Chapter 890: The Envoy

Wu Qi sat on his throne in the main hall of the mansion, glancing through a pair of weary eyes at the emperors and courtiers of the six states sitting on either side beneath the dais.

Everyone, including Yan Dan, had a strange expression. Princess Zhang Le was Yan Dan’s granddaughter. Among the ninety thousand girls were Ying Zheng’s great-granddaughters, Qu Ping’s great-great-granddaughters, and the daughters of Tian Wen’s concubines. Thousands of them were princesses of the six states. As for the other girls, they were from the aristocratic clans, the direct descendants of Jing Ke, Gao Jianli, Tian Guang, and others.

In other words, all the emperors and courtiers of the six states were Wu Qi’s relatives by marriage, the seniors of his wife and concubines.

These people were well aware that whoever’s daughter conceived Wu Qi’s first son, that son would become the future lord of Dong Hai. The imperial clans and aristocratic clans of the six states all had a whole set of elite cultivation means. When the boy was born, he would be given an elite education. He would never grow up to be a useless dandy, but an excellent heir who held great power in hands.

The eerie silence in the great hall lasted for a quarter of an hour, until Bai Qi slapped his hand on the table in front of him and shouted, “King Dong Hai, it’s been a month! You should give us an explanation! Say, how many of the ninety thousand women are pregnant?”

Wu Qi gave Bai Qi a weak look. ‘It’s only been a month for you, but I’ve been squeezed in Yuan Ling Dark Realm for more than two thousand years!’ He shuddered suddenly and forced himself not to think about the painful memory. He coughed for a while, then laughed dryly and said, “Well, as you all know, the stronger one’s cultivation base is, the more difficult it is for him to have an heir.”

Ying Zheng rolled his eyes and said in a flat voice, “Even Heaven’s Great Celestial Emperor has an heir, which means Primordial experts can have children!”

“Unfortunately, my cultivation base was at the fifth tier of the Divine Gold realm by then,” said Wu Qi with a wry smile.

The emperors and courtiers of the six states sucked in a cold breath at the same time. Wu Qi’s cultivation base was at the fifth tier of the Divine Gold realm? The cultivation base of the Dao Breaking realm? In other words, he was an almighty expert stronger than those formidable Primordial experts? Looking doubtfully at Wu Qi, Qu Ping asked, “So, you mean it will be harder for you to have an heir than Heaven’s Great Celestial Emperor?”

Wu Qi coughed again, then put up a finger and said, “Yes. But, after more than two thousand years of hard work, I managed to achieve something.”

The crowd’s spirits were suddenly lifted. Everyone straightened up and asked with a smile, “Can you tell us the details?”

Anger rose from the bottom of Wu Qi’s heart. ‘Details? You want to know the details? What do you mean by details?’ He gritted his teeth and glared at the crowd for a while. Suddenly, he remembered that they were all his elders, and he lost his temper at once. Depressed, he grunted and said, “The Empress of Great Yan, Zhang Le, has comprehended a mystic art from the Primordial Dao of Divinity. She and I have burned our attainments and divine souls, and at the cost of our energy essence, she has conceived a child.”

Yan Dan clapped his hands and burst into laughter. Shaking his head, he exclaimed, “Excellent!”

Ying Zheng scowled at Wu Qi, then snorted coldly and said, “Why do you favor one over the other?”

“Yan Dan, your granddaughter is so shameless!” roared Bai Qi as he jumped to his feet, “There are thirty days in a month, and yet she alone had occupied fifteen days! That’s outrageous!”

Yan Qijun stood up at once and wanted to argue with Bai Qi. Seeing the great hall plunge into chaos, Wu Qi immediately shouted, “Shut up! Everybody, calm down! Do you know that for the sake of this child, my cultivation base has fallen directly from the fifth tier of Divine Gold to the sixth tier, almost falling back again into the realm of Primordial?”

Silence reigned once more in the hall, and everyone turned to fix their eyes on Wu Qi. It was a long time before they swallowed in unison. Wu Qi sighed as he shook his head and said, “I’ve thoroughly comprehended the mystic art. As long as I give up a part of my energy essence, other women can conceive my children as well.”

When he said that, Wu Qi felt tired from inside out. He had a feeling that he was a stick of sugarcane, while the emperors and courtiers of the six states were the juicers who were eager to squeeze the last of his energy essence out of him. With a wry smile, he raised a finger and said, “When I return to the fifth tier of Divine Gold, I’ll burn my magic power, divine soul, and energy essence, exercise the mystic art, and fall back to the sixth tier again. With that, I’ll be able to make a thousand female Heaven Immortals, a hundred female Gold Immortals, and ten female Primordial Immortals conceive my children.”

When he had finished, Wu Qi closed his mouth and stayed silent.

The eyes of Yan Dan, Ying Zheng, and the others lit up at once. At such a young age, Wu Qi had cultivated to this level, so it should not take him too long to get back to the fifth tier, right? Although none of the six states had daughters who were at the level of Primordial or Gold Immortal, at least half of the ninety thousand girls they provided Wu Qi were Heaven Immortals.

Given that there were only a thousand chances of conceiving, they had to think carefully about how to allocate the quota among themselves. After all, it was about the future of the six states, as well as which one of them would be closer to Wu Qi. They had so thoroughly practiced the mean of marriage pact that they never missed out anything to consider.

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Just as everyone was trying to figure out how best to squeeze Wu Qi, the sugarcane, out of the last of his energy essence, a Dong Hai general strode into the hall. He fell on one knee to the ground and cried out, “My lord, a man claiming to be the envoy of the new emperor of the human race asks for an audience.”

The crowd in the hall exchanged glances, speechless. The new emperor of the human race? Was King Xin Shan or King Li Shan proclaiming himself as the new emperor? After considering for a brief moment, Wu Qi said, “Prepare the guard of honor and summon the man to me.”

The general bowed and took his leave. Soon afterward, dull footsteps were heard coming from outside the hall as columns of heavily armed and armored soldiers began to assemble from all directions. With magic, the Oracles had expanded the space where the square outside the great hall was situated; they made it large enough to accommodate millions of people, which would otherwise hold only tens of thousands of people. Soldiers packed the square in murderous arrays, and the fierce birds and beasts domesticated in Dong Hai over the years lined up in groups nearby. On top of that, dozens of ferocious and ugly-looking flying ships suspended in the air above them, with heavenly ghosts lined up across the decks, their mouths dripping saliva. The whole place was immediately turned into the Temple of Hell.

The wall of the great hall facing the square sank slowly into the ground with a dull rumble, allowing the light to shine in and giving everyone a clear, unobstructed view of the vast square. Wu Qi and everyone in the hall threw their glances at the main entrance at the far end of the square, wondering what the envoy of the so-called new emperor of the human race would look like.

Before long, a team of Dong Hai generals in bright armor escorted a dozen men clad in luxurious brocade robes into the square. Expanded by Oracles with magic, the distance between the main entrance to the steps that led to the great hall was thirty miles. There were countless fierce soldiers and savage beasts along the way, and heavenly ghosts were slowly crawling on the flying ships suspended in the air above them. An oppressive killing intent was building up in the square. At the sight of this, the faces of the dozen men turned slightly unsightly.

It took the men a quarter of an hour to walk this path of thirty miles. It was a difficult journey; at the end of their walk, apart from the middle-aged man with a short beard who took the lead, the rest were drenched in sweat, their legs shivering. Some of the meaner men of the six states, such as Qin Wuyang, laughed and jeered at the envoys who seemed to be frightened out of their wits.

When the short-bearded man heard the laughter coming from the great hall, he looked back angrily at his companions and ordered them to stay beneath the steps. After that, he strode into the hall with head held high, surrounded by eight Dong Hai generals.

Standing thirty feet from Wu Qi, the man looked at him proudly and cried out, “By the grace of heaven, I, Zhao Sheng, the Marquis of Sheng Cheng of the Great Li Dynasty, the special envoy of His Majesty Huo Wuliang—the Sacred Emperor of the Great Li Dynasty—the rightful ruler of the human race by the mandate of Heaven, pay respects to Your Highness, the King of Dong Hai of the late Great Yu Dynasty.”

When the emperor of Great Zhao, whose name was also Zhao Sheng, heard this Marquis of Sheng Cheng mention his name, his eyes immediately filled with a killing intent.

Wu Qi laughed as he shook his head and said, “It seems that all kinds of demons and ghosts are already out there. Why are you so eager to put gold foil on your faces?”

The hall broke out in wild laughter. To the emperors and courtiers of the six states, this Huo Wuliang, the so-called Sacred Emperor of the Great Li Dynasty, was an interesting man. Great Yu was still in existence, but he had already crowned himself as the rightful ruler of the human race. Was he really that impatient? Besides, did this new dynasty really think they were strong enough to devour Great Yu’s domination?

Zhao Sheng, the Marquis of Sheng Cheng, snapped furiously, “How dare you…”

Wu Qi flicked his sleeve and interrupted the man. “Well, save your breath! Let me ask you something. What do you think of my Dong Hai Army?”

The marquis’s face flickered and his head turned back subconsciously. But, he forced it back and fixed his eyes on Wu Qi as he said, “They are nothing more than a bunch of wild chicken and stray dogs. As soon as Great Li’s mighty army gets here, they will be defeated.”

There was a silence in the hall, and everyone looked at him with smiles. This man had some courage, they granted him, at least better than the dynasties on the outer heavenly realms who were wiped out by Wu Qi and the group of Supreme Oracles not long ago.

Wu Qi smiled and nodded. “As soon as your army is here, my army will be defeated…Well, well, well… Tell me then, what are you here for?”

The man cocked his head and snorted coldly, “His Majesty the Sacred Emperor commands you to hand over Lord Bowang, the Crown Prince of Heaven, at once. Also, offer the culprit, the beautiful girl who has offended Lord Bowang, to His Majesty as a maidservant to atone for her sins. Also, Dong Hai must…”

He could not finish, for when he had just mentioned that Wu Qi had to offer Princess Zhang Le as reparation, the princess’s father, Yan Qijun, gave a sneer, drew his sword, and split him in two. With the bloody sword in his hand, Yan Qijun grinned coldly and said, “What an ignorant man! How dare you to be so presumptuous in front of me?”

Wu Qi shook his head and chuckled. “The army of Dong Hai has not been in work recently, and some people really think we’re all monks who only eat vegetables. Well, who wants to lead the vanguard against this Great Li Dynasty?”

Everyone in the great hall stood up at the same time except Lu Chengfeng, who had always been in charge of Dong Hai’s internal affairs. He remained seated, looking at Wu Qi with a guilty expression.

Just as Wu Qi was about to give orders, another general ran into the hall.

“My lord, the Great Li Dynasty is approaching Dong Hai from He Province with an army of a million troops.”