Westheid’s vision for the Southeast Mutual Protection, to put it bluntly, was to create his own faction. He would lock down the southeast, carving out a vast territory from the Imperial border to the heartland as his personal domain.

The size of the territory was secondary. The key was population! Population! And still more population!

A population that could be converted into believers!

Westheid had his justifications, of course. This wasn’t about committing crimes and acting with impunity.

The Empire was simply too vast. As the largest nation in the Mortal World, its various regions were connected entirely by the Star Gate System. Without travel through the Star Gates, the different parts of the Empire were bound to violently splinter, with warlords carving up the land.

The Empire’s framework still existed, but it had become completely decentralized. Each region relied on its local Powerhouses for leadership, and some no longer even respected the authority of the Imperial Capital. In comparison, Westheid felt he was still half an Imperial City person and had a duty to help the Regent King shoulder the burden.

’Sigh. If it weren’t for me, I truly wonder how many people would be calling themselves emperor, and how many king?’

Westheid felt that at most, he would call himself a duke, which was rather humble of him.

As she left a hickey on Westheid’s shoulder, Rozana said:

"So in your plans, it’s not just Yuanxi Palace... Her Highness Reiya is part of it too?"

Westheid said, "Relying only on an alliance between the [Branch of Prosperity] isn’t quite enough. If an Empress Princess publicly backs us, our justification becomes much more substantial."

She was a lover who would be faithful to him until death and a benefactor who had shared her dual Tier T0 Talents with him, helping him in Defying the Heavens to change his fate. Naturally, Westheid trusted her unconditionally.

After spending some effort in a deep discussion with Rozana, Westheid finally sat down, holding his lower back, once Miss Half-Elf had left completely satisfied.

He took out a sheet of snow-white stationery, gathered his thoughts for a moment, and began his daily task.

Writing letters to Reiya. It was something the Silver-haired Princess had urged him to do time and again before she left, and Westheid hadn’t dared to forget. Even with the Star Gate System on the verge of collapse, he still had to make the effort to write.

This was not a burden. On the contrary, Westheid had been using this method to exert his influence over Reiya, offering unsolicited advice on many of her battles.

"My dearest Reiya, it has been a long time since we’ve seen each other, hasn’t it?"

"The cataclysm I once told you about has finally arrived. With the divine and mortal realms now separated, the Empire’s situation is precarious. I don’t know what your next mission is, but whatever happens, please be safe."

"Also, you might have heard that I am overseeing the southeast on behalf of the Imperial Capital. This is no easy assignment. The endless calamities and Chaos are overwhelming. Even though I have already ascended to the Legendary Celestial Rank, I still feel that my strength is not enough."

"I imagine it won’t be long before you ascend to the Legend rank yourself. I recommend you go and eradicate a Corrupted Holy Tree. The merits for such a feat are extremely generous—it’s a guaranteed promotion. After becoming a Legend, you should be granted the authority to preside over a region. If you then establish your territory in the southeast, linking it with mine... what a wonderful thing that would be!"

"Also, have you looked over the formation layouts I sent you last time? You actually have a Talent for military affairs, you’re just not very perceptive about it. I still think that artillery position could be moved five centimeters to the left."

"..."

After rambling on with a mix of what seemed like persuasion but was in fact instruction, Westheid felt it was all a bit perfunctory, so he added one last line:

"My apologies. Though I haven’t written a single word of love, I truly have been thinking of you for an entire hour."

"Love, Westheid."

Only this final line marked it as a love letter.

Duke Qinghui set down his pen, folded the letter neatly, and sent it off.

He had a dedicated Star Gate channel for contacting Reiya, allowing him to deliver the letter into her hands with the utmost speed.

All that remained now was to wait. As long as Reiya could bring her legion, the current instability in the Qinghui Territory could be easily resolved.

And then, he could finally cast these trivial matters aside with peace of mind and head to the Country of Yonglan.

...

The effects of the Chaos Shock were still unfolding. The situation in Winter Fall Province was no exception. In almost every Imperial Province near the border, one or two Little Holy Trees had fallen into a crisis of corruption. The more recently planted the Holy Tree, the more likely it was to be hit hard.

And if there were no Legendary Powerhouses nearby to exterminate them in time, these Corrupted Holy Trees would endlessly nourish the Demon Army and grow stronger themselves.

In fact, quite a few Imperial border Provinces had already met with disaster. Compared to the heartland Provinces where Little Holy Trees had grown strong for hundreds or even thousands of years, those saplings less than a century old stood almost no chance against the full force of Chaos’s corruption.

The Imperial Citizens had almost no contingency plans for this situation. In the past, the Barriers created by the Little Holy Trees and the Celestial God Law had protected them from the encroachment of Chaos. Now that the Little Holy Trees were leading the betrayal, most mortals were completely powerless to fight back. They were brutally slaughtered in an instant, converted into nourishment for the Corrupted Holy Trees.

Faced with the rapidly deteriorating situation at the border, the Imperial Center could only do its best to dispatch its limited troops as reinforcements. But this small force was just a drop in the bucket. To extinguish a Corrupted Holy Tree that had already grown powerful required either the mobilization of a grand legion for an expedition, or the combined efforts of one or even several Legendary Powerhouses.

But there were exceptions. Just as the border regions were being tacitly abandoned, one legion advanced resolutely toward the fallen territories.

「A remote Province, on the western border of the Empire.」 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Ever since the Little Holy Tree became corrupted, the sky had been covered by a thick pall of gloom. Although it never rained, the air was perpetually filled with a suffocating, heavy filth.

In an encampment on the outskirts of the corrupted land, the Legion Commander of the fallen Province trailed deferentially behind a War Knight, passing through a camp thick with a grim, martial air.

War machines and squads of elite Guards passed by one after another, but the Province’s Legion Commander was still in disbelief:

"That Dragon Blood... no, Her Imperial Highness Princess really came to reinforce us? I thought the Empire had already abandoned us..."

"The Imperial Capital did indeed intend to let the Border Provinces fend for themselves. But Her Highness Reiya insisted on coming to cleanse the corruption, so here we are."

The War Knight leading the way spoke without turning his head. At the mention of the member of the Royal Family he served, he couldn’t help but puff out his chest, as if filled with immense pride.

’The Fourth Princess?’

’The Province’s Legion Commander had heard of her. The one with mixed Demon Dragon blood, a mon... COUGH COUGH. The Divine Ancestor had endorsed her, so no one dared to utter the nickname "mongrel" out loud anymore.’

’But outward behavior was one thing, and inner thoughts were another. Even for someone who held the utmost respect for the Royal Family, he still had some reservations about a Dragon Descendant.’

’The Legion Commander himself had been a traditional Imperial Citizen, the type to go pale at the mere mention of Dragons. A princess who was one of the Dragon Descendants... It was still a bit beyond his comprehension. He didn’t know what to make of it.’

’However, with his homeland now facing a great catastrophe, the Fourth Princess was their only savior. He certainly wasn’t going to refuse her help over such a minor misgiving.’