Long Luofu couldn’t stay calm while her eyes flashed: “Bring it here.”
The middle-aged man respectfully took out the jade talisman. One female official came over to take it and handed it to Long Luofu. Her eyes turned brighter after reading the content.
She looked around and said: “All of you, leave.”
The middle-aged man and six female officials left then closed the door to the palace.
Empress Dowager Hua asked: “What’s Feng Feiyun’s message?”
“He caught Beiming Ruo at Jiang Pass, crippled her cultivation, and ordered the martial army to secretly escort her here.” Luofu said with a ruminating smile.
Empress Dowager Hua chuckled: “That bitch deserves it. We can’t let her come back to the capital alive because the royal faction might spare her due to her status as a consort. If she were to see the Imperial Sire, then there’s even less of a chance of her dying. We must kill her to eliminate a potential problem in the future. We must.”
A murderous plan inside this palace was concocted - a death sentence for Consort Beiming.
After ample preparation, Long Luofu contemplated even more. Why did Beiming Ruo go to the border? And why was Feiyun there?
A ruler needed to deduce many things from a single information and be more insightful than regular people, seeing more than just the surface.
‘Beiming Potian fled from the capital after his faction was destroyed. He managed to invite that slumbering ancestor from Nether Mound and earned the leadership over what’s left of the Beiming.’
‘He is a brilliant talent fueled with hatred on top of possessing three counties in the northeast of Clearsky Prefecture - Mulberry Mound, Destiny, and Falling Shell. That’s more than 480 cities ranging over 30,000 miles. The Beiming is certainly weakened but they have hidden forces and spies everywhere in Jin. Even though we have sent a kill decree, we still can’t find all of these hidden experts.’
‘He’s doing everything to topple Jin, recruiting armies and forming alliances. I’m sure he’ll march for the capital in a few years.’
‘Beiming Ruo probably wants to form an alliance with a big tribe in Jin, but why was Feiyun there? Where has he been this last year?’
She held the arm of her throne while murmuring to herself: “Ask the Grand Preceptor for government affairs, the Grand Servant for anything else.”
This was a piece of advice left behind by her father. She thought of it and instantly disappeared from the palace.
The next second, she merged outside of the Highest Shrine.
The door slowly opened as if the person inside knew that she would be visiting.
This shrine contained the avatars of the various emperors, a forbidden ground of the royal clan. This was her first time actually entering the area. It looked empty and didn’t have a ceiling at the very top, looking just like a yellow sky.
An old man sat beneath a massive avatar, burning incense and murmuring while looking quite solemn.
He wore a white ceremonial robe. This was the Grand Servant, the title of the imperial tomb keeper.
There was no leaving once taking this job so he would never leave the shrine. This was everything to him now.
“Your Majesty, today isn’t a ceremonial day, you must have something important to ask?” He placed the three burning incense sticks onto the tripod. Smoke continued to linger in the air.
Luofu felt something unfathomable from this man. She doesn’t know his age but her father told her that this old man has already looked like this since his reign.
She stood with a perfect posture and an impeccable aura: “I want to know what happened recently in Ancient Jiang and what will happen soon.”
The servant brought over a cauldron filled with water. He pulled up his sleeves, revealing a pair of young hands not in tune with his age and carefully washed them.
Next, he cut his wrist and blood flowed into the cauldron. Strangely enough, this liquid was white.
The clear water also turned white and emitted plenty of white smoke. Next, the entire cauldron was white and started shaking loudly with metallic clanking.
He leaned in towards the opening for a good listen. His old face became more serious before suddenly getting on his knees and bowed his head towards Luofu: “A bloody disaster is coming. A heretical supreme has appeared in Ancient Jiang with enough pressure to affect the capital.”
“Which one?” Luofu asked.
“The Heretical King, Beacon, has escaped from Bronze Cauldron Mountain.”
Luofu has naturally heard of this title before. This king was famous in the same generation as Empress Long Jiangling, invincible since 1,800 years ago. Who wouldn’t be afraid of his second coming right now?
Was this really the end for Jin? Stopping the usurpers was difficult since destruction seemed to be the heaven’s will.
“I, your servant, will use everything I have to see if I can eliminate this Heretical King.” He stood up with a red glow in his eyes.
He stretched out both hands and the entire shrine suddenly erupted in a thunderous manner. Nine gongs rang at the same time and quaked the capital.
The avatars in the shrine shot out two rays from their eyes. They looked like golden dragons and started coiling around the servant. His decrepit body suddenly grew to seven meters tall.
His jade-like hands touched the cauldron. A majestic power from within shot to the sky.
This was a blinding beam illuminating the capital. It pierced through the void and started flying towards Ancient Jiang.
***
The old man in gray stood on top of a peak; his eyes fixated at the capital. Suddenly, the horizon turned white in a blinding manner with auspicious clouds incoming. No one could open their eyes.
Inside the white clouds were dragon roars carrying enough force to make the mountain range tremble.
A massive dragon claw slashed downward.
The cultivators near Jiang Pass could feel this oppressive pressure as if it was the end of the world. People started fearing for the worst.
The old man gazed at the incoming slash and laughed loudly: “Grand Servant, you’re still alive after so long? I’ll send you to hell then.”
Lightning currents surged around him and began spreading to the area nearby, culminating in a palm just as big as the incoming claw.
The currents weaved together into runes depicting beautiful mountains and rivers. It was as if the entire world was within this palm. It successfully crushed the dragon claw.
“Boom!” The beast bellowed pitifully inside the receding clouds.
Suddenly, someone else joined in.
Clear Sky Prefecture - the location taken over by the Beiming. An ominous sword slowly flew out of a burial mound and directly slashed the clouds. A second scream came from the dragon.
Grand Southern Prefecture, the Feng Clan. Feng Mo smirked inside his palace and unleashed a fist the size of a mountain. Evil fog appeared with murderous intent. The fist also slammed into the clouds, nearly blowing away the whole thing.
In the border between Central Royal and Grand Southern was a city taken over by Violetsea Corpse Cave. A king among Corpse Kings, entirely purple, was floating on a pond filled with blood. It spewed out enough miasma to fill the sky.
The white beam still made it back to the shrine in the capital. Alas, it was extremely faint now.
“Ugh…” Grand Servant’s body shrank back to its original size. He vomited a mouthful of white blood and nearly fell to the ground.
Long Luofu wanted to help him but he waved his hand and shook his head. There was sadness in his eyes: “The dragons devouring the sky… there is no saving this. Jin has lasted for six thousand years but our fate and providence are coming to an end… Cough… I have suffered backlashes from these dragons and don’t have much longer to live, only three years… I can guarantee three more years for the court…”
Luofu felt an unprecedented weight on her shoulder that nearly took her breath away.
Grand Servant wiped the blood from his lips and became shiny with a spiritual glow. He regained his composure again but unfortunately, he aged visibly. His hair turned white and his skin dried up. Even his youthful hands became full of wrinkles with the shade of wood.
He shuddered and said: “Earlier, I caught a glimpse into the heavenly order during the chaos, I saw a phoenix screeching in Ancient Jiang. It rushed into the sky and seemed to be devouring the dragons. According to my calculation, that phoenix has the same astronomical coordinates as His Excellency, the Divine King.”
“A phoenix in Ancient Jiang devouring the dragons…” Long Luofu had a complicated glint in her eyes.
After leaving the shrine, she immediately ordered: “In the name of the court, establish the Supreme Divine Sect as the national sect. Start an altar in each city and recruit missionaries to spread the holy name of the Supreme Goddess. May my will be done.”