Chapter 864

"So what does this have to do with the Tang Dynasty's female emperor throwing Wu Zetian over there?"

Guichen found it strange, and even more regrettable.

Dongfang Bai was already on the Heavenly Dao Hundred Flowers List; clearly, the Tang Dynasty's female emperor Wu Zetian was no less impressive.

To just be thrown away by that nearby Tang Dynasty female emperor—wouldn't that be a waste of talent, costing him precious points?

Zhang Daoling and Di Shitian knew exactly what Guichen was thinking.

They felt both regret and amusement.

"Each time one shatters the void, it actually drags out the majority of the destined person's fortune from that world.

If this continues long-term, too many people shattering the void in that world will cause martial cultivation to decline, and spiritual cultivation will become ever harder."

Zhang Daoling then revealed another secret.

Di Shitian, unsurprisingly, was a seasoned veteran of thousands of years—he immediately grasped the key point.

"So throwing Wu Zetian over there can offset the loss of fortune?"

"Exactly!"

Zhang Daoling nodded and said,

"Wu Zetian is the female emperor of Jiuzhou, and she is inherently a child of Jiuzhou's Tang Dynasty fortune.

She and this Tang Dynasty female emperor clearly share the same destiny pattern, yet they are different individuals.

Throwing Wu Zetian over there won't fully compensate for the lost fortune, but it will certainly slow down and soften the rate of fortune depletion in that world."

666 Could the Four Dragon Heads really not punish her?

"So that's how it is!"

Hearing Zhang Daoling's explanation, Di Shitian and Guichen both nodded in unison.

At that moment, the banquet table was bustling with clinking goblets and lively chatter.

Whether it was Qin Fusu, Yuan Chahatai, or even Lord Qiye, all kept raising their cups to toast the Four Dragon Head Xiaoyaozi and the Seven Dragon Head Zhang Sanfeng.

Only the Tang Dynasty female emperor remained seated motionless, as if utterly out of place among the crowd.

Noticing the commotion over there, Guichen asked Zhang Daoling,

"If that's the case, what do you think the Sixth Dragon Head should do about this fake empress?"

"Hah! You can't call her fake—in her own world, she's the real, legitimate Tang Dynasty empress."

Zhang Daoling, hearing Guichen's words, couldn't help but tease him.

"Uh! Regardless of true or false, this Tang Dynasty empress is so arrogant—if we do nothing, she'll look down on the Qinglong Society as an outsider."

Guichen fell silent for a moment, then spoke angrily again.

Since the Qinglong Society's emergence, aside from the initial period when the First Dragon Head Ximen Wudi left Jiuzhou to head to the Sword Realm,

various forces had secretly attacked its peripheral factions.

After the Qinglong Society launched fierce retaliation—especially after forcing Tie Muzhen of the Yuan Dynasty to his death—

all factions across the land, even the newly emerged Yin Yue Imperial Court, now dared not slight the Qinglong Society.

Haven't you seen? For this gathering on Qinglong Peak, the Yin Yue Imperial Court sent Lord Qiye in person?

Yet this Tang Dynasty empress, fresh off her arrival,

still acts like an empress on Qinglong Peak.

How could Guichen possibly tolerate this?

"Do you really think the Four Dragon Head won't deal with her?"

Zhang Daoling smiled, stroking his beard as he asked the two,

"What was the purpose of inviting all these factions up the mountain?"

"I get it!"

Di Shitian, unsurprisingly a veteran of thousands of years, instantly understood the moment Zhang Daoling hinted.

Only Guichen remained somewhat clueless.

"Alright, alright, let's go to the front and watch the show quietly."

Zhang Daoling said no more and led the two back to the banquet.

Xiaoyaozi, seeing Zhang Daoling emerge from seclusion, immediately stood up, raising his cup from afar to congratulate him,

"I didn't expect the Sixth Dragon Head to emerge today! Your cultivation must have advanced by leaps and bounds—congratulations!"

Although the Seven Dragon Heads of the Qinglong Society were not all present, seven seats had been set for them.

The highest seat was reserved for the First Dragon Head, Ximen Wudi.

Ximen Wudi was naturally absent, yet Jiang Yuyan, Miss Baoqin, and other peerless beauties still clustered around that table, as if Ximen Wudi were still there.

Zhang Daoling returned to his seat and raised his cup in a distant toast to Xiaoyaozi.

Just as he set down his cup, Fusu stood up and toasted Zhang Daoling,

"During my time in the Great Qin, I often heard of the Sixth Dragon Head's Tian Shi Dao methods—profound and unfathomable.

The Five Thunder Orthodoxy was especially terrifying to gods and demons.

When I first arrived, I was disappointed not to see the Sixth Dragon Head's true face.

Now that you've emerged from seclusion, it's truly cause for celebration.

I am unworthy, but I humbly offer this toast on behalf of His Majesty Emperor Ying Zheng of Qin and his countless subjects, to congratulate the Sixth Dragon Head on your emergence."

This speech cleverly dragged Emperor Ying Zheng and his countless subjects into the toast as a grand gesture.

Even though Zhang Daoling's Dao was profound and his humility boundless,

he couldn't help but beam with delight at Fusu's lavish flattery, and raised his cup to reply,

"They say the Qin Crown Prince Fusu is benevolent and righteous—he is truly the most outstanding among all imperial princes."

"Having met you today, I rather feel you are fully fit to be the future ruler of Great Qin!"

Zhang Daoling's words left Fusu almost overjoyed.

In Great Qin, though he was the eldest Imperial Prince, he had never actually been formally established as Crown Prince.

For one, Ying Zheng was in the prime of his years, vigorous and hale, with no need to rush the appointment of a Crown Prince.

For another, Fusu was benevolent, righteous, and brilliant, but he had drawn too close to the Confucians, running almost counter to Ying Zheng's path of kingly hegemony.

On top of that, Ying Zheng had many sons beneath him, and no few outstanding ones among them.

The Eighteenth Prince Hu Hai and the like, for instance, were all powerful contenders for the Crown Prince's seat.

Fusu had always had a headache over this: with the Crown Prince unsettled, he still did not know whether he could hope to inherit the great succession.

He had not expected that today, by flattering the Sixth Dragon Head Zhang Daoling, he would get him to declare publicly before all that he could be the future ruler of Great Qin,

and although the Great Qin imperial house, and Ying Zheng himself, absolutely could not look upon him differently just because of a single word from Zhang Daoling,

yet with this remark from the Sixth Dragon Head of the Qinglong Society, his supporters within Great Qin would surely increase by no small number.

He was that much closer to the Crown Prince's seat!

"Thank you, Sixth Dragon Head!"

Thinking this far, Fusu offered his sincere thanks.

Zhang Daoling had in fact only spoken offhandedly; as for Great Qin's Crown Prince and the like, he would not be thinking so far ahead.

Since the Great Yuan's Tie Muzhen had even been forced to death, what other power within the Nine Provinces could challenge the Qinglong Society?

At once, people from other factions also vied with one another to toast Zhang Daoling.

Although all along it had been the Fourth Dragon Head who had stolen the limelight,

these people knew that none of the Qinglong Society's Seven Great Dragon Heads was simple.

Even the Seventh Dragon Head Zhang Sanfeng, who had only recently joined, was in truth unfathomably deep.

Had they not seen that before he entered the Qinglong Society, when he was still on Mount Wudang, he was not even a Land Immortal?

Who would have thought that after entering the Qinglong Society and becoming the Seventh Dragon Head, how long had it been?

Just recently, the Seventh Dragon Head, with his Taiji Fist and the Way of Yin and Yang, at Beizhen of Great Tang, within the Great Yuan army's grand camp,

under the gaze of countless onlookers, fought a fierce battle against a Heaven's Dao Golden Ranking-level expert, the Great Yuan's Protectorate of the State Consecrator Long Xiang Seng.

That battle alone was enough to spread the Seventh Dragon Head Zhang Sanfeng's fame throughout the world.

Therefore, this unassuming and unshowy Sixth Dragon Head Zhang Daoling also received a great deal of praise from the crowd.

When the wine had made three rounds, Senior Xiaoyaozi at last lifted his wine goblet and, addressing the assembly, said,

"Today, all of you have answered the Qinglong Society's summons and come to Qinglong Summit; this old Daoist is deeply comforted."

"Fourth Dragon Head, you are too kind."