Imperial Preceptor's wife had also come to the Temple of Heaven. As she watched Qin Mu return the sword to its sheath and Emperor Yanfeng focus on his back, worry crossed his young woman's brow.
The bloody battle was soon pacified. Those monks and Daoists of Great Thunderclap Monastery and Dao Sect that could escape had escaped while the rest had been killed. The majority of them had died here, and their blood dyed the Temple of Heaven red.
Blood trickled down from the nine hundred and ninety-ninth step all the way to the first step, then flowed to the feet of all the envoys, cult masters, and sect masters.
Temple of Heaven, this place in which tributes were offered to Heaven, had been dyed the red of blood.
It was impossible to say who was the first to suddenly kneel down and shout out, "Long live, Your Majesty!"
Whoosh!
At the bottom of the Temple of Heaven, no matter if they were officials, envoys, sect masters or cult masters, they all knelt down on one knee and shouted in unison, "Long live, Your Majesty!"
Emperor Yanfeng turned around while standing at the top of the stairs. He spread his arms and faced the worship of these subjects. After a moment, he raised his hands weakly and said, "Rise."
Imperial Preceptor's wife looked at Emperor Yanfeng. Behind him, Qin Mu and the eight great supervisors were also standing on top of the Temple of Heaven and didn't kneel down.
"Husband, it might not be a good thing for Cult Master Qin to show off his ability," she whispered to Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor.
He took a glance at Qin Mu and shook his head. "To him, Eternal Peace Empire is just a place to learn through experience, so killing the crown prince is also merely an experience. He doesn't have much to worry about, and the emperor does need his support in many places."
Imperial Preceptor's wife was astonished. "Experience?"
Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor nodded. "Experience."
The crown prince colluded with Dao Sect and Great Thunderclap Monastery to plan a rebellion, conspiring to murder the emperor and seize the throne. The consequences of these actions were no small matter.
Yet in the records of the scribes, there would only be an ordinary sentence which said, "On the eighteenth of the second month, Crown Prince Yuxia conspired to rebel. Sixth of the third month, executed."
It was this simple. The details regarding this were not for outsiders to know. That's why most of the stories would only appear in history as popular legends. However, most of them were distorted truths so they couldn't be trusted.
After the rebellion came a bloody purge. The officials of the crown princes had their properties seized and families executed. The Daoists and monks from Dao Sect and Great Thunderclap Monastery were detained in custody and sent to the execution grounds.
Executions were carried out in the food market all the way from the seventh of the third month to the first of the fourth month. Only then did the executions end.
Some incidents also happened in the meantime; for example, the crown prince's head was not found.
It had vanished without a trace, and no matter how everyone searched the surroundings of the Temple of Heaven, the head couldn't be found. In the end, Emperor Yanfeng never ordered anyone to dig into it.
The emperor instead passed down his decree to rid Crown Prince Ling Yuxia's name from the Imperial Family's genealogical record. The crown prince's birth mother, the previous empress who was already deceased, was also demoted to an imperial concubine.
Emperor Yanfeng then replaced the officials and selected a few younger imperial scholars from Imperial College to promote. He also selected capable people from each and every army to replenish the empty official positions.
A few days later, the emperor summoned Second Prince Ling Yushu back from the borders to talk about his duties. After a few more days, the emperor felt his body slightly ill and conferred Ling Yushu as the crown prince, to supervise the empire and manage all the politics.
Emperor Yanfeng summoned Crown Prince Ling Yushi and asked him."Yushi, now that you're managing the politics, what's the first thing you have to do?"
He didn't view highly this second son of his. Ling Yushu wasn't considered outstanding among his children. Among all of them, he wasn't the one with the greatest resolution and his aptitude wasn't the most outstanding, either. For those two things, he had admired Ling Yuxia very much. That child had had the resolution, courage, and aptitude; however, he was too bold and too resolute.
Meanwhile, his other elder sons had died too early while waiting for him to step away.
Ling Yushu pondered for a moment. He had just returned from the battlefield and the few months of experience had given him a pressing heroic spirit and some decisiveness.
Because he was not in the capital city when Ling Yuxia had colluded with Great Thunderclap Monastery and Dao Sect to rebel, he had escaped unscathed.
Ling Yushi said solemnly, "Son will abolish big brother's…"
Emperor Yanfeng's expression sunk. "You're the eldest son now, I don't have a son like him."
Ling Yushu paused for a while, then said, "Son will abolish the treaties he had signed with the foreign countries and take back the land we have given away. I'll then purge those sects that had tried to swallow the lands during the chaos. Seeing how Dao Sect and Great Thunderclap Monastery have suffered such a defeat and lost a great number of experts, I will take back more than half of the lands that belong to Dao Sect and Great Thunderclap Monastery."
Emperor Yanfeng's expression softened, and he asked, "Then?"
"I will help father send disaster relief, but before that, I will first write down a decree of my crimes…"
Emperor Yanfeng suddenly burst in anger and shouted out, "Say it once more!"
Ling Yushu bowed and said solemnly, "I will first write down a decree of my crimes and pray for Heaven to not send any more disasters to appease the hearts of the citizens."
Emperor Yanfeng's face was still grim when he said coldly, "Who taught you that?"
Ling Yushu was slightly stunned. "I…"
"I asked, who taught you that!" Emperor Yanfeng rose, unable to restrain his anger. As he walked to and fro, he shouted loudly, "You are my son, I know you inside out, and you are unable to say such things! These words aren't what the second prince would be considering, but something that could only be understood by standing at the position of the emperor. Say, who taught you that?"
Cold sweat broke out on Ling Yushu's forehead, and he suddenly gritted his teeth to say honestly, "When I returned to the capital, I went to visit Imperial Preceptor and coincidentally met Palace Grandee treating Imperial Preceptor's injuries. This son discussed with them about how father would enquire me about politics to test me, thus I asked them for ideas…"
Emperor Yanfeng's anger subsided, and he asked calmly, "Who was the one who suggests writing a decree of your crimes?"
"Both Imperial Preceptor and Palace Grandee said it. They said this calamity was the act of heavenly gods so why don't we go according to their will and plan slowly. If we go against them directly, we will only be defeated. For me to write a decree on my crimes is better than father writing it himself. If father writes a decree, it will mean you that deny the reform, but this son is the crown prince, so I can feign civility."
Emperor Yanfeng's expression softened and he sat down. "I know your abilities and wisdom, your courage and insight, so I know you wouldn't have thought about such things yet, that's why there was definitely someone who had taught you that, and that's why I acted angry. Even if I'm asking you about politics, there's no need to follow what they taught you, you have to say your own understanding as well."
Ling Yushu acknowledged.
Emperor Yanfeng sighed. "I'm not worried about Imperial Preceptor, but Palace Grandee. I'm afraid that when a day comes when Imperial Preceptor and I are no longer around, you won't be able to outdo him. Now that my cultivation is lost and my divine treasures are destroyed, it's hard for me to train my cultivation back, so I made you supervise this empire, manage all the politics. You should be cautious and conscientious. If I can't regain my cultivation back, my lifespan will at most be some fifty years. When that time comes, you will be the emperor. Broaden your horizons and also broaden your breadth of mind, think more by yourself."
And at this moment, on Saint Arrival Mountain of Heavenly Devil Cult, Qin Mu led all the hall masters, elders, and the rest of the cult to the graves of Heavenly King Qian and Heavenly King Lu. The latter had only left behind a pile of ashes while the former's body hadn't been found, so were buried in the grave were the clothes they had worn when they were alive.
Qin Mu went forward and placed Crown Prince Ling Yuxia's head in front of the graves, and everyone offered incense and paid their respects.
"Two heavenly kings, if your spirits can hear me, you can rest in peace now," Heavenly King Yu prayed. "Now that Heaven is sending disasters on us, troubled times and calamities are inevitable. Two heavenly king senior brothers, do protect our sacred cult."
After everyone paid their respects, they dispersed.
Heavenly King Yu came to Qin Mu's side and hesitated before asking, "Cult Master is still returning to Eternal Peace?"
Qin Mu nodded.
Heavenly King Yu was puzzled. "This time our sacred cult took Imperial Preceptor and killed the fake emperor as well as numerous strong practitioners of Dao Sect and Great Thunderclap Monastery, so I'm afraid that the emperor will be guarding against us. Isn't Cult Master worried about going back?"
Qin Mu looked at the gravestones of the two heavenly kings and said with a peaceful expression, "Dao Sect and Great Thunderclap Monastery are still around, so the most important thing for the emperor is to get rid of these two big sacred grounds. Without getting rid of them first, he won't lay a hand on our Heavenly Saint Cult. Only once he cleans up those will we need to be careful. As for now, there's no need to worry."
Heavenly King Yu thought over it and realized that it was indeed logical.
Qin Mu walked towards the sacred tree and gently touched its grain. Lifting his head up to look at the crown, he said, "The path of the saint is none other than the everyday use of common people. Heavenly King Yu, do you really think we can change the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth?"
Heavenly King Yu walked forward and said, "I'm naturally dumb and the question Cult Master asked is too profound, I'm afraid I'm unable to answer it. However, I know that there were no roads in the past, but as more people started walking, a road was formed. People then disliked having to walk in the mud when it started raining, and so they covered the roads with slabs of stone. The roads then became much easier to walk on. After that, people found walking slow, so they created wheels and vehicles, that's how horse carriages started to sprint through the roads. I think there was never a road for horse carriages, but after humans created it, there became a new addition to the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth."
Qin Mu was stunned.
Heavenly King Yu continued, "After that, people found horse carriages slow and created ships that could fly in the sky. They didn't have copper and gold, so they extracted them out from ores. Some letters were too far to be delivered, so they created flying mail. I think, as more and more things get created by the humans, the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth gradually increases as well."
Qin Mu was slightly in a daze. He saw that the sacred tree only had one trunk, but it branched out, and those branches had even more branches. While faced with that sight, he couldn't help revealing a smile.
"In the past, when winter came to the north, it was hard for them to eat fresh fruits and vegetables, but now that there are flying ships, the fruits and vegetables from the south can be transported to the north in a matter of days. In the past, there were inhospitable natural environments where demons roamed, now we can cast spells to change the terrain, transforming barren hills and wild rivers into verdant hills and limpid water. In the past, the lands were infertile and not many crops could be produced, but now we can transform infertile land into fertile land," Heavenly King Yu said.
"In the past, wind, rain, thunder, and lightning were meteorological phenomenon, but now people can control these things. Cult Master, have we changed the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth?"
Qin Mu nodded and smiled, "I think we have."
"Cult Master, I'm naturally dumb…"
"You aren't dumb at all!" Qin Mu broke him off and smiled. "Heavenly King Yu, you're a capable person, there's no need to always be so humble. What did you want to ask just now?"
"Cult Master said earlier that the emperor might make a move on our Heavenly Saint Cult after he eradicates the two big sacred grounds. I wonder if Cult Master has any countermeasures? Maybe Cult Master can also be an emperor…"
Qin Mu shook his head and said, "I won't. As long as what the emperor is doing is similar to our goals, it doesn't matter if I'm the emperor or not. Furthermore, Imperial Preceptor is now the fourth heavenly king of our sacred cult. If he doesn't meet with an accident, how would the emperor make a move on us? In addition, I'm afraid it won't be that easy to eradicate Dao Sect and Great Thunderclap Monastery. Don't think too much, I've come to Eternal Peace just for experience and cultivation."
Imperial Preceptor's wife had also come to the Temple of Heaven. As she watched Qin Mu return the sword to its sheath and Emperor Yanfeng focus on his back, worry crossed his young woman's brow.
The bloody battle was soon pacified. Those monks and Daoists of Great Thunderclap Monastery and Dao Sect that could escape had escaped while the rest had been killed. The majority of them had died here, and their blood dyed the Temple of Heaven red.
Blood trickled down from the nine hundred and ninety-ninth step all the way to the first step, then flowed to the feet of all the envoys, cult masters, and sect masters.
Temple of Heaven, this place in which tributes were offered to Heaven, had been dyed the red of blood.
It was impossible to say who was the first to suddenly kneel down and shout out, "Long live, Your Majesty!"
Whoosh!
At the bottom of the Temple of Heaven, no matter if they were officials, envoys, sect masters or cult masters, they all knelt down on one knee and shouted in unison, "Long live, Your Majesty!"
Emperor Yanfeng turned around while standing at the top of the stairs. He spread his arms and faced the worship of these subjects. After a moment, he raised his hands weakly and said, "Rise."
Imperial Preceptor's wife looked at Emperor Yanfeng. Behind him, Qin Mu and the eight great supervisors were also standing on top of the Temple of Heaven and didn't kneel down.
"Husband, it might not be a good thing for Cult Master Qin to show off his ability," she whispered to Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor.
He took a glance at Qin Mu and shook his head. "To him, Eternal Peace Empire is just a place to learn through experience, so killing the crown prince is also merely an experience. He doesn't have much to worry about, and the emperor does need his support in many places."
Imperial Preceptor's wife was astonished. "Experience?"
Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor nodded. "Experience."
The crown prince colluded with Dao Sect and Great Thunderclap Monastery to plan a rebellion, conspiring to murder the emperor and seize the throne. The consequences of these actions were no small matter.
Yet in the records of the scribes, there would only be an ordinary sentence which said, "On the eighteenth of the second month, Crown Prince Yuxia conspired to rebel. Sixth of the third month, executed."
It was this simple. The details regarding this were not for outsiders to know. That's why most of the stories would only appear in history as popular legends. However, most of them were distorted truths so they couldn't be trusted.
After the rebellion came a bloody purge. The officials of the crown princes had their properties seized and families executed. The Daoists and monks from Dao Sect and Great Thunderclap Monastery were detained in custody and sent to the execution grounds.
Executions were carried out in the food market all the way from the seventh of the third month to the first of the fourth month. Only then did the executions end.
Some incidents also happened in the meantime; for example, the crown prince's head was not found.
It had vanished without a trace, and no matter how everyone searched the surroundings of the Temple of Heaven, the head couldn't be found. In the end, Emperor Yanfeng never ordered anyone to dig into it.
The emperor instead passed down his decree to rid Crown Prince Ling Yuxia's name from the Imperial Family's genealogical record. The crown prince's birth mother, the previous empress who was already deceased, was also demoted to an imperial concubine.
Emperor Yanfeng then replaced the officials and selected a few younger imperial scholars from Imperial College to promote. He also selected capable people from each and every army to replenish the empty official positions.
A few days later, the emperor summoned Second Prince Ling Yushu back from the borders to talk about his duties. After a few more days, the emperor felt his body slightly ill and conferred Ling Yushu as the crown prince, to supervise the empire and manage all the politics.
Emperor Yanfeng summoned Crown Prince Ling Yushi and asked him."Yushi, now that you're managing the politics, what's the first thing you have to do?"
He didn't view highly this second son of his. Ling Yushu wasn't considered outstanding among his children. Among all of them, he wasn't the one with the greatest resolution and his aptitude wasn't the most outstanding, either. For those two things, he had admired Ling Yuxia very much. That child had had the resolution, courage, and aptitude; however, he was too bold and too resolute.
Meanwhile, his other elder sons had died too early while waiting for him to step away.
Ling Yushu pondered for a moment. He had just returned from the battlefield and the few months of experience had given him a pressing heroic spirit and some decisiveness.
Because he was not in the capital city when Ling Yuxia had colluded with Great Thunderclap Monastery and Dao Sect to rebel, he had escaped unscathed.
Ling Yushi said solemnly, "Son will abolish big brother's…"
Emperor Yanfeng's expression sunk. "You're the eldest son now, I don't have a son like him."
Ling Yushu paused for a while, then said, "Son will abolish the treaties he had signed with the foreign countries and take back the land we have given away. I'll then purge those sects that had tried to swallow the lands during the chaos. Seeing how Dao Sect and Great Thunderclap Monastery have suffered such a defeat and lost a great number of experts, I will take back more than half of the lands that belong to Dao Sect and Great Thunderclap Monastery."
Emperor Yanfeng's expression softened, and he asked, "Then?"
"I will help father send disaster relief, but before that, I will first write down a decree of my crimes…"
Emperor Yanfeng suddenly burst in anger and shouted out, "Say it once more!"
Ling Yushu bowed and said solemnly, "I will first write down a decree of my crimes and pray for Heaven to not send any more disasters to appease the hearts of the citizens."
Emperor Yanfeng's face was still grim when he said coldly, "Who taught you that?"
Ling Yushu was slightly stunned. "I…"
"I asked, who taught you that!" Emperor Yanfeng rose, unable to restrain his anger. As he walked to and fro, he shouted loudly, "You are my son, I know you inside out, and you are unable to say such things! These words aren't what the second prince would be considering, but something that could only be understood by standing at the position of the emperor. Say, who taught you that?"
Cold sweat broke out on Ling Yushu's forehead, and he suddenly gritted his teeth to say honestly, "When I returned to the capital, I went to visit Imperial Preceptor and coincidentally met Palace Grandee treating Imperial Preceptor's injuries. This son discussed with them about how father would enquire me about politics to test me, thus I asked them for ideas…"
Emperor Yanfeng's anger subsided, and he asked calmly, "Who was the one who suggests writing a decree of your crimes?"
"Both Imperial Preceptor and Palace Grandee said it. They said this calamity was the act of heavenly gods so why don't we go according to their will and plan slowly. If we go against them directly, we will only be defeated. For me to write a decree on my crimes is better than father writing it himself. If father writes a decree, it will mean you that deny the reform, but this son is the crown prince, so I can feign civility."
Emperor Yanfeng's expression softened and he sat down. "I know your abilities and wisdom, your courage and insight, so I know you wouldn't have thought about such things yet, that's why there was definitely someone who had taught you that, and that's why I acted angry. Even if I'm asking you about politics, there's no need to follow what they taught you, you have to say your own understanding as well."
Ling Yushu acknowledged.
Emperor Yanfeng sighed. "I'm not worried about Imperial Preceptor, but Palace Grandee. I'm afraid that when a day comes when Imperial Preceptor and I are no longer around, you won't be able to outdo him. Now that my cultivation is lost and my divine treasures are destroyed, it's hard for me to train my cultivation back, so I made you supervise this empire, manage all the politics. You should be cautious and conscientious. If I can't regain my cultivation back, my lifespan will at most be some fifty years. When that time comes, you will be the emperor. Broaden your horizons and also broaden your breadth of mind, think more by yourself."
And at this moment, on Saint Arrival Mountain of Heavenly Devil Cult, Qin Mu led all the hall masters, elders, and the rest of the cult to the graves of Heavenly King Qian and Heavenly King Lu. The latter had only left behind a pile of ashes while the former's body hadn't been found, so were buried in the grave were the clothes they had worn when they were alive.
Qin Mu went forward and placed Crown Prince Ling Yuxia's head in front of the graves, and everyone offered incense and paid their respects.
"Two heavenly kings, if your spirits can hear me, you can rest in peace now," Heavenly King Yu prayed. "Now that Heaven is sending disasters on us, troubled times and calamities are inevitable. Two heavenly king senior brothers, do protect our sacred cult."
After everyone paid their respects, they dispersed.
Heavenly King Yu came to Qin Mu's side and hesitated before asking, "Cult Master is still returning to Eternal Peace?"
Qin Mu nodded.
Heavenly King Yu was puzzled. "This time our sacred cult took Imperial Preceptor and killed the fake emperor as well as numerous strong practitioners of Dao Sect and Great Thunderclap Monastery, so I'm afraid that the emperor will be guarding against us. Isn't Cult Master worried about going back?"
Qin Mu looked at the gravestones of the two heavenly kings and said with a peaceful expression, "Dao Sect and Great Thunderclap Monastery are still around, so the most important thing for the emperor is to get rid of these two big sacred grounds. Without getting rid of them first, he won't lay a hand on our Heavenly Saint Cult. Only once he cleans up those will we need to be careful. As for now, there's no need to worry."
Heavenly King Yu thought over it and realized that it was indeed logical.
Qin Mu walked towards the sacred tree and gently touched its grain. Lifting his head up to look at the crown, he said, "The path of the saint is none other than the everyday use of common people. Heavenly King Yu, do you really think we can change the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth?"
Heavenly King Yu walked forward and said, "I'm naturally dumb and the question Cult Master asked is too profound, I'm afraid I'm unable to answer it. However, I know that there were no roads in the past, but as more people started walking, a road was formed. People then disliked having to walk in the mud when it started raining, and so they covered the roads with slabs of stone. The roads then became much easier to walk on. After that, people found walking slow, so they created wheels and vehicles, that's how horse carriages started to sprint through the roads. I think there was never a road for horse carriages, but after humans created it, there became a new addition to the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth."
Qin Mu was stunned.
Heavenly King Yu continued, "After that, people found horse carriages slow and created ships that could fly in the sky. They didn't have copper and gold, so they extracted them out from ores. Some letters were too far to be delivered, so they created flying mail. I think, as more and more things get created by the humans, the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth gradually increases as well."
Qin Mu was slightly in a daze. He saw that the sacred tree only had one trunk, but it branched out, and those branches had even more branches. While faced with that sight, he couldn't help revealing a smile.
"In the past, when winter came to the north, it was hard for them to eat fresh fruits and vegetables, but now that there are flying ships, the fruits and vegetables from the south can be transported to the north in a matter of days. In the past, there were inhospitable natural environments where demons roamed, now we can cast spells to change the terrain, transforming barren hills and wild rivers into verdant hills and limpid water. In the past, the lands were infertile and not many crops could be produced, but now we can transform infertile land into fertile land," Heavenly King Yu said.
"In the past, wind, rain, thunder, and lightning were meteorological phenomenon, but now people can control these things. Cult Master, have we changed the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth?"
Qin Mu nodded and smiled, "I think we have."
"Cult Master, I'm naturally dumb…"
"You aren't dumb at all!" Qin Mu broke him off and smiled. "Heavenly King Yu, you're a capable person, there's no need to always be so humble. What did you want to ask just now?"
"Cult Master said earlier that the emperor might make a move on our Heavenly Saint Cult after he eradicates the two big sacred grounds. I wonder if Cult Master has any countermeasures? Maybe Cult Master can also be an emperor…"
Qin Mu shook his head and said, "I won't. As long as what the emperor is doing is similar to our goals, it doesn't matter if I'm the emperor or not. Furthermore, Imperial Preceptor is now the fourth heavenly king of our sacred cult. If he doesn't meet with an accident, how would the emperor make a move on us? In addition, I'm afraid it won't be that easy to eradicate Dao Sect and Great Thunderclap Monastery. Don't think too much, I've come to Eternal Peace just for experience and cultivation."
