200: The Master gave him one foot, and the Xiling priest retreated in shock.

That clear and resonant sword hum was not loud, yet it seemed to carry a strange magic, instantly overpowering all other sounds within the main tent.

Cheng Yaojin's already wide ox-eyes widened further. He watched, dumbfounded, as the giant cross-shaped sword of light, capable of splitting him in two, stopped less than three inches from his forehead.

It didn't slow to a stop; it halted abruptly.

It was like a cavalryman charging at full speed, suddenly slammed to a stop by an invisible wall. All its might, all its Killing Intent, vanished in that instant.

Immediately after, something even more astonishing happened, nearly making his eyeballs pop out.

An ordinary-looking, even somewhat old, wooden ruler appeared out of thin air in front of the cross-shaped sword of light.

The ruler gently tapped the tip of the sword.

"Clack."

A crisp sound, like a teacher tapping the head of a disobedient student.

Then, that giant cross-shaped sword, formed from Holy Light and emanating world-destroying aura, cracked with a "crunch" right down the middle.

Immediately after, countless cracks, like a spiderweb, instantly covered the entire sword body.

"Bang!"

The cross-shaped sword of light shattered.

It transformed into a sky full of light particles, dispersing into the air as if it had never existed.

"Pfft--"

Long Qing, the divine official, was struck as if by a heavy blow, violently spitting out a mouthful of golden blood. His face, which had always carried an air of arrogance and divinity, instantly turned ashen white.

He staggered back several steps, almost losing his grip on the golden scepter in his hand. He stared in disbelief at the empty space before him, where only a ruler quietly floated.

"This... what kind of power is this?!"

He cried out in shock, his voice filled with incomprehensible horror.

His divine art came from the great Heavenly God! It was the purest, most sacred power in this world! How could it... how could it be so casually shattered by an ordinary-looking wooden ruler?!

This made no sense! It completely defied all his understanding of power!

Qin Qiong and Cheng Yaojin were also dumbfounded.

Cheng Yaojin touched his forehead; it was icy cold and covered in sweat. In that moment, he truly thought he was going to meet the King of Hell.

"Shubao... did you... did you see that?" Cheng Yaojin's voice trembled slightly.

"I saw it." Qin Qiong's Adam's apple bobbed. He stared intently at the ruler suspended in the air, his eyes filled with awe.

They, of course, knew where that ruler came from.

Changan Academy!

It was the Master, that elusive figure whom even Your Majesty treated with respect, who had made a move!

They had long known the Master was powerful, but they never dreamed he was this strong!

With just a ruler, from thousands of miles away, he had casually shattered the West Mausoleum Divine Hall's terrifying divine art!

This was no longer the work of a Mortal; this was a true Heavenly God!

"Go back."

An old yet calm voice echoed gently within the main tent, in everyone's ears.

The voice was not loud, yet it carried an undeniable authority, as if it were the ultimate truth of the world, stating a simple fact.

Long Qing, the divine official, trembled violently. He looked towards Chang'an, and for the first time, an emotion called "fear" appeared in his arrogant eyes.

He felt like a child who had just learned to walk, showing off his ridiculous strength in front of a towering giant.

The other party didn't even bother to engage him in a fight, merely using a single finger from a distant location to crush all his pride.

"You... who exactly are you?!" Long Qing demanded, his bravado masking his inner fear.

"Who I am is not important," the Master's voice remained calm. "What's important is that this is not where you belong. You worship your Heavenly God, we live our lives; we do not interfere with each other."

"Now, take your people and leave the territory of Great Tang. Otherwise, you will bear the consequences."

The Master's words sounded like a final ultimatum.

But Long Qing's fear was quickly replaced by the fanaticism and arrogance born from his faith.

He was an envoy of the Heavenly God! A divine official of the Tribunal! How could he be intimidated by a cowardly Mortal!

"A hidden coward! How dare you speak of heaven and earth!" Long Qing straightened his back, his face once again resuming its divine expression.

"You false emperor, you act against the Dao, causing demonic flames to rage! Our West Mausoleum Divine Hall, by divine decree of the Heavenly God, comes to administer heavenly punishment, to set things right, which is in accordance with the will of heaven!"

He raised the scepter in his hand, declaring in a stern voice, "Your Great Tang, with its sharp edge, brazenly annexed Liyang, slaughtered millions, causing widespread suffering! Such atrocities are an affront to both men and gods! If our West Mausoleum were to stand idly by, wouldn't we be next, like lips without teeth, and suffer the same fate?!"

"Lips without teeth?" The Master's voice carried a hint of a sigh, as if regretting the other's foolishness.

"Utterly foolish."

As his voice fell, the ruler suspended in the air moved again.

It simply, gently, tapped once more in the air.

"Clack."

This time, Long Qing and the cavalry behind him didn't even have time to react.

The space around them suddenly twisted, and the next moment, they, along with their arrogant aura, vanished without a trace from within the main tent.

When Long Qing's vision returned, he found himself back in the West Mausoleum Divine Hall's main camp.

He was unharmed.

But he felt as if he had been publicly stripped naked and slapped hundreds of times.

That deep-seated sense of humiliation was more unbearable than being killed!

Inside the Shence Army's main tent, Qin Qiong and Cheng Yaojin stared at the equally vanished ruler, unable to recover for a long time.

"Is that... it?" Cheng Yaojin murmured.

"It's over." Qin Qiong nodded, then a bitter smile appeared on his face.

The enemy they had fought so hard against, losing tens of thousands of soldiers without success, was resolved by the Master with two taps of a ruler from afar.

This enormous disparity in strength made these old generals, who had fought on battlefields their entire lives, feel a deep sense of powerlessness.

"It seems this world has truly changed." Qin Qiong sighed deeply, looking towards Chang'an with complex emotions.

He knew that the future of this world was no longer in the hands of military generals like them.

Instead, it was in the hands of the young emperor sitting on the Dragon Throne and those terrifying existences like gods and demons.

And all they could do, it seemed, was to follow.