Longzang

Chapter 958 Ordered to Suppress the Rebellion

Wei Yuan no longer tried to find the inner demons hidden among the mortals. His own inner world was full of flaws. If he found one, another would come in, and it would be endless.

The mortal realm is vast in number, and most of them are already enlightened and intelligent, making them a considerable source of assistance. Of the more than 30 million people in the entire Azure Realm, only a mere 500,000 to 600,000 are truly learned, far fewer than those in the mortal realm.

Wei Yuan stopped taking on too much responsibility and instead let the mortals do their thing. Sure enough, in less than half a day, the mortals came up with countless solutions, hundreds of which were quite feasible, and several of which were things that Wei Yuan never even dared to think of.

Faced with these many plans, Wei Yuan pondered for a long time before finally choosing a plan called "gradual advancement and slow progress" and implementing it.

This is a long-term plan, divided into several phases. The first phase is to establish spiritual energy monitoring systems in various human settlements to accurately measure the loss of spiritual energy on both sides in this war against the extraterrestrial monsters.

This step may seem unrelated to the war itself, but it is actually quite important, and its outcome directly affects subsequent strategies.

Therefore, Wei Yuan ordered the mobilization of more than 100,000 mortals to go to sea. With the help of immortal plants, it took more than ten days to finally set up monitoring devices in all the places in the human world, including the sea.

At the same time, Wei Yuan also employed the strategy of "drawing a line in the sand".

This plan requires registering all mortals in the human world. During registration, each mortal must clearly state their current cultivation level, abilities, and innate supernatural powers. All information will be recorded. After registration, anyone whose abilities significantly deviate from the registered description, without a reasonable explanation, will be arrested and imprisoned to test their inner demons.

This method essentially fixes the current state of all mortals. The extraterrestrial demons possess various secret techniques that can cause the cultivation of those they possess to advance rapidly; it's not impossible for someone to break through to the Imperial Realm in just over a year. And now, if they dare to do this, they will be discovered immediately. After all, the difference between having the strength of a hundred pounds and a thousand pounds when lifting fifty pounds of water is completely different.

In this way, the inner demon can only be trapped in the body of a mortal. It will be discovered as long as he cultivates, but if he does not cultivate, he will not have any great power and will not be of any use. Wei Yuan is too lazy to pay attention to it.

In the blink of an eye, more than a month had passed. By this time, the whole world had spread the news that Wei Yuan was about to advance to the Imperial Realm, but he encountered a mishap at the first stage of the Heavenly Tribulation.

The many cultivators outside naturally didn't know the specifics of Wei Yuan's problem. But whatever the problem was, everyone was extremely happy as long as he couldn't advance to the Imperial Realm.

Meanwhile, amidst the everyday life of ordinary people, more than ten days after the monitoring network was set up, the preliminary data analysis results finally came out.

Data shows that due to the battle with the extraterrestrial demons, the consumption of spiritual energy in the human realm has increased dramatically. Although the Three Cave Heavens absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth at an astonishing speed and their intake is much greater than that of ordinary cultivators at the Imperial Realm, it still cannot keep up with the consumption overall.

Fortunately, the three celestial caves have only just taken shape and are growing most rapidly at this moment, so it won't be long before they make up for the deficiencies. During this time, Wei Yuan can also rely on pills to maintain and replenish his spiritual energy.

The monitoring network also collected a large amount of data on extraterrestrial monsters. At this moment, simply maintaining those small purple-spotted worlds in the sky was equivalent to a cultivator at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage exerting their full power. And this wasn't just a short or two-time effort, but a continuous, non-stop operation.

In addition, the monsters that break in also need spiritual energy to sustain themselves. They fight in the human world, which naturally distorts and suppresses them, greatly increasing their consumption of spiritual energy during battle. If they die in battle, it is a great loss.

After analyzing all the data, Human Fireworks concluded that the current attack on Human Fireworks by the inner demons summoning extraterrestrial monsters is equivalent to five Imperial Realm cultivators working day and night at full strength. If the monsters that die in battle are also included, it is equivalent to twelve Imperial Realm cultivators exerting their power simultaneously. Human Fireworks' daily breathing volume is equivalent to that of a normal Taichu Palace Imperial Realm cultivator.

In other words, for every unit of spiritual energy Wei Yuan consumes, the extraterrestrial monster consumes twelve units. This doesn't even include the energy consumed to maintain the passage.

Upon hearing the report's conclusion, Wei Yuan's spirits immediately lifted. There were only about thirty or forty cultivators in the entire Tai Chu Palace, meaning Wei Yuan had essentially single-handedly supported nearly half of the Tai Chu Palace.

This heavenly tribulation is quite interesting.

With this conclusion, the plan officially entered its second phase. The core of this phase was to ignore inner demons, focus entirely on improving combat capabilities, primarily fighting against extraterrestrial monsters, using every means to increase battle results while reducing consumption, and widening the gap in losses between the two sides, essentially bleeding the opponent dry at minimal cost.

At this stage, more methods become available.

So Wei Yuan waved his hand and established more than a dozen research institutes of various kinds, and then developed more than a hundred kinds of war machines in one go.

The Institute of War Equipment for Equality of All Beings once again came into Wei Yuan's view. It was developing a large-scale war platform that could travel between the ground and the sky, essentially a fully functional war fortress.

In addition, various protective gear and magical artifacts for cultivators have also begun to be researched, with large-scale war magic spells cast by multiple cultivators working together being of paramount importance.

At this point, the world of human affairs had completely shifted to a total war mode.

In the quiet room, Wei Yuan finally opened his eyes, ending his seclusion. This seclusion lasted for over a month, and the battle situation in the mortal realm had initially stabilized, reaching a stalemate. Now, Wei Yuan needed to take one Qi-replenishing pill for the Nascent Soul stage every day, costing approximately ten thousand taels of immortal silver.

This expense was negligible for Wei Yuan now, so he calmly left the seclusion, ready to pick up all the things he had put aside before.

After emerging from seclusion, Wei Yuan summoned all the cultivators of the Taichu Palace and informed them of his situation. The cultivators were at a loss for words; it seemed this Realm Lord was now planning to continue his tribulation while still eating and sleeping as usual.

Xu Henshui then said he could provide Wei Yuan with the pills he needed. The Qi-replenishing pill was just the most common Imperial Vision pill, which Xu Henshui could barely refine. If Qingming refined the pills himself, he could save another 70%.

Wei Yuan was overjoyed, as every little bit saved was welcome. The discussion then turned to the daily development affairs of Qingming. During Wei Yuan's seclusion, Zhang Sheng and his group of cultivators, not wanting to remain idle, attempted another large-scale expansion of their army.

However, there were no enemies left in the vicinity, and even the officials of Zhao had become polite and respectful, displaying impeccable manners. The officials of Western Jin were practically prostrating themselves upon meeting them. Therefore, when faced with Zhang Sheng's plan to expand the army to two million within the year, Wei Yuan was at a loss for words. Another matter at this meeting was the death of Emperor Xuan of Tang.

Nearly two months have passed since Emperor Xuan's death, and the news has only just reached Qingming. The cultivators, looking at the date of Emperor Xuan's death, all felt it seemed somewhat familiar. Xiaoyu, ever outspoken, immediately said, "Was Emperor Xuan's death on the same day that Wei Yuan destroyed his first inner demon? Haha, could it really be related to our Realm Lord?"

Xiao Yu laughed a few times, then realized the room was eerily quiet; no one spoke, and all eyes were on him. His voice trailed off as he muttered awkwardly, "I was just saying..."

Feng Chutang said solemnly, "This matter is neither too big nor too small. We are far away in the Western Regions, and the change of the Tang dynasty has basically nothing to do with us. However, Emperor Xuan has passed away, but no new emperor has been chosen, which is quite interesting. I heard that Emperor Xuan's eldest child is only four years old, and I'm afraid he is not capable of inheriting the throne."

Ji Liuli said to Zhang Sheng, "It seems you received the news earlier?"

Zhang Sheng nodded and said, "It was Bao Yun who received the news from her family. The Bao family used Taoist magic to transmit the message. That's why we learned about this only ten days after Emperor Xuan's death."

Upon hearing this, Wei Yuan realized that Zhang Sheng's expansion of the army was not without reason. Originally, the cultivators thought that Qingming's 1.5 million standing troops were enough, but after the news of Emperor Xuan's death arrived, Zhang Sheng immediately changed the target to 2 million, aiming to add at least 500,000 standing troops within the year.

With Emperor Tang gone, Qingming expanded its army. Wei Yuan felt that if he were a high-ranking official in the court, he would have to find a crime to frame Qingming.

However, Wei Yuan thought again that when Qingming had 500,000 troops, the Western Jin Dynasty could no longer defeat him. If they really had two million troops, the imperial edict to punish them would probably not even leave the Imperial Study.

……

In the palace of Emperor Tang, the Empress Dowager, dressed in white mourning clothes, sat in the mourning hall, tears still wet on her face, staring blankly at the portrait on the wall.

The vast mourning hall was deserted; all the eunuchs and palace maids had been driven out. Dozens of palace maids and eunuchs had been beaten to death over trivial matters in recent days, so everyone lived in constant fear.

Footsteps echoed in the hall, the steps steady and solemn. The Prince of Jin, with a purplish-red face, entered the mourning hall and came to stand behind the Empress Dowager.

The Empress Dowager said coldly, "What are you doing here again?"

The Prince of Jin sighed, "I have already investigated. All the concubines and young ladies-in-waiting in the palace that day were of impeccable character and no one instigated them. Therefore..."

The Empress Dowager suddenly erupted: "What do you mean by 'clean record' and 'no one instigated it'?! I don't care! My son is dead, and everyone involved must be buried with him! I don't care what reasons you use, in short, everyone in my son's palace that day will be executed along with their entire family! I don't have time to thoroughly investigate the real culprit, so I'll just kill them all!"

The Prince of Jin sighed and said, "That's a small matter. We'll do as you say. But even before the new emperor has been enthroned, there's already a lot of talk about it throughout the court and the country."

The Empress Dowager coldly replied, "I am just a woman, how can I have any say? You can choose whoever you want to establish. Anyway, this Great Tang Dynasty is now just a tiny piece of land, and it will have to change its surname sooner or later."

The Prince of Jin gently embraced the Empress Dowager from behind. The Empress Dowager struggled twice but could not break free. She couldn't help but say angrily, "Now that my son is dead, even you are bullying me?"

"How could I bully you? Don't you know my heart?"

"Then tell me, who should be chosen as the new emperor?"

The Prince of Jin gave a wry smile before saying, "Succession by brother after brother's death is not without precedent, but I'm afraid..."

The Empress Dowager reached out and covered Prince Jin's mouth, her face brightening with joy, and said, "I knew you still cared about me."

A month later, Emperor Xuan's younger brother ascended the throne as Emperor Jing, who was sixteen years old at the time. He changed the era name to Hongjing and issued an edict granting a general amnesty.

Three months later, Emperor Xuan's eldest son accidentally fell into the water. The palace maids and eunuchs were unable to save him and drowned. Several days later, a fire broke out in the palace, and Emperor Xuan's one-year-old son perished in the fire.

Empress Xuan suffered from excessive grief, which led to mental instability. She was then moved to the Jingsi Nunnery in the palace by the Empress Dowager for spiritual practice.

No news of these events in the palace leaked out, and none of the officials in the court were aware of them. But for some reason, someone suddenly started an uprising on the border of Ji State, issuing a proclamation to the world, claiming to be acting on Emperor Xuan's last edict to punish the usurper.

The proclamation directly targeted the Prince of Jin and the Empress Dowager, accusing them of plotting to kill Emperor Xuan and murdering his two young sons and daughter. The current Emperor Jing, nominally a descendant of the late emperor, was in fact the son of the Prince of Jin and the Empress Dowager through an affair.

This proclamation shocked the world, but the State of Ji was in turmoil at the time, beset by external and internal troubles. Its repeated attempts to suppress the enemy were thwarted. Of the ten soldiers it sent, seven were turned against the enemy and became their own men.

For a time, the rebels gained great momentum, while the other states remained indifferent. Emperor Jing issued several edicts before four states responded, gathering a total of eight thousand troops to come to the capital to defend the emperor.

Left with no other option, Emperor Jing issued an edict to the entire realm, ordering loyal ministers of the Tang dynasty to take up arms and suppress the rebellion.

In August of the first year of Hongjing, Wei Yuan fought against his inner demons while opening the newly delivered edict to quell the rebellion and carefully reading it word by word.

(End of this chapter)