"Your Highness, we're expecting to reach the border between the southern capital and Upper South State soon. Please tell your subordinate of your Highness has any other instruction." his faithful guard, Ming Qiang kneeled behind Zhao Ying, the ninth prince.

"Ming Qiang. I remember that you mentioned about the border war between the Crystalline River County and Seven Star County. Any updates on this news?" Zhao Ying asked.

"Reporting to your Highness, the most recent report said that the Seven Star County obtained a fierce momentum not long ago, and successfully forced the troops from Crystalline River County to retreats." Ming Qiang reread everything written in the letter he received.

"That's better. This means my visit to the Seven Star Master Hall can be arranged without disturbance?" Zhao Ying added.

"Yes, your Highness. If that's your instruction, I will order them to proceeds toward the Seven Star Master Hall." Ming Qiang waved his hand towards his subordinates to reroute.

"Ming Qiang... Put some faith in the people I have chosen. They're my best lineup to help me in obtaining the right to be crowned as the Crown Prince of the Southern Imperial Kingdom." Zhao Ying said.

"Subordinate understood!" Ming Qiang can only reply in agreement.

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"Fire your weapons!" a captain ordered his men to ignites the Yuan-Tie Assault Cannon to harass their opponents outside of their City Wall. Although the repairing works are conducted without stopping, sometimes, one to two blind shots is enough to take down a group of Stone Mason.

The harassment continues, while Zhang Wu Ji leads a smaller team to follow him towards the direction to Jie's County. Because it was lead by the well known Jie Hu, Zhang Wu Ji decided to temporary disturb them from participating in this harassment battle.

But, the issue did not lie on his appearance, but his tricks.

Zhang Wu Ji formed a Caravan Line that allows the merchants to swarm into Jie's County with the Materials robbed during their takeover of the Fortress and the Mining Vein belonged to the Upper South Merchant Corporation.

Stuck in between attacking or waiting, the attempt to stall the troops from Jie's Clan is a success, with Zhang Wu Ji maintaining his alter ego, Qian Long, to sneak into his enemies camp.

The chances to release the Daynight Poison is here once more, with Zhang Wu Ji now enjoying the process to harvest his fruit of labor. Those weaker subordinates are assassinated on a daily basis, and more attention is placed in hunting for the retreating soldiers.

At the same time, the Tamed Beast idling inside the System Realm is given full freedom to move inside the forest, which helps in hunting for team leaders and veteran soldiers.

On the fifth day, Zhang Wu Ji pulled his troops back to the fortress and allowed the caravans to conduct their business and start spreading rumors about Jie's Clan incompetence in this fight.

The harassment on the outer city also stopped, because the number of their Yuan-Tie Assault Cannon is limited. But this retreat is their third and real retreat tactics, where the first two attempts successfully lured their enemies out for mass slaughter.

After the two previous failure, there's no longer any people dare to act recklessly before the troops belonged to the Seven Star County. Once, under the instruction of the Upper South Mercenaries, a squadron of cultivators in their Inner Qi Soldier lead by two Inner Qi Master head out to stop the harassment.

Unfortunately, the squadron was slaughtered when the Middle Wing fired two Celestial Bombing Quivers and turned all of them into a human-sized porcupine. This defeat stopped them from taking action, but then, Zhang Wu Ji ordered a complete retreat, with his troops planting a row of Mulberry Trees to differentiate their captured zone and Crystalline River County Zone.

His action enraged the people, but nobody from their older generation can make a move, because the instigator of this war is Zhang Wu Ji, a cultivator in his 17th Stage of Inner Qi Warrior. With each Inner Qi Grandmaster in their 41st Stage and above are treated as treasure and lifeline of their Corporation, it is impossible for them to be dispatched into the fight.

Because nobody knows if Zhang Wu Ji may possess weapon strong enough to kill a cultivator in Grandmaster Tier.

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"Hateful! How can a junior like him possess such a dangerous weapon? There must be some conspiracy in between the Ninth Prince, the Zhang Family, and the Seven Star Master Hall!" an Inner Qi Lord vent his anger on the table before him, but it survived his slap with full strength.

"The Jie's Clan failed to provide us with support, and the Herb Valley Sect seems to be taking the neutral position to see which party he should support at the end. I'm sure the Mystic Engineer Establishment will stand with the Seven Star Master Hall because of their friendship, which means, we're alone in this matter!"

"Stop guessing! Worst of all, we just need to join and get absorbed into the Blood Art Sect!"

"Corporation Elders, bad news! Bad news!" a member of their Upper South Merchant Corporation came in as he was given the authority to enter without knocking the door can to report.

"Maintain yourself! Speak!" the First Elder said.

"We lost a tenth of our Crystalline River County to the Seven Star County. As I report now, the people from Seven Star County is busy migrating their resident and workers to start erecting weird buildings!" the member reported.

"What's their completion rate now?" the Second Elder questioned.

"Estimated around 70-80% completion." the member replied.

"If they finish their building in two to three more days, it will be much more difficult for us to recapture the land. Recall our people from the Northern Zone to help us." the Second Elder ordered.

"Understood! Please excuse this subordinate!" he left without turning back.

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On the sixth day of Seven Star County's subjugation of land belonged to the Crystalline River County, a group of unidentified cultivators came forward to disturb their building progress. But given with sufficient amount of Celestial Tool and Celestial Armament, their retaliation soon entered a dead end, with nobody managed to escape from capture.

But this news becomes the hottest topic for the population of Southern Imperial Kingdom, especially when Seven Star County is taking action of their own in subjugating the land belonged to the jurisdiction to another County Division.

Surprisingly, the Imperial Family weren't bothered by the scuffle between the two Counties. Such standing escalated quickly, and when the news is spread to the twelve states belonged to the Southern Imperial Kingdom, a brand new internal war started to brew.

And as a part of the ten counties belonged to the Upper South State, the Blood Marsh County, and Five Flame County is the fiercest competitor in this Internal War. Their quick and decisive action can be seen from the number of experts sent to subjugate the jurisdiction area belonged to other counties surrounding them.

While the twelve states are having their own share of problems internally, Zhang Wu Ji was taking the opportunity one step ahead by inviting the Willow Timber County and Heavenly South County for a mutual benefit.

Since Zhang Wu Ji is the one that started this disturbance first, the Heavenly Sword Sect rejected his approach. As for the Mystic Engineering Establishment, they agreed with the mutual benefit, with members relocation.

This excites Zhao Ying, their ninth prince when he arrived at the Seven Star Master Hall.

Looking at the mentally prepared members from Master Hall, prince Zhao Ying believed that he did not recruit the wrong person to support because Zhang Wu Ji's action is decisive and daring, as long it yield him a return in benefits.

"Ninth Prince, Hall Master Zhang Wu Ji pays his respect to the royal prince of Southern Imperial Kingdom." Zhang Wu Ji bowed when the Ninth Prince descends from his Flying Ship.

"Hall Master Zhang, your reception is a little too persuasive, don't you think?" Zhao Ying takes a look around him and decides to question him.

"Of course! Showing off my might to your Highness is crucial for future support, especially when I am not you Highness only candidate." Zhang Wu Ji replied Zhao Ying with a selection of words enough to make him sound rebellious.

"Zhang Wu Ji! Behave yourself when... Yes, your Highness..." Ming Qiang warned Zhang Wu Ji, but the prince extends his hand to stop his faithful guard from speaking any further.

"I see... No wonder you set the meeting point so far out from the Seven Star Master Hall. Is there a name for this amazing fortress?" Zhao Ying agreed to Zhang Wu Ji's word and decided to ask for the building's name.

"Li Yuan Fortress. This building will protect the entire Li Yuan City when the surrounding is still in construction. I believe that one year later, this Li Yuan City will become the main trading point connecting the Jie's County, Crystalline River County, and Seven Star County together." Zhang Wu Ji replied.

"What support you need from me?" Zhao Ying questioned.

"How about... Human resources? It will do good for me if your Highness can transfer all kind of refugees to strengthen your independent state." Zhang Wu Ji's reply hid many points of concern, but it was a reasonable request.

"Ming Qiang..."

"Yes, your Highness," he replied.

"Relay my order to all Ninth Prince's Independent troops. Expand your coverage to the other states and their counties to recruit as many refugees as you can. You can handle the identification part later, but most importantly, I want my Independent State to have more people than everyone else!"

"Ming Qiang will trade his life to complete your highness order."

"Hall Master, shall we?" with his invitation, Zhang Wu Ji and Zhao Ying take a tour and visits all his establishment, including a private visit to the Mystic Engineer Establishment.

With the appearance of the ninth prince, the Willow Timber County is more than supportive towards their cause to support the Ninth Prince for his Crown Prince seat.

This fight for the Crown Prince Title is assumed to be a path filled with blood, but the generosity promised far exceeds all they can expect. In total, ten days is all it takes from attacking the Crystalline River County and subjugates a portion of their land.

After the Ninth Prince departure, Zhang Wu Ji called for a meeting. The Mystic Engineer Establishment is included in this meeting as well.

"I believe that everyone knows that we're standing at the Ninth Prince's side for the war to obtain the Crown Prince Seat." Zhang Wu Ji reminded everyone.

"We do."

"Great. This brings our meeting easier to proceed. I want all manpower to focus on two subjects. Cultivation and War Preparations. Can I expect Mystic Engineer Establishment to assist in the War Preparations part?" Zhang Wu Ji asked Yong Lie, the one he called my brother in the establishment.

"Rest assured, the Mystic Engineer Establishment is yours to order." Yong Lie reply delivered the meaning he wanted to express.

"Great. Inside this Wooden Universal Plate is a blueprint of Silver Wolf Tender. But what I want is an army of Flying Tenders with weapons accessible in the entire deck."

"My subjects, we will attack Crystalline River County and Jie's County at the same time. You'll prepare yourself for this fight soon. We can expect at least six Inner Qi Lord in this war, so I'll have to depend on all of you to support me," Zhang Wu Ji speaks as he turns his attention to Liang Tian, Beiping Ruolan, City Lord of Wen Wu City and his brother.

"We understand!" everyone replied to his order.

"Great! Once we controlled the entire Crystalline River County and Jie's County, we will take over the Herb Valley County next!"