Zhou Ming first formed a hand seal, wrapping himself in a layer of mist.

Then, he took out the pitch-black longsword he had forged and channeled his magic power into the blade.

The next instant, a dim light lit up on the sword's edge.

He flew toward the most prominent stone wall in the valley.

This stone wall was as smooth as if it had been shaved, directly facing all the iron cages; anyone who came out of the cages would be able to see it at first glance.

Hovering in mid-air, Zhou Ming used the sword as a pen and the stone as paper, carving the three thousand characters of the Dushi Sutra deep into the wall, stroke by stroke.

Where the sword tip passed, stone chips fell in a flurry; every character was carved several inches deep, the strokes vigorous and sharp.

After finishing the carving, Zhou Ming carved eight large characters at the very top of the scripture: "Read the book a hundred times, and the divine technique will reveal itself."

When he first wrote these eight characters in the Marquis's study, he had been filled with hesitation, but now, carving them onto the stone wall was a familiar task.

After carving the last character, Zhou Ming sheathed his sword and flew back to the sky above the valley.

Releasing his Divine Sense, Zhou Ming controlled the black longsword with his Divine Thought, transforming it into a streak of black light that darted rapidly among the iron cages.

Where the blade passed, iron chains as thick as an adult's arm snapped in response, the cuts as smooth as a mirror.

Starting from the outermost cages, he slashed them one by one; over two thousand chains were severed, and the falling broken chains made dull, clattering sounds against the dirt.

Next were the iron bars of the cages; the Flying Sword swept across, slicing them all clean through.

The Martial Artists imprisoned in the iron cages slowly stood up.

They looked down at the remaining halves of the chains on their ankles, then raised their heads to look at the figure hidden in the mist in the sky, and finally at the scripture on the stone wall that was faintly glowing with golden light.

Some had lips that trembled violently, while others had their knees go weak, causing them to collapse to the ground.

Some gripped the edges of their cages, trembling as they stepped out of the prisons that had held them for who knows how many years.

The moment a foot touched the soil, the person would collapse to the ground as if all their strength had been drained, their hands clawing deep into the mud as they wailed.

Zhou Ming did not leave any words behind.

Those who could survive until now were not fools; they had been rescued from Hell by a mysterious powerhouse capable of killing the person who had imprisoned them for years with a single palm strike and severing all their chains with one sword.

With a scripture whose golden light had yet to fade carved on the stone wall before them,

they would naturally go to look, to read, and to practice according to the "Read the book a hundred times, and the divine technique will reveal itself" written above.

The only subtle problem was Marquis of Yongning.

Zhou Ming's Divine Sense swept across the area below; Marquis of Yongning was standing by a broken iron cage.

One hand gripped an iron bar, the other braced against his knee, as he panted heavily.

His gaze was fixed intently on the scripture on the stone wall, the expression on his face extremely complex.

He recognized this scripture.

The Dushi Sutra.

Of course he recognized it.

When the Madam of the Marquis's residence, Lady Zhao, had sent this scripture via eagle post to the Northern Border Army camp, he had personally read through it.

How could he not recognize it?

But Zhou Ming was not worried; if he didn't practice it, there were plenty of others who would.

Who among those who walked out of this valley alive would refuse a power that could allow them to take revenge on the enemies who had imprisoned them for decades?

And who could refuse a Cultivation Technique left on a stone wall by a "more powerful Immortal" who could easily kill an "Immortal"?

So what if Marquis of Yongning recognized the Dushi Sutra? Would he not practice it?

He had personally witnessed his enemy being reduced to a mist of blood by a palm strike descending from the sky.

And the figure standing above that blood mist had now carved this scripture onto the stone wall before him.

Once these people learned the Dushi Sutra and walked out of this valley, they could still be considered powerful figures in their own right.

More than two thousand Martial Artists at or above the Blood Refining Stage, combined with the magic power bestowed by the Dushi Sutra, plus the monstrous resentment accumulated over years of imprisonment.

One could imagine with their toes what would happen after they returned to their respective countries.

The world would likely be thrown into chaos once again.

But chaos was exactly what Zhou Ming wanted; the more chaotic, the better.

The more chaotic it was, the more people would die.

The more people died, the more Causal Chains would break.

The more Causal Chains broke, the faster the cultivation in his Dantian would grow.

Once these two thousand-plus people dispersed and returned to Great Xia, Great Yuan, and Great Yan,

they would be two thousand walking fuses.

Taking one last look at the Martial Artists stumbling out of their cages below,

Zhou Ming stored the black longsword into his Storage Ring, turned north, and flew back toward the mountain range that stretched across the heavens and earth.

As he flew, Zhou Ming quickly calculated the subsequent situation in his mind.

Marquis of Yongning was not dead.

The variables brought by this matter were truly too great.

The Northern Border Army had been built up by Marquis of Yongning himself; from the captains to the deputy commanders, which of those officers hadn't spent most of their lives slogging through the wind and snow of the Northern Border with him?

In terms of prestige, seniority, and the hidden network of connections within the army, while Empress Su Mingyue was formidable, she was, after all, only his daughter.

After Marquis of Yongning returned alive, who would those veteran border generals listen to?

Would they listen to the old Marquis, or the young commander?

This was not a problem that could be summarized simply by the depth of father-daughter affection.

Su Mingyue wanted to ascend the throne; she had begun laying out this game of chess the day she took Youzhou.

But now that Marquis of Yongning had returned from the dead, this game had gained an extremely heavy variable.

Su Mingyue couldn't exactly fight her own father for military power in front of the entire imperial court, could she?

Yet, letting her hand over the empire she had worked so hard to conquer to her father was not her nature either.

When the time came, would Marquis of Yongning ascend the throne, or would Su Mingyue?

However, these were not the most urgent problems for now.

The most urgent matter was that after Marquis of Yongning returned, he would definitely tell Su Mingyue one thing.

Emperor Liu Jun was dead.

The founding Emperor, Liu Jun, was already dead.

He had died in the valley deep within the Endless Forest.

Crushed into a mist of blood by the palm of a mysterious person.

And what would happen once Su Mingyue learned this news?

She had remained motionless before, delaying her move against Emperor Yongchang,

all because she knew from Grand Duke Su that the founding Emperor was still alive.

She was afraid that Liu Jun, that living fossil, would return at some unknown time.

Now, once she learned that Liu Jun was dead, that mountain pressing down on her head would completely collapse.

Thinking of this, Zhou Ming suddenly felt that Marquis of Yongning's return might not be entirely a bad thing for Su Mingyue.

At the very least, Su Mingyue needed an eyewitness to personally confirm the news of Liu Jun's death, and that person happened to be her own father.

While Marquis of Yongning's return alive would certainly create a certain check on Su Mingyue's military power, he would also be the first to tell her:

The founding Emperor is dead; you can rest easy.

As for whether Marquis of Yongning could make it out of the Endless Forest alive, that would depend on his own fortune.

A Blood Refining Stage Martial Artist who had been locked in a dungeon and drained of blood for half a year,

the difficulty of crossing the Endless Forest, where Yao Beasts roamed, alone, was not small.

Zhou Ming did not look back at the direction of the valley again; he collected his thoughts, looked up at the mountain range stretching out before him, and continued flying westward.