Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
At this moment, the atmosphere inside Xiling City, the capital of the Great Qin Empire, was still rather calm. Their emperor, Shi Yu, had died and the expeditionary army they sent to the Barren Expanses was wiped out. However, these pieces of news were all suppressed.
However, inside Xiling City and the palace, it was a scene of doom and gloom. A calm, permeated by death, could be felt. The entire atmosphere felt heavy.
While the Great Qin Empire displayed its strong sense of control at this moment, preventing it from disintegrating into chaos, many people were still extremely anxious and nervous inside the palace.
In the center of the palace, there were a few people. They sat facing each other. Next to them, there were a few mana projections. They were the powerful cultivators of the Great Qin Empire who could not be there personally. Through this method, they took part in the most important conference of the Great Qin Empire.
Regardless whether they were actually there or just a mere projection, everyone’s gaze unconsciously fell onto the empty dragon throne. Then, they sighed in their hearts.
An Immortal Soul Stage elder of the Imperial Family stroked his mustache and said in a low voice, “We shall carry out the late emperor’s orders as he had intended.”
Even if he had the Immortal Dragon City with him, there was no guarantee that he could have made it back when he decided to personally fight.
While it was not a good sign, it was done from a responsible perspective. Every in the Great Qin Empire, including Shi Yu, must make the necessary predictions. Naturally, they planned with the worst-case scenario as a reference.
For example, the death of the emperor or the loss of the Immortal Dragon City.
Of course, they did plan for the absolute worst eventuality; the death of Shi Yu AND the loss of the Immortal Dragon City.
Other than his death, the situation outside was also something that they had to consider. They also had to factor in whether the War of the Two Worlds was a major threat to the Great Qin Empire.
The current situation before them was no doubt the worst-case scenario.
Under this situation, the only person who could shoulder such heavy responsibilities was definitely not the Crown Prince, Shi Chongyun, who was only in his Advanced Nascent Soul Stage.
Among the three Immortal Soul Third Level cultivators of the Great Qin Empire, Shi Yu had fallen, Shi Zongmao was severely injured, and the only left was the guardian of Xiling City, Shi Zongtang.
The Shen Dragon King was stopped by Zhu Yi and the Tiangang Swordmaster. As the Hades Tribe had yet to descend upon the Divine Lands, the situation of the Great Qin Empire was still not too perilous.
Under this situation, some people may advise that Shi Zongtang serve as a regen and take control of Great Qin.
However, with the coming of the Hades Tribe, their first target may be the Great Void Sect, but the other powers, including the Great Qin Empire, too had to stay on high alert and treat the issue seriously.
If they wanted to inherit the Draconic Energy, someone must ascend the throne. The current situation did not permit Shi Chongyun to ascend the throne, and hence to gather the remaining strength of the Great Qin Empire so that they could better resist their enemies, Shi Zongtang, also known as Prince Nanming, had to take up the role.
In his will, Shi Yu too stated that under special circumstances, Shi Zongtang would take on the role of Imperial Uncle and become the first in the line of succession for the Great Qin Empire.
There was no need to study his will in detail too. The current situation was undoubtedly what Shi Yu meant by ‘special circumstances’.
The only loser here was Shi Chongyun. However, as the only cultivator below the Immortal Soul Stage there, all he could do was to keep silent and say nothing.
Shi Zongtang sat at the head of the table. He did not look at the dragon throne. Like Shi Chongyun, he was silent and appeared to be in deep thought.
Opposite him was another projection, which came from another powerful cultivator of the Great Qin, Si Zongmao.
However, Shi Zongmao was in a terrible shape. Even from the projection, everyone could see that he was extremely weak. For the normally strong Prince Gunyang, this was something anomalous.
Shi Zongmao coughed drily and said, “The only thing we can do now is to concentrate all our strength on defense. We cannot start a fight. Let’s survive the War of the Two Worlds before we talk about anything else.”
Opposite him, an elder of the Great Qin sighed, “His Majesty and the Immortal Dragon City are both lost. This is the weakest the Great Qin had been in thousands of years. Everything we had built up from the last War of the Two Worlds is now gone. Even if we survive this War of the Two Worlds, how will we react to the winds of fortune in the future?”
The old man paused for a while before saying in a soft voice, “Is there no choice other than depending on the Celestial Sect of Wonders completely?”
The other powerful cultivators of the Great Qin Empire all fell silent.
The most pressing problem for the Great Qin Empire was how should they deal with their powerful ally, whose progress left them in shock.
Today, the problem appeared close to resolution. However, no one in the Great Qin Empire seemed happy about it.
“If we don’t depend on the Celestial Sect of Wonders, should we then depend on the Great Zhou Empire?” A middle-aged man opposite the elder twitched his mouth. “While I don’t like it, but looking at the Celestial Sect of Wonders now, they are unlikely to interfere with our domestic politics. They also had no plan of subduing us completely.”
“The Royal House of the Northern Tribes and the Great Qin are both powers that deal a lot with the mortal world. The Celestial Sect of Wonders did not care much about they do too.”
The middle-aged man sighed, “The enemy we should be careful of right now is the Great Zhou Empire. Currently, in the War of the Two Worlds, no one knows if Liang Pan will do anything risky. After all, now is the best time to annex us.”
Everyone present nodded their heads. The Great Zhou Empire had always been their most dangerous enemy. Even though it kept a low profile in the past few years, one should not underestimate the ambition of the Zhou Emperor.
At this time, an elder suddenly looked at Shi Zongmao and asked, “Prince Gunyang, you mentioned earlier that many unexpected things happened when His Majesty was fighting….”
Shi Zongmao’s face darkened as he said, “I only heard a simple description from the Tiangang Swordmaster. The fall of His Majesty and the loss of the Immortal Dragon City was mainly because something went wrong with the sacrifice of the dragon soul. Hence, the situation spiraled out of control.”
“The Tiangang Swordmaster came late and hence, His Majesty had to take a gamble. However, we cannot blame the Tiangang Swordmaster. However, there was a marked difference in Zhu Yi’s strength before and after the fight.”
“Before and after the death of His Majesty, Zhu Yi’s powers fluctuated greatly. However, it did not seem like he had ascended into the Immortal Soul Second Level.”
Shi Zongmao sighed and said, “While we cannot eliminate the possibility that one’s strength will vary widely at times, the disparity in his strength is suspicious indeed.”
Every single Great Qin cultivator fell silent. Suddenly, Shi Zongtang gently tapped the table, making everyone look at him.
Shi Zongtang said quietly, “Regardless whether something had happened there or not, the Celestial Sect of Wonders is still our best ally.”
“The Hades Tribe will soon reach the Divine Lands. The main bulk of the Great Void Sect’s forces and the Supreme Heavenly Mirror are both stuck in the Black Sea. We could even say that, including the Xuan Yi Holy Man on Mount Baiyun, every single human cultivator is anticipating the return of Lin Feng to the Divine Lands. That’s the only way we humans can take on the Hades.”
“The Great Void Sect had a mishap in the Black Sea. Now that their sect is number one target for the Hades, it is likely that they will be in a bad shape after this War of the Two Worlds. While we cannot determine the fortune of the Celestial Sect of Wonders, their prospects seem better than the Great Void Sect’s.”
“The Great Zhou Empire keeps close contact with the Great Void Sect all these years. The Celestial Sect of Wonders is our best option right now.”
Everyone present, including Shi Zongmao, nodded their heads in unison. Someone looked at both Shi Zongmao and Shi Zongtan and looked as if he wanted to say something.
Shi Zongtang appeared to know what he wanted to say as he said quietly, “Even so, it is not appropriate for us to crown Shi Tianhao as the emperor.”
Hearing that, the person said in a straightforward manner, “Since we have decided to depend on the Celestial Sect of Wonders completely, who don’t we go all in?”
“If the Great Qin Empire can no longer rule the Divine Lands as sovereign, and that that place will go to the Celestial Sect of Wonders, then we should try and become the next strongest power after them.”
“The Huangtian Supreme Master is one of the four most powerful disciples of Lin Feng. If he becomes the Huangtian Emperor of the Great Qin, then there’s hope for us to secure an advantageous position under the Celestial Sect of Wonders in the future.” The person’s voice grew heavy. “If not, even if we depend completely on the Celestial Sect of Wonders, we cannot predict the subsequent developments in the future. Let’s not talk about the rapid advancements made by the Royal House of the Northern Tribes, the Huangtian Supreme Master’s senior, Xiao Yan, is married to a descendant of Emperor Gu!”
While no one advertised the fact, the Ancient Longevity World too kept mum on the issue, news that Lin Feng brought Xiao Yan to propose a marriage with them soon leaked.
For the Great Qin Empire, this was the first thing that caught their attention.
Shi Zongtang shook his head and said, “Let’s not talk about whether we can even crown him emperor. Even if we can persuade all cadet branches of the Imperial Family to accept him as our emperor, his sense of belonging to the Celestial Sect of Wonders will always surpass his sense of belonging to the Shi Family, much less the Great Qin Empire.”
“While it is hard to believe, he has no sense of belonging to the Great Qin Empire. In the entire empire, he was closest to Shi Xingyun.”
When they heard that, regret crossed their faces. They no longer mentioned the issue anymore.
Shi Zongmao said in a heavy voice from the side, “Let us try and tide through this war first, shall we? We need time to let the people accept the fact that their emperor is gone. We should quickly crown a new emperor and then gather the Draconic Energy. And we should do all these fast.”
He looked at Shi Zongtang and said, “Under special circumstances, the coronation will be simple. To avoid creating unnecessary chaos, we won’t be inviting anyone from the other sects to witness the ceremony.”
“That’s fair,” said Shi Zongtang as he nodded his head. He stood up, walked to the center of the pavilion and looked at the dragon throne. Slowly, he said, “Tell all our allies, and we shall start making our preparations.”
Shi Zongmao’s projection stood up first. After a moment of silence, he knelt before Shi Zongtang.