I meet all the requirements for becoming a god in this world!

Chapter 238 The Emperor

On the Chengtian Gate tower, the figure of the gray-robed man soared into the sky from the depths of the imperial city and landed in front of the spirit fox.

His face was still blurry, and he didn't exude any aura, but he just stood there.

A greyish-white robe stood motionless in the night wind, making him look like an emotionless stone statue, or a grey lightning bolt frozen between heaven and earth.

In an instant, everyone felt as if their breath had been choked, not by pressure, but by a deeper, more profound sense of dread from the depths of their souls.

Cheng Laiyun had seen this gray-robed man once in the Imperial Study—at that time, the Third Prince had been touched by the dragon energy passed down by the spirit fox, and the gray-robed man attacked Emperor Jianye without hesitation.

This person only recognizes the dragon's aura, doesn't care about right or wrong, and has no logic to speak of.

Zhang Linzheng and Yu Qingzheng's expressions changed simultaneously.

For the first time, Zhang Linzheng's usually calm and collected face showed a solemnity that Cheng Laiyun had never seen before—not fear, but a cold sternness that came from having calculated all possible escape routes in the face of absolute power and confirmed that there was no way out.

The inscription on Yu Qingzheng's sleeve, which had been glowing with a pale blue light, suddenly dimmed, as if it were being suffocated by something.

He had lived to such an old age and had seen all sorts of storms, but a Yu-level supernatural being—that was an existence on another level, one of the last few protective barriers left behind by the founding emperor when he used the nation's destiny to condense his life bones.

Eunuch Lin was away in the capital, supervising the various prefectures as they oversaw the issuance of imperial edicts of grace by the vassal kings. Xie Yuheng was firmly pinned down on the other side of the city wall by Yang Shi'en's military formation, his righteous spirit and dark red blood energy locked in a stalemate, unable to break free.

In the entire imperial city, no one could stand in front of the gray-robed man.

The fox crouched on the battlements, its grin widening to reveal its gleaming white teeth.

Looking at the expressions of great alarm on the faces of Cheng Laiyun and the other two, watching Zhang Linzheng's fingers rapidly calculating in his sleeve and then limply relaxing, and seeing the flickering light of Yu Qingzheng's inscription, a surge of pleasure that had been suppressed for five months welled up in its heart.

From being sealed off on Laojun Mountain for twenty years, to being injured and fleeing from the Imperial Study by Cheng Laiyun, to tonight, it finally stands on the edge of victory.

The gray-robed man was their most valuable card; once that card was played, everything would be over.

Yang Shi'en stood at the other end of the city wall, the dark red light on the black knife in his hand still surging, but his grip on the knife loosened slightly.

Xie Yuheng was still under pressure, but as soon as the gray-robed man arrived, he knew that the outcome of the night was already decided.

No matter how skilled Cheng Laiyun is in combat, how good Zhang Linzheng is at strategizing, or how adept Yu Qingzheng is at setting up formations, they are nothing more than ants breathing a few more breaths in front of a Yu-level supernatural being.

He didn't need the gray-robed man to kill everyone; he only needed the gray-robed man to hold off Zhang Linzheng and Yu Qingzheng for half a quarter of an hour—half a quarter of an hour was enough for the spirit fox's fate transfer to be completely stabilized.

It was enough for the Eighth Prince to complete the final ceremony before his ascension to the throne in the side hall of the Eastern Palace, enough for the world to be completely changed.

He didn't smile, but the corners of his eyes relaxed slightly—the first genuine relaxation in ten years. "Make your move!!"

The fox's voice was filled with excitement.

For the first time, a sense of joy unique to humans was revealed in its vertical pupils.

Upon hearing the spirit fox's words, the eighth prince in the hall no longer hesitated and gave the order to the gray-robed man:

"Kill them!!"

The words fell.

The gray-robed man quickly raised his right hand.

The movement was slow, even deliberate, but the moment that hand was raised, all the air on the Chengtianmen city tower seemed to be sucked away.

A hazy gray light condensed in his palm. The light had no fancy colors or deafening roars; it was just a hazy gray mass, as if he were holding an entire chaotic void in his hand.

But everyone could sense that if this attack were to land, it wouldn't be something a third or fourth-grade rank could withstand.

It cannot be sealed by inscriptions, nor can it be suppressed by righteous energy.

This is a cosmic-level divine power, a manifestation of the very rules of heaven and earth! Zhang Lin is moving.

He pressed down with his right hand, and a moon-white light surged from his palm, condensing into a semi-transparent light wall in front of the three people.

The inscription on Yu Qingzheng's sleeve lit up again, with layers of pale golden light overlapping the light wall, reinforcing it layer upon layer.

But both of them knew in their hearts that this was just doing their best.

The gray-robed man pressed down with his hand—and the light barrier shattered.

It wasn't shattered, but rather broke directly into countless tiny points of light, like fireflies scattered by the wind.

Yu Qingzheng let out a muffled groan, and a trickle of blood escaped from the corner of his mouth.

Zhang Linzheng's face paled slightly, but he still stood ramrod straight.

The fox spirit finally couldn't hold back any longer and spoke, her voice sharp and urgent, carrying a hint of barely suppressed excitement:

"Kill him! Kill Cheng Laiyun first!"

Its voice echoed on the city wall, its golden vertical pupils fixed on the gray-robed man's back.

It desperately wanted Cheng Laiyun dead—from the Imperial Study until tonight, every time it thought it was about to succeed, Cheng Laiyun would stand before it. It wanted to rip Cheng Laiyun's head off and play with it in its hands.

He looked at Cheng Laiyun eagerly.

I wanted to see the fear that Cheng Laiyun was anticipating on his face.

however.

When its gaze fell on Cheng Laiyun's face, it seemed somewhat bewildered.

It noticed that Cheng Laiyun's expression was somewhat strange.

It wasn't the fear and dread you might imagine.

Rather, it was a burning...and a yearning?

What does that mean?

A sense of confusion arose in the spirit fox's heart.

next moment.

Cheng Laiyun personally told it the answer. Suddenly, Cheng Laiyun took a step forward.

It wasn't a desperate struggle after being cornered, nor was it a show of bravado to stand in front of Zhang Linzheng and Yu Qingzheng; it was a composure that no one had anticipated.

He walked out from behind Zhang Linzheng, stood directly opposite the gray-robed man, and looked up at the blurry face.

Then he spoke, his voice not loud, but every word clearly reached everyone's ears.

He said:

"You were in the capital when I killed Wei Shiguang last time. You should have been able to sense that I have dragon energy on me."

He finished speaking.

Countless points of light emerged from Cheng Laiyun's sea of ​​consciousness.

With a slight thought.

The hidden dragon energy inscription that Master Qingzheng had buried in his giant statue was quietly broken.

"boom!!!"

A beam of golden light, visible only to the gray-robed man, suddenly exploded from the colossus. The gray-robed man's hand abruptly stopped.

It hovered in mid-air, only three feet above Cheng Laiyun's head.

The hand, shrouded in chaotic gray light, seemed to be held in place by something invisible, hanging there motionless.

He is a Yu-level supernatural being; if this attack were to land, no one could withstand it.

But he didn't stop—he stopped.

The air on the city wall froze completely in that instant.

Everyone was waiting—waiting for that hand to fall, or to retract.

No one spoke, no one moved, even the fox spirit's urging was stuck in its throat, because the gray-robed man's pause was too strange, so strange that it made everyone's heart sink.

The gray-robed man withdrew his hand.

The hand, imbued with chaotic gray light, slowly lowered and hung at its side.

Then he made a movement—he bent his right knee, knelt down on one knee, and knelt in front of Cheng Laiyun.

The powerful cultivator at the Universe level, who only recognized dragon energy and disregarded right and wrong, the gray-robed man who had attacked Emperor Jianye without hesitation simply because the Third Prince was tainted with dragon energy, was now kneeling upright before a disciple of the Mo Clan. He raised his head, his indistinct face turned towards Cheng Laiyun, and then spoke in a voice devoid of emotion, yet every word was crystal clear:

"Your Majesty."

???

? ? ? ?

After saying that...

Everyone was stunned.

The words that landed on the city wall were even more suffocating than the attack from the gray-robed man.

The night wind stopped, the candlelight ceased, and everyone froze in place at the same moment.

Zhang Linzheng had prepared at least three plans to deal with the gray-robed men's attacks, and in each plan he had calculated his and Yu Qingzheng's escape routes to the last possible step.

But the gray-robed man did not attack. Instead, he knelt down before Cheng Laiyun and called out, "Your Majesty..."

???

He looked at the man in gray robes, then at Cheng Laiyun, then back at the man in gray robes—for the first time, a look he rarely showed to outsiders appeared in his extremely dark and deep eyes: bewilderment.

Pure, undisguised bewilderment.

He had calculated it his whole life, and this was the first time he felt he might have missed something crucial.

……

Yu Qingzheng stood right next to Cheng Laiyun. At this moment, he was like a frozen statue, with one hand still suspended in mid-air, ready to form a hand seal.

He was the Grand Elder of the Mo Clan, and among everyone present, he knew the most about the giant statue on Cheng Laiyun's body.

The "Covering the Sky" inscription was carved by his own hand in order to conceal the dragon energy within the giant statue of Cheng Laiyun and prevent anyone from discovering it.

But he never knew—or rather, he had never even considered that possibility—that the dragon aura generated by the colossus transforming into a dragon was equivalent to that of an emperor in the eyes of the gray-robed man?

He stared at the gray-robed man's kneeling back, his mind blank, his lips moved but he couldn't utter a single word.

Your Majesty?

Cheng Laiyun?

He instinctively wanted to ask Cheng Laiyun what had happened, but he swallowed the words back before they could leave his mouth. Everyone had heard the words "Your Majesty"!

How will Cheng Laiyun explain this?

He cautiously looked towards Xie Yuheng.

Zhang Linzheng and Yu Qingzheng are actually fine; they don't overthink things.

I just wonder what this Imperial Tutor Xie is thinking?

Xie Yuheng's reaction was the most intense.

It's not about physical intensity, it's about cognitive intensity.

He had lived for over seventy years and had seen it all—he had experienced the Rebellion of the Seven States, he had witnessed the death of the late emperor, and when Emperor Jianye ascended the throne, he had personally watched as all the civil and military officials knelt down and shouted "Long live the Emperor!" in the Golden Palace.

But at this moment, as he held Yang Shi'en's black knife, his righteous energy still surged in his palm, and his mind had already shifted to another dimension.

Those at the Universe level only recognize Dragon Qi; this is an ironclad rule established by the Great Ancestor.

He knew this gray-robed man.

He knew just how strong the gray-robed man before him truly was. But now...

What does it mean that he knelt before Cheng Laiyun and called him "Your Majesty"?

He thought of it instantly.

This kid named Cheng Laiyun in front of me... has dragon energy on him!!

And it was a dragon aura even more concentrated than that of an emperor!

It is genuine dragon energy that can be recognized by a cosmic-level supernatural being!

Who is Cheng Laiyun?

A disciple of the Mohist school, and the Inspector General of the Imperial Censorate, a young man in his early twenties.

How could he have dragon energy on him?

What is his background?

Xie Yuheng stared at Cheng Laiyun's excessively young face and suddenly realized that his judgment of people, which he had lived for over seventy years, might have been flawed from the very beginning.

He suppressed the thought, faced Yang Shi'en again, and his righteous aura returned to normal. However, his peripheral vision remained fixed on Cheng Laiyun, as if he were seeing this young man for the first time. Yang Shi'en's hand holding the knife was still suspended in mid-air, his blood and qi still surging, but the dark red light on the blade had unconsciously dimmed a bit.

He heard the gray-robed man call him "Your Majesty," and his first reaction was not anger or fear, but doubt—doubt that he might have misheard.

They suspected that the gray-robed man was being controlled by some kind of magic.

They suspect that the whole thing was a smokescreen arranged in advance by Cheng Laiyun.

But he quickly dismissed these doubts, because the gray-robed man was a cosmic-level supernatural being, and no magic could control him.

What does it mean that he called Cheng Laiyun "Your Majesty"?

This moment.

He even looked at the spirit fox with suspicion.

"Could it be that you accidentally switched Emperor Jianye's destiny into Cheng Laiyun's body instead?"

Although this idea is absurd.

But this bizarre scene can only be explained in this way!

No... you might as well change my fate instead!!!

The fox crouched on the battlements, its golden vertical pupils swirling with an almost manic disbelief.

It had just been grinning and telling the gray-robed man to kill Cheng Laiyun first. It had just been squatting on the battlements, imagining what Cheng Laiyun's head would look like when it was crushed by the gray light. That kind of pleasure had been brewing in its chest for more than half an hour and had already risen to its throat.

But now—the gray-robed man kneels before Cheng Laiyun, calling him "Your Majesty."

Your Majesty?

The Emperor should be the Eighth Prince. It was probably the result of him painstakingly extracting the fate of the Jianye Emperor and grafting it onto that young man.

What gives Cheng Laiyun the right to do this?

Its mind raced... but it couldn't come up with any reason that could have caused the situation it was in.

It let out a piercing, shrill scream, a sound laced with the madness of someone cornered and no longer caring about fear:

"Impossible! It's fake!! It must be fake!!! Kill him! I order you to kill him!"

Its voice echoed on the city wall, sharp and urgent, but the gray-robed man remained kneeling before Cheng Laiyun, unmoved.

The last vestige of reason vanished from the fox's pupils—it leaped from the battlement, attempting to pounce on Cheng Laiyun, but its body was slammed against the battlement by the gray-robed man's casual flick of the wrist. It lay sprawled on the cold blue bricks, its golden vertical pupils fixed on the gray-robed man's kneeling back, its eyes devoid of hatred and killing intent for the first time, filled only with a pure, utterly shattered emptiness.

Cheng Laiyun ignored the spirit fox.

He looked down at the gray-robed man in front of him, whose gaze was devout.

His face remained expressionless, but his peripheral vision subtly swept over everyone present—Linghu, Yang Shi'en, Zhang Linzheng, Yu Qingzheng, and Xie Yuheng—taking in their expressions.

Then he pointed at Linghu and said calmly, "Then you will capture Linghu and Yang Shi'en for me now."