Chapter 3071

Shi Zhi Xuan furrowed his brows, then finally nodded, saying no more on the matter.

"Your Majesty,"

Song Lu also spoke slowly, forcibly suppressing the tremor in his voice, "The Lingnan army has fully assembled! Outside Chang'an City... whether you wish to wage war against Goryeo or sweep across the great grasslands, the Lingnan army is the sharpest blade in your hands."

After a long silence, Song Que uttered a single word, terse and decisive: "Good!"

As his words fell, brilliant light erupted suddenly beside Song Que.

A brief silence, then the entire imperial hall erupted in chaos.

Song Lu's face turned ashen; he roared, "Protect the Emperor!"

Song Que scanned the many fierce generals and martial masters rushing toward him, then raised his hand abruptly: "No need for this!"

Song Que merely pressed down lightly, and the scene, "zero eight zero,"

instantly fell silent.

The civil and military ministers who had frantically prepared to rush forward and fight for Song Que felt as if a massive stone had crushed their hearts... unable to speak a word.

The civil and military ministers suddenly realized: the emperor before them was not the feeble, powerless emperors of old—he was the supreme master of the martial world, standing at the pinnacle of cultivation, on the threshold of the Heavenly Realm.

Song Que spoke calmly, "They are my friends."

"Indeed!"

Shi Zhi Xuan added calmly, "Absolutely."

Song Que lowered his hand; the oppressive atmosphere vanished. The ministers around the hall looked at each other, bit their lower lips, and silently returned to their original positions.

They occasionally glanced at Su Han and the others.

Gradually, their faces filled with doubt and uncertainty.

Some even wore expressions of horror and disbelief—their very worldview had cracked and shattered.

The group before them was simply too extraordinary.

Su Han, standing at the front, needed no further explanation.

Song Que himself was a peerless beauty, yet compared to Su Han, the difference was immense... and Bai Hu Zi's towering frame—seven meters tall—resembled a mythic giant spirit, not a mortal man.

Only the imperial hall's grandeur could contain Bai Hu Zi; any ordinary mansion would have been too small.

Ying Zheng appeared the most ordinary... yet he drew the greatest attention from the civil officials! He wore a black robe embroidered with a black dragon, crowned with a ceremonial headdress.

This was the attire of Qin and Han emperors.

Had Song Que not previously declared his authority, the civil officials would still be deliberating—just this robe alone would have provoked an official to rebuke him.

For a commoner to wear such imperial regalia before the Emperor... was an act of defiance, even tantamount to treason! "... Your ministers are of remarkably high caliber."

Su Han regarded the ministers below with interest, using his Kenbunshoku to instantly discern the identities of all the civil and military officials.

Many were familiar faces from the Tang Dynasty—such as the generals Cheng Yaojin and Li Jing, the ministers Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui... though most were new faces.

Yet even these new faces possessed abilities surpassing those of the original Tang Dynasty's civil and military elites.

"After all, we obtained intelligence on the Great Tang from within the Conggong Society,"

Song Yin said calmly, "if, with access to detailed intelligence from the Conggong Society, we still couldn't assemble a civil-military team superior to Emperor Taizong's, I might as well take up my blade and kill myself."

"I'm merely curious—where is Mr. Lu Xiaofeng?"

Ying Zheng asked calmly.

Below, Song Lu's pupils contracted sharply—he... also had a black dragon robe emperor! Yes... aside from this black-robed man truly being an emperor, Song Lu could not imagine any other scenario that would make Song Que so composed.

"... Then again,"

Song Lu's eyes flickered, his mind racing with thoughts, "I recall the current Central Plains Empire! Aside from our Tang Dynasty... there's also the Great Ming Empire to the east, correct?"

"Could this man be... the Emperor of the Great Ming? No, that doesn't fit..."

Song Lu furrowed his brows, utterly baffled.

The Great Ming Emperor's dragon robe was not black... but if this emperor was not the one from the Great Ming,

then who else? The world is so small—could he possibly be from overseas? Even if he truly came from overseas, why would an emperor of a powerful empire appear directly in the center of another empire's imperial palace? Didn't he fear being captured on the spot? Song Lu's head throbbed with every passing thought.

"Lu Xiaofeng hasn't arrived yet,"

Shi Zhi Xuan replied lazily, "We have not mastered the mysteries of space... nor has he. Moreover, his Great Ming lies far from the heartland of our Tang capital, Chang'an..."

After a slight pause, Shi Zhi Xuan continued, "If none of you act, he may not arrive for ten days or even half a month..."

"Expectedly unexpected, yet logically inevitable."

Su Han shrugged, snapped his fingers, and the void before him collapsed. Within a few breaths, Lu Xiaofeng stepped out from the shattered gate of spacetime, glancing around with curiosity and awe.

"You got here so fast... I knew your methods as the President, but experiencing it firsthand still feels utterly incredible."

The hall fell utterly silent—save for Lu Xiaofeng's voice.

Cheng Yaojin's expression went slack; even he, fearless of heaven or earth, was stunned by what he saw.

He swallowed hard, turned to Li Jing beside him, and whispered, "These... these are truly celestial beings descending from heaven!"

Li Jing was also deeply shaken, yet unlike Cheng Yaojin, he kept his gaze straight, his face solemn and dignified, and muttered, "Silence! Don't let His Majesty lose face before these divine beings."

Cheng Yaojin's eye twitched.

He wanted to mutter that if these truly were divine beings, whether Song Que lost face or not hardly mattered... but after considering Song Que's temper, he wisely stayed silent.

What if Song Que truly lost face before these divine beings and flew into a rage?

If he saw Cheng Yaojin being disrespectful and vented his fury on him, what then? Cheng Yaojin knew his puny frame couldn't withstand the Emperor's wrath.

"Then again,"

Lu Xiaofeng scratched his head and whispered, "When will the enemy arrive?"

"They've already arrived!"

Su Han opened his palm.

"... Where?"

Shi Zhixuan furrowed his brow, "Chang'an, Luoyang, or some other prosperous city — surely it can't be the middle of nowhere, right?"

"... Unfortunately, you guessed wrong!"

Su Han raised an eyebrow. His Observation Haki had picked up intel on this matter, so after sweeping a glance over everyone present, he said with amusement.

"The transmigrator has now appeared in the capital of the Great Ming Dynasty."

Qin Shi Huang: "!!!!!"

Shi Zhixuan: ""