[All Living Beings]
"Court adjourned!"
The sharp, drawn-out sound pierced through the thick palace walls, echoing in the sky above the Great Cang Imperial City as dawn broke, startling a few crows perched on the eaves, which fluttered and flew into the leaden sky.
Outside the Hall of Diligent Governance, below the white jade steps, civil and military officials bowed in a wave of respect before retreating in order.
Many of their faces are no longer those of sixty years ago; the younger ones have graying temples, while the older ones walk with faltering steps.
Time has left deep marks on the bricks and stones of this imperial city and on the people's hearts.
The palace doors slowly opened, and a figure dressed in a bright yellow dragon robe, supported by a palace attendant, stepped out.
It was none other than Zhao Xuanji, the Great Cang Emperor.
His once sharp and dignified face is now deeply lined with wrinkles, and his hair and beard are as white as snow. Only his deep-set eyes still hold the weight of years of experience and a trace of weariness that is hard to shake off.
Sixty years is half a lifetime of vicissitudes for an ordinary emperor.
In the [Azure Gate] realm, cultivation emphasizes the Divine Soul while downplaying the physical body.
Even with his cultivation, Zhao Xuanji could not stop his physical body from aging.
He dismissed the eunuchs and, alone, leaning on a sandalwood dragon-headed cane, slowly walked back to the Hall of Hall of Diligent Governance, where he had spent most of his life.
Zhao Xuanji's heavy footsteps echoed hollowly as he stepped onto the gleaming gold bricks.
"Crunch" 6nk7
The heavy palace doors were pushed open, and a familiar scent, a mixture of old books and a faint sandalwood fragrance, wafted out.
The hall was dimly lit, with only a few rays of morning light filtering through the cracks in the window lattices, illuminating the dust motes floating in the air.
Just as he stepped across the threshold, Zhao Xuanji abruptly stopped.
His cloudy yet still sharp eyes instantly locked onto the desk in front of him.
There, a figure had appeared sometime earlier.
He wore a deep blue Daoist robe, spotless, as if he had been shielded from the passage of time.
His figure remained as upright as ever, and his face was young and handsome, showing no change whatsoever from when we first met sixty years ago.
Time seemed to have lost its effect on him.
Only the depth flowing in those calm eyes held a more immeasurable air of vicissitude and majesty than before.
Qi Yun slowly turned around, looked at the much older emperor at the door, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.
"It's been sixty years since we last met."
Your Majesty, are you well?
His voice was clear and gentle, just as it had been back then, and it sounded exceptionally clear in the empty and quiet hall.
Zhao Xuanji's grip on the dragon staff tightened almost imperceptibly.
He stared intently at the face before him, a face that seemed both like yesterday and yet also like a lifetime ago, his heart filled with a complex mix of emotions.
For him, sixty years was a period of tireless dedication and constant, suspenseful planning.
It is the anxiety of watching one's ambitions gradually erode with the passing years, and the helplessness of the body inevitably fading away.
But to the person before him, it seemed as if only a fleeting moment had passed, not even a hint of frost on his temples.
After a long pause, a smile slowly spread across his wrinkled face, hoarse with age, yet revealing a sense of relief. "Sixty years have passed— your True Person remains unchanged, as if it were yesterday."
I just don't know----"
He paused, his gaze intense, and the longing he had tried so hard to conceal for decades finally broke free at this moment.
"Has the True Person returned this time with everything prepared?"
His voice trembled slightly, almost imperceptibly.
It was anticipation, it was trepidation, and it was a desperate gamble that staked one's entire life and even the fate of the dynasty.
Qi Yun met his burning gaze, slowly nodded, his voice calm yet carrying immense weight, like the sound of a tripod set in motion, "Not bad."
Now, everything is ready.
He took a step forward, his gaze seemingly piercing through the barriers of the palace, reaching the vast sky, and the cold, the Unseen will that overlooks all living beings.
"To defy the heavens and defy fate begins today."
At the third quarter of midnight, all was silent.
The Great Cang Imperial Dynasty, from its central capital to its four border regions, encompasses sixty-three prefectures, three thousand seven hundred counties, eighteen thousand towns, one hundred thousand villages—
At this moment, whether in bustling Capital or remote mountain villages, whether in the grand mansions of wealthy families or the homes of ordinary people, there is something that quietly lights up in the silence.
It was not dazzling brilliance, but rather array plates, simple in style and dark in pattern, placed in the center of ancestral halls, buried under ancient trees at the entrance of villages, hidden by wells, or built into the foundation of city walls.
The array plates varied in size and material; some resembled bronze, others black stone, and still others were merely rough wooden or clay tablets.
However, the talismanic patterns engraved on it all originated from the same source, subtly radiating a faint yet resolute light.
This is the Great Cang Royal Family's [Great Array of Gathering the Hearts of All People], which, through dozens of generations and countless human and material resources, was silently deployed in every corner of the dynasty's territory under the framework of Waking of Insects Plan "Awakening of Insects Project"!
"Charge!"
Deep within the imperial city, at the core of the inverted meteorite, Qi Yun and Zhao Xuanji jointly issued an edict activating the core hub, which resounded throughout all the array nodes.
"Buzz--!"
Sixty-three prefectures, three thousand seven hundred counties, and eighteen thousand counties—countless array plates trembled simultaneously!
There was no earth-shattering roar, no blinding light piercing the night sky.
There is only one invisible yet unimaginably powerful "qi" emanating from every inch of land ruled and inhabited by the Great Cang Dynasty.
It is quietly stirred, drawn out, and gathered from the depths of the hearts of everyone living on this land!
That's neither Spiritual Qi nor the Incense and Fire Prayer Power.
Rather, it is a more primal, more profound spirit, containing the most basic will to survive, joys and sorrows, partings and reunions of hundreds of millions of people, and even their suppressed resentment towards the injustice of "Heaven" and their vague yearning for the freedom of "human beings"—[the People's Qi of All Living Beings]!
At first, it was just a faint, almost imperceptible, pale white, warm yet heavy and bitter scent rising from under the eaves of thousands of houses, from the soil in the fields, from the smoke in the streets and alleys, and from the watchtowers of the border guards.
Immediately, these subtle auras, like birds returning home summoned by an invisible force, converged on the array plates in their respective areas.
The energy of a town gathers in its town center, the energy of a county condenses in its county center, and the energy of a prefecture or state rises layer by layer, like trickles of water flowing into rivers, and rivers rushing into the sea!
Above the imperial city, the core of the inverted meteorite, concealed by layers of Formation Art, has now become the final vortex where the People's Qi of All Living Beings in the entire Great Cang Territory converges!
Invisible to the naked eye, but perceptible through the Divine Soul, one can "see" a scene that shakes the very soul.
Across the entire Great Cang Territory, an endless, thick, viscous, slowly rotating ocean of blazing white fortune seemed to rise.
In the ocean, countless tiny figures and faces depict farming, fishing, hunting, weaving, commerce, warfare, birth, aging, sickness, and death.
The phantoms and thoughts floated and flowed, emitting a silent yet deafening clamor!
Those are the marks of survival and the cries of defiance left on this land by hundreds of millions of people over thousands of years!
This energy is both extremely turbid and extremely pure, extremely weak and extremely strong.
It is scattered throughout heaven and earth, nourishing all things, hidden and unseen.
However, once gathered, guided, and ignited—
Qi Yun at the center of the meteorite's core, his hands outstretched, [Great Luo Heaven] operating at full power, [Wield Myriad Laws] Divine Ability power controlling the entire situation.
"Popular sentiment has been rallied, and rebellious intentions have taken hold."
Qi Yun's eyes flashed with chaotic golden light, and his voice was like a divine decree.
"Now, let us use the thoughts of all living beings as fuel, and the ambition to overthrow Heaven as our ignition."
"Heaven-Assailing Great Flame!"
"Get up!"
He pushed upwards with both hands!
"Boom!!!!!"
The boundless, fiery white [People's Qi of All Living Beings] that gathered above the imperial city, as vast as a sea of stars and as heavy as the earth, was ignited at this moment!
The sea of white, fiery passion instantly transformed into a raging inferno, a tidal wave of gold and white flames!
Flames are formless and intangible, they do not scorch physical objects, yet they seem to ignite rules, burn away shackles, and reveal the truth!
Within the flames, countless phantoms of mortals roared, struggled, and cried out. Their faint thoughts, suppressed for countless years, were magnified and gathered infinitely at this moment, transforming into a raging fire powerful enough to burn through the heavens.
Golden-white Fire of All Living Beings soared into the sky!
Its power and determination were so great that it seemed to want to burn a hole in the cold, fixed "sky" that had shrouded the Azure Gate Realm for countless ages!
The pillar of fire pierced through the heavens and the earth, illuminating the Great Cang under the night sky, and also illuminating the faces of countless people who looked up at the sky, bewildered yet filled with inexplicable fear.
Then, amidst countless shocked gazes, at the point where the golden-white flames were at their most intense and defiant, a "crack—crack—" sounded.
Above the clear blue sky, the originally formless and intangible yet omnipresent barrier of "Heaven's Will," the celestial veil that maintains the operation of the rules of this world and suppresses all living beings, shattered like red-hot glass, its sound clearly resounding throughout the entire world, as it could not bear the weight of the shattering.
A colossal, ferocious, pitch-black abyss, its edges shimmering with molten golden flames, suddenly appeared in the sky. The first step in this act of conquering the heavens—using all living beings as fuel to ignite a fire and shatter the firmament!
"It's done—it's really done—"
On the high platform outside the Hall of Diligent Governance, Zhao Xuanji looked up, his eyes, which had seen countless vicissitudes but were now reflecting the golden and white flames filling the sky, staring unblinkingly at the huge, ferocious, pitch-black hole in the sky, whose edges flowed with molten gold-like flames.
Two streams of murky tears rolled down his deeply lined, age-spotted face, gathering at his chin before finally dripping onto the cold white marble railing, leaving two small, dark, damp stains.
He didn't raise his hand to wipe it, as if he hadn't noticed at all.
She felt as if all her strength had been drained away, her slightly hunched body trembling in the night wind.
The patient planning and forbearance of dozens of generations, the painstaking secret arrangements of countless predecessors, the desperate gamble that spanned a thousand years, and the silent sacrifice and annihilation of countless patriots in the darkness—
Those cold, hard records that exist only in the most confidential royal files.
Those weighty, unspoken instructions and last wishes passed down through generations.
Those hopes that were almost extinguished during the long wait and the despair that almost crushed people's hearts----
At that moment, with that "crack" sound of shattering, with that hideous wound that appeared clearly in the "sky," everything turned into a scalding reality.
"Our ancestors, our esteemed predecessors, and our fellow believers—have you seen this?"
His lips moved, emitting a whispered sound, almost a sob, yet also conveying a sense of exhaustion and ecstasy after a tremendous burden had been lifted.
The sky—has fallen!
We did it!
The cold wind howled, causing the bright yellow dragon flag on the high platform to flutter loudly, and also blowing his snow-white beard and hair.
The golden Fire of All Living Beings still burned, illuminating the entire night sky as if it were daytime, and also revealing every deep wrinkle on his face and the uncontrollable tear tracks.
At this moment, he was not some great emperor, but simply an old man who had carried too much burden, waited too long, and finally saw a glimmer of hope.
An overwhelming surge of emotion crashed against his chest, making him breathless and even causing his vision to blur.
He had to grab onto the cold railing beside him to steady his swaying body.
It took him a while to finally calm his turbulent emotions. He slowly turned his head, looking at the light falling not far to his side.
There, Qi Yun was still wearing a dark blue Daoist robe, its hem fluttering wildly in the night wind, which had become raging due to the rising Fire of All Living Beings, yet it remained perfectly in place.
He stood with his hands behind his back, head slightly raised, calmly gazing at the hole in the sky that had been burned through.
The golden-white firelight illuminated his still youthful face, casting a sacred and majestic aura upon it.
Looking at this figure, Zhao Xuanji was filled with countless emotions and his heart was surging with emotion.
Today, we are able to take this most crucial and difficult first step in our fight against the heavens.
This person deserves the greatest credit!
If he hadn't personally gone to the Cloud Dream Great Marsh to retrieve the [Heaven-Deceiving Grand Formation],
If it weren't for his astonishing methods to dismantle, modify, and miniaturize that massive and complex High Antiquity array into countless tiny array plates that could be secretly buried and interconnected, they would have been discovered by the Heaven's Will long ago!
"Truly... Heaven is helping my Great Cang..." Zhao Xuanji murmured to himself, his voice hoarse but filled with complex emotions.
He took a deep breath of the night wind, which carried an air of anxiety and inexplicable tension, straightened his hunched back, and solemnly and deeply bowed towards Qi Yun.
However, what Zhao Xuanji didn't know was that just as he was overwhelmed with emotion and tears of gratitude, the look in the eyes of True Person Qi, whom he regarded as "heaven helping the Great Cang," gradually became serious.
All that could be seen was the gaping hole that had been burned open by the raging fire of all living beings.
A corner of unfamiliar yet magnificent world is gradually being revealed.
Staring intently at the gradually solidifying world, Qi Yun narrowed his eyes and whispered, "That is... the cultivation world of [Azure Gate]?"