violently. She clutched the copied duplicate of the secret missive tightly in her hand, wishing she could swallow it whole.

"Oh, my little ancestor, go easy. That was deep-sea warm jade just bestowed by the Sect Master." Beside her, the Second Elder of the Phantom Sea Immortal Sect urged earnestly.

"Second Elder! What exactly does the Sect Master mean? Does he really want me to marry that tyrant?" Yun Meng's eyes were red, tears swirling within them. True, she had the bloodline of the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox, but she wasn't a loose woman! She had saved her most precious essence for breaking through to a major realm, only to have it confusingly plucked by Wang Hao. And now they wanted her to deliver herself to his doorstep?

"Ahem, Meng'er." The Second Elder coughed dryly, squeezing out a helpless smile on his old face. "The Sect Master said that although the Great Zhou Emperor acts a bit roughly, the conditions in his letter are indeed generous. The Great Zhou is currently in the limelight, and the Heavenly Secret Pavilion is pressing us hard. Our Phantom Sea Immortal Sect has always been skilled at navigating social intricacies. If you can enter the palace, with your methods, are you afraid you won't be able to handle a little emperor?"

"Handle him? I wish I could castrate him!" Yun Meng shrieked.

"Meng'er!" The Second Elder's expression turned stern. "This is a sect order! Your personal grudges are a small matter; the survival of the sect is what's important! Besides, didn't Wang Hao say in his letter that he is a responsible, good man who will take full responsibility for you?"

"Responsible my foot! He just lusts after my body and wants to get our Phantom Sea Immortal Sect's combat power for free!" Yun Meng stomped her feet in anger, but the despair in her eyes grew thicker.

Like Shen Xue, she realized Wang Hao's overt plot.

In the face of absolute interests and matters of life and death, these normally aloof and exalted Holy Maidens were actually unbearably fragile. Wang Hao had pinpointed exactly this, using the weight of the state machine to mercilessly crush their pride.

"Fine! I'll go!" Yun Meng suddenly gritted her pearly white teeth, her peach-blossom eyes flashing with maddened hatred. "I'll go to the Great Zhou! I want to see just how hard it is to survive in this little bastard's harem! Once I turn his harem upside down, let's see if he can still laugh!"

...

At the same time, in the main headquarters of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion, inside the Star Observation Tower on the highest floor that seemed capable of plucking the stars.

Xie Wujiu, the Pavilion Master of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion, stood with his hands behind his back. He looked at the topographical map of the Great Wasteland before him, his face so gloomy it looked ready to drip water.

Behind him, a black-clad intelligence officer reported tremblingly, "Pavilion Master, the hidden spy we planted in the inner court of the Great Zhou risked their life to send out news. Wang Hao has already sent secret alliance missives to the Ice Snow Shrine and the Phantom Sea Immortal Sect. Furthermore... furthermore, using the chastity of the two Holy Maidens as a threat, he has thrown out the inside information regarding the Martial God's corpse of the Crimson Moon Demonic Cult."

"What a ruthless tyrant! What a brilliant move to pull the rug out from under us!"

Xie Wujiu sneered repeatedly, a trace of apprehension flashing through his eyes. He originally thought he had forced the Great Zhou into opposition with all the sects in the world. He never expected Wang Hao to actually use the opponent's force against them, utilizing the panic brought by the Crimson Moon Demonic Cult along with shameless, below-the-belt tactics to directly undermine the foundation of his "Justice Alliance"!

If the Ice Snow Shrine and the Phantom Sea Immortal Sect were to defect to the Great Zhou, the momentum of the Justice Alliance he had formed would immediately drop by thirty percent!

"Wang Hao, oh Wang Hao, do you really think you can break my setup by relying on two women?"

Xie Wujiu abruptly turned around and slammed his palm onto the desk. "Pass down my secret order! Immediately contact the evil cultivator factions of the 'Myriad Poison Cult' and the 'Blood Shadow Sect' in the Western Regions. Tell them that as long as they are willing to make a move and pin down the military forces of the Great Zhou, they will get a thirty percent share of the profits after the Great Zhou is conquered!"

"Pavilion Master! Cooperating with the evil cultivators of the Western Regions is no different from asking a tiger for its skin. If word of this gets out..." The intelligence officer turned pale with fright.

"We represent the Heavenly Dao. Those who achieve great things do not bother with trifles! As long as we can destroy the Great Zhou, history will be written by the victors!" Xie Wujiu's eyes burst with maddened ambition. "In addition, activate that 'Child of Destiny' we newly scouted. Since the Great Zhou dares to send people to deliver betrothal gifts to the two sects, I will make sure they never return!"