Chapter 519: Chapter 229: Undermining the Enemy’s Foundations_2

    Her mind trembled slightly, Xia Yunqiu struggled to suppress the emotional turmoil within her as she spoke:

    “You may rise first!”

    “Thank you, envoy.”

    As Xia Yunqiu sized up the White Tiger and the Vermilion Bird, they were also cautiously observing the envoy who held the Fengdu Authority Token.

    The prestigious reputation of Enlightenment Pavilion was certainly clear to them, and even the Imperial Astronomical Bureau’s Superintendent had once given orders to protect Enlightenment Pavilion for some time.

    As for this ninth daughter of Emperor Xia, without the title of princess, they were fully aware of her situation.

    It was hard for them to imagine how Xia Yunqiu could have established a connection with the Fengdu Emperor, let alone receive a token bestowed by the Emperor himself.

    Considering the Fengdu Emperor’s elusive presence, even Bull Head, the leader of the Mount Luofeng 6 Hell Deities, was unaware of the Emperor’s whereabouts. The idea of a down-and-out princess gaining the Emperor’s favor was utterly unimaginable to them.

    While their minds wandered with different thoughts, Xia Yunqiu spoke again.

    “Reestablishing the City Gods is beneficial for both the Netherworld and Great Xia. Normally, when a City God establishes an incense offering magic domain, it only appears around the city’s vicinity and does not harm the interests of many sects.

    But Emperor Xia plans to link all the incense offering magic domains with the City Gods, using the cities as nodes. He aims to control the grand trend of the world.

    Once the incense offering magic domains are thoroughly connected, every part of the world will be a land of incense fire, and the grotto heavens blessed land will be rejected by it.

    Such an action pushes the grotto heavens blessed land to an opposing side entirely, leading several of them to descend upon the Imperial Capital.”

    Source: Webnovel.com, updated on ?ον??.?0

    “However, dealing with such an important matter, without support from the Netherworld, Emperor Xia definitely wouldn’t have announced it to the world.

    What kind of promise did Emperor Xia make to deserve your personal visit to the Imperial Capital to participate in Great Xia’s alliance and jointly oppose the grotto heavens sacred ground?”

    This issue should have been a confidential matter, with only a few within Great Xia capable of accessing it, and even the Crown Prince might not be aware of it.

    But now, possessing the identity of a Fengdu envoy, White Tiger and Vermilion Bird certainly had no intention of withholding information.

    “Reporting to the envoy, to achieve this, Emperor Xia has agreed to give the complete control of Tai, Luo, and the Southern Three Provinces—a total of five provinces—into the Netherworld’s jurisdiction.

    Within these five provinces, incense worship does not need to be channeled towards the Imperial Capital and can directly flow into Fengdu City.

    The Netherworld has the power to appoint and dismiss over a hundred City Gods within these provinces, and Great Xia’s Imperial Court is not to interfere.

    Besides this, all incense worship from Ming and Yang provinces will also be handed over to the Netherworld.”

    As the words ended, Xia Yunqiu’s expression abruptly changed.

    “Has he gone mad?”

    “Out of the eighteen provinces of Great Xia, he’s willing to give away the faith of billions from seven provinces and the appointment rights for several hundred City Gods.

    Even if the Incense Fire God Realm is successfully connected, Great Xia’s Imperial Court lacking the five provinces will not be able to completely control the territorial map, and its strength will only decrease instead of increase.”

    Vermilion Bird, too, spoke with a look of confusion:

    “When we received the news from Great Xia, all the Mount Luofeng 6 Hell Deities were perplexed and couldn’t see the purpose of Emperor Xia, some even thought of reporting the matter to our Emperor for a decision.

    However, we have no means to contact our Emperor, and Emperor Xia also made a great oath with the kingdom’s fate at stake, which made the Mount Luofeng 6 Hell Deities discard their concerns and prepare to lend their aid.”

    “But if the envoy doesn’t wish for the Netherworld to support Great Xia, I can directly reject Emperor Xia’s alliance request right now.”

    In the words of Vermilion Bird and White Tiger, the matter of forming an alliance with Emperor Xia didn’t seem of any concern.

    They were well aware that everything they had was given by the Fengdu Emperor and their first consideration in all matters should be the Fengdu Emperor’s will, not the interests of Great Xia.

    If they were to go against this, the first to act against them would be Netherworld Commander Bull Head.

    Vermilion Bird’s nonchalant tone made Xia Yunqiu somewhat curious.

    “Emperor Xia has made a great oath with the Imperial Dynasty’s fate at stake. If the Netherworld easily refuses, aren’t you afraid of suffering backlash?”

    “The great oath made by Emperor Xia only restricts Great Xia’s Imperial Court. It is a unilateral vow.

    We in the Netherworld did not make an oath, so refusing the alliance will not result in the backlash of breaking a vow.”

    Xia Yunqiu’s expression darkened once again.

    The Mortal Emperor of Great Xia, using the Imperial Dynasty’s fate for a unilateral vow, had an attitude that could almost be described as submissive.

    Normally, no Mortal Emperor would accept such an oath, as it is undoubtedly an insult to an Imperial Emperor and the human Imperial Dynasty.

    Yet, Emperor Xia agreed to it.

    Whether it’s giving up the incense faith from several provinces, the rights to hundreds of City Gods, or making an oath with the kingdom’s fate, all these actions carried an inexplicable strangeness, deepening Xia Yunqiu’s confusion.

    In the secluded Lang Huan Garden, Shen Yuan sat before a stone table, watching the events unfolding within Enlightenment Pavilion.

    After listening to Vermilion Bird’s account, Shen Yuan couldn’t help but flash a thoughtful look in his eyes.

    “To pay such a heavy price just to re-establish the City God and connect the incense offering magic domain across the land, all these actions reveal that something is out of the ordinary.

    The guidance of the will of heaven and earth, perhaps, is related to this matter.”

    His words paused briefly as Shen Yuan softly muttered to himself:

    “Could this matter be connected to the humanity fate, which currently has no one to preside over?”

    A look of interest appeared on Shen Yuan’s face.

    After a slight thought, Shen Yuan lightly waved his right hand and opened an imperceptible spatial passageway in the courtyard; he then used this space as a medium to covertly transmit a message to Xia Yunqiu.

    Inside Enlightenment Pavilion, the frowning Xia Yunqiu was suddenly startled, and then she heard that familiar voice.

    The furrowed brows relaxed, and Xia Yunqiu said to Vermilion Bird:

    “Proceed as usual with the alliance with Great Xia, but I need you to put forward a condition to Great Xia in the name of the Netherworld.”

    …

    As the two Mount Luofeng 6 Hell Deities entered Enlightenment Pavilion, they attracted the attention of various powers both inside and outside the Imperial Capital.

    Everyone was waiting for the collapse of Enlightenment Pavilion, waiting for the battle between Supreme Taoist and Fengdu Emperor to determine the winner.

    But to everyone’s surprise, the wait lasted a full hour, making both Emperor Xia and the Crown Prince feel an ominous premonition.

    As the two esteemed deities walked out of Enlightenment Pavilion and stepped back into their carriage, the Netherworld procession, teeming with over a hundred supernatural beings, was once again ready to depart.

    Throughout this process, no one mentioned Enlightenment Pavilion’s previous affront to the Netherworld, as if the matter had been completely forgotten.

    Seeing this scene, Xu YanKuan felt startled.

    His purpose in coming to greet the Netherworld procession was primarily to have the two esteemed deities deal with Enlightenment Pavilion, a major problem.

    But now that the procession was setting out again and the two Mount Luofeng 6 Hell Deities showed no intention of taking action, he hurriedly stepped forward and said:

    “Enlightenment Pavilion has privately spread Netherworld Divine Skills, a crime of the gravest nature. With but a word of command from the two esteemed deities, I shall send men to destroy Enlightenment Pavilion and uphold the dignity of the Netherworld.”

    “There’s no need for that, the two of us had a most pleasant conversation with the Pavilion Master of Enlightenment Pavilion, so the issue of spreading Netherworld Divine Skills will not be pursued further.”

    Xu YanKuan, feeling urgency in his heart, quickly said:

    “How can that be acceptable? This is a matter concerning the Netherworld and Great Xia…”

    Xu YanKuan’s words were cut off mid-sentence by White Tiger.

    “Minister of Ceremonies Xu, are you teaching me how to do my job?”

    The face of this head of the Nine Ministers, Taichang, turned pale, and in the end, he could only bow and say:

    “My apologies for the offense.”

    The procession slowly set out from the Imperial Capital Marketplace, the Netherworld’s formidable arrival and inexplicable departure left everyone feeling very much like an anticlimactic end to a grand buildup.

    Within the Crown Prince’s Manor, the Crown Prince kept muttering:

    “How is this possible?”

    “How could she have escaped once again?”

    “Why has the Netherworld suddenly changed its stance?”

    In the great hall of the Imperial Palace, Emperor Xia also had an ugly expression.

    White Tiger had clearly agreed to that deal, and now he was suddenly refusing, directly sabotaging Emperor Xia’s elaborate plans, which filled him with rage.

    “Does White Tiger intend to renegotiate?”

    With various thoughts and agendas at play, the numerous Netherworld supernatural beings under Xu YanKuan’s leadership arrived at a luxurious manor.

    This manor was situated on the Imperial Capital’s Nether veins, and belonged to a State Duke’s Manor. It had been specially vacated to temporarily house the many Netherworld supernatural beings.

    After arranging all this, Xu YanKuan was ready to head straight to the Imperial Palace to report back.

    Just then, White Tiger’s voice rang out again, speaking in a languid tone:

    “Having met today, we’re quite pleased with the Pavilion Master of Enlightenment Pavilion.

    Seems the Pavilion Master is also of Imperial Family bloodline and bears the humanity fate, indeed a fine candidate.

    Since that’s the case, let the Pavilion Master of Enlightenment Pavilion take the Crown Prince’s place in presiding over the alliance between Great Xia and the Netherworld.”