Chapter 48: Ascension

The Great Chu Dynasty possesses one advantage.

Unlike other mortal dynasties, the material foundation has never been a major issue for the Great Chu Dynasty.

The primary contradiction within the Great Chu Dynasty is the monopoly held by the upper echelons over the cultivation resources of the lower classes.

Only through resistance can there be rebirth, and only then can the legal system change—but what if there is no resistance?

Now, as the Central Heavenly Lord, Li Xianzhi has done nothing for the past hundred years but continuously extract information from the thoughts of thousands of living beings using the Origin Divine Tree, the Fire Mulberry Tree, and then condense it into new divine objects.

Countless divine objects have descended from the Heavenly Altar into the human world, falling into the hands of the Great Chu Dynasty. Because of these divine objects, the Empress Li Hongyu has firmly secured her throne.

Over these hundred years, Li Hongyu and the Nine Thousand Years Old and others deliberated and decided to pursue a strictly elite path.

The separation of gods and men.

This was also the intention revealed by Li Xianzhi.

To a certain extent, cultivators are gods to ordinary people. However, they are different from the gods of the Yintu; they obtain great power through their own cultivation. Compared to the eerie and miraculous nature of the Yintu gods, they are far inferior at the same realm. But this does not prevent them from being true gods in the eyes of ordinary people.

It is just that these gods can be killed. The gods of the Yintu, to a certain extent, are as eternal as heaven and earth; as long as the legal system does not perish, the Yin Gods remain.

The fiftieth year of the Empress.

Having been Empress for fifty years, Li Hongyu is no longer a novice. The authority she exudes has grown increasingly profound, to the point where even the Regent, the Nine Thousand Years Old, who has always supported her at her side, subconsciously obeys Li Hongyu's will.

With Li Xianzhi's help, Li Hongyu's cultivation has progressed rapidly. Li Xianzhi generously handed over his own Fire Mulberry Divine Tree for Li Hongyu to manage. Because he replaced the Central Heavenly Lord, Li Xianzhi obtained the divine object known as the Wheel of Information, so his own strength no longer relies so heavily on the Fire Mulberry Divine Tree. Li Hongyu can now be called the true Empress of All Laws, possessing boundless supernatural abilities.

Peak True God, half-step Divine Monarch. She only waits for the current scheme to take shape to fully step onto the path of the Divine Army.

"General Commander, how are the preparations coming along?" Li Hongyu's red lips moved, her voice clear and resonant throughout the palace hall, full of majesty.

Li Qingxian walked out from among the many ministers, holding a jade tablet.

Li Qingxian is still a third-rank official and has not been granted any noble title, but his power is far greater than before. Official titles are empty; only power is real.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, everything is prepared. The refining of Zhenshen Pass and the entire Imperial Palace is nearing completion."

Li Hongyu was very satisfied. She then asked the Minister of Rites: "How are the preparations for the Heaven Sacrifice Ceremony?"

This Minister of Rites is none other than the Lishen who descended to the mortal world. After descending, Lishen's true spirit was obscured, but that did not hinder his excellence. From an ordinary small village in Great Chu, he climbed all the way to this golden hall to preside over the great rites of the world.

"Returning to Your Majesty, everything is prepared."

"Very well. Three months from now, when the orioles fly and the grass grows, it will be the perfect time for ascension. You and I, monarch and subject, shall work together to welcome the arrival of a prosperous age."

It turns out that Li Hongyu intends to gather all the presentable cultivators into the Imperial Capital. She plans to refine the entire Imperial Capital into a massive flying vessel, and when the time comes, ascend in one go into the layer between the Yintu and the material world. Using the original Zhenshen Pass as a foundation, she will refine it into the Ascension Heavenly Gate and establish a Reception Guard. Henceforth, all cultivators who achieve success in the human world will be automatically received into the Imperial Capital.

This can be considered opening a new realm.

This realm is, of course, not just for gathering and cultivating more practitioners; its true purpose is to serve as a buffer.

In Li Xianzhi's vision, the authority of the entire Yintu Divine Realm will be slowly devolved to the many great cultivators in this newly born realm. Thus, the first wave of impact from the transformation of human thought and the resulting change in the legal system will be borne by the great cultivators of this realm. If these people cannot hold onto their power, it can be replaced according to the direction of the legal system's transformation in the material world.

And with Li Xianzhi alone mastering the Wheel of Information, he will have the buffer time to reform the legal system of the entire Underworld. Once a new legal system is generated, he can devolve the new authority to the many great cultivators in the realm between the material world and the Yintu. Repeating this cycle, the transformation of the legal system will neither destroy the Yintu Divine Realm nor cause the entire material world to suffer an irreversible disaster.

It is just that whether this plan can succeed remains to be seen. Afterward, there will still be a hundred-year war with the Demon Lord, and the outcome is unpredictable.

If Li Xianzhi were to intervene personally, there would be nothing to say. The key is that Li Xianzhi cannot leave at this moment.

The legal system of the entire Imperial Dynasty era is entirely in his hands; even with his profound magic power, he dares not act rashly. One mistake could mean the destruction of the world.

Fifty years have passed, and the Hundred Trades Federation is not as good as the Demon Lord had envisioned.

Yintu, Zhongyang Tiangong.

The Demon Lord, dressed in black robes, has come to chat with Li Xianzhi again.

Over these years, the two have become good friends. Li Xianzhi appreciates this new god, the Demon Lord.

"What is it? Something happened again?"

Li Xianzhi slowly opened his eyes, his divine soul withdrawing from the Wheel of Information behind his forehead.

The vast Zhongyang Tiangong contained only Li Xianzhi and the Demon Lord. The Demon Lord held a cup of wine and drank it by himself.

"Tell me, why are these living beings like this? Why are they so insatiable? Sang is like this, and the leaders of the Three Mountains and Four Seas are the same."

When the Demon Lord was born anew, he contracted with the mother of Huo Sang Daoren, that is, Sang. At first, Sang believed everything the Demon Lord said unconditionally, but later, after tasting the flavor of power, she treated those who shared her miserable fate differently. Otherwise, the Demon Lord would not have been able to emerge only now.

"Do you know? When I first contacted those guys from the Three Mountains and Four Seas, they were like a group of beggars, struggling to survive in the barren fragments of the world. They gave their all for a sip of water or a bite of food. But now that everything is better, they are not as pure as before."

The pitiful Demon Lord at this moment is like a gossiping old woman, muttering incessantly. Thinking of the mess that has happened in the Hundred Trades Federation recently, the entire god feels terrible.

The scale of fairness has tilted.

Under the tireless promotion of those guys from the Three Mountains and Four Seas, the divine object that presides over the world's scale of fairness, which was born from the Xu Hai at the same time as the Demon Lord, has actually tilted.

It has tilted toward the Three Mountains and Four Seas and the high-level officials currently in charge of the Hundred Trades Federation.

Occupational discrimination, academic discrimination, and ability discrimination have appeared in the Hundred Trades Federation... Where there is discrimination, oppression naturally arises. Over time, these have actually become ironclad rules.

In the eyes of the Demon Lord, this is incomprehensible.

"This is what living beings are. Impermanence is permanence." Li Xianzhi also sighed.

He had long foreseen this result. ===== CHAPTER 49 =====