Chapter 616: Moths to the Flame

Chapter 616: Moths to the Flame

The judgment regarding Xia Longyuan’s cultivation was something Wang Daoning had deduced from hints gleaned through maritime encounters.

At that time, the Eternal Heavenly God had spoken thus to Xia Longyuan: "You unified the realm solely to experience the process of ruling it, using it as a stepping stone to break through the Imperial Realm. Now that your dominance over the mountains and rivers is absolute and the realm is broken, you no longer bother to maintain it. It is as if the unification of the world was merely a key; once the door is opened, the key can be cast away..."

And then another line followed: "But Xia Longyuan, you are wrong... To treat your own gate of gods and demons with such a mocking and irreverent attitude, discarding it like a worn-out shoe after crossing over, you will inevitably suffer a backlash. You attained the Way because you ruled the realm; when the realm is no longer within your grasp, your foundation will surely fall into chaos."

Xia Longyuan had offered no rebuttal... for that was the truth, and sophistry would only invite ridicule.

Yet, by common logic, a Way already attained cannot regress because of such matters; once a river has been crossed, even if the bridge is destroyed, one does not return to the opposite bank.

However, because of his injuries, he had precisely retreated back onto that very bridge... which made things rather delicate.

Wang Daoning contacted the heads of the various aristocratic clans, and after due deliberation, their collective judgment unanimously deemed the plan feasible!

Thus followed the machinations of the various factions, such as inciting the Tang family and Wan Tianxiong’s group to declare independence. True independence would of course be ideal, but even if it had not yet been implemented, it mattered little; where there is intent, action will follow. Once it reached the point where "everyone on the street knew of it," it had already served a great purpose. Did Jiangnan listen to Tang Buqi, or to Xia Longyuan? The hearts of the people had already naturally chosen their side.

If one were to add the Four Swords Array of their respective clans, which symbolized the mountains and rivers of the mortal realm, then it would truly be a rebellion of the entire world.

When Xia Longyuan completely lost any concept of "ruling" over the empire, what then?

That was still not enough.

The mountains and rivers possessed spiritual veins. The reason Xia Longyuan had chosen to establish the capital in this location, rather than the traditionally suitable Chang'an or Luoyang, was because the earth veins of this world had a subtle difference from the norm—while all other geography closely resembled the actual world, only Beimang had been shifted to the far north. That was where the ancient Azure Dragon had suppressed the dragon vein, perhaps dreaming of a day it might revive, or perhaps for other reasons; in short, only the location closest to Beimang was most suitable for establishing a capital. Combined, it became the current imperial capital.

With the protection of the earth veins of the mountains and rivers, from the perspective of Daoist metaphysics, it meant that "the portents of a fallen dynasty had not yet arrived." At the very least, he could flee, and with Xia Longyuan’s strength, he would make a comeback sooner or later.

But Yu Xu stepped in and severed the dragon vein.

Once, Yu Xu might have believed that gods and demons could not die, and that no matter how much one schemed, it was meaningless... Xia Longyuan was clearly one of them. Apart from withdrawing from the world to observe, what else could be done? But as soon as the Blind Man’s new chapter of the Chronicle of a Chaotic World was released, though Yu Xu’s attitude toward the gods and demons behind it remained unknown, Xia Longyuan’s halo was extinguished in his eyes first.

It was still not enough.

Because the fake had been maintaining the imperial court, a portion of the more traditionally minded ministers and subordinates believed that His Majesty had actually committed no great wrongs and was quite diligent. He could hardly be called a tyrant, nor did he indulge in female charms. The so-called execution of the Crown Prince was simply absurd rumor. Though there were a few blunders, to speak of sins too numerous to record was truly uncalled for. Traditionalists would instead feel that it was all the rebels throwing the realm into chaos, while His Majesty was rather innocent.

Coupled with the fact that ministers loyal to him, represented by Tang Wanzhuang, maintained their positions—with a certain group of people remaining solely because of Tang Wanzhuang—the number of officials, scholars, and martial artists who still acknowledged Xia Longyuan as the master of the Great Xia was actually quite substantial.

Thus, Xia Longyuan combined the dragon qi of the palace earth veins to forge his own miniature sky, merging his body with it to become omnipresent.

Yet, beneath that single command from the fake—"The Tang family plots treason, exterminate their clan"—it was entirely ruined.

To say there were no great sins, well, did not the sin just arrive? To say there was something binding them together, had not the binding rope been personally severed?

Even Zhao Changhe knew that providence reflected a trend; when a blood-collapse was inevitable in the trend, the dragon qi of this place would disperse, without needing to wait for the news to spread. Strictly speaking, this Imperial Ancestral Temple no longer quite belonged to Xia Longyuan, because the imperial palace and the ancestral temple were not personal private property; they were instruments of the state, requiring the recognition of the people to possess meaning. If no one recognized them, it was merely a scenic attraction.

When Xia Longyuan shirked his duties and found a substitute to attend the court in his stead, he could never have imagined that one day the most critical blade would come from this very person’s hand—and it was virtually a dead end, unless he broke through the siege right now and announced to everyone that the man was an impostor, which might still offer a chance for redemption!

A dragon-shaped fist intent charged straight toward Yang Jingxiu beneath the high platform; Xia Longyuan had taken the initiative to attack!

This was perhaps the first time he had become "anxious" since his cultivation had reached fruition.

Li Shentong took a step forward, meeting him with an identical straight punch.

If it was said that "My Fist" was the most fierce and unyielding fist under heaven, then the Divine Brilliance Wind and Thunder Palm of the Divine Brilliance Sect was the most stable defensive palm. Unlike the defense of the Black Tortoise, what they relied upon was... the defense of the physical body!

"Boom!" The fist intents of both sides collided, and a terrifying explosion erupted. The clothes on Li Shentong's body instantly vanished, revealing sinewy, steel-like flesh covered line upon line with scars over his entire body—at least a hundred times more than Zhao Changhe’s.

Subduing dragons and taming tigers, divine might blazing bright!

He withstood this punch from Xia Longyuan, retreating a mere three steps!

Everyone felt a great surge of relief; after this sequence of coordinated blows, Xia Longyuan was indeed weakened, weakened by a great margin!

At the exact moment the fists clashed, four divine swords simultaneously erupted with brilliance, converging into a radiant divine light that shot straight toward Xia Longyuan's back—this was the gathered strength of rivers and mountains!

Ying Wu extended his palm and transformed it into a claw. The space of the battle suddenly felt restricted and collapsing; it was actually the Way of Space! He had not even used it during the battle against Xue Wu. Whether he had held back at that time or made progress recently was unknown; in short, this strike was his bottom-of-the-barrel ultimate technique!

Li Gongsi and Yang Jingxiu silently drew backup treasured swords, piercing straight from left and right toward the sides of Xia Longyuan's neck.

A phoenix cry echoed in the air as surging, torrential flames burned down from the heavens; Vermilion Bird had arrived!

No one had the leisure to gossip about her; in a battle of this caliber, a single lapse of focus meant death!

The number of people seemed inferior to those who had surrounded and attacked Xue Wu, but the level of elite quality could be said to have more than doubled. If one factored in the sword array, Yu Xu who had severed the dragon vein, Wang Daoning who was currently operating outside, and Hai Pinglan who had served as the catalyst to wound Xia Longyuan... it was practically Xia Longyuan alone facing the entire Heavenly Ranking of Great Xia!

The only one missing seemed to be the Snow Owl? In such a grand gathering, where was he?

...

At this moment, before the Imperial Study.

Qin Dingxiang’s attempt to seal her acupoints had failed. He did not dare look at Tang Wanzhuang at all, stepping back with a rather flushed face: "Chief, I..."

Tang Wanzhuang said calmly: "You were obeying a sovereign's command; I do not blame you."

Qin Dingxiang bowed his head in shame, then muttered in a low voice: "This doesn't really count as a sovereign's command..."

"It seems you know he is a fake?" Tang Wanzhuang smiled helplessly: "But others do not know, and it is not as if my single word declaring him an impostor would be of use. That is far too fantastic, incapable of winning people's trust. In the eyes of the world, this is real."

Qin Dingxiang opened his mouth but stopped. The true Emperor is not someone you can kill; if you go in right now and sever this fellow's head, it would actually prove he is a fake. However, what Tang Wanzhuang said before was also not wrong—public opinion was controlled by the hands of the great aristocratic clans. They could easily find some excuse about His Majesty being wounded, framing it as Tang Wanzhuang assassinating the sovereign, and the hearts of the Great Xia people would collapse just the same. This was a deadlock.

The only correct solution lay in the fact that Xia Longyuan must be under siege at this moment. If a powerhouse of Tang Wanzhuang’s caliber participated, there would be a certain probability of influencing the balance of victory and defeat. As long as the true Xia Longyuan emerged, everything would be solved at its root.

Tang Wanzhuang glanced left and right. Qin Dingxiang dared not move again, and even the surrounding guards, seeing her gaze sweep over, bowed their heads and retreated. Tang Wanzhuang stepped forward to leave, and nowhere she passed did anyone bar her way; such was the extent to which she held the hearts of the people.

Inside the Imperial Study, the fake who dared not show his face gnashed his teeth: "Tang Wanzhuang! Your family is still in the capital; do you truly wish for their clan to be exterminated here?"

Tang Wanzhuang smiled disdainfully and flew away directly.

Far away at the Tang family estate, a group of imperial guards rushed into the residence: "By imperial decree, apprehend the rebel Tang family! Those who resist shall—uh?"

Before the words could even finish, they discovered that the Tang family estate, which had been bustling this very evening, was entirely empty of people; even a dog had been carried away by Baoqin.

How had they disappeared so silently? The migration of such a large family without making the slightest stir... this only proved that Tang Wanzhuang had long foreseen this moment. She had arranged for her family to leave in disguise and in separate batches at least three days prior to achieve such an untraceable disappearance.

This was a ruthless figure who had spent a lifetime contending with the demonic sect and foreign tribes in affairs of the martial world, pressing down on Vermilion Bird and Maitreya until they were extremely uncomfortable. She had no recourse for the decay of the empire, but in terms of experience and wisdom within the martial world, Zhao Changhe, who claimed to be able to investigate cases, was merely a younger brother before her.

Yet, knowing full well that the danger stemmed from the palace, she had evacuated her family in advance, while she herself entered the dragon’s den and tiger’s lair without a backward glance.

As Tang Wanzhuang was flying through the air, a sigh drifted down from the sky: "If Chief Tang surrenders to me, you shall be enfeoffed with ten thousand households..."

Before the words could finish, the Spring Water Sword flashed. A shimmering brilliance skimmed beneath the moon, charging straight toward the approaching figure on the flank: "Marquis of Zhenhai’s kind intentions are noted by Wanzhuang!"

With the unsheathing of the sword, that sickly and weak aura steadily climbed. By the time the sword-light reached Wang Daoning, he was facing Tang Wanzhuang who had unsealed three layers of her secret treasuries.

"Clang!" Wang Daoning caught the Spring Water Sword with just two fingers, sighing softly: "Why must you do this... By unsealing three layers of your secret treasuries, you have at most one hour left to live... Yet this Marquis has already broken through to the Imperial Realm; your trump card holds absolutely no meaning. It remains but moths to the flame... Is all of this truly worth it?"