World version update

Chapter 280 The Royal Family's Submission

That guillotine, which seemed capable of locking in cause and effect and annihilating the true spirits of all things, was already teetering on the brink of collapse after losing the blessing of the only person of authority in this world.

As the phantoms of the Divine Court and the Underworld gradually solidified, they were directly crushed into dust.

The backlash from the throne's decree caused Prince Rhine to suddenly spit out blood. The crimson figure sitting on the throne in the sky collapsed, and the mythical form of his soul's sublimation revealed bizarre distortions and chaos.

Prince Rhine's eyes were bloodshot, and countless worms seemed to writhe beneath his skin, while mysterious whispers emanated from the shadows behind him.

This was a sign of the extraordinary being out of control. Prince Rhine had no longer cared about the formidable enemy at hand and was only trying his best to suppress the out-of-control path with his own will. He didn't even notice that the Royal Staff, which represented the source of the Royal Path, fell from his hand.

The city of Orank was deathly silent.

All the extraordinary beings who were watching the battlefield looked up at the sky-covering phantom of the divine court, and their bodies and souls began to tremble involuntarily.

Before the divine court that reflects the heavens, even a demigod is like an insignificant ant. The gods residing in the divine court only need to cast a single glance to annihilate all living beings.

However, the divine court was solemn and the gods were indifferent, as if nothing in the world could attract the slightest attention.

Inside the royal palace and the steam cathedral, all the powerful figures fell silent.

They had assumed victory was assured when the Prince of Rhine took out the Royal Scepter.

Even though it is only one-seventh of the Royal Staff, it represents the origin of the royal path. The status of a level zero sealed artifact has already transcended the boundaries of the mortal world.

Even earthly angels who have reached Sequence Two cannot defy the laws under the Scepter of Kingship.

The phantom of the Divine Court that appeared above Orank shattered their understanding and suppressed the level of the zero-level sealed artifact.

Before this vast divine court, even the Victorian royal family could only bow their heads.

"This is... a projection of the underworld that I saw several months ago!"

"A few months ago, that projection of the underworld only appeared briefly and did not display any extraordinary divine power. Now, it is actually able to suppress the incomplete level zero seal?"

"Who exactly is that guild's saint?"

"I heard that the guild's saint is named Lu Yan? For some reason, I seem to have heard a similar name somewhere before."

A murmur of discussion arose within the steam cathedral. Before the solemn shrine, many high-ranking members of the church gathered to discuss the matter.

However, most church leaders viewed the projection of the divine court with a detached, amused attitude.

The Steam Cult had ruled the Kingdom of Victoria for countless years, and should have fought back against such a powerful outsider to uphold the dignity of the Steam Cult.

But the key issue right now is that Lu Yan's adversary is not the Steam Cult, but the Victorian Royal Family.

Since the gods fell into slumber hundreds of years ago, the Victorian royal family has been stirring and gradually testing the church.

First, they strengthened secular authority and expanded the power of the noble class. Finally, together with the nobles, they launched an industrial reform that affected the entire world.

This dramatic change led to the decline of the Steam Cult, but it was only after the Pope overruled objections and amended the holy scriptures, incorporating steam and machinery into the divine duties of the gods, that the Steam Cult returned to its peak.

Under these circumstances, the relationship between the Victorian royal family and the steam cult was naturally not good.

However, since the true god has not yet awakened, the Steam God Cult, despite its advantages in top experts and foundation, cannot afford to break ties with the Victorian royal family. The two sides can only barely maintain a tacit understanding.

Even in this ambush of the Guild Saint in Orank, the Victorian royal family only notified the Steam Cult a few hours in advance.

The Steam Cult has long been dissatisfied with the Victorian royal family, but it has been unable to act due to the current situation. Now that the Victorian royal family has suffered a setback, the Steam Cult is overjoyed and would not take the initiative to help the Prince of Rhine.

Moreover, Lu Yan's use of the Divine Court's illusory image to suppress the incomplete Level 0 sealed artifact, along with that mysterious and majestic Divine Court, had already aroused the Church's apprehension.

With the true god yet to be revived, the church's foundation consists only of second-order earthly angels and level-zero sealed artifacts, which may not be enough to defeat Lu Yan.

"Anyway, this guild saint is mainly for the sake of the guild, and the only people who have conflicts with him are the royal family and the great nobles."

Our church has no interests in the industrial area, so making a slight concession is no problem.

A cardinal temporarily adopted the strategy of the steam cult.

However, he did not notice that among the high-ranking church officials below, a young saint was gazing at the phantom of the divine court in the sky, seemingly deep in thought.

Lu Yan stood proudly in the sky, his eyes filled with invisible gazes and traces of cause and effect.

With the decrease in prying eyes from all sides, and especially with the powerful aura within the steam cathedral disappearing again and the causal fluctuations subsiding, Lu Yan secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

To outsiders, Lu Yan's manifestation of the Divine Court and the Underworld projection easily suppressed the power of the Royal Staff, making it far more imposing than even a Sequence Two angel could match.

However, only Lu Yan himself knows the truth.

In the previous version of the Great Collapse, the projection of the will of the Eternal Celestial Venerable told Lu Yan that the order constructed by the Divine Court of the Heavens had the ability to suppress the unique personhood in this world.

Lu Yan risked everything to build the Divine Court of the Heavens, all so that he would have a sliver of ability to resist the only one in this world.

As it turned out, the order and power of the Divine Court and the Underworld far exceeded Lu Yan's expectations.

The unique status activated by the Royal Staff, even if only a tiny fraction of it, is enough to crush a second-order earthly angel, which is comparable to the Void Refinement Realm above the Nascent Soul stage.

However, the core of the Royal Staff is that unique position in this world. Although Lu Yan's Divine Court and Underworld are not complete, they are still a divine court of the heavens.

Suppressing the one and only in this world in its entirety is certainly impossible, but capturing even a mere fragment of a person's status is a piece of cake.

The divine order of the underworld manifested and easily suppressed the scepter of royal power, which led to the Steam God Cult's misjudgment of Lu Yan.

Lu Yan's current strength is already at its limit when fighting against a Nascent Soul expert. If a Void Refinement expert were to appear, Lu Yan would probably have to start an early version update and run away.

Lu Yan glanced at Prince Rhine, who was still struggling on the verge of losing control of his supernatural powers, and indifferently extended his palm. The royal staff that was falling to the ground fell into Lu Yan's hand.

The moment his hand touched the scepter of kingship, Lu Yan seemed to glimpse a transcendent path opening up to him.

In an instant, a torrent of information flooded into Lu Yan's mind.

"The root cause? Uniqueness? Struggle for royal power?"

Lu Yan raised an eyebrow, a hint of interest flashing in his eyes.

In popular lore, the path of royal power is one of the few extraordinary paths that can rival the seven great divine paths, and it is also known as the path to godhood.

The information contained within it not only revealed to Lu Yan the essential difference between high-sequence and low-to-medium-sequence extraordinary individuals within the extraordinary path, but also showed Lu Yan another side of the extraordinary path.

The knowledge contained within the Scepter of Kingship greatly inspired Lu Yan. Once he fully digests it, Lu Yan's research on the path to the underworld will take a giant leap forward.

“It’s really good stuff.”

Lu Yan's gaze seemed to pierce through the scepter of royal power, trying to see the unique, incomplete persona contained within it. However, Lu Yan was not following the path of royal power, nor could he mobilize the unique persona within it.

"Those who are not the only ones in this world will suffer a backlash if they rashly activate the incomplete unique position in this world."

These backlashes, however, are reflected back to the superhumans in various forms at different costs, which is the source of the chaos caused by Level Zero Sealed Artifacts.

Realizing this, Lu Yan looked at the Prince of Rhine in the sky with pity in his eyes.

The third-ranked being in the mortal world is comparable to a Nascent Soul Dao Lord, and is indeed considered to have extraordinary strength in the eyes of the world.

But before the one and only in this world, it is nothing more than a slightly larger ant.

Even if one has extraordinary means to mitigate the backlash, rashly taking on the burden of a flawed and unique status in this world will still come at a great cost.

The Victorian royal family's use of the scepter, seemingly to support the Prince of Rhine, was in reality nothing more than using him as a expendable tool to establish royal authority.

Even without Lu Yan suppressing the unique status in this world, Prince Rhine would have become increasingly out of control after wielding the scepter of royal power, and would have inevitably embarked on a false path of royal authority sooner or later.

"Since you're going to die sooner or later anyway, I might as well send you on your way."

Looking at Prince Rhine, whose face was contorted and whose aura was becoming increasingly decadent, Lu Yan slowly exhaled.

The Yin and Yang energies, gathered through the workings of creation, were exhaled from Lu Yan's mouth and instantly transformed into a world-destroying millstone.

The terrifying aura of world destruction roared throughout the heavens and earth, and everything in the void was reduced to nothingness in the great mill of yin and yang.

Faced with a life-or-death crisis, Prince Rhine suddenly snapped out of his supernatural out-of-control state and shouted sharply:
"No!"

The next moment, the twisted flesh beneath the blood-red robe transformed into distorted characters, and countless faces within the sublimated soul emitted ferocious roars and howls, while a strange, extraordinary aura madly eroded the entire Orank.

However, the next moment, the out-of-control, corrupted creatures were drawn into the world-destroying millstone, and the destructive roar of the Great Dao crushed all the out-of-control mythical monsters.

Everything returned to the most basic particles, leaving not even a trace of the soul behind.

After doing all this, the illusory image of the Underworld God Court behind Lu Yan slowly receded, and the myriad strange phenomena that appeared in the sky returned to silence.

Falling back to earth from the sky, the White family manor was completely reduced to ruins. A thousand-year-old family was nothing more than an insignificant ant in the face of a demigod's power.

Lu Yan did not leave, but gazed in the direction of the palace, as if waiting for something.

After a brief silence, a portal resembling stars appeared in the ruins of the White family home, and a man and a woman stepped through the portal into the ruins.

The young man was dressed in a dark purple suit. He had a handsome face and an elegant demeanor. His every move revealed that he was already a Saint of the fourth rank.

The woman was tall and slender, dressed in a light gold dress, with long silver hair reaching her waist. Her appearance was stunning, aloof, and otherworldly. However, her strength was far inferior to that of the young man; she was only at the fifth rank.

Both of them share a common feature: pale purple eyes, a symbol of the Victorian royal family.

Upon seeing Lu Yan standing still, the young man and woman immediately bowed respectfully.

"See Your Majesty!"

Your Majesty is usually a title for a Sequence Three deity in the mortal realm, but it is also related to one's status.

As members of the royal family, they do not need to be so respectful even when facing a true demigod. Only when facing the Pope of the Church of God do they need to bow and address him as Your Majesty.

However, given the current situation, Lu Yan has not only forcefully killed Prince Rhine, but also seized the scepter of the throne. As members of the royal family, it is not inappropriate for the two to address Lu Yan as His Majesty.

Lu Yan stared at the two of them indifferently, without saying a word.

The young man immediately continued, "My name is Charles. I have come here on behalf of the Royal Family to thank Your Majesty for killing the out-of-control Prince Rhine and saving millions of people in Orank."

Seeing Charles's serious expression, Lu Yan couldn't help but show a strange look on his face.

Judging from the events themselves, Charles was not wrong; Lu Yan did indeed kill the out-of-control Prince Rhine.

However, the reasons why the Prince of Rhine lost control and the previous confrontations were not mentioned at all, and the death of a prince was glossed over in a lighthearted manner.

"In gratitude for Your Majesty's assistance, the Royal Family has decided to bestow upon Your Majesty the Marquis of White, along with the assets of the nobles who participated in the plot to seize the guild today."

Furthermore, the royal family will issue a decree that all factories in the industrial zone will join the union reforms to improve the situation of the workers in Orank.

This decree could even be extended nationwide, if Your Majesty so desires.

Lu Yan narrowed his eyes slightly, and the atmosphere seemed to freeze for a moment.

Both Charles and the woman beside him felt as if an invisible hand had gripped their souls, and fear and unease instantly spread throughout their bodies.

The next moment, Lu Yan suddenly smiled, and the crisis vanished instantly, leaving only the two people soaked in cold sweat.

"Thank you for the royal family's kindness."

As he spoke, Lu Yan, holding the royal scepter, turned and walked towards the industrial zone.

Charles's eyes widened, and he quickly said:

"Your Majesty, the scepter of kingship in your hand..."

Lu Yan paused, then turned to look at Charles.

Charles felt an immense pressure bearing down on him. Even as a Sequence Four cultivator, he could hardly resist this terrifying pressure, which almost made him feel suffocated.

"What you're referring to is merely a gift from the royal family to me in gratitude for killing Prince Rhine."

Do you intend to use my things to seize the scepter of kingship from me?

Lu Yan's voice resounded like thunder in Charles's heart, his soul trembled and his mind went blank. Under this pressure, the young prince did not know how to speak for a moment.

"What does Your Majesty desire?"

The silver-haired woman, who had been observing coldly, suddenly stepped forward and asked in a humble manner.

Lu Yan toyed with the royal scepter in his hand and asked meaningfully, "Which member of your royal family handed over this royal scepter to Prince Rhine?"

The silver-haired woman paused for a moment, then said, "It is His Majesty the King."

"King Charles the Great is incompetent and muddleheaded, causing turmoil in the kingdom and widespread suffering among the people."

The royal family is trying to restore order and replace the king with a new one. What do you think of this scenario?

(End of this chapter)