When Zhao Heng announced his abdication, the Zhao Clan of the Divine Capital returned to the ranks of the Aristocratic Clans, and Great Jin became an internal vassal of Northern Zhou, ceasing to exist as a nation, Meng Qi—cultivating in seclusion at Jade Void Palace on Kunlun Mountain—could hardly have been anything but astonished. Who could have imagined that the Zhao Clan would keep their eyes clear of worldly glamour and their hearts free of lust for power, assess the situation, and decisively abandon the throne and most of the Power of All Beings, choosing submission so cleanly and swiftly?
Ever since returning from the Medieval Era, he had watched his goofy Elder Brother's cultivation improve day by day. The Human Emperor Sword had already awakened to the Heavenly Immortal level, and after uniting the Grasslands under his rule, his own ascension to Heavenly Immortal was all but assured. Meng Qi had believed that Northern Zhou's southward advance was only a matter of time, and that the Zhao Clan of the Divine Capital would eventually have to decide whether to perish alongside their House, or wisely give up and sing, "The old kingdom is too painful to recall beneath the moonlight."
With the sects staying out of it, there was no third possible outcome. The Power of All Beings in the Divine Capital's grand array was indeed formidable enough to barely withstand a Heavenly Immortal divine weapon, but with a Heavenly Immortal Emperor added to the equation, there was no other possibility. Since the fall of Purple Qi Vastness, no new Dharmakaya had emerged among the Great Jin Aristocracy. The Zhao Clan couldn't resist, and neither could the other clans—except the Jiangdong Wang Family.
The problem was that the Wang Family's ancient foundations had been all but squandered by Wang