Being sincere, Wu Guang did not care at all about the war itself. He wanted his friends to be safe and that was already a fact considering the declaration of the war conclusion. As for details? He simply considered them unneeded knowledge. Still, it did not mean he did not listen to Chen Jiahao, no, on the contrary, he did listen carefully. At least to get an overall feeling of how safe and stable would be the plane in the near future.

The entire war could be resumed in five parts or steps.

The preparatory one, which Wu Guang knew as he was present on Half-Island, where most of the initial clashes happened. He did not know, as neither did the Empire, that the Sect was playing both sides, nevertheless, the fights and incidents were true, and he knew of them.

The Eagle invasion, during which most of half island was lost and Wu Guang had been in the Wildlands. This part was not something nice to listen about, as regretfully both the Qiu's and the 'Leaf Shadows Sect' fell without much combat, being eaten by internal issues and an abundance of traitors. This was also the saddest part of the war, with not even a single survivor, mortal, or cultivator found in the lands that had been previously densely inhabited.

The four expeditionary forces, which had landed on Fiery Island, Green Pastures, Flaming Sun Island, and Eagle Island at the same time.

Fiery Island was embroidered in their inner conflicts, and so the ten thousand soldiers from the Black Empire swept over ruins and battlefields, effectively ending all squabbles and taking the island by force.

Green Pastures or the powers that controlled it simply surrendered to the Empire as soon as they saw the army, and so the island was controlled by the empire without a single loss from any side.

Flaming Sun Island, or better said the 'Flaming Sun Sect' did resist, but with their elites and almost all elders trying to land on Holy Island, it fell with neither a hard nor glorious fight, being simply too weakened to truly resist.

As for the Eagle Kingdom, the expeditionary ten thousand worth army from the Empire met with failure to take over. And not even the presence of a Warrior Lord managed to do anything more than allow them to hold a small base. It wasn't unexpected though, with the defense held by the Crimson, strongest, army of the Kingdom. Still, their second objective, in case of not being able to meet the first one, was complete. The elites of the Crimson Army tied, opening a path for a full-strength landing.

The fourth part of the war was the attempt by the Kindom to occupy Fiery Island and Green Pastures with the forces of the White and Green armies respectively. But either by bad timing, or the Empire managing to catch all of them, no spies reported the presence of the Imperial own armies on the islands. Albeit one could expect a difficult battle considering the almost parity in forces, the Empire had an overwhelming advantage on the waters thanks to the formation ships, which allowed them to break the approaching fleets far from land, and so, both armies were eliminated while the Empire suffered losses less than a tenth of their numbers.

And the fifth, conclusive phase of the War had mostly taken place during Wu Guang's convalescence. With only the last battle taking place right at the moment he confronted the Sect.

If Wu Guang regretted missing something, it was this last part. After all, the Empire had committed practically all of their cultivators to this and even called for the assistance of the Floating Nation ships. Which surprisingly turned out to be... actual forces of the Empire, as well as their ears and eyes during the last 87 years or so.

An enormous fleet, containing an army of over 70 thousand had been sent off, divided into three units. The biggest one was led by Chen Jiahao, and it was the one that cleared Half-Island, as well as occupied the Eagle Kingdom Capital. The two smaller ones, had different tasks, with one being sent to eliminate once and for all the danger of the 'Flaming Sun Sect' main forces, which were sieging the 'Holy Light Monastery' and the other one to provide aide to the previously landed forces, as well to eliminate the Crimson army of the 'Eagle Kingdom'.

***

"Senior, so you were in charge of the battle against King Ying Aoxian?"

"Yes, I was in charge of it" Chen Jiahao simply nodded.

"And?" Wu Guang truly wanted to hear the details, after all, wasn't the King supposedly one of the strongest cultivators on the plane? One that was on the same level as the Emperor? So how could Chen Jiahao, which albeit a 1st level Warrior Lord was far, very far from reaching such a level battle and win?

"Hah, I know what you are thinking! How could this old man win against the King, if the latter should be far stronger?"

"..."

"Don't answer, even I would ask the same question in such a situation. Still, the answer is very simple, I never fought King Ying Aoxian"

"Huh? What happened?"

"The one to battle the King was no one else than General Luan, and he killed the madman"

"!"

The truth was that everyone, including the man himself, considered Chen Jiahao landing just a way to encircle the King, preventing him from leaving the White Palace. From there, the Emperor was supposed to take the field and fight the King. It wasn't like if the King could not be encircled by the several Warrior Lords of the Empire and then killed, no, the true reason was symbolic. The Kingdom had participated, and in their own words won the war against the Islands war. That also included the depiction of how the Emperor was on dire straits while fighting against the King, omitting the fact that the King was helped by another Warrior Lord cultivator, the Flaming Sun Sectmaster, as well several other notable characters.

But in the end, the symbolism was sacrificed in exchange for the fealty of one of the strongest cultivators on the plane, the Crimson General Luan Zhi.

The protector of the Kingdom, as well martial brother of the King decided to change sides, and the Empire received him with open arms. Not that one could blame either side for that after knowing the details.

Previously one of the advisors, then turned Prime Minister, Kiang Shu, had manipulated the entire Kingdom and when the General discovered it, made that the general was taken care of. Officially it was just an assignment to guard the King and the throne, but in the ned, by the hands of no one else than the King he swore brotherhood too, Luan Zhi ended restrained and chained to a pole in the sewers of the city.

***

"I can't understand why did the King agree to such a thing. Or why the General decided to kill him with his own hands" As these events were spoken about, Wu Guang voiced his questions.

"Neither did I until the General explained, and presented proof of his words"

"About?"

"That all the prophesies, almost miracles coming from the Venerable All-Seeing were simple lies"

"What?!" Wu Guang could not help to exclaim. After all, were not most of them confirmed even by the Empire?

"Hahaha, your reaction is the same as my own at that moment, after all, I was the one to confirm the rumors about this so-called prophet" Chen Jiahao laughed wryly before turning serious and beginning to explain.

Kiang Shu was of common birth and had achieved his position as an advisor because of the hundreds of favors he had done to advisors, politics, class, and even the Wang family of the Black Eagles. Favors that at least could be considered evil, simply being a bunch of kidnapping, assassinations, and other vile acts, including the full extermination of a branch family during a power fight.

As soon as he had gotten his position as one of the dozens of advisors and clerks that prepared the speeches for the true power-holders of the realm, the four advisors of the King, Kiang Shu decided that it was just too low of a level for him. And so, he began offering his favors, as well other services to everyone in the Palace. And either because of his connections or just because a power-hungry and truly active advisor was better than the mumbling old bags, Kiang Shu managed to ascend and become one of the four. But that was not enough for him, and so he decided to become the prime minister, the 2nd man after the King. Not that he did not want to become the first man in the Kingdom, but that would be impossible with all the true martial cultivators around, and so he settled down on a plan to make him hold all the power, and not be the target of anyone.

He analyzed dozens, hundreds, thousands of reports from the men he gathered along his path, and created prophesies. Prohepsies he sold to the King as coming from a mysterious hermit, one that called himself the Venerable All-Seeing.

He also did not avoid dirtying his hands to make his prophecies true, and one of such instances became the breaking point for General Luan.

The General had reached his post after serving the Kingdom for almost sixty years, and his cultivation reached the 2nd level of the Warrior Lord realm just a few years ago. Making him not only the strongest non-ruler cultivator of the plane but also the strongest in the Kingdom itself. For strategic and political reasons, some of this had been obscured, and everyone except the King and his aides considered him the 2nd after the King, a 1st level of the Warrior realm cultivator.

Not that it did affect him in the slightest, as he had a sister married to the King, and at some point, he became the uncle of the first prince as well. His position was akin to unmovable, and the first prince grew stronger and stronger under his tutelage, one that the childless and unmarried general was happy to provide.

Regretfully, one of the prophesies that the Venerable All-Seeing had presented was that the first prince will fail to reach the Warrior realm. And Kiang Shu made sure to interfere, crippling the poor prince in a so-called incident.

No one had even suspected that the sudden surge of natural energies was provoked by someone, and so, the 2nd prince was the one to reach the Realm a couple of years later, confirming the prophecy. But lies always get discovered at some point, and so, Luan Zhi had somehow found it out, provoking the incident that led to his prophesized betrayal, one that the King had decided to prevent by his hand. And with the use of poison during a strategy meeting dinner.

Ironically, the prophesy indeed turned out to be true, with General Luan turning on the Kingdom, and fighting King Ying to death.

***

"And what about the plane's expansion? Was it all a lie as well?"

"Half of it was"

"Half? Does senior mean that it will happen?"

"Yes, it will. And probably it will indeed center on the South, just not in three years, and surely not in the middle of the Eagle Kingdom"

"And how did this minister find out such information?"

"That's..."

"Something that can not be revealed?" Wu Guang asked with a wry grin.

"No, it's just something that we, the Empire vassals, would prefer to never mention"

"Oh, it's from the previous war greatest criminal?" Wu Guang connected the dots and asked.

"Yes, it's part of what he had found out and the used as barter for his safety. Not that we can be sure of the reason behind him sharing anything like that"

"I see. Let's not discuss it anymore then"

"Thank you"

"No, please don't thank me, Senior. You have already revealed to me far more than someone not truly part of the Empire should know"

"But you are part of the Empire!" Chen Jiahao rebuked, before adding in a lower voice

"At least if you acknowledge it yourself"

________________________________________________________________________

A few other details were revealed over the following talk, one that ended just a day and a half later, with the herbs and pills meant to heal Wu Guang's arrival.

These details varied, with a full recount of victims, which ascended to half a million mortals, most of them on Half-Island as well thousands over thousands of cultivators from both sides.

And some of these details were about the missing hostiles, now declared enemies of the entire plane like Kiang Shu, who disappeared during the battle, or Elder Di, the only member of the entire Sect's council not accounted for. The latter being missing surprised even Wu Guang, as he was sure that the man had been present during the heroic funeral organized by the Sect. But after digging through his memories, he indeed could not recall seeing or sensing the man starting from the moment he revealed himself.

***

"Before you start the healing process, allow me to pass you one of the rewards you must accept" Before leaving Wu Guang alone with the Medicine Grandmaster that had still not revealed his name, Chen Jiahao suddenly turned over and said.

"One that I must?"

"Yes, it will help you recover, as well fulfill the agreement with the local remaining cultivators, one of passing it to you"

"What is it?" One could not blame Wu Guang for being curious about this reward, with how cryptic was the explanation.

"You are now hereby the only person allowed to dispose of the Pocket realm in the Wildlands. If you want to invite anyone, fine, but only if you truly decide to share the resources and stored qi inside"

"But weren't the Clans in possession of half the rights to it?"

"It's the decision of the Clan Chiefs, which all survived thanks to you"

"I..."

"You just accept. I'll come again after you are healed, and then we will move out"

"Move out to where?" Wu Guang cautiously asked.

"Obviously to the ceremony of your lordship over the Island!"

"Hah?!"

"Yes, no way to avoid it" Chen Jiahao sternly said before widely grinning while adding

"From there, you will probably be free to do whatever you want, including leaving the plane, so just bear with it!"