From ancient times, there was a very vast kingdom located in the east of the Mu continent, spanning many hundreds of years. During the first 300 years, the continent was unified under the rule of a single king, a Soul Transformation Great Immortal (lv 999). This was also a period of a thousand years of peace for the continent; throughout these thousand years, there were almost no major wars. This was the time when Great Immortals, Great Saints, and Great Deities continuously ascended to the Immortal Realm. When these people had nearly all ascended, the balance of power became unstable. The later generations (descendants of the mighty cultivators) were inferior to those before them in both talent and virtue; therefore, they did not submit to one another, and there was no one to mediate. Conflicts gradually grew, leading to the split from one large country into many smaller countries.

  The Soul Transformation Great Immortal (bearing the title Sage of Jade Mountain), after his sublimation, left behind his mount, the Jade Qilin (lv 999). He did not ascend with his master but remained in the Mortal Realm to mediate for his master's descendants. Thus, every time the Jade Qilin appeared, the entire land would have a period of peace with no war for many years, but he could not prevent the separation of the great nation. The Great Nation was divided into two large parts:

  

  
1. V??ng qu?c B?c Th?n (The North Sun Kingdom), where the greatest power and strength were concentrated, ruled by a strict and authoritative king continuously for the next 300 years, waging war and attacking various places to expand the territory to its maximum. North Star was the ancestor of the (B?c ??ch) Northern Nomads, who were later destroyed along with another powerful empire in the North. The consequence of the war was that this land became desertified, making it very difficult to live and develop.


  
2. V??ng qu?c nam ng?c (The South Jade Kingdom), where the people were gentle and loved a peaceful life, so they accepted becoming a colony of North Star, paying annual tribute to obtain peace. But when the North Sun Kingdom disappeared, the South Jade Kingdom split into smaller kingdoms such as Tay Lang (West wolf), Nam Man (South barbarian), ??ng ??o (East Island), and Trung Ng?c (Central Jade, Jade kingdom).


  

  Because they all regarded the Sage of Jade Mountain as their ancestor (their ancient forefather was a Great Immortal), they collectively worshipped the Jade Qilin as a Sacred Beast. All kings, when meeting the Jade Qilin, had to prostrate as a way to show respect to their noble ancestor.

  After stabilizing T?n Thành (Move Forward City), the Doanh Th??ng Hi?n (Prince Hien, Virtuous Prince) continued to the north to build a hardened metal mining area there to bring back to the Jade Kingdom. He chose a spacious place and built a granary for trade, turning a village on the border of the Jade Kingdom and the Northern Nomads into a place frequented by many people. He was always careful, forcing everyone in the grain and hardened metal transport team to dress like the West Wolf Kingdom; he prioritized those who worshipped the White Wolf Forest Great God in his merchant group. Since the Northern Nomads hated the people of the Jade Kingdom, they could rob the transport team at any time. The Prince Hien did business honestly, without price-gouging or fraud, and with no competition, so he quickly became wealthy and was loved by the Northern Nomads. For many years, he did not return home, becoming acquainted with more than fifty tribes out of the one hundred and twenty-eight Northern Nomad tribes. He did not view them as enemies but as brothers in a family, integrating and living together to better understand their culture.

  Many times, the Prince Hien joined the Dragon Hunter Guild to find wild dragons, as they often hunted the horses, goats, cows, and sheep of the Northern Nomads for food. One time, the Prince Hien saw a Long M? (Horse Dragon, a horse with one horn, dragon scales on its body, and color dragon scales is jade-green) walking on the water. The dragon hunting team laughed loudly and said,

  "A Divine horse! Whoever conquers it is free to take it home."

  The Long M? is considered a descendant of the Jade Qilin, also representing nobility and peace, and is a Spiritual Beast according to the culture of the Northern Nomads. Everyone immediately postponed the dragon hunting plan and switched to catching the divine steed. They divided up to surround it, and one by one tried their strength to climb onto the horse's back to conquer it. But they were thrown down one after another; it intentionally did not stomp or kick these people. They immediately understood it was no ordinary horse, but had awakened its Spiritual Intelligence and possessed wisdom. It appeared to test who was worthy of being its master.

  The Prince Hien heard the voice of the system, a dry and emotionless sound:

  "The Ancestor has deposited Divine Virtue for you to upgrade your account to VIP 11.

  The Ancestor continues to deposit Divine Virtue for you to upgrade your account to VIP 12.

  The Ancestor selects a new talent,

  the title Sainted Virtuous King (the king who brings peace to all nations),

  increasing attraction to all Divine Beasts and Spiritual Beasts,

  increasing the chance of taming, and increasing the chance of being blessed."

  Hearing the system speak like that, the Prince Hien was very surprised and thought: "What does the title Sainted Virtuous King mean? Why choose this title? Ancestor, what do you want me to do?"

  The system sent another notification: "This is a message from the Ancestor: 'Because you care for many people, you are also granted much. Be a mediator.'"

  While he was thinking, the Long M? stood before the Prince Hien. It bowed its head in greeting and then raised one front leg like a stirrup for the Prince Hien to climb onto it. After running a large circle through many villages and many tribes, it let the Prince Hien climb down and then ran away and disappeared. From then on, the reputation of the Prince Hien became even greater; all tribes knew of him. Ancient legends began to appear about a saint who brought peace and prosperity to the nations. All those signs pointed to the Prince Hien, resembling the Great Immortal, who was also the common ancestor of them and the Jade Kingdom.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Two years later, the weather turned cold to the point that grass could not grow, causing the Northern Nomads to suffer and starve, as most people were livestock farmers and grass was the main food for the herds. Hunger caused people to lose their morality; the tribes began to rob and kill each other for the last bits of food. Many tribes began to ally with each other, forming a large army to move south to plunder.

  The Jade Kingdom immediately sent Grand General Vuong Bach Tien, the Northern Guard General, to the battle, along with his son, Deputy Commander Vuong Khac Dich, to command the entire battle. Commanding the most elite unit of the Northern Guard was the Pegasus (flying horse) unit, Aeris (a student of the Prince Hien's father), with more than 3,000 troops. The logistics team was the Mac family, along with many talented generals experienced in fighting the Northern Nomad army. At this time, the Prince Hien had also returned to the country as a minor general, commanding a thousand cavalry.

  The war took place over many months with many wins and losses, but these were only probing battles to test each other's strength. Both sides hid their most elite troops, waiting for the decisive battle to deploy them. Both sides decided to hold a talk to establish a ceasefire and propose necessary agreements to avoid a total war. Both were very tense; everyone wanted the benefits for themselves and would not yield at all, making the talk almost fail.

  The Prince Hien was outside at this time; because he was so disappointed—he loved both sides as he viewed them as close brothers and friends, especially his Northern Nomad friends—it was very difficult for him to strike these people on the battlefield. The Northern Guard General knew this, so he called him out of the meeting room, forcing him to accept any result of the meeting, whether war or peace.

  At that moment, the Long M? suddenly appeared, rising from the water, wearing a sword at its side engraved with the image of a Long M?, and on its back was a stack of books made of waterproof paper. It slowly approached the Prince Hien, raised its leg, and invited him onto its back. The Prince Hien followed. it ran around the two military camps, causing all the soldiers of both sides to be amazed and run out to see; even the commanders in the talk had to stop and run out to watch.

  It stopped at a vacant plot of land and then unloaded the books from its back. The commanders ran over and saw that the Prince Hien, with the help of the system, understood without needing to read and began to explain to those reading about the laws of heaven and earth, about the weather, the seasons, the cycles of eras, the 500-year heavenly tribulations, and the thousand-year heavenly tribulations.

  That information was very good and mysterious, but not practical because no one could verify it; there was no concrete evidence, and it had nothing to do with the current war. But the respect for the Prince Hien was there; he no longer represented the Jade army but represented a third power—a mysterious and powerful force called the common Ancestor of the two kingdoms, a powerful Sage of Jade Mountain who rode the Jade Qilin (the high-level evolution of the Long M?), flew into the sky, turned into a being of light, and disappeared. The Prince Hien stood between the two sides and tried to mediate; the Long M? followed him step by step, and the Long M? divine sword also flew with him to protect him. The generals of both sides were afraid of the terrifying power radiating from the Divine Sword, so no one had the thought of attacking or opposing the Prince Hien.

  He relied on the weather forecast information, confirming that next year the weather would be good and grass would grow everywhere, advising the Northern Nomads to wait patiently. He proposed that the Jade Kingdom provide food for the Northern Nomads, but the Jade Kingdom refused; this was no different from the Jade Kingdom losing and having to pay tribute, which was a great insult to the Jade Kingdom. The Prince Hien proposed that the Northern Nomads write an invoice to borrow grain, to be paid back next year. The Northern Nomads laughed loudly; spending only a piece of paper for food—a promise was enough. They agreed immediately. This agreement was like a one-year ceasefire agreement, satisfying both: one side needed material value (grain) and immediate food, and the other side needed spiritual value (acting as the older brother helping the younger brother).

  The next year, the weather was better, just as the Prince Hien had said. The Prince Hien then asked the King of the Jade Kingdom to reduce the debt for the Northern Nomads and sent a message to the North, requesting them to pay the debt with animal fur and hides, which the Northern Nomads had in abundance in every house. They then transported these things to the Prince Hien.

  The King did not need these animal furs, so he gave them to the Prince Hien. He turned them into leather armor and cold-proof coats in preparation for winter, gaining a large profit. With a series of commercial actions and transparency in his methods, he attracted a large number of merchants from other countries to his small city for trade, turning his small city into a trading center with diverse industries. Because he clearly understood the weather—when it was a good year and when it was a bad year—he conducted hoarding or selling based on that. He made it public to other merchants, so they also gained great profits.

  But not every Northern Nomad tribe accepted the current situation; they found robbing for food much more comfortable and easier, so they sent a letter asking for grain. But along with that, they pulled more than 200,000 troops to be ready at the border; if the opponent refused, they would pull the army out to attack Tan City and loot the city—this was no different from a threat. This made the Prince Hien angry because of the ungrateful people who took advantage of others and repaid kindness with enmity; they truly could not be forgiven. He immediately sent someone with a letter to the Northern Guard General for reinforcements, determined to fight a life-and-death battle with the opponent.