Just as Lü Bu was feeling boundless humiliation and fury at being treated as a blade in someone else's hand, the cold golden words on the sky screen slowly began to flow once more!
[After Dong Zhuo's death, his generals Li Jue and Guo Si followed the poison scholar Jia Xu's scheme and counterattacked Chang'an!]
[Lü Bu was defeated and fled in panic with Minister over the Masses Wang Yun.]
[Poor Emperor Xian of Han had only just escaped Dong Zhuo's demonic claws, only to fall once more into the hands of even more brutal warlords!]
At this, inside the imperial palace in Xu Capital, Liu Xie's already bloodless face turned even paler!
He clenched his fists so tightly that his fingernails dug deep into his palms!
Those days!
Those days under the control of those two brutes, Li Jue and Guo Si, when he could not fill his belly, wandered without shelter, and was driven from place to place like a homeless dog!
They were a nightmare he could never forget for as long as he lived!
They were a mark of humiliation upon him as an emperor, his dignity utterly shredded, trampled underfoot and ground into the dirt over and over!
Yet the sky screen's account continued!
[From then on, Emperor Xian of Han began a long life of exile, suffering the ravages of war and hunger.]
[And just then, Cao Cao in Yan Province finally secured his footing!]
[He recruited talented men far and wide, implemented military farming colonies, stockpiled provisions, and greatly increased his strength!]
[Then he made a decision that changed the balance of power across the realm!]
[He welcomed the wandering Emperor Xian of Han to Xu Capital!]
[From then on, Cao Mengde held the Son of Heaven hostage to command the lords!]
Yan Province.
As Cao Cao looked at those words, he could no longer contain the smile at the corners of his mouth!
Hold the Son of Heaven hostage to command the lords-what a phrase!
Well said!
Excellently said!
The realm had always belonged to whoever had the ability to hold it!
He, Cao Mengde, would use the righteous authority of the Han Son of Heaven to campaign against all those disloyal men across the realm!
An emperor for the ages-who else but me!
Meanwhile, the images on the sky screen continued to flow, seemingly racing through those less important fragments of history.
[Meanwhile, Sun Jian in Jiangdong, Liu Bei in Yuzhou, Lü Bu in Xu Province... the lords across the realm also began their own campaigns of conquest and expansion, hunting the deer of dominion!]
[The realm plunged into chaos, and mighty contenders rose together!]
[Yet in this very year, a great event shook the realm!]
[After obtaining the Heirloom Seal of the Realm, Yuan Shu of Shouchun brazenly proclaimed himself emperor and established the Zhong dynasty!]
Boom!
At that very moment, the images on the sky screen came to an abrupt halt!
A line of large words stood clearly frozen upon the golden screen-[Yuan Shu Proclaims Himself Emperor]!
After a brief, deathly silence, the entire Divine Land erupted in waves of uproar, each fiercer than the last!
What the hell?
Yuan Shu?
That pile of dry bones in a tomb!
He had actually proclaimed himself emperor!
Inside Cao Cao's residence in Yan Province.
"Hahahahaha!"
Cao Cao stared at the words on the sky screen, momentarily stunned, then burst into earth-shaking laughter!
He rocked back and forth with laughter, almost laughing himself to tears!
"Yuan Shu? Him?"
"That fool Gonglu! He's killing me! Does he think getting his hands on a lousy stone makes him an emperor?"
"He's simply courting death! Courting death!"
Beside him, Guo Jia, Xun Yu, Cheng Yu, and the other strategists all wore mocking expressions, unable to suppress their laughter.
"You are absolutely right, my lord!"
Guo Jia waved his fan, a playful smile on his face.
"This Yuan Gonglu is nothing but a watchdog at the gate, dry bones in a tomb, yet he dreams of proclaiming himself emperor. He truly is the greatest fool under heaven!"
"When we heard about this a couple of days ago, we thought it was a rumor. To think it was actually true!"
"With this move, he has set himself against every lord in the realm! He has willingly delivered a righteous justification for campaigning against him straight into your hands, my lord!"
Having laughed his fill, Cao Cao swept his hand sharply, a piercing, icy gleam flashing in his eyes!
"Pass on my orders! Prepare to march! We will campaign against the traitor Yuan Shu!"
"That idiot has given me the perfect excuse!"
Inside Liu Bei's tent in Yuzhou.
"Alas!"
Looking at the sky screen, Liu Bei let out a long sigh, his face filled with disappointment and anguish!
"A traitor to the realm!"
"He is a traitor to the realm!"
"The Han still stands, and the Son of Heaven still lives! How dare Yuan Shu do such a thing!"
Beside him, Guan Yu narrowed his phoenix eyes and snorted coldly.
"Hmph! A clown capering on a beam, merely bringing destruction upon himself!"
Zhang Fei, with his panther-like head and round eyes, roared, "Big brother! Let me go! I'll go take that bastard's dog head right now!"
Far away in Xu Province, Lü Bu had only just recovered from his fury at being deceived when he saw the sky screen's new content, and his face instantly filled with deep disdain once again!
"Yuan Shu?"
He curled his lip contemptuously.
"That fellow thinks he deserves to call himself emperor?"
"Back at Hulao Pass, I beat him until he pissed and shit himself!"
"And now he dares proclaim himself emperor?"
"He simply doesn't know whether he's alive or dead!"
In his eyes, trash like Yuan Shu was not even qualified to be his opponent!
Let alone an emperor for the ages!
What an enormous joke!
Yet the scene within Shouchun was the complete opposite of the rest of the realm!
At that moment, the imperial palace-or rather, what Yuan Shu had just renamed the "Zhong Imperial Palace"-had become a sea of jubilation!
"Hahahahaha!"
Dressed in a brand-new, even somewhat ridiculous dragon robe, Yuan Shu clutched the Heirloom Seal of the Realm tightly and laughed maniacally at the frozen image on the sky screen!
"Did you see that!"
"Did all of you see that!"
"The sky screen has vindicated me!"
His face flushed with excitement, spittle flying, he pointed at the sky screen and bellowed at the assembled civil and military officials below!
"An emperor for the ages!"
"The emperor for the ages that this sky screen spoke of is me!"
"Who else but me! Who else would dare proclaim himself emperor at a time like this!"
"This is Heaven's mandate! Heaven's mandate rests upon me!"
Yuan Shu felt as though he were floating among the clouds, his entire being in a state of extreme exhilaration!
He felt that everything the sky screen had built up, from Dong Zhuo's disruption of the government to the contenders hunting the deer of dominion, had ultimately served to introduce him, the true protagonist!
He was the true Son of Heaven, born in answer to destiny to end this age of chaos!
"Your Majesty is mighty! Heaven's mandate rests upon you!"
"Congratulations, Your Majesty! Felicitations, Your Majesty!"
"Your Majesty is the emperor for the ages! Ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten thousand times ten thousand years!"
Below the dais, the officials led by Yang Feng immediately dropped to their knees with cries like crashing mountains and roaring seas, launching into frantic songs of praise!
Yang Feng knelt among them, shouting the loudest slogans and wearing the most fawning smile.
"Your Majesty! This is an auspicious omen sent from Heaven!"
"Even the sky screen acknowledges your imperial throne! This proves that you are the true dragon Son of Heaven chosen by Heaven itself! Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Yuan Shao-they are all mere stepping stones on Your Majesty's path to unifying the realm!"
His thunderous flattery delighted Yuan Shu all the more, leaving him grinning from ear to ear!
Yet deep within Yang Feng's heart lay nothing but icy despair!
It's over!
This fool has gone completely mad!
How is this sky screen vindicating him?
It's putting him over a fire to roast! It's delivering his death warrant!
Would Cao Cao, who "held the Son of Heaven hostage to command the lords," spare him?
Would Liu Bei, who styled himself a kinsman of the Han imperial house, spare him?
Even his own elder brother Yuan Shao, who looked down on him, would definitely come to kill him under the banner of clearing evil from the emperor's side, then swallow up his territory!
This idiot!
Proclaiming himself emperor now is like writing "I'm a target, come hit me" in huge letters across his face!
No!
Absolutely not!
Shouchun is about to become the most dangerous place under heaven!
I have to run!
Yang Feng's mind had already begun frantically planning his escape route!
While Shouchun reveled in jubilation, Yuan Shao in Ji Province also saw the contents of the sky screen.
Bang!
He slammed his hand onto the table, his entire face twisting with rage!
"Unfilial wretch!"
"That lowborn bastard of a serving woman has utterly disgraced our Yuan family!"
Trembling all over with fury, he pointed at the sky screen and unleashed a torrent of abuse!
"What gives him the right! How dare he proclaim himself emperor!"
"A concubine's son! A useless wretch who knows nothing but chasing pleasure! What qualifies him!"
Below him, Tian Feng, Ju Shou, and the other strategists exchanged glances, their faces likewise filled with contempt and anger.
"Please calm your anger, my lord!"
"Yuan Gonglu's move is stupidity beyond measure! He is truly digging his own grave!"
"We should immediately dispatch troops to campaign against this rebellious traitor and set the record straight!"
Fire blazed in Yuan Shao's eyes!
What he felt was not merely anger, but a tremendous, unbearable humiliation!
His Yuan Benchu's family had held the highest ministerial offices for four generations, and every hero under heaven admired him!
Yet that younger brother he had always looked down upon had actually proclaimed himself emperor before he did!
Once word spread, where could he, Yuan Shao, show his face!
"Kill him!"
"He must be killed!"
Only this single thought remained in Yuan Shao's mind!
At this moment, because Yuan Shu had proclaimed himself emperor, winds rose and clouds surged across the entire realm!
Every gaze focused upon Shouchun!
Yet in those gazes, there was not the slightest trace of reverence!
There was only greed, disdain, and the resolve to kill!