The Imperial Court was now the foreigners' court. The foreigners had already branded the suddenly emerged martial artist coalition as unforgivable criminals who disrupted civilized trade. Naturally, the Imperial Court—always grinning with delight whenever it licked the foreigners' backsides—eagerly followed their lead.
Without fully understanding what had happened in Puhai,
the Imperial Court had swiftly declared the martial artist coalition led by party members such as Nong Jinsun and Chen Qimei to be evil rebels in revolt. Their crimes were unforgivable: inciting the people, harming loyal subjects, disloyalty and unrighteousness, inhumanity and unfilial conduct, violating ancestral laws, and being utterly vile. Under the law, every one of those crimes deserved dismemberment by a thousand cuts and being torn apart by chariots!
Lan Yi, whom they had pushed into the spotlight as the leader of an evil cult, had been saddled with twelve grave charges in particular. All that remained was to wait for the Foreigner Heavenly Army to descend and crush him!
They advised him to surrender at once, promising lenient treatment.
At the end, they even threw in a thunderous final verdict.
Rebels who formed rebel factions would surely be punished by Heaven!
That was the official line.
Alongside the official line came some whispered words from the north.
The whispers were hardly any more pleasant. They amounted to nothing more than this: the foreigners were utterly invincible, so they must not stubbornly act alone and bring devastation to the southern coast. They were to send Lan Yi of the mountains into the palace at once, where he would serve as Imperial Preceptor and guard the Emperor at his side.
If they refused to obey,
then the Imperial Court could offer them no assistance whatsoever. When the time came, let alone aid them, it would join the foreigners in exterminating those rebels.
On their own homeland,
someone had defeated the foreign army, yet was condemned as a great traitor who deserved Heaven's punishment, as if he had committed one of the most heinous crimes imaginable. He was practically about to end up abandoned by allies and kin alike, with everyone shouting for his blood. After hearing this premium proclamation, Lan Yi was truly terrified—so terrified that he wanted to use the Steel Armor Divine Thunder Cannon to execute the Pig-skinned dog emperor.
Huo Yuanjia was also left fuming after relaying the message.
Even though he had learned about it in advance, repeating it still filled him with heartache over the Imperial Court's muddled incompetence and foolish shortsightedness.
"Immortal Master, lead us north on a punitive expedition!" Huo Yuanjia had completely abandoned his faint hope of supporting Qing and destroying foreigners.
You couldn't prop up rotten mud!
Even if the Immortal Master lent it a hand, all he would raise was a foul, rotten framework that would bring disaster upon the Central Plains!
"No matter which world you're in, there are always these stupid cloven-hoofed creatures who choose to thrust their faces over for me to slap." Lan Yi could not help sighing in the elegant language of his homeland.
"I've changed my mind."
"I originally planned to deal with things here before going to Dongyang, but I think I'll head north first."
Huo Yuanjia instinctively asked,
"Should we make preparations and accompany you?"
"No need. I can take the train north when the time comes."
Taking the train north would conveniently let him clean out the reactionary forces one station at a time. By the time he reached Yanjing, Lan Yi wanted to see whether the Qing Imperial Court, strangled step by step by despair and terror, would kneel on the spot and admit its wrongdoing—or flee in panic and set a record with a third Western Flight.
Along the way, he would also see whether he could run into any psionic practitioners from the main world.
Artificial Divine Realm 1909 was not a trial where Lan Yi was the only visitor from the main world.
Lan Yi had known this before his rebirth.
There was one psionic practitioner in Dongyang itself. It seemed there was another over at Ice Fortress. Apart from him, there should also be one in Xinghan. Unfortunately, that psionic practitioner seemed to have been rather unlucky. It appeared that, upon entering, they had been arrested and beheaded in the marketplace for various reasons.
He knew nothing about places farther away.
After all, communications and transportation were underdeveloped in this era. Even within the same world, psionic practitioners from the main world rarely encountered one another unless luck—or the tide of events—brought them together.
A psionic practitioner's first Artificial Divine Realm trial.
Lan Yi might have displayed the divine before others, created martial artists, forcefully suppressed anyone who refused to submit, and carried out sweeping reforms across his territory with exhilarating results, but most psionic practitioners were simply struggling to survive as ordinary people.
Only those with an initial life cluster—and one that was useful—could live somewhat better.
If they had nothing at all and entered the Artificial Divine Realm rashly without making preparations...
Take this region of Xinghan as an example. Men could at least try their hand at wilderness survival, but women had it truly horrific—worse than death itself. Lan Yi had heard that some little fairies who dreamed of sitting at the table in Wei-Jin entered the War Zone the moment it opened, ignoring all advice, fantasizing that they were Feng Ba of the harem or a female empress of the business world.
Lan Yi did not know whether there really was a Feng Ba of the harem or a female empress of the business world.
He had only heard one piece of news.
After the first Artificial Divine Realm trial in the War Zone ended, the gynecology and dermatology departments in every city were packed to bursting.
Still, the commotion Lan Yi had caused was not small.
If a psionic practitioner from the main world whom Lan Yi did not know really came looking for him on their own initiative, it would not be impossible.
Huo Yuanjia's report had ended.
This meant that the martial artist coalition had formally stepped onto the stage of this world as a power in its own right. In this age of surging winds and competing empires, the martial artists who had tasted humiliation and despair and sworn to wash away their disgrace would certainly use all the power in their bodies to fight for a space in which their empire could survive, rather than be slaughtered at others' mercy as before.
Temporarily overtaking others through a shortcut in extraordinary power did not mean they had caught up in every other aspect.
Martial artists could indeed ignore bullets.
But in a large-scale war, when faced with heavy artillery and heavy machine guns, satchel charges and grenades, flamethrowers, and poison gas, the difference between Qi Cultivation Practitioners and ordinary people was actually not that great.
Even human-aspect martial artists
had no way to use mental attacks without limit. Their mental power might be exhausted after killing a few hundred people.
That was why Lan Yi had never placed all his eggs in one basket. Since guns and cannons were so useful, martial artists carrying guns and cannons were obviously much stronger in war than ordinary people carrying guns and cannons, and they were also better suited to the slaughter of the battlefield.
Mr. Kent, who was willing to sell his conscience and loyalty, brought good news today.
Among the captives of Immortal Master Lan Yi,
he had unearthed several unexpected delights.
These unexpected delights were not the captured observation delegation, but the unfortunate group of reporters from earlier.
In this era, anyone who could become a reporter and cross the seas to enjoy exotic customs—especially female reporters—basically came from powerful and wealthy families. They had no material desires left to pursue and wanted to seek out a little spiritual fulfillment.
Thanks to the adventure and detective novels popular among foreign aristocrats,
having a forbidden romantic encounter in a foreign land with an outstanding and perfect member of the opposite sex had become the secret, taboo fantasy of certain governors' wives and aristocratic young ladies.
Although these reporters had been captured, they had not been cruelly or barbarically mistreated. Lan Yi's strength and perfection were also plain for all to see. The moment Kent went over to take stock, he realized this was a golden opportunity.
"So you're suggesting that they become my mistresses or lovers?" Lan Yi practically wanted to applaud.
Nong Jinsun's eyes blazed with fury. He almost wanted to rush over and bite through Kent's throat.
This foreign devil! They had not even given the Immortal Master gifts or sent him women yet, and he had actually beaten them to it!
"Honored sir, I have studied Xinghan's culture. As an outstanding extraordinary powerhouse, it is normal for you to have three wives and four concubines. In our culture, it is normal for a powerful general or king to have multiple secretaries, lovers, maids, and female companions... Of course, if you prefer men, I believe they would be willing as well."
Kent produced a long list of names, along with the companies and noble families behind them.
Ironclad warships, guns and cannons, all kinds of factories, and instructors for the New Army.
Win over them—or him—and you would have it all!
Before you continue