“Yes, at first I was worried the sea clan would stage a comeback and attack the Heavenly Dynasty, or even that we might provoke the Divine Phoenix Empire into invading. But now it looks like His Majesty the Heavenly Emperor has plenty of experts around him. Neither the sea clan nor the Divine Phoenix Empire dares to trifle with our Heavenly Dynasty lightly.”
“You’re absolutely right. I’m not bragging, but I personally witnessed His Majesty’s heroic bearing at the Martial Arts Festival all those years ago. Those so-called sea-clan geniuses weren’t worth a thing in front of him.
I said it long ago: His Majesty would never abandon us. The sea clan’s doomsday was coming soon. Look, didn’t I turn out to be correct? The True Demon Empire lasted less than a year before His Majesty crushed it.”
A warrior excitedly recounted everything he had seen at the Martial Arts Festival.
Though his account contained a touch of exaggeration, everyone around listened intently, simply because it concerned their Heavenly Emperor.
This, in fact, proved one thing: the current Ling Xiao, Heavenly Emperor of the Heavenly Dynasty, had become a living legend and a living myth on the Heavenly Dragon Continent.
Wherever you went, you could hear people eagerly recounting his deeds.
Storytellers and wandering warriors had even adapted Ling Xiao’s exploits into tales and operas, spreading them far and wide.
Less than a year ago, the Heavenly Emperor had defeated heroes from all sides at the Martial Arts Festival and claimed the title Chosen Son of Heaven. Yet the True Demon Empire had suddenly risen, destroying the Holy Dynasty that had lingered on for over a hundred thousand years and forcing the Chosen Son to flee to the Divine Phoenix Continent.
Now, stronger and more mature, the Heavenly Emperor had returned to the Heavenly Dragon Continent with vast armies and capable lieutenants, stormed the Magic City, annihilated the True Demon Empire, and founded the Heavenly Dynasty.
The scene was breathtaking and filled people with pride.
From that moment on, the Heavenly Dragon Continent no longer suffered division between Northern Han, Heavenly Principle, and the True Demon Empire. In their place stood a unified and mighty Heavenly Dynasty.
People felt nothing but gratitude for this.
Human exiles living overseas hurried back to the Heavenly Dragon Continent upon hearing the news.
Abroad, they had always been treated as second-class citizens. Now that the Heavenly Dynasty had risen, it was time to return. This was their homeland.
While the common people celebrated the new year in high spirits, Ling Xiao stood with his subordinates atop the tallest structure in the Divine Capital, gazing into the distance.
Having participated in numerous sieges and defences, Ling Xiao understood perfectly well.
In the Profound Realm, a city without defensive formations could fall with alarming ease.
At this moment, he was contemplating how to overhaul the Divine Capital’s arrays and transform the entire city into an impregnable fortress.
That way, even Yin-Yang Realm experts would be powerless against it.
Moreover, recalling what had happened to the former Holy City, he planned to install formations both inside and outside the walls.
The formations within the city would be controlled solely by the Heavenly King and himself; no one else would have the authority to know about or activate them.
Once the Divine Capital was finished, other cities could follow suit, gradually rolling out the same improvements across the realm.
As for how to lay the formations and which ones to use, with Ling Xiao present, that was naturally no problem at all.
He had already handed the designs to Zhuge Ming. The practical implementation could be left entirely to him.
Construction in the Profound Realm proceeded at extraordinary speed. Since nearly everyone was a martial artist, even ordinary craftsmen worked more than ten times faster than common folk elsewhere.
Those a little stronger could accomplish in a single day what would take ordinary people dozens of days.
Thus, in just one month, everything in the Divine Capital that needed repairing had been fully restored, and all new construction and expansion projects were essentially complete.
Many of the new structures existed specifically to house formations.
In particular, a tower inside the imperial palace soared almost into the clouds, ceaselessly drawing energy from the sky and channelling it into the Divine Capital.
This tower had essentially been transplanted directly from the Moonlight Sect’s Moonlight Treasure Pagoda, then remodelled by Ling Xiao and Moon Maiden. It was now renamed the Sun-Moon Treasure Tower.
Because it no longer drew only lunar essence; it could also absorb solar essence.
The energy it gathered flowed along the earth veins beneath the Divine Capital, encompassing the entire city.
Ordinary people, and even many court officials, had no idea what it was for.
At this moment, inside the Sun-Moon Treasure Tower, Ling Xiao sat cross-legged at the very top, eyes closed, his whole being immersed in a state of perfect harmony with heaven and earth.
The entire space around the Divine Capital seemed to lie within his grasp, like a plaything in his hands.
Together with the other structures throughout the city, the Sun-Moon Treasure Tower formed a colossal Sun-Moon Heaven-Earth Devouring Grand Formation.
Yet even after the formation was complete, it still required activation.
A formation this vast was far beyond the ability of ordinary people to start.
Naturally, that responsibility fell upon Ling Xiao’s shoulders.
As Heavenly Emperor and the martial artist in the entire Heavenly Dynasty most skilled with soul force, the duty was his alone.
If anyone could see souls at that moment, they would have witnessed an enormous phantom hovering above the Divine Capital.
The phantom gently cradled the entire city in its hands.
And that phantom was none other than Ling Xiao’s externalised primal spirit.
“Activate!”
As the single word left the spirit’s mouth, the sky over the Divine Capital instantly blazed with the simultaneous radiance of sun and moon.
Though this strange and sacred phenomenon lasted only a few moments, it brought every citizen in the Divine Capital to their knees, kowtowing towards the colossal image of the Heavenly Emperor in the heavens.
From that day on, their trust and worship of Ling Xiao grew even deeper.
Many even believed Ling Xiao himself was a god, a divine saviour of humanity.
Meanwhile, countless martial artists sensed something else entirely.
Vital energy from heaven and earth suddenly surged up from beneath the ground, pouring directly into their bodies.
The entire Divine Capital had effectively become a vast holy land for cultivation.
There was no need to ask whose work this was. It could only be their Heavenly Emperor, Ling Xiao.
At that instant, even those closest to him on a daily basis felt anew how mysterious and formidable Ling Xiao truly was.
Something like this was beyond even Moon Maiden’s ability, yet Ling Xiao had accomplished it. It was nothing short of miraculous.
Another month passed. Similar formations appeared in Landon City near the Divine Capital. Though smaller in scale, they were equally astonishing.
After that, city lords and regional commanders took the blueprints they had received from the Divine Capital back to their own territories and began the same transformations.
Although the new formations could not match the one in the Divine Capital, they nonetheless granted their cities formidable defensive strength and far superior cultivation conditions compared to ordinary cities.
For them, that was already more than enough.
…
“To secure the fortune of the realm, we must obtain the Holy Dynasty’s imperial jade seal!”
With everything proceeding smoothly and according to plan, one of the ministers put forward a suggestion.
