"The level of Divine Power powering this catastrophe is simply unheard of! Your Divine Majesty, what is going on here?! Has my Taiyang clan offended the Heavens?" Led by their supreme elder, the Taiyang's retired elders attempted to stop the flood from going unhinged. Alas, though at first they succeeded in halting the destruction, the rate at which their Immortal Qi shrank made the situation clear: resistance was futile.
Eventually, the retired elders would run out of gas, enabling the flood to ransack the Central Domain. Divines trampled by a "natural" phenomenon, how could their prestige recover from that blow?
Only if Taiyang Yuan revealed his true cultivation base could he put an end to this scourge. But even then, Xinzi would only have to raise the pressure, and even Taiyang Yuan would find himself struggling. Caving to the enemy's demands was the only way out.
But what demands did they have to cave to? Xinzi didn't make an explicit request, simply asking for Jingzhao to receive "due reparation."
With his back against the wall, Taiayng Yuan clenched his fists, determined to go all out.
"The elder council attempted to murder the God-Monarch's envoy, which resulted in them getting executed all the way from the Evernight Palace. Now, we must pay just reparation. Otherwise, the flood will only get worse," Taiyang Yuan explained the situation, and through these words gave the retired elders all the info they needed.
If the Hengye monarch could execute the elder council all the way from the Central Domain, then in the history of the Great Desolation World, he didn't have an equal. Hengye Wuxin at his apex was by no means this dominant and likely wouldn't have had the tools to resist this entity.
Add to that the fact that the Divine Consecration Ladder had not appeared in tens of thousands of years, and that man's background was simply unfathomable.
"Your Divine Majesty, who is that envoy and what do they want? We can't satisfy demands we know nothing of!"
"The envoy...is one of my four Noble Consorts. I already know what to do." Here, Taiyang Yuan closed his eyes, his heart beating at an unhealthy pace as his mind settled on a difficult choice.
'Crown Princess, I'm sorry. But I promise you, one day, Heaven itself will not be able to stop me from giving you justice.' Taiyuan Yuan kept this thought to himself, then sent a shocking announcement to the Solar Palace.
"Prepare the enthronement ceremony. Noble Consort Jingzhao will be enthroned as the Divine Empress of the Central Domain. She will receive all artifacts and resources tied to that position, control over the Inner Court, a force of 10,000 Solar Dragon Guards, and a portion of the taxes levied from the three empires." As the Central Domain lost control of the Western Continent 10,000 years ago, they could no longer levy any tax there. Otherwise, Taiyang Yuan would have included it as well.
This announcement shook the Solar Palace. In the past, Taiyang Yuan made the solemn pledge, that never would he appoint a Divine Empress, a title reserved for the August Divinity's wife. The pressure of active and retired elders alike did nothing to sway him. But today, faced with the tyranny of the God-Monarch, Taiyang Yuan not only had to appoint an empress but give the throne to a woman whose every breath made a fool of him.
Never had the Sun Spirits felt so humiliated. But as the consorts dreaded a future under Jingzhao's rule, the Ice Spirit's face showed no hint of satisfaction.
From start to finish, the God-Monarch didn't speak to her. It was for his sovereign dignity that he made a move, and all the boons gained today wouldn't change the fact that, in his eyes, she was an expendable pawn—a slave trapped by her own thirst for profit.
From the moment that she set foot in the Central Domain, Jingzhao had dreamed of becoming its empress. But now that the seat would soon be hers, emptiness crowded her heart.
The Great Flood and its consequences on the Central Domain would have domino effects that none could have predicted. But this...will be a matter for another time.
In the meantime, back in the Evernight Palace, Xinzi stretched his hand out. A spatial rift formed above his palm, plucking an ancient artifact from the Evernight Palace's treasury.
A tall gilded pagoda landed in his hand, shimmering with a celestial glow. Xinzi tapped the pagoda's top, casting Divine Runes that fused with the artifact. He then spread his Divine Sense out, relying on the Glorious Eye of Heaven to locate Zhenwu Shenquan.
Upon ascension, Deities, Devils and Saints gained something that far exceeded Spiritual Sense: Divine, Infernal or Holy Sense.
Divine Power, Evil Qi and Holy Force fused with the Spiritual Sense, enabling it to gain new abilities that matched the owner's background.
Till now, the Divine Sense was one of the few deity-reserved abilities that Xinzi didn't have access to. The Supreme and Unfeeling Grand Dao added that to his arsenal as well—a convenient boon.
At the moment, Zhenwu Shenquan faced a precarious situation. Though he didn't let the appearance swindle him, and immediately realized that an undead master hid in the shadow, to regain control of Yaozhu, Zhenwu Shenquan still had to fight the undead legions that Bloodstone-Xinzi left in Yellow Spring Undead City.
At first, by relying on the Longxi Kingdom's spiritual armada and his own irresistible strength, Zhenwu Shhenquan cracked the formations, opening the way for direct confrontation.
The late-stage Demon Creed Corpse Demon was only comparable to the peak of Supreme Clarity. So, even with Demon Blood and the Headless Flame Knights, it wasn't Zhenwu Shenquan's match.
Alas, Bloodstone-Xinzi hid a peak-stage Demon Creed Corpse Demon in the shadows of the Yellow Spring Undead City. When the Human King's Divine Fist was about to end the struggles of the undead army, that Corpse Demon made its entrance, swatting Zhenwu Shenquan like a fly, and dealing him severe internal injuries.
