Chapter 299: Goodbye, Naya (22)

Bu Ye Gong.

Radiant Holy Hall.

The Holy Hall replaced its throne with a brand‑new one, widening it considerably, changing from a single seat to a double seat.

Upon the throne, Luosen and Zhuo Ya sat side by side.

In the hall beneath the throne, the nobles and ministers of the Radiant Empire stood in a crowd.

The Royal Ceremony Officer shouted loudly: "The Two Saints descend to the mortal realm; mortals, kneel!"

Thus, a group of the Radiant Empire's upper‑level elite, dressed in either dark gold or deep red, all bowed low to perform the kowtow before the emperor.

On the throne, Luosen looked down at the kneeling nobles and ministers of the Radiant Empire, clearly sensing their myriad emotions.

Unwilling yet resigned.

He silently sneered: "Most nobles are just a bunch of weak‑willed cowards who follow whoever feeds them."

He despised most the hereditary noble class.

Perhaps among them a few outstanding individuals might arise.

But as a class, they are a bunch of social termites incapable of great deeds yet expert at causing harm.

Once he fully grasped the situation of the Radiant Empire, his first move would be to drive its nobles out of the nation's core.

Of course, the timing is not yet ripe.

Soon, the nobles and ministers performed the kowtow three times.

From this moment on, Luosen was both the emperor of the Natural Empire and the husband of the Radiant Empress.

If one does not consider the detail that the Radiant Empress is the mortal incarnation of the Radiant Lord, this arrangement is not actually all that extraordinary.

In the age of nobility, such marriages occasionally occurred, so there are many mature precedents to follow.

For example, the children of Luosen and the Empress would inherit only the throne of the Radiant Empire, whereas the children of Luosen and Qi Ge Rui La Na could inherit only the throne of the Natural Divine Kingdom.

Again, although the leaders of the two empires have become husband and wife, they still represent the interests of their respective empires.

The two empires remain relatively independent, and neither may interfere in the other's internal affairs.

Naturally, the relations between the two countries have entered a honeymoon period, with political, economic, and military cooperation becoming ever closer and deeper.

After the officials' homage, there still remains a large batch of tedious formalities to carry out.

But Luosen and Zhuo Ya have both grown weary of them.

Thus, Luosen had a stand‑in puppet made for each of them to handle the tedious and boring rites, then he retreated to the sleeping chambers of Bu Ye Gong to enjoy the lawful sweetness of newlywed life.

After a vigorous exchange, the two leaned side by side on the big bed, letting the maidservants clean up the mess left by the storm.

"Dear, can you now tell me the secret of boiling water?"

Zhuo Ya has been keeping this in mind.

For secrecy, she asked using a more concealed soul‑cipher.

Luosen also replied via soul‑cipher: "Of course."

He adjusted his posture, allowing a young, lovely maid to wipe his divine spear with a soft white cloth: "The academic term for this is 'Basic Element Aggregation'."

Zhuo Ya stared, thought it over, finally understood, and her face jolted: "After Basic Element Aggregation, what happens then?"

Luosen smiled faintly: "Dear, I can tell you everything, but this is my nation's supreme arcane achievement. Therefore you must pay a great price."

"Mmm~ what do you want?"

"The two great empires must be completely merged into a single mortal nation."

To this, Zhuo Ya was actually not at all surprised.

She and Luosen have been together a long time; Luosen never hid his intent, and with her cleverness she naturally guessed his ambition early on.

She looked at Luosen with a half‑smile, neither affirming nor denying.

"I can't decide this alone, and even if we unify, who would be the next emperor of the empire?"

"Our children, or yours and Qi Ge Rui La Na's?"

Luosen had already figured it out.

"Next, we won't have an empire; we'll set up a national parliament, reorganize into a republic, and have the talented strong‑ones among mortals jointly govern the state."

Zhuo Ya immediately felt it unreliable: "That state would surely split apart as fast as Na Wa Te did."

Luosen naturally knew this: "Without external enemies, it would certainly split; but with them, and the enemies being terribly fearsome..."

Having said that, without waiting for Zhuo Ya to ask, Luosen thoroughly explained the matter of the Abyss to her, finally saying: "If we want to keep developing, we will face the Abyss's full‑force obstruction."

"To be frank, relying solely on the Natural Empire, or even adding the Radiant Empire, I have no confidence in resisting this batch of powerful foes."

"If possible, I would even hope to add the Elves Empire, integrating all the resources of the plane to build a truly great planar civilization."

"Even the power of a single plane is not enough; we need to link several planes, unite all linkable forces, to have any chance of defeating the strong enemy."

Zhuo Ya never imagined that the depths of the planar world hid such a terrifying secret.

She originally still thought Luosen was ambitious, and she was pondering how to restrain her husband's ambition.

Now she realizes she was wrong, wildly wrong.

What her husband possesses is not narrow personal ambition, but a grand, world‑changing aspiration.

She asked in a solemn voice: "Are you sure this is true?"

Luosen also replied solemnly: "I am certain the Abyss truly exists; I even know its exact orbital track." "I am also certain that the Void Gods came forth from the Abyss, but I do not know what the interior of the Abyss actually looks like."

"I also know that a lost great plane once existed, once supremely glorious, but in an extremely short time it was reduced to ruins by war."

"I believe that this plane's loss is at least half due to the Abyss."

"Now, if we want to build a higher civilization, we may well face the same challenge."

Zhuo Ya exhaled lightly and said seriously: "Well, if that's the case, then we really must find a way to unite the strength of the entire planar world."

"But I am still very curious just how strong the power of Basic Element Aggregation is, to the point that it can be called 'great'."

Luosen could feel that Zhuo Ya was speaking sincerely.

In other words, if he completely convinces this clever new wife, she will wholeheartedly help him unify the Nature Empire and the Radiant Empire.

So he gave a slight smile, waved his hand to send the maid out of the room, and then erected a powerful magical barrier, completely isolating the inner chambers from the outside.

He then said briefly, "It is the source of the sun's power."

Zhuo Ya was stunned speechless; after a long pause she swallowed hard, let out a faint "gudu~~" and asked, "So the Nature Empire has mastered the sun's power?"

"Exactly."

"How much does it cost for you to acquire one Luosen of lightning now?"

"We usually don't price a single Luosen of lightning; we price ten thousand Luosen together, at 400 grams of Clay, which is 0.04 grams of Clay per Luosen."

"But this is the current price; it will become even cheaper later."

Zhuo Ya couldn't help but tap her forehead: "So you're selling us lightning at 0.1 grams of Clay per unit, and you're still making a profit?"

"Exactly."

"Then the Holy Elves Empire isn't actually a threat?"

"If it's only Elves, it's not a threat, but the divine demons come from the Abyss. Before forging a truly powerful sun weapon, we must act discreetly."

"A truly powerful sun weapon?"

Luosen nodded: "We are still exploring it; no one knows what the final form will be, but it will certainly far exceed the power of this era."

Zhuo Ya slowly nodded: "The great power of the sun can, of course, far surpass this era."

She curled up, nestling in Luosen's strong arm like a wife clinging to her husband, and the last trace of dissent in her heart vanished.

Her mind was filled with one thought: how to help her husband unite planar forces to combat the Abyss.

Afterwards, Luosen stayed in Bu Ye Gong for over a month.

He both enjoyed his honeymoon and arranged many covert agents for the eventual merger of the two empires.

With Zhuo Ya's cooperation, everything proceeded smoothly.

A little over a month later, Luosen returned to the Nature Empire's capital, Mondania, and continued to low‑key serve as its Nature Emperor, overseeing the planning of various large‑scale construction projects within the empire.

At the same time, he also studied the magical mysteries of the projection entity Lily.

These tranquil days lasted for about half a year.

On that day, Luosen was calibrating newly forged experimental equipment in the underground lab, preparing to start a new day of projection experiments, when he suddenly received a letter from Navat.

More precisely, it was a letter from the Sky Republic, and the sender was none other than Master Naya.

The letter read: "His Majesty Luosen, thank you greatly for your assistance to Navat in recent years, but this time I must shamelessly ask for your help again."

"The details are highly sensitive, so I cannot include them here. I hope you can activate the phase‑transfer array in half an hour and let me come to meet you."

Naya was coming over, so Luosen naturally would not refuse.

He replied immediately: "I'll send you the latest key for the transfer array right now."

About half an hour later, a faint glow appeared on the underground phase‑transfer array.

Then Naya, dressed in a plain cotton work dress, materialized within the array.

Compared with last time, she looked much more gaunt, her face etched with fatigue, exuding a sense of mental and physical exhaustion.

Luosen hurried forward, caught her, and infused her with pure faith power: "Master Naya, how did you wear yourself out like this?"

Naya sighed lightly: "Since we left last time, many things have happened in Navat, countless changes as well."

"We have become far stronger in fighting demonic forces, but we have become intoxicated by our newfound power, growing increasingly arrogant and losing reverence for the divine demons."

"I even think many of Navat's mages are rapidly descending into even more terrifying human demons."

Luosen had been monitoring Navat's situation and naturally understood the deeper meaning of her words; he guided Naya toward the lounge of his underground laboratory.

"No matter how harsh the outside environment is, you must take care of your body; if it collapses, you won't be able to do anything."

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Naya's emotions flare, a hint of mist appearing in her crystal‑blue eyes.

"Thank you for your comfort, but the situation is truly dire; our Sky Republic has been driven to the brink of a cliff."

Luosen had already taken Naya to the underground lounge, helped her sit, and poured her a glass of her favorite strawberry wine.

"What exactly happened?"

Naya let out a deep sigh, her face looking mournful.

"The Glory Republic became the Glory Divine Kingdom. Sasmarl became a saint of Sun Lord Artumen. Also becoming a Sun Saint was the emperor of the Sante Empire, Gellir Sante."

"Naturally, the Sante Empire also renamed itself the Holy Sante Empire."

"Our Sky Republic has become Navat's sole mortal nation."

(End of Chapter)