A month after the imperial order demanding for the
annual offerings was sent out, Daming received intermittent replies. Some sects
did not dare to resist and could only sell at a loss, some bewailed their
poverty and tried to bargain, and some were still delaying.
Among the immortal families, the Wuliang Sect and
Chunyang Sect were the first to lose their control. After the collapse of Wuyun
Sect, these two sects became the largest sects under the Zong Clan and above
Jiuzhou. They had almost divided up most of the wealth of Wuyun Sect, and
naturally, Zong Zi Xiao was demanding an exorbitant price from them.
The Wuliang Sect and Chunyang Sect had long been scornful and competed with each other, and had nearly fought again over the spoils of war, so in fact their grudges were quite deep. But this time, they were forced to stand together again. On the day of the Winter Solstice, Li Bu Yu and Xu Zhi Nan came together to Daming to see Emperor Zong.
In terms of age, Li Bu Yu and Xu Zhi Nan were a generation apart, but both had already taken the position of Sect Leader. However, Xu Zhi Nan naturally succeeded to the position after the death of his master, and Li Bu Yu's grandfather, the old Sect Leader of the Wuliang Sect, was bedridden after being seriously injured in a battle with Lu Zhao Feng. His father's qualifications were not good, so he gave his position directly to his grandson to help him strengthen his position.
At first, the immortal cultivation world was not optimistic about this twenty-something-year-old at the helm of the Wuliang Sect. After all, Li Bu Yu's qualifications were barely satisfactory and he had never shown much at the Jiaolong Assembly, but he became an overnight celebrity in the confrontation with the Wuyun Sect, demonstrating his strong cultivation and excellent leadership. He has everything going his way. Plus, he's at a young age and is able to put down his posture on stage, making a big difference in the alliances between the various sects. Since then, no one has dared to underestimate him.
Zong Zi Heng summoned them to meet him at Zhengji
Hall.
The Zhengji Hall, most of which had been destroyed, had just been repaired after a duel to the death between Zong Zi Heng and Zong Zi Xiao. The battle had shocked the entire immortal cultivation world. Unfortunately, people could only watch the stormy clouds and shaking mountains in Daming City, but they could not witness this once-in-a-century top-level duel with their own eyes. If they could really see the battle with their naked eyes from a close distance, they would probably have no lives to be able to tell others about it.
As Xu Zhi Nan and Li Bu Yu entered the hall, they looked around, as if subconsciously trying to see traces of the duel in the brand new beams. It was a duel between two Eighth Chongtian Zongxuan Sword cultivators, and many people would never have the chance to see such a spectacle in their lifetime.
Yet the renewed Zhengji Hall was whitewashed and
peaceful.
Inside the hall, the twelve elders were seated on
either side, with their disciples standing behind them. Their eyes followed the
carved Danxi* with the Nine Dragons piercing the clouds and
chasing the waves upwards. Zong Zi Heng was sitting on a high throne, while a
large ebony chair was placed on the lower left side of the throne. Zong Zi Xiao
casually sat with his legs crossed, looking at the two of them calmly in the
midst of chaos with his eyes deep and cold, like they were dipped in venom.
"I, Xu Zhi Nan/Li Bu Yu, greets the
emperor."
The two finished in unison, and then looked at Zong Zi
Xiao hesitantly at the same time.
Li Bu Yu was the first to respond and said without
changing his expression, "Greetings to Your Holiness."
When Xu Zhi Nan was the Sect Leader’s senior brother, he was also very nimble, but when he became the Sect Leader, he represented the dignity of a sect and was not as flexible as before. When he saw Zong Zi Xiao, his face tensed.
In the Daming Zong Clan's Zhengji Hall, in front of Emperor Zong, this "Greetings to Your Holiness" made the Zong Clan's cultivators feel dejected and dare not to speak out in anger.
Zong Zi Xiao raised his eyebrows, thinking that this
youngster was still as shameless as when he was young.
Xu Zhi Nan coughed lightly and looked at Zong Zi Heng,
"Emperor, the two of us are asking for an audience for the matter of the
annual offering."
Zong Zi Heng nodded and silently exchanged a look with Xu Zhi Nan. Nowadays, the power he could trust the most and rely on was Xu Zhi Nan. He had failed to fully gather the hearts and minds of the Zong Clan over the years because he got this position using unjust methods. If they reached a life or death crisis, these elders might not be willing to follow his orders, but he and the Chunyang Sect had the same goal; they both wanted to stop Zong Zi Xiao.
"What opinions do you have about the annual offerings?" Without waiting for Zong Zi Heng to speak, Zong Zi Xiao grinned, "Did you fill your qiankun bags today and present them personally with interest?"
"Your Holiness, the annual offerings demanded in that imperial order greatly exceed all of the sects, and some are even ancestral treasures of each sect." Xu Zhi Nan said, "Everyone feels that it is extremely difficult."
"My Wuliang Sect would never be able to get 100
million taels of gold even if we dug up Mount Shu." Li Bu Yu said with a
bitter smile.
"You have come all the way here just to push your
luck?" Zong Zi Xiao smiled coldly, "Whether it's an ancestral
heirloom or not, it's none of my business whether you can take it out or not. I
just want to see something."
Xu Zhi Nan said with a sullen face, "Your
Holiness is imposing too much on us."
"So what if it's an imposition?" Zong Zi Xiao looked at Xu Zhi Nan from a high position, "How many debts have you reneged over the years? Now you have to pay them back twice as much."
Zong Zi Heng's hand clenched into a fist under his sleeved robe. He was sitting here like a puppet at the mercy of others. What 9 and 5 reign supreme? What Human Emperor? He’s just a mere prisoner without shackles. Not only that, the Zhengji Hall was almost completely renovated, except for the throne, which was left untouched. This was the first time he had been to court since the duel, and he was on pins and needles, with all sorts of unpleasant and painful images filling his mind. As Zong Zi Xiao had said, from now on, every second he sat on this throne, he would remember the most humiliating experience of his life, which was Zong Zi Xiao’s revenge and torment.
As if they had telepathy, Zong Zi Xiao suddenly turned his head and looked at Zong Zi Heng, smiling but not smiling. His unrestrained gaze fell from the man to the throne beneath him, his eyes containing unspeakable ambiguity.
Zong Zi Heng lowered his eyes, his stiff jaw line revealing his inner anxiety.
"Your Holiness should not push people too
far." Xu Zhi Nan said in a deep voice, "A top-grade immortal core
cannot be refined overnight. What good would it do to Your Holiness to kill the
chicken and take the eggs?"
"It is for the sake of refining it as soon as possible that I want your assistance." Zong Zi Xiao curled his lips and smiled, "Gathering the powers of the immortal cultivation world, gathering the spiritual treasures of Jiuzhou, and using the Shen Nong Ding as the furnace, could I still not refine a supreme Immortal Core?"
"Your Holiness, this refining of cores,
especially the superior ones, may waste ninety-nine of them to get one, or not
even one. It is really a waste of manpower and resources." Li Bu Yu arched
his hand and said, "My sect would like to offer the best core. Please Your
Holiness, don't go and refine that unreal and supreme immortal core."
"If one doesn't work, then refine ten. If ten don't work, then refine a hundred." Zong Zi Xiao slowly stood up, his tall body gave people a sense of oppression of the Five Sacred Mountains of the Daoists, "If a hundred cores are still not enough, then refine a thousand, ten thousand cores." His eyes were fierce, "If the Wuliang Sect and Chunyang Sect are really in a difficult position, then I will dig up all of your cores. Won't that help me break through to the Ninth Chongtian?!”
The crowd became horrified. They couldn't help but think of what happened to the Wuyun Sect. That night at Wuling, corpses were strewn all over the place, blood was scored, and all the cultivators had their guts cut open and their golden cores were taken away by the Yin soldiers. They had no choice but to burn Wuling to the ground and gather a thousand high-ranking cultivators to perform a ritual for three days and nights, yet they were still unable to transcend* all the grieving souls. Finally, they could only set up a huge soul-binding formation. The once prosperous and affluent Wuling was now a ghost town that no one dared to approach for ten miles around.
The Supreme Demon is not joking. He really can do it.
He has done it before.
Xu Zhi Nan took a deep breath, "Your Holiness,
there is no core in this world that is guaranteed to definitely help you break
the boundary to Mahayana."
"Whether there is or not, I, will, try."
Zong Zi Heng silently looked at the people below, who
were also looking at him, and what he saw in those gazes was either indignation
or disdain, stabbing at him sword by sword.
The highest battle power in the immortal cultivation world today has been gathered in all of Zhengji Hall, yet no one dared to defy Zong Zi Xiao. The Human Emperor in name only, and a group of great men who were drifting and living without purpose, it was pathetic.
They knew clearly that whatever Zong Zi Xiao demanded
would be a bottomless pit.
What kind of core is the supreme Immortal Core? What is needed to refine it, how will it be refined? When will it be refined, and will it be practiced successfully? How many treasures would have to be thrown into the furnace like firewood? How many cultivators would have to quench the fire night and day*, and how many times would it have to fail before it would succeed?
No one has the answer, nor does Zong Zi Xiao himself,
so he needs to scour the world for just one elusive thing.
If they compromise this time and accept the
"annual offering", he will come to exploit the next batch of
treasures when this batch is gone. If all the heavenly treasures fail to
produce the core he wants, he will take countless human cores.
Today five cities will be destroyed. Tomorrow ten
cities will be destroyed. And when they wake up and look around the border, the
Qin army is coming again.*
Sooner or later, they would be completely emptied by
Zong Zi Xiao.
---
Zong Zi Xiao did not force them to make a promise on
the spot. He ordered them to stay in the guest post and to talk about it on
another day.
What was to be discussed was clear to all. It was just
a question on how much meat to cut. As long as the Wuliang Sect and Chunyang
Sect sucked it up, the various sects in the Central Plains would not dare to
disobey, and now, on the contrary, the Cangyu Sect that had the most unyielding
attitude.
Back in his bedchamber, Zong Zi Heng stood with his
eyes closed, allowing Cai Cheng Yi to take off his imperial crown and clothes
for him.
Zong Zi Xiao sat on one side and watched Zong Zi Heng
unblinkingly, when suddenly he spoke, "Change into the smoke-colored
one."
Cai Cheng Yi froze.
"That set looks good against big brother's
complexion." Zong Zi Xiao’s tone was completely matter-of-fact.
Zong Zi Heng took a breath and suppressed the anger in
his chest.
Cai Cheng Yi stole a glance at Zong Zi Heng and received
tacit approval from his eyes before he took the smoke-colored regular clothes
and changed them for the emperor.
"Big brother shouldn’t always wear white. Although white looks good, sometimes it looks like you don't have much spirit." Zong Zi Xiao put one hand on his cheek as if he was playing with some interesting object, "I don't think I've ever seen you wear bright colors either. Eunuch Cai, doesn't the emperor have any brighter clothes?"
"Uh ..." Cai Cheng Yi whispered, "The
emperor prefers plain colors."
"Go make a few sets." Zong Zi Xiao hooked
his lips in a smile, "So as to increase our pleasure in bed."
Zong Zi Heng glared at Zong Zi Xiao with a chill in
his eyes.
"What, not happy? Think I have disgraced you
today at Zhengji Hall?" Zong Zi Xiao laughed evilly, "You've lost
more than face. If you think with an open mind, you won't be asking for
discomfort."
"What kind of core are you trying to make?"
Zong Zi Heng asked in a deep voice.
"A core I read about from the ‘Heavenly Secret
Scripture’." Zong Zi Xiao said proudly, "I am bound to get it!"
PS:
the tl word for 丹 (dan) is very diverse. I usually tl it as pill or
core most of the time. Sometimes it is also tl as elixir which I don’t
think I use it. Just FYI :)
Danxi*[丹樨]--- In ancient times, a large building would
usually have a large hall with a prominent pedestal in front of it, which we
call Danxi. Usually connected to a staircase. Auspicious animals, such as
lions, qilin, etc. will be placed on the left and right. Sometimes the pair of
auspicious beasts would also be called Danxi.
Night and day*[夜以继日]---- continuous strenuous effort
Today five cities will be destroyed. Tomorrow ten cities will be destroyed. And when they wake up and look around the border, the Qin army is coming again.* [今日割五城，明日割十城，起视四境，秦兵又至]----this whole phrase comes from a political essay 《六国论》written by Su Xun (苏洵)
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THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE HARD WORK!!WE APPRECIATE IT A LOT </3
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