Chapter 556

Over the past two years, the citizens of An'yang City have been anxious and fearful, feeling as if they might not survive from morning to evening.

Two years ago, the Imperial Guard rebelled.

Heavens, according to the organization of the Great Jin military, the Imperial Guard responsible for defending the imperial city, the imperial clan, and personally protecting the Son of Heaven Emperor should, by all reason, be the most elite, loyal, and reliable guard of the Great Jin Divine State, yet they rebelled.

What a fierce battle that night was—blood flowed like rivers, corpses piled like mountains, tsk tsk… The aftermath still lingers to this day; even the reigning Son of Heaven Emperor Sima Xian suffered heavy wounds that night, abdicated in favor of the worthy, and let the crown prince take the throne.

After that night, civil and military officials fell into disagreement, engaging in literary attacks and martial struggles that became uncontrollable, the entire Great Jin court was in uproar, yet the lives of the common folk remained peaceful and were not greatly affected.

We had thought we could live out an honest stretch of good days, but in broad daylight today we saw a fleet heading straight for the imperial city from the east.

The knowledgeable citizens were so frightened their souls fled heavenward, dragging their families as they ran out of the city.

Who doesn't know that inside and outside An'yang City, countless formations and seals are layered thickly; even a cultivator whose Dao reaches the heavens can only walk, drive, or ride a mount within An'yang City.

Warships flying through high altitude—how many years has it been since that last happened? And for a warship to pass through for no reason—this signals a major event!

However, the urban area of An'yang City is excessively vast, so those informed citizens hadn't yet left their own neighborhoods when a thunderous boom came from the west of the imperial city, near the military headquarters, and the whole of An'yang City shuddered slightly.

A black cauldron a thousand zhang in diameter shot up into the sky, rising tens of thousands of zhang before plummeting straight down. The cauldron emitted a strange "hu-hu" sound, and from its mouth spewed a thick black smoke, truly like a demon descending.

From afar, one could see where the cauldron landed—countless bricks and tiles flew up high, high. The ground trembled slightly, undulating like water waves; many lost their footing, fell one after another, and screamed in panic.

The fire-feather wings of the thirty-six Four Spirit Warships trembled violently, great swaths of flame-formed feathers swirled wildly through the air, accompanied by a piercing whistle as they fell like a dreadful meteor shower upon the world.

Wu Tie sat upon his dragon horse, coldly gazing at the ruined mess of the Imperial City Military Headquarters.

Though many buildings of the Imperial City Military Headquarters had been expanded, they now lay in total ruin, not a single intact pillar remaining. The Black Heaven Cauldron stood firmly in the exact center of the former headquarters, black vapors streaming from its mouth, tightly binding tens of thousands of frantically struggling figures.

Aside from the gaunt old man slain by Fei Feng at the gate, everyone inside the vast Imperial City Military Headquarters suffered only severe injuries, with no fatalities.

Whether it was the Black Heaven Cauldron or the fire-feather attack of the Four Spirit Warships, they merely gravely wounded these people, then imprisoned them with the Black Heaven Cauldron.

Prince Huo Sima Du hovered at the mouth of the Black Heaven Cauldron, two strands of black qi tightly gripping his body; no matter how fiercely he struggled, he could not break free of the cauldron's seal. Though he was handsome and clearly had been a graceful, handsome young man, Sima Du flew into a rage, cursing like a shrew.

"Duke of Yu Province, Huo Xiong, you have the gall of a dog… you… you… you… you intend to rebel?"

Sima Du, furious and flustered, shouted curses without thinking.

"Rebel?" Wu Tie shook the divine imperial command in his left hand that made one feel inexplicably ashamed, heaved a deep sigh: "Your Highness Prince Huo, how can you be so childish? Rebel? I, a mere duke, how could I rebel?"

"Faced with the divine imperial command, faced with the emperor's edict, yet you keep calling it a 'false order,' gathering subordinates to defy commands, even ambushing heavy troops in the Imperial City Military Headquarters to overturn the emperor's decree… you are the one who wants to rebel."

Sima Du railed and struggled, the two strands of black smoke coiling tighter around his body, gradually constricting until his bones crackled "crack-crack," as if about to snap his entire skeleton.

A light cough came from the wallhead of the military headquarters beside the Imperial City Military Headquarters; Linghu Qingqing, wearing a casual robe, stood on the wall with hands behind her back, watching the commotion here.

After he gave that light cough, the incessantly cursing Sima Du and his retinue all snapped their mouths shut in unison.

Linghu Qingqing then glanced at Wu Tie, furrowed her brows, seriously examined the Black Heaven Cauldron for a moment, and softly laughed: "As a national treasure artifact, its power is indeed extraordinary; with such force crashing down, I thought everyone inside the Imperial City Military Headquarters would be wiped out."

"I never imagined the Black Heaven Cauldron could be wielded at will—kill or injure as one pleases."

"With such might, tens of thousands are only wounded, not killed… even the Four Spirit Warships—I saw them launch in my youth; their power could literally destroy heaven and earth, like a tsunami sweeping away everything."

"Nor did I expect that, in Commander Fei Feng's hands, the Four Spirit Warships could be so exquisitely controllable—tens of thousands of fire feathers fell, merely gravely wounding these people, whether they were Embryo Storage realm commanders or Chonglou Realm clerks, their injuries were all the same."

"Good, very good; today I, old man, have truly broadened my horizons."

Linghu Qingqing clapped loudly; the clear applause carried far on the wind, and though many were present, only his clapping could be heard.

"Good, good, good—truly a national heavy weapon, not to be taken lightly. Duke of Yu Province, with this Black Heaven Cauldron you are, in our Great Jin Divine State, the foremost person beneath the Son of Heaven Emperor… oh, no, no, no—does the emperor still hold any national treasures in his hand?"

Linghu Qingqing gave a strange smile: "After that upheaval six thousand years ago, how many national treasures remain in the hands of our Great Jin Divine State's imperial clan? Is there even one in the emperor's possession? Hmm… perhaps, Duke of Yu Province, you now could actually stand on equal footing with the emperor?"

Wu Tie coldly regarded Linghu Qingqing: "The Left Minister doesn't brandish a blade to kill, but instead takes up the Right Minister's habit of using sharp words to stab the heart… heh, copying Dong Shi's frown, only inviting laughter. You'd better spare yourself; the emperor's trust in me is not something you can comprehend."

Linghu Qingqing smiled warmly: "I once offered my heart to the bright moon… Duke of Yu Province!"

Shaking her head, Linghu Qingqing said leisurely: "Do you still remember my second son, Linghu Jian? What he told you remains effective… old man, I'm waiting for you!"

Linghu Qingqing pointed at Wu Tie, turned, descended the wall, and vanished from sight.

Wu Tie gave a faint smile, shook his head, then clenched his right hand hard; the Black Heaven Cauldron shuddered violently, and with a tremendous boom, Prince Huo Sima Du and the tens of thousands of officials and soldiers inside the Imperial City Military Headquarters all vomited blood, each struck by a massive force that invaded their bodies and destroyed all their cultivation.

Those Chonglou Realm minor officials were fine—they merely had their cultivation shattered, with no harm to their souls.

Mid-level Soul Realm officials had their cultivation abolished, their souls immediately suffered grave injury; they not only vomited blood but also felt intense pain radiating from within their souls, wailing in agony, unable even to faint.

The worst off were Sima Du and a host of high-ranking commanders.

They had all condensed divine embryos; Wu Tie abolished their cultivation by directly shattering their divine embryos, turning those solid, flesh-like divine embryos into misty souls as they collapsed and degenerated.

Such severe injury directly inflicted great damage upon the very source of their three hun and seven po.

Sima Du and the others fainted silently; without supreme immortal pills to heal them, they are unlikely to awaken.

Even if they did awaken, the damage to their three hun and seven po would lower their intelligence considerably, possibly turning them into idiots. Unless they receive specialized soul-nourishing Dao treasures, living like ordinary people would be very difficult for them.

After Sima Du became the chief commander of the Imperial City Military Headquarters, he grew close to the Linghu clan; consequently, many of his officers and generals came from the Linghu clan's branch lines, illegitimate sons, or the clans of vassal generals affiliated with the Linghu.

These individuals had family backing, making condensation of a divine embryo easy; presently, the Imperial City Military Headquarters contains three to five thousand Embryo Storage realm officials and officers, all scions sent by the great generals' houses to gain seniority and earn military merit.

Wu Tie abolished them all at once… thus he has thoroughly offended those generals' clans represented by Linghu Qingqing.

"Aren't you afraid?" Fei Feng descended from the Four Spirit Warship with a hint of worry, standing beside Wu Tie and asking softly.

"Afraid? Are you afraid?" Wu Tie pointed at the Black Heaven Cauldron standing in the center of the Imperial City Military Headquarters and sneered: "With this treasure as my backing, who would I fear?"

Fei Feng opened her mouth, narrowed her eyes, and began to smile.

"I'm not afraid either." Her gaze swept about, her whole body radiating intense heat.

She truly isn't afraid.

Back when she bitterly led the Black Phoenix Army's lads into battle, she felt no fear… now, with Wu Tie as her companion, her elite troops have swelled to over a hundredfold, her armaments are superb, and she even has the Great Jin Divine Emperor as her backing…

What's more, she carries the Xiao Liuyin Sheng Huan Mimo Magic Body; her true combat power may be the greatest in the Great Jin Divine State aside from Wu Tie and Old Tie… with such foundations, what does she have to fear?

Even the strongest foe is nothing more than a single shot away.

Wu Tie waved his hand; the Black Heaven Cauldron slowly shrank, yet strands of black qi continued to spew from it, still holding the tens of thousands whose cultivation had been abolished suspended in midair, unable to move. He said coldly: "Identify these people, send word to their respective families… if they wish to return alive, let them come up with money to ransom themselves."

"Tell each family's head that they defied the imperial edict, committed a grave crime, and are suspected of treason. If they don't produce a price satisfactory to me to ransom their kin, don't blame me for going straight to their ancestral homes and pressing the Black Heaven Cauldron down upon them."

Wu Tie bellowed his orders; Old Tie cheerfully led Huang Yu and the other civil officials rushing forward to compare the identities of these unlucky souls.

When Wu Tie and Fei Feng took action, they still exercised restraint.

Although the entire Imperial City Military Command was razed to the ground, they only targeted the buildings; the many documents and files preserved inside the Imperial City Military Command suffered little damage.

They dug out those official documents and files one by one, compared them with the silhouette atlases, ascertained the origins of these officials and generals, and Lao Tie personally led a large force, using eighteen Four Spirit Warships to press the formation, sending each extortion letter to their respective mansions.

Over the next few days, ransom money kept arriving in an endless stream.

Wu Tie had a huge sum of funds at his disposal; he directly used money to clear the way, adding the military threat of the Black Heaven Cauldron, and forcibly requisitioned the block opposite the Military Department Office. He then contacted several large construction guilds, and in just two or three days erected a magnificent government office comparable in scale to the Military Department Office.

With money, employing the construction guilds of Anyang City to build gardens and mansions is extremely easy; as long as one is willing to pay, the constructed mansions can easily achieve any desired luxurious decoration or precious, outrageous materials.

However, the gardens and mansions built by those construction guilds are mere shells; they only handle the most basic defensive ward runes, while other large formations, comprehensive wards, and even war‑level city defense arrays and so on all require Wu Tie to contact genuine experts.

Such experts, especially those capable of laying out super‑scale war‑level city defense formations, are to be found in only two places within the vast Great Jin Divine State.

First, within the Works Palace Office of the Great Jin Divine State there is a dedicated Formation Office, which houses countless experts.

Second, within the Military Department Office of the Great Jin Divine State there are likewise countless experts versed in formations, especially masters of the Great Power Military Formation.

Besides these two places, only the Offering Institute of the Imperial Clan can have some who possess the ability to set up war‑level city defense arrays.

But since it is the Imperial Clan's Offering Institute, the imperial family must treat them courteously, and Wu Tie could never persuade them to come.

Thus, after the new Imperial City Military Command Office was completed, Wu Tie sent documents to the Works Palace and the Military Department, asking them to dispatch formation masters to lay out a comprehensive formation for the Imperial City Military Command Office.

The Military Department side, naturally, had no movement.

The Works Palace side, however, was somewhat better, reluctantly replying with a document informing him that internal procedures were underway.

But after three days of those internal procedures, there was still no definite reply for Wu Tie.

Wu Tie temporarily couldn't be bothered with this matter, anyway the Four Spirit Warships were lined up in a row above the new Imperial City Military Command, and he didn't believe anyone would dare to stir up trouble at such risk.

In the newly built hall of the Imperial City Military Command, capable of holding thousands for a meeting, Wu Tie personally issued hundreds of documents, ordering the signal troops to deliver them to the senior and junior officers of the Three Gardens Forbidden Army of the West, North, and South Gardens, and to the commanders of the Twelve Guards Forbidden Army, commanding them to come to the Imperial City Military Command to see their new superior.

Wu Tie had signed the document at 12:30 PM, and he sat quietly in the hall of the Imperial City Military Command, sipping tea and waiting in silence.

Thus, until dusk.

Thus, until night.

When a full moon slowly climbed to the zenith and hung high overhead, not a single officer of the newly reorganized Three Gardens and Twelve Guards Forbidden Armies of the Great Jin Divine State had come in obedience to the summons.

The hall remained empty and vacant.

"I originally set my heart on the bright moon… you just don't know how to cherish it." Wu Tie muttered to himself: "You lot, scions of military families, have also received the grace of Great Jin over these many years—tsk tsk, Linghu Qingqing, what promises did you give them, what benefits did you bestow?"

"But then, since that's the case, don't blame me."