Chapter 96: Killing the Emperor

The smell of blood had not yet dissipated in the Meridian Gate square, and the body of the Tongyou Realm Royal Elder was already cold.

Chu Chang held the duanchen ancient sword, his expression indifferent as he stepped onto the white marble stairs.

Behind him, the fourteen Heavenly Demon Puppets followed like shadows, their heavy footsteps sounding like the drums of death, each strike hitting heavily on the hearts of the remaining Great Yuan Dynasty royalty.

"Kill! Leave no one!"

"Seize the inner city and confiscate the national treasury!"

Behind them, the Divine Sword Sect elites and countless Loose Cultivators, completely blinded by bloodlust, surged in like a tide.

Those once high-and-mighty Imperial Guards and inner palace guards were now as fragile as paper under the impact of the tidal crowd.

The sounds of screaming, clashing weapons, and the roaring of collapsing palaces wove together into a dirge for the fall of an Empire.

In front of the Golden Throne Hall, the last five hundred Imperial Guards in golden heavy armor lined up to meet the enemy.

They were the Great Yuan Dynasty Emperor's personal troops, each possessing Foundation Establishment cultivation, but in front of the Heavenly Demon Puppets, this final resistance appeared incredibly ridiculous.

"Roar!"

Sect Master Lin Wuwen let out a low roar, his dark golden demonic body turning into a blur as he instantly crashed into the formation of the Imperial Guards.

It was a pure crushing of power; spears snapped, heavy armor shattered, and severed limbs danced in the air.

In just a few breaths, the white marble square in front of the Golden Throne Hall was completely cleared, leaving only a field of mangled corpses and rivers of blood.

Chu Chang crossed the threshold and walked into the Golden Throne Hall.

Inside the hall, the light was somewhat dim.

The Great Yuan Dynasty Emperor, Qianyuanzi, was slumped on the dragon throne with disheveled hair, his once-majestic dragon crown already askew, and his dragon robe stained with filth, blood, and dust.

Beside him, the Great Supporter held a dim Flying Sword, his face deathly pale, trembling as he guarded the front of the dragon throne.

"Chu Chang… you treacherous subject! You will die a horrible death!"

Qianyuanzi looked at Chu Chang, who was approaching step by step, and roared hysterically, "My Great Yuan Dynasty has stood for three thousand years, protected by the great sects of the Tianqian Domain! The Grand Emperor has already broken through to the Tongyou Realm in the Forbidden Land! If you dare to regicide, Ten Thousand Sword Mountain and the Grand Emperor will certainly tear you to pieces and extract the souls and refine the spirits of everyone in your Divine Sword Sect!"

"Ten Thousand Sword Mountain?"

Chu Chang stood ten zhang in front of the dragon throne, a mocking sneer curling at the corner of his mouth: "Duan Feiyun's body isn't even cold yet, do you expect them to save you?"

"As for the Grand Emperor you speak of…"

Chu Chang looked up toward the depths of the imperial palace, where the sky had been completely covered by thick, dark tribulation clouds, and violent thunder was brewing within the clouds, the Divine Might vast. "What do I have to fear from a fake Tongyou Realm Cultivator who didn't even dare to come out of seclusion even when his own descendants were being killed at the moment of life and death?"

"You…" Qianyuanzi's pupils shrank sharply.

"Your Majesty, this old servant will fight him to the death!"

Knowing there was no chance of survival today, a trace of madness flashed in the Great Supporter's eyes; the Purple Mansion within his body swelled crazily at this instant, and violent magic power fluctuations radiated from his body.

He was going to self-destruct!

The self-destruction of a Late Stage Purple Mansion Cultivator was enough to raze the entire Golden Throne Hall to the ground.

"The moment your magic power was sealed, you lost even the qualification to self-destruct."

Chu Chang's eyes were slightly cold, and he lightly slashed with his right hand holding the duanchen ancient sword.

[Taiyin Soul Lock!]

A pitch-black ghostly light, like a spiritual snake, instantly pierced through the void and, at the very moment the Great Supporter's body began to swell, plunged directly into his glabella.

The moment that violent magic power touched the Taiyin Evil Qi, it was as if it had been frozen by ten-thousand-year mysterious ice, instantly calming down.

"Crack."

The Great Supporter's eyes widened, the light in his eyes instantly dissipated, and his body fell softly beside the dragon throne, his Purple Mansion having been completely shredded by Chu Chang's sword.

"No… don't kill me!"

Seeing his last umbrella of protection fall, Qianyuanzi completely broke down.

He rolled off the dragon throne, crawled on his hands and knees to Chu Chang's feet, and kowtowed incessantly: "I can give the throne to you! I will give you all the treasures in the national treasury! Please spare my life! I am willing to be your dog!"

Looking at this man before him, cowering and devoid of any imperial dignity, a trace of disgust flashed in Chu Chang's eyes.

"The Great Yuan Dynasty's Luck is exhausted, and you, this Mortal emperor, should also step down."

Chu Chang didn't even use the duanchen ancient sword, merely pointing his right index finger lightly.

A wisp of gray Chaos Qi instantly shot into Qianyuanzi's forehead.

Qianyuanzi's crying stopped abruptly.

Under the erosion of the Chaos Qi, his body instantly lost all vitality, his flesh and blood withered rapidly, and finally, he turned into a shriveled ancient corpse, falling before the map of the vast territory he once ruled.

The Great Yuan Dynasty Emperor, Qianyuanzi, died!

…

…

With the death of the emperor and the supporter, the sounds of fighting outside the Golden Throne Hall gradually subsided.

Countless Divine Sword Sect Disciples and rebel generals flooded into the hall, looking at the Great Yuan Dynasty monarch and officials lying in pools of blood, and then at Chu Chang, who stood with his hands behind his back, they all knelt on one knee in unison.

"Divine Might of the Supreme Deacon! The Great Yuan Dynasty has been destroyed!"

"Long live the Supreme Deacon!"

Chu Chang ignored the shouting of the crowd, his gaze locked firmly on the Forbidden Land of the Imperial Ancestral Temple deep in the palace.

Rumble!

In the sky, the first lightning bolt of the Tongyou Heavenly Tribulation finally finished brewing.

A purple-red divine lightning as thick as a water bucket tore through the void, carrying the pressure to destroy all things, and hacked fiercely toward the Forbidden Land of the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

"Boom!"

The roof of the Imperial Ancestral Temple was smashed to pieces in an instant.

A figure radiating a terrifying Aura soared into the sky amidst the lightning.

It was an old man wearing ancient bright yellow robes; although his face was old, divine light bloomed in his eyes, his magic power surging, faintly resonating with the Spiritual Qi between heaven and earth.

The Great Yuan Dynasty Grand Emperor, Qian Bailie!

"Who dares to destroy my Great Yuan Dynasty?!"

Qian Bailie roared, his voice, bolstered by magic power, spreading throughout the entire city of Qianjing like rolling thunder.

While resisting the Heavenly Tribulation, he scanned the imperial palace with venomous Divine Sense.

When he saw the corpses of his royal descendants lying in front of the Golden Throne Hall and Chu Chang standing in the main position, his eyes turned red instantly.

"Traitor! You destroyed the Luck of my Imperial Dynasty, pay with your life!"

Qian Bailie, disregarding that the Heavenly Tribulation had not yet ended, braved a strike from the heavenly lightning, and with his right hand, he grabbed into the void.

A hundred-zhang giant hand, condensed from pure Tongyou magic power, carried the momentum of the heavens collapsing and the earth cracking as it slapped fiercely toward the Golden Throne Hall.

"Protect the Supreme Deacon!"

The Divine Sword Sect Leader's expression changed drastically, and he shouted loudly.

The Divine Might of the Tongyou Realm, even if just newly entered, was by no means something that Purple Mansion Cultivators could withstand.

"Everyone, retreat."

Chu Chang's cold voice rang in everyone's ears.

His body flickered, and instead of retreating, he took the initiative to rise into the sky, meeting that giant hand of magic power and the tribulation thunderclouds falling from the sky.

"Fourteen Heavenly Demons, form the array!"

Chu Chang gave a low shout.

The fourteen Heavenly Demon Puppets moved instantly, distributing themselves in fourteen positions in the void.

The Heavenly Demon Evil Qi within their bodies connected instantly, outlining an incomparably huge black magic net in mid-air.

[Heavenly Demon God-Slaughtering Array!]

The moment the magic net was supported and expanded, that giant Tongyou magic power hand slammed into the magic net, emitting a dull, loud sound, but it failed to shake the magic net in the slightest, instead being quickly dissolved by the corrosive Devilish Qi attached to the magic net.

"What?!" Qian Bailie's heart was shocked.

"To dare to be distracted and attack while under the Heavenly Tribulation, you truly do not know how to live or die."

Chu Chang looked coldly at Qian Bailie, who was at the center of the Lightning Tribulation.

The duanchen ancient sword in his right hand began to vibrate violently at this moment, not only because of the Chaos True Essence in Chu Chang's body being crazily infused into it, but also because the ancient sword immortal ruins deep underground in Qianjing had completely awakened upon sensing the Heavenly Tribulation and Chu Chang's Sword Intent.

"Boom!"

Deep underground in Qianjing, a crisp sword cry suddenly came.

Immediately following, countless small but extremely condensed ancient Sword Qi shot out from the cracks in the ground; they did not attack Chu Chang, but instead, as if having received some kind of summons, they poured into that Taiji diagram of Chu Chang's one after another.

"Slash!"

Chu Chang held the sword with both hands and slashed it out.

This sword strike condensed all his Chaos True Essence at the Peak of the Tongyou Realm, integrated the Evil Qi of the Heavenly Demon God-Slaughtering Array, and borrowed the Sword Qi of the ancient sword immortal ruins that had been sealed for thousands of years deep underground.

A thousand-zhang long streak of light, neither black nor white, faintly revealing Chaos and ancient Sword Intent, instantly tore through the void, directly slashing through the tribulation clouds between heaven and earth, and also slashing onto Qian Bailie's protective magic shield.

"No! I have already reached the Tongyou Realm, how could I be defeated by the likes of you!"

Qian Bailie let out a desperate roar.

That sword light was too fast, too sharp.

His protective Magic Treasure was completely shattered the moment it touched the sword light, followed by his newly condensed Tongyou body.

Under the double shredding of the ancient Sword Intent and the Chaos Qi, Qian Bailie's Tongyou Realm cultivation didn't even have a chance to escape before being directly shredded into the most primitive spirit energy fragments, dissipating into the void.

The Lightning Tribulation in the sky lost its target and gradually began to recede.

The clear sky reappeared, with only countless pure spirit energies raining down into the broken city of Qianjing.

The Great Yuan Dynasty's last guardian god, the Tongyou Realm Grand Emperor Qian Bailie, fell!

With the fall of Qian Bailie, the entire city of Qianjing fell into a dead silence.

Whether it was the stubborn forces resisting crazily in the city or the marauders looting in the streets and alleys, everyone stared blankly at the dark figure in the sky, who looked like a god.

One sword to slash a Tongyou Realm expert!

What kind of shocking power was this?

"The Supreme Deacon is invincible in the world!"

The Divine Sword Sect Leader was the first to react, kneeling in the air, his voice full of trembling and fanaticism.

"The Supreme Deacon is invincible!"

"Long live the Divine Sword Sect!"

Shouts like mountains toppling and seas overturning rang out inside and outside the city of Qianjing.

At this moment, the old order of the Great Yuan Dynasty was completely shattered, and it was replaced by a new era with Chu Chang as the absolute core.

Chu Chang floated down and stood on the city tower of the Qianqing Gate, his cold gaze scanning the Chaos below.

Although the war was over, the Chaos in the city had just begun.

A large number of Loose Cultivators, having lost restraint, began to loot in the city, many Mortal shops were burned, and cries rang out one after another.

"Those who disturb my rules shall be executed."

Chu Chang's voice was not loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears.

He turned around and issued a series of iron-blooded orders to the Divine Sword Sect Leader:

"First, all members of the Divine Sword Sect Law Enforcement Hall are to be dispatched, in conjunction with the defecting rebel soldiers, to patrol the entire city in groups of ten. Anyone caught looting, raping, or wantonly killing Mortals, regardless of their status, is to be executed on the spot."

"Second, Seal the imperial palace treasury and the mansions of dukes and nobles; all property is to be registered and recorded uniformly. Anyone who dares to hide anything privately will have their nine generations exterminated."

"Third, order all faction leaders and Family heads in the city of Qianjing to crawl to the Meridian Gate square and kneel to welcome me within half an hour. Those who do not arrive will have their entire families exterminated."

"Yes!"

The Divine Sword Sect Leader's expression turned solemn, and he immediately took the order and left.

Soon, the city of Qianjing, which had been somewhat out of control, quickly became quiet under the bloody suppression of the Divine Sword Sect's iron cavalry and the Heavenly Demon Puppets.

Dozens of Loose Cultivator Purple Mansion and Foundation Establishment Cultivators who tried to loot in the Chaos had their heads twisted off directly in the streets by Puppets like Lin Wuwen, and their bodies were hung high on the flagpoles at the intersections.

Faced with such iron-blooded means, those with ulterior motives immediately put away their greed and became incomparably docile.

Half an hour later.

In the Meridian Gate square, a dense crowd knelt.

The heads of the remaining second-rate families of the Great Yuan Dynasty, the heads of major merchant guilds, and the surrendered civil and military officials all knelt tremblingly on the white marble ground stained red with blood.

They didn't even dare to look up at Chu Chang, who was sitting on the temporary dragon throne above.

Chu Chang overlooked the crowd below and spoke slowly: "The Great Yuan Dynasty has stood for three thousand years, preying on the people and scraping the fat and blood of the populace. Today, the Great Yuan Dynasty is dead, and the laws of the Great Yuan Dynasty are void."

"From today on, the Great Yuan Dynasty is renamed the Divine Sword Territory. All people in the territory, whether Mortals or Loose Cultivators, are under the protection of the Divine Sword Sect. The exorbitant taxes and levies forcibly imposed by the royal Family on the people are exempted for three years starting from today. As for the Mortal children who were plundered, all those who are still alive are to be sent back to their original homes for upbringing at the expense of the Divine Sword Sect."

As soon as these words were spoken, the people of Qianjing who were watching outside the square erupted into earth-shattering cheers.

Many people wept with joy, knelt on the ground one after another, and kowtowed crazily in the direction of Chu Chang.

"Immortal Master Chu is benevolent!"

"Long live the Divine Sword Sect!"

In this world of immortality where great power returns to the individual, those in power rarely care about the life or death of Mortals.

This series of measures by Chu Chang instantly won him the hearts of the millions of Mortals and low-level Loose Cultivators of the Great Yuan Dynasty.

And for those Family heads, Chu Chang's methods were much colder.

"As for you."

Chu Chang looked coldly at those Family heads: "Hand over fifty percent of your Family's immortal cultivation resources to be used as military supplies. At the same time, send your Family's elite Disciples to join the Divine Sword Sect Law Enforcement Hall to assist in pacifying the remnants in various counties. If there is any dissent, your families will be exterminated."

"We… strictly obey the Immortal Master's decree!"

Although the Family heads were bleeding in their hearts, after witnessing Chu Chang's method of slashing a Tongyou Realm expert with one sword, who would dare to say half a word of refusal? They kowtowed one after another to express their loyalty.

Three days later.

After three days of iron-blooded rectification, the smoke of war in the city of Qianjing had gradually dissipated.

The bloodstains on the streets were cleaned up by Spells, and damaged houses began to be rebuilt with the assistance of Cultivators.

Shops that had been closed for days reopened, and although the Mortals were still somewhat fearful, life had begun to return to normal, and because of the exemption of exorbitant taxes, there was even a bit of vitality on the streets that hadn't existed before.

The flags of the Divine Sword Sect had been planted all over the imperial city.

Imperial Palace, deep in the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

This place had been listed as an absolute Forbidden Land by the Divine Sword Sect Disciples.

Chu Chang walked through the dilapidated palace hall alone and came to the entrance of the underground palace where Qian Bailie had been in seclusion.

At the entrance of the underground palace, the layers of sealing arrays originally set by the royal ancestors had been completely shattered.

A golden Sword Qi, extremely pure and carrying endless sharpness, was gushing out from the depths of the underground.

The duanchen ancient sword in Chu Chang's hand emitted an unprecedentedly strong resonance, and the rust on the sword body actually began to peel off piece by piece under the nourishment of this golden Sword Qi, revealing the sword body that was as bright as autumn water.

"This ancient sword immortal ruin underground seems to have a very deep connection with my duanchen ancient sword…"

Chu Chang stared at the bottomless black hole and muttered to himself.

The Great Yuan Dynasty royal Family had been destroyed, but the master of this land had clearly attracted the attention of stronger people in the Tianqian Domain.

The death of Duan Feiyun of Ten Thousand Sword Mountain, and Qian Bailie's failure in the tribulation, I believe it won't be long before it sets off a monstrous wave in the Tianqian Domain.

To stand firm in the coming storm, he must obtain the entire Legacy of this underground ruin in the shortest possible time.

"Sect Master." Chu Chang spoke without looking back.

"Subordinate is here!" The Divine Sword Sect Leader, who didn't know when he had arrived, stood guard in the back and saluted respectfully.

"I am going into seclusion to explore the underground ruins. During this period, you will preside over the overall situation of the Divine Sword Territory. If there are powerful enemies from outside the domain, activate the Chaos Yin and Yang Array and wait for me to come out of seclusion."

"Yes! Subordinate swears to protect the Divine Sword Territory with his life!"

Chu Chang nodded, his body flickered, and he turned into a gray stream of light, instantly plunging into the depths of the underground from which the golden Sword Qi was gushing.