The thud of a heavy hammer and the rumble of a collapsing rock wall rang out at the same time.

As Xu Yunfan landed, dragging the headless corpse with him, the Thunderfire Hammerhead was still dripping with brains.

A short while later, Yan Yuwei finished off the last cultist and set the entire place ablaze.

"Let’s go. We need to return to the Celestial Craft Cave immediately."

It was a slight detour, but from here to Guniu Mountain would only take the two of them about ten minutes at a full sprint. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Without further hesitation, the two set off for Guniu Mountain.

The Great Zhou Imperial Palace in Jade Capital City, Yu Jing State, Jade Capital Dao.

Above the nine-tiered palaces of Jade Capital City, lead-gray clouds hung oppressively low.

In a prominent corner of the Imperial Palace, the 533-zhang-high Observatory pierced the sea of clouds. A gilded bronze Celestial Sphere Instrument turned slowly amidst the clouds, its star patterns of the Twenty-Eight Constellations glowing faintly in the gloom.

The body of the tower was carved from a single block of Kunlun Profound Jade. On nights of thunder and rain, flashes of lightning would reveal the countless talismans covering the massive tower. These were Spirit-Suppressing Talismans, inscribed by eight hundred sorcerers of the previous dynasty using their own blood as ink.

Though it possessed no special power at first, after being baptized day and night by thunderstorms and devouring the fortune of the Great Zhou, it eventually began to emit a strange, lingering glow.

In the great hall, the Empress’s withered fingers traced the armrest of her throne. The Five-Clawed Golden Dragon on the thousand-year-old Zitan wood had been worn so smooth that its scales were blurred.

In the hall supported by twelve Coiling Dragon Golden Pillars, bronze crane lamps exhaled curling wisps of green smoke, yet they could not dispel the stench of decay lingering below the imperial dais.

The aura of twilight emanating from the Empress could no longer be contained, and it saturated the entire hall.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the Incense and Candle Sect, as indicated by the Celestial Calculation Atlas, has set up the Blood Lotus Array in the key prefectures of the Six Paths."

The Supervisor of the Astronomical Bureau, Guo Lang, was prostrated on the ice-crackle patterned golden bricks, cold sweat seeping from the back of his neck and soaking the peacock rank badge on his robes.

"Since the ice and snow melted at the start of spring, the Incense and Candle Sect has accumulated sacrifices in Yanbei Dao’s Wuzhou, Cangzhou, and Qingzhou; Jiangnan Dao’s Jianzhou and Yangzhou; Jian Nan Dao’s Yizhou and Kuizhou; Lingnan Dao’s Yongzhou and Yazhou; and Mosenan Dao’s Shengzhou and Fengzhou. The total number of sacrifices is..."

At this point, Guo Lang’s voice failed him, and he couldn’t force the final words from his throat.

"The number."

The Empress’s voice sounded as if it had been filtered through a set of bronze chimes, carrying a raspy, metallic scraping. The heavy aura of twilight seemed to affect the entire hall, accelerating its decay.

Guo Lang’s Adam’s apple bobbed. "Over twelve million people."

From behind the mica screen came the sound of a fingernail scraping against a Jade Pendant.

The Empress leaned against a soft pillow studded with Dongzhu pearls. The nine-tasseled crown nestled in her white hair swayed slightly, the clinking of its beaded tassels carrying an impatient, anxious rhythm.

"Not enough. Still not enough."

These words escaping the Empress’s lips sent a chill down Guo Lang’s spine.

He didn’t dare look up. His gaze was fixed on the wave patterns at the hem of the Empress’s Dragon Robe. Amidst the waves embroidered with golden thread, he could faintly make out a face aged to the extreme.

"The sacrificial progress in Shengzhou of Mosenan Dao has slowed by seventy percent."

The Empress suddenly leaned forward, her face, shriveled like tree bark, visible between the gaps of her crown’s tassels. "Dear Minister Guo, do you know why?"

Guo Lang’s heart jolted. He instantly understood that the Empress had other channels for information and quickly replied.

"Your Majesty, the Inspector of Shengzhou died suddenly last month. The new Inspector has gathered the Prefecture Army and is moving against the Incense and Candle Sect..."

"Issue a decree."

The Empress’s voice, cutting him off, was suddenly sharp. "All males in Shengzhou aged seventeen and over are to be used as blood sacrifices. Have the Profound Armor Guard oversee the construction of a mass grave."

Her voice suddenly softened as she said lightly, "The people of Shengzhou are of mixed stock and different from us of the Great Zhou anyway. It’s fine to kill them all."

The rhythm of her knuckles tapping on the armrest resonated with the bronze bells chiming from the Observatory outside. "Tell that Ming Venerable of the Incense and Candle Sect that if he can’t gather thirty-six million living souls by the seventh day of next month, I will have the National Guardian Cauldron refine his Incense Fire Golden Body."

Guo Lang pressed his forehead tightly to the floor.

A chill seeped from the cracks between the golden bricks, creeping up his nose and into his skull. He suddenly remembered three years ago, in a secret chamber of the Observatory. He had personally arranged for three hundred boys and girls to be cast alive into the base of the Celestial Sphere Instrument. Their screams, mingled with the bubbling of molten bronze, had become a grotesque Buddhist Chanting.

A trace of regret arose in Guo Lang’s heart.

’But at this point, he couldn’t back down.’

"Your Majesty, the Blood Sacrifice Technique in the previous dynasty..."

"Those good-for-nothings from the previous dynasty couldn’t even sever a sleeping Dragon Vein! The Great Li Dynasty’s blood sacrifice failed, but does that mean my Great Zhou can’t succeed?"

The Empress shot to her feet. The twelve panels of her gold-woven skirt swept a teacup from the table. As the Yue Kiln Secret-Color Porcelain shattered, the dregs of the tea within revealed a scarlet hue.

She stepped out from behind the screen, her withered eyes locking onto Guo Lang.

"What I want is the complete reawakening of the Heaven and Earth Primordial Spirit, the reopening of the Spirit Core that was sealed eight hundred years ago! Don’t those Mortal Martial Sects love to watch from the sidelines? Order the Incense and Candle Sect to find a way to blow up Dragon Tiger Mountain’s Taiyi Cave and Mituo Temple’s Dharma Cave for me! Taint them with the aura of the blood sacrifice. Let them experience for themselves the sight of the Heaven and Earth Primordial Spirit’s return. Then, they will naturally know what to do."

A sudden clap of thunder exploded outside the hall.

As she said this, a strange and inexplicable smile appeared on the Empress’s face.

"Those old undying bastards are even more anxious than I am."

His Heart and Spirit trembling, Guo Lang glimpsed the faint, scale-like patterns appearing beneath the Empress’s Dragon Robe.

A sign of the mutations caused by taking the Longevity Pill.

His heart skipped a beat, but after hearing the Empress’s words, he felt a terror that shook him to his core.

"Your Majesty, please reconsider!" Guo Lang finally looked up, only to see the Empress caressing her cheek in front of a bronze mirror behind the screen.

The mirror clearly reflected a beautiful young woman, but when he blinked, the image reverted to her withered, white-haired form.

"The Taiyi Cave and the Dharma Cave are places nourished by the Ancestral Masters of the two sects for generations. They have long since harbored Divine Spirits, no different from that Ming Venerable. If the Six Great Sects join forces to retaliate..."

"You don’t understand..."

The Empress lowered her hand from her cheek. A strand of pure white Essence Qi, clearly visible to the naked eye, coiled around her fingertips, drawing a breath of energy from a scarlet basin of blood beside the bronze mirror and absorbing it into her body.

Guo Lang saw it clearly, and his thoughts descended into chaos.

’When? The Empress... she’s become a Nine Realms Qi Cultivation Supreme Grandmaster.’

The Empress continued, "Once they get a taste of it, those old relics on the verge of death won’t stop it. On the contrary, they’ll secretly fan the flames. Did you think the Six Top Sects never came to ask me when the Incense and Candle Sect first stirred up trouble in Wuzhou as a test? They asked. They knew. The moment they spouted righteousness and morality with their mouths but chose to stand by and do nothing, I knew... they are the same kind of people as I!"

She turned her head to look down at the prostrated Guo Lang, who quickly buried his face again.

"Dear Minister Guo." The Empress’s voice suddenly became ethereal, and her white hair turned black at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"What I have always wanted was never the empire."

The Empress’s wrinkles were fading, but her voice grew ever more ancient. "When those Cultivators sealed the last remaining Spirit Vein eight hundred years ago, they should have expected this day would come. If I don’t do it, someone else will."

Looking at the trembling Guo Lang, the Empress said lightly, "Today’s troubles are a trifling illness. When the Heaven and Earth Primordial Spirit reawakens and I can live another life, the Great Zhou will naturally reach its zenith. All that is being done now are merely birth pangs."