"The Rule Array Hub?"

In the silence, Gu Zheng spoke softly. "The key to the Ancestral Land’s entrance became the Rule Array Hub, so you destroyed it?"

"That’s right!"

Wu Sanli laughed heartily. "Haha, you truly live up to your name, Gu King."

Still laughing, he turned his head to look at the others. "Without the key, do you little mutts still think you can enter the Ancestral Land?"

Silence.

Everyone, including Jiang Hanshan and the others, remained silent.

The Domain was indeed disappearing.

This proved that the Rule Array Hub had truly been destroyed.

But whether the object destroyed was actually the key to the Wu Family’s Ancestral Land remained to be seen.

’What if Wu Sanli is lying to us?’

’What if he’s just saying the key was the Rule Array Hub on purpose?’

Then again...

Gu Zheng was back now. Whether it was a lie or not didn’t seem to matter anymore.

’With Gu Zheng here, do we still think we can snatch the key?’

’In our dreams!’

"...Gu King, we have other matters to attend to. We will take our leave now!"

The leader of the contingent from Jing Country was the first to bow to Gu Zheng. Then, he respectfully backed away, turned, and left.

"We also have matters to attend to. We hope you’ll excuse us, Gu King."

"..."

Seeing this, the others quickly followed suit, all bidding their farewells.

More than a dozen groups of people withdrew in short order.

The few remaining Imperial Guards looked left and right before turning tail and fleeing themselves.

The CLANG and CLATTER of dropped weapons echoed across the ground.

Gu Zheng paid them no mind.

Wu Sanli didn’t bother with them either, letting them escape.

Only after everyone had vanished did Emperor Zhou take a long, deep breath, turn to Gu Zheng, and bow respectfully once more.

"My deepest thanks, Gu King!"

"...It’s nothing," Gu Zheng said calmly. "Was the Rule Array Hub really the key to the Ancestral Land?"

"It really was the key."

Wu Sanli’s expression turned serious. "On the third day after the Domain opened, I discovered the key had been selected to become the Rule Array Hub," he said solemnly.

Generally speaking, after a Rule Array Hub is formed, high-level Demon Fiends will stand guard nearby.

However, with the Inverted Mountain Range from the Demon Realm hanging suspended in the air and Gu Zheng standing guard below it, the Demon Fiends had no chance to descend.

This allowed Wu Sanli to hold onto the key, which was the Rule Array Hub, without any issue.

Gu Zheng had been tossing down the corpses of Demon Fiends from the sky for the people of Taiping City to eat.

Wu Sanli had been watching closely.

Taiping City was short on food, so naturally, the more edible Demon Fiend corpses, the better.

Wu Sanli watched as the number of Demon Fiend corpses dwindled day by day, and he had planned to destroy the key on the seventh day.

Who would have thought that Jiang Hanshan and the others couldn’t wait and would storm the imperial palace?

He had no choice then but to destroy it ahead of schedule.

...

"There actually aren’t many treasures in the Wu Family’s Ancestral Land,"

Wu Sanli continued. "The things we collected in the past were either traded away or lost. The only real treasure in the Ancestral Land is the ’Pupa Pool,’ and that thing can’t be moved."

"The Pupa Pool, indeed. But you said treasures were lost?" Gu Zheng raised a brow.

"Yes. To our family’s misfortune, the Wu Family had a traitor five hundred years ago," Wu Sanli explained calmly. "During that betrayal, our losses were severe. Thirty percent of the Wu Family’s disciples died."

"Of course, that’s all in the past now. No need to dwell on it."

After a pause, Wu Sanli lowered his voice. "The key has been destroyed, so our Wu Family Ancestral Land is inaccessible. However, our family’s secret records note the approximate location of an unowned Spirit Realm. If you are interested, Gu King, you could go and look for it."

"An unowned Spirit Realm?"

Gu Zheng’s interest was piqued. "This unowned Spirit Realm... was it discovered by your Wu Family? And you never managed to find it?"

"To be precise, three families know of this unowned Spirit Realm’s existence, but none of us have ever found it," Wu Sanli explained. "Unowned Spirit Realms are not fixed in place. They move on their own, which is why it’s never been located. Of course, the fact that our three families were always keeping each other in check also played a part. None of us wanted another to acquire a second Ancestral Land."

Gu Zheng nodded.

It was true that Spirit Realms were not initially fixed; they were merely anchored to the mortal world.

Being "unowned" meant that after forming naturally, they existed in a free-floating state.

Gu Zheng hadn’t known this at first.

It was only when Xu Jianzhu was instructing him and happened to mention the relationship between Domains and Spirit Realms that he learned this: unowned Spirit Realms were not fixed, whereas Ancestral Lands were locked to a specific location in the mortal world.

In this process, the Domain of a King’s Body realm expert played a crucial role.

Simply put, one used their Domain as an anchor point to link with an unowned Spirit Realm, then locked that Spirit Realm to a location in the mortal world, turning it into an Ancestral Land.

During this locking process, a key would be formed.

Only when one held the key was the Spirit Realm considered a Noble Family’s Ancestral Land.

Otherwise, it remained unowned.

And since it was unowned, with its gateway open, anyone could naturally enter.

But because it wasn’t fixed, entering an unowned Spirit Realm was a matter of luck.

...

"Where is this unowned Spirit Realm?" Gu Zheng asked.

"To the west of the Celestial Gate Mountain Range," Wu Sanli answered directly. "The exact location is impossible to determine. For over two thousand years, this unowned Spirit Realm has been drifting back and forth over there."

’West of the Celestial Gate Mountain Range?’

’That’s not far from Jing Country...’

Gu Zheng grew thoughtful and asked, "Besides your Wu Family, which other two Noble Families know about this unowned Spirit Realm?"

"One is the royal family of Jing Country, the Zhong Family. The other is the Nine-Life Ice Demon’s family, the Han Family," Wu Sanli replied. "The Han Family wants to obtain this unowned Spirit Realm the most; they’re the most proactive about it."

"The Zhong Family? The Han Family?"

Gu Zheng understood. After a moment of contemplation, he said, "Thank you."

"Haha, you’re too kind, Gu King."

Wu Sanli quickly waved his hand. "Let’s not even talk about how you intercepted the Demon Fiends when the Domain appeared. Simply killing all of them to feed the people of Taiping City is an act worthy of our deepest admiration. If thanks are to be given, it is we who should be thanking you. Thank you, Gu King, for protecting Taiping City! On behalf of everyone in this city, I, Wu Sanli, kowtow to you in gratitude!"

As he spoke, he bent his knees and knelt directly on the ground, facing Gu Zheng.

WHOOSH—

Gu Zheng dodged a step ahead, his figure soaring into the air.