Zhou Ming sat cross-legged inside the Immortal Cave on West Mountain, continuing to comprehend the Formation Jade Slip left behind by Emperor Liu Jun.

Outside the cave, the night wind wailed, while inside, it was pitch black. His mind had completely submerged into those complex and profound Formation patterns.

Meanwhile, the events in Fengdu City began to ferment at an astonishing speed during the very night Zhou Ming spent in seclusion.

Flying eagles carrying messages scattered from Fengdu City, crossing the Gobi and hills of Liangzhou, the plains and mountains of Youzhou, and soaring across the border into the heartlands of Great Yuan and Great Yan.

Within a radius of a thousand miles centered on Liangzhou, spies from various factions received the secret reports almost simultaneously.

The content of the secret reports was brief yet explosive.

"An Immortal has appeared in the world, choosing three disciples to bestow longevity upon."

"He who gains the world shall receive the first; he who is the bravest among the three armies shall receive the second; he who possesses unparalleled wisdom shall receive the third."

Three paths, three tickets to longevity, laid out clearly before everyone in the world.

Wherever the news traveled, factions reacted differently, but without exception, no one could sit still any longer.

The first to become restless were the warlords and outlaws on the borders of the three kingdoms, those who lived life on the edge of a blade.

In western Liangzhou, the bandits entrenched at Qishan Pass mustered all their troops that very night.

Taking advantage of the moonlight, they launched a surprise attack on two neighboring county seats, expanding their territory a full hundred miles eastward overnight.

Their reasoning was simple and brutal: to contend for the world, one must first swallow up the rivals nearby.

Similar scenes played out simultaneously in dozens of counties around Fengdu City.

Factions large and small, like spinning tops whipped by the same lash, turned from dormancy into frenzied aggression.

Fierce generals vied to request battle, eager to achieve merit, wanting to win the title of "Bravest Among the Three Armies" on the battlefield.

Strategists secretly defected to the staff of various feudal lords, offering plans and strategies, hoping to use their wisdom to surpass the masses and seize that third ticket to longevity.

Within the borders of Youzhou, the news was also swiftly delivered to Yongning City at the first opportunity.

Empress Su Mingyue sat in the study of Begonia Court. The secret report that Qiuju had just untied from the messenger eagle's leg was clutched in her hand, and she read it word for word.

She remained silent for a long time, placed the secret report on the desk, and picked up her teacup to take a sip.

A deep and heavy undercurrent churned in the depths of her eyes.

It was ambition, and it was unwillingness.

It was the suppression of having spent a year hacking through thorns and bathing in blood, only to have her entire layout disrupted by a group of Blood Refining Realm Martial Artists crawling out of cages and her own resurrected father.

And now, the Immortal promised that the one who unified the world could attain longevity.

This was equivalent to adding the most fatal temptation to her path to becoming an emperor.

She did not need others to tell her how dangerous this temptation was; she only needed to know that she must never let anyone else snatch this opportunity away.

Meanwhile, in the camp of the Northern Border Army, Old Marquis Su Yongning also received the same secret report.

The Old Marquis's reaction was more direct than his daughter's.

He slapped the secret report onto the desk, stood up abruptly, mustered a squad of elite soldiers that very night, and rode straight toward Yongning City.

However, what Empress Su Mingyue did not expect was that less than three hours after she had just put down the secret report from Fengdu City, another piece of news struck Yongning City like a thunderclap, catching her off guard.

The reservoir in the mountain ravine west of Yongning City had suddenly collapsed last night.

The reservoir water had drained away completely overnight, and the bottom, which had originally been submerged in deep water, was now exposed to the summer sun.

The villagers living nearby gathered their courage at dawn and went down to the bottom of the reservoir, wanting to see if there were any fish washed down by the water for them to pick up.

As it turned out, what they saw was not fish, but a giant boulder.

The boulder was completely round and weighed tens of thousands of pounds, standing steadily in the silt at the very center of the reservoir, as if thrown from beyond the heavens by an invisible giant hand.

Eight large characters were carved onto the surface of the stone, each character several inches deep, with strokes as sharp and fierce as iron paintings and silver hooks.

"The sun and moon hang in the sky; the earth and the origin unite in virtue."

Empress Su Mingyue put down the secret report, and a moment of distraction appeared on her usually calm and composed face.

"The sun and moon hang in the sky." Ming.

"The earth and the origin unite in virtue." Kun is the earth, the mother, the virtue of gentleness and obedience.

"Uniting in virtue" means the resonance between heaven and man, a virtue that matches heaven and earth.

It was self-evident who these eight characters pointed to.

First, there was the appearance of the Divine Phoenix, which descended from the sky on the night she returned to the city to be welcomed.

Now, there was a giant boulder emerging from the water, breaking through the dam on the eve of her receiving the news about the Immortal.

Two hints, two manifestations of Heaven's will, all pointing to the same person.

"Is Heaven's will with me?"

This thought emerged from her mind almost uncontrollably.

But she immediately shook her head, suppressing this thought.

She already knew that the previous appearance of the Divine Phoenix was a trick played by Zhou Ming, so what about this time?

Could it also be a trick played by that guy?

But thinking about it calmly, this was almost impossible.

Zhou Ming had gone to the Endless Forest half a year ago and had not returned since, with no news of his whereabouts.

Furthermore, that was a boulder weighing tens of thousands of pounds, with a volume comparable to a small hill.

Even if one were to pick a dozen of the strongest Martial Artists from the Blood Refining Realm, they could never move this stone intact from another place, let alone quietly stuff it into the center of the reservoir.

Transporting such a giant boulder would leave behind tracks, logs, and rope marks along the way, requiring at least dozens of people to cooperate; it would be impossible not to alert anyone.

Given her control over Yongning City, she believed that no one could hide anything from her informants.

Apart from Heaven's will and divine miracles, there was no other explanation.

Besides, since the Immortal had already appeared to take disciples, the occurrence of a divine miracle was not something unacceptable.

Just as Empress Su Mingyue was pondering repeatedly in Begonia Court, the area around the dam had already been surrounded, packed tight with people.

The first to arrive were the villagers from the bottom of the ravine, followed by government runners and spies from noble families who had heard the news and rushed over on horseback from the city.

Then came more and more curious commoners, gathering into an increasingly dense crowd.

People stood on the edge of the dried-up reservoir bottom, looking up at the ten-thousand-pound boulder standing in the center of the silt.

They looked at the eight large characters on the stone surface, which were as sharp and fierce as if carved by a knife.

At first, there was silence, the hesitation when exchanging glances, and the cautiousness of having guessed the meaning but not daring to speak it out loud.

Until someone in the crowd, no one knew who, spoke a sentence very softly and carefully.

"Young Commander."

These two words were like a spark falling into a haystack.

"The sun and moon hang in the sky; isn't that just the character 'Ming'?"

"The sun and moon hang in the sky, Empress Su Mingyue?"

"The earth and the origin unite in virtue; Kun is the earth, the mother, the virtue of gentleness and obedience; uniting in virtue means the resonance between heaven and man, a virtue that matches heaven and earth—isn't this referring to..."

Someone gasped, swallowing the second half of the sentence, not daring to continue.

Since ancient times, one had only heard of male emperors ascending the throne; one had never heard of a woman proclaiming herself emperor. Could this really be Heaven's will?

The onlookers looked at each other in dismay. Some rubbed their eyes hard, wanting to see clearly if there were any traces of human chiseling on the characters on the stone surface.

Some pinched their own thighs, suspecting they were still dreaming.

The news was too explosive, so explosive that everyone present felt their brains were not quite enough to process it.