If you die, I will be able to inherit your cultivation.

In the main hall of the prefectural governor's mansion, Zhou Ming stuffed the last bite of the biscuit into his mouth, patted the crumbs off his hands, and prepared to leave.

Today was the day he had set for him to go to the camp outside the city to inspect the new recruits' training. The horses were already waiting outside the mansion gate, and the personal guards were also ready to go.

He had just stepped across the threshold and hadn't even stepped out of the porch when he suddenly stopped.

Within the dantian, a surge of scalding heat erupted from the depths of the primordial core without warning.

It wasn't one burst after another, nor one burst after another; it exploded into a single mass, as if someone had set fire to his dantian.

Zhou Ming's expression changed instantly.

Without saying a word, he turned around and walked into the mansion.

His bodyguards wanted to follow, but he stopped them with a shout of "No one is allowed to disturb me."

Zhou Ming strode back to the side room behind the main hall, bolted the door shut, and sat cross-legged on the low couch.

This wasn't the first time he'd experienced this feeling.

On the day of the decisive battle in Anzhou, he was bathed in the same heat for a whole day and night in the side room of the commander's mansion, which forcibly pushed him to the Golden Core stage.

And now, this surge of enthusiasm is even stronger than during the decisive battle in Anju.

Zhou Ming focused his consciousness into the space between his eyebrows.

The web of cause and effect between his brows was extinguishing in patches before his eyes.

It's not that they break one by one, but that they are extinguished piece by piece.

Every moment, tens of thousands of causal chains break at the same instant, like fireworks exploding one after another in the night sky. However, these fireworks have no light; only vast swathes of darkness spread across the causal network.

Hundreds of thousands of causal chains were severed simultaneously within a dozen hours, faster than he had ever experienced before, and several times denser than in the Battle of Anzhou.

The heat flowed continuously into the dantian from the broken causal chain, and was swallowed up by the Purple Gold Pill like a whale sucking water.

The pale golden Dao patterns on the surface of the Golden Core became brighter and more complex under the infusion of magical power, intertwining and entwining layer upon layer.

Zhou Ming could vaguely see a very faint phantom forming in the very center of the Purple Gold Core.

That should be the prototype of the Nascent Soul.

However, Zhou Ming felt that he was still missing a crucial element; his magical power had reached a critical point, but he had not yet found a breakthrough opportunity.

Driven by the heat current, his consciousness expanded all the way, from less than two thousand meters in radius to three thousand meters, five thousand meters, eight thousand meters, and finally stopped at nearly nine thousand meters.

Most of the entire Yuyang County was already within the range of his divine sense.

The heat flow lasted for two whole days and one night.

The heat surged and erupted in the first few hours, then continued to flow like a torrent, and finally gradually turned into a trickle.

When the last stream of heat was completely absorbed by the Yuan Dan, Zhou Ming finally opened his eyes.

He looked down at his hands, and the Dao patterns on the Purple Gold Yuan Dan had become brighter than ever before.

The phantom of the nascent soul was already clearly visible inside the primordial core, only one final step away—just one final step away from shattering the core and forming the nascent soul.

He didn't know what this step required.

Perhaps it's an epiphany, perhaps we're waiting for one last opportunity, or perhaps even more lives will have to be lost.

Zhou Ming pushed open the door and went out.

The bright sunlight shone on his face; after being cooped up indoors for two days and one night, the outside light made him squint slightly.

The guards in the manor had been waiting outside for two whole days. When they saw him come out, they were all overjoyed and quickly brought up the official documents and military reports that had been piling up for the past two days.

Zhou Ming casually flipped through the documents; most of them were daily chores and routine reports from various camps, along with a message that had just arrived from the Northern Flying Eagles: the young lady had arrived in Yuyang County today.

Zhou Ming quickly led his personal guards on horseback towards the city outskirts. Before he could wait long, a troop of people appeared on the northern horizon, dark and dense, heading south along the official road.

At the head of the procession were two columns of light cavalry, dressed in black armor, their hooves kicking up a long gray trail as they trod on the yellow earth.

Following the light cavalry were large contingents of cavalry and infantry, their disciplined ranks and movements barely a sound, only the dull rhythm of hooves and footsteps.

Su Mingyue rode at the head of the group. She was riding a jet-black warhorse from the northern frontier.

The horse was a full half a shoulder taller than a regular cavalry horse, its mane braided into thick plaits, and its horseshoes slammed into the ground with a dull thud.

She wore a full set of jet-black iron armor, with layers of plates covering her from her shoulders to her knees. The emblem of the Northern Commander's Mansion was engraved on her breastplate, and her shoulder armor was slightly raised, like folded eagle wings.

Hanging at his waist was a long sword that was a few inches longer than Chunlan's and the others. The scabbard was as black as ink, with only a tiny character "Su" engraved on the hilt.

Helmet was held in the crook of his arm, and his black hair was tied into a neat high ponytail, which fluttered behind his head in the northern wind.

When he jumped off his horse, the clash of armor produced a crisp yet heavy thud, and the surrounding civilians and soldiers all knelt down, calling him "Young Marshal".

The group did not linger at the city gate. Su Mingyue and several of her personal maids rode their horses through the gate and headed straight back to the Marquis's residence.

Su Mingyue returned to the Marquis's residence and first went to the inner courtyard to pay her respects to her mother, Madam Zhao.

The mother and daughter closed the door in the main hall and spoke for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn; no one knows the specifics of their conversation.

Afterwards, Su Mingyue returned to the outer courtyard of Haitang Garden, sat down in the main hall, and summoned Zhou Ming to report.

She hadn't removed her black armor yet, only her helmet, and a few strands of hair were stuck to her skin by the fine sweat on her forehead.

Chunlan brought over the tea, which she took and drank in one gulp. Then she looked up at Zhou Ming.

Zhou Ming reported the situation in Yuyang County from beginning to end:

The number of new recruits has reached 100,000, and they have been organized into five large camps. They train for eight hours every day and all of them have begun reciting the "Scripture of Crossing the World".

The first batch of new recruits to enter the camp have already broken through the Skin Refining Realm.

The Sun family and several other prominent families were imprisoned, and the details of the seized grain, cloth, copper coins, and silver, as well as their whereabouts, were explained.

Personnel arrangements in all counties of the prefecture were made in accordance with the young lady's list, and the people's reaction to the new policy was stable.

At the end of his report, Zhou Ming added, "Based on my prediction, the results from the south should be available in the next few days. Please prepare accordingly, Miss."

Su Mingyue paused slightly in her hand holding the teacup.

She didn't ask Zhou Ming how he deduced it, but simply nodded quietly, then turned her gaze to the bare branches of the old locust trees in the Begonia Garden outside the window.

Another day.

The news came even faster than Zhou Ming had expected.

That morning, the cry of an eagle came from above the Marquis's residence.

Zhou Ming was reviewing official documents in the prefectural governor's office when he heard the cry of an eagle, and knew that news had arrived.

Before Zhou Ming could finish processing the official documents in his hand, Dongmei burst in like a whirlwind, her eyes red and her voice trembling:

"The young lady wants to see you."

These five words carried no extra emotion, but Zhou Ming noticed that Dongmei's hand gripping the door frame was trembling slightly.