novelraw Chapter 713 713: Can You Bear Its Weight?
Chapter 713 713: Can You Bear Its Weight?
Heaven and Earth were utterly silent.
It was as if every sound had been suppressed by Qin Heng's palm strike!
The million-strong royal army of the Great Zhou Dynasty!
Cultivators of the Seventh Heavenly Layer of the Great Saint realm!!
Under Qin Heng's palm strike, they were instantly annihilated, turned into dust, and ceased to exist!
"Heavens! How is this possible!?"
"How could this be? How can there be someone so powerful!?"
"Qin Xuantian, Qin Xuantian is merely at the Innate Realm!"
Following the silence were successive screams of shock. The combat power displayed by Qin Heng was simply too astonishing!!
Earth-shattering!
At this moment, within the Palace of the Great Zhou capital, in front of the Son of Heaven's throne.
The Son of Heaven, Ji Yan, sat with his eyes closed, not uttering a word, as if calmly waiting for something.
This Son of Heaven was already considerably aged, his face deeply wrinkled like gullies. His cultivation as a Nine Heavens Great Saint and the majestic national destiny concentrated in his sovereign's throne had not granted him immortality; instead, they had accelerated his aging.
Since the battles for supremacy, the Deity had disappeared from the mortal realm, and as a consequence, Heavenly Fate itself had altered. Since King Da Yu's time, Human Kings were no longer just Human Kings but became Sons of Heaven—sons of Heaven, progeny of Heavenly Fate. Sons of Heaven could not attain immortality. Aside from that, there were many other restrictions.
A cultivator at the Nine Heavens of the Great Saint could theoretically live for more than nine thousand nine hundred years, yet Ji Yan, not even a hundred years old, was already nearing his end, looking as if he was about to be buried.
"Paying my respects to the Son of Heaven."
A Great Zhou military officer came into the royal hall, bowed respectfully, and said, "Son of Heaven, we have suffered a great defeat outside the city."
No one responded. Inside this grand palace hall, aside from the seated Son of Heaven, there was already no one else.
They had all run away. Whether civil or military, not a single person remained.
Qin Heng's previous display of power was too terrifying. Within the Great Zhou royal city, many powerful individuals, unable to even muster the thought to resist, had decided to flee at once!
Among them were quite a few Great Zhou Noblemen, of the Ji lineage.
Among these people were many Great Saints and Saints, so escaping was naturally not a difficult task. In just a few short minutes, most had already fled.
Qin Heng, outside, also took notice of this. However, he did not pay it any heed.
After a long while, the Son of Heaven of Great Zhou, Ji Yan, who seemed even more aged now, slowly opened his eyes. Looking at this young officer who appeared before him, he asked, "You, why did you not leave?"
"When I was about to starve to death, it was the Son of Heaven's army that fed me," the young officer replied. He looked to be just over thirty and was at the pinnacle of the Saint realm; his strength was not negligible.
"What is your name?" Ji Yan focused his attention on the young officer, scrutinizing him closely.
"Wu You," replied the young officer respectfully.
"Then, follow me to the ancestral temple," Ji Yan said as he stood up. His movements were very slow; his body trembled slightly, his limbs shook, and he seemed unsteady on his feet.
Wu You felt a chill in his heart upon seeing this.
This was a cultivator at the Nine Heavens of the Great Saint, holder of the sovereign throne, with the fortune of the Nine Provinces upon him—even comparable to a Saint King!
And now he looked just like an old man on the brink of decay!
Could it be… the Great Zhou Dynasty was truly at its end? Were the eight hundred years of the Zhou royal lineage going to end today?
Wu You fell silent. He knew this was not something he should think about. As Ji Yan moved towards the outside of the royal hall, he followed.
The Great Zhou ancestral temple. This was the most significant place in the entire Great Zhou Dynasty.
Ancestral temple sacrifices. A matter of national importance!
The residence of the ancestors; not the slightest sloppiness could be permitted.
In normal times, even the Son of Heaven himself would have to burn incense and bathe before entering the ancestral temple, performing all the proper rituals.
But today, Ji Yan had done nothing, not even straightened his robes, before he entered the ancestral temple.
Wu You waited outside. It wasn't long before Ji Yan walked out from the ancestral temple.
At this moment, the Son of Heaven's eyes were bloodshot, his face withered, and his skin as dry as old tree bark. He seemed much thinner, as if he could die at any moment.
"Son of Heaven, you!?" Wu You exclaimed, worried, and wanted to step forward to support him.
"I am unharmed," Ji Yan waved his hand. He looked towards the direction outside the Great Zhou capital city and said, "Let's go. Let's see just how great the Divine Skills of that person outside really are."
That person outside? Wu You was stunned at first. Then, an uncontainable fear filled his eyes, and his body began to tremble.
Earlier, when Qin Heng made his move, he was on the city wall watching the battle.
For Wu You, the immense momentum of a million valiant soldiers, the powerful might of a cultivator at the Seventh Heavenly Layer of the Great Saint, and that phoenix soaring to the sky—these were all overwhelmingly powerful, enough to suppress anything in the mortal realm.
But in front of that youth, who was like a Heavenly Emperor, they had all crumbled effortlessly. With just one palm strike, they were reduced to dust and ash!
Too strong! Too terrifying!!
"Are you afraid?" Ji Yan turned to look at Wu You and chuckled. "If you are afraid, you can stay here. It's no trouble for me to go alone."
"I will accompany the Son of Heaven!" Wu You declared, standing tall and suppressing his fear.
"Good!" Ji Yan nodded. He glanced back one last time at the ancestral temple and the eight massive bronze cauldrons behind it, then turned and walked out of the Great Zhou royal city.
…
In front of the Great Zhou royal city, the ground was now empty.
Qin Heng sat within the Nine Dragons Carriage, hovering on a golden auspicious cloud. His eyes were slightly closed, as if he had no intention to continue the fight, nor did he utter a word.
This made Lu Ziyi and the others beside him somewhat worried. Was it because the earlier attack was too draining, and he couldn't recover for the moment?
The other spectators had similar thoughts.
Some even considered whether to take advantage of the chaos for personal gain, or to kill Qin Xuantian directly, right here and now!
Many such thoughts swirled, but none were acted upon.
However, as the gates of the Great Zhou royal city boomed open, Qin Heng's eyes snapped open, and all such thoughts became moot.
Two terrifying auras! They collided in midair, creating an invisible tsunami that dispersed the clouds in the sky and caused distant mountains to rumble and even collapse. Without a single move being made, the event was already earth-shattering.
This shocked everyone.
"The Son of Heaven of Zhou, Ji Yan, who will later be known as King Nan of Zhou!"
"Such a terrifying aura! Is this the might of the Son of Heaven? This is too frightening! I... my whole body is trembling, yet I can't move at all!!"
"He hasn't even utilized the national destiny yet! Qin Xuantian, this time you are surely doomed!!"
Many whispered amongst themselves.
"Qin Heng, be careful!" Lu Ziyi said with great worry. "The Son of Heaven himself has reached the Nine Heavens of the Great Saint. If he combines the destiny of the Nine Provinces with his sovereign throne, he might be able to contend with a Saint King!!"
"He didn't come to fight me," Qin Heng said as he stepped down from the Nine Dragons Carriage. Standing on the auspicious cloud, he looked down at Ji Yan below and stated indifferently, "Son of Heaven of Zhou, you know that today you are going to die, right?"
"I know." The Son of Heaven, Ji Yan, nodded with surprising calm, even showing a faint smile. He looked at Qin Heng and said, "Years ago, Taigong Wang promised King Wen that Great Zhou would last eight hundred years. Now, that time is approaching its end. It's not surprising that it concludes here."
Following behind the Son of Heaven, Ji Yan, Wu You was stunned. He looked at the Son of Heaven before him with disbelief, utterly puzzled, completely unable to comprehend what he was trying to say.
Apart from Qin Heng, the others also didn't understand, all looking perplexedly at Ji Yan.
"Then this empire, and the weight of the Nine Cauldrons, ought to be mine to bear." Qin Heng nodded slightly. He and the Son of Heaven shared a strange, unspoken understanding that shocked the onlookers.
What's going on?
"Then I shall see for myself." Suddenly, Ji Yan drew the sword from Wu You's side and placed it against his own neck. His eyes were cold as he sneered, "The destiny of the Nine Provinces, the Son of Heaven's honor, eight hundred years of dynasty, the will of thirty-seven generations of kings—can you bear its weight!?"
As his words fell—the sword flashed! Ji Yan's head flew high, and blood spurted like a bolt of white silk, dyeing the sky red. A Great Saint had fallen! The universe mourned, and even the Laws seemed to weep!
BOOM!
The heavens and earth darkened as if night had fallen. Then, thunder roared, and a torrential rain poured down!
But Ji Yan's Divine Soul was not in his physical body. The moment his head flew off, the ancestral temple in the Great Zhou royal city suddenly blazed with light, and thirty beams of radiance shot up into the sky!
The kingly aura burst forth, imposing and overwhelming. In that instant, it was as if the thirty-seven generations of Great Zhou rulers had descended simultaneously, causing everything between heaven and earth to freeze!
Ji Yan had already entrusted his Divine Soul to the ancestral temple. He then blood-sacrificed himself, awakening the Power of Sacrifice accumulated over eight hundred years, gathering the collective will of thirty-seven generations of kings—including his own!
He intended to drag Qin Heng down into death with him!!!