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

"Ah! Divine retribution! It's divine retribution!"

"This is not a timely rain, but the ashes of divine punishment!"

"The water god is angry! The water god is going to punish us!"

The people, who were just moments before immersed in the ecstasy of worshipping gods and Buddhas, now had only distorted fear on their faces.

They frantically patted the gray powder off their bodies, but the powder caused their brand-new clothes to decay rapidly and become tattered.

The greenery in the mountains and fields is rapidly fading away, replaced by a desolate, withered yellow landscape.

This bizarre and terrifying sight completely shattered their psychological defenses.

In the chaos, the "tongues" that had been lying in wait in the crowd immediately took action.

Several voices suddenly rang out, not loud, but exceptionally clear.

"It must be because His Majesty's methods are too cruel, slaughtering so many noble families, which is against the principles of Heaven!"

"And then there's the matter of the Lady of Zhennan! His Majesty had an improper relationship with her, which angered the Water God! Now the retribution has come!"

"The water god is furious! Not a single drop of rain will fall next year! We'll all starve to death!"

These sounds were like sparks thrown into a frying pan, instantly igniting the pent-up fear in the crowd.

The once devout people began to waver.

"Did His Majesty really do something wrong?"

"But...but weren't there countless gods and Buddhas coming to worship just now?"

Some people noticed something was wrong and asked questions.

But it was quickly suppressed again.

"That must be because the gods in heaven and the water gods in the water have different ideas!"

"The gods are merciful, but the water god is stern! Our Great Liang depends on the water for its livelihood; offending the water god means cutting off our entire lifeline!"

These words immediately triggered a mix of panic and doubt, completely reversing public opinion.

The people's gaze toward the mountaintop altar had shifted from fervent worship to fear and suspicion.

On the altar, Zhao Yu took in everything that happened below the mountain.

His senses far surpassed those of ordinary people; the whispers hidden among the crowds and the deliberately incited remarks all entered his ears clearly.

But, after spending so much money, was it all just to sow discord among the people?

wrong!

Zhao Yu narrowed his eyes and immediately understood.

Now that they've both reached the final battle, this kind of insignificant action is completely meaningless.

So this step is just pushing myself in a bad direction!

Zhao Yu's mind raced, but his expression remained calm.

He turned around and looked at the Minister of Rites beside him, whose face had turned pale and whose body was trembling like a leaf.

"My dear minister."

Zhao Yu's voice was not loud, but it carried a calming power.

The Minister of Rites was jolted awake, suddenly came to his senses, and knelt on the ground with a thud, his forehead covered in cold sweat.

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty... Your subject is here!"

"Given such an ominous sign, how should we, according to the rites of our Great Liang, handle this situation?"

Zhao Yu's tone was flat, revealing no emotion.

Upon hearing this, the Minister of Rites trembled even more violently. He lay on the ground, his voice trembling with sobs.

"Your Majesty, according to the rules passed down from our ancestors, calamities and strange phenomena that descend from the heavens are warnings from the gods."

"It requires...it requires the king to personally lead all officials, carrying sacrificial offerings of three kinds of animals, to...to the Liang River to offer sacrifices, bathe and burn incense, and pray for the water god's forgiveness, only then...only then can the disaster be averted."

Lianghe!

Zhao Yu astutely captured the key words!

It seems a large net has been prepared there, just waiting for him to walk right into it.

That's quite a grand gesture.

First, they used divine and Buddhist phenomena to flatter and kill, then they used withered and emaciated phenomena to suppress, and finally they used public opinion to force themselves into a trap they had already set up.

The scheme was meticulously planned and executed, with each step linked to the next.

However, given the circumstances, Zhao Yu was not afraid!

"Issue my decree!"

Zhao Yu's voice suddenly rose, his inner strength surging, instantly overwhelming all the noise and panic below the mountain.

The thunderous discussion abruptly ceased.

Everyone looked up at the tall figure on the altar.

The Minister of Rites was also stunned, staring blankly upwards.

Zhao Yu's voice, like a divine decree, clearly reached everyone's ears.

"Prepare the offerings immediately and set out for Lianghe!"

"I, the Emperor, will personally go to worship the Water God and pray for the well-being of all the people of my Great Liang!"

"Your Majesty is wise!"

"Your Majesty is wise!"

The people cried out, saying they asked for little, only peace and happiness.

Hearing that Zhao Yu was willing to go and beg the water god for forgiveness, the fear in his heart naturally lessened.

In a hidden corner.

"Hehehe~"

Zhao Yu chuckled softly, his face sinister.

"You filthy beggar, you'll still fall into my trap! I have a thousand years of accumulated power, what do you have to fight me with!"

"Your Majesty, something terrible has happened!"

Grandpa Hai suddenly shouted, his face filled with anxiety.

Zhao Yu sensed something was wrong, turned around, and was immediately startled at the sight.

The middle-aged Taoist priest, who had previously had a full head of jet-black hair, now had a full head of white hair and his face was covered with wrinkles, looking like an old man.

"Master Hu... Master Hu?!"

"Ahem! Your Majesty..."

Master Hu uttered two words and then began to gasp for breath.

After a long pause, he continued, "Your Majesty, please do not worry; it is merely a backlash from the alteration of the phenomena."

After saying this, Master Hu took out a medicine box from his pocket, opened it to reveal a snow-white pill.

He picked up the pill with his two wrinkled fingers, swallowed it, and his body began to gradually warm up.

The wrinkles on his face disappeared, and his body returned to that of a middle-aged man.

In the end, however, her jet-black hair disappeared, turning into a mixture of black and white.

Zhao Yu asked worriedly, "Master Hu, are you... alright?"

Master Hu remained silent for a while before shaking his head, pretending not to care.

"fine."

Hearing that everything was alright, Zhao Yu breathed a sigh of relief. He had thought that one of his trump cards was going to be wasted prematurely.

But despair flashed in Master Hu's eyes.

Because only he himself knew just how terrifying the vision he had severed was!

Such an unusual phenomenon could be altered by him, who was at the peak of the Celestial Realm and possessed the strongest Daoist techniques of his time, at most a few days' lifespan.

But that strange phenomenon just now took him a full three hundred years to discover!!!

That's right, it's three hundred years!

Having cultivated an immaculate body, his lifespan was originally twice that of an ordinary Celestial Realm cultivator.

That is, about four hundred years ago, he almost died from the backlash!

This is enough to show that the strange phenomenon was of the same level as all the gods and Buddhas in the sky.

Master Hu gritted his teeth and thought to himself:

"My divination is infallible! The only explanation is that this strange phenomenon originally belonged to His Majesty, and it only occurred because of the change of position!"

"That must be it..."

Master Hu once again "convinced" himself.

"Master Hu, come with me. It's time to teach this beggar the consequences of angering me!"

Zhao Yu put Master Hu's worries to the back of his mind, his face full of anticipation for the situation to unfold.