FIGHTING THE GODS, VOLUME 9 - Season 19 Episode 95

The front of the main hall was brimming with heavenly aura.

Every guard stationed in this area was a towering presence that could cower even a realm king to submission.

For a second, space itself froze when Yun Che stepped into the main hall.

Rumble!

Then, every person within sight dropped to one knee and saluted Yun Che.

“Welcome back, Your Majesty!”

“He who grasps the heavens with his bare hands and unites the four divine regions! May his power be unrivaled, his domination be unending, his rule to hold strong for eons, and his memory to last for evermore!”

The air shook, and heaven and earth themselves trembled before their cry.

However, Yun Wuxin’s reaction toward the paean was nervousness, shock and… second-hand embarrassment?

Yun Che shot his daughter a glance before lowering his voice, “Wuyao, who the heck is the one who made this paean?”

“I did, of course,” Chi Wuyao replied. “Is it not to your fancy?”

“~！@#￥%…” Chi Wuyao was without a doubt the shrewdest and scariest woman he ever met.

However, the paean she wrote was so embarrassing that he felt like something was crawling on his scalp even now.

To give a comparison, he felt as if he had gone from Great Emperor of the God Realm all the way down to a… clown.

To think… that she would have a weak point like this.

“It’s not that I dislike it,” Yun Che chose his words carefully, “I just think that this is the kind of stuff a mortal emperor would enjoy, not I—us.”

“… I see. I understand.” Chi Wuyao dipped her head a little at the same time she groaned in her mind:

Was it really that bad…?

It was at this moment everyone felt an aura speed toward the main hall. It belonged to none other than Cang Shitian.

The second he sensed Yun Che’s presence, he immediately withdrew his profound energy and imperial aura to a harmless degree. His posture was already half-bent into a bow before his feet could touch the floor.

Thump!

Finally, Cang Shitian sank to his knees and declared, “Cang Shitian greets the Great Emperor and the Empress! He who grasps the heavens with his bare hands and unites the four divine regions! May his power be unrivaled, his domination be—”

“That’s enough.” Yun Che’s scalp was tingling again.

“Huh?” Caught off guard, Cang Shitian looked up and saw something unexpected. It was a nervous-looking Yun Wuxin clinging to Yun Che’s left arm tight enough to break bones.

The fact that Emperor Yun had brought this woman to the first court he held since months spoke volumes about their relationship. That they were acting cozy right in front of the Empress spoke even more!

Not one to miss an obvious hint, Cang Shitian immediately bowed again before crying, “Congratulations to Emperor Yun for finding another concubine! She is as pretty as a sculpture by heaven’s hands, as dignified as a fairy, and a perfect match with—”

“She is my daughter,” Yun Che cut him off coldly.

Cang Shitian’s paean died in his throat. Then, he slapped his own face with everything he had before prostrating himself completely before Yun Che. He spoke in a trembling voice, “I have committed a grave offense. I ask Your Majesty… and Your Highness to hand out my punishment.”

“Hmph!” Yun Che stepped forward with a cold look in his eyes. “Cang Shitian, you and I both know what a capable man you are, and it has been months since I traveled to the lower realms to accompany my wives and daughter. Are you really telling me that you have no idea about their existence at all!?”

“Your Majesty,” Cang Shitian looked fearful, but his eyes spoke otherwise and with surprising honesty. “I pride myself on being your keenest mad dog. For Your Majesty, I will gladly fondle even the darkest and filthiest secrets of them all.”

“However, the opposite is equally true. What Your Majesty doesn’t wish for others to know, I will never know even if I am equipped with a thousand times the ability and a million times the courage! And I most certainly will not allow others to know about it!”

Cang Shitian had almost shouted his declaration.

Forget Yun Che and Chi Wuyao, even the guards stationed outside the hall could hear him clearly.

Cang Shitian had to be the first king realm God Emperor ever to walk over himself so thoroughly to show his loyalty.

Even Yun Wuxin could only stare at him in utter shock.

Yun Che shot Cang Shitian a long look before turning away. “Come. We will speak inside.”

Nearly every palace in Emperor Yun City possessed an independent space of their own, meaning that they were much larger than they appeared on the outside. This was especially true for the heart of the city, the great hall.

Right now, Yun Che was sitting on his throne—the seat of power that represented the highest authority in the entire Primal Chaos—and listening quietly to Cang Shitian’s reports in the great hall. Just like Chi Wuyao had informed him earlier, Cang Shitian spoke mostly about the recent, important happenings of the three divine regions and the progress of the Enforcer Bureau.

He had resolved himself to perform his responsibilities… if he were to be honest with himself, he was extremely uncomfortable with serious scenes like this.

“… in the past one hundred days, there have been 1923 rebellion cases in total across all three divine regions. Half of them occurred in the Western Divine Region, 35% in the Eastern Divine Region, and 15% in the Southern Divine Region.”

“If I were to categorize them by scale, 1921 of them were small-scale rebellions, and only two were big-scale rebellions. They were all quelled within six days. In descending order, the strongest rebel was 1 Divine Sovereign, 13 Divine Kings, 101 Divine Spirits, and the rest were below Divine Spirit Realm.”

The numbers were much smaller than Yun Che had anticipated, but ultimately unsurprising.

There was no such thing as a perfectly smooth transition to a new regime, much less an era. Moreover, the three Divine Regions’ prejudice toward darkness in general had been cultivated for literally a million years. It was only natural that someone would remain firm in their beliefs and fight to the bitter end.

However, the strongest powers in the universe had already submitted to Yun Che’s rule. These rebellions could be a thousand times greater, and they still wouldn’t be able to threaten him one bit.

Moreover, the stronger a profound practitioner, and the higher they stood in the world, the more they would realize just how stupid it was to even try to defy Yun Che’s momentum.

It was why the strongest profound practitioners who participated in the past 100 days of rebellions were only one Divine Sovereign and thirteen Divine Kings.

“How do you plan to deal with these people?” Yun Che asked.

Cang Shitian replied, “I plan to obey the Empress’ wisdom. She has commanded that I exterminate ninety percent of the culprits and their three families, cripple the remaining ten percent, and pardon between ten to a hundred of them.” [1]

He then added, “Besides that, we have also taken control of the clans and sects that don’t fall under the three families that are set to be exterminated, but are still linked to them. It is the same for those who were crippled or pardoned. We are absolutely certain that not a single person has slipped past our notice. On that note, are there any changes you wish for me to make, Your Majesty?”

“It is fine,” Yun Che replied, “you may simply obey the Empress’ wisdom.”

Beside Yun Che, Yun Wuxin couldn’t help but stick out her tongue in secret.

She was understanding more and more just how much responsibility her “Auntie Wuyao” was saddled with. Her title might be Empress, but she was carrying out all the responsibilities of the Great Emperor.

“I am unsurprised that the majority of the rebellions have occurred in the Western Divine Region. However, I am surprised that the rebellions in the Southern Divine Region don’t even exceed twenty percent.” Yun Che scrunched his eyebrows into an ominous frown. “Are you sure the numbers are correct?”

Cang Shitian replied immediately and without hesitation, “Your Majesty is wise. I may be native to the Southern Divine Region, but I pride myself on being able to serve Your Majesty. I would never dare to obfuscate the truth on behalf of the Southern Divine Region.”

“Your Majesty, the Eastern Divine Region is the one that suffered the most lives lost during your overturning of the previous order. Therefore, a small half of the eastern region rebels were motivated by their desire to take revenge for their sects or their families.”

“However, back when Shuhe… my apologies. Back when Consort Grace was still unmarried, she already knew everything there was to know regarding the Southern Divine Region. Today, all the information she collected has been woven into a great web that spans across every star realm in the Southern Divine Region.”

“As a result, most of the rebellions were destroyed before they ever had the chance to take form. That is why there is little to no rebellion to speak of in the Southern Divine Region.”

“Hmm?” Yun Che asked, “Cang Shuhe is that capable even when she was unable to take a step beyond her abode?”

Cang Shitian dipped his head slightly. “Consort Grace had meant to gift Shitian the web she spent thousands of years to weave. Now, it has been put to use for Your Majesty. If… if you have the time, I humbly request that Your Majesty to get to know Consort Grace better. I promise that she will not bring shame to the title you have granted her.”

“… is there anything else?” Yun Che asked.

“No, Your Majesty. My report is complete.”

Yun Che rose to his feet and declared, “If there is nothing else, then you may take your leave.”

“As you command.”

After Cang Shitian was gone, Chi Wuyao finally broke her silence and said, “What a perfect dog he is. It would be truly saddening if he were to suddenly disappear one day.”

“I got it already,” Yun Che replied helplessly, “I will find time to visit the Deep Sea Realm.”

“That would be best.” Chi Wuyao walked up to Yun Che before continuing, “By the way, there is something that I would like to speak with you about.”

“… just give it to me straight.” Knowing her, the more formal she acted, the less serious the matter she wanted to discuss was.

Chi Wuyao’s lips curled into a half-smile as she began, “Emperor Yun City is blessed with divine power and countless palaces, but the large majority of them are empty and unused. Don’t you think that it looks a bit lonely?”

“The construction of the Emperor Yun God Realm—that is the former Southern Sea God Realm—is progressing smoothly. When it reaches completion, the core alone will span fifty thousand kilometers. The entire region will be your private domain.”

“Thousands of temporary imperial residences have been built across all four Divine Regions as well.”

“All this is fine and well, but there is one thing that desperately needs you to personally remedy, and that is your harem. As the first great emperor of the Primal Chaos, your consorts and your attendants combined don’t even exceed two dozen. Meanwhile, a lower realm king easily has three thousand concubines in his harem.”

Yun Che: “…”

Yun Wuxin: “……”

Chi Wuyao continued, “The failure is of course my responsibility. I don’t fear the backbiting of mortal men, but the stain on Your Majesty’s dignity cannot be allowed—”

“Stop! Stop!” Yun Che hurriedly raised his hands to stop Chi Wuyao. After shooting Yun Wuxin a guilty look, he replied, “We’ll talk about this later.”

Even before his coronation, Chi Wuyao had complained to him that his “small” harem was unbefitting his status. Since then similar conversations had happened enough times that he almost dreaded the thought of seeing her again.

The worst part was that she was completely serious about it. The fact that she pushed the Nine Witches, that she had spent unimaginable effort to raise, into his bed during the night of his coronation was proof of that.

“If there is a later, that must mean that Your Majesty does not reject the idea. That is good.” Chi Wuyao’s frown lessened a little, and her eyes twinkled like rippling water. “For the past few months, I have ordered the men to select nine thousand women of excellent background, talent and appearance. When you are free, simply—”

“AHEM HEM HEM!!” Yun Che turned his back on Yun Wuxin and winked at Chi Wuyao desperately. “WE’LL TALK ABOUT THIS LATER! LATER!!”

Seriousness aside, she was absolutely doing this to him on purpose. She was probably punishing him for fooling around his home planet and neglecting his duties for too long.

It was at this moment Yun Wuxin asked weakly, “Should… should I head out and explore on my own, father, Auntie Wuyao?”

Yun Che hurriedly caught her hand and said, “No, no, the aura of the God Realm and the lower realms is too different. I’ll take you wherever you wish to go, do not stray too far away from me.”

This was the first time Yun Wuxin had visited the God Realm. There was no way he was going to leave her to her own devices without good reason.

“Very well. We shall ‘talk about this later’.” It sounded like Chi Wuyao was letting him off the hook, but she added, “However, there is one other thing that I require your assistance with, Your Majesty.”

Yun Che watched her warily.

Chi Wuyao continued, “Our dark profound practitioners need your Eternal Calamity of Darkness to adjust their compatibility and be able to leave the Northern Divine Region freely. This is one task I cannot complete on your behalf, so if you may…”

Yun Che hid a sigh of relief before nodding. “I haven’t forgotten about that. Two months from now, I shall travel to the Northern Divine Region and grant my blessing. Moreover, I promise to rally the northern region profound practitioners and adjust their compatibility every decade.”

“Very well. I shall inform my people to make the necessary preparations.”

“Oh right,” Yun Che said suddenly, “how did that… matter I discussed with you go?”

“Oh. That.” Chi Wuyao paused for a second before smiling. “I wouldn’t be so lazy as to neglect a personal request you’ve made to me. If you are free, you can head over now and have a look yourself.”

He never worried that Chi Wuyao might mess up something. It was because she never failed to exceed his expectations.

He hesitated only for a short moment before passing his daughter to Chi Wuyao. “Wuxin, keep Auntie Wuyao company for a bit, will you? I’ll be back very soon.”