Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

"Who are you?"

"I am Ye Fan, the Deputy Commander of the Great Chu, who has been sent to the Great Song Dynasty by order of the Empress and together with the Duke of Zhenguo."

Ye Fan's voice was neither humble nor arrogant, but resounded throughout the hall, forming a stark contrast to the cowardly scene of the Song officials.

When Zhao Huan saw Ye Fan step forward to speak, he couldn't help but give him a grateful look.

My sworn brother is the most reliable; he knows how to share my burdens.

Wanyan Wo stood up and replied, "So you are an envoy from the Great Chu. What, does the Great Chu also intend to interfere in the negotiations between the Song and Jin?"

Ye Fan calmly replied, "Prince Wanyan, His Majesty has already given your country a satisfactory explanation, so why are you being so aggressive?"

"Aggressive?" Wanyan Wo laughed. "Commander Ye, you don't think that my Great Jin is being unreasonable, do you?"

Moreover, this is a conflict between the State of Song and the State of Jin. For you, as an envoy of the State of Chu, to intervene so openly—are you treating the officials of the State of Song as if they don't exist?

Ye Fan smiled slightly: "Prince, there's no need to sow discord like this. The State of Chu and the State of Song have been friends for generations. Now that the State of Song has been humiliated, how can the State of Chu, as a friendly nation of the State of Song, stand idly by and do nothing?"

Wanyan Wo: "Hmph, Commander Ye is really quick to help others in their time of need. The Duke of Zhenguo hasn't even spoken yet, but you, a mere deputy commander, are eager to step forward. Do you not respect the Duke of Zhenguo?"

Upon hearing this, Shen Lang said to Ye Fan, "Sit down. Aren't you embarrassed enough already?"

However, Ye Fan seemed not to hear him and continued to speak to Wanyan Wo: "Prince Wanyan, is your country's mobilization of troops on the north bank of the Bian River an attempt to forcefully seize Bianzhou Prefecture?"

Wanyan Wo chuckled lightly: "So what if it is? The Song State dared to break its promise, so my Great Jin naturally has to teach it a lesson. My coming here to negotiate is already an act of great favor from my father."

Ye Fan replied, "Prince Wanyan, it is true that the Song Dynasty is currently weak, but I urge you to consider this carefully."

The Song Dynasty boasts a million soldiers and ten times the population of your Jin Dynasty, and has many talented individuals living in seclusion. If a decisive battle were to occur, is your country truly prepared for a protracted war with the Song Dynasty?

Wanyan Wo frowned, as if he had fallen into deep thought.

Ye Fan continued, "The various armies from the Great Song Dynasty that came to the aid of the emperor are currently heading to Bianzhou Prefecture one after another, and will arrive soon. By then, even if your country has already launched an offensive and gained the upper hand..."

But faced with Song Dynasty elite soldiers who outnumbered them several times over, were they truly determined to fight to the death?

Wanyan Wo remained silent.

Zhou Xianwu looked at Ye Fan with admiration. As expected of a descendant of the Ye family of Great Chu, his spirit was truly extraordinary.

"Prince Wanyan, as the saying goes, it's better to resolve conflicts than to let them fester. The problems between the Great Song Dynasty and your esteemed country can be resolved through negotiation."

"Using war will only plunge the people of both countries into unnecessary suffering, and in the end, there will be no winners. So why bother?"

Wanyan Wo: "What you said does make some sense, but my army has come from afar, are we just going to retreat empty-handed like this?"

Zhao Huan immediately said, "If your country is willing to withdraw its troops, I am willing to bear all the food and provisions consumed by your country during this period."

We will also provide an additional month's worth of military rations. We humbly request that your Excellency, in consideration of sparing the lives of people from both countries, agree to withdraw your troops.

Wanyan Wo and Shen Lang exchanged a glance.

Shen Lang's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly for a moment before Wanyan Wu made his decision.

"Very well, since the Chu envoy is willing to speak on behalf of your Song state, then I will not make things difficult for you."

"Give me another two months' worth of provisions, and I'll immediately return to persuade my father to withdraw the troops!"

Upon hearing that the Jin Dynasty was willing to withdraw its troops, the previously lifeless court was instantly thrown into an uproar.

Zhao Huan's face immediately lit up with joy: "Good, I agree to allocate an additional two months' worth of provisions. May the Song and Jin dynasties live in peace forever and never wage war again!"

Wanyan Wo stood up and bowed to Zhao Huan.

"Order the Imperial Kitchen to prepare a banquet to entertain the Jin envoy."

Zhao Huan was extremely excited, and after glancing at Ye Fan, he gave him a grateful smile.

Shen Lang remained silent throughout, but the mocking expression on his face seemed to be a scornful mockery of the bizarre scene of snakes and rats living in harmony before him.

……

That evening, when Shen Lang returned to the inn, Ye Fan was still at the banquet, drinking with the Song emperor and his ministers.

He ignored the guy and went straight back inside, locking the door.

Then he took out the storage ring containing the inextinguishable fire.

Just as he was about to take it out to find out what was going on, a strong sense of resonance and unease washed over him.

"This feeling……"

A faint ringing echoed in my ears.

After forcing himself to calm down, Shen Lang placed his palm on the storage ring.

The next moment, a ball of azure lotus-shaped flame, about the size of a palm, appeared in Shen Lang's palm.

"Huh? This is..."

Looking at this strange flame, his vision suddenly changed, as if he could see its origin.

Tens of thousands of years ago, in another time and space, an extremely evil aura called Evil Infestation was born on that continent, almost destroying the entire world.

At the critical moment, a hero descended from the sky and threw a ball of mysterious fire called "Nanming Li Huo" at Xie Ran, which tightly enveloped him and then banished him into the void.

But after countless years, the evil that had been floating in the void was suddenly swallowed up by a giant hand...

The scene changed again in the next moment. Although the Southern Bright Fire prevented the evil from spreading throughout the heavens, it was gradually corrupted by the evil over the years.

Upon learning of this heroic event, the original owner of the Southern Bright Fire, disregarding the objections of his beloved wives, absorbed the fire back into his body, intending to prevent the evil influence from spreading again.

However, under the influence of evil, he gradually began to sink into depravity, and it seemed that he was about to corrupt his very essence and cause an irreversible tragedy.

An extreme madman used his unparalleled strength to force the Nanming Li Huo out of its original body.

Then, with a single, powerful strike, it eliminated 99% of Xie Ran's evil power. Just as Xie Ran was about to escape, it shattered the Nanming Li Fire into eight pieces, which then dissipated into nothingness.

"So that's the origin of the undying fire."

After learning the whole story, Shen Lang confirmed that the so-called inextinguishable fire in front of him was a fragment of the Nanming Li Fire.

Shen Lang had heard the rumors about the Southern Ming Fire from the systems during the years when the system space was locked down.

In addition, his owner, Shen Zhao, created a legend of resisting the system's enslavement and ultimately became a Daoist master.

However, Shen Zhao resisted the system's (Daoist tradition) enslavement through strategy, not force.

The one who truly dared to confront the orthodox forces head-on was Shen Lian, who pierced through half of the void, struck fear into the chaos, and was known as the Mad Emperor.

Shen Lang knew little about Shen Lian.

All we know is that he is both righteous and wicked, with a stubborn and crazy personality, and he acts completely arbitrarily, never following the rules.

He killed so many people that even mountains couldn't contain them, but it was precisely because of this that this world of martial arts came into being.

"No, Wanyan Wo said there are seven parts of the unextinguished fire, but the scene I saw was divided into eight parts. So where is the other part of the unextinguished fire?"

Shen Lang looked back and forth at the Unquenchable Flame, watching the strange flame float in his palm.

But gradually, Shen Lang seemed to hear some whispering messages.

It was a language I couldn't understand at all, yet it seemed like I understood what it was saying.

Looking at the inextinguishable flames, Shen Lang seemed to be drawn to something, and felt a strong urge to devour them into his body.

"Duke Zhenguo! Are you asleep?"

Just then, Ban Dingyuan's knocking on the door brought Shen Lang back to his senses, and he stopped his attempt to devour the creature in time.

He quickly put away the extinguishing flame, took a deep breath to clear his mind of what had just happened, and opened the door.

As soon as the door opened, Ban Dingyuan said, "Duke Zhenguo, the candidates selected by the Song Kingdom to study at the military academy have been sent over, including Yue Pengju."