Chapter 868: Demise of the Emperor

: xshuquge

Two Semi-Immortals had clashed furiously over the Immortal Peach, rendering the battle between the Second Prince's faction and the Meng Family completely inconsequential.

Meng Potian stood treading upon his masked acquaintance, staring wide-eyed as the armored god-man and the primordial Qiongqi battled in the sky above the Imperial City, suddenly recalling Old Ma's assessment of Lu Yang.

"Your Meng Family can buy half the Imperial City, right? Well, Lu Yang's luck can destroy half of it."

No matter how sturdily the Imperial City had been constructed, it was impossible for it to withstand the full-force combat of two Semi-Immortals.

Fortuitously, these two Semi-Immortals had not yet reached the ultimate end of the embryonic form of the Dao Fruit, otherwise the Imperial City would have been destroyed even faster.

"Defying the Heavenly Order, True and Shadow Exchange!" General Yu pointed a finger at Jin Caiwei, and her shadow gradually loomed and rose, taking her exact form, though it was merely an identical silhouette devoid of any detail.

General Yu could not only utilize his own shadow to escape mortal calamities, but he could also control the shadows of others, forcing them to attack their own hosts.

"Troublesome!" Jin Caiwei frowned; she had heard her father mention that when the Nine-Fold Immortal was a Semi-Immortal, he would frequently use this technique to exhaust his opponents' stamina, leaving them depleted by the time they defeated the shadow, making it an exceptionally difficult move to counter.

But that was only true for others.

"Get back down for me!" Jin Caiwei invoked the embryonic form of the Planar Dao Fruit, flattening the rising shadow back into a plane, suppressing it temporarily until she could slowly deal with her own shadow after the battle concluded.

Jin Caiwei patted her storage ring, and countless bone shards flew out, each polished to such an exquisite sharpness that they could sever a hair blown against them.

"Go!"

The reason she chose bone shards was because cultivators at this level mostly mastered the control of metals; using bones and other special materials as weapons could prevent such control.

Countless bone shards streaked through the sky, leaving behind a series of shocking rents in the fabric of space. General Yu performed a flourish with his spear; though the shards were numerous, he had faced far greater onslaughts of flying daggers capable of severing hair, so this level of attack meant nothing to him.

Yet the moment the Fire-Tipped Spear touched a single bone shard, the spear's tip was sliced cleanly in half, terrifying General Yu so much that he dared not resist further and fled to dodge the attack.

How could there possibly be such sharp bone shards in the world!

General Yu did not know that these bone shards had long been compressed into a plane, entirely stripped of the concept of height.

For a weapon to become sharp, its edge had to be as thin as possible, and the absolute ultimate of thinness was to become a plane with no height whatsoever.

Without an Immortal Artifact manifest, no matter how excellent the material of one's weapon was, it would be severed upon contact with these bone shards.

"Still dawdling so much over snatching a single peach."

Accompanied by a phoenix's cry, a five-colored phoenix soared across the sky, looking down disdainfully at the two Semi-Immortals fighting below.

All birds revere the phoenix as supreme, and among phoenixes, the five-colored is paramount; this five-colored phoenix was naturally Jiang Lianyi, one of the Four Sovereigns of the Heavenly Court.

"It is the Southern Pole Nirvana Emperor, Jiang Lianyi!"

The battle of the Semi-Immortals was visible to the entire Imperial City, and Jiang Lianyi's grand entrance occurred in full view of the public; anyone with even a slight interest in the Demon Realm could recognize her.

"Two of the Four Sovereigns have appeared; the world is truly turning upside down."

"Come to think of it, more than two of the Heavenly Court's Four Sovereigns have never appeared simultaneously before."

Compared to the lesser-known Jin Caiwei, Jiang Lianyi's existence was far more widely recognized.

Although General Yu's existence was also a thing of legend to cultivators, he still fell short when compared to Jiang Lianyi, whose fame had resounded across all lands since ancient times.

The crowd marveled as three Semi-Immortals appeared in the skies above the Imperial City simultaneously; since the founding of the Great Xia, a battle of such magnitude had never occurred, let alone right within the Imperial City.

"Space, lock down." Right from the start, Jiang Lianyi invoked the embryonic form of the Law of the Jungle Dao Fruit, sealing the space around General Yu.

That Jiang Lianyi could shatter space meant she herself was stronger than space, and therefore she could wield a portion of spatial power.

In the ancient era, Jiang Lianyi had clashed with the Nine-Fold Immortal before his ascension to immortality, making her far more familiar than Jin Caiwei with how to counter the embryonic form of the Yin-Yang Dao Fruit.

Against the embryonic form of the Yin-Yang Dao Fruit, attacking with Five Elements spells was futile; if you attacked him with fire, he could retaliate with water, rendering the assault entirely ineffective. A better method was to use body-tempering techniques or direct weapon attacks, though the most effective means were undoubtedly spatial or temporal measures.

General Yu was locked tight, and several bone shards tore through his waist, cutting him cleanly in half.

Jin Caiwei pouted; she had clearly held the upper hand, yet Jiang Lianyi had suddenly popped up to steal her spotlight, which was truly vexing.

Taking advantage of the grand clash among the three Semi-Immortals, Lu Yang labored exhaustingly, finally traversing most of the Imperial City until the imperial palace at last came into view.

Within the palace, the Emperor of Xia lay emaciated on his sickbed, his lips parched, with all manner of spiritual elixirs and miraculous treasures piled by his bedside, the mere aura of these objects enough to prolong a man's life.

Yet for the Emperor of Xia, whose lifespan was utterly exhausted, such remedies were completely futile.

His eyes were turbid, yet he seemed to perceive the battle of the three Semi-Immortals outside the palace, and he felt the approach of Lu Yang, who hurried forward bearing an immortal object capable of saving his life.

He strove to turn his head, but in his current state of extreme frailty, he could not even manage that simple movement and could only roll his eyes.

He knew Lu Yang desperately wanted to save him, but he also knew that he would not survive until that moment.

"We... I... still have so many things left undone..."

He had not yet universalized education, he had not yet lowered the costs of medical treatment, he had not yet cleansed the bureaucracy, he had not yet eradicated the demonic cultivators, he had not yet uprooted the ancient cultivators...

Most importantly, he had not yet designated a successor.

Yet at that very moment, Lu Yang's heartbeat quickened—no, it was not just Lu Yang, for the heartbeats of all the citizens of Great Xia accelerated inexplicably, as though some calamitous event had transpired, gripping the hearts of everyone.

A brilliant crimson light erupted from the palace, soaring into the sky like a ribbon floating through the air, resembling a lost wanderer searching for a future path.

Lu Yang wore a bewildered expression, failing to comprehend what had just occurred.

Meng Potian and Meng Kuang witnessed this scene from afar; they shared the same sensation as Lu Yang, with the sole difference being that they understood exactly what had happened.

The Emperor of Xia had passed away without designating the next heir, and without Jiang Ping'an present to soothe the power of the national destiny, that very destiny had broken free from all control and restraint.

To control the power of the national destiny, one either had to await the return of Jiang Ping'an, or a prince had to ascend the throne.

Yet neither of these paths was currently viable.

For an Immortal had appeared.

"Finally, I have finally awaited this opportunity."

A deep, resonant laughter reverberated through the heavens; by the mere power of that laughter alone, the dark clouds hanging over the Imperial City were dispersed, and the Golden Sand River that ran through the city ceased its flow.

An old man with a weathered countenance stepped through the void with his hands clasped behind his back, arriving above the palace, completely indifferent to the frightened or furious gazes below, choosing instead to gaze upon the bewildered national destiny with an ecstatic, enraptured smile.

Lu Yang and Jin Caiwei were intimately familiar with this elder, having both met him together not long ago.

It was Qi Xiuye, the Grand Chancellor of the Imperial Academy.

Yet he possessed another, far more thunderous identity and name.

The first State Preceptor of the Great Yu Dynasty, Guan Shanhai.