Chapter 993: The Imperial Son's Three Thousand Forbidden Guards

Jiang Ding had once again changed his hiding spot.

Still in Mo Shi Xiao Gao Jie, in the territory of a race called the Skull Blood Vine Demon.

The Skull Blood Vine Demon ranked sixth in the nine-tier slave-race system of the Horned Demon Imperial Race, permitted to possess peak Nascent Soul strength, which was also their peak General realm.

Yes, cultivators of the Horned Demon Imperial Race could advance freely—strength determined status—but the slave races could not.

Any slave-race cultivator who wished to advance to a realm above Foundation Establishment had to report to their territorial lord, obtain the lord's permission, register, and only then could they advance.

Otherwise, it was an illegal advancement.

Illegal advancement was a capital crime among the Horned Demon Imperial Race; any cultivator of the Horned Demon Imperial Race, any slave-race cultivator, could kill an illegally advanced cultivator, and was obligated to do so—it was a compulsory duty, and could be exchanged for merit.

Of course, for the very same act, the merit earned by a Horned Demon Imperial Race cultivator and that earned by a slave-race cultivator were worlds apart.

This was a matter of course, needing no further words.

Jiang Ding hid within the divine soul of the Skull Blood Vine Demon race's chief, silently watching the situation unfold.

At this very moment, the nine Great Dao Sons had likewise begun to go into hiding; they would transform into all manner of kings, take part in the struggle for the Imperial Son's Crown, and subtly alter the course of the war to achieve the strategic objectives required by the Nine Spirit Domain.

As for what identities they took, Jiang Ding did not ask—he did not wish to know.

The current Flame Stone Star Domain could truly be said to be in tumultuous upheaval; all kinds of forces took the stage, and the gazes of many Great Emperors turned here, drooling over this one Imperial Son's Crown.

This was, in fact, a tradition of the Horned Demon Imperial Race.

Since ancient times, no matter whose Imperial Son's Crown it was, it belonged to the entire Horned Demon Imperial Race; every Imperial Son had the right to contend for it, and only the strongest Imperial Son could obtain the Crown.

Of course, there were also Imperial Sons proud and aloof, who hoped to obtain the Ancient Imperial Son's Crown and did not take part in the contest.

The Imperial Son's Crown belonged to the entire race—this was an axiom.

The Horned Demon Imperial Race's past axiom.

That was a matter from the era when the Horned Demon Imperial Race was struggling to rise; in those very distant years, it was indeed so.

As the Horned Demon Imperial Race became the absolute dominator of Jiao Jiao Mingyu, external foes gradually withered away, no longer able to threaten the Horned Demon Imperial Race's hegemony, and many things began to change.

For example, this Imperial Son's Crown.

Nominally, it belonged to the entire Horned Demon Imperial Race; any Imperial Son, even non-Imperial Sons, could contend for it, so long as they were a member of the Horned Demon Race.

In reality, the Imperial Son's Crown had long been restricted to the Great Emperor's ranked heirs.

If the Great Emperor were more domineering, he could even designate an heir outright, no longer caring about any so-called Imperial Race tradition; those who dared to offend would often vanish without a trace.

Through the channels of the nine Great Dao Sons, Jiang Ding gradually came to know how things were developing.

Cang

Ancient Emperor Cang Yan spoke out, restricting the contest for the Imperial Son's Crown to Imperial Sons outside the Cang Yan Star Sea; this provoked the displeasure of many Great Emperors, but they were helpless.

After a series of maneuvers.

In the end, only Imperial Son Cang Kong and the two heirs of Flame Stone Great Emperor possessed the qualification to contend for the Imperial Son's Crown.

The other ranked heirs, due to various accidents, various coincidences, various reasons, could not come, or had given up contending for the Imperial Son's Crown.

The war of Imperial Son succession in the Flame Stone Star Domain thus erupted.

Imperial Son Cang Kong and Imperial Son Yan Liu—siblings—each recruited soldiers and bought horses, drew in powerful experts, drilled the Imperial Race armies and the slave-race armies; as time went on, the entire star domain was blanketed in the smoke of war, gradually affecting everyone.

Each side's Imperial Son had his own advantages.

Imperial Son Yan Liu and his sister needed no further mention—they held the home-field advantage; this star domain was the place where Flame Stone Great Emperor attained his Dao, and countless slave-race experts and slave-race armies were naturally their servants, accustomed to obeying their commands and unlikely to betray them lightly.

In fact, slave-race betrayal was a taboo.

Even if the opposing Imperial Son accepted them, after the war there would inevitably be a reckoning and the slaughter of the entire betrayer slave race; from the very start, the local slave races had no choice but to follow their own masters into battle.

An outside Imperial Son who wished to contend for the Imperial Son's Crown could not bring a large number of slave races, because this concerned the local destiny; outsiders did not inherently possess local destiny and were not recognized by the Imperial Son's Crown.

However, this did not mean Imperial Son Cang Kong's hopes were slim.

In fact, in the Imperial Son contests that took place in Jiao Jiao Mingyu, the probability of an outside Imperial Son winning was over seventy percent.

The reasoning was simple: since an outside Imperial Son had the power to subdue the original Great Emperor, he naturally had tremendous confidence in the matter—otherwise he would never have pushed it forward.

Imperial Son Cang Kong was born of the family of Ancient Emperor Cang Yan.

This meant that at his side there would be a powerful Imperial Race Forbidden Guard, and many kings of the Horned Demon Imperial Race might well exist within this Forbidden Guard army.

The Imperial Son's Crown was condensed from the destiny of the star domain and the destiny of the Horned Demon Imperial Race; outside Horned Demon Imperial Race cultivators taking part were not affected.

However, there was also a tacit understanding among the Great Emperors: the Imperial Race Forbidden Guard was limited to three thousand people.

This was fairly common and seemed reasonable, because every Imperial Son—even an Imperial Son who had risen from commoners—even if just to make up the numbers, had to assemble three thousand Forbidden Guards of his own race; only then would he bear the name of Imperial Son.

Many of the Horned Demon Imperial Race's Mi Fa and martial techniques were tied to the race's own Forbidden Guard; without an Imperial Son's Forbidden Guard, there was no Imperial Son.

Yet, even among Imperial Race Forbidden Guards, the differences between the Forbidden Guards of a Great Emperor's family, those of an Ancient Emperor's family, and those gathered by a commoner Imperial Son through his own reputation were far too great.

It was entirely possible that a single king-level Forbidden Guard from an Ancient Emperor's family could sweep away an entire commoner Imperial Son and his three thousand Forbidden Guards.

This was Imperial Son Cang Kong's

confidence.

On the ninth day of the ninth month of this year, Imperial Son Cang Kong descended upon Mo Teng Xiao Gao Jie east of the Flame Stone Star Domain with three thousand Forbidden Guards, instantly crushing all the Horned Demon Imperial Race kings of this minor world—including the kings of the Flame Stone family—forcing them to bow in submission, then slaying all the slave-race kings, ascending the platform to offer sacrifices to heaven, to the ancestors of the Horned Demon Imperial Race through the ages, and to the ancient gods.

Imperial Son Cang Kong issued a proclamation.

"... This one is named Cang Kong... the Imperial Son's Crown has existed since ancient times, descending upon the worthy..."

"... If any come to join, this one will surely not stint in bestowing the rank of king, sharing life and death, of one heart and one body..."

At the instant Imperial Son Cang Kong ascended the platform to sacrifice to the ancestors and the ancient gods, this proclamation formed an invisible wave that spread across the entire Flame Stone Star Sea; every word fell upon the ear of every intelligent being's race in this star domain, without any omission.

Even here, among the Skull Blood Vine Demon slave race where Jiang Ding was, that majestic voice was heard.

"... If any come to join..."

Jiang Ding pondered.

This "come to join" naturally referred to the Horned Demon Imperial Race cultivators within the Flame Stone Star Domain; whoever could win the hearts of more Horned Demon Imperial Race cultivators and gain their allegiance, forming an Imperial Race army, would possess the greater advantage.

"Quite the lofty posture."

Jiang Ding saw the contempt in the Azure Sky Prince's proclamation toward the Slave Race, including their King, and frowned slightly.

A new King-level power affecting the situation must appear among the Ten Thousand Races, not within the Jiao Mo Imperial Clan, for within the Jiao Mo Imperial Clan, they already know their own, and could not suddenly produce so many unfamiliar strong ones.

The Azure Sky Prince does not seem to possess the breadth of heart to accept the Kings of the Ten Thousand Races.

The Yan Liu Prince's proclamation is the same.

Unless one side is utterly destitute.