Chapter 56: The Xuanlong Dynasty of Great Zhou

Emperor Jianwu is dead.

Under this single sword strike, both soul and body were utterly annihilated!

Above the heavens, a giant whale let out a mournful wail, seemingly cheering in jubilation, as the blizzard filling the sky grew increasingly massive.

"Master Su, you..."

Xu Han was struck dumb with shock.

So Master Su was this powerful; there was no need for anyone's worry at all. The level of this sword strike had likely reached the absolute peak, or perhaps even surpassed it.

"Master Su, this Thousand-Year Ginseng King... it shouldn't have been given to me. It should have been kept for you. I have wasted this precious medicine..."

Xu Han's aura was withered, growing weaker by the second.

The large red python robe that once fit him perfectly now hung loose and baggy on his desiccated, fleshless body.

Once a man in his thirties, in the prime of his life, a handsome and peerless Grandmaster and the Director of the West Depot, he was now a white-haired old man, withered like a piece of driftwood waiting to be burned.

Had it not been for this blizzard slowing the loss of his blood and vitality, he likely would have aged to death in an instant.

*Clap... clap... clap!*

A burst of applause rang out.

The young Emperor, who had been kneeling on the ground, scrambled to his feet. With a face full of emotion, he rushed toward Su Chen, exclaiming excitedly

"Lord Su! Lord Xu! You have performed meritorious service in protecting the throne! You helped me slay my wicked father and uprooted the tumor that ravaged the Great Liang empire. You have merit—immense merit!"

"I shall surely reward you handsomely!"

As he spoke, the young Emperor approached, his eyes brimming with tears. He prepared to kneel before Su Chen to perform the ritual of recognizing him as a father.

"Lord Su, I still remember that you saved me back in the Library of Books! I did not expect to be saved by you again today. How about this: I shall acknowledge you as my Sub-Father?"

"By then, you shall be below one person, but above ten thousand!"

Su Chen fell into silence, gazing at the young Emperor with an unreadable expression.

*Is he dissatisfied?* The young Emperor thought, feeling a flash of annoyance. *Truly ungrateful.*

"How about I establish the position of Supreme Overseer for you? I and my Sub-Father shall share the Great Liang empire and its people together!" the young Emperor tested.

Su Chen remained speechless.

He was annoyed.

"Su Chen, do not be too greedy! The Immortal Treasure belongs to my Great Liang ancestors. Without me, the sole remaining direct bloodline of Great Liang, no one can command the giant whale, let alone obtain the Life Blood, acquire immortal arts, or glimpse the realm of a Grandmaster!"

"I am your equal!"

"Do not go too far!"

The young Emperor's face darkened; this was his true nature.

Life Blood? Immortal arts?

Did Su Chen care?

He did not.

He was himself a monster of longevity; he had no need to extend his life. As for immortal arts and glimpsing the Grandmaster realm, he walked the path of the "Sixteen-Foot Golden Body Art" at its extreme limit. Once it reached the internal organs, it seemed to no longer follow the same path as the cultivation methods of the world.

"A long-lived whale... poor fellow. I will not end up like you."

Su Chen raised his eyes to look at the whale.

In the next instant, he moved toward the bottomless abyss.

Sure enough, there was a void chain emerging from the depths of the earth, piercing through the body of the giant whale in the sky, imprisoning it eternally so it could never leave.

"What are you trying to do?"

"These Spirit-Suppressing Chains can only be manipulated by the Great Liang imperial bloodline through secret methods... Ah! What are you doing?!"

The young Emperor's boastful words came to a sudden halt.

*Boom!*

The chain snapped.

With the Dust-Washing Sword, Su Chen severed the shackles that had long bound the whale.

The whale let out a cry!

It sped away rapidly.

Though it lacked a conscious soul, instinct made it loathe this place. It wanted to leave, to return to its home at the end of the Endless Sea.

The blizzard also receded with it.

"What am I doing?"

"Naturally, I am releasing the whale."

Having said that, he looked up at the white-robed corpse that had turned into an ice sculpture on the ground and said coldly

"How much longer do you intend to play dead?"

"If you don't chase after it now, you truly won't be able to catch its remains."

Without hesitation, the ice sculpture shattered.

The white-robed Chu Shi took a deep look at Su Chen, seemingly unable to understand why this human was doing this.

Its entire being was a treasure.

It was an Immortal Treasure!

Creating a Grandmaster would be as easy as turning over a hand, yet he showed no desire for it.

"If you are fortunate enough to ascend to immortality, come find me at the end of the Endless Sea. Consider this a debt I, Xue Luo, owe you!"

With those words, the white-robed Chu Shi stepped upon the wind and departed, vanishing without a trace.

"A special Life Fire, capable of a thousand years of life."

"Such powerful vitality, yet unable to withstand the toxicity of the human heart."

The former only son of Emperor Liang Taizu, Liang Chuye, possessed a spiritual root but had gone mad while practicing immortal arts, causing his lifespan to wither.

Out of desperation, Emperor Liang Taizu used the Life Blood of the giant whale to extend the Prince's life. This fell right into the whale's scheme; the soul that had been scattered by the Soul-Extinguishing Grass reassembled within Liang Chuye.

Thus, there were the three hundred years of grievances and vendettas, the constant turmoil of the Great Liang Dynasty, the repeated palace assassinations, the demonic uprisings, and the direct rebellions of princes.

The hand of this "Chu Shi" was behind it all.

But now, it was all over.

"The three hundred years of mortal and immortal grievances have ended."

"Great Liang, too, must end."

Su Chen stood with his hands behind his back. His arms were covered in dense, bloody lacerations, yet no blood flowed out, making them difficult to heal.

"Su Chen! You eunuch dog, do you know what you have done?!"

"You have released the Immortal Treasure of my Great Liang!"

"My Immortal Treasure!"

"You don't want the treasure, but others do! How could my Great Liang breed a traitorous dog like you!"

The young Emperor was frantic with rage, trembling as he watched the departing whale.

He felt as though everything he owned had been destroyed.

Without the Immortal Treasure, how could he build the strongest Great Liang Dynasty? How could he replace his father and become an immortal Grandmaster Emperor living for three hundred years?!

Su Chen looked toward the young Emperor.

"Sorry."

"Sub-Father, I lost my composure."

The young Emperor was startled, a bone-chilling cold washing over him. Only then did he remember that the man before him was the world's number one, the Wind-Snow Minor Grandmaster, who had just slain his Grandmaster demon-father.

"It's fine," Su Chen said.

The young Emperor breathed a secret sigh of relief.

However, Su Chen's next words sent a chill through his entire body.

"Anyway, after killing Emperor Jianwu at the start, you were next on my list."

"So, there is no need to apologize."

"It's fine to curse me, too."

*Boom!*

With a mere sweep of blood-flame, the young Emperor was reduced to ashes amidst his terror.

Great Liang was destroyed!

There was no longer an Emperor!

"Master Su, I'm so cold..."

As the blizzard receded, Xu Han was running out of breath. His blood vitality was dissipating rapidly, and he was growing older by the second. His Life Fire was down to a mere spark.

"Let's go home."

Su Chen carried Xu Han on his back, stepping through the snow, walking toward the outskirts of the Imperial City.

The blizzard fell upon Su Chen's body.

It was so cold.

But his heart was even colder.

After tonight, another old friend was gone.

"Master Su."

"I want to see the peach blossoms bloom."

"Alright!"

Su Chen snapped a withered peach branch, crushed it into powder, and infused it with the Longevity True Qi—the kind he wouldn't even dare use for healing.

Thus, wherever Su Chen passed, the mountains and fields were filled with blooming peach trees.

"Master Su."

"I betrayed my godfather."

"That night, outside the Library of Books, I saw his aura plummet as he fled into the library. Empress Dugu led her troops to surround him. Actually... it was I who informed them."

"I wanted to climb higher so badly. I thought since Godfather was so strong, nothing would happen to him, but in the end..."

On his back, Xu Han wept bitterly.

"I know."

Su Chen had always known.

Outside the Library of Books.

Inside a second-rank crimson-robed carriage.

He had seen Xu Han's Life Fire then.

"Will Godfather forgive me?" Xu Han asked.

His voice was growing fainter and fainter.

"I'm sure he will."

"He isn't a petty man."

"And besides," Su Chen said, "you are my person."

His Longevity True Qi continued to flow into Xu Han's body, but it passed through him as if passing through air.

"That's good then..."

Xu Han's voice grew lower and lower.

At that moment, the snow stopped.

Su Chen stopped as well.

Outside the Imperial City.

The Green Mountains.

The mountains and fields were covered in peach trees. A gentle breeze drifted, sending countless blossoms flying, emitting a mesmerizing fragrance, as if they were seeing off someone's soul.

Xu Han was dead.

Su Chen buried him in the depths of the Green Mountains, outside the Imperial City, next to Zhang Gui's lonely grave. Su Chen took a sip of the White Scholar Wine in his hand and poured the rest before the grave.

"This White Scholar Wine is getting more and more bitter."

"Zhang Gui, do you see? Great Liang is destroyed. Xiao Han wants to do for you what you couldn't do. Actually, you never blamed him, did you?"

Before the grave, a hibiscus tree swayed its silver-white leaves in the wind, as if nodding in response to the peach forest covering the mountains.

"Heh."

"Quite fitting."

"A Ninth-Thousand-Year official of the East Depot, and a Ninth-Thousand-Year official of the West Depot. Hahaha."

Su Chen laughed.

It began to rain.

The raindrops fell upon his face.

Just like back then.

The rain tasted so salty.

After two years of harsh winter and three years of frozen earth, Great Liang finally welcomed its first spring rain.

...

"Escape!"

"This terrifying Great Liang Imperial City... if I, this Lord, ever set foot here again, I shall be a dog! If anyone forces me here again, I will slay their entire nine generations with one sword..."

Outside the Imperial City.

In a Great Zhou outpost.

Long Xuanjun, a peak First-Rank expert and the only one to escape the Imperial City this time, trembled as he frantically searched for his belongings.

Then, he prepared to set a fire to burn away all traces of his presence.

"Wait."

"Why is it so quiet outside?"

"Where are the Xuan-Yi Guards?"

Long Xuanjun sensed something was wrong.

Walking out of the house and into the main hall, he saw the Great Zhou Xuan-Yi Guard spies collapsed all over the floor. He was incensed.

Did every stray dog and cat think they could bully him now?

Did they think his peak First-Rank status was made of clay?

A murderous light brewed in Long Xuanjun's eyes as he looked toward the figure sitting lazily in the hall, sipping tea.

Wait.

Why did that figure look familiar?

"I have heard that the Emperor of Great Zhou, His Majesty Xuanlong, is benevolent and loves his people. Is that true?"

The man spoke.

*Buzz!*

Long Xuanjun's knees went weak, and he nearly collapsed to the ground.

He really was made of clay.

"Yes!"

"I swear on my life, my Imperial Uncle indeed loves the people like his own children; he is a wise ruler of a restorative era..."

Long Xuanjun gritted his teeth and finished speaking while kneeling with stubborn pride.

"Good!"

"Let him take over Great Liang."

"Tianwu, Tianluan, two Jianwu eras... the thirty million people of Great Liang have suffered far too much..."

Could it be...

The Grandmaster of Great Liang...

Long Xuanjun found it unbelievable.

He wanted to ask something.

But when he looked up, there was no figure in the hall. Everything that had just happened felt like nothing more than a dream.

"With your permission, as Great Zhou takes over Great Liang, we shall surely love and protect the people, treating the people of Liang as the people of Zhou. Should we violate this, please strike off my head!"

Long Xuanjun kowtowed heavily.

In the fifteenth year of Jianwu.

Great Liang was destroyed!

The heavenly troops of Great Zhou took over Great Liang.

In the final winter of this dynasty's end, the Great Zhou imperial family, accompanied by the entire court of civil and military officials, migrated to the capital of Great Liang.

On the Green Mountains.

Before two lonely graves.

Su Chen witnessed it all.

"From now on,"

"There will be no more Jianwu era of Great Liang, but rather the Xuanlong era of Great Zhou..."

At the end of the fifteenth year of Jianwu,

The first year of the Xuanlong era.

Outside the Green Mountains.

Within Su Chen's body, his Longevity True Qi surged like a tempest, showing faint signs of stepping into the third rank of Longevity.

"Eighteen years."

"The vicissitudes of time, the impermanence of the world."

"In the end, it is like a youth's journey—a dream that flashes by, and the world has changed..."