On March 16th, the imperial court finally reached a decision: The late emperor's will nominated King Xing, Zhu Houji, a member of the royal family, to succeed to the throne.
On March 18th, King Xing met with the ministers who had arrived to relay the imperial decree, and together, they entered the Imperial City.
Yet, upon entering the Imperial City, an unexpected conflict arose. The Minister of the Ministry of Rites proposed that King Xing honour the late emperor as his royal father and himself as the late emperor's imperial uncle — thus assuming the throne in the capacity of a crown prince. Using a precedent set by Song Chengyi's advice to the Prince of Pu, the minister endeavored to advise King Xing. However, his advice was rejected.
King Xing told his close allies, "The late emperor's will stated that I should succeed him as emperor, not as his son."
The two sides remained at an impasse, and in the end, the various ministers of the court were forced to compromise reluctantly.
This new ruler, yet to ascend to the throne, had already demonstrated an astonishingly adept approach to governance, much to the astonishment of the court officials.
On April 21st, King Xing ascended to the throne, maintaining his firm stance on not inheriting his predecessor's position, showing no signs of compromise. Surprisingly, the Prince of Xiang, Zhu Yousong, volunteered to endorse the new emperor. expressing his staunch support. and quelling many dissatisfied
voices within the royal family.
On April 26th, the new emperor issued a decree absolving the Shenxiao Sect of all past charges. All the properties, lands, etc., that originally belonged to the Shenxiao Sect were returned to them in full.
On April 27th, the new emperor issued another decree. He conferred the title of
'Great True Immortal of Eternal Life and Profound Mystery' to the Long Life
Son of the Shenxiao Sect, and the title of 'Master Mysterious Qingxu' to the Taoist of the True Martial Sect, Qingxu. He also commanded the two of them to serve as the leaders of the Taoist School, to govern all Taoist institutions throughout the kingdom.
This move provoked envy among various powers. Many factions began to form alliances, seemingly planning to replicate what Pei Xuanjing had done.
On April 29th, the Imperial Astronomical Observatory was established, with Bai Xiaosheng inaugurated as the first Superintendent.
On June 11th, Jiang Bin, the Commanding Officer of the Brocade Guards, was investigated for collusion with the Blood Demon Yang Tinghe and conspiring treason. He had previously shown great favoritism towards court officials, engaged in rampant corruption, raised a private faction, and promoted his family members.
The emperor lured him into the palace, captured him and his accomplices Xu Tai and Li Cong, and imprisoned them in the Sky Prison while the case was investigated. They were then beheaded as a warning to others.
The next day, Lin Qingyi, the former Deputy Commanding Officer of the
Brocade Guards, was appointed by the emperor to temporarily fill the role of Commanding Officer, catapulting him into the ranks of the most powerful figures in Great Ming.
On June 23rd, an official from the Ministry of War reported Hut Secretary Wang Qiong. Although the emperor initially withheld action on the report, it abruptly halted Wang Qiong — originally a key supporter in the new emperor's succession — in his tracks.
On July 9th, the Great Ming imperial court suddenly announced to the world that the Zhang Family of Luzhou had attempted to stage a rebellion. The evidence was irrefutable, and two exalted masters from the royal family and the court personally led troops to eliminate every member of the Zhang Family. For a time, the entire kingdom fell silent.
This was because they understood that the real reason the Luzhou Zhang Family was wiped out by the court was not because they had ruled with brutality and generated public outrage. Rather, it was because the Zhangs were the most arrogant among several powerful factions. They had dared to reach out to many different parties and sought to replicate what Pei Xuanjing had done — attempting to dominate Luzhou as a local hegemony — which brought disaster upon them.
The Luzhou Zhang Family, which had had a history that spanned hundreds of years, was wiped out overnight, shocking everyone. All the other factions that were secretly forming alliances, hoping to follow in the footsteps of the Shenxiao Sect, immediately halted their activities and dared not make any further moves.
This new emperor, who had only ascended the throne less than three and a half months ago, has caused countless people to be agape at the successive tasks he has undertaken. They are at a loss for words.
Fortunately, it is precisely because this emperor is so capable that he is aware of who he can offend and who he, in his current state, cannot afford to upset.
After his ascension to the throne, during the ceremony in which he conferred titles upon Pei Xuanjing and Qingxu Taoist, the emperor showed an immense curiosity towards Pei Xuanjing.
The most surprising incident for Pei Xuanjing was that, after a night banquet, the emperor dismissed everyone else, choosing to face Pei Xuanjing alone.
The two of them held a brief but meaningful conversation in a secluded palace.
The first sentence that the emperor uttered then had caught Pei Xuanjing off guard.
"May I ask, Great True Immortal, is there truly such a thing as immortality?" At that time, Pei Xuanjing, looking at the emperor who was admittedly handsome but only sixteen years old – a mere middle school student in his previous life, solemnly told him:
"In my humble view, immortality does indeed exist."
Upon hearing this answer, a trace of longing appeared in the emperor's eyes and he asked the second question, "Great True Immortal, aside from practicing martial arts, are there any other methods to achieving immortality?"
A smile appeared on Pei Xuanjing's face as he chuckled and replied, "In the humble view of myself, aside from practicing martial arts, I believe there must be other ways to achieve immortality."
A satisfied smile appeared on the emperor's face, and he asked again, "Dare I ask the Great True Immortal, do I have the potential to achieve immortality?"
This new emperor was clear and straightforward, getting straight to his purpose without any beating around the bush.
Pei Xuanjing pondered for a moment before he answered, "Whether you achieve immortality or not depends not on anything else, but on His Majesty himself."
"Would the Great True Immortal care to elaborate?" the emperor asked further.
Pei Xuanjing laughed mysteriously and replied, "It's not yet time. If Your Majesty wishes, you may have to wait a little longer." "How long is 'a little longer'?"
"It may be a few months, or it may be a few years."
"Very well, I will wait for up to three years. During these three years, regardless of what the Great True Immortal does, I am willing to lend my full support. I only hope that the Great True Immortal will not deceive me."
"Your Majesty is wise!"
After reading the reports about the actions this new emperor had taken since his ascension, and recalling their conversation in the secluded palace, a smile crept onto Pei Xuanjing's face.
"It seems that this emperor truly desires immortality!" he exclaimed.
Although the information collected by Bai Xiaosheng suggested that the previous King Xing was fond of Taoist cultivation, which deeply influenced this emperor's favorable view of the Taoist School,
Pei Xuanjing hadn't really taken their conversation in the secluded palace seriously, merely dismissing it as the emperor's probing. After all, if this emperor truly wished to seek immortality through cultivation, he would likely consult with the True Martial Sect, who had close ties with him, rather than him — a figure from the Shenxiao Sect that had caused the Ming royal family great embarrassment.
What he had said back then was just to state his position; he had no intentions to vie for power with the emperor. All he wanted to achieve through his actions was to further his cultivation, and not to invite trouble for himself.
Unexpectedly, this emperor's current actions have indeed not caused him and his people a single bit of trouble. Even the many voices of opposition within the royal family have been suppressed by him.
With these thoughts, he took a book from the shelf beside him and beckoned
Yu Zhenzi.
"Please deliver this book to the emperor."
Upon seeing the book Pei Xuanjing was holding, Yu Zhenzi could not help but feel shocked.. "Sect leader, are you sure you want to give this to him?"
Pei Xuanjing noted Yu Zhenzi's reluctance and chuckled, "No worries, these things are not that important. You should go!"
Helpless, Yu Zhenzi, even though reluctant, couldn't defy Pei Xuanjing's words. He could do nothing but sigh gently and turn away.
Watching the retreating figure of Yu Zhenzi, Pei Xuanjing thought to himself, "I have already shown my goodwill. I wonder what means more to him, power or longevity?
The book he gave was none other than something he compiled recently, incorporating some insights after condensing his Divine Soul and combining his own cultivation experiences.
One could say this was a rudimentary introduction to Pei Xuanjing's path of refining the spirit.
Of course, what Pei Xuanjing considered rudimentary, was not so for others. Yu Zhenzi had previously benefited greatly from Pei Xuanjing's teachings in his cultivation path.
In Yu Zhenzi's view, this book would be an invaluable treasure to an ordinary fourth-grade martial artist. If they had the opportunity to study it, it would be extremely beneficial for them to breakthrough the Upper Three Realms with condensed martial arts intent. In his opinion, gifting such a treasure to the Emperor was excessively generous.
However, Pei Xuanjing didn't think much of it. It was merely a test, seeing how the Emperor would react, and whether it would be as he anticipated.
Having done these things, Pei Xuanjing dispelled his other thoughts and returned to the training room in his quarters.
Even though he had already received the Emperor's enfeoffment and laid the foundations for a Shenxiao Sect Taoist Temple within Tiandu, he was still temporarily living within Baiyun Temple as the Taoist Temple was not yet fully constructed.
After a period of refining, he had fully refined a page of the Netherworld Book and had enough Taoyun accumulated for the next simulation of life.
The previous life simulation had unexpectedly allowed Pei Xuanjing to condense his Divine Soul and touch the threshold of the Spirit Realm.
Now, Pei Xuanjing's True Qi accumulation hadn't reached its peak, but whether it was his body which had undergone rebirth once or his condensed Divine
Soul, both had reached the pinnacle of the Dao of refining essence and spirit.
This time, his Taoyun had exceeded two hundred thousand, allowing for two life simulations. So, he had high hopes for this life simulation, wondering what gains this life simulation would bring.
Could it allow his Inner Qi to reach its peak, refining his essence, qi and spirit simultaneously to reach the peak of the Mortal Realm?
The only pity was that the unusual object Daoist Xuanming was searching for hadn't been obtained yet. He temporarily couldn't simulate and test whether refining an unusual object during the life simulation would have miraculous effects.
[Taoyun: 217413 points.]
[Activate Life Simulator? One use consumes 100,000 Taoyun points.]
Pei Xuanjing immediately started this life simulation.
[Life Simulation Activating: ]
At 33: Your plans have been laid out. Provided nothing goes wrong, now you only need to stand by as all operations gradually advance. The time will come to attempt to break the shackles of Heaven and Earth once the array has been set up.
You delegate all tasks to Yu Zhenzi and his team and focus on using the Lightning Attraction Device to cultivate on the back mountain of the Baiyun Temple, continuously refining and strengthening your physical body.
After being tempered by thunder, your physical body once again strengthens continuously. In this process of strengthening with thunder, you discover some extraordinary matters.
You realize, some subtle thunder power somehow contacts your Divine Soul, prompting some changes in your Divine Soul. Your Divine Soul becomes more pure and robust.
Half a year later, the Emperor pays a quiet visit. He tells you he has practiced the skill you gave him in the booklet and feels his spirit has significantly increased.
The Emperor expresses his desire for immortality and subtly asks about the original Godly Nation Plan of the Shenxiao Sect.
In the end, the Emperor tells you that if the Godly Nation Plan could indeed bestow immortality, he would cooperate with you to complete it.
You didn't agree immediately, only stalling for the time being.
After the Emperor leaves, you discuss with the other alliances, finally deciding to rely on the Emperor's power to implement the Godly Nation Plan. After all, this was part of your original plan.
At 34: The Taoist Temple the Emperor built for you in Tiandu completes, and you move there with your subordinates.
This Emperor, despite ascending the throne only a year ago, has already taken control of the court. Even Wang Qiong, who had a grand presence in the court and was responsible for crowning him, has been sent back to his hometown.
The Emperor who has seized power is dealing with those who want to get a firm grip on power while also cooperating with you to set up arrays throughout the territory.
At 35: Sometimes plans never go as planned. Originally, per your plan, the array throughout the Great Ming territory must be completed before activating it.
However, unexpectedly, Heaven and Earth already show signs of revival. The array at the Zhou Dao, where the True Martial Sect is located, is the most complete and inadvertently activates, inciting a chain reaction. The Heaven and Earth Essence Qi rises, and Heaven and Earth begins to revive.
At 36: The Heaven and Earth Essence Qi rises, and Heaven and Earth revive. With the original shackles gone, many powerhouses seem to sense the opportunity for breakthrough. Everyone goes into closed -door cultivation, and the entire world falls into an eerie calm.
At 37: After Heaven and Earth revive, you return to Shenxiao Mountain. While letting Yu Zhenzi and the others arrange arrays over the state territory of Shenxiao Sect according to the method given by the Zhenwu Sect, planning to accelerate the speed of Heaven and Earth reviving, you enter into closed-door cultivation on Shenxiao Mountain, sorting what you've learned and attempting to breakthrough the Shenxiao Mysterious Skill.
At this point, after continuous refining and spiritualization, your body finally undergoes rebirth for a second time. Your physicality improves again. Just one more rebirth would let you step into the Spirit Realm.
However, when you're feeling joyful, thunder again gathers in the sky unexpectedly. You show no concern, ready to use this thunder to further strengthen your newly reborn body.
Unexpectedly, the original Lightning Attraction Device shows no reaction, and this thunder power passes directly through your physical body and goes straight for your Divine Soul.
Caught off guard, your Divine Soul is infused with destructive thunder power, gradually leading to transformation. But at the critical moment of transformation, your Divine Soul suddenly collapses.
All consciousness ceases to exist, leaving only a strong physical body.
[End of this life.]
"What?"
Pei Xuanjing, looking at the end of this life simulation, had a shocked expression that didn't fade for a long time..
In this life simulation, the breakthrough in Pei Xuanjing's body was, in fact, within his expectations. After all, he had already clarified his future path for body cultivation and strengthening. All he needed was continuous tempering and strengthening of his body.
As long as he didn't live too short in the life simulation, he could definitely grind his way through and keep the breakthrough of his body ongoing.
What horrified him was another matter. Compared to the previous deaths in life simulation, this death was a bit too bizarre. It was unprecedented and unheard of.
Even though he could accept the death from his divine soul leaving the body last time.
After all, many cultivation method manuals and scriptures left by the Taoist school have recorded that a person's spirit is the strongest and also the most fragile. With his newly formed divine soul, without the protection of the physical body, he could accept its dissolution.
However, this time it was different. Having gone through countless thunder power tempering, he was not unfamiliar with the thunder power at all.
He could confidently say that unless struck down by the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder, with the assistance of the Lightning Attraction Device, the average thunder could not cause much damage to Pei Xuanjing. At most, his body would suffer a little more flesh and blood.
But this last burst of thunder not only made the Lightning Attraction Device ineffective, even his physical body didn't suffer any significant damage and targeted his divine soul directly.
Pei Xuanjing frowned, carefully recalling his current life simulation situation. Suddenly, he noticed some anomalies.
"Did the divine soul transform, and then scatter right at the critical moment of transformation?
When he saw this, Pei Xuanjing finally realized it.
In the way of refining spirit, after gathering the divine soul, one reaches the extreme of the Mortal Realm of refining spirit. Just one step away from the transformation of divine soul into Yin Spirit, one can become a true spirit cultivator.
Originally, Pei Xuanjing thought the process of divine soul transforming into Yin Spirit was a gradual process.
It seems not so now.
If he dared to speculate and assume, does this mean the last thunderbolt was actually a test for the divine soul? Can only those who have experienced the tempering and baptism of thunder power truly condense Yin Spirit?
Yes, that's it!
Pei Xuanjing recalls numerous pieces of information he has seen in previous lives and in this life. Among them, it was said that the Yin Spirit was initially very weak. It can only continuously endure the Thunder Tribulation, undergo the baptism from the fortune within the thunder power, constantly improve and transform.
In this way, the thunder just now should be a thunderbolt specifically for the Divine Soul, not an ordinary thunderbolt as he thought, thereby catching him off guard, without any sign. Even the physical body couldn't stop it; it went straight for the divine soul.
"It seems for the way of refining spirit to elevate to the Spirit Realm, it must go through this thunder tribulation." Pei Xuanjing pondered, he also realized what he had missed.
I actually just missed the opportunity to break through to the Spirit Realm!
Pei Xuanjing's heart stirred a little.
He now understands. If he could withstand the test of thunderbolt in the life simulation earlier, then his divine soul could transform into Yin Spirit, stepping into the Spirit realm directly.
What a pity, it was not successful.
As he regretted, the reward from this life simulation emerged before his eyes. [Simulation completion, you can choose to keep one of the following rewards.] [First item: The realm of the body after the second reincarnation.]
[Second item: The realm of the divine soul that had transformed, but not yet fully transformed due to the power of thunderbolt.]
[Third item: True Qi accumulation at thirty-seven years old.]
While Pei Xuanjing was looking at the rewards this round, he first ruled out the third one. However, between choosing the first or the second, he was hesitant and felt uncertain.
By right, choosing the first item should be most appropriate. After all, if his body were to undergo another transformation, not only would his strength be enhanced, but the Way of Essence Refinement would also take another step forward and he would be one step closer to breaking through to the Spirit Realm.
The only thing that made Pei Xuanjing hesitate was that if he chose the second reward, divine soul transformation seems to suit him better.
After all, the spiritualization and tempering of the physical body can always be lifted through grinding, there won't be too many bottlenecks, but the elevation of the divine soul is different.
Although Pei Xuanjing has now summed up some basic methods for gathering the divine soul, he doesn't possess many ways to enhance the divine soul. He only relies on daily meditation to strengthen it.
Hence, if he could use this reward on the divine soul, to strengthen it, he would save countless bitter cultivation.
And, most importantly, Pei Xuanjing still had one chance for a life simulation. He was wondering if, after choosing to enhance his divine soul, he could use this opportunity in the simulation to experience another thunderbolt and turn the divine soul into Yin Spirit and step into the Spirit Realm at one go.
Let's gamble!
After pondering for a long time, Pei Xuanjing finally made up his mind and chose the second reward.
Now with his current strength, no one in the world can threaten him. Whether or not to enhance his physical body immediately isn't that urgent. It's better to seize this opportunity for a gamble!
After making his choice, Pei Xuanjing felt that a profound power enveloped his divine soul.
Just like the last time he gathered his divine soul, in the blink of an eye, his excited expression gradually settled down. His eyes slightly closed, his heart was calm as water, there was no ripple.
At this moment, a faint pressure emerged from Pei Xuanjing. Eluding from his sitting position, it slowly spread around, and filled the entire training room.
In the entranced state, Pei Xuanjing could clearly feel his divine soul growing like a tender sprout thriving under the mysterious fate.
At this moment, time seemed to be stagnant. Yet, it also felt like countless years have passed.
Pei Xuanjing did not know how long he was in this profound and mystical realm. Perhaps it was an eternity or it may have been just a momentary blink of an eye.
After a long while, Pei Xuanjing opened his eyes again. The divine light flashed in his eyes, and his gaze was like lightning. Even just sitting there, he exuded boundless dignity, like an immortal, solemn, and sacred.
If Pei Xuanjing was seen by many people at this moment, they would probably be shocked. The aura that Pei Xuanjing carried was indeed extraordinary.
Not to mention anything else, if someone wanted to compete with Pei
Xuanjing, even without making a move, just releasing such an aura is enough
to make many people retreat, even leaving them without the courage to act..