Chapter 886: Heavy Responsibility

Standing at the central position where Mount Torch Dragon once lay, Emperor Haozun raised the Xuanyuan Sword over his shoulders and thrust it into the ground.

Torch Dragon had destroyed the imperial palace, while the magnificent imperial garden was melted into lava and later solidified into a flat rock mass. As Emperor Haozun began to chant a spell, Liangzhu’s defensive formation was activated once again.

The ground rippled like soft rubber while the 108,000 bronze pillars that had once been used to imprison Torch Dragon burst into a blinding glare at the same time. With them as the center, formation diagrams that were as beautiful and dazzling as peony flowers lit up. The world was instantly filled with strong black and red lights. Wu Qi and the others felt that they could hardly maintain their balance, so they hurriedly flew up into the air.

The earth began to move, slowly rising into ridges and hills like melted wax. Mountains were gradually growing out around the huge pillars, and later, joined into ranges, with valleys and lower hills between them. Heavy rain came pouring down from the sky; the water converged into rivers between the mountains and hills and then lakes and deep ponds. In the end, even the few large seas in the distance were filled to the brim.

Several hours later, the imperial garden, destroyed by Torch Dragon, was restored to its original state. Tall, magnificent palaces and pagodas rose from the ground across the wiggling mountains. As any random rock found in You Xiong Plain was a rare spirit stone or fine jade in the outside world, every part of these buildings contained an enormous amount of natural energy, glinting brilliantly under the sunlight.

After that, from Emperor Haozun’s sleeves came flying out countless colorful glowing specks, the seeds of exotic flowers and plants. They took root and sprouted as soon as they landed on the mountains and hills. The place was abundant with natural energy, and even the rainwater contained rich wood-element energy. Hence, the seedlings grew crazily, with branches and leaves shooting out endlessly.

A day and a night later, the vast imperial garden was again covered with dense forests that were hundreds of feet high. Exotic flowers and plants were everywhere, and spirit herbs like ganodermas, ginsengs, sealworts, and fleece-flowers thrived under the towering trees. Apart from the fact that these spirit herbs were not as old as those that had been destroyed, everything looked the same as before, and the buildings appeared to be even more luxurious and magnificence.

Mount Torch Dragon was replaced by a huge mountain. A twisting path wound around it and up to the mountaintop just like in the past, leading into a palace that was ten times larger than the previous You Xiong Palace. Infinite natural energy poured from the sky into the new great hall like a great waterfall.

The remaining subjects of Great Yu, merely a hundred thousand of them, burst into cheers while Emperor Haozun’s figure slowly vanished. According to their ranks, the crowd marched into the great hall, paying their respects to their emperor who was sitting on the throne. After going through so many things and witnessing Great Yu suffer such a great loss, everyone felt relieved when they saw their emperor return unhurt. They felt as if they were strong enough to face any challenges now.

One by one, King Yang Shan and the other kings of the council stepped forward and told Emperor Haozun what had happened over the past few days.

The emperor nodded noncommittally. After listing to the report, he sneered, “I have seen these things with my own eyes.” He laughed as he shook his head and said, “King Bai Shan, you were only a temporary substitute for this title. You will return it today!”

After King Bai Shan was killed, Emperor Haozun had picked an idle king from the imperial clan to temporarily take the title. In the turmoil of the past few days, the king’s performance had not been satisfactory. He had only been dawdling on the side, and the emperor had seen all that with his own eyes. With the decree, the king bowed slightly and retreated into the rank of idle kings.

The great hall was silent as death. Everyone knew that the titles of the eighteen kings of the council were fixed. No matter how the other titles changed, the titles and powers of the eighteen kings would not change. Now that Emperor Haozun had ordered the king to resign from the title of King Bai Shan, did it mean that he was going to choose another person to take the title?

In Great Yu’s court, the king of the council was second to only the emperor and above all others. Basically, they were both prime ministers and supreme commanders of the armies, in charge of overseeing the state affairs, military affairs, taxation, and other duties. Clearly, they had a great power in their hands. Of all the current kings of the council, except Ji Ao—who bore the title of King Wei Shan—and King Bai Shan who was killed, the other sixteen had inherited their titles since the founding of Great Yu.

Emperor Haozun rested his eyes on Wu Qi and said in a deep voice, “King Dong Hai did a great job this time. So, I’ve decided to let him replace the position of King Bai Shan for the time being. Your title remains unchanged, but if you can render more meritorious services in the future, the title will be yours.”

Wu Qi strode out of the rank and bowed to the emperor. If truth be told, he did not expect to be rewarded so handsomely. He was to replace King Bai Shan in the council with his current title, and as long as he could render new meritorious service, the title would be his? With so many kings, as well as members of the imperial clan and the great clans around him, this important position could not have fallen into his hands.

But, Emperor Haozun must have lost faith in these members of the imperial clan and great clans, hadn’t he?

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Once, this great hall had housed over three hundred thousand subjects who represented the various great clans in Great Yu. But, after several disturbances, almost seventy percent of them were gone, leaving only about a hundred thousand of them now.

Some were slain with their families in the previous purge, some had betrayed Great Yu and followed King Xin Shan and King Li Shan to establish their foundations in the south, and some were killed by the armies in the turmoil of the past few days.

Were these courtiers left in the hall really loyal to Great Yu? Perhaps no one present dared to think so. Emperor Haozun certainly didn’t. Even his sons had betrayed! So, who could guarantee that there were no three or five, thirty or fifty, or even thirty to fifty thousand subjects here who were the agents planted by Heaven and Buddhist League?

Emperor Haozun’s cold, hard gaze swept across all his subjects who bowed their heads respectfully, not daring to face him squarely. Only Wu Qi met the gaze with head held high. He did not feel any guilt or stress, so he looked straight at the emperor—his eyes as clear as water—with a sense of determination.

The emperor nodded approvingly at Wu Qi, and then said in a deep voice, “If it hadn’t been for King Dong Hai’s quick and thorough investigation, I think you’d be in a mess for a long time. Especially you, King Yang Shan, you’ve disappointed me. How could you be captured and sent to the God’s Jail by the traitors? If King Dong Hai hadn’t led the siege, you would have been killed! Who would lead the council if you died?”

King Yang Shan flushed as he looked at Emperor Haozun in embarrassment and explained in a low voice, “I was frightened… The contents in the secret edit were too bizarre. It had put me as one of the suspects. And, since King Xin Shan had proclaimed himself as the crown prince, I… I…”

Emperor Haozun said in a flat voice, “You were afraid of being charged with my assassination, so you let the traitors send you to the God’s Jail to prove your innocence. This is ridiculous! As long as you didn’t have a selfish intention, what was the big deal about calling your troops and fighting those traitors?”

He grunted coldly, then turned to the other subjects and said, “Look at you now! Was Great Yu too peaceful during these years? You have all forgotten the brave courage of your ancestors! The traitors have risen in rebellion, and yet you did nothing to stop them! If King Dong Hai hadn’t been clever enough to find out what was wrong, you would have given up the entire Great Yu to the outsiders!”

A white-haired king muttered in a low voice, “We just didn’t want to break the rules of our forefathers!”

Emperor Haozun roared, “Bullsh*t! What use are the rules set by our forefathers now? With so many members of the imperial clan and the great clans betraying us, what’s the use of the rules now? If we still keep those rules today, we will be completely wiped out soon!”

He pointed at Wu Qi and snapped, “Both King Dong Hai and King Wei Shan were stationed out there with an army each. As soon as trouble broke out in Liangzhu, King Dong Hai immediately rushed back within ten days to quell the rebellion, stabilize the court, and preserve the dynasty. Where’s King Wei Shan, who obeys all the rules? Where is he? He commands the You Xiong Army, the most elite army of Great Yu! Can someone tell me where he is now?”

King Yang Shan snorted in embarrassment and dared not to speak. Not long ago, a messenger had brought word that Ji Ao’s You Xiong Army was three days away from Liangzhu. Along the way, he did not dare to attack the military towns and cities, but kindly pleaded those officers to make way. If they refused, he would take a detour with the army, and hence, the march was very slow. The rebellion in Liangzhu had been quelled, but he was still on his way.

Looking at the embarrassed faces of all the subjects, Emperor Haozun grunted coldly and ordered the eunuchs to prepare his edict.

Torch Dragon had destroyed the entire imperial palace, but fortunately, some of the eunuchs had profound cultivation bases, and they had escaped death by fleeing into the sky. Because of that, Emperor Haozun still had several eunuchs attending him. As all the imperial edicts stored in the palace were destroyed as well, the eunuchs found a piece of black silk, mixed the blood of some spirit beast and cinnabar into a blood-red ink, and presented them to the emperor.

Emperor Haozun himself wrote an imperial edict, decreeing Wu Qi to lead the Dong Hai Army to pacify the eastern frontiers of Great Yu. He was free to mobilize any military forces and supplies from the provinces east of Liangzhu. He was responsible for quelling and killing the rebels, as well as dealing with whatever Heaven and Buddhist League came up with next. The emperor also gave him the dreadful power in the edict to execute one without making any report. He was free to dispose of any civil and military officials in the provinces east of Liangzhu, so long as their ranks were below the first-grade Marquis of Province.

When Wu Qi received the edict, all the subjects in the great hall looked at him with astonishment.

In the long history of Great Yu, only a few such imperial edicts were announced, when the Apocalypse of Heaven and Earth had impacted Pangu Continent and the human race was in danger of extinction. By the orders of the Sacred Emperors, the Human Emperors of those times had picked capable subjects to save the human race with the support of the whole dynasty’s efforts. Today, Emperor Haozun had given Wu Qi the same power. Putting aside how much power Wu Qi had gained, the implication of it had made everyone’s scalp turn numb.

Would the human race of Pangu Continent once again face the danger of extinction?