Qi Country.

The capital, Lin City.

In the past half year, the continent has been turbulent, with the struggle between Wei and Xia, resulting in the deaths of several Semi-Saints and even a dynasty emperor. The Wei Country perished completely, but these events have had little impact on Qi Country.

In fact, with the fall of Wei Country, Qi Country even gained a large portion of benefits, reaching a historic peak in territory.

However, recently, the tense atmosphere in the capital has been more pronounced than usual.

With Wei Country fallen, Xia Country has seized the opportunity to rise, and after annexing most of Wei Country's territory, it now leads the Four Great Dynasties in both military strength and territory.

The only deficiency of Xia Country lies in the number of Semi-Saints.

But when military power becomes strong enough, the role of Semi-Saints becomes negligible.

Moreover, although Xia Country has few Semi-Saints, the few it has are extremely powerful.

The Right Prime Minister of Xia Country is the only Confucian Semi-Saint among all countries.

Throughout history, Confucian Semi-Saints have been rare, but each one is a legendary figure who can ignore any defense with the Righteous Qi Arrow. He personally oversees the border between Xia and Qi, deterring any Qi Country Semi-Saint from appearing directly.

And the Emperor of Xia, who for many years has been the object of ridicule among the people of various countries, unexpectedly killed the Emperor of Wei, possessing the fate of both countries, and has also mastered the Martial Path, becoming the foremost person on the continent. Leading his army in person, he has forced Chu Country to relinquish the regions and cities they had annexed one by one.

Recently, Chu Country has been forced into a dilemma by him. If the Emperor of Chu also leads his army, he risks being killed on the front lines, following in the footsteps of the Emperor of Wei.

If he stays holed up in the capital, with the strength of the Xia Emperor and the morale of the Xia army, they will eventually reach the capital, at which point it will be his end.

Qi Country cannot rejoice at their misfortune; if Chu Country falls, they will be the next to suffer.

A year ago, no one could have predicted such rapid changes in the continental situation. Anyone mentioning Wei Country and its emperor would secretly curse "useless," as they turned an invasion into their own demise against Xia Country, whose strength was far inferior.

It's one thing to perish, but they even fostered a colossal force with their blood and flesh.

The ordinary people of Qi Country still lead muddled lives.

But some insightful individuals are already worrying about the future.

Imperial Palace.

A sealed palace in the harem.

A figure sits on a stone chair in the courtyard, staring blankly into space.

After some unknown amount of time, an old woman with graying hair walks in from outside, saying, "Such a beautiful face, always looking worried, isn't it a waste? You should smile more..."

The nightingale glances back at her and says, "You've been cooped up here for half a year. Let's see if you can still smile!"

The old woman responds, "There's nothing to be done about this. You know how important your sister's position is. Without confining you here, if you ran back to Chang'an, we couldn't bear such a loss. With you here, she behaves obediently..."

The nightingale sighs lightly. Had she known she would be separated for so long and might never reunite, she wouldn't have argued with her all the time back then.

The old woman lets out a long sigh, saying, "Who would have thought the Emperor of Xia would hide so deeply? This time, as long as we can complete the grand task, even if all members of the Green Bird Society in Xia are exposed, it would be worth it..."

The nightingale looks at her, a trace of worry surfacing in her heart.

What would happen if Phoenix were exposed?

By then, not only would the Li Mansion not accept her, but even Daxia wouldn't tolerate her...

Sigh...

As the nightingale worries about Phoenix, on a street outside the Imperial Palace, a young man crouches at a corner of a wall, wrapping a long strand of green silk around his index finger, casually tossing a few copper coins.

The young man looks up in a certain direction, towards the imposing Imperial City standing there.

Li Nuo's brow furrowed slightly.

The nightingale's location was actually in the Qi Imperial Palace.

Outside the palace, whether by stealth or force, Li Nuo could take her away, but the palace alone posed more of a problem for him.

The Imperial Palace is the strongest point of the Qi Emperor on this continent. The Xia Emperor may be the foremost on the continent, but here, he is no match for the Qi Emperor.

Li Nuo couldn't extract someone from the deep palace without alerting the Qi Emperor.

Nor could he return just like that...

This matter couldn't be delayed. If Phoenix took too long to act, the Green Bird Society would suspect her of varying allegiance, and then the nightingale would be in danger. If anything happened to her, Li Nuo couldn't explain it to Phoenix...

After staying in the Qi capital for two days, Li Nuo had only minor gains.

He had been stationed at the palace gate for the past two days, observing an old woman entering and exiting the palace several times.

Phoenix had given him a portrait of this old woman, who was Phoenix's superior and a high-level figure in the Qi Green Bird Society responsible for Xia's intelligence. Her Grandmaster cultivation was no match for Li Nuo, but to rescue the nightingale trapped in the deep palace, he could only rely on cleverness rather than force...

Not far from the Imperial Palace, Li Nuo sits at a sidewalk tea stand, sipping tea while brainstorming.

As Li Nuo ponders, a commotion suddenly arises at the street's end.

Soon after, the murmurs of the crowd reach his ears.

"No, why him?"

"A real waste, it's truly a waste!"

"I can't stand it; I'm infuriated. What does this guy have going for him? He's so ugly, yet so many beauties fall head over heels for him?"