If you die, I will be able to inherit your cultivation.

Inside the cave in Xishan, Zhou Ming was awakened from his meditation by a series of deep and long chimes.

The sound of the bell came from the huge opening in the cliff, rippling slowly around his ears like waves.

Zhou Ming opened his eyes, and his divine sense subconsciously spread out, enveloping the direction of Yongning City.

From the city gate to the main gate of the imperial palace, the entire city of Yongning was covered with red silk that billowed like waves in the morning breeze.

The long street was teeming with people, and the black-armored soldiers, their helmets gleaming, stood in formation on both sides of the imperial road, their spears and halberds like a forest, their banners obscuring the sun.

He had been so engrossed in cultivation these past two days that he had completely forgotten the date.

After news of Fengdu City spread throughout the world, the heat in his dantian grew stronger day by day, converging into streams of warm currents that surged within his dantian and eventually flowed into his purple-gold nascent soul.

However, the total amount of mana required for the Nascent Soul stage is more than a hundred times higher than that required for the Golden Core stage.

Even though tens of thousands of causal chains break every day, a continuous stream of magical power flows into his dantian from all directions.

However, the threshold from the Nascent Soul stage to the Deity Transformation stage remains unattainable.

Zhou Ming could feel his cultivation level steadily increasing, but there was still a very long way to go before he could break through.

However, breaking through to a higher realm is something that cannot be rushed.

Zhou Ming patted off non-existent dust from his robes, stood up from the futon, and turned his divine sense back to Yongning City.

The main gate of the temporary palace, located twenty miles outside Yongning City, was slowly opening.

The heavy, vermilion gate slid open to both sides with the creaking of its hinges, the low, drawn-out hum of the door hinges drowning out the breaths of tens of thousands of people in the square.

All eyes turned to the depths of the doorway.

A figure slowly emerged from the shadows of the doorway.

Su Mingyue was not wearing a dragon robe.

She was still wearing that jet-black iron armor, with layers of plates covering her from her shoulders to her knees.

The breastplate is engraved with the emblem of the Northern Commander's Office, and the shoulder armor is slightly raised, like folded eagle wings.

She had a long sword hanging at her waist, a few inches longer than an ordinary sword. The scabbard was as black as ink, with only a tiny "Su" character engraved on the guard.

The square, which housed tens of thousands of people, was completely silent.

There were no shouts of "Long live the Empress!" or any drumming or music; everyone simply watched her in silence.

With each step Su Mingyue took, the black armor emitted a very faint metallic clanging sound, which was amplified and made exceptionally clear in the silent square.

It wasn't an emperor ascending the throne, but a general entering the battlefield.

Su Mingyue stopped in front of the imperial steps.

Instead of immediately ascending the dragon throne that had been empty for so long, he turned around.

Facing the civil and military officials on both sides of the imperial road, facing the dark mass of imperial guards on His Majesty's throne, and facing the endless crowds of people on the street.

Her gaze slowly swept across each face before she spoke.

The sound wasn't loud, but it drowned out the wind in the entire square.

Three days ago, someone asked me, "How can you, a woman, claim the title of empress?"

Su Mingyue's gaze swept over the few empty seats below the steps, seats that originally belonged to the heads of noble families who died at the gate of the Marquis's mansion yesterday.

She didn't continue, but everyone understood what she meant.

The thirty-odd corpses lying in front of the Marquis's mansion had already answered her question.

After a moment of silence, she withdrew her gaze and took out a scroll of bright yellow imperial edict from her sleeve. She did not have the eunuch do it for her, but unfolded it herself and read it aloud, word by word:

"The Great Xia Dynasty lasted for over six hundred years. When Zhengde lost his way, the world fell into chaos, heroes rose up, and the state collapsed."

"I am the daughter of the Marquis of Youzhou. I inherited my father's ambition, commanded the troops in the north, pacified Yunzhou, stabilized Chongzhou, and recovered Cangzhou. The whole country was won over, and a million soldiers and civilians gave their lives for me."

However, unforeseen events can occur, and the return of hundreds of powerful figures stirs up a storm across the land.

"The world is not yet at peace, and the land is not yet pacified; I dare not claim any credit."

"A country cannot be without a ruler for a day, nor can the state be left in limbo for long."

"By the mandate of Heaven and the will of the people, I hereby ascend the throne as Emperor, and establish the Ming Dynasty."

"From this day forward, all soldiers and civilians of the Great Ming Dynasty are my subjects."

"All the lands of the nine provinces belong to me."

After she finished reading the edict, she closed it, raised her eyes and looked down at the imperial road below. Her gaze slowly swept across everyone's faces, and she spoke the last sentence word by word.

"I hereby swear: I will not wear the yellow robe or remove this armor until the world is at peace."

She turned and ascended the steps, heading towards the solitary dragon throne atop the imperial steps.

She stopped in front of the dragon throne, grasped the hilt of the long sword at her waist with her right hand, and drew the sword from its sheath with a whoosh.

The sword flashed a cold arc in the morning light, its tip pointing downwards, and it slammed heavily into the gold brick floor directly in front of the dragon throne.

The blade sank several inches into the gold brick, and the sword body continued to tremble, emitting a clear and long hum.

Su Mingyue did not sit on the dragon throne. She placed the sword in front of the throne, stood behind the sword, turned around, and faced the civil and military officials below the imperial steps.

All the civil and military officials knelt down in unison.

His Majesty's black-armored soldiers knelt on one knee, the clanging sound of their armor echoing from both sides of the imperial road all the way to the main street.

Tens of thousands of people knelt on the ground like a receding tide, their foreheads pressed against the bluestone slabs and yellow earth road.

A deafening roar of "Long live the Emperor!" erupted from the main gate of the imperial palace, rolling across the imperial road, the long street, and over the entire city of Yongning, echoing for a long time beneath the heavens.

Zhou Ming stood atop the western mountain, taking in the entire scene.

Looking towards the magnificent palace in the direction of Yongning City, and at the figure in black armor and silver spear on the steps.

From the time he told Su Mingyue the story of the Empress's ascension to the throne in the martial arts arena, to now her personally planting the sword in front of the dragon throne.

Su Mingyue may not have unified the world yet, and may not be a true emperor in the human realm, but she has already reached the starting point that all emperors began at.

He witnessed this process firsthand.

"Well, I'll give you another surprise."

Zhou Ming muttered to himself, his hands forming a complex hand seal in front of his chest.

The purple-gold magic flowed from his fingertips, condensing, compressing, and shaping between his palms.

A fireball the size of a fist appeared out of thin air, but its light was different from the blazing white light of a normal fireball spell.

The fireball's interior was filled with layers of crimson gold patterns.

Every line was intertwining and entwining at an extremely fast speed, as if an invisible paintbrush was outlining something inside the flame.

As Zhou Ming flicked his fingers repeatedly, strands of magic power as thin as hair were injected into the fireball.

Zhou Ming is shaping the bones, feathers, and plumes of this phoenix.

With fire as his bones and light as his feathers, he precisely controlled the curve and luster of each feather.

"go."

Zhou Ming gave a low shout and pushed forward with both hands.

The fireball, the size of a fist, flew out from his palm and grew larger as it was carried by the wind.

One zhang, three zhang, ten zhang, several tens of zhang.

As the fireball flew away from the western mountains, it rapidly expanded and deformed, first unfurling a pair of blazing wings that blotted out the sky.

Each feather on its wings was formed from leaping crimson-gold flames, with pale blue, high-temperature flames shimmering around its edges, gleaming brilliantly in the morning light.

Immediately afterwards, a long and elegant phoenix neck rose proudly from the firelight, three feathers stood tall on the phoenix head, the phoenix eyes were half closed, the corners of the eyes were narrow and upturned, revealing a divine radiance that looked down on all living beings.

Finally, there are the tail feathers, nine long tail feathers that spread out from behind the phoenix.

Each one is woven from flowing flames, with tiny sparks trailing at the end, drifting slowly in the wind.