The poorest member of the Imperial Guard, the Empress begged me to embezzle.

"Great!"

"Under the Marquis's command, the Embroidered Uniform Guard has truly risen to power!"

"He was clearly only at the peak of the ninth level of the Immortal Ascension Realm, but even with my strength, I couldn't detect how he left using this concealment technique."

"The reason I discovered it just now was probably because they deliberately wanted me to know."

Seeing the Embroidered Uniform Guard spies vanish into thin air, Gu Tianhe's eyes narrowed, and he exclaimed in astonishment.

However, Gu Tianhe did not dwell on this issue. He slowly exhaled a breath of stale air and said in a deep and powerful voice, "Someone come here."

A guard from the governor's mansion strode into the main hall and bowed to Gu Tianhe, saying, "Greetings, Your Excellency."

"Notify Qin Zhouwei to come to the governor's mansion for a meeting, saying that there is an extremely urgent matter."

Gu Tianhe spoke in a deep voice to the guards of the governor's mansion.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

The guards from the governor's mansion responded and quickly left.

The Prefectural Governor's Office of Yangzhou.

hall.

The entire hall was filled with elders of the Xiao family of Yangzhou, as well as a host of experts including Xiao Baihua, the holy maiden of Manichaeism, Master Yuanzhen, the Great Wheel King of Manichaeism, and the Eight Great Dharma Kings of Manichaeism.

"Reporting to the Master, we have officially taken over the entire Yangzhou and are ready to mobilize troops at any time to march on Lujiang County, attack Jiangxia County, and invade Jingzhou."

"With Jingzhou's current strength, there's simply no way they can withstand us!"

Standing in the hall, Yangzhou Commandant Dong Jingyun respectfully addressed Xiao Yu, the leader of the Manichaean sect, who was seated in the main seat of the hall, with his hands clasped in a fist salute.

Dong Jingyun's true identity within the Manichaeism is that of the Heavenly Tribulation Star Lord, one of the Eight Great Dharma Kings.

"Not urgent."

Xiao Yu said with a playful look on his face, "I am waiting for someone."

"What does the cult leader mean?"

Master Yuanzhen said with a compassionate expression.

"Chu Xiu!"

"Based on my understanding of Chu Xiu."

"Now that the Great Zhou Dynasty has no one to rely on, he will definitely volunteer to go to Jingzhou to take charge."

"This person is one of the right-hand men of the Empress of the Great Zhou Dynasty."

"He is the Marquis of Champion, appointed by the Empress of the Great Zhou Dynasty. If we can kill him, it will surely shake the world!"

Xiao Yu said with a confident look, "It will accelerate the division of the Great Zhou Dynasty, leaving the Empress of the Great Zhou Dynasty with no time to even care about our Manichaeism!"

"The leader is wise."

Master Yuanzhen and the others called out with utmost respect.

"Baihua, have our Manichaean spies already entered Jingzhou?"

Xiao Yu waved his hand and looked at Xiao Baihua, asking a question.

Xiao Baihua was not only a holy woman of Manichaeism, but also Xiao Yu's only daughter.

Therefore, Xiao Baihua was solely responsible for intelligence regarding both Manichaeism and the Xiao family of Yangzhou.

She held an extremely high status and position within both the Xiao family of Yangzhou and the Manichaeism.

"Reporting to the Master, our Manichaean spies had already infiltrated Jingzhou before we made our move."

"Even in the capital, I have already sent spies there."

"I will know immediately if there is any movement in the capital or Jingzhou."

Xiao Baihua said with a cold expression.

"very good!"

"Let's go. We'll head to Lujiang County now. Once Chu Xiu arrives in Jingzhou, we'll make our move."

A satisfied look appeared on Xiao Yu's face. He left a sentence and then disappeared from the hall.

"As the Lord commands!"

The crowd shouted in unison.

Dusk.

The Prefectural Governor's Office of Jingzhou.

"Your Excellency has come from afar, and I am late in welcoming you. Please forgive me."

Gu Tianhe, the governor of Jingzhou, cupped his hands in a gesture of apology to Chu Xiu and said with a look of regret.

"You're too kind, Lord Gu."

Chu Xiu smiled slightly, returned the greeting to Gu Tianhe, and said.

After all, Gu Tianhe was the governor of Jingzhou, a true regional official of the Great Zhou Dynasty, so he naturally had to give Gu Tianhe some face.

"My lord, I have prepared a welcoming banquet for you. I hope you will do me the honor of attending."

Gu Tianhe pondered for a moment, then spoke to Chu Xiu.

"Lord Gu, let's skip the welcome banquet."

"I have other matters to attend to and I'm afraid I won't have time to attend this welcoming banquet."

Chu Xiu shook his head and said.

"I wonder what business Your Excellency needs to attend to, or if there is anything I can do to assist you?"

Gu Tianhe's expression turned serious as he asked Chu Xiu.

"Lord Gu should know that a group of sects have secretly pledged allegiance to the Yellow Heaven Sect and are working for them, right?"

Chu Xiu smiled slightly and looked at Gu Tianhe.

"Of course I know."

"Could it be that Lord Marquis has already discovered these sects?"

Gu Tianhe's heart stirred, and he asked Chu Xiu.

In fact, after arriving in Jingzhou, Gu Tianhe also sent people to secretly investigate which sects in Jingzhou had submitted to the Yellow Heaven Sect.

These sects were too well hidden, and even Gu Tianhe couldn't find them.

He also dared not conduct a large-scale investigation.

However, Gu Tianhe was certain of one thing: there were definitely sects in Jingzhou that had sided with the Yellow Heaven Sect.

“Indeed, I received the news when I entered Xiangyang City.”

"In Jingzhou, two major sects have pledged allegiance to the Yellow Heaven Sect."

"These two sects are the Xuan Yin Sword Sect in Wushan, Nanjun, and the Giant Sword Sect in Qingshi Mountain, Jiangxia County."

"Before Xiao Yu makes a move against Jingzhou, I intend to eliminate these two sects together!"

"To prevent these two sects from launching a sneak attack on us while we are dealing with Xiao Yu."

Chu Xiu nodded slightly and said calmly.

"The Xuan Yin Sword Sect?"

"The Giant Sword Sect?"

"My lord, the Giant Sword Sect is a true holy land-level sect. Eliminating it will probably not be an easy task."

Gu Tianhe's eyes narrowed, and he spoke with a solemn expression.

"A single Giant Sword Sect is no match for this Marquis!"

"If I can't even handle a single Giant Sword Sect, I wouldn't dare come to Jingzhou to oversee things."

Chu Xiu smiled calmly and said.

In the Great Zhou Dynasty, only those places with experts at the Earth Immortal level could be called sacred lands.

The Giant Sword Sect, judging from its name, doesn't seem as imposing as the Profound Yin Sword Sect.

However, it is a true holy site.

Although it can only be considered an ordinary holy site, it cannot be compared with those top-level holy sites.

However, it also has a master at the Earth Immortal Realm level in charge.

In contrast, the Xuan Yin Sword Sect sounds imposing, but it is not actually a holy land-level sect; it can only be considered a top-tier sect.

The strongest member of the Xuan Yin Sword Sect was only a martial artist at the Human Immortal Realm.

"My lord, do you require me to dispatch a large army to assist you?"

After considering for a moment, Gu Tianhe asked Chu Xiu.

"No need."

"Lord Gu should have already dispatched the main force to Jiangxia County to defend Yangzhou, right?"

Chu Xiu glanced at Gu Tianhe and said.

Jiangxia County in Jingzhou and Lujiang County in Yangzhou are separated by a river.

If Yangzhou wants to attack Jingzhou, it must pass through Lujiang County, crossing the river to enter Lujiang County.

Therefore, if Jingzhou wanted to defend Yangzhou, it had to deploy a large number of troops in Jiangxia County.

"Reporting to Your Excellency, I have indeed ordered Commandant Qin to lead a large army to Jiangxia County to defend Yangzhou."

"If I hadn't known that the Marquis was about to arrive in the prefecture, I would have already gone to Jiangxia County."

Gu Tianhe nodded and said.

"Lord Gu can go directly to Jiangxia County."

"Some of my men have already gone to the Xuan Yin Sword Sect, while the rest are on their way to the Giant Sword Sect in Jiangxia County."

"After I have crushed the Giant Sword Sect, I will go there to join Gu Tianhe."

Chu Xiu said calmly.