I stole divine power in Daxia

Chapter 516: Hundreds of Lights
The Hall of Supreme Harmony was decorated with lights and colorful lanterns.

The purple-robed court officials above the third rank and the princes and sons of the vassal states who were summoned to the capital, were dressed in auspicious robes, with rosy faces, looking like gods.

Starting from the hour of You, the palace maids danced round and round, as if this feast would never end.

Everyone smiled, toasted each other, and said auspicious words to the supreme ruler of the world sitting on the throne between dances.

However, when they saw the vacant throne below the three officials on the left hand side of the Great Xia Emperor, everyone's eyes were filled with worry, not knowing how the situation would end.

Of course it goes without saying who owns this position.

For today's banquet, except for the two generals on the left and right front lines who were unable to attend in person, all the most important court officials of Daxia were present in this hall.

At this time, the vacant thrones in the left and right hands of the Great Xia Emperor should be occupied by Zhou Tieyi and King Chongshan of the Qing Emperor's lineage.

King Chongshan claimed illness and could not come, but the emperor did not allow it and issued three imperial edicts in succession. It is estimated that King Chongshan will eventually enter the palace with the other foreign ministers at midnight.

The problem of King Chongshan is easy to solve. The lineage of Emperor Qing has been controlled by the emperors of Daxia for more than three hundred years. In the eyes of the people of the world, they have long been in the shape of the emperors of Daxia. They have even endured the change of their fiefdoms. The cancellation of the sacrifices to the Five Emperors today has become a foregone conclusion. The late banquet is already the most silent resistance.

However, King Chongshan is easy to appease, but the uncrowned saint under the Three Officials is not easy to appease. There is not even an imperial edict from the palace urging him to do so, because Zhou Tieyi is now too powerful to be eliminated.

Not only is he suspected to be the most mysterious of the Nine Ancient Gods, his mother is the seed of the Taoist sub-sage, and his Taoist partner Miaoyu has also achieved the unprecedented Taoist Xuanpin phase, and is nurturing the reincarnation of the Earth Mother. This is now a secret known to everyone in the world.

There are at least four sub-saints in one family, and this does not even include the strangeness of the Zhou family bloodline in the rumors.

Once it erupts, its power is unimaginable to anyone present. This is the true uncrowned saint who lives and dies with the country.

And now that this Marquis of Shengshi did not come to the grand court meeting, the Emperor of Daxia not only did not remove his seat, but also did not deal with the matter in a small way, but instead displayed it openly.

Many old hands naturally knew that today's banquet would either end with a reunion or be the first disaster of the new year.

So no matter how beautiful the dance in front of you is, or how delicious the wine in the glass is, it is tasteless.

As the hour of Xu approached and the new year was about to begin, the Queen Mother sent someone to report from Kunning Palace that the ladies and princesses were all ready and waiting outside the Noon Gate.

The Great Xia Emperor stood up and the banquet stopped. The Great Xia Emperor did not immediately start the banquet, but looked around and suddenly asked with a smile, "Who is the one who has not arrived yet?"

The ministers all looked solemn, not knowing what was going to happen. Would they question him in person and arrest him immediately, or would the Emperor of Great Xia be confident that he could smooth over this scene of discord between the monarch and his ministers.

If it is the latter, then it means that even when facing the Zhou family, which has four sub-saints, he still has the dominant power and is the well-deserved sun of the Great Xia Dynasty. The little thoughts in the hearts of the ministers will naturally dissipate.

"Your Majesty, it is Lord Zhou, the Marquis of Shengshi."

Su Xibi, who was standing next to him, had a loud voice, and the harmony between them could be heard by all the ministers.

His Majesty Daxia's smile faded, and he asked calmly, "Why doesn't he come?"

"Your Majesty, this year is very chaotic. Lord Zhou wants to ring the first bell of the New Year in Mingde Palace on New Year's Eve to pray for Your Majesty, the Queen Mother, and the people of the world. The Queen Mother is grateful for Lord Zhou's loyalty and his concern for the court and the world on such a festive occasion. Therefore, she has reserved a seat for Lord Zhou as a token of her favor. After Lord Zhou prays for Your Majesty, the Queen Mother, and the people of the world, he will come to participate in the grand sacrifice."

His Majesty the Great Xia nodded slightly, expressing his approval of this matter.

Then the ministers followed the imperial carriage to the White Jade Square at the Noon Gate, where they first met with officials of the fifth rank and above who had come to pay homage to the emperor and congratulate him, and the female relatives who were entertained at the Kunning Palace, and then headed together to the Altar of Land and Grain in the west.

They arrived at the Hall Halberd Gate outside the Altar of Land and Grain. Here, twenty-four gilded bronze halberds served as pillars, symbolizing the importance of the land and grain. The main priest, Ke Anran, wore sacrificial clothes and held a sacrificial knife, waiting outside the hall for the Emperor of Daxia to change into sacrificial clothes.

When the Emperor of Great Xia came out of the Ji Gate after changing into sacrificial clothes, although this was expected, many old Confucian ministers still felt dizzy and fainted on the ground. Some wanted to mumble a few words, but they were carried away by the quick-eyed and well-trained Yulin Guards, who hit them hard on the neck and knocked them unconscious.

Originally, the sacrificial robes of the Great Xia Emperor should have included twelve chapters, while the twelve chapters of the Great Xia Dynasty included 'the sun, the moon, the mountain, the river, the bodhi tree symbolizing the Buddha, the lotus symbolizing the Taoist master, the peach blossom symbolizing the Confucian saint, and the five patterns symbolizing the Five Emperors', which showed that the Taoist tradition of the Great Xia was derived from heaven and earth and inherited from the Three Saints and Five Emperors.

However, today's sacrificial clothing is more like a Taoist robe. It not only symbolizes the absence of the Three Saints and Five Emperors of Taoism, leaving only the sun and the moon, but also weaves layers of flowing sky like clouds from top to bottom, as if the entire sky is worn on the body, with only the sun and the moon at the highest, carried on the left and right shoulders.

The meaning of the Great Xia Emperor is self-evident. The most stubborn Confucians had already been cleared out when Tang Anshi was deposed. The Yulin Army was well prepared for today's sacrificial ceremony, so although there was a bit of noise, in the end no major chaos occurred.

"Your Majesty, the auspicious time is almost here."

Ke Anran said respectfully beside him.

The Great Xia Emperor took the sacrificial knife from Ke Anran, held it in his hand, turned to Ke Anran and smiled, "Are you worried that I will stop to deal with these old men and young men?"

If you cause trouble at such a critical moment, the Emperor of Daxia will be uneasy and will inevitably punish you severely.

However, Ke Anran could not answer like that. He cupped his hands and said, "I am just worried that I will miss the auspicious time."

The Great Xia Emperor laughed noncommittally and said, "It would be great if everyone in the world thought like Ke Qing."

After this little episode, the Emperor of Daxia did not stop to deal with these old men and young men. Just as Ke Anran said, compared to these old men and young men who could not achieve anything, his own auspicious time was obviously more important.

Anyway, after today, these old people will disappear from my sight.

"The policy of integrating officials and civil servants is indeed good. If we want to get rid of the influence of Confucianism, it is far from enough to just get rid of the nine Confucian officials in the court. We need to recruit talents from all schools of thought and let more people who want to be officials govern the country. Only in this way can we completely get rid of the shackles of Confucianism on ourselves."

At this moment, the Emperor of Great Xia recalled Zhou Tieyi's words on the policy of integrating officials. He had to agree with Zhou Tieyi's foresight. In fact, he was still able to practice Taoism smoothly until now, and a large part of the credit was due to Zhou Tieyi's maintenance of the originally broken situation between the court and the country, and constantly developing new things to replace them. Therefore, he was able to remain calm and not worry about the backlash from Confucianism.

But after all, we have different paths and there is no point in working together. Today we are working together for the interests, but tomorrow we will naturally go our separate ways because of the interests.

While thinking about these questions, the Emperor of Daxia walked to the altar of land and grain.

The Sheji Altar has three levels, symbolizing Taoism, Buddha, and Confucianism respectively. There are four colors of soil on the four sides: blue, black, white, and red. The yellow soil in the center symbolizes both the five directions of heaven and earth, as well as the five emperors of the world.

But today, everything is going to change. The Great Xia Emperor stared at the five-colored soil in front of him, holding the sacrificial knife in his hand, and was reluctant to use the knife to sacrifice for a long time, as if waiting for the critical moment to come.

Under the twelve-story plaque, in Mingde Palace, people gathered together, looking towards the bell tower on the second floor, waiting for the moment when the New Year bell rang so that they could insert the long incense in their hands into the incense burner.

In the bell tower, Zhou Tieyi stroked the dragon head and hit the pillar with his palm, but his eyes did not look at the huge bronze bell with a slightly mottled color in front of him. Instead, he looked up at the twelfth floor. The hourglass next to him had just leaked the last grain of sand. The little Taoist reminded him, "Lord Zhou, the time has come."

Zhou Tieyi smiled and said, "Of all the great ways, only the easy ones are not easy. Since you want to change, just change it quickly."

He used all his strength to lift the dragon head and hit it against the pillar, then slammed it hard at the bronze bell in front of him.

Boom, boom, boom, boom...

Nine consecutive rings, the huge bell sound formed a circle of invisible sound waves, sounding from the eleventh floor of Yujing Mountain and spreading up and down the mountain.

When he heard the bronze bell ringing under his feet, the Emperor of Great Xia swung the sacrificial knife in his hand forward, but he did not slash at the three prepared animals, but at the altar of the land and grain.

Under the horrified gaze of the ministers, the sword light directly separated the three-story altar in front of them from the five-colored soil below.

For a moment, the dragon veins on Yujing Mountain wailed, and from the place where the Sheji Altar and the five-colored soil were separated, dark yellow dragon blood gushed out like a waterfall. The entire Yujing Mountain began to shake, and dragon roars came from all directions, but they were not filled with joy, but anger and fear.

In the mountain and beneath the earth veins, the hidden dragon veins seemed to be worried about the existence of the knife light, so they began to flee in all directions, and the entire mountain seemed to be collapsing.

This was something that the Phantom Priest failed to do when he shook the Tomb of Soldiers.

Abolishing the worship of the Five Emperors was not a simple statement. At that time in the court, when Zhou Tieyi and the Emperor of Daxia jointly confirmed this matter, it caused a small earthquake around Yujing Mountain and the loosening of the ground veins of the Great Wall on the front line.

If one wants to truly abolish the worship of the Five Emperors, the consequences will be far worse than what happened today.

Daxia worshipped the Five Emperors and naturally obtained their luck. Now if the worship is cancelled, the luck of the Five Emperors will scatter. Originally, Yujing Mountain, as the center of Daxia, was built to gather the luck of the world, and the Sheji Altar was the most important part of it. Its five-colored soil itself was a huge symbol.

Now that the Altar of Land and Grain is separated from the Five-Colored Soil, it is a manifestation of the separation of the luck of the Great Xia Land and Grain and the Five Emperors. Naturally, the luck gathered from the Five Emperors will flee like frightened dragons and snakes.

The earth veins were in disorder, stretching from Yujing Mountain to the four cities at the foot of the mountain. The ground lamps that were lit by the energy of the earth veins suddenly lost their luster. For a moment, the extremely bustling Yujing Mountain and the four cities suddenly turned from extremely bright to extremely dark.

There were no lights in the palace.

Su Xibi, who was serving the Emperor of Great Xia, remembered what Zhou Tieyi said. Although he had known it for a long time, he was still frightened at this moment.

Fortunately, the fear in his heart only lasted for a moment.

"Hold the lamp."

The queen's voice is still calm and powerful.

A bright moonlight rose from the darkness under Yujing Mountain. The moonlight was as clear as snow and as bright as a mirror. It was an inverted Yujing Mountain!

On that day, Zhou Tieyi used the bones of the White Emperor to shatter the illusory world of Taixu. The Queen of Heaven used her supreme power to transform the inverted Yujing Mountain into a bright moon in the underworld, illuminating the underworld in all directions.

As the rules of the underworld are improved, not only Zhou Tieyi and Mo Jian, the Buddha of Equality of the Underworld, benefit from it, but the Queen of Heaven who made a great wish to illuminate the underworld in all directions with the method of the bright moon will naturally benefit as well.

At this time, the moonlight from the inverted Yujing Mountain actually directly covered the entire mountain and four cities. In the ocean of moonlight, the people had no time to panic before they were soothed by the cleansing moonlight.

However, on the Yujing Mountain under the bright moon, there appeared lines that looked like cracks.

This is the Queen of Heaven using the method of reflection to transfer the cracks in the original Yujing Mountain to this Yujing Mountain in the dream.

Si Lu Qingkonggui glanced at the Emperor of Great Xia in front of everyone. He was holding the sacrificial knife and was still cutting the connection between the Great Xia country and the fortune of the Five Emperors. At this time, his eyes were red and he was almost a demon.

This is indeed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The Shinto has been damaged, and Yuan Meng has retreated. If we don't cut off our ties with the Five Emperors now, we will never find a better opportunity in the future.

Qingkong Gui sighed in his heart, and then his expression was solemn, "The reflection method here is the strongest."

He used the Legalist technique of strengthening the country to enhance the power of the law of reflection and help the Queen of Heaven stabilize the situation.

Dong Xingshu, who was next to Qingkong Gui, had a flushed face and was about to vomit blood. He was committed to establishing the virtue of water, but now he could not protect himself, so naturally he had no spare energy to stabilize the current situation.

The right general Yuchi Pojun is not in Tianjing, and the Lord of Daming Palace has also traveled west to suppress the Buddhist rebellion. Now there is only one person in Tianjing who can help.

Su Xibi no longer cared about etiquette and shouted to the eunuchs who were still dumbfounded around him, "Light the lamps! Didn't you hear the Queen Mother say light the lamps?"

The accompanying eunuchs woke up as if from a dream. Originally, the ground lanterns on Yujing Mountain were the most prosperous, and there was no need for ordinary palace lanterns. If there had not been previous arrangements, the palace people would not have prepared special palace lanterns. Now, Su Xibi shouted, and the eunuchs who had received orders long ago picked up the palace lanterns. The candles in them were warm, and the lanterns outside were written with different words.

"Zhao Qian Sun Li, Zhou Wu King Zheng..."

The outer walls of the palace lanterns are inscribed with hundreds of family surnames, as these lanterns were invited from hundreds of families.

Su Xibi held up the Zhou family's lights and wrote on it. Feng Shui formed a long snake under his feet, carrying the eunuchs from the twelfth floor to the eleventh floor. Bright lights were seen hanging down from the sky one after another, and the lights of hundreds of families seemed particularly bright in the dark night.

The lights extended to the outside of the bell tower of Mingde Palace. Su Xibi said anxiously outside the bell tower, "Marquis Zhou, although there are no lights in the palace, the people of the world have lights. The Queen Mother ordered me to use the lights of the people as a guide to invite Marquis Zhou to participate in the grand sacrifice."

Zhou Tieyi was silent for a while. Miaoyu beside him pushed him, and he smiled and said, "This is not to give face to the Queen Mother, but to pray for the blessing of the child we are carrying."

The next moment, a Taisu Chen wind gushed out from Zhou Tieyi, wrapped around the lights of hundreds of houses, and transformed into bright stars. They leaped up from the sign on the eleventh floor, dotted the sky, and together with the bright moon, illuminated the entire night.

(End of this chapter)