"Even if I know the one who made the offer was an impostor, I might as well confirm it with them for good measure.." muttered Yang Qing as he took out his communication talisman.

"I wonder if the king's grandfather has already been healed? Might as well confirm that too...Who do I call first.." said Yang Qing as he touched his chin in contemplation.

"The king it is.." he added after coming to a decision.

"Branch Chief Yang Qing.."

Yang Qing's eyebrows raised slightly as he detected the excitement in the king's tone.

"King Zhou Luan, it seems like your grandfather's situation has been dealt with."

"Hahaha, not yet, but I got a call that someone will be coming today. I can't thank you enough for your intervention. If there is anything me and my kingdom can do to assist, we would not hesitate to offer it.." King Zhou Luan passionately said.

Yang Qing couldn't help but sigh at the level of enthusiasm being shown by the king. The mountain of pressure that King Zhou Luan had been dealing with was perfectly evident given how he had rid himself of his calm persona and outrightly revealed his emotions.

"If they are sending someone today that is good. It should give you some breathing room.." Yang Qing said with a teasing tone..."

"More than you can imagine.." answered King Zhou Luan with a mirthful tone.

"How can I help you, Branch Chief? I have a feeling you didn't call just to check up on the situation of my grandfather?"asked King Zhou Luan with his tone turning solemn, absent of the earlier enthusiasm.

Even with his grandfather potentially making a complete recovery, the situation still wasn't looking good for his kingdom.

King Zhou Luan knew his grandfather's presence could maybe quell the internal situation of the Deer Mountain Kingdom, but the matter outside of their kingdom was another matter altogether.

No matter how skilled his grandfather was, handling a spirit beast that was already at the peak of the palace realm wasn't something he thought his grandfather could easily solve, especially considering that spirit beast was about to breakthrough into the palace realm. And if you added the domain-level master of said spirit beast, then the situation was untenable.

Other than that, there were also the remnants of the previous war to consider. As people who had built their foundations from fighting against spirit beasts, everyone from the Deer Mountain Kingdom knew how resilient they were. It was that resilience that prompted the people of the kingdom to be just as resilient if they were going to survive them.

Though the citizens may know tidbits and rumors here and there, King Zhou Luan knew for a fact that there were survivors from the war back then, and with their huge lifespans and vitality, they would likely heal from those injuries given enough time, despite how severe they may have been.His biggest worry was the volcanic stone ape. That spirit beast had been the trigger of that war and the reason for the failure of the expansion attempt by the Deer Mountain Kingdom back then, though with the recent discovery, King Zhou Luan knew they were doomed to fail, they were even lucky that they never made it into the territory of the fire adler bear or his master.

The fire adler bear and his master aside, the volcanic stone ape was worthy of worry from him as it had been the one that personally killed the king back then and his royal guard. Despite being surrounded by over a dozen palace realm experts and only being at the sixth stage, it thoroughly decimated their ranks. It had an almost perverted affinity to the earth and fire element which gave it extraordinary defenses, great regenerative abilities, and powerful attacking capabilities and speed.

After encountering it, the king and his chief royal guard were the only ones who managed to escape it, but not completely as they both succumbed to their injuries months later and their escape cost the lives of 23 palace realm experts and the destruction of a top-tier monarch grade artifact.

That beast filled with vengeance and anger relentlessly followed them back and singlehandedly attacked the array for four days without stopping. Its actions drew the attention of other spirit beasts who joined and in just a week they were swarmed with other terrifying spirit beasts aiming to tear their kingdom apart.

The energy powering the array was so rapidly drained that the kingdom sacrificed the outer territories to concentrate it in the core regions, and eventually, even that got difficult to sustain as they were forced to give up a few core regions. When things got extremely dire they eventually pulled the array and used it to trap the volcano stone ape and threw everything they could at it including the self-detonation of a few cultivators.

It sustained heavy injuries from the onslaught and looked to be at hair's breadth away from death's door, but it managed to escape, and they never heard from it since.

Most assumed it died with the injuries it sustained, but his grandfather who had seen what that beast was capable of, always operated on the wary notion that it was still alive.

He wasn't the only one, as every king since then, including Zhou Luan always operated under that notion and thus continually kept scouting the area around the range for any signs of its existence. It was from that prudence that they discovered the trail of the Blue Soul Flame Crow Syndicate by accident.

Recent information from the Order brought a few ideas into King Zhou Luan's mind. The fire adler bear's master had left for parts unknown, the badger who had monthly duels with the previous Zhang family head also left the range. Who is to say that the same didn't happen to the volcanic stone ape?

It may have left to go strengthen itself out there. While the fire adler bear attacking them wasn't necessarily guaranteed, King Zhou Luan did not doubt in his mind if his guess was proven true that the volcanic stone ape had gone to strengthen itself in the wider continent, it would definitely attack the moment it decided its strength was sufficient.

Who knew how powerful it would be when it came back? The kingdom wasn't as powerful as it was then. It had single-

handedly pulled them down during their golden age, what would it do now that they were nothing but a husk of their former selves, and unlike then, they were not as united as back then.

Would the kingdom as it was now, fight to the last man, woman, and child if asked for it as it was back then? or would they jump ship the moment they saw things were about to take a turn for the worst?

While he didn't want to believe it, he increasingly felt the odds of the latter happening were much higher. He had already seen traces of the Song family and a few other minor aristocratic families crafting their exit strategies.

"No need to overthink it now, at least Grandpa will be there to share the burden. With his connections, we might be able to weather through this.." King Zhou Luan thought with a sigh as he tried to raise his spirits.

He had spent centuries being pessimistic and flooded with worry that it had slowly become second nature to him.

"King Zhou Luan? King Zhou Luan? Are you there?"

Hurriedly composing himself King Zhou Luan answered,

"Sorry Branch Chief Yang Qing, my mind had wandered slightly."

"It's okay, so the thing I was calling was in regards to something I stumbled onto from a case I was handling today.."

Yang Qing went on to describe the arrangement made to the Xin Clan, Hua Clan, Flowing Fist Sect, and the Moon Essence Cauldron Sect, by the person who Yang Qing guessed had probably been impersonating the imperial secretary and wasn't the person himself.

He also didn't leave out the part about the suspected impostor telling the four organizations about using blood crystals from the graveyard torch as a viable option for them to grow their strength.

"Whhhat?! How could something like that happen?!..." King Zhou Luan suddenly said with clear agitation in his tone.

"Sorry for my outburst, please give me a second to call He Shan.." added the king.

Barely a second passed by before a frantic-sounding He Shan sounded over the communication talisman.

"Brrranch Ccchief Yang Qing! I swear I made no such offer. I admit I do roam about the range to source for potential talents to poach for the Kingdom but I would NEVER suggest them using the graveyard.

I would not do it, your Majesty. That is no different than sending the kingdom to an early grave which is something I would never do.

Please believe me!"

Yang Qing heard King Zhou Luan's calm voice saying he believed him before he decided to add his comments too.

"I believe you too, Imperial Secretary. But clearly, there is someone out there using your name to do these things and they are likely within your walls and no doubt a palace realm expert.

They must have known your routine of regularly recruiting people and likely even the terms you offer.

If it all went to plan, you likely wouldn't question a palace realm offering to join your kingdom. With the dire straits you're in, you'd likely receive them with open arms and not wonder too much how they were able to reach the threshold of the palace realm.

A planted bomb.. as for the reasons, I wonder about that..considering the reputation you built with the spirit beasts of this place, if they learned someone within your ranks had desecrated their hallowed grounds what would be their reaction?

Earlier I had been operating under the notion that someone within your midst was working with the Blue Soul Flame Syndicate to gain some power so that they could gain the seat. You were a suspect too, King Zhou Luan, but with what I know now, I don't believe that is the case.

Whoever it is, they are not interested in the throne, they more than likely wish for the destruction of your kingdom.

Why they would do that, I have no idea. Be careful a dangerous element lurks within your kingdom.." Yang Qing solemnly said.