If you're made a fake emperor, why did you change the country's name?

At dawn, just as the sky began to lighten with the first hint of dawn, the heavy palace gates slowly opened with a creaking sound.

A torrent of black and gold surged forth from the depths of the imperial city.

Ten thousand imperial guards, clad in gleaming armor and wielding a forest of swords and spears, escorted the central nine-dragon canopy imperial carriage as it marched grandly toward the Temple of Heaven outside the city.

The streets were already packed with Beijing residents who had come spontaneously.

They knelt down in a dense mass, stretching from the palace gate to the horizon.

Two months ago, the city was still filled with shouts of killing and wails of agony, and everyone's face was filled with terror and despair.

Now, those faces are etched with awe, excitement, and the hope of surviving a catastrophe.

"Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!"

No one knows who started it, but the shouts, like a mountain collapsing and a tsunami crashing, grew louder and louder, making people's eardrums buzz.

Inside the imperial carriage, Zhao Yu sat upright.

He looked through the swaying beaded curtain at the simple and sincere faces outside, but his heart was not stirred.

This grand occasion was already part of his plan.

The imperial carriage traveled smoothly on the newly paved bluestone road, and the wheels made almost no sound of bumps.

Zhao Yu shifted his gaze from the people to the scene on both sides of the street.

He hadn't left the palace in a long time to see the capital city that he had single-handedly transformed.

The Royal Engineers certainly did not disappoint him.

In just a few months, the once dilapidated streetscape has been completely transformed.

With its flying eaves and brackets, carved beams and painted rafters, one after another brand-new buildings rise from the ground, magnificent and imposing, carrying the grandeur of the Tang Dynasty.

Shops lined up one after another, wine flags fluttered, and signs of all colors were on display.

You can even see many blond-haired, blue-eyed foreign faces; these are caravans from even more distant countries.

Mang State, Qin State, Sun State... and countless other small states.

Their caravan flags fluttered in the morning breeze. At this moment, these strangers, who might normally be somewhat arrogant, knelt respectfully by the roadside along with the people of Daliang, their heads bowed deeply.

At this moment, it was already beginning to resemble a celestial empire.

Zhao Yu withdrew his gaze, pondering in his heart that after the New Year, he would hold another grand gathering of all nations, and the scene would probably be even more magnificent than it was now.

If it were nighttime, with thousands of lights on, what a magnificent sight it would be!

The procession slowly left the city and eventually stopped at the foot of a small hill outside the city.

At the top of the mountain, there is an ancient temple called Fofa Temple, which was also the place where emperors of the Great Liang Dynasty offered sacrifices to Heaven.

The morning sun shone just over the mountaintop, casting a dazzling golden glow on the temple's glazed tile roof. From a distance, it truly looked like the abode of gods and Buddhas.

The area below the mountain was already packed with people, who spontaneously followed the honor guard out of the city, eager to witness this historic moment.

Zhao Yu stepped down from the imperial carriage.

After advancing to the Celestial Realm, his five senses far surpassed those of ordinary people.

The surrounding clamor of voices, the rustling of leaves in the wind, and the chirping of birds in the distance—everything entered my ears clearly.

That's why he was able to easily pick up on some discordant noises.

Among the devout and excited crowd at the foot of the mountain, there were a few dozen people whose breathing was heavier and whose hearts were beating faster than others.

They were scattered in different locations, seemingly unrelated to each other, but their positions were carefully chosen, all situated in the core of the crowd.

Guiding public opinion is the easiest thing to do.

Zhao Yu remained calm, as if he hadn't noticed anything.

He only tilted his head slightly during a break from preparing to climb the mountain.

Meng Qianshan, who was following behind, immediately picked up on the signal.

This massive, towering general calmly raised his hand and casually adjusted his arm armor.

An extremely subtle hand gesture had already been made.

On the outskirts of the crowd, several Imperial Guard captains disguised as ordinary civilians received orders and quietly began to adjust their positions, thus silently tightening an invisible net.

Zhao Yu sneered inwardly.

Sure enough, the fish all swam over.

"The auspicious hour has arrived! Your Majesty, ascend the altar!"

As the official in charge of ceremonies proclaimed his respects, bells and drums resounded.

Ding ding ding dong dong dong~~~~~

The solemn and dignified ceremony of offering sacrifices to Heaven officially began.

Wearing a black dragon robe embroidered with the sun, moon and stars, Zhao Yu stepped up the blue stone steps leading to the top of the mountain.

His pace was neither fast nor slow, and each step was taken with great steadiness.

In the empty mountains, only the dull echoes from his feet and the melodious chanting of the ceremonial official remained.

He walked calmly and unhurriedly up the 999 steps.

Finally, Zhao Yu stood in the center of the circular altar on the mountaintop.

At this moment, even the darkness of the early morning was pierced by a ray of sunlight!

On the altar, the morning breeze rustled, stirring Zhao Yuxuan's black dragon robe.

The mountains and rivers embroidered on the hem of his robe seemed to come alive with his movements.

The sounds of bells and drums gradually subsided, leaving only the long, solemn chanting of the sacrificial text by the ritual official.

Holding a three-foot-long jade tablet, Zhao Yu faced the rising sun in the east and began the sacrificial ceremony.

His movements were meticulous; every bow and every kowtow was exactly in accordance with the etiquette recorded in ancient books.

It was as if he were not a soul from another world, but a king who was born to stand here.

Down the mountain, hundreds of thousands of people knelt in a dark, silent mass.

Everyone held their breath, gazing reverently at the solitary figure atop the mountain.

After offering sacrifices to the gods, Zhao Yu slowly straightened up.

The moment he opened his eyes, a small commotion suddenly arose among the crowd below the mountain, like a pebble being thrown into a calm lake.

A white figure drifted in from the distant mountains and forests, landing lightly on the outermost edge of the crowd.

The man was dressed in a plain white Taoist robe, without any makeup, yet he surpassed countless beauties in the mortal world.

Her aloof demeanor made her stand out from the bustling crowd around her, like a fairy from the moon palace who had mistakenly descended to the mortal world.

"An immortal! An immortal has descended to earth!"

"My God, it's a fairy goddess!"

The people were stunned at first, then burst into exclamations, and some even knelt down in worship.

The solemn atmosphere of the sacrificial ceremony was somewhat diluted by this sudden change.

Zhao Yu stood on the high altar, taking in the entire view of everything below the mountain.

Shen Miaochu?

Why is she here?

Wasn't this woman always avoiding him like the plague?

Zhao Yu felt a pang of doubt in his heart, but his face remained calm and composed.

……

Shen Miaochu remained outside the crowd, ignoring the gasps and kneeling of the people around her.

Her clear eyes swept across the room, and she quickly sensed that something was wrong.

As a powerful expert at the half-step Celestial Realm, her senses were incredibly sharp.

Among the crowd, dozens of people had a distinct aura that was different from that of ordinary people.

They deliberately suppressed their breathing, but their hearts pounded like drums, their bodies were tense, and their hands, hidden in their sleeves, gripped their weapons tightly.

These people are scattered in various places and seem to have no connection, but they subtly form an encirclement.

There was indeed an ambush!

Shen Miaochu's heart sank; the divination indicated great misfortune, and it was indeed true.

She took a deep breath and prepared to step forward.

……

Let's go back half an hour.

The capital city, the Zhennan Prince's Mansion.

On a makeshift altar, wisps of incense smoke curled from the burner.

Shen Miaochu made a hand seal, and all the flags in front of her spontaneously combusted without a flame!

She looked at the spontaneously combusting flag, her delicate brows furrowing tightly.

"Sister Shen, how are you?"

Lady Ji Yue, the wife of the Prince of Zhennan, spoke nervously, her voice trembling slightly.

In the past few days, the two have become close friends who can talk about anything, all because of the people they want to save.

Ji Yue wants to save her younger brother, the Prince of Zhennan, while Shen Miaochu wants to save her master.

"The divination indicates great misfortune."

Shen Miaochu's voice was very soft, but it made Ji Yue's heart sink to the bottom.

"How could this be... His Majesty has clearly laid an inescapable trap, how could there still be danger?"

Shen Miaochu shook her head.

"The secrets of heaven are unpredictable. I can only foresee that there will be a calamity, but I cannot foresee where the calamity will come from."

She raised her head and looked in the direction of the palace, feeling an inexplicable sense of unease.

In the past few days, she heard a completely different "emperor" from Ji Yue.

One of them turned the tide when the Wolf Kingdom's army was pressing in, and innovated weapons to repel the Wolf Kingdom's 100,000-strong army.

An emperor who used ruthless methods to eliminate corrupt families, reform the bureaucracy, and undertake massive construction projects, transforming the capital city in just a few months.

This was completely different from the hypocritical and useless emperor she remembered.

But it was at this moment that she realized something was wrong.

Before the scourge of the Wolf Kingdom, the emperor appeared gentle and refined on the surface, but in reality, he was filthy and despicable. She felt disgusted just looking at him.

After the calamity of the Wolf Kingdom, although this emperor had a sharp tongue and always teased her about the antidote and made her do this and that, she could sense that he had no ill intentions towards her.

In fact... everything he did was to make the country a better place.

A strange feeling quietly began to grow in her heart.

She found herself actually worried about that bastard's safety.

"No, I have to go check it out."

Shen Miaochu stood up.

Ji Yue grabbed her arm.

"Sister Shen, it's too dangerous! I have a feeling, if you go, I'm afraid..."

"You don't need to worry about my safety."

Shen Miaochu interrupted her, patted Ji Yue's hand to reassure her, and then, without changing her Taoist robe, slung a soft sword over her shoulder and left using her light-footed skills.

……

Time passed on the altar.

After Zhao Yu finished offering sacrifices to the gods, he poured a cup of imperial wine onto the altar just as dawn was breaking.

The sun rose high in the sky, its golden rays bathing the earth.

Suddenly, the sun blazed fiercely in the sky.

Immediately afterwards, the clouds in the sky began to change rapidly, and before everyone's eyes, they condensed into countless phantom images of gods and Buddhas!

There are bodhisattvas standing on lotus flowers, Vajras with glaring eyes, and ethereal immortals...

Countless phantom images of gods and Buddhas, layered upon layer, filled the sky, all facing the altar on the mountaintop in a gesture of worship!

Gods and Buddhas come to worship!

This is an auspicious omen that appears only once every thousand years!

"Heavens! A deity! It's a divine intervention!"

"His Majesty is the Son of Heaven, a true dragon! Even the gods and Buddhas of the heavens have come to pay homage!"

"May the Great Liang prosper! Long live the Emperor!"

The people at the foot of the mountain were initially deathly silent, but then erupted into a frenzied roar that was more intense than ever before.

They were so excited that they trembled and wept uncontrollably, frantically kowtowing to Zhao Yu on the mountaintop and to the strange phenomenon in the sky.

This shocking scene drove everyone into a frenzy.

Those who were prepared to incite others and those who were meant to cause chaos were all stunned and stood there dumbfounded.

The worship of gods and Buddhas was a rare occurrence, happening only once during the founding of the Liang Dynasty by Emperor Qin Shi Huang, and only ten of them were worshipped.

But now, there are countless gods and Buddhas filling the sky!