Half a Year as Emperor

Hongchang Year 18.

Also Yongxing Year 1.

Emperor Yongxing appointed treacherous officials who embezzled military funds, triggering a mutiny that besieged the imperial city.

Zhao Xian, the deposed crown prince confined to the Cold Palace, joined forces with righteous individuals and went to Shangyang Palace for an audience.

Zhang Zhengyang spoke earnestly, "Your Majesty, for the sake of the country's stability, this old minister dares to request that Your Majesty abdicate the throne to the eldest grandson of the Zhongzong lineage!"

Emperor Yongxing was so enraged that he suffered a stroke and died!

Since Emperor Yongxing only reigned for half a year, ascending the throne in May and passing away in December, history refers to him as the "Half-Year Emperor."

Therefore, the first half of the year was Hongchang Year 18, and the second half was Yongxing Year 1.

After Zhao Xian ascended the throne, he announced a pardon for the crimes of assassination and treason committed by the Three Kings' Mansion. However, the entire Three Kings' Mansion had been wiped out, so he could only have a member of the imperial clan from a collateral branch adopted to continue the family line.

Civil and military officials, imperial relatives, and meritorious nobles all praised His Majesty's benevolence!

Three days after his enthronement, it was the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Zhao Xian announced the new reign title as Jinglong, and accompanied civil and military officials to pay homage at the Imperial Ancestral Temple, announcing it to the ancestors.

At this moment.

The officials of the Imperial Ancestral Temple discovered that the Rivers and Mountains Cauldron had disappeared.

The court and the public were in uproar.

Emperor Jinglong ordered the Brocade Guard to investigate thoroughly. They quickly learned that on the night of the rebellion, many people heard booming thunderous sounds.

The soldiers on duty claimed that they had personally seen a large mass of purple energy flying straight towards the Northern Frontier that night!

Emperor Jinglong had only been on the throne for a few days and dared not arbitrarily transfer the Capital Garrison and Imperial Guards, so the matter was eventually dropped.

The Ministry of Works recast a sacrificial cauldron, ten times heavier, engraved with a map of the Fengyang Kingdom using gold and silver threads, and inlaid with jade and precious stones, making it a hundred times more luxurious and magnificent than the Rivers and Mountains Cauldron.

Emperor Jinglong was extremely satisfied and named it the "Jinglong Cauldron."

With the loss of the Rivers and Mountains Cauldron, various rumors spread among the people, inevitably saying that Emperor Yongxing had killed his own brother, and Jinglong was doing the same, ultimately angering the ancestors of the Fengyang Kingdom.

Later, unofficial history recorded: The cauldron fell in the Northern Frontier; this is destiny!

The imperial court changes, one rises as another falls.

All of this had nothing to do with Zhou Yi.

The carriage traveled day and night, with several horses dying of exhaustion along the way.

Three days later.

The first day of the Lunar New Year.

Zhou Yi had already left the capital region and arrived in central Xuan Province.

Of the six northern provinces, only Xuan Province did not belong to the Northern Frontier. Because its northern border was the naturally fortified Serpent Coil Mountain, it had been free from war for over a century, and the cities under its jurisdiction were quite prosperous.

Pengshan County.

West of the city was a low mountain called Pengshan Mountain, from which the county derived its name.

At this moment.

A porridge shed had been set up outside the city gate, and a large group of disheveled refugees were lined up with pots and bowls to receive porridge.

Zhou Yi reined in his horse and asked, "Old brother, has Xuan Province suffered any disasters?"

"We fled from the Northern Frontier; there's fighting there again."

The old man's face was dark and weathered, making it impossible to tell his age. He held an infant in his arms, feeding it porridge soup with his fingers.

Zhou Yi asked in confusion, "Hasn't the imperial court been negotiating for peace?"

Great Yong took advantage of the Fengyang Kingdom's power transition and the Northern Frontier army's demoralization, and in one fell swoop, it recovered the lost territory. After Emperor Yongxing ascended the throne, he transferred armies from various prefectures and counties to the north, confronting the Great Yong army.

Emperor Yongxing had the wealth accumulated by his father, and if they really fought, he might not necessarily lose to Great Yong.

The Great Yong emperor was also not greedy and demanded that the Fengyang Kingdom cede territory and pay reparations, and return the corpses of the princes and marshals from the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

The envoys of the two countries haggled for a long time and did not reach a specific agreement. Why were they fighting again?

The old man shook his head and said, "How would this old man know about war?"

A younger refugee next to him said, "I heard that on our side, a general refused to admit defeat and ambushed the Great Yong army, burning down their camps and killing tens of thousands of them!"

"They had their fun killing, but we're the ones suffering."

"You can't say that. It's still a good thing if we win; I'm just afraid we'll lose again!"

"Do you know who burned down the Great Yong camp? Er Gouzi, who escaped back, said it was a young general who was only ten years old or so. He said his surname was Zhou or Zou; I didn't hear clearly."

"That's amazing, no worse than the Duke Who Pacifies the Nation."

"If the Duke Who Pacifies the Nation were still alive, how would those Great Yong bastards dare to fight?"

"..."

The news the refugees knew had been passed through many hands, its truthfulness uncertain, but the general direction should be accurate.

"Fengyang declared war without warning! When scholars get ruthless, the soldiers really can't compare..."

Zhou Yi sighed. During a major defeat and peace talks, who would dare to start a war lightly without the central government's decree?

Zhang Xiang, in order to completely cut off Emperor Yongxing's path to survival, didn't hesitate to start a war on the Northern Frontier, preventing the transfer of troops back to Shenjing to protect the Emperor.

"With the arrangements in Shenjing, seizing the throne is already ninety percent certain, so why kill so many more people?"

Zhou Yi couldn't understand the thoughts of great figures, so he ultimately wasn't cut out for great things, and could only try to live his own life well.

Soldiers were checking those entering the city, so the refugees could only sleep outside.

Zhou Yi stuffed two taels of silver into a soldier's hand, and the soldier smiled and waved him through. Sure enough, what could get you anywhere wasn't an imperial edict, but silver.

After replenishing a few bags of rice and flour in the city, he left and headed towards Pengshan Mountain.

Pengshan Mountain was unknown in the Fengyang Kingdom, lacking both strategic passes and beautiful scenery.

Occasionally, hunters would enter and exit the mountain, but no one else disturbed it, which was perfect for seclusion and cultivation.

Those who secluded themselves on famous mountains were thinking of shortcuts!

He found a bear cave on a nameless mountain peak, cooked the black bear into a meat porridge, and used his magic power to carve stone as if it were mud, turning it into a square and tidy stone chamber.

He blocked the cave entrance with a huge rock, so if anyone did pry it open, he would know in advance.

"Cold, desolate, silent..."

Zhou Yi murmured, "Compared to secluding oneself in the mundane world, there's no trace of worldly affairs, which is a different kind of flavor."

The Rivers and Mountains Cauldron stood in the center of the stone chamber. Zhou Yi, following the Blood Refinement of Spirit Weapons technique, forced drops of Blood Essence from his body and forcibly immersed them into the bronze interior with his magic power.

"The first step is Blood Refinement, this Rivers and Mountains Cauldron... is a bit big!"

Zhou Yi mused that there was no one else in the world who would waste Blood Essence like he did.

Blood Refinement of Spirit Weapons required using Blood Essence to soak all parts of the spiritual object. With the Rivers and Mountains Cauldron's size and weight, it would directly empty the Blood Essence of hundreds of people.

Blood Essence wasn't ordinary blood; it came from the heart and was the essence of a person's Blood Essence!

Zhou Yi consumed more than ten drops of Blood Essence to refine the treasure, and would need to cultivate for more than ten days to recover.

"No wonder Li Ye suggested refining the Imperial Jade Seal. Ordinary Innate Grandmasters wouldn't want to refine the Rivers and Mountains Cauldron. After finally refining it, they wouldn't have many good years left!"

The spiritual energy in the mountain was slightly twenty or thirty percent denser than in Shenjing.

While refining the Rivers and Mountains Cauldron with Blood Essence, Zhou Yi focused on cultivating the Origin Returning Art, and finally broke through in the third year.

Magic power burst out of his body and turned into sword energy, which was several times more condensed than before, and expanded from a range of six to nine meters to fifteen to eighteen meters, greatly increasing its destructive power.

"This is probably from Qi Refining level one to Qi Refining level two?"

"It's really a bit slow... but for me, as long as it can still grow, that's enough. Speed doesn't matter, safety comes first!"

Zhou Yi's mood was calm after breaking through his magic power realm, and he continued to refine the Rivers and Mountains Cauldron with Blood Essence.

The Blood Essence immersion was nearing completion. The next step was to communicate with the cauldron spirit, and then refine the cauldron spirit...

The sun rose and set, and time flew by.

In the blink of an eye, ten years had passed.

People were born, aged, sick, and died, and plants flourished and withered.

Only Zhou Yi, who was in secluded cultivation, remained youthful, and time and years left no trace on his face.

On this day.

Zhou Yi formed a hand seal and shouted.

"Hurry!"

The Rivers and Mountains Cauldron, which stood in the stone chamber, flew into the air and spun rapidly, quickly shrinking to the size of a grain of rice.

Zhou Yi opened his mouth and swallowed the small cauldron into his stomach, patted his belly, and smiled.

"Finally refined it!"