Immortality: Starting with a grave, I'm invincible when burying corpses.

Tianqi Hall.

The usually noisy court hall was completely deserted today.

Only the emperor and his minister remained in the magnificent palace.

One sat on the dragon throne, and the other stood in front of the main hall.

At the moment when Qi'an City was breached, a monarch and a minister, the Emperor of Great Qi and the Prime Minister of Great Qi, were sitting in the court hall that symbolized the highest power of Great Qi.

Most of the officials had already fled to Jiaozhou, and only a few dozen had chosen to dedicate themselves to the country. They were now each ending their lives in their own way.

Inside the magnificent palace, Jun Huayang sat on the dragon throne, wearing a crown and a dragon robe, his clothes without a single wrinkle.

The aging emperor sat with majesty and solemnity, his every move as usual, composed yet dignified, as if he still held great power and was still the same absolute emperor of the Great Qi Dynasty.

The Qiming Sword was placed on Jun Huayang's lap, and as his hand brushed across the blade, a faint golden light shone on its surface.

Even though most of Qi'an City had been captured, the spirit of the Qiming Sword still acknowledged Emperor Jun Huayang's identity.

At the lower seat, Su Xiang, dressed in the official robes representing the prime minister, stood ramrod straight.

His face remained calm, without the slightest hint of panic.

As if nothing had happened outside, he remained the Prime Minister of the Great Qi Dynasty.

Today I come to this familiar hall, just as I have done every morning for the past few decades, to preside over a morning assembly.

If there's any difference, it's probably that Su Xiang now has a tattered book in his arms.

Through the messy handwriting, one could vaguely see a character for "butterfly" missing most of its part on the book cover.

The main hall was silent for about a quarter of an hour before Jun Huayang, sitting on the dragon throne, lowered his gaze.

"My dear minister, I have one last decree to give you."

Su Xiang bowed as usual.

"Please give your instructions, Your Majesty. I will do my utmost to fulfill any request."

Under Su Xiang's gaze, Jun Huayang slowly stepped down from the dragon throne and placed the Qiming Sword in Su Xiang's hand amidst his bewildered gaze.

"What does Your Majesty mean by this? With a great battle imminent, how can you hand over your sword to me!"

Upon seeing that Jun Huayang was about to hand over the Qiming Sword to him, Su Xiang's expression immediately changed, and his words became agitated.

With the Qiming Sword in hand, Jun Huayang still has the strength to fight the rebels. Although it is impossible to quell the rebellion, he can at least protect himself in the chaos.

However, without the Qiming Sword, Jun Huayang would be nothing more than an ordinary Celestial Martial Saint in the face of the fall of Daqi.

Jun Huayang did not change his mind because of Su Xiang's excited tone. He patted Su Xiang on the shoulder, his gaze as calm as a cold pool.

"Under the whole heaven, all land belongs to the king, and all living beings are my subjects... The Enlightenment Sword is a sacred sword of humanity, and also the sword of the emperor."

Humanity's sword will not be wielded against its own people, and an emperor's sword should not be wielded with external force.

"I am the Emperor of the Great Qi Dynasty, and today I shall personally settle accounts with the rebels."

"Your Majesty!" Su Xiang wanted to persuade him again, but Jun Huayang waved his hand to interrupt him.

"There's no need to persuade me anymore. You need this sword more than I do... If you want to find out the answer, you must not place all your hopes on others!"

Perhaps a sword of enlightenment can't change anything, but it can at least give you more courage.

Even if it's just one sword strike, it's still our voice!

Go on, go where you belong! In this vast world, someone has to stand up, someone has to say no to them…

His thoughts were exposed, and Su Xiang was stunned for a long time. He just stood there, gripping the hilt of the Qiming Sword tightly.

His aged and complex eyes were fixed on Jun Huayang, as if trying to memorize his current appearance.

Su Xiang only came to his senses after Jun Huayang straightened his dragon robe and drew another golden emperor's sword from his waist.

The two men took steps at the same time, one forward and one backward, their figures intersecting.

In the firelight, the two shadows overlapped for a moment, then grew further and further apart with each step.

Just as he was about to step out of the main hall, Jun Huayang suddenly stopped, turned around, and gave Su Xiang a carefree smile.

"Perhaps our resistance seems weak and powerless, perhaps neither you nor I will get the answer we want, perhaps we are insignificant in their eyes, but at least we should tell them."

"As human beings, we are not their pawns; we also have the right to choose our own future!"

Even if we are as weak as ants, we still have the courage to raise our swords against the enemy!

"The emperors of the Great Qi Dynasty may die standing, but they will never live on their knees!"

The moment the door opened, Su Xiang turned around abruptly and knelt down on the ground once again.

"Your Majesty, I respectfully see you off!"

……

Outside the main hall, three thousand guards, personally selected by Jun Huayang, stood in solemn silence.

Bright yellow banners fluttered in the wind, and the armor of the Imperial Guards reflected a dazzling light under the sun.

Looking at the guards he had personally selected one by one, Jun Huayang raised his right hand, which was holding a sword, high.

"My warriors, today we shall stand with you to defend our homeland, eliminate the villains, and uphold the glory of our Great Qi!"

"Kill! Kill! Kill!!!"

Jun Huayang raised his arms and shouted.

The three thousand guards roared in unison, the deafening sound echoing across the square, the chilling aura soaring into the sky and shattering the clouds above the imperial city.

At midday, under the blazing sun, Emperor Jun Huayang of the Great Qi Dynasty led his three thousand personal guards in a final charge.

A raging fire engulfed the ancient capital, and one ancient building after another collapsed in the inferno.

Beneath the shattered Vermilion Bird Gate, hundreds of thousands of troops from the southern frontier were reveling in unbridled revelry.

Wearing a crown and a dragon robe, the emperor walked at the head of the procession, stepping out of the gates of the imperial city.

Amidst the roar of cannons, beneath the crumbling city walls, and facing the endless ranks of elite troops from the southern frontier, Jun Huayang raised his longsword high, pointing it at the vast army.

"Royal Guards, heed my command!"

"Follow me into battle!"

On this day, blood was shed in the imperial city, and the emperor died in the charge.

The golden Emperor's Sword shattered into several pieces, falling alongside its master amidst mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

The crown was stained with blood, the yellow robe was torn, and only a riddled corpse stood at the highest point of the mountain of corpses.

……

The 100th year of Qiming, the 7th day of the 11th month.

With the fall of Qi'an City and the death of the last emperor of the Great Qi Dynasty, Jun Huayang, the Great Qi Dynasty, which had lasted for more than 1,200 years, came to an end.

Thus, the world was divided into five kingdoms, entering a period of chaos.

……

……

"It really ended like that? It doesn't feel real... I vaguely remember when I was young, there were always rumors in the martial arts world that the Great Qi would perish. It's been going on for almost two hundred years, but we never saw the Great Qi really fall. I never thought it would actually end today..."

"Dynastic changes are a natural phenomenon. No dynasty lasts forever. The old dynasty falls and the new dynasty rises. It is just one cycle after another."

On a high mountain a hundred miles from the palace, Mu Ling'er witnessed Jun Huayang's final charge.

As Jun Huayang collapsed, she sighed with deep emotion and murmured to herself.

"As the last emperor, he was competent, but that's all he could be... How could the accumulated strength of the Southern Frontier over the past few hundred years, and the diligent governance of Qishan Road over the past two hundred years, be inferior to others?"

"Jun Huayang may have done well, but I can only do better than him. Ye Lin from the Southern Frontier should not be underestimated either... Although there were indeed unfair aspects to the Meteorite incident, his loss was not unjust."

Whether it was self-praise or a moment of sadness, after a few words of lamentation, Mu Ling'er's mood dropped considerably, and her gaze shifted to the outside of the city.

An old man holding a sword in both hands is heading west towards the Four Symbols Mountain.

"That must be Su Xiang. I remember him. Back in 'Sinful Village,' Qin Xiucai thought highly of him and entrusted me with his life's work before he died."

He later lived up to Qin Xiucai's expectations and became the Prime Minister of the Great Qi Dynasty. But... having already escaped, why did he still head towards the Four Symbols Mountain?

Mu An glanced at Mu Ling'er gently and picked up where she left off.

"Would you like to see it?"

"I want to witness it."

"it is good"

……