Seven days passed in a flash.
The Han Imperial Dynasty had already informed the nation that the government would pay homage to the dead Three Mountains City citizens. Word of this had even spread to the entire world.
The sovereign and his officials would come to honor the dead citizens of a city in a public memorial service. Previously, only small nations or sects would honor the dead citizens of a destroyed city when they had no other choice, especially when the nation’s or sect’s foundation seemed damaged. They would come to pacify the citizens and put on a show.
Practically no imperial dynasty with more than one hundred cities would honor the dead citizens in a public memorial service. At best, they would avenge that city to gain the citizens’ support.
The Han Imperial Dynasty already had over eight hundred cities. Nevertheless, such a vast nation elevated the destruction of one city to the top of its priorities.
It not only paid close attention to the ceremony as a nation but also invited some nearby sects and nations to attend.
Now, people filled the surrounding summits. Some were leaders of the invited neighboring factions, some were Han Nation citizens, and many were experts from all over the world who had received word of this. These experts came, as this was the first time they heard about a large nation honoring the dead citizens of a city.
Moreover, according to rumors, the Spirit Mountain Holy Land had killed these citizens. This public memorial service seemed to be a signal.
The invitees included the leaders of the three imperial dynasties and three mid-tier sects who were preparing to deal with the Han Nation.
The experts from the six factions stood on a summit outside Three Mountains City, looking at the distant Three Mountains City filled with countless chrysanthemums.
One sovereign showed a faint sneer as he looked into the distance. “Gu Hai is truly reckless.”
“Indeed. To think he even invited us to observe the ceremony. Hahaha! Is he planning to plunge the Han Nation into the abyss?” another sovereign sneered.
“Everything is ready. We just have to wait for Gu Hai to show himself,” the third sovereign said coldly.
“What did Long Shenying and the Spirit Mountain Holy Land say?” a sect master asked.
“Long Shenying agreed. Three Mountains City is at the border of the Ying Imperial Dynasty and the Han Imperial Dynasty. When Borderless Heavenly Capital approaches, Long Shenying will drive the power of the Ying Imperial Dynasty and come here. He will be as powerful as Sect Master Heavenly Access and make his move then,” another sect master replied.
“Not many came from the Spirit Mountain Holy Land; however, there is still a significant number. There’s Di Shitian, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. The Southern Sea Dragon King will even show up. They might already be here,” the third sect master said with a cold smile.
“Di Shitian, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, the Southern Sea Dragon King, Long Shenying, and the six of us, we shall destroy the Han Nation today!” a sovereign said coldly.
The leaders of the six factions revealed ruthless smiles as they surveyed the many soldiers tightly guarding Three Mountains City.
A group of black-clad people stood at the waist of another mountain. Two people stood at the head of the group, gazing quietly at the distant Three Mountains City.
If Gu Hai were here, he would recognize one of them: the Huang Heavenly Dynasty’s Emperor Kong. Emperor Kong had once led the Huang Nation’s contingent in the Ten Thousand Sages Convention. He was Ji Dihong’s trusted aide.
The man next to Emperor Kong was an extremely delicate and pretty youth.
That youth narrowed his eyes at the distant Three Mountains City. “Emperor Kong, His Reverence sent us to the nether realm, yet you detoured to bring me here? Just to watch a memorial service?”
Emperor Kong smiled faintly. “Mister Starless, don’t you find this memorial service for Three Mountains City interesting?”
“Oh?” Mister Starless said, feeling bewildered.
“It has only been twenty years or so. Hah! Have you seen a dynasty grow so fast? This Gu Hai is too dangerous.” Emperor Kong frowned.
Mister Starless frowned slightly and nodded. “That’s right. Gu Hai exceeds everyone’s expectations every time, and his means are extraordinary. He destroyed the Wu Imperial Dynasty in such a short time. Oh! All the Wu Imperial Dynasty’s cities will fall into the Han Imperial Dynasty’s hands today, right?”
“That’s right. I just received word about the Wu Imperial Dynasty’s five hundred cities all going to the Han Imperial Dynasty. Now, Gu Hai has eight hundred cities. You should know that Long Zhanguo’s Qian Heavenly Dynasty only had one thousand five hundred cities,” Emperor Kong said with a sullen expression.
“Half a heavenly dynasty’s cities? However, a heavenly dynasty and an imperial dynasty do not differ in just the number of cities. Back then, Chiyou’s Nine Darkness Imperial Dynasty had even more cities, but it still did not advance to a heavenly dynasty,” Mister Starless sneered.
Emperor Kong shook his head. “Mister Starless, you have not been with the Huang Heavenly Dynasty for long, so you are unaware of the battle for supremacy three thousand years ago. Chiyou did have the qualifications to advance to a heavenly dynasty. However, he had a conflict with Jiang Lianshan, so…”
“Oh?” Mister Starless looked at Emperor Kong.
“Never mind. Let’s not mention the past. Look, Gu Hai and the others are here!” Emperor Kong narrowed his eyes at a distant flying ship.
“Respectfully welcoming Your Reverence!” countless officials south of Three Mountains City suddenly saluted respectfully.
Since Gu Hai was arriving, Borderless Heavenly Capital should be close.
Everyone looked south, and indeed, a titanic city slowly flew over from the horizon. That was Borderless Heavenly Capital.
Borderless Heavenly Capital was still moving slowly. Gu Hai and his officials had arrived in advance on ten flying ships.
Gu Hai held the railing on the flying ship, surveying the countless Han Nation citizens and experts from all over the world who had gathered outside Three Mountains City to honor the dead.
The Divine Demon Army was stationed around Three Mountains City, guarding the outskirts. Only peak experts could get close.
Mo Yike, Gao Xianzhi, and Chen Tianshan had been waiting in the south of the city long ago. As Gu Hai’s flying ship approached, they bowed to the sky.
They had restored all the buildings in the city, making it look undamaged. However, the entire city was sunken as if it had fallen into a deep pit. Two hundred million coffins containing the Three Mountains City citizens’ corpses were placed in this deep pit.
Chrysanthemums surrounded the coffins, commemorating these dead comrades.
As the military welcomed Gu Hai’s arrival, Three Mountains City’s surroundings turned quiet. Everyone looked at the lead flying ship.
The flying ships slowly landed on a plaza outside Three Mountains City. Then Gu Hai disembarked with all the officials and walked at a measured pace to Three Mountains City’s entrance.
On the mountain peak with the six factions, a sovereign sneered, “Gu Hai truly dared to come. To think he even brought all the civil and military officials!”
“Kong Xuan, Shangguan Hen, the Mosquito Daoist, Ao Shun, Gu Qin, and Meng Tai? They are all here? That means Borderless Heavenly Capital is now empty?” Another sovereign narrowed his eyes.
“The Spirit Mountain Holy Land and Long Shenying will destroy Borderless Heavenly Capital first before meeting with us. We will capture Gu Hai’s group in one fell swoop here,” a sect master said with a cold smile.
Far away, Gu Hai stood in the middle of the crowd, not paying attention to anything else as he led the civil and military officials to Three Mountains City’s entrance.
Toot! Toot! Toot! Toot! Toot!
The people from the ministry of rites blew grand, sorrowful horn toots.
The public memorial service formally commenced.
The military marched as one. The formation that Gu Hai used for training soldiers when he established the nation showed itself. The soldiers all stood in orderly lines and rows, looking grandiose in this already solemn and dignified scene.
This majestic air seemed quite infectious, all the observers in the surroundings showing solemn expressions.
“This military formation is truly incredible!” Emperor Kong said, scowling.
“Indeed. This is my first time seeing such orderly troops. There aren’t many such troops in the world, right?” Mister Starless frowned.
“It’s not just a few but practically none. Hah! Compared to the Han Imperial Dynasty’s soldiers, the soldiers of other nations, including my Huang Heavenly Dynasty’s, look like rabble,” Emperor Kong said with a wry smile.
“Standing in order is not sufficient for the military.” Mister Starless shook his head.
“However, this raises morale and spirit, making everyone subconsciously associate them with powerful military might.” Emperor Kong frowned.
On the other side, envy flashed in the eyes of the people from the six factions.
“Humph! What is the use of standing orderly? You only win by fighting!”
“Humph! That’s right. We can also train our troops to stand orderly, and they won’t be any inferior!”
“What is the point of this useless trick?”
The leaders of the six factions felt envious.
However, no matter how the six factions looked at it, everyone who came to observe the ceremony showed solemn expressions. When they felt this might and prestige, their confidence in the Han Imperial Dynasty increased significantly. Everyone stared at the center.
After the officials saluted Gu Hai, he walked to the front, where a large table with plenty of fine wine and delicacies was placed. However, no one felt any appetite to eat, as these were sacrificial food.
Gu Hai slowly picked up a cup of wine.
At this moment, attendants moved around, handing cups of wine to all the civil and military officials.
“Golden blessings dragon, the Han Imperial Dynasty’s sovereign and officials are honoring the Three Mountains City citizens and would like to make an announcement!” Gu Hai shouted.
“Roar!”
The golden blessings dragon sensed Gu Hai’s call, then roared, sending his voice to all the Han Imperial Dynasty citizens’ ears.
Be it the newly captured cities or the old cities, all the citizens in the eight hundred cities felt startled when they heard Gu Hai’s voice.
“Three Mountains City citizens, we have already helped most of your souls reincarnate. However, we failed to protect you. This is our failure. Now, we offer all the dead citizens of Three Mountains City this wine in apology for this failure! Everyone, farewell!” Gu Hai shouted.
As Gu Hai spoke, he respectfully poured the wine on the ground in respect for the dead.
“Everyone, farewell!” The civil and military officials immediately imitated Gu Hai, extremely solemnly offering the wine.
Most of the Han Nation citizens nodded, sensing Gu Hai’s sincerity. Of course, some citizens from the newly captured cities sneered, not thinking much of this. They believed Gu Hai was shedding crocodile tears.
“With this second cup, I swear to our dead comrades that your grudges will be the Han Imperial Dynasty’s grudges! Unless we avenge this grudge—by destroying the Spirit Mountain Holy Land—the Han Nation will stop at imperial, never to ascend to heavenly!” Gu Hai shouted.
Everyone suddenly raised their head and looked at Gu Hai in shock.
Since Borderless Heavenly Capital was moving to the Divine Continent’s cardinal north position, everyone guessed the Han Imperial Dynasty wanted to advance to a heavenly dynasty. However, Gu Hai’s words were clear. If the Han Nation did not take revenge, it would never advance to a heavenly dynasty?
What determination did that take? Was he planning to go down with the Spirit Mountain Holy Land?
The citizens of the Han Imperial Dynasty’s eight hundred cities felt startled, especially those who thought Gu Hai was a hypocrite. Their faces stiffened. The Han Imperial Dynasty? It is clearly on the path to becoming a heavenly dynasty. His Reverence said we would never advance to a heavenly dynasty without destroying the Spirit Mountain Holy Land? This…this is literally a fight to the death. How is this a hypocrite? It clearly is great determination.
Everyone’s attitude towards Gu Hai began to change. Gu Hai risked the entire nation’s blessings for a city of dead people? No one felt that Gu Hai was a hypocrite anymore.
When Gu Hai solemnly poured the wine on the ground, all the officials did the same in respect for the dead citizens.
“This third cup shall be withheld for now. We will offer it once we have avenged this great grudge!” Gu Hai said gravely.
Whoosh!
A wind kicked up in Three Mountains City’s surroundings. It was like the dead had sensed Gu Hai’s sincerity.
“Fill in the earth!” Gu Hai shouted.
Whoosh!
The surrounding soldiers immediately flew up and continuously tossed mountains of dirt into the deep pit that was Three Mountains City, filling up the hole.
At the same time, Gu Hai made a formal speech—an epitaph—to commemorate the dead.
“The grand Han Nation, brilliant and civilized. Word of its benevolence spreads far abroad; it performs noble acts of kindness.
“The Spirit Mountain invaders destroyed my Three Mountains, massacring its populace and turning the masses into corpses.
“Two hundred million departed souls nurse a grievance in this mountain city, feeling dismay and shock, day and night.
“They moved around like wild, brutal beasts, like nothing ever seen or heard of before. What crime did these comrades commit for the nation to suffer great disaster?
“Three Mountains today, us tomorrow. If we do not eradicate these demons, the world will not be at peace!
“Sorrowful soldiers, lift your spirits; raise your golden halberds. Brothers, be united as one and swear to destroy the evil demons!”
