Ying City, the largest city in Ying Province:
When Duke Lu Yang returned, his army quickly set up camp and sent patrols through every street in the city, resulting in a stern and solemn atmosphere.
Woooh!
Woooh!
The sound of horns rang out. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked in the direction of the duke’s official residence.
Countless officials in Ying Province had gathered there. The citizens had received news that Duke Lu Yang wanted to set up an independent regime in Ying Province, restoring the Ying Nation.
At first, the citizens were shocked, finding this strange.
Wasn’t this the Divine Foundation Royal Dynasty’s scheme? How could the duke possibly rebel?
However, facts were as such. The many soldiers stationed in the city deterred outbreaks of chaos.
The duke’s official residence had even prepared a ceremony to make sacrifices to heaven already.
“On this day, the orphan of the Ying Imperial Dynasty, Lu Yang, implores heaven and earth to be my witness. I will restore my ancestor’s heritage today and establish my nation. I sacrifice my blood to heaven and earth, demonstrating my sincere conviction. I, Lu Yang, will treat my nation and citizens with kindness. The restored nation will be called Ying, the Ying Imperial Dynasty. The remnant blessings of the previous Ying Imperial Dynasty shall serve as our foundation. Ying City shall be the dynasty’s capital, renamed Ying Capital. The Heavenly Ying Palace shall be the center of the Ying Imperial Dynasty, collecting the world’s blessings. I implore heaven to acknowledge my nation’s establishment; I implore the earth to acknowledge my nation’s establishment!”
Duke Lu Yang’s voice spread throughout the sky above Ying Capital.
When the citizens heard Duke Lu Yang’s proclamation, they knew that this could no longer be reversed.
Duke Lu Yang stood on the sacrificial altar at the duke’s official residence—no, the imperial palace—while holding a blue imperial seal.
The imperial seal looked plain and simple but contained terrifying might.
Countless officials below the sacrificial altar showed expressions of anticipation.
Duke Lu Yang wore blue imperial robes with golden thread highlights and a crown on his head. As he spoke, he suddenly pressed the imperial seal in his hand towards the ground.
Roar!
A dragon roar suddenly came from the imperial seal.
Boom!
The instant the imperial seal landed on the ground, the entire Ying Capital shook. Then, a humongous dragon vein came out of the imperial seal and dived into the ground.
Rumble…!
When the dragon vein entered the ground, the entire Ying Capital shook. Spiritual Energy surged over immediately.
The citizens in the city goggled. The benefits of being in a capital showed themselves.
When the dragon vein entered the ground, it gathered boundless Spiritual Energy?
Rumble…!
Mountains rose higher, and rivers overflowed outside the city. This phenomenon spread out in all directions. The Ying Imperial Dynasty’s dragon vein had been sealed in the imperial seal for thousands of years. Now that it was released, it swam freely all over Ying Province’s territory.
All the land of Ying Province immediately trembled, like there was a mild earthquake.
Roar!
An intense dragon roar rang out in Ying Province’s one hundred cities.
The Ying Imperial Dynasty is being reestablished?
When the dragon vein returned to the ground in Ying Capital, surging blessings appeared above the imperial seal. These were the previous Ying Imperial Dynasty’s blessings from back then. Like the dragon vein, they had been stored in the imperial seal as well.
Now that Duke Lu Yang reestablished the Ying Imperial Dynasty, the blessings came surging out and soared into the sky.
Ying Capital was located in the old capital. Surging blessings now reappeared over this city.
At the same time, the Ying Province city lords loyal to Duke Lu Yang had received the news long ago. They had also informed their citizens three days ago.
It did not matter whether the citizens objected. Under the army’s suppression, the various cities started the ceremony to submit to the Ying Imperial Dynasty.
“Lower Ying City kowtows to His Reverence in salute. Congratulations to the Ying Imperial Dynasty. Long live the emperor! May the emperor live for ten thousand years!” Lower Ying City’s city lord shouted.
“We kowtow to His Reverence in salute. Congratulations to the Ying Imperial Dynasty. Long live the emperor! May the emperor live for ten thousand years!”
Countless officials loyal to Duke Lu Yang knelt and saluted.
“Left Ying City kowtows to His Reverence in salute. Congratulations to the Ying Imperial Dynasty. Long live the emperor! May the emperor live for ten thousand years!” Left Ying City’s city lord shouted.
“Long live the emperor! May the emperor live for ten thousand years!”
Ninety percent of the city lords of the one hundred cities started to express their support and submission to Duke Lu Yang, leading their entire city to betray the Qian Heavenly Dynasty and declare loyalty to the Ying Imperial Dynasty.
Many cheers rang out.
Most of the city lords declared their loyalty.
However, countless citizens felt restless and anxious.
Of course, many noble clans and wealthy people whose interests benefited from this bowed in Ying Capital’s direction, expressing loyalty to Duke Lu Yang. After all, Duke Lu Yang had managed Ying Province for thousands of years. The various wealthy people and noble clans had alliances and connections with each other, sharing mutual interests. Their alliance was already iron-clad.
Naturally, when Duke Lu Yang established his nation, these people expressed their loyalty to him.
Plenty of positive feelings formed beneficence, heading to Ying Capital. The beneficence formed providence and gathered blessings, lingering about Ying Capital.
However, countless citizens refused to acknowledge the Ying Imperial Dynasty.
Previously, the citizens mocked the idea of this. Now, they were put into the position of the shameless people. They were the Qian Heavenly Dynasty’s citizens. Why should they become the Ying Imperial Dynasty’s citizens?
Although the citizens could not fight this, they did not have any good feelings about this development. This resulted in no beneficence coming from them.
Hence, the effects were greatly discounted when Duke Lu Yang established his nation.
The results showed in Ying Capital’s sky.
With the previous Ying Imperial Dynasty’s blessings as a foundation, the cloud sea of blessings expanded quickly as blessings converged from all over Ying Province.
Soon, the cloud sea of blessings grew to at least sixfold larger than what the Divine Foundation Royal Dynasty had.
The cloud sea of blessings churned. Duke Lu Yang, Mo Yike, Ao Shun, Liao Ya, Lu An, and countless officials looked at the churning cloud sea of blessings with anticipation.
As the cloud sea of blessings churned, a silhouette formed slowly in the center, a vaguely dragon-shaped blessing body.
Everyone clenched their fists tightly, watching with anticipation.
As more blessings came from the surroundings, the dragon-shaped blessing body slowly took form, growing increasingly distinct as it frantically absorbed the surrounding blessings.
“Take form. Take form. A blessing golden dragon must take form!” Lu An said urgently as he clenched his fists.
A golden dragon completely formed by blessings seemed to come to life above the cloud sea of blessings. Then, it reared its head and roared.
“Roar!”
When the golden dragon roared, bright rainbow light filled the sky.
“It formed? It formed?” countless officials exclaimed in excitement.
Boom!
Suddenly, the golden dragon exploded and scattered, turning back into surging blessings and scattering into the blessings cloud sea.
“What? Wasn’t the golden dragon about to form?”
“It managed to form earlier! Why did it scatter? Why?!”
Countless officials broke out in an uproar.
The expressions of Lu An and the others changed. “In the end, there weren’t enough blessings. There just weren’t enough. It is all Gu Hai’s fault! It is all his fault. It nearly formed! Nearly!”
Duke Lu Yang appeared sullen.
The many officials were obviously anxious.
Mo Yike looked at the scattered blessings golden dragon in the sky with a bitter smile.
“Salutations, Your Majesty. Long live my emperor! May my emperor live for ten thousand years!” Mo Yike bitterly paid his respects.
The moment Mo Yike spoke, all the officials in the plaza fell silent as though unwilling to acknowledge this outcome.
The master of a royal dynasty was addressed as Your Majesty.
The master of an imperial dynasty was addressed as Your Reverence.
The two terms differed by just one word, but there was a whole world of difference.
Did they fail to establish an imperial dynasty? Since a blessings golden dragon did not form, the Ying Nation could only be degraded to a royal dynasty?
The Ying Royal Dynasty?
The officials did not dare cross Emperor Lu Yang now, so Mo Yike had to take the lead.
“Long live my emperor! May my emperor live for ten thousand years!”
“Long live the Ying Royal Dynasty! May the Ying Royal Dynasty last for ten thousand years!”
The civil and military officials reluctantly paid their respects.
“Long live my emperor! May my emperor live for ten thousand years!”
“Long live the Ying Royal Dynasty! May the Ying Royal Dynasty last for ten thousand years!”
The surrounding officials and soldiers saluted.
However, Emperor Lu Yang felt quite upset at the moment.
Thus, the Ying Royal Dynasty formed.
The news quickly spread to the various cities of Ying Province.
When the city lords heard it, they gaped.
“The Ying Royal Dynasty? Not the Ying Imperial Dynasty?” The city lords felt shocked.
Silver Moon City:
Prince Shenwu and Sima Changkong also heard the news about the Ying Royal Dynasty. When they heard it, they exchanged looks.
“This Gu Hai did not even use one soldier to destroy an imperial dynasty? Haha!” Prince Shenwu immediately guffawed.
“The Ying Royal Dynasty. This must have dealt a huge blow to Duke Lu Yang!” Sima Changkong smiled.
“Send the news to the capital. Let all the civil and military officials see the results of rebellion!” Prince Shenwu said with a cold gaze.
Ninety percent of the city lords in Ying Province were Duke Lu Yang’s adherents. However, the city lords of ten cities were not. Since the latter was located in territory that Duke Lu Yang controlled, huge battles soon broke out.
“You rebels and traitors—scoundrels! You actually dare to rebel?! His Holy Eminence will not let you off!”
“Traitors never end up with a good fate. Initially, I thought that it was the scheme of the Divine Foundation Royal Dynasty. It turned out to be real. Duke Lu Yang, how dare you rebel?! No one can save you now!”
Rumble…!
An army loyal to Duke Lu Yang and an army loyal to the Qian Heavenly Dynasty clashed. The battle turned intense.
The territory in Ying Province turned chaotic.
There was a region with one hundred thousand tall mountains to the west of the Divine Foundation Royal Dynasty. One of the mountains seemed to be cut vertically. The walls of this mountain had humongous words carved into them: “Heptagold Sect.”
This area with one hundred thousand tall mountains was where the Heptagold Sect’s headquarters were located. They had surging blessings above them, no weaker than the Divine Foundation Royal Dynasty’s.
Three large cities outside the one hundred thousand mountains were built by and subordinate to the Heptagold Sect.
The Heptagold Sect had a large ritual array protecting it with fog covering the surroundings. A large palace hall, called the Heptagold Hall, perched atop the centermost mountain.
Two men stood within this palace hall.
One of them was Elite Hall’s Metal Division Master, Chu Chen.
The other was a golden-haired, old man with sharp eyebrows and ferocious eyes.
“Sect Master, His Majesty already established his nation. Unfortunately, it is just the Ying Royal Dynasty. Its blessings were just slightly insufficient,” Chu Chen reported bitterly.
The golden-haired, old man shook his head and said, “Indeed, how unfortunate! Had His Majesty gathered all our hidden blessings, it would definitely be an imperial dynasty now.”
“Ah? Are there other royal dynasties and sects loyal to His Majesty aside from our Heptagold Sect?” Chu Chen’s eyes lit up.
“Don’t ask what you should not,” the golden-haired, old man chided, his voice sinking.
“Yes!”
Clearly, Duke Lu Yang’s preparation was not just in Ying Province. He also had other factions in his pocket, like this Heptagold Sect that was no weaker than the Divine Foundation Royal Dynasty.
“His Majesty told me to send you an order. The Heptagold Sect is to attack the Divine Foundation Royal Dynasty with its full power. The most important thing is to find Gu Hai and kill him!” Chu Chen gravely took out an imperial decree.
The golden-haired, old man received the imperial decree and read it.
“Put our full effort into killing Gu Hai, a Golden Core Realm?” The golden-haired, old man frowned as he looked at the imperial decree.
“Yes. I fought with Gu Hai before. He is not a match for me,” Chu Chen said proudly.
The golden-haired, old man narrowed his eyes as he said, “Inform all the elders to come and meet me. Prepare to attack the Divine Foundation Royal Dynasty.”
“Yes!” Chu Chen answered before quickly leaving the hall.
