Chapter 502: Three Generations of the Chen Family, Chen Tang is the Weakest
Since the Cataclysm, the imperial court had existed in name only. After the Cataclysm ended, Chen Shi had used swift and decisive means to annihilate the Yan Family, causing the Xia, Li, Zhang, and other Twelve Great Clans to act much more cautiously. To this day, they had still not rebuilt the Western Capital.
The officials who had originally been in the court, if they had survived, were scattered across the countryside.
Chen Tang traveled everywhere, trying to contact capable ministers from the court. As he journeyed, he saw that every province was in a state of economic decline, and there were even many rebel forces who had seized mountains to become kings, oppressing the common people. The common people's lives were not much better than during the Cataclysm.
"Your Ladyship is right. This chaos must be ended as soon as possible."
He arrived at Li County in Wanzhou Province, seeking several clerks from the Court of Judicial Review. Red Mountain Hall had gathered intelligence, saying that a few minor officials from the Court of Judicial Review lived in Li County, so he only needed to go and visit them.
He came to a tea stall outside the county, ordered a pot of tea, and said to the old man selling tea, "Esteemed Elder, I'm looking for someone. Is there a man named Shen Zhou here? He's around forty years old, originally an official in the Western Capital, and returned to his hometown during the Cataclysm."
At these words, everyone in the tea stall immediately looked at him.
The old tea seller chuckled and said, "Lord Chen, why are you looking for Shen Zhou? Shen Zhou isn't any major official; he's only a ninth-rank minor officer. Is that worth Lord Chen making a personal trip?"
Chen Tang raised an eyebrow, looked at the people in the tea stall, and said, "The Fei Family from Huzhou?"
The old tea seller carried a copper teapot, personally poured tea for him, and laughed, "Huzhou isn't far from Wanzhou; they're both provinces near the Five Great Lakes. Lord Chen has been running around these days, doing his utmost to win over court officials for the rebel Chen Shi. Now that you've come to Wanzhou, how could we, the Fei Family, as your neighbor, fail to offer you a proper reception? Otherwise, people would say we've lost our manners."
Chen Tang stared at the old tea seller and said, "Which Village Elder of the Fei Family are you, sir?"
"Fei Jiu."
The old tea seller sat across from him, smiled, and said, "This old man is unworthy, but I've had the misfortune of being the former Sect Leader of the Fei Family."
Chen Tang looked somewhat bewildered. "The Fei Family had to dispatch their former Sect Leader just to deal with me?"
Fei Jiu raised his teacup and said with a smile, "Lord Chen, your son wants to be the True King, which makes you the Emperor Father of the rebel. Capturing the Emperor Father warrants the dispatch of the former Sect Leader. It's not an overstep. We didn't come here solely to oppose Lord Chen, but rather to ask Lord Chen to give us a way out."
Chen Tang picked up his tea but didn't drink it. He said, "The Fei Family is one of the Thirteen Great Clans, with immense wealth and power. You possess the Eighteen Hells in the underworld and command countless ghost god armies. Why would the Fei Family need me to give them a way out?"
Fei Jiu said with a sincere expression, "Our Fei Family does not wish to fight the Chen Family to the death. What the Fei Family wants is not to be the True King. We can support Chen Shi as the True King. We can support the Chen family as the royal or even imperial family. Moreover, our Fei Family can support the Chen Family in attacking the other clans and help the Chen Family unify the world! Our Fei Family's disciples, and even the millions of ghost god armies in the underworld, can all be used by the Chen Family! The Fei Family only asks for one thing."
He drained his tea in one gulp, set down the cup, and said with an almost fawning smile, "That one thing is to maintain our Fei Family's current status, no more, no less. Lord Chen, isn't this request a modest one?"
In the tea stall, those Fei Family experts wore expressions of grief and indignation. The Fei Family was one of the lofty Thirteen Great Clans; when had they ever been so servile?
Using the lives of countless clansmen and the accumulation of millennia to help Chen Shi achieve his grand ambition, asking for nothing in return—this was already a tremendous humiliation for the Fei Family.
Chen Tang looked at the tea in his cup, a faint smile in his eyes. "I refuse."
Fei Jiu was slightly stunned.
All the Fei Family experts in the tea stall flew into a rage, rising to their feet, murderous intent surging.
Fei Jiu raised his hand to stop them, staring into Chen Tang's eyes. "Why?"
"The purpose of our uprising is to overthrow you all. If you all surrender, who are we going to fight?"
Chen Tang smiled and said, "An uprising is not a business deal, nor is it an invitation to a meal or a cup of tea. It's about eliminating the parasites that suck the blood of the common people, toppling those who sit high above, and venting the people's anger. If all of you surrender, how can we comfort the people of this world?"
Fei Jiu sighed and smiled faintly. "Back then, when your father made a scene in the Western Capital, the Thirteen Great Clans stepped in to stop him. I was the first to strike and defeat him. Our Thirteen Great Clans showed him the real world, and when he turned his head, he could see all the gods of the Upper Realm watching him."
He stared at Chen Tang. "Your father never told you about this, did he?"
Chen Tang said, "My father is safe and sound now. Is the Upper Realm still there?"
Fei Jiu struck out with a palm, an arc of light appearing behind his head, and immense magical power instantly enveloped Chen Tang!
The moment his Dao technique erupted, Chen Tang's Realm of Emptiness had already transformed into the Xuanwei Sword, blocking Fei Jiu's overwhelming magical power!
At the same time, his other hand retrieved a wooden box from the void. His five fingers swept across it rapidly, and with a *da* sound, the box opened. One cloth doll after another flew out from the box, transforming in mid-air into Talisman God Tianjis, each appearing like a celestial deity with eight arms, majestic and awe-inspiring.
Thirty-seven Talisman God Tianjis descended, and thirty-seven layers of the Ghost and God Domain overlapped, suppressing everything!
The dozens of Fei Family experts in the tea stall had just formed their formation when they were crushed by the Ghost and God Domain. All their magical power was completely unsummonable, and they were filled with shock.
Even Fei Jiu, a being who had cultivated to the pinnacle of the Great Ascension Realm, felt his power severely suppressed!
The Xuanwei Sword hissed as it pierced through his palm, impaling his hand, the tip of the sword pointing at his throat.
Just then, the earth shook with a great rumble. The entire area of Li County, spanning hundreds of *li*, was pulled by an immense force, plunging into darkness. The next moment, the entire Li County fell into the underworld!
"Chen Tang!"
All around, countless thick, enormous arms crawled out from deep within the earth, struggling to climb. Countless ghost gods were emerging from hell into the underworld!
Those ghost gods revealed their forms, their auras erupting, breaking through the suppression of the thirty-seven Talisman God Tianjis.
They were far too powerful. For thousands of years, they had gathered the incense offerings of countless ghost gods, and some Fei Family ghost gods had cultivated divine power far surpassing the Great Ascension Realm!
Among them, the underworld marshals and judges could already stand shoulder to shoulder with the strongest of the Great Ascension Realm.
This was a trap set specifically for Chen Tang, designed to capture the Chen Family's Emperor Father and make Chen Shi hesitate to act.
Fei Jiu immediately seized the opportunity to sidestep, dodging Chen Tang's Xuanwei Sword. The sword light left a bloody mark on his neck.
Chen Tang flipped his palm, and the Xuanwei Sword sliced off half of his palm. The sword light trembled, and in the next instant, everyone was surrounded by the light of the Xuanwei Sword. Within a hundred *li*, it was like an ocean of sword energy!
The technique he cultivated was the Mysterious Subtle Sword Scripture, one of the Ten Books of Cultivation. He rarely delved into other techniques, but the power of this one had been developed by him to its extreme!
Even though he was surrounded, he remained incredibly calm, as if it wasn't him who had fallen into the encirclement, but the Fei Family.
The crowd panicked and hurriedly defended against the sword energy coming from all directions, while Chen Tang pressed forward with his sword, engaging in almost close-quarters combat with Fei Jiu!
The two clashed at lightning speed. In an instant, Fei Jiu retreated a thousand *li*, passing beneath the ghost gods. Those ghost gods fumbled around, grabbing at Chen Tang, but their hands clashed with the sword light, and they were also afraid of hurting Fei Jiu.
Chen Tang's sword intent surged like a tidal wave, churning and unstoppable. He advanced a thousand *li*, then suddenly retracted his sword. The sword light tore open the void, and he shot through the rift, returning to the mortal world just before the ghost gods of the underworld could close in on him.
The thirty-seven Talisman God Tianjis had already slain the other Fei Family experts and flew over quickly, disappearing into the rift one after another.
Fei Jiu steadied himself and was about to stop him from escaping when his expression suddenly changed. A sword energy burst out from within his body, tearing open his chest.
Before he could even react, he saw sword energy after sword energy fly out from his chest, back, limbs, and all his bones. In an instant, his physical body and Primordial Spirit were riddled with holes!
Fei Jiu became a blood-soaked man, standing there, his face twisted with rage.
"Such fast swords! Chen Tang, you've already surpassed Chen Yindu from back then!"
He stood frozen, not daring to move.
Because if he moved even a little, he would shatter into pieces!
To injure him, a great expert of this caliber, to such a degree in such a short time—Chen Tang's strength was truly terrifying.
The Fei Family's ghost gods arrived but only saw Fei Jiu standing motionless. It was too late to intercept Chen Tang again.
"Don't touch me!"
Fei Jiu was covered in blood, cold sweat pouring from his forehead. He stared with wide eyes and shouted, "Help me suppress my injuries! I can't hold them anymore!"
If he couldn't suppress them, his body would explode, and he would die!
Those ghost gods quickly used their divine power to stabilize his injuries.
Fei Jiu breathed a sigh of relief and murmured to himself, "Chen Tang of the Chen Family... no weaker than the old demon Chen Yindu!"
In the mortal world, several more Fei Family experts gave chase but failed to stop Chen Tang. They exchanged a few moves with him, dodged his sword momentum, and when they looked again, Chen Tang was already gone, a cloud of dust in his wake.
They stared into the distance, each one horrified.
"Three generations of the Chen Family, and Chen Tang is the weakest... yet still not to be underestimated!"
Chen Tang had escaped with his life. He no longer dared to go empty-handed. Instead, he carried a wooden box with him wherever he went, never letting it leave his hand.
He traveled everywhere, searching for capable ministers and talented generals, and encountered several more assassination attempts from other clans. It was a narrow escape each time, but fortunately, he spotted danger early and fled quickly, never falling into a complete encirclement.
Autumn of the year 6648 of the Jiajing Era, the eighth day of the ninth month.
Chen Tang returned to Xinxiang and arrived at the Xinxiang provincial city.
This place had been renamed the Imperial Capital.
Back in the True King's Era, the Xinxiang provincial city was called the Imperial City, because the capital of the Western Ox New Continent was originally built here. It was later abandoned when the Cataclysm broke out.
There were rumors that the source of that Cataclysm was that cultivators at that time had dug up an immortal from an underground grotto-heaven. The moment the immortal came into contact with the outside world, it became corrupted. Other rumors said that a fairy maiden was undergoing her Tribulation Crossing here, attracting many onlookers. During her Tribulation Crossing, she became corrupted, turning into a Calamity. This caused tens of thousands of cultivators in the Imperial Capital to also become corrupted. Countless people died, and the True King was forced to relocate the capital.
However, the matter of the capital's relocation was too ancient, and no one knew the specific reason anymore.
But today, the Imperial Capital was decorated with lanterns and banners, filled with a festive and joyful atmosphere.
Chen Tang entered the Imperial Capital's city gate and saw piles of chrysanthemums lining both sides of the road, bright and vivid in their yellow hue. The tops of walls and corners were also adorned with chrysanthemums.
Suddenly, an ancient poem surged into his mind, humming in his throat, and gradually transformed into a deep, resonant voice that flew from his mouth.
"When autumn arrives on the eighth of the ninth month!
After my blossoms bloom, a hundred flowers are slain!
The sky-piercing fragrance permeates the capital!
The city is filled with golden armor!"
"This unchanging sky of the past sixteen thousand years is about to change!"