Amid the waves of doubt and anger, Zhang Yu remained calm and slowly raised his right hand.
With a flip of his fingers, he cleanly cut the tip of one long, slender finger beneath the gaze of billions.
A bright red drop of blood rolled down his fingertip, gleaming with a dazzling hue in the sunlight and the radiance of the Image Jade Tokens.
"Y-you... what are you doing?!"
Zhu Wuyuan's pupils contracted sharply, and his heart clenched as a foreboding feeling surged over him like a tide.
Zhang Yu did not answer. He merely pressed his bloodied fingertip slowly against the center of his brow, closed his eyes, and murmured.
His voice seemed to come from another world, carrying an ancient and solemn rhythm-
"I, Zhang Yu, take the imperial bloodline of the Sheng Family as proof and my own Divine Soul as a pledge. I hereby swear a Heavenly Dao Blood Oath-"
"If I, Zhang Yu, ascend the throne and become Emperor one day, I will-"
"Abolish taxes throughout the land and never again collect a single cent from the people.
This decree accords with the will of Heaven above and the wishes of the people below. Anyone who violates it will be struck down by Heaven, utterly destroyed, and have their bloodline severed, never to be reborn!"
The instant his words fell, the drop of blood on his fingertip transformed into a blood-red Rune and sank into the center of his brow.
Golden Light and blood mist faintly intertwined around Zhang Yu, coiling like a dragon as they shot straight into the clouds!
"Boom-!"
The firmament seemed to shudder under this power. The clouds churned, thunder rumbled faintly, and the skies over the entire Eastern Sheng Kingdom were tinged with a faint blood-red glow.
This was a