Chapter 78: Isolating Heaven and Earth

The Ancestral Ground of Divine Weapon was the place where the State-Protecting Divine Weapon was enshrined.

The Thirty-Six Kingdoms of the Central Plains had thirty-six State-Protecting Divine Weapons, and naturally, thirty-six Ancestral Grounds of Divine Weapon as well.

For the royal families of the Thirty-Six Kingdoms, sacrificing to the Divine Weapon was a matter even more important than sacrificing to their ancestors and past emperors.

Only because Lin Yuan held absolute authority in the Great Yan Dynasty and withstood the pressure from the imperial court was he able to forcibly delay the matter of sacrificing to the Divine Weapon for fifty to sixty years.

Even so, the living sacrifices sent to the Ancestral Ground of Divine Weapon every year were not reduced by even the slightest fraction.

Regarding this, Lin Yuan also turned a blind eye.

Matters like the alternation of the imperial throne might not attract the attention of the Divine Weapon.

However, when it came to living sacrifices, if anyone dared to reduce them by even a little, it would certainly alert the Divine Weapon.

By then, the Divine Weapon would awaken and actively seek out sacrifices.

The consequences resulting from this would be very difficult for the Great Yan Dynasty to bear.

After all, after the Divine Weapon actively awakened, the quantity of sacrifices it required would far exceed that during its dormant period.

Therefore——

Before having sufficient strength to suppress the Divine Weapon, maintaining the status quo and buying more time to grow stronger was the most correct choice.

At the very least, Lin Yuan could seize the initiative and choose the time to make a move.

For example, now.

This was a good opportunity to make a move in Lin Yuan's eyes.

Taking advantage of the sacrificial ceremony, he would lure the Divine Weapon out and strike while the other party was 'eating'.

"Divine Weapon."

After Lin Yuan agreed to sacrifice to the Divine Weapon, numerous ministers such as the Minister of Rites bustled about to prepare the various rituals needed for the ceremony.

As for Lin Yuan, he returned to Chengtian Hall to ponder matters concerning the 'Divine Weapon'.

Since he had decided to make a move against the Divine Weapon, Lin Yuan was certainly fully prepared.

By browsing the memories of numerous 'Evil Weapons', Lin Yuan already had a deep understanding of the thirty-six Divine Weapons.

Not to mention combat power for now, Lin Yuan was confident he was not inferior to any Divine Weapon.

What Lin Yuan needed to pay attention to was the ultimate trump card of the Divine Weapon.

Merging into heaven and earth.

Regardless of whether it was a Divine Weapon or an Evil Weapon.

In essence, they were all external manifestations of the essence of the rules of heaven and earth.

Since they were external manifestations, when necessary, they could naturally merge back into it.

The main body of an Evil Weapon was shattered and no longer complete, so it could not return to heaven and earth.

But the Divine Weapon was different.

As long as the Divine Weapon was willing, it could completely merge into heaven and earth.

In this state, no matter how many hundreds or thousands of times stronger Lin Yuan was, unless he could destroy heaven and earth, he could do nothing about it.

Of course, unless it was an absolute last resort with not a single path of retreat left.

The Divine Weapon would not choose to return to heaven and earth.

Because once this happened, the Divine Weapon's own consciousness would be scrubbed by the consciousness of heaven and earth.

Simply put, it would be 'formatted'.

Even after thousands of years, even if it detached from heaven and earth once more.

This Divine Weapon would no longer be that original Divine Weapon.

Because the internal consciousness had already been replaced by another.

However.

Since Lin Yuan chose to make a move against the Divine Weapon.

He certainly would not watch helplessly as the opponent returned to heaven and earth.

One of the main purposes of Lin Yuan's action was to suppress the Divine Weapon, and subsequently comprehend the essence of the rules contained within it.

Over the decades, the essence of the rules within the numerous Evil Weapon fragments had brought tremendous help to Lin Yuan.

And these were merely Evil Weapons, which meant they were Divine Weapon fragments.

If it were a complete Divine Weapon, how great would the help of the complete essence of the rules contained within it be to Lin Yuan?

At the very least, it could push him to the Fourth Order.

Not an ordinary Fourth Order.

But a Fourth Order based on the essence of the rules.

"Since the Divine Weapon can merge into heaven and earth."

"Then I will directly isolate heaven and earth."

Lin Yuan's gaze was calm.

Having descended to this realm for eighty years, Lin Yuan comprehended numerous Evil Weapon fragments, and with his Heaven-Defying Comprehension, created a secret technique that isolated heaven and earth.

Taking eighty-one Evil Weapons as the core, he completely sealed off a certain area.

That was, isolating heaven and earth.

However, the so-called 'sealing off' had a time limit.

Heaven and earth possessed repair capabilities; with Lin Yuan's methods, he could seal it off for at most one shichen.

That was to isolate heaven and earth for one shichen.

The matter of the Emperor of Great Yan going to the ancestral ground to sacrifice to the Divine Weapon became the top priority in the imperial court.

Since it was a sacrifice, a large amount of sacrifices would definitely be prepared.

The sacrifices for sacrificing to the Divine Weapon were naturally living people, and moreover, cultivators with abundant Qi and blood.

Ever since Lin Yuan ascended the throne, although he did not reduce the number of sacrifices, he selected the living people to be sacrificed from among those sentenced to death and heavy criminals as much as possible.

If the quantity was still not enough.

He would recruit as much as possible from among the common people.

As long as they volunteered to become sacrifices, their parents, children, and so on would all receive care from the imperial court.

Their elders would be provided for by Great Yan in their old age, and their descendants would have priority in education, entering politics, and joining the military.

This policy once sparked controversy in the imperial court, with many ministers thinking there was no such need, and that letting those mud-legged peasants sacrifice to the Divine Weapon was their honor.

After all, once this policy was implemented, the pressure on the national treasury would definitely not be small.

But under Lin Yuan's strong stance, this policy was still implemented through to the end.

The process of sacrificing to the Divine Weapon was extremely tedious.

Numerous ministers busied themselves for most of the day before beginning the final sacrifice.

As the emperor, Lin Yuan walked at the very front, heading toward the center of the underground palace of the ancestral ground.

Several hours later.

Lin Yuan's gaze was deep as he looked toward the center of the altar.

Within his perception, an aura as vast as mountains and seas almost surged out.

This aura was ferocious and majestic, sharp and domineering, surpassing any Evil Weapon Lin Yuan had ever seen.

Even that Splitting Sky Axe, which had a completeness of ninety percent, fell far short before this aura.

Over the past eight thousand years, those Evil Weapons had remained stagnant.

However, the thirty-six Divine Weapons constantly devoured the Qi, blood, and Souls of all living beings, slowly improving. After eight thousand years, with constant dripping wearing away stone, their strength naturally surpassed what it was originally.

Not to mention that these thirty-six Divine Weapons had fought their way out forcefully from the battle of a hundred Divine Weapons eight thousand years ago, and were inherently the thirty-six strongest among the hundred Divine Weapons.

"sun moon spear"

A trace of strangeness flashed across Lin Yuan's face.

This State-Protecting Divine Weapon of the Great Yan Dynasty was the sun moon spear, one of the Divine Weapons among the thirty-six that excelled most at offense.

In that Divine Weapon battle, the number of Divine Weapons pierced through by the sun moon spear was at least seven or eight, which could be described as terrifyingly fierce.

"Alright."

"All of you leave."

"We have something to say to the Divine Weapon."

Perceiving that the sun moon spear was about to manifest and devour the sacrifices.

Lin Yuan immediately turned back to look at the various ministers and royal descendants.

"Understood."

"Then we shall take our leave first."

The crowd was already finding it somewhat hard to breathe,

after all, the aura of the sun moon spear was gradually circulating. Facing such an aura akin to heaven and earth, it was difficult for ordinary people to endure.

And Lin Yuan's reason was also quite sufficient.

The Great Yan royal family was the 'spokesperson' chosen by the Divine Weapon.

And Lin Yuan, as the emperor and the person of highest status in the royal family, was most normal to be alone with the Divine Weapon.

Soon.

Except for Lin Yuan.

Everyone respectfully left.

For a time, on the huge and vast altar, only Lin Yuan remained, along with the living sacrifices kneeling in the distance.

The living sacrifices for this ceremony were all death row inmates from various places.

To ensure the smoothness of the sacrifice, these death row inmates had long since fallen unconscious.

Lin Yuan stood in place, quietly waiting for the Divine Weapon to come out.

At this time, Lin Yuan's aura was restrained; even the Divine Weapon could not detect any abnormalities.

Otherwise, with the strength of Lin Yuan's Physical Body Qi and blood, he probably would have driven the sun moon spear crazy long ago, how could it be as 'dawdling' as it was now?

Rumble.

Under Lin Yuan's gaze, a divine Dragon, a hundred zhang long and surrounded by the sun and moon, slowly flew out.

"A Dragon?"

Lin Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly.

It was not a Dragon.

The so-called 'divine Dragon' phantom was merely an illusion transformed by the aura of the Divine Weapon.

Lin Yuan saw that at the core of the 'divine Dragon' illusion, a hazy long spear was floating up and down.

The Divine Weapon sun moon spear.

Lin Yuan's expression turned slightly solemn.

It was not his first time seeing a Divine Weapon.

While browsing the memories of those 'Evil Weapons', he had seen many Divine Weapons before.

He had even seen many scenes of the sun moon spear thrusting out.

But a picture was ultimately just a picture.

Compared to the real sun moon spear, it was simply fireflies vying for brilliance with the bright moon.

"Hoo!"

The sun moon spear trembled slightly.

The hundred-zhang divine Dragon illusion opened its huge mouth and took a slight breath toward the direction of the sacrifices.

Immediately.

A massive amount of Qi, blood, vitality, and Soul were swallowed into the Dragon's mouth.

"This sacrifice is not bad."

The sun moon spear emitted a massive mental fluctuation, clearly slightly satisfied.

"You are the new emperor?"

Seeming to perceive something, the sun moon spear emitted mental fluctuations once again.

"That's right."

Lin Yuan nodded.

"Since it is so."

The body of the sun moon spear shook.

An inexplicable aura descended.

Every emperor, during the period of sacrificing to the Divine Weapon, would be implanted with the Divine Weapon mark.

It was both a deterrence and a restriction.

Lin Yuan had not yet performed marrow-cleansing and tendon-changing for the Grand Emperor precisely because he was worried about this Divine Weapon imprint.

"Wait a moment."

Seeing this, Lin Yuan immediately spoke.

The moment Lin Yuan uttered the word 'wait', he raised his right foot and took a step forward.

By the time Lin Yuan finished saying the word 'wait', his right foot landed, and centered around the altar, the surrounding heaven and earth had already been isolated.