The spirited cries of billions of mysterious beasts boomed in concert, causing hundreds of thousands of square miles to rumble with mortifying tremors. More than a rallying spell, the Wrath of the Beast Emperor was a promise—a promise of the Bai Fox ancestors to the Myriad Beast lineages, that should the times ever require it, they'd return to lead them all to glory.
Daji's words validated that promise, becoming the unifying chains that bound billions to her Myriad Beast Gang. In the Xuanyuan Tomb, Daji's Monster Core fused with the Yellow Dragon corpse, turning it into a war puppet with few rivals under the Immortal realm.
The Yellow Dragon didn't resist Daji's core—better, it welcomed it, rising above Xuanyuan Mountain and flapping its gargantuan wings at the myriad beasts. The unique Yellow Qi returned to the world, and though the corpse made no sound, its eyes flashed with barbaric killing intent.
The 29 Hordes formed subsequently, and in perfect synch, set off for the Eastern Continent's 29 provinces.
But as the hordes formed, in Imperial Wind City, capital of the Eastern Spirit Empire, from Spiritual Marquis to True Monarchs, all high-ranking nobles of the empire gathered in a conference hall of the Eastern Spirit Palace—discussing the ongoing events. They weren't alone. Hegemons, imperial princes and elders took part as well, with the gathering being overseen by the Shentu Imperial clan's great elder, also Great Preceptor of the Eastern Spirit Empire.
The contemporary emperor, a handsome and well-built middle-aged man, sat beside the Great Preceptor, keeping his head bowed and his lips silent. The top-ranking nobles, those with at least a Spiritual Prince title, ignored the Emperor, yet faced the Shentu elders with obvious deference.
One might wonder why, of all the imperial spirit clans, only the Imperial Shentu had the nerve or stupidity—depending on standpoints—to impose strict primogeniture in a culture where producing the strongest emperor possible was the only way to guarantee the imperial family's continued hegemony. The answer was simple: greed. The elder council's greed, to be more accurate.
See, the emperor might be weak, but the Shentu elders were all powerful ancients that not only made great contributions to the Central Domain during the Great Desolation war but also raised swords and spears in the attack on the Yellow Dragon—once the strongest beast of the Eastern Continent.
It was this elder council, current and retired members alike, that enabled the Shentu to smoothly take over the Eastern Spirit Empire following the demise of the Imperial Feng clan. After replacing the previous princes and emperors, the Shentu elder council attempted to learn from their predecessors' mistakes, culminating in their supreme elder making a bold statement:
"By investing the majority of their resources in Feng Jian, the Imperial Feng clan created a monster so powerful that, once he went astray and fell prey to madness, no one could stop him from obliterating the clan. The East is lucky that Feng Jian stopped at his relatives' massacre, otherwise, even clans like ours would have vanished from this world.
The fate of a dynasty, of an empire, cannot lay in the hands of a single individual. Never can we allow the emperor's might to eclipse the elder council's—less another Feng Jian ruin the East."
Following these words, the supreme elder instated strict primogeniture, plus a series of princely privileges that'd reduce the heirs' drive for excellence and force the succeeding emperors to heavily rely on the elder council.
This all started from honest counsel. But as the saying goes, too much is as bad as not enough. After being in charge for thousands of years, the elder council endeavored to raise younger and weaker emperors, with reigns that never exceeded a couple centuries.
Centuries of reign might blow up the mind of mortal nobles, but Spirit Emperors were meant to be mythical existences revered by all their citizens—mostly the cultivators. Besides those that died during the Great Desolation War, the average Spirit Emperor ruled for 30,000 years. How could a few centuries enable young and weak emperors to establish their might and prestige?
The emperor grew too weak, not only damaging the imperial family's prestige but enabling the elder council to form interest groups that constantly competed for petty advantages. The most gifted of former emperors ultimately became elders, each with a vote in imperial matters. They added to the chaos, helping the interest groups annihilate the imperial family's cohesion. Zhenwu Shenquan capitalized on these interests and differences to grow with minimal resistance.
Now, even if they wanted to, the empire's elder council couldn't retake the Shentu clan's absolute power.
"How despicable! This must be the work of Qingqiu Island. Bai Zhi is, at last, showing his true colors, and aims to conquer the east!"
"This doesn't make sense. Bai Zhi has always been an advocate for peace. More importantly, though Qingqiu Island hides in the Western Damnation Sea, it is still under the jurisdiction of the Eternal Night Dynasty. Bai Zhi attempting to conquer the East would require the blessing of the Eternal Night. Otherwise, he's risking clan extermination. And for what? Lands tens of millions of square miles away from his domain?"
"If not Bai Zhi, then another nine-tailed White Fox! In this world, how many are there? Bai Zhi's most gifted children and siblings are only eight-tailed White Foxes! Qingqiu Island's fossils aside, where can one find another nine-tailed White Fox?!"
"This is not necessarily a fox's doing." The Spiritual Duke that said these words didn't have the time to elaborate that the Great Preceptor kicked him in the guts, not only destroying his cultivation but sending him to fly across the room.
"Take this man out and behead him for stupidity! A nine-tailed White Fox aside, who can command an entire continent's beast clans and turn even mortal beasts into mysterious beasts?! Even Demon Nobles don't possess this ability! Damn your mother for giving birth to you!"
"..." Silence fell on the scene, with Imperial Princes, Spiritual Marquis, Dukes, Lower and Intermediate Province Hegemons holding their breaths out of fear of saying something that'd annoy the Great Preceptor.
"The current situation is intolerable. We must contact the Central Domain and request reinforcements!" The supreme elder slammed his fist on the conference table and gave his orders. Next to him, the emperor trembled in fear. The Spiritual Princes and lesser-ranked nobles lowered their heads, but the True Monarchs of the empire shook their heads, clearly unwilling to follow such directives.
"If before the first fight, we need reinforcements, what need is there for the Shentu clan to rule this land?" A mellifluous voice pealed from the conference room's entrance, all eyes shifted towards its origin, landing on a tall, golden-haired man with such perfect physique and demeanor that only two words could describe him:
Matchlessly handsome.
Barely had that man appeared, that all spiritual nobles, princes, hegemons, elders or not, shook uncontrollably. If they sat, they stood up. If they looked up, now they looked down, keeping their shoulders slouched and their lips shut tight.
But who could blame them? When faced with the Eastern Continent's strongest fist, surrender was the only option.
Zhenwu Shenquan made his entrance. And even the Great Preceptor, who till now controlled the conference, trembled like a startled fawn.
