Chapter 1021: The Son of Heaven of Great Yan!

The old Pixiu still stood in the middle of the hall. The aura radiating from its body was so powerful that even the surrounding air seemed faintly distorted.

Its existence lay somewhere between spirit and substance.

Great Yan had done a better job than Chu ever had of preserving and perpetuating the Pixiu. Otherwise, how could Great Yan have continued breeding Pixiu and Pi Beasts?

Long ago, the Pixiu had already become one of Great Yan’s totems. Even earlier than that, it had bound itself to Great Yan’s national fortune.

Now Great Yan was swallowing mountains and rivers, expanding across the realm. The other three great states had fallen one after another, and Great Yan stood on the verge of settling All Under Heaven. The signs of national fortune had already begun surging forth, feeding back into the old Pixiu and allowing it to regain its “vitality.”

The white-robed woman named Ling had managed to breed so many Pixiu so quickly after entering the Imperial Beast-Taming Directorate partly because her methods were precise and unusual. But the principal reason was simpler: once Great Yan’s national fortune had replenished and strengthened the old Pixiu spirit, such a flourishing of its bloodline had become an inevitable reflection of that reality.

The Emperor remained seated.

He seemed to be thinking. Hesitating.

Or perhaps he simply could not be bothered responding at all.

Wei Zhonghe and the Eunuch in Red Robes continued standing quietly. Above and around the hall, experts of the Secret Intelligence Department and red-robed eunuchs held their breaths and waited.

This was Yanjing.

This was the imperial palace.

This was before the Son of Heaven himself.

Here, the Emperor possessed supreme authority.

After a long silence, the old Pixiu finally “spoke.”

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

It turned and began walking away.

The Emperor did not stop it. He still gave no response.

The old Pixiu reached the doorway.

Outside, rain had begun to fall.

Yet the rain and the flames covering its body did not conflict at all. They coexisted naturally. Here, the old saying that water and fire could not coexist simply did not apply.

The Pixiu stopped.

Then it turned its enormous, majestic eyes back toward the Emperor seated high above.

On the day of the late Emperor’s funeral, Xue San had broken open the restrictions on the black alchemical furnace. The Pixiu spirit, then “old and weak,” had briefly escaped its confinement and come before the Spirit Hall to see the late Emperor off in person.

It had also revealed a secret then: when the late Emperor’s body was failing and his end drew near, the Pixiu had once offered to extend his life.

The late Emperor had refused.

No other Emperor of Yan across the generations had received such an offer.

Only the late Emperor had made this Pixiu spirit willing to act of its own accord.

Now, in the old Pixiu’s eyes, the Emperor before it resembled the late Emperor seven or eight parts out of ten around the brows. Yet in every other respect, something uniquely belonging to the late Emperor was missing.

The Pixiu could not quite describe what that something was.

Perhaps... its years stretched so far back that its seniority reached almost into the heavens.

Yet whenever it had faced the late Emperor, no matter how straight it held its body or how proudly it raised its head, one downward glance from that man had instantly produced in it the terrified instinct to bow before the Son of Heaven.

Before the present Emperor, that fear did not exist.

And yet... neither did contempt.

The old Pixiu had already finished giving its “instructions.”

By rights, it should have returned beneath the alchemical furnace and lain back down.

Instead, it stopped.

Not only did it look back.

It turned completely around.

Once more, it faced the Emperor directly.

“Do you understand?”

The Pixiu had begun repeating itself.

That meant uncertainty.

Before the late Emperor, it had felt fear from the bottom of its heart, even anger born of that fear.

Before this Emperor there was no fear. But the sense that this Emperor kept his true thoughts hidden in unfathomable depths made the Pixiu equally unsure of its footing.

You could not see through him.

And quite possibly... he had already seen through you.

The Pixiu was not human.

For much of its long existence, it had remained half-shattered and fragmented.

It was a pity Yao Zizhan, whom the Emperor had brought back to Yanjing, had no qualification to appear here.

Otherwise, with Master Yao’s literary gifts and his knack for understanding what others needed to hear, he could surely have explained the difference with exquisite precision.

The late Emperor had been a conquering sovereign, a ruler who broke accumulated abuses, smashed through barriers, and split mountains and rivers open for Great Yan.

Only then had there been the Northern and Southern Princes, the conquest of the Three Jins in the east, and the pacification of the Royal Court in the west.

The present Emperor, by contrast, was a masterful sovereign of governance. Ravines and stratagems filled his breast. He worked without noise, arranging and nourishing the realm.

True, in several of the hardest battles the Regent Prince and eastern Jin’s army had borne the main burden.

But which of those campaigns had lacked the court’s hundreds of thousands of troops behind them, or the vast, uninterrupted stream of logistical support?

When facing a conquering sovereign, you knew what he thought and knew what he intended to do, yet those very thoughts and actions still frightened you.

When facing a masterful sovereign, you did not know what he thought and did not know what he intended to do.

You merely sensed, vaguely and uneasily, that you had already become a chess piece.

Perhaps you were being pinched between his fingers.

Perhaps he had long since placed you somewhere on the board.

The Pixiu spirit’s return finally drew a clear laugh from the Emperor.

“Hehehe...”

The old Pixiu simply stared.

Its pride would never allow it to lower its head. Across countless years, it had personally watched generation after generation of Great Yan’s Emperors ascend the throne and die within this palace. It had watched their entire lives.

The Emperor said, with unmistakable mockery, “Perhaps We should order the Cabinet to leave one more chair empty. We can enshrine a memorial tablet on it inscribed with one word... Pixiu.”

“Emperor, do you think I am trying to teach you how to conduct your affairs?”

The Emperor shifted slightly and spread one hand.

“What else would you call it?”

The old Pixiu lifted its proud head even higher.

“It is the ancestors of your Ji Clan who are teaching you how to conduct your affairs.”

“Hehehe...”

The Emperor laughed again.

From ancient times to the present, whenever ministers wanted to restrain or oppose a sovereign, one of their favorite weapons had always been “the ancestral laws and traditions.”

Admittedly, that weapon worked extremely well against a weak Emperor.

The problem was that before a conquering sovereign or masterful sovereign, the argument often became useless.

Such rulers believed themselves to be the men who would create the ancestral laws for later generations.

How could they possibly allow the old rules to trip them?

This time the Emperor spread both hands.

“Where are they?”

Something like amusement appeared in the old Pixiu’s expression.

It did not actually smile.

Yet the change in its mood was clear enough.

“I will take you to meet them.”

“Good.”

At last, the Emperor stood.

He stepped down from the raised platform and began walking toward the old Pixiu.

Wei Zhonghe and the Eunuch in Red Robes instinctively moved to stop him. Yet as the Emperor approached, the two eunuchs with the highest cultivation in Great Yan’s imperial palace could only silently step aside.

Great Yan’s momentum toward swallowing all Xia had already taken shape.

Look across the realm, and only Great Yan could still claim a Son of Heaven.

The Regent Prince’s campaigns north and south had undoubtedly added layer after layer to his glory as the foremost man in the army.

But how could the Emperor of Great Yan, who was about to become sovereign of all Xia, have received no blessing of his own?

Eight hundred years ago, there had been Great Xia.

Eight hundred years later... he would become the first Emperor to unify All Under Heaven once more.

An Emperor for the Ages.

A living, breathing Emperor for the Ages.

Before such majesty and presence, even ministers of the outer court dared not oppose the imperial will.

How could household slaves and inner attendants do so?

What followed inside the imperial palace was, frankly... far too uncanny.

A Pixiu walked in front.

Behind it walked an Emperor in dragon robes.

Around them followed ranks of red-robed eunuchs.

Fortunately, ever since the palace’s Old Master had passed away, this section of the palace had become almost forbidden ground.

What happened today was therefore destined to become one more secret buried within Great Yan’s inner court.

As the Emperor and Pixiu advanced, Wei Zhonghe personally cleared the road ahead, dismissing all idle personnel and allowing no ordinary eunuch or palace maid to approach.

At last, the Pixiu stopped before another building.

Strictly speaking, the Ji Clan’s Imperial Ancestral Temple stood directly beside the hall containing the alchemical furnace.

The two structures were almost pressed against one another.

The Pixiu’s enormous body halted before the great doors.

Ji Chengjue climbed the steps.

As he ascended, the old Pixiu’s voice continued behind him in one long stream.

“You cannot kill him. If you kill him, Great Yan will fall into internal disorder. But you can watch. Watch him walk into death by himself. So long as he dies in a way that is perfectly natural and leaves All Under Heaven with nothing to say, the men under him will have nothing to say either. Once he dies, disorder will certainly erupt among his followers, and this newly conquered realm will suffer turmoil too. But that is no real problem. You merely need to spend a few more years putting the world back in order. Those people want him dead because while he lives, they have no opportunity whatsoever. We can watch him die because even after he is dead, those rats still cannot make trouble before the Great Yan of today. You possess the ability to guard this realm. Great Yan possesses the ability to guard it. No matter how one looks at it, that is far better than allowing two suns to hang in the sky, far better than leaving him alive, far better than letting those proud soldiers and fierce generals beneath him keep the man they rally around. Without him, you remain you. Great Yan remains Great Yan. The Ji Clan will replace Xia and establish a great dynasty. A hundred years from now, the common people will no longer call themselves Xia people, but Yan people. The realm will no longer be called All Xia, but the lands of Yan. He should die.”

The Emperor reached the top of the stairs and stood before the Ancestral Temple.

“Go in, Emperor. Listen to what your ancestors truly have to say.”

Ji Chengjue reached out, pushed open the temple doors, and stepped over the threshold.

Behind him, Wei Zhonghe and the Eunuch in Red Robes each took position on one side. The remaining red-robed eunuchs began forming an array.

A thread of white vapor curled from the old Pixiu’s nostrils.

It looked contemptuously at the men before it.

“Why would I ever harm the Son of Heaven of Great Yan?”

Two threads of pure green radiance flowed continuously within Wei Zhonghe’s sleeves.

He answered loudly:

“To show disrespect toward the Son of Heaven is already a grave crime.”

“I am not the Son of Heaven’s household slave,” the old Pixiu said proudly.

A smile appeared at Wei Zhonghe’s lips.

“You do not even qualify to be a household slave.”

The old Pixiu stamped both forehooves.

A terrifying pressure crashed directly toward Wei Zhonghe.

At once, the surrounding red-robed eunuchs exerted themselves together. A vast net seemed to weave itself overhead, forcibly suppressing the Pixiu’s aura.

The old Pixiu had not truly unleashed its strength.

This was only a warning.

It snorted.

“Wait until the Son of Heaven has finished meeting his ancestors. Then we can speak.”

Wei Zhonghe raised one hand.

The others withdrew their arts.

The next moment, everyone sat cross-legged.

Outside the Ancestral Temple, men fell silent.

The wind and rain did not.

...

The instant Ji Chengjue’s second foot crossed the threshold, everything before him shifted.

Heaven and earth changed places.

The solemn, majestic Ancestral Temple vanished.

In its place appeared elegant waterside pavilions and terraces.

This was the Rear Garden.

Inside the pavilion ahead sat a man with his back toward Ji Chengjue.

That back... was very familiar.

From nowhere came the soft, lingering sound of strings and pipes.

From nowhere drifted sandalwood incense, curling gently and soothing the lungs.

Ji Chengjue lowered his gaze.

He straightened the dragon robe he wore.

From the moment he had met the old Pixiu in the hall, through the walk to the Ancestral Temple, and even now, standing within this realm where truth and illusion blurred together... the Emperor’s expression had remained perfectly composed.

After making sure his dragon robe held no creases, he removed the mian crown from his head and cradled it in his arms.

Then he walked forward.

He circled halfway around the pavilion and entered.

He did not immediately look at the man sitting there.

Instead, the Emperor sat opposite him first, placed the mian crown at one side of the small table, rested both hands calmly before himself... and only then slowly lifted his head.

The man before him finally appeared in complete clarity.

There was not the slightest surprise.

Because of course... it was him.

Ji Runhao, dressed in simple black-and-white robes, looked at the son sitting across from him.

“Is the mian crown heavy?”

The Emperor shook his head.

He reached out and toyed with the twelve strings of white-jade beads hanging before it.

“Not heavy. Just cumbersome. When I have time, I’m going to change this crown. Do hanging beads across the face really make an Emperor look unfathomable before his ministers? It’s nothing but deceiving oneself. There’s no point. After me, later sovereigns should stop wearing the mian. Let them wear ordinary crowns.”

Ji Runhao nodded.

“A good change. I never liked it either.”

The Emperor asked:

“Why you?”

Ji Runhao pointed toward the teapot warming nearby.

The Emperor sat motionless.

“Pour the tea,” Ji Runhao said.

Ji Chengjue replied:

“Since when does one put the Son of Heaven to service?”

“I am a Son of Heaven too.”

“Which of us is the reigning Emperor?”

“I’m still your father.”

“Heaven, Earth, Sovereign, Parent, Teacher. Sovereign and subject come before father and son.”

“Hahahahaha...”

Ji Runhao laughed.

Then he sighed and cursed with a smile:

“Little beast.”

After cursing him, Ji Runhao reached for the teapot himself and poured the tea.

Two cups.

He looked at his son, pushed the first cup across the table, and said:

“Then let the reigning Emperor drink first.”

Ji Chengjue picked it up, took a sip, and set it down.

Ji Runhao lifted his own cup, shifted slightly, and said, “You asked why, after coming here to meet your ancestors, the first person you saw was me. Why am I the one sitting here waiting? This is the Ancestral Temple. The Pixiu spirit brought you inside. Your ancestors turned to dust long ago. I did too. What exists here is the ancestors you wish to see, the ancestors you wish to hear. Whoever you most want to see is whom you will see. So why did I appear first? Because at this moment... I am the person you most wanted to meet.”

A light breeze entered the pavilion and stirred the hanging curtains.

Two generations of Great Yan’s Sons of Heaven sat face-to-face.

Neither spoke.

A long time passed.

Ji Runhao reached for the teapot.

The Emperor moved first, picked it up, and refilled his father’s cup.

Ji Runhao said:

“You mustn’t.”

The Emperor ignored him.

“Oh, right. How is that Xiong family’s Old Fourth in Chu?”

“Almost finished. He’s lost until there’s practically nothing left to lose.”

Ji Runhao nodded.

“I knew it would turn out that way. The moment he chose that road, he cut himself off from living as a man of this age. A human life lasts a hundred years. To become Emperor, you first have to spend years as a Prince. If you aren’t Crown Prince from the beginning, then you have to fight your brothers for the succession. Even if you are Crown Prince from the beginning, if your father lives too long, you may have only a few springs and autumns left by the time you finally sit on the throne. Becoming Emperor as a child is not necessarily easier. Imperial in-laws, powerful ministers... there is too much to clean up. Then you still have to spend years learning how to be a good Emperor. Being Emperor, the hardest thing is that time waits for no man. Harder still is knowing that time will not wait and still having to wait for the sake of the larger situation. Chengjue, you have done very well. I chose the right man.”

“If you had died earlier instead of stubbornly hanging on, I could have done even better,” the Emperor said.

Ji Runhao looked at his son.

“Everything I’m saying is what you yourself want to say. It is what you yourself believe. Why argue with yourself? Is it amusing to lie to your own heart?”

Ji Runhao slowly rose.

“I left you the worst Great Yan. At the same time, I left you the best Great Yan. I never cared how history would weigh my achievements and failures. I am very comforted. My son, my successor... whatever you say aloud, in your heart, you see me the same way.”

The Emperor’s gaze cooled slightly.

“You are destined to be eclipsed by my glory.”

“What father would be angry that his son surpassed him? Your father is happy to become one part of his son’s glory.”

Silence returned for another stretch of time.

Ji Runhao finally said:

“We’ve chatted idly for so long. Don’t you have anything to ask?”

The Emperor did not answer.

“Yes, yes. My son is Emperor now. An Emperor should decide the realm by his own will. Why would he need, or tolerate, a pack of long-tongued gossips chattering in his ears? But son... this is amusing. Don’t you hate me? Why, after coming inside, was I the first person you wanted to see? If you wanted to ask me something, that would at least make sense. Yet you have asked nothing serious at all. Could it be... that you simply wanted to see me?”

“Ji Runhao!”

Ji Runhao still had his back to the Emperor.

At that moment, the waterside pavilions and terraces outside began to distort.

One after another, figures in dragon robes appeared.

Their faces closely resembled the portraits hanging in the Ancestral Temple.

Some could be identified at a glance as particular Emperors from Great Yan’s history.

“Boy! Great Yan is on the verge of unifying All Xia. The centuries-old ambition of the Ji Clan is finally about to be fulfilled. This is the moment to make the hard decision and secure lasting peace for the realm!”

“When the birds are gone, the good bow is stored away. That is how it has always been. It should be done for the sake of All Under Heaven!”

“His rebellious heart has long been obvious. If he were willing to hand over military power, do you think our Ji Clan is some Qian-style Zhao house born from a servant girl, incapable of tolerating another man?”

“He chose this road himself. Whether in this generation or the next, he is destined to become the root of turmoil in Great Yan!”

“Do not indulge in a woman’s softhearted mercy!”

“You and he have already done all that friendship and righteousness could demand. You have never wronged him. Sit. Sit here calmly. Let everything depend on fate.”

“He is walking into death by his own choice. If that removes the source of future disorder, is that not Heaven’s will?”

“Jin is long gone. Chu is on its belly. Qian has collapsed. Even without him, Great Yan will merely need to spend a little more effort. Without him, we still have the sons of Great Yan. We can still whip this world into submission!”

“I died on the battlefield fighting Barbarians. Wasn’t everything I sought and fought for meant to preserve this Great Yan? The Great Yan of today is the fulfillment of our ancient wish. What are you still hesitating over?”

These dragon-robed figures were all Emperors of Great Yan from past generations.

Some had died on battlefields.

Some had wasted away entire reigns.

Some had ruled a long time.

Some barely ruled at all.

Some had governed diligently.

Others had been absurd men.

Yet at this moment, they all stood from the position of Great Yan and the Ji Clan.

They all demanded that the reigning Emperor obey.

Whatever they had been in life, their desire now was the same.

“His disloyal intent has long been clear to everyone. Why keep deceiving yourself? You are the Emperor. How can you bind yourself with jianghu notions of brotherhood?”

“He may not rebel, but what about his son? All Under Heaven was finally pacified with such difficulty. Even for the sake of the common people, you should choose to look away now!”

“He is the one who took off his princely robes and chose to die as a man of the jianghu. What does that have to do with you? What does that have to do with Great Yan?”

“This is fate. Destiny!”

“Those clowns think they still have a chance to overturn rivers and seas? Once this is over, trample them flat together!”

“Heh. My grandson is a little fat, just like me.”

Ji Chengjue, still seated in the pavilion, looked toward an elderly Emperor in dragon robes.

The old man kept popping red pills into his mouth and chewing them while smiling amiably at Ji Chengjue.

He was not truly fat.

His body had swollen from the pills he had consumed before death.

Faced with the demands and accusations of his ancestors, Ji Chengjue remained seated steadily.

Yet most of his attention stayed fixed on the back directly before him.

The back that blocked most of those ancestors from his view.

Ji Runhao stood with both hands behind him.

The men before him were Ji Chengjue’s ancestors.

But were they not also Ji Runhao’s?

At that moment, however, Ji Runhao suddenly roared:

“Have all of you finished your damned noise?”

The entire scene fell silent.

Then came a storm of furious shouts.

“Impudent!”

“Junior! You dare disrespect your ancestors!”

“Arrogant!”

“Rebellion! Rebellion against Heaven itself!”

“If I had not died on the battlefield, how could Great Yan have survived until today?”

“Hahahahaha!”

Ji Runhao threw back his head and laughed.

“The Great Yan I inherited was a Great Yan where great clans stood everywhere and imperial decrees barely left the capital region! The Great Yan I inherited was a Great Yan with the desert Barbarians gathering strength and preparing to rise again! The Great Yan I inherited was a Great Yan where the houses of the Three Jins actually dared bare their fangs at us! If I choose to respect you, I can call you ancestors. If I choose not to respect you, I can call you what you were... useless! I, Ji Runhao, created the momentum that raised Great Yan! My son, Ji Runhao’s successor, built the order that will unify All Xia! Before the two generations of us, what in the hell were all of you doing? Dying on the battlefield and leaving the court in chaos! Indulging the great clans until those clans threatened imperial authority! Trusting imperial in-laws and governing like fools! Great Yan is still Great Yan. The sons of Great Yan are still the sons of Great Yan. The iron cavalry of Great Yan is still the same iron cavalry. Yet in two generations, my son and I pacified the realm and unified All Xia. Tell me. All of you... are you useless or not?”

Boom!

Thunder exploded.

Rain poured down in torrents.

...

Outside the Ancestral Temple, the old Pixiu lifted its head and stared at the lightning tearing through the sky.

Thought entered its enormous eyes.

Around it, the red-robed eunuchs also sensed something deeply unnatural within the heavens above.

...

Inside the pavilion, the Emperor remained seated.

From beginning to end, he had not spoken another word.

He merely watched.

Watched his imperial father stand before him.

Watched his father block the ancestors from him... and curse the entire lot of them as useless.

A smile slowly appeared at the corner of the Emperor’s mouth.

Ji Runhao waved one hand and shouted:

“You are already dead! After you died, your successors already took the throne. Every single one of you is nothing more than a dead Retired Emperor! You put on dragon robes and actually think that still makes you the Son of Heaven? If I feel respectful, I can bow and call you honored ancestors. But in truth, you are nothing more than a pack of lonely ghosts refusing to disperse! The reigning Son of Heaven is here. He is Great Yan’s Heaven today. He is Great Yan’s law today. All Xia has become one in his hands. In the blazing annals of history, even Emperor Taizu, the founding ancestor who laid Great Yan’s foundations, will rank behind my son! So what qualification do you have to stand here and teach my son? To teach the reigning Son of Heaven, whose radiance in the histories will outshine yours ten-thousandfold, how to conduct his affairs? You... are worthy?”

“Exactly, exactly. My son is right.”

The elderly Emperor still chewing red pills wandered over to the edge of the pavilion and chimed in.

Ji Runhao turned around.

He looked at the Emperor before him.

At his son.

Then...

Ji Runhao knelt.

A father knelt before his son.

The Confucian order itself seemed to collapse.

In that instant, thunder exploded across the heavens again.

Even Ji Chengjue, who had remained seated the entire time, instinctively clenched both hands.

His body began trembling.

“Great Yan is still Great Yan. But Great Yan is no longer the Great Yan it was! From this day onward, Great Yan shall replace Xia! Great Yan is All Xia, and All Xia is Great Yan! Beneath Heaven, there shall remain only one Son of Heaven! Ji Runhao pays respects to His Majesty, Emperor of Great Yan!”

The old Emperor chewing red pills blinked.

Seeing that his own son had knelt, he stopped hesitating and prostrated himself too.

Even though the man before him was his grandson.

“This old one pays respects to His Majesty, Emperor of Great Yan.”

The sight was overwhelming.

At that moment, two ancestors who had remained silent earlier finally spoke.

“Good! Only by breaking the old can the new be welcomed. Now I understand why Great Yan could unify All Xia in this generation. What a pair of father and son. Good! Good! Good! This is how it should be. This has the proper flavor. This is how it felt when I once stood in the golden hall of court and paid audience to the Son of Heaven of Great Xia! Feng shui turns in cycles. Today the turn has come to our house. Our Ji Clan... has finally produced a true Son of Heaven! Ji Qin pays respects to His Majesty, Emperor of Great Yan!”

The First Marquis of Yan prostrated himself.

“Honored ancestors. Sons and descendants. Laugh and watch the Spring and Autumn pass. A thousand years from now, who will remember the Marquis who first opened Great Yan’s frontiers? Who will remember the sovereign who first founded Great Yan as a state? Remember this: when future generations speak of us, they will count backward from this junior here. They’ll have to count on their fingers. You, you, me, you, you... how many generations upward before they finally reach him? If nothing else, we’ll all bask in the light of his glory. Ji Changhe pays respects to His Majesty, Emperor of Great Yan!”

The First Marquis of Yan had opened the frontier.

Great Yan’s true foundation as a state began with Ji Changhe. Those earlier “Emperors” had really been feudal lords with the substance but not the name, granted imperial titles only after death.

Another Emperor from generations past stepped forward.

He had been the sovereign who repelled the great Barbarian invasion at its peak a century ago, and the Emperor who established Marquis Zhenbei Residence.

He laughed.

“How large was Great Xia really? Great Yan today encompasses Qian, Chu, and Jin. Our Black Dragon Banners can run unhindered across both desert and snowfield. The Great Yan of today is ten times the old Xia realm. The Son of Heaven of Great Yan today is likewise ten times the Son of Heaven of Xia! This kneeling... I do it willingly!”

The ancestors looked at one another.

“Enough, enough. Kneel, then. The accomplished take precedence. Who told my son to be so useless?”

“Whether he’s your son, your grandson, or your grandson’s grandson, he comes from our root all the same.”

“Kneel. Kneel before the Son of Heaven!”

“Paying respects to His Majesty, Emperor of Great Yan!”

“Paying respects to His Majesty, Emperor of Great Yan!”

Gradually... every ancestor present knelt.

Ji Chengjue opened his mouth.

He could no longer distinguish whether any of this was true or false.

Call it false... yet it felt so real.

Call it true... yet it was so absurd.

At that moment, Ji Runhao, kneeling closest to him, murmured:

“Your grandfather’s legs aren’t good.”

Beside him, the old Emperor had just picked up a red pill that had fallen to the ground and put it back into his mouth.

Hearing that, he looked at the son kneeling before him and smiled with extraordinary kindness.

Ji Runhao’s road to the throne had, at least in terms of succession itself, been almost absurdly smooth.

When the old Emperor was still a Prince, he had arranged for Ji Runhao to grow up beside the heir of the Li Clan.

After the old Emperor seized the throne with support from Marquis Zhenbei Residence, he had made his own heir Crown Prince without hesitation, then devoted himself to cultivating immortality and seeking the Dao, ignoring court affairs.

The Eastern Palace of the Crown Prince became Great Yan’s true center of government.

Between that father and son, there had been no suspicion.

The old Emperor had even feared living too long and delaying his son’s accession.

He did not want his son stained with the slightest accusation of forcing his father from the throne.

So he deliberately took pills until they killed him.

He accepted the absurd reputation himself, swept away the remaining miasma around the succession, gathered hearts for his son, and laid the ladder beneath his feet.

Ji Chengjue rose.

His voice trembled.

Yet it remained extraordinarily level.

“Rise.”

...

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Three terrifying bolts of lightning, streaked with red, exploded across the sky in succession.

The old Pixiu felt its body turn cold.

This did not resemble the ordinary majesty of Heaven and Earth.

It felt more like... emotion vented because of a man.

But who... could possibly stir such vast waves?

The palace eunuchs and Qi Refiners below were equally shaken.

None of them had ever heard of such a phenomenon.

None had ever imagined one.

Then... the doors of the Ancestral Temple opened from within.

The Emperor stepped out.

One imperial boot touched the rain outside and was immediately dampened.

The Emperor frowned faintly.

At the instant of that frown... the thunder in the sky died.

The thick black clouds, heavy enough to make men despair, began scattering at astonishing speed.

Even the sunlight seemed desperate to curry favor.

It hurried through the gaps and poured down, almost competing with itself to dry the faint rainstains from the Son of Heaven’s boot.

The old Pixiu’s eyes widened.

It stared in astonishment.

It did not understand.

It could not comprehend.

It felt lost... and even though it had been the one to lead the Emperor here, when it looked upon him now, an inexplicable sense of blasphemy and mortal guilt rose inside it.

Eight hundred years had passed since Great Xia collapsed.

At last...

All Under Heaven had produced another true...

Son of Heaven.

His footsteps.

His voice.

His gaze.

They would pierce the river of history and break through the shackles of the ages.

They might even transcend the limits of dynasty and state.

Those whose hearts held true reverence could raise their heads toward Heaven.

They would see no gaudy pantheon of gods.

They would see only... his figure.

At that moment, a group of Qi Refiners from the Imperial Astronomical Bureau hurried over and knelt at a distance.

The Grand Director of the Bureau prostrated himself and reported:

“Your Majesty! In the direction of the Great Marsh in Chu, someone is calling upon Great Yan’s national fortune!”

“Calling” was exactly the right word.

National fortune was hardly something just anyone could borrow.

Under ordinary circumstances, within a state, only the Son of Heaven’s approval could divide and lend national fortune.

Years ago, Baili Feng had borrowed a thread of Great Qian’s national fortune from the Qian Emperor to open the realm of Second Grade.

But in Great Yan... there were two people who could call upon it.

Because in Great Yan’s sky, sun and moon existed together, shining upon one another.

The old Pixiu, which had moments ago explicitly tried to stop the Emperor and teach him to sit quietly and do nothing, now trembled so violently it did not even dare raise its head.

Stopping him was out of the question.

The Emperor stood upon the imperial steps with his hands on his hips.

“Ever since that bastard was Garrison Commander of Cuiliu Fort, We have been the one feeding him from behind. He fights wars. We give him men, money, horses, armor, grain... How many years has it been? We’re used to it. That bastard has the temperament of a man who never runs the household and therefore never knows how expensive firewood and rice are. Fine. We worked so damned hard to build this family fortune precisely so it could be used when it matters. Imperial Astronomical Bureau, receive Our decree!”

“This subject is here!”

“Give it to him. Give him all of it. Don’t be stingy. Don’t be reluctant. If we burn through the entire family fortune, so be it. At worst... We’ll earn it back together with him.”

“This subject obeys!”

Then the Emperor’s gaze fell upon the old Pixiu prostrated beside him.

“Chu has an old Fire Phoenix spirit. It’s lived too long, so it started pushing its nose into the air and imagining itself half a master. Ridiculous.”

The old Pixiu began trembling violently.

The Emperor pointed at Wei Zhonghe and the others kneeling below.

“They are Our household slaves. You? At best, you are Our household livestock. What the hell are you, daring to lift your eyes upward? Blind those damned dog eyes of yours!”

At that moment, the Emperor repeated the same sentence the late Emperor had spoken to the old Pixiu in this palace as his own life approached its end.

“A beast... is still a beast.”

“Half of Great Yan’s national fortune belongs to Us. The other half was conquered by that Zheng bastard with his own hands. Personal favors are personal favors. Since that fellow surnamed Zheng has finally dared to play this big and this freely, We can’t make ourselves look too shabby, can We?”

“Wei Zhonghe.”

“This slave is here!”

“Kill this beast for Us. Give that Zheng bastard a little extra excitement!”

[End of Chapter 1021]