Supreme Golden Palace

Chapter 7 Zhurong Flag

Ancestral temple, hereditary family,
The bronze walls are mottled, with ferocious animal patterns, and tripods and bells are displayed in an orderly manner.

The sacrificial utensils are ancient, stained with blood, with incense burning and a thin mist.

Lü Shang stood before the ancestral tablets, facing the spirits of his ancestors, and prayed devoutly, saying, "I, Lü Shang, the seventeenth-generation descendant of the Lü family, respectfully inform the Supreme Emperor Taiyi and the spirits of our ancestors."

"As a minister, I have been blessed by the grace of my father and the emperor, and by the protection of my ancestors. I have inherited the great spirit of the state and the prosperity of the country. Since I began my self-government, I have lived in constant trepidation, always thinking of danger, and seeking wisdom day by day. I have worked diligently and frugally to achieve revitalization."

"Descendants of later generations will never forget the arduous journeys of our ancestors, who blazed a trail through the wilderness, trekked through the wilderness, and served the emperor. They accumulated the merits of three generations, established their fiefs and divided the land, and accumulated the benefits of five generations to build and prosper our nation."

"Descendants will never forget the hardships our ancestors endured in starting and maintaining their businesses. We only hope that our nation will prosper and its empire will be stable, to comfort the spirits of our ancestors."

"However, the world we live in is no longer the same as it was in our past. While future generations have aspirations to preserve the status quo and maintain national security, the world is in turmoil. The Nine Barbarians are at war ahead, while the North Sea is in rebellion. All nations harbor their own ambitions, each with its own ulterior motives. As time passes, I lament the weakening of our nation and the perilous fate of our state. I worry day and night, fearing that the legacy of past generations will be lost in my hands."

"It's not that the descendants are unfilial, reckless, greedy, and disturb the spirits of our ancestors. It's simply that the situation forces us to ask for the blessings and protection left by our ancestors."

After saying this, Lu Shang knelt down and kowtowed to the ancestral tablet.

After deciding to mobilize the entire nation to raise troops, Lü Shang prepared for the worst. The Xiahou Emperor's move to forcibly recruit troops from the Gonggong clan made Lü Shang realize the crisis facing the State of Xu.

If it weren't for the Beihai Rebellion, Lü Shang might not have been so aggressive in training new troops. However, the outbreak of the Beihai Rebellion made Lü Shang see the current weakness of the Xu State. Even though Xu State was already known as a minor hegemon among the surrounding states, it was still too weak to compete with the true great powers.

In order to strengthen the country, Lü Shang took an unconventional approach, focusing on the army first and the state second, in an effort to expand the military strength of the State of Xu as much as possible. Even though this was actually like drinking poison to quench thirst, Lü Shang could only take it one step at a time.

At the same time, Lu Shang also thought of the last heritage of the Xu State, a precious treasure that was said to have been passed down from the first ancestor of the Lu family and whose power was even greater than that of Xu Boyin.

Lu Shang said these words in the ancestral temple in front of the spirits of his ancestors in order to bring out this inherited treasure.

After all, the treasure has spirits, and the heroic spirits of the ancestors are watching. Without a good reason, even Lu Shang, the king of Xu State, cannot move the treasure.

Only with the permission of the ancestors can this treasure be brought into the world.

Lu Shang was still looking forward to seeing how powerful the inherited treasure would be.

Although Lu Wenshu, the founding monarch of the State of Xu, was not a world-famous master of supernatural powers, otherwise he would not have only been granted the title of Earl.

However, Lü Wenshu's grandfather, Lü You, was the most renowned sage and wise man during the reign of Emperor Yao of the Tao and Tang clan. At the height of his fame, Emperor Yao even condescended to appoint Lü You as governor of the Nine Provinces. Later, Lü You, unburdened by worldly concerns, devoted himself to farming in seclusion, earning him acclaim as a virtuous person.

The reason why Lu Wenshu was able to be granted the title of Mao Jianbang was partly because he served the emperor and was granted the title for his merits, but a larger part of the reason was probably because he was the grandson of Lu You and the descendant of a sage.

As a relic of a great saint and wise man, the weight of this last legacy of the Xu State may be heavier than one can imagine.

"Kowtow to the blessings of our ancestors!"

Lu Shang slammed his forehead against the ground, causing a slight echo in the bronze room.

hum!hum!
There was silence inside the ancestral temple for a moment, and then, as if in response to Lu Shang's request, the ancestral tablets trembled together, and the bells and tripods in the bronze chamber rang in unison. An inexplicable force surged from under the bronze chamber, carrying with it an extremely fierce fire. With a bang, a ball of fire bloomed from above the sacrificial vessel.

boom!
As soon as the flames appeared, the entire copper room became like a furnace, filled with red light and emitting mournful wails. The pure fire energy transformed into thousands of fire spirits such as fire dragons, fire snails, fire phoenixes, fire birds, fire crows, and fire crows, flying around.

These fire spirits hovered in the bronze temple, washing away the mottled dust and dirt inside the temple bit by bit, and countless flames danced with the beating of the fire spirits.

Seeing this strange phenomenon in the sky, Lu Shang was ecstatic. He did not expect that the spirits of his ancestors would actually bestow upon him a precious treasure.

This precious treasure has been sealed in the ancestral temple since the founding of the State of Xu, and has been worshipped for more than ten generations. Finally, it showed some of its power today.

Just looking at this strange sight, the descendant of the dignified water god Gonggong, his inherited treasure is actually something related to the way of fire.

Confused, Lu Shang stretched out his hand, and flames scattered. A small, pure red flag fell from the sky. He held the red flag, his expression slightly surprised, and muttered, "Zhurong Flag?"

"Zhurong Flag!"

Looking at the three Taiyi seal characters woven from fiery threads that flashed by on the flagpole, Lu Shang looked at the ancestral tablets thoughtfully.

The blazing and pure anger did not make Lu Shang feel uncomfortable. Instead, Gonggong's bloodline became more excited after encountering the anger.

It was like adding fuel to the fire. The more Gonggong came into contact with the fire, the more excited his divine blood became. Faintly, Lu Shang seemed to see the path beyond the real person.

"It turned out to be the Zhurong flag!"

Lu Shang stroked this precious treasure with mixed emotions.

As a possession of the Fire God Zhurong, the Zhurong Flag could indeed be called a treasure. If even the Zhurong Flag wasn't considered a treasure, then Lu Shang really didn't know what other treasures could be considered treasures.

But it was really unexpected that it was the Zhurong flag.

However, upon closer inspection, the idea of ​​Gonggong's descendants inheriting Zhurong's treasure is not so unacceptable. After all, unlike the widely circulated myth of the battle between Zhurong and Gonggong, in which Gonggong rammed his head against Mount Buzhou, Gonggong, the water god of the Great Wilderness of Mountains and Seas, was the son of Zhurong, the fire god.

Even though everyone says that water and fire cannot mix, the fire god Zhurong and the water god Gonggong are indeed father and son.

It is no wonder that the ancestors of the Xu State hid the Zhurong Flag in the ancestral temple and put it aside.

The conflict between water and fire was secondary; the main concern was the Zhurong Flag's glaring presence. Several of the Zhurong clan's main branches had been searching for it for countless years. If they knew the Zhurong Flag was in Gonggong's hands, they would resort to any means necessary to protect this precious treasure.

No one of Zhurong's bloodline could refuse this Zhurong flag. This was Lu Shang's personal experience.

"Shang, I respectfully thank the ancestors for the gift of the treasure,"

Lu Shang held the Zhurong flag and bowed deeply to the ancestral tablets.

------

Just as Xu State's Lu Shang was trying his best to expand his power, train soldiers and reorganize his military equipment.

In less than a month, the rebellion in the North Sea had made new progress. The North Sea was vast, and the evil aura rose to the sky. The biting cold air condensed into thin flakes of frost and flew down.

"kill!"

Hundreds of thousands of demonic troops roared and swarmed from the North Sea, sweeping across all the human states in the area. These demonic troops were truly like a swarm of locusts, devouring everything they encountered, and everything they passed through was reduced to ruins.

Seeing that the rebels in Beihai were becoming more and more powerful, the emperor of Xiahou clan originally wanted to recruit troops from Gonggong clan to quell the rebellion, but the increasingly corrupt situation in Beihai finally made the emperor of Xiahou clan calm down temporarily.

At this time, it was no longer meaningful to continue to forcibly recruit Gonggong's troops. He had to consider whether continuing to force Gonggong would force the Gonggong states to rebel.

Many people may have forgotten that the relationship between Gonggong and Beihai was extremely delicate. When several generations of emperors after Taotang demoted Gonggong, they all banished him to Beihai.

In other words, Gonggong had quite deep roots in the North Sea.

Others may ignore this point, but the Emperor of Xia would not ignore it.

As the chaos in the North Sea grew more and more serious, more and more states smelled something unusual.

Not only the North Sea, but several states in the Nine Provinces were also unstable at this time. Some demons and gods were silently waiting for the next move of the Emperor of the Xia Dynasty. As long as the situation deteriorated further, they would raise the banner of rebellion and establish their own regime.

The elderly Emperor of the Xia Dynasty was keenly aware of the intentional alienation of the other states, so when the monsters in the North Sea wanted to further shake the destiny of the Xia Dynasty, the furious Emperor of the Xia Dynasty finally couldn't bear it anymore and took action.

Just as the monsters were wreaking havoc, a huge star from outer space, wrapped in red flames, streaked across the sky and slammed heavily onto the North Sea. At the moment the star fell, a deafening scream, almost as shrill as the sound of hell, echoed in an area of ​​tens of thousands of miles. Countless blood-red clouds cast an ominous shadow, and layer upon layer of huge waves swept over. Waves hundreds and thousands of feet high rose into the sky and suddenly crashed down, stirring up countless undercurrents.

One strike and the land sank, and the whole world was silent!

Of the seventy-two demon kingdoms in the North Sea, more than half were wiped out by the Xia Dynasty Emperor's move of shifting the stars and changing the constellations.

Countless demons were killed by the aftermath of the star, and some powerful demons were pulled by the aura of the star and crushed into powder by the tremendous pressure of the star.

"What a great Xia Hou clan!"

In the North Sea Youdu, the pale-faced Youhou stared blankly at the group of monsters in the hall.

"As expected, I'm still that ruthless. I won't care about the floods of the Xia Dynasty after I die."

At this moment, You Hou no longer had the high spirits he had a few days ago. The falling star of the Emperor of the Xia Dynasty directly dealt a heavy blow to the demon army under his command.

If he did not have some special abilities, he would have been completely destroyed by the Xia Emperor's power of moving stars and changing constellations. This is a power beyond the realm of gods and humans.

"Moving the stars and changing the constellations, what a great move! I never thought that the Emperor of the Xia Dynasty would still have the energy to use such a great magical power."

Marquis You seemed to be both happy and sad, and said, "This is a divine power that transcends the human world. Even the emperor in his prime cannot wield it without permission."

"Son of Heaven, time is running out,"

At this moment, even You Hou himself couldn't tell what his mood was.

The good news is that the time of Emperor Xia Hou was already running out, and now he has used his great supernatural powers to shorten his lifespan even more. The former proud emperor has finally reached the time of his death.

The tragedy was that the Xia emperor's change of fate almost reduced the accumulation of thirty generations of the You Kingdom to ashes.

If we want to march out of the North Sea again, we will need at least ten years of accumulation of resources.

But in the long run, Youhou believed it was worth it.

(End of this chapter)