The Prince Can Do Divination

Chapter 412 - 254: Sword Inquiry at White Jade Capital, a Captive True Dragon, Wei the Ninth Appears

If he rebelled alone, everyone would undoubtedly rise up to crush him.

But if he gathered a group to rebel with him, many people’s stances would likely shift from resolute suppression to wavering indecision.

Even what is wrong can be twisted into what is right.

The outcome of history is always written by the victors.

"Don’t celebrate too soon. I have not lost yet."

As Emperor Yong’an stepped onto the highest stair and strode onto the high platform, his figure vanished.

In the Imperial City, at the site of the Thunder Pool Daoist Academy’s government office—a place of black-eaved rubble—a beam of light from a Golden Talisman had shot into the sky. From a distance, that spot should have appeared completely empty. But as Emperor Yong’an took that step, a tower dozens of yards high materialized above the Great Flame Dragon Wall.

It was not one of the common wooden buildings of the Great Yan Capital City, but a Jade Tower carved from countless pieces of white jade. After the seal of the Golden Talisman faded, its true form was finally revealed.

It was a majestic Jade Tower, bearing the three large words "White Jade Capital".

The great doors slowly swung open. Emperor Yong’an walked inside to find a Taoist long sword, crackling with frantic, snow-white lightning, hovering in the air. The entire White Jade Capital was filled with wisps of wandering Sword Qi. Emperor Yong’an ignored the Sword Qi and continued upward.

The next floor was the same, but with the addition of countless Flying Swords. Some were a translucent, ghostly green, their blades shaped like willow leaves. Others were blazing hot and fiery red, like the pure heart of a Gentleman, perfectly square and three fingers wide.

From top to bottom, there were twelve floors in total.

This was Emperor Yong’an’s second gambit: the man-made White Jade Capital.

Besides the twelve Golden Armored Giants, this White Jade Capital had also consumed a vast amount of the Dynasty’s resources and power. It had absorbed the Essence, Qi, and Spirit, and the Destiny of countless Qi Cultivators from the Thunder Pool Daoist Academy—something those Cultivators themselves had likely never even noticed.

All this time, a Taoist Sect Golden Talisman had hidden all traces of this White Jade Capital, preventing it from ever appearing before the world.

In reality, it was hidden high above the Thunder Pool Daoist Academy.

Emperor Yong’an gave a light, casual wave of his sleeve and smiled. "This White Jade Capital has twelve floors in total. Each floor holds a Flying Sword with vast Divine Techniques and infinite killing power, enough to intimidate the Sword Cultivators of an entire continent. Each time a sword is unleashed, it can instantly kill a Nascent Soul Great Cultivator. It was originally the unfinished work of a Mo Family leader from the Great Song Dynasty. I later seized it, and after sixty years of nurturing from the Cultivators of an entire academy, it has finally taken shape.

"In the past twenty years, it has not been unleashed even once. Who will be the first to test the might of these Flying Swords?"

For the ten breaths after he finished speaking, everyone weighed the implications of the majestic tower that had suddenly appeared.

"They’re here."

The man in the bamboo hat simply uttered two words and was the first to strike.

Before the sound of his voice faded, his aura surged, and Saber Qi swept out in all directions like a torrential storm.

"Peak of the Twelfth Realm! Great Yan’s First Tributor hasn’t lost any of his former glory."

An expert from the Three Religions sensed his aura and remarked with great feeling.

Someone was attacking.

Instantly, Heaven-Piercing Sword Qi erupted from the tall tower.

The sword from the bottom floor was the first to tear through the sky. As lightning flared, countless people within the Capital City looked up in horror at the rainbow-hued light above the White Jade Capital.

A moment later, the next floor followed.

The second sword.

The third sword.

...

All the way to the ninth sword.

Once all the Flying Swords had shot out, they tore across the sky, transforming from small, willow-leaf-like blades into massive Flying Swords hundreds of meters long.

The Flying Swords unleashed by the White Jade Capital alone were enough to stun the crowd.

Many discovered that even though they hadn’t made a move, they were still locked onto by a Flying Sword of devastating power.

In Lu Mingyuan’s eyes, this White Jade Capital was like a mobile gun turret.

Normally, a Flying Sword had to be nurtured and then commanded by a Cultivator to unleash its immense power.

But with this White Jade Capital, forged by the Mo Family of the Confucian Temple, it was a different story.

The Great Song Dynasty of old was known among all the Central Plains Dynasties as the only one to unify the realm through clever contraptions and elite equipment.

These Golden Armored Giants were most likely relics from that era.

The man-made White Jade Capital could absorb the Destiny of a Dynasty and its Cultivators, and then use it to command all sorts of powerful Flying Swords.

Unleashing extraordinary might, a single Flying Sword could fly for over a thousand li to slay any enemy.

The effect was just like a missile.

The Mo Family’s status in the Confucian Temple was once quite high. Hundreds of years ago, during an age of turmoil, their ways were popular among the major dynasties for a time. Unfortunately, they only had their mechanical devices; their ideology was not accepted by most Confucian Scholars. Thus, when the turmoil ended and an age of prosperity began, they gradually faded from the Confucian Temple, and the Saint’s Stone Statue of the Mo Family leader was removed.

Seeing the White Jade Capital successfully hold everyone back, Emperor Yong’an felt a surge of pride.

"Did you really think I couldn’t handle you rebellious subjects and traitors?"

He drew a small, willow-leaf-shaped knife from his dragon-embroidered sleeve and made a light cut across his palm. A few drops of blood trickled down and fell into the koi pond beneath the Great Flame Dragon Wall.

The pond was connected to the Capital City’s drainage system.

The blood gradually dispersed into the water, its scent extremely potent.

In the pond beneath the stone arch bridge, before the hundred-foot-wide great drum at the entrance of the Drumming Institute, a massive, serpentine creature stirred, sending ripples across the water.

Suddenly.

"ROAR!"

A heaven-shaking roar erupted, and the entire pond trembled!

SPLASH!

A huge, ferocious head burst from the water and shot toward the Imperial Palace. Its body was as massive as a mountain, and its pair of serpentine eyes had golden, vertical pupils.

In an instant, the winds surged and dark clouds gathered in the sky.

RUMBLE!

The black clouds churned, the sound as deep and muffled as a collapsing mountain.

A pair of colossal eyes emerged from the clouds. The eyes alone were the size of a cloudbank.

Countless people watched, their hearts trembling in silent shock.

Those eyes belonged to a ferocious horned head covered in black scales. Its vertical pupils crackled with purple lightning. It looked as if it had come from some ancient battlefield; its archaic scales were shattered and cracked, its two enormous whiskers twitched ceaselessly, and it was even stained with golden blood.

Lu Mingyuan looked from side to side. Something was wrong!

’This is clearly a True Dragon!’

Black clouds blotted out the sky for a hundred li around the Capital City, accompanied by the rumbling of thunder.

A body as long and winding as the Great Wall soared into the open, emerging from the sky. It was a dragon, golden from head to tail, making its grand entrance!

"Father actually raised a dragon in the Capital City?"

Lu Mingyuan had anticipated Emperor Yong’an’s hidden cards as best he could.

But he had never expected a move like this.

The man-made White Jade Capital, combined with a True Dragon of immensely powerful bloodline, was equivalent to two experts of the Upper Three Grades standing guard before the gates of the Imperial Palace.

Just as Lu Mingyuan was growing anxious,

All at once—

A gentle breeze brushed past, and the clear morning light seemed to freeze.

The world fell silent.

On a small garden path at the entrance to the depths of the Imperial Palace, an elderly figure appeared.

Lu Mingyuan seemed to sense something. His heart pounded, and he whipped his head around.

It was an old eunuch dressed in a simple blue robe. His temples were white, and his aura was deep and restrained. His eyes were like a thousand-year-old lake, perfectly still, holding the ravages of time.

This person’s appearance caused a subtle change to come over the clamorous Great Yan Plaza.

...