Chapter 1774: The Dynasty's Hearts Belong to the Divine

The instant the Divine Son appeared, the entire world fell silent.

An inexplicable awe and reverence rose in the hearts of all living beings, an overwhelming urge to worship and look up, so strong they wished to fall to the ground and prostrate themselves.

This was an instinct forged over tens of millions of years.

Since the founding of the Great Tu Dynasty, had this instinct ever been changed?

No.

At the beginning of the Great Tu Dynasty's uprising, the founding sovereign had established the national policy of "Revere the Divine, Love the People." The founding sovereign keenly perceived the immense power of faith and the Divine, and so he went along with that power, rallying more strength, and thus built a dynasty that swept across the world.

In that crucial moment of those years, there was no shortage of sovereigns who utterly denied the Divine.

Many sovereigns regarded the Divine as a sin; wherever they went, they felled mountains and shattered temples, destroyed all faiths, and built the tentacles of their dynasty's own ruling foundation.

It truly was not that there were no sovereigns with such an understanding.

Yet all those radical sovereigns died.

Some died in internal civil uprisings, some died at the hands of sovereigns like Tu Ying San Yi who adopted the policy of rallying more forces—blossoming briefly, they never grew strong.

Within today's Great Tu Dynasty, almost all soldiers and common folk are devout believers of the Divine.

In the eyes of the common folk and soldiers, the Divine's standing far surpassed that of any sovereign.

At this moment, an inexplicable sense of familiarity and awe made many soldiers hesitate to advance, forcibly restraining the urge to fall to their knees.

But the next instant,

Boom!

From the boundless high heavens, a startling thunder pealed; a towering yet hazy, indistinct figure appeared in the sky, casting a bolt of Lei Ting down upon Prince Zheng's head, forming a crown of Lei Ting.

This—this is the sovereign favored by the Supreme Emperor!

This—this is the sovereign favored by the Demon-Slaying Seven Treasures Exquisite Commander of Lei Ting Heavenly Soldiers Who Protects the Nation and Blesses the People, Manifests Might and Stills the Mountains, the Heavenly King, whom all believers worship day and night!

In an instant, all believers knew the answer.

"We pay homage to the Emperor!"

"…The Seven Treasures of Demon-Slaying, shining with divine light to pierce all darkness;"

"... The Exquisite Wondrous Dharma, wielding the sword of wisdom to behead all evil; the Commander of Lei Ting, commanding the armored hosts of the three realms to sweep away demonic miasma; the Heavenly Soldiers blaze in majesty, terrifying the specters of the nine hells, purifying the world so evil spirits flee, stilling the mountains so the earth's veins rest in peace..."

At this moment, the vast majority of believers could not help but fall to the ground, chanting the supreme scripture, their piety in that instant reaching its absolute peak.

The great majority of the Great Tu Dynasty's common folk and soldiers instantly defected to Prince Zheng, prostrating themselves at his feet.

Among these believers were large numbers of civil and military officials of great weight, meritorious ministers already ennobled as dukes and marquises, and even Tu Ying San Yi's own descendants.

A dynasty of fortune follows the will of the people!

At this moment, boundless, inexhaustible dynastic fortune surged toward Prince Zheng,

condensing above his head into ribbons of fortune-colored rosy clouds, against which no law could intrude; strands of dragon-qi tassels hung down, an aura of supreme nobility and majesty.

The dynastic fortune—all belonged to the Divine Son!

"Rebel,"

"shall be slain!"

The Divine Son of Punishing Heaven, his voice carrying the mandate of heaven, spoke with solemn authority.

Rumble!

The dynastic fortune gathered into a terrifying bolt of Lei Ting, which thundered down upon the crimson fire-dragon in the sky, knocking Tu Ying San Yi into the dust in an instant, causing the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who still chose to follow Tu Ying San Yi to vomit great mouthfuls of blood and collapse to the ground.

"Run!"

"Flee this place!"

Terror without end filled Tu Ying San Yi's heart.

Under this terrifying pressure, the fragile dragon of dynastic fortune had lost its wits; it swept up the hundreds of thousands of soldiers, transformed into a fire-dragon, and fled madly toward Ducheng, diving into a teleportation array to escape—casting away everything, heedless of all.

Prince Zheng followed unhurriedly.

Behind him, countless clouds of Lei Ting fortune sprang forth, instantly swallowing the hundreds of millions of troops of the former Great Tu Dynasty, transforming into a Lei Ting that blotted out the sky as it flew through the heavens, herding them like sheep, driving the panicked Tu Ying San Yi toward the predetermined direction of the Heaven-Sacrificing Altar.

The Heaven-Sacrificing Altar lay within the Tianlian Realm, the place where human fortune was thickest.

There, the Great Tu Dynasty's hundreds of millions of troops and its human fortune would all be sacrificed together to the Emperor, not one left behind, completing this final and most precious harvest.

Tens of thousands of years of cultivation, the fruit ceaselessly growing—today was the moment of harvest.

"We pay homage, Your Highness!"

The Princess Consort, née Li, and other ministers of great weight bowed reverently, surrounding the Divine Son.

"Is everything prepared?"

The Divine Son of Punishing Heaven said lightly.

"Everything is prepared."

"Your Highness."

The Princess Consort, née Li, said reverently: "All the rites of the Heaven-Sacrifice, and the Super Super Jipin, have been prepared, all fed and tuned to their optimal state; the human fortune has all been slaughtered, divided, and cooked, awaiting only the Dao Court to collect it."

"As for defenses,"

"the Star Lord of the Upper Palace of Gouchen, the Star Lord of the Five Qi of Qingfeng Beidou, Water Virtue, the Star Lord of Plague Heaven, and other my lord have each dispatched the four-direction divine armies to lie hidden in the shadows, guarding your side, ensuring the Heaven-Sacrifice ceremony proceeds smoothly."

The Princess Consort, née Li, reported in detail.

This time, aside from the necessary Divine left behind to guard the Dao Court and maintain its operation, the Punishing Heaven Dao Court had truly turned out in full force, all for the sake of protecting the Divine Son.

With this, nothing could possibly go wrong.

"Good!"

The Divine Son of Punishing Heaven revealed a faint smile: "Tell the Star Lord of the Upper Palace of Gouchen and the others to conceal themselves carefully—perhaps we may hook one or two unexpected catches."

"Yes, Your Highness!"

The Princess Consort, née Li, accepted the order reverently and departed.

The Divine Son of Xing Tian led the vast army of the billion-qi-yun dynasty in pursuit.

The qi-yun dragon formed by Tu Sansi fled madly, with the two chasing one another, front and back.

Among this, there were many coincidences that would send outsiders shivering, yet Tu Sansi and the others remained completely unaware.

For instance, whenever they arrived at a cluster of worlds, a well-maintained super teleportation array would immediately be available for their use.

For instance, whenever they attempted to deviate from the direction of the Tianlian Realm, they would immediately suffer a strike from Lei Ting, being forcibly diverted back onto the correct path.

The remaining qi-yun of the Great Tu Dynasty remained in a state of constant tension, like a headless beast, obediently flying toward the royal capital of the Tianlian Realm.

Thus, after decades of chasing the defeated and pursuing the fleeing, the dynasty's qi-yun and the people's will had also gathered for decades.

The qi-yun above the Divine Son of Xing Tian grew ever thicker, resembling a king who had unified the Great Thousand World; countless streams of human qi-yun involuntarily fell upon him. This was something naturally formed by the gathering of countless people's wills, impossible to block, because human qi-yun is composed of countless human beings.

This was the choice of the human beings themselves.

Finally, after decades of chasing the defeated and pursuing the fleeing, Tu Sansi at last arrived in the Zhong Senior Qian Shi Gao Jie, the Tianlian Realm. In his terror, he completely ignored his own Ducheng, flying straight toward a vast, yellow-sand desert, and entered this world of swirling yellow sands with hundreds of thousands of his most loyal troops.

"Here?"

"Why have I come here?"

Tu Sansi suddenly awoke, wanting to struggle and continue fleeing, yet he was utterly powerless.

He involuntarily knelt and prostrated himself on the ground, tears streaming down his face.

He had been utterly defeated, unable even to resist, like chickens and ducks bound by wings and feet during the Qingming Festival, about to have their throats cut and blood spilled as a sacrifice to Heaven.

In that instant, two eyes hidden deep within the space slowly opened.