Chapter 811

Under Feng Rong's command, the remaining Flame Dynasty imperial guard soldiers began to build a city.

The Flame Dynasty's cultivation civilization was far stronger and more glorious than the Three Kingdoms. Several hundred thousand Flame Dynasty imperial guards, in just a short half day, built on the ruins of the Fuxi Divine Capital a massive city spanning hundreds of li, with all defensive formations complete.

An innate spirit treasure–level palace steadily settled at the city's center, while Feng Rong sat enthroned on the southern gate of the palace city, looking down upon the southern square where hundreds of thousands of tribal chiefs and elders, brought in under escort, were gathered.

Xi Wu Le, Xi Bu Bai, and a host of Xi tribe elders were hung on poles; among the indigenous tribes from the netherworld, where the Four Ferocious Families aided the tyrant, many fierce and ruthless chiefs and elders gritted their teeth, stepped out of the crowd, and cautiously began to wield knives on the bodies of Xi Wu Le and the others.

Swing the knife, draw blood, then drip the blood into the wine bowl and gulp down the blood wine.

Once this step is taken, there is no turning back.

The Fuxi Divine State will absolutely not let them go.

To dare treat Xi Wu Le and the other Xi tribe high officials as mere sacrificial victims in a blood oath is the utmost insult to the Xi tribe, and this will surely be an irreconcilable deadly feud.

Feng Rong watched, smiling broadly, as one tribal leader after another submitted to his command, and as vast crowds of strangely shaped netherworld tribes knelt on the ground, paying him grand obeisance; he could not help but feel elated, his whole body trembling with excitement.

He even deliberately slowed the pace at which these netherworld tribe leaders performed the blood oath; each time a high-ranking member of the Four Ferocious Families dragged someone from the crowd, pressuring them to submit to his allied tribe leader, Feng Rong had them slow the completion of the ritual.

Stepping out of the crowd, they knelt before Feng Rong in salute, then drew a knife, sliced a cut into the bodies of Xi Wu Le and the others to release fresh hot blood, dripped it into the wine bowl, drank a bowl of blood wine, signed the pledge of allegiance, stamped their own blood seal, then led their own clansmen forward to perform the grand kowtow before Feng Rong.

The entire procedure takes at least half an hour.

In a full day, fewer than twenty tribe leaders can complete the ritual and fully pledge allegiance to Feng Rong.

Moreover, the various large and small tribes that Xi Wu Le and the others had brought up from the netherworld, along with the different clans within those tribes—over ten thousand in all—at this rate, it would be impossible to completely subdue all the major tribes before them without a year or two.

However, Feng Rong is not in a hurry.

He is reveling in this boundless magnificence and lofty feeling.

Seeing so many strange and wondrous 'human' tribes, so many subjects kneeling on the ground and devoutly paying homage to him, he becomes deeply intoxicated. He even feels as if he has already attained the Human Sovereign's Dao and achieved the Human Sovereign's fruition, an inexplicable delight.

So, let the pace be a bit slower.

A bit slower.

"Uncle, in our dynasty's secret canons I have once seen the scene of the myriad feudal states paying homage to the Human Sovereign in the time of primordial myth." Feng Rong sat on the throne, feeling proud and satisfied, and said: "Back then, the Human Sovereign was probably no more glorious than this."

Bai Su Xin looked at the dense crowds of tribespeople below and knew exactly what Feng Rong was thinking.

She chuckled lightly and said: "Nevertheless, Your Highness should still be cautious; at the very least, first secure the territory of your dynasty."

After a moment's thought, Bai Su Xin smiled: "This continent's strength is low; Your Highness can divide your troops into ten thousand detachments, with my White Lotus Palace disciples coordinating to organize these natives into armies and take over the cities everywhere."

Feng Rong nodded; he also knew this was the most urgent matter at present.

The joy of 'all nations submitting' and 'all directions paying homage' can be savored slowly, but according to his agreement with Feng Shang, the lands and peoples already belonging to him must still be taken in hand as soon as possible.

Feng Rong crooked his finger, and a few old eunuchs in fine robes came waddling over, while dozens more of his trusted generals also hurried over, smiling.

To expand territory and conquer overseas lands for the Flame Dynasty, capturing hundreds of millions of subjects… what a monumental achievement!

The old eunuchs are ambitious, and the generals under Feng Rong's command are even more eager to ride this merit to fame and fortune.

Serving at Feng Rong's side certainly allows one to borrow the tiger's might.

But if one could be sent out to serve as a regional commander in the borderlands, commanding the frontier troops to intimidate a region, that would be a hundred times more enjoyable than being a lackey at Feng Rong's side—a hundred times!

"Listen to me, uncle." Feng Rong untied his royal command token from his waist, grinning as he handed it to Bai Su Xin: "Uncle, these few supervisors and those generals are all my trusted aides; you can use them with confidence… well, this time, let your disciples earn some more merit…"

Feng Rong narrowed his eyes and sneered: "Some officials in the court think I've lost power and are rather disrespectful toward me. When I return this time, I will surely give them a good dressing-down. Their vacant posts will need to be filled by your disciples, who will serve me."

Such an open promise of official rank, Feng Rong paid no heed to, and Bai Su Xin likewise dismissed it.

Bai Su Xin smiled: "Good… but Your Highness should still send a sealed letter to the Empress… I have heard the Xi tribe gets along extremely well with the Nuwa tribe. We…"

Bai Su Xin pointed to the Xi Wu Le and others hanging on the poles: "As for the Nuwa tribe, some of their elders are a bit muddle‑headed… hehe."

Feng Rong's face darkened; he waved his hand and said dismissively: "Uncle, rest assured, even if the Nuwa tribe has some mystical tricks, could they possibly interfere in the internal affairs of my Flame Dynasty?"

"Between my Flame Dynasty and that so‑called Fuxi Divine State, which is stronger, which weaker, which benefits the Nuwa tribe more—those old hags know full well."

Bai Su Xin said nothing more; he smiled, played with Feng Rong's royal command token, selected four old eunuchs and twenty of Feng Rong's trusted generals, and led these joyful lucky ones swiftly down the tower.

Feng Rong leaned back comfortably, crossed his legs, and watched a hundred‑zhang‑tall silver giant, accompanied by dozens of tribal elders five or six zhang tall, stride forward; with a loud 'dong' he knelt heavily before the gate tower and bowed his head deeply in obeisance.

"Your Highness, my tribe wishes to surrender… but could you let us eat our fill of meat?" The silver giant grinned, showing a mouth full of scarlet fangs, his eyes brimming with violent hunger and greed.

"Eat your fill of meat?" Feng Rong burst into hysterical laughter: "What a ridiculous question… what meat do you want? I'll supply enough!"

Feng Rong laughed so hard he pounded the armrests of his throne, sending sparks flying, bang after bang.

"Even if I kept dogs, they'd wear silk and jade, want for nothing… you are far more useful than dogs… so rest assured, be loyal hounds of mine—eat when you need to, drink when you need to, I will never shortchange you!"

The silver giant guffawed, stretched out his hand, and with a 'crack' tore off the thigh of an Xi tribe elder, shoved it into his mouth and chewed loudly: "Thus, thank you, Your Highness… hahaha, we do enjoy a bite of human flesh, but down below, that pack of Xi tribe bastards won't let us eat our fill."

Feng Rong raised his brow, his facial muscles twitching violently a few times.

"So ferocious? Good, good, good—I love your ferocity; the fiercer the better. From now on, use your ferocity to help me sweep away my enemies… whatever you need, I'll provide."

With a wave of his hand, Feng Rong flung a scroll of golden‑light‑wreathed sutra toward the silver giant chieftain.

"This is the Red Lotus Temple's 'Mighty Demon King Salvation Sutra'; in the Red Lotus Temple's body‑cultivation arts it is also supreme… look at your burly frames, immense innate strength, and love of human flesh—practicing this method is perfectly suited."

Feng Rong pointed to the smiling silver giant chieftain and said in a low voice: "From now on, your tribe shall serve as my personal honor guard… come, quickly prepare a batch of gigantic banners, horns, bells and drums, golden melons, golden hammers, golden knives, golden spears…"

Feng Rong's eyes reddened with excitement: "From now on, my honor guard will be far more imposing than my father's."

All of Feng Rong's close aides around him burst into laughter together.

Xi Wu Le and Xi Bu Bai, covered in wounds, cursed loudly, blood dripping continuously from their injuries and splattering the ground.

In the distance, within the clouds, Wu Tie was exerting himself to deduce the Grand Dao of Time.

His body shone with strange, wondrous light; countless Dao patterns merged with his flesh, his divine fetus transformed into countless streams of light continually pouring into his divine form—yet most of his attention was focused on the 'Time' path.

The Grand Dao of Time is profound and mysterious.

Ordinarily, even if one relies on the Grand Dao of Time to enter the divine realm, an ordinary person's ability to wield time‑related supernatural arts is extremely limited—merely a brief freeze of time, or accelerating the growth of plants in a local area, nothing more than such petty tricks.

Wu Tie bore the Primordial Crown.

The Primordial Crown was being repaired with the aid of a lotus bud on Wu Tie's jade disc, his qi and fortune, and the countless materials he had gathered.

Especially, Wu Tie burned vast amounts of soul crystals without sparing expense to boost his cultivation; the Primordial Crown absorbed the primal soul power obtained from melting those soul crystals, and though it had suffered grave damage, it has now been restored to about half.

Around Wu Tie, a thick aura of time's Dao swirled slowly.

The flow of time around Wu Tie was rapidly increasing……The external flow of time remained unchanged, but the flow of time around Wu Tie, Cang Hai Dao Ren, and Wu Xing Dao Ren was accelerating.

When Feng Rong was wantonly misbehaving on the gate tower of the newly built palace city, the flow of time around Wu Tie had already become astonishing.

In just a single day, Wu Tie, Cang Hai Dao Ren, and Wu Xing Dao Ren had already lived through a month, the flow of time having sped up thirtyfold.

Thereafter, as Feng Rong continued to misbehave in the newly built city, and as Feng Shang led the great army relentlessly advancing toward Shenwu City, the flow of time around Wu Tie grew faster and faster, and his mastery of the Grand Dao of Time became ever more exquisite.

Ten days later, Wu Tie could already increase the flow of time by tens of thousands of times.

One day in the outside world equated to Wu Tie cultivating here for several decades.

Before, Wu Tie had already entered some strange state; he again saw, within the boundless chaos hundun, that colossal figure, and likewise saw, curled beside that colossal figure, the hundun beast already on the brink of death.

A cluster of spiritual light hovered beside that colossal figure.

The flow of time around Wu Tie was steadily increasing, yet in his mind and soul, time had strangely seemed to stagnate.

At an immeasurably distant remove, Wu Tie silently gazed upon that colossal figure.

That colossal figure, too, across the boundless chaos hundun, silently gazed at him.

That cluster of spiritual light flickered, throbbed, and continuously emitted strands of strange, lively Dao resonance.

Complex, mutable, unfathomable—far more intricate than the vast Dao resonance hidden within that colossal figure.

Wu Tie's blood boiled; within his blood, strands of strange qi continually spread forth, and some information etched into his blood since before the opening of heaven and earth in primordial times, now, because of Wu Tie's present strange 'awakening to the Dao' state, were constantly being stirred.

"The Yuanshi Jing……is not complete."

Wu Tie suddenly gained enlightenment.

"No, the Yuanshi Jing is complete……The Yuanshi Jing records the complete, all-encompassing Grand Dao that comes from the 'Pangu Sage' and the 'Holy Body itself'……That is the 'manifest' Dao."

"The three thousand Grand Daos, the eighty-four thousand side paths, both positive and negative aspects—all are contained within the Yuanshi Jing."

"The blood of the Pangu Yizu descends directly from the Pangu Sage……Some are whole, some deficient, their manifestations varied, giving rise to this richly diverse myriad of peoples."

"However, those ancient sages who studied the Yuanshi Jing only grasped the most conspicuous Dao of the Pangu bloodline……Between heaven and earth, there remain other Dao resonances, even more bizarre and variegated, even more complex and mutable Dao."

Wu Tie's attention focused on that speck of spiritual light beside the colossal figure, not much smaller than his own body.

"What is this?"

"Profound and yet more profound, ineffable, yet if forced to give it a name……"

Wu Tie murmured: "Hundun condensed, Zhou Tian Ming Mai……"

Wu Tie felt excruciating pain throughout his body; his boiling blood plasma twisted and coiled, undergoing a heaven‑earth‑overturning transformation.

Within every cell of his body appeared double, triple, quadruple, quintuple, sextuple helices……and ultimately even tens of thousands of exceedingly fine strands of flowing light intertwined to form a multidimensional helical light‑dragon that continually surfaced.

This information lay deep within his blood.

In the era of primordial myth, those ancient sages who had studied the Yuanshi Jing—who had not had the chance, or had never been able to come into contact with—the profound mysteries of the Grand Dao—were now being derived within Wu Tie's body.

"The Yuanshi Jing……is merely a key." Wu Tie laughed: "This Zhou Tian Ming Mai is the true root of the myriad colorful peoples of Mu Dalu……It is also the cause of the primordial opening of heaven and earth, and even the direct cause of the Pangu Sage's downfall."

Behind Wu Tie, the originally huge jade disc had already condensed into substance.

When his blood boiled and congealed into those strange helical structures, the jade disc trembled slightly, turned into a stream of light, and plunged directly into the last of the three lotus buds born from that extraordinary lotus root, which was set in the jade disc.

With a 'crack', the Tai Chu Mian split open once more, revealing countless fissures.

Wu Tie's essence blood surged like the Yangtze River, carrying those strange helical structures, and rushed into the lotus bud where the Tai Chu Mian resided.

The flow of time around Wu Tie surged upward tenfold once again.

One day and night in the outside world, Wu Tie had already lived through three hundred years.