Conferred God: Started from Swallowing the Heaven-Repairing Stone

Chapter 240 Heading to Heaven
The king and his ministers of the Shang Dynasty did not think that Ao Bing had done anything wrong. Instead, they thought that their own people were ignorant and had made a big deal out of a simple matter.

Originally, as long as they went to the Void World honestly, there would be room for negotiation. But they all ignored Ao Bing and simply ignored his orders.

Now, the matter has become a big deal, and Ao Bing has lost face. Even if he wants to make a small matter disappear, it is no longer possible. If he does not severely punish these immortals, outsiders will only think that he is weak and can be bullied, rather than that he is magnanimous.

Therefore, even if it was just for show to outsiders, Ao Bing had to punish them severely.

"Let's not talk about Long Bo's identity. Let's just say that the conquest of Yousu was all Long Bo's work, and we can't blame Long Bo."

"As for those immortals, I don't understand what they are thinking. The fiefs granted to them by the king were conquered by Long Bo, and they all owe Long Bo a favor."

"In this situation, they all ignore Uncle Long. Where is the gratitude in their hearts?"

"It can be seen that these people are a group of ruthless people. If my Great Shang encounters danger in the future, I am afraid it will be difficult to count on them."

"Long Bo has done great favors for the Shang Dynasty. It would be unwise to offend Long Bo for them."

After Emperor Xin finished speaking, the ministers in the hall also expressed their opinions. They all believed that not only should Ao Bing not be held accountable for this matter, but those immortals who sued him should also be severely punished in order to appease him.

This is actually not a question of right or wrong, but a question of whether Da Shang needs Ao Bing, so the outcome of this matter was doomed from the beginning.

Those immortals thought that the Great Merchants would make the decision for them, but in fact, the Great Merchants would only favor Ao Bing. Even if he was wrong, the Great Merchants would stand on his side, not to mention that he was not wrong.

"Long Bo not only made great contributions to the annihilation of Yousu State, but also figured out a way to save Tongtian Lake. He is truly the pillar of our Great Shang."

"Some members of the royal family, relying on their status, dared to ignore Long Bo's majesty. It was my fault for not giving Long Bo the status he deserved in time."

"Therefore, I have decided to appoint Long Bo as one of the Nine Ministers, in charge of criminal law. What do you think?"

After looking at the ministers sitting down, Emperor Xin suddenly said, "Three Dukes and Nine Ministers are the top officials. Appointing Ao Bing as one of the Nine Ministers is to reward him for his merits and to improve his status."

The reason why the immortals sent to Dragon Territory by Da Shang dared to ignore Ao Bing's orders was, after all, because Ao Bing had no official position in the court. They felt that Ao Bing could not control them, so they acted without any scruples.

If Ao Bing was one of the Nine Ministers, they would not dare to be so arrogant and would have obeyed his orders long ago.

At the same time, there needs to be a reason to hold someone accountable. Only after appointing Ao Bing as one of the Nine Ministers could Emperor Xin punish the immortals who offended him.

"Dragon Lord's achievements fully deserve the position of Nine Ministers. We have no objection."

Upon hearing this, all the ministers nodded.

The Nine Ministers are the highest-ranking officials in the Shang Dynasty, and their power ranks among the top ten in the Shang Dynasty. If it were someone else, the officials would definitely oppose them.

But Ao Bing was different. Whether it was his status or his achievements, he was worthy of being one of the Nine Ministers. He was even a little lower than that. He was also worthy of being one of the Three Dukes, or even a higher position, the Prime Minister.

However, considering that Ao Bing had just entered the court, if he was appointed as prime minister now, he might not have any more titles to offer in the future, so he was first appointed as one of the Nine Ministers.

When he completely solves the problem of Tongtian Lake and brings in water from the Tianhe River, then he will be appointed as one of the Three Dukes, or even a higher position as Prime Minister.

"Since all the ministers agree, let's draft the decree accordingly."

Nodding, Emperor Xin was about to order someone to draft an edict, but at this moment, someone outside suddenly came to report: "Your Majesty, a group of ministers have jointly submitted a petition, begging Your Majesty to severely punish the immortal who offended Long Bo."

When the king and his ministers in the hall heard this, they were stunned at first, and then they understood what was going on. It was Ao Bing's men who took action.

Don’t think that Ao Bing has no influence in the court just because he only has a title but no official position. On the contrary, he has extremely great influence in the court, especially in the military.

Don't forget that Ao Bing did not attack the Su Kingdom alone, but led an army of millions.

After the destruction of the State of Su, each of these millions of soldiers was rewarded for their contributions, and many of the generals among them were even awarded titles.

Of course, these are not the most important things. The most important thing is that they broke through!

If you win a war, you will get more than just spoils of war and rewards after the war, you will also get luck. The so-called war is actually plundering the country's luck. The bigger the victory, the more national luck you will plunder.

Ao Bing defeated Yousu in one battle, and it can be said that he plundered Yousu's national fortune. This part of the fortune was divided equally between him and Da Shang.

His luck was integrated into the Human Dragon Nation, while the luck of the Great Shang was devoured by the Mysterious Bird of Destiny, and then transformed into pure innate vitality, which was fed back to the soldiers who participated in the war.

With the help of this innate vitality, the soldiers who participated in the battle had their cultivation improved to varying degrees. The early stage of refining emptiness was promoted to the middle stage, the middle stage to the late stage, the late stage to perfection, and the perfect stage was promoted to celestial immortal.

It is no exaggeration to say that after the million-strong army led by Ao Bing destroyed the Yousu Kingdom, at least thousands of immortals would be born.

Exaggeration?
No exaggeration at all.

The Su country had hundreds of millions of years of fortune, but it was plundered in one day, giving birth to only a few thousand immortals. It was nothing at all. It could only be said to be the beginning. In the future, more powerful people would be born.

This is a war to annihilate a country. If successful, the benefits gained will be enormous.

If the other princes had not taken away a lot of luck at the critical moment, then after this battle, Da Shang would have at least tens of thousands of celestial immortals, hundreds of Taiyi golden immortals, and several Daluo golden immortals.

Now, the number must have been reduced by half, but the benefits are still great.

However, with so many immortals appearing all of a sudden, the resources of the Shang Dynasty might not be able to support them. Why did Emperor Xin rush to enfeoff the immortals of Chaoge to the Dragon Territory? It was to make room for these newly promoted immortals.

Compared with the newly promoted immortals, these immortals created by the nobles with their resources are really useless. Instead of keeping them and wasting resources, it is better to drive them away and make room for the newcomers.

If the foundation is to maintain its combat effectiveness, it must constantly inject fresh blood and replace the corrupt old ones.

Da Shang is well aware of this and has been doing so since its inception.

However, as time went by, resources became increasingly scarce, so the rate of blood exchange became slower and slower. It had been a long time since the Great Shang Dynasty had seen thousands of immortals being born at once, as it was now.

Breakthrough is not something that can be achieved overnight, it takes time. Therefore, these people did not speak up before, not because they were unwilling to acknowledge Ao Bing as their benefactor, but because they were in seclusion to break through.

At this moment, some people succeeded in breaking through. As soon as they came out, they heard that someone dared to despise their benefactor. That was unacceptable. This was not a slap in the face of Ao Bing, but a slap in their faces.

As a result, they mobilized their connections and joined forces with many ministers to submit a memorial to Emperor Xin, requesting that he severely punish those immortals who dared to offend Ao Bing.

This is no longer a matter of face, but a struggle between the old and new nobles. If the newcomers want to take the top position, the best way is to kill the old nobles.

In this way, not only can we free up space, but we can also swallow up the resources of the old guys and save the time for original accumulation.

"That's good now. Not only does Long Bo think they are in the way, but even other clan members think they are a bit of a nuisance." "In that case, let's just send them back to the ancestral land. On the one hand, it will give Long Bo an explanation, and on the other hand, it will make way for the newcomers."

After a long silence, Emperor Xin finally spoke.

At this point, he was too lazy to punish these tactless immortals, so he simply drove them away so that he could out of sight and out of mind.

The ancestral land is the human race’s paradise, where resources are abundant, spiritual energy is rich, and there are many Golden Immortals preaching.

All immortals of the human race who do not want to ascend to heaven, but do not want to stay in the human world, can go to their ancestral land to practice.

In simple terms, the ancestral land is the place where the immortals of the human race live in seclusion and practice. Higher than the ancestral land is the Fire Cloud Cave, which is the place where the powerful Daluo Jinxian and above of the human race live in seclusion and practice.

It is easy to enter the ancestral land, but it is difficult to get out. If you live in seclusion, you must act like a hermit, and you cannot get out unless there is a great catastrophe of the human race!
"Well, since they think the Void World is too barren, let them go to the ancestral land. The resources there are even richer than those in the Great Shang."

The ministers thought about it and agreed that this was a good idea, so they all nodded.

So, the matter is settled.

By the time the result of Emperor Xin's decision and the news of his appointment of Ao Bing as one of the Nine Ministers reached Ao Bing, it was several months later.

"Jiuqing, it's not bad."

"When I go to the Heavenly Palace again and facilitate the diversion of water from the Tianhe River to Tongtian Lake, and resolve the crisis of the Shang Dynasty, I will be promoted from the Nine Ministers to the Three Dukes."

"In this way, I am only one step away from becoming the powerful official I want to be."

Ao Bing no longer cared about the fate of those immortals. What he cared about was Emperor Xin's decree to appoint him as one of the Nine Ministers.

Above the Nine Ministers are the Three Dukes.

The Three Dukes were no longer subjects, and even if the king saw them, he had to treat them with courtesy. Therefore, the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers were not given titles, but worshipped!
The three dukes needed the courtesy of the king, while the prime minister, who was above the three dukes, could compete with the king and scold him when he made a mistake, or even depose him, like Yi Yin.

The Shang Dynasty had a prime minister, but it was not permanent, because the power of the prime minister was too great, even overwhelming the power of the king. Therefore, the three dukes were common, but the prime minister was rare.

Ao Bing's goal is to become the prime minister of the Great Shang Kingdom, and then control the Nine Cauldrons and refine the Golden Crow's essence in Tang Valley.

He was now a minister, and he was still two steps away from becoming the prime minister. And he knew how to take these two steps.

The first step is to solve the problem of Tongtian Lake drying up. This is the biggest crisis of the Shang Dynasty. If Ao Bing can solve it, the position of the Three Dukes will be within his grasp.

It is even possible to become the prime minister in one step.

"The Dragon Territory has been established. The Human-Dragon Country and the people of Longzhou are watching over it, so nothing will go wrong."

"The next step is to wait until the people of Long Country gradually become wiser under the guidance of the people of Longzhou and move from primitive civilization to agricultural civilization."

Thinking of his plan, Ao Bing took a look at the Renlong Kingdom, where everything was on the right track and developing rapidly, and knew that he could temporarily take some time off to deal with other things.

So, he gave Daji some instructions, then disappeared from the Dragon Realm and headed for the Heavenly Palace.

The first purpose of this trip to Heaven was to discuss with the Jade Emperor about diverting water from the Tianhe River to Tongtian Lake. The second was to see how the history of Heaven was being edited.

The third is to meet Laozi and ask for his opinion on whether it is feasible to lead the Western religion into disaster.

Going up all the way, Ao Bing soon arrived at the barrier between heaven and earth. After crossing this place, the rules of heaven and earth immediately changed, as if he had suddenly arrived in the ancient times, and everywhere was filled with a vast and ancient atmosphere.

Looking up, what I see is no longer endless white clouds, but layers of terrifying innate strong winds.

Thanks to Ao Bing, there are only four passages from the human world to the heaven. The other passages are blocked by strong winds, thunder and fire, and meteorites.

Even if Ao Bing wants to go to heaven now, he has to follow the right path and go through the South Gate of Heaven.

Now the calamity of conferring gods has just begun and conferring gods has not yet been carried out, so the gods with names and surnames in later generations have basically not returned to their positions.

The one guarding the South Heaven Gate was not the Four Heavenly Kings, but an unknown divine general. When he saw Ao Bing flying over, he saluted from a distance and said:

"I pay my respects to the Dragon Lord."

Although Ao Bing's rank is not high, he is the most respected person in heaven, second only to the Jade Emperor. Everyone has to be polite to him when they see him.

The reason was that it was he who proposed that the Jade Emperor pay salaries to the gods. For this reason alone, the gods owed him a huge favor and would surely give him face.

After nodding as a greeting, Ao Bing walked into the South Gate of Heaven with a swagger, continued upwards, crossed the numerous sky gates, and went straight to Miluo Heaven where the Jade Emperor lived.

Before the man arrived, the Jade Emperor had already received the news in advance and sent people to block him halfway and take him to the Pixiang Hall for an audience.

"Jade Emperor, I have discovered a great meritorious deed in the lower world that only you can do, so I dare not delay and immediately go to heaven to report it to you."

After entering the Pixiang Hall and seeing the Jade Emperor, Ao Bing suddenly quickened his pace and said with a happy face.

"Hmm? What merits are you doing? Tell me about them."

Upon hearing this, the Jade Emperor became interested and asked Ao Bing to explain in detail.

To be honest, at his current position, he no longer cares much about merits, but rather the merit itself, that is, what benefits it can bring to him after accomplishing it, such as improving his reputation, expanding his influence, and so on.

Only in this way can he be moved. If it is only about merit, then he may not care much.

What a joke, how could the Jade Emperor lack merits? Even if he did nothing, just sitting on the Jade Emperor's position, his merits would continue to increase.

Don't forget the meaning of the Emperor of Heaven, endless blessings, immeasurable merits, and supreme status. How could such an existence lack merits? He can even bestow merits on others.

Ao Bing also knew that the Jade Emperor did not care about merits, but whether he could expand his influence and improve his reputation after the matter was accomplished. So he started from this aspect and said to the Jade Emperor:
"Does the Jade Emperor know about Tongtian Lake?"

"This is one of the nine great lakes of the ancient world. It contains endless spiritual energy and nourishes billions of lives. It is the mother river of countless lives."

"And this is such an important lake, but it is almost dry now."

(End of this chapter)