Chapter 388
After the two women disappeared, Xiao Minghuang watched their figures vanish before retracting the void gate and flashing off into the sea.
She suddenly stopped halfway through her journey, then lightly stomped her feet, causing the seawater beneath her feet to burst open and spread outwards like waves.
A layer of transparent ripples spread out from beneath her feet.
"Splash splash splash..."
The seawater churned and surged, as if pushed aside by some great force, revealing a straight trajectory of water flow.
Her eyes were indifferent as she slowly stepped into the water, following the current step by step towards the seabed.
"Buzz~"
As she stepped into the sea, a pale golden light emanated from her body, like a great sun descending from the seabed, illuminating all directions.
Under the light, an ancient, dilapidated underwater palace appeared before our eyes.
The magnificent palace stands tall, hundreds of feet high, occupying the entire underwater mountain range.
The palace is filled with ruins and crumbling walls, their surfaces mottled and bearing the marks of time.
A damp, rotten smell permeated the air.
Surprisingly, beneath that stench of decay, a vibrant life force was faintly visible.
"That's interesting..."
After a moment's thought, Xiao Minghuang stepped into the palace. As soon as she entered, dozens of Xiao Minghuang -sized luminous pearls suddenly lit up around her, emitting a soft, dim light.
It instantly illuminated the dark and gloomy palace.
Xiao Minghuang looked up and saw a huge scroll in the center of the hall. The scroll was covered with dense runes that formed a strange and mysterious array.
The array diagram was engraved with some kind of ancient pattern.
"It seems... to be a formation..."
Xiao Minghuang frowned slightly. She looked at the complex patterns on the array diagram and felt as if she had seen it somewhere before, but she couldn't quite place it.
"Huh?"
Her attention shifted to a corner of the hall, and she suddenly let out a low, questioning gasp.
Beneath the stone pillar in that corner lay a skeleton.
The skeleton had dried up, and the clothes on the body had turned to dust.
Although it has been dead for many years, its body still exudes a faint sense of oppression.
Xiao Minghuang went in to take a look and saw a jade tablet mixed among the bones. The jade tablet was engraved with intricate patterns and faintly glowed.
She raised her hand, and a suction force burst forth from her palm, instantly drawing the jade pendant into her hand.
Upon closer inspection, Xiao Minghuang noticed two ancient characters engraved on the jade tablet.
Although it was written in some unknown ancient script, the meaning of the two characters seemed to be imprinted in her mind, and she understood their meaning the moment she saw them.
"... Ziwei!"
Xiao Minghuang muttered something to himself, his gaze gradually becoming serious.
Nothing more than that.
The meaning of these two words is of utmost importance to her.
Before she could even wonder why the "Ziwei" jade tablet was here, she heard a rumbling sound in her ears.
Xiao Minghuang subconsciously glanced to the side and saw that the ancient array diagram in the hall suddenly emitted a faint light, and an invisible attraction arose, as if it was pulling on the jade tablet in her hand.
Xiao Minghuang frowned slightly, pondered for a moment, and then flicked her hand.
The Ziwei jade tablet slipped from control and flew into the air.
As the jade tablet rose into the air, the giant array diagram that had been hanging in the air trembled violently.
Then, countless complex runes on the array simultaneously lit up.
"Whoosh!"
The runes that lit up on the array diagram all converged on the jade tablet, transforming into a beam of light that shot out and enveloped Xiao Minghuang.
504. To rebuild the glory of the imperial court is our inescapable duty!
In the hazy light, it seemed as if a voice was saying:
"Your blood is offered to prove your identity..."
Xiao Minghuang remained unmoved; she wanted to see what this palace was really up to.
"Your blood, offered, will prove your identity..."
Whispers echoed throughout the hall.
Seeing this, Xiao Minghuang had no choice but to make a tiny cut on her fingertip, and a drop of blood, the size of a sesame seed, floated out and merged into the jade tablet.
Instantly, the jade tablet emitted light, magnifying dozens of times, and transformed out of thin air into the shape of a door, opening towards Xiao Minghuang.
"Really..."
Xiao Minghuang took a deep breath and stepped inside.
When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in another place.
Looking up, all I could see was desolation and ruin.
Xiao Minghuang discovered that this was a small world commonly referred to as "decay".
She could sense that this world had completely withered away; there was no Spiritual Qi left, and even the laws of the Great Dao were difficult to perceive.
"Here..."
Xiao Minghuang frowned slightly. She unleashed her Primordial Spirit power, spreading it in all directions to search for any remaining life in this small world.
However, to her surprise, there seemed to be no living beings in this small world.
"Alright, let's look around first..."
Just as she was about to give up, a faint life force suddenly appeared in a certain direction not far away.
"This is..."
Xiao Minghuang's eyes flashed, and she quickly followed the ripple.
A moment later, she arrived at a depression in the sand and saw a withered tree that seemed to be dying on the sand.
The withered tree was only about half a person's height, with short branches and all the leaves had long since fallen, leaving only a few withered yellow trunks to support it.
Looking at the withered tree in front of her, Xiao Minghuang was certain that the faint life force she had just sensed had emanated from this withered tree.
She looked at the withered tree; it was indeed quite strange.
Xiao Minghuang could sense that the bark of this withered tree was not that of ordinary plants; on the contrary, it gave her a feeling of extreme toughness.
Xiao Minghuang stepped forward, channeling a wisp of her magic power, and attempted to touch the withered tree.
The moment that wisp of magical power touched the withered tree, it vanished without a trace, as if it had disappeared into the sea.
"This is..."
Xiao Minghuang frowned, pondered for a moment, and came up with a guess.
Immediately, she channeled her magic power once more, continuously surging towards the withered tree.
Unsurprisingly, all of this magical power was completely devoured by the withered tree.
As time passed, a large amount of magical power was absorbed, and the withered tree seemed to regain a glimmer of life.
Xiao Minghuang's eyes flickered slightly, and she once again activated her magic power.
This time, the withered tree finally began to tremble, and a faint green light appeared.
The faint green light grew stronger and stronger, eventually transforming into a ball of blue flame that hovered in mid-air, burning incessantly.
"This is..."
Xiao Minghuang frowned slightly. She could clearly sense that there was a remnant soul within this ball of blue flame.
At the same time.
A faint voice emanated from within the blue flames.
"... I am from the Eastern Court of the Imperial Dynasty... my people, who are you?"
Upon hearing this, Xiao Minghuang's expression shifted slightly, and he replied, "If you are referring to the Imperial Court as the Ziwei Divine Dynasty, then I am Xiao Minghuang, the descendant of Zhu Yan and Emperor Yuanji, and the current ruler of the Southern Wilderness and Western Lands."
Upon hearing this, the General Juming fell silent, as if pondering the information. After a long while, he slowly spoke, his weak tone tinged with excitement:
"... Unexpectedly, our Ziwei Imperial Court will usher in its third period of prosperity!"
Immediately afterward, the azure flame paused abruptly, transforming into the image of a man in a green robe. He bowed slightly to Xiao Minghuang, respectfully paying his respects, and said excitedly:
"Your subordinate, Juming, pays his respects to the new emperor!"
"No need for formalities. What brings you here? And what is the origin of this place?"
Xiao Minghuang gently waved her hand and helped him up.
The General Juming did not respond immediately. After a moment of contemplation, he respectfully asked:
"... May I ask Your Majesty, what era is it tonight?"
Xiao Minghuang was slightly taken aback. After a moment's thought, she replied:
"After the Emperor Yuanji, Ziwei lost its kingdom, and then the Eastern Pole Emperor took control of the Eastern Heavenly Dao in the Central Heaven. This is now the sixth era, the Dongji Calendar, 109,325 years in."
General Juming nodded, a hint of emotion on his face, sighed, and slowly began to recount the past.
It turns out that during the Fifth Era, when Emperor Yuanji was in charge of the Heavenly Dao, he sensed that the Ziwei Imperial Court would decline at the end of the Fifth Era. Therefore, he prepared a contingency plan in advance, arranging for a group of his people, led by General Juming, to leave for the North Sea and hide in the world to await the future.
At the same time, Emperor Yuanji also left a secret order within the clan, stating that if the Ziwei Divine Dynasty were to perish in the future, clan members could seek refuge in the North Sea.
As Emperor Yuanji had predicted, Eastern Pole Emperor rebelled against the Heavenly Gang, committing regicide. He joined forces with various holy land families, some divine generals in the Imperial Court, and ancient earth immortals from certain forbidden zones to kill Emperor Yuanji, who had severed his own world origin.
The Eastern Pole Emperor successfully merged with the Origin of the Realm and took control of the Heavenly Dao.
But it didn't come without a price.
In order to kill the Emperor Yuanji, the Eastern Pole Emperor was severely injured and no longer had the strength to wipe out the remaining Earth Immortals and Supremes of the Ziwei Divine Dynasty.
Even so, the changing times caused the Ziwei Divine Dynasty's status to plummet.
The former land of Ziwei, now the entire Zhongtian Great World, has been gradually devoured by various holy lands and aristocratic families. Almost every hundred years, the Divine Dynasty would engage in wars with more than one of the holy lands and aristocratic families, resulting in heavy casualties.
The war between the realms lasted for thousands of years. Even with the profound foundation of the Ziwei Divine Dynasty, which possessed dozens of Earth Immortals and hundreds of Supreme Beings, it was still no match for the pack of wolves surrounding it.
During this period, descendants of the Ziwei clan, following the secret orders of Emperor Yuanji, continuously fled Zhongtian and sought refuge in the North Sea.
Xiao Minghuang speculated that it was during this period that one of Luo Qianhua's ancestors led his people to leave for the North Sea.
But many more people are unwilling to give up their hometown where they have lived and thrived for many years and remain in Zhongtian World.
However, the wheels of time keep rolling forward, crushing every speck of dust that tries to block its progress.
Finally, in a certain era, the Eastern Pole Emperor was born, and he used thunderous methods to suppress and kill all the immortals of the Divine Dynasty.
At this point, all hope was shattered!
But by then, it was too late to leave.
The Eastern Pole Emperor sealed off the Central Heaven Great World, and no one could escape.
Therefore, the supreme rulers of the Divine Dynasty at that time made a decision that went against their ancestors' wishes.
They decided to sell the Ziwei Divine Dynasty's heritage, lineage, history, and name—everything—into a package to the various holy land families in order to secure a chance for the Ziwei clan to survive!
From then on, the name of the Ziwei Divine Dynasty was erased from history.
Instead, the Ziwei Sacred Land, composed of former imperial court generals, united with a number of holy land families and dynasties to support a mysterious being who occupied the Central Heaven Great World, subtly rivaling the Eastern Pole Emperor.
Therefore, the divine dynasty, which had already shed the name Ziwei, also shed the burdens of the past and reverted to its original name from the more ancient and barbaric era— Great Xia!
As Xiao Minghuang knew, the history that followed was one of gradual decline, with the Great Xia eventually migrating to the Eastern Extreme Southern Territory, where it remains to this day.
After listening to General Juming's account, Xiao Minghuang was filled with emotion.
"... So, of the clansmen who left for the North Sea back then, are you the only one left now?"