The Star River Era! The Dimensional Freedom Demon

The Forbidden City stands majestic and solemn, while Wangfujing is lined with shops, where silk from Jiangnan and pearls from Lingnan converge. The mansions of imperial relatives, high-ranking officials, and nobles are clustered together, and the opera houses and Liulichang market is filled with antiques, calligraphy, and paintings, with a constant stream of pedestrians.

This is the kind of atmosphere that should be present in the capital.

But ever since King Wu stormed the capital at the end of the year and tore apart the two emperors, the capital has completely changed.

First, the powerful and wealthy fled south, losing most of their wealth. Then, the leader of the Heavenly Principle Sect, Lin, was magnanimous and generous. After Yongqiu defeated the Qing court, he pardoned the previous dynasty and allowed some of the powerful and wealthy to start anew.

As a result, the main branch of the powerful and influential returned to the capital, while the branches temporarily suspended their escape.

Before things had settled down for even two months, King Wu of the South launched a northern expedition. The once-powerful Heavenly Principle Sect proved to be a paper tiger, easily defeated. The Heavenly Principle Sect's army routed the cities and prefectures they passed through, and from the Jianghuai region to the north of the Yellow River, cities surrendered one after another. Their military might was unstoppable.

Now, King Wu's entourage is almost touching the capital, which is only a hundred kilometers away and can arrive in a few days.

After several days of unsuccessful attempts to persuade their clansmen to surrender, only to be killed by their fathers-in-law, the powerful and influential people in the capital were utterly desperate.

They had witnessed the power of the Martial King firsthand and truly experienced the helplessness of trying their best but still being unable to shake the Great Demon King.

Therefore, they were not as radical as the local powerful clans. After several rounds of internal disputes that yielded no results, they completely gave up.

With the city gates wide open, the remaining garrison inside was undisciplined, indulging in drinking and gambling, and even frequently engaging in fights due to minor arguments.

As for the sons of the powerful and wealthy, they were often drunk and frequented brothels and entertainment venues, living a life of debauchery.

Their condition even extended to the general public.

When Ji Chen stepped into this northern metropolis again, he found no trace of the panic one would expect from a large army pressing in. Instead, the city was bustling with unprecedented prosperity, with vendors hawking their wares and crowds of people thronging the streets and alleys.

What caught his attention even more was that along the way, all the forces in various places had come from afar to greet him, kneeling and vying to submit, but here, only a few dozen martial arts school people came out of the city to welcome him, the scene was desolate, quite different from other places.

Amidst the wafting smoke of incense in the imperial carriage, Ji Chen put down the silk scroll in his hand and summoned someone.

Why does this place have such an appearance?

"Reporting to...Reporting to King Wu."

The person being addressed was the owner of a well-known martial arts school in the city, and one of the few Qi and Blood Transformation masters in the former capital.

In the past, he could remain calm and composed whether he was meeting with princes, ministers, or even the most powerful bannermen and commanders. But now, he was so nervous that his hands and feet felt weak.

Ji Chen has basically stopped fighting since the battle in Yicheng, but the invisible momentum he has accumulated along the way has made his prestige increasingly grand.

"Now, all the former officials who have committed crimes against the dynasty know they deserve death and are waiting in their residences for King Wu's judgment."

The museum owner thought that King Wu was angry because there were too few people kneeling to welcome him, which was not enough to show the new king's power.

To avoid being blamed, he could only say nice things.

Ji Chen nodded, said nothing more, and ordered the guards to continue forward.

Upon receiving the order, the armored soldiers at the front quickly rushed into the city to sweep the main road and used their scabbards to disperse the pedestrians.

Only when the cold scabbard patted down on his shoulder did the people in the city awaken as if from a dream, suddenly realizing the situation.

Vendors and pedestrians hurriedly packed up their goods and slipped into the streets and alleys, only peeking at the street scene through the cracks in windows and doors.

The army was arranged in three rows, with armored soldiers marching in perfect unison, their footsteps thundering, exuding a terrifying and awe-inspiring power.

As the bright yellow imperial carriage drew nearer, everyone couldn't help but notice the particularly striking figure.

He wore a white robe and a python-patterned garment, without a crown, his long hair casually draped over his shoulders. He exuded a relaxed yet imposing aura, causing those who secretly observed him to gasp in shock and feel their hearts flutter.

"Then... is that King Wu?"

The eerie silence was broken only when the procession ventured deep into the city by similar murmurs.

"King Wu, you've entered the capital..."

Suddenly, everyone realized that the world had completely changed.

The honor guard advanced in an orderly manner and, under the command of generals at all levels, took over the city's defenses in an orderly fashion, and deployed troops to guard major thoroughfares.

Fortunately, the Liao nobles had already retreated to the northwest with the defeated Yongqiu army after Ji Chen's first rampage in the city.

Even those who remained mostly followed the example of ordinary people by cutting off their queues and disguising themselves as Han Chinese.

Even after the troops arrived, he took the initiative to expose the bondservant servants who had not yet shaved their heads, attempting to deceive them.

However, due to mutual denunciation, their identities could not be hidden in the end, and they were executed along with the bondservants who refused to shave their heads.

There was no ripple, no surprise whatsoever.

Ji Chen's entourage entered the Forbidden City smoothly from the city gate.

Inside the Forbidden City, the Hall of Supreme Harmony, which was broken on New Year's Eve, remains in ruins. Although the corpses are gone, the stench of blood seems to linger.

After glancing around, Ji Chen went to the Hall of Mental Cultivation to stay temporarily.

Even at the time of dynastic change, a considerable number of eunuchs, palace maids, and even concubines from the previous dynasty remained in the Forbidden City.

They were all people with no relatives or connections outside, and could only stay here to face the judgment of their fate.

Therefore, Ji Chen could occasionally hear frightened cries and sobs.

He selected some palace maids and eunuchs who he found agreeable to keep in reserve, and entrusted these maids and eunuchs, who were familiar with palace etiquette, to manage them. Gradually, the Forbidden City regained its vitality.

The next day, facing the capital city which had regained order, Ji Chen issued an imperial edict.

The former powerful officials were purged; the men were imprisoned for later interrogation, while the women were temporarily detained and their residences sealed off.

He issued an edict of pacification, ordering the regions that had not yet submitted to be pragmatic and surrender their cities as soon as possible. He would, at his discretion, not pursue their previous crimes and retain their original positions.

Ji Chen ordered the Shaolin Temple, Longhu Mountain, and Wenxiang Sect to lead troops to attack the remnants of Qingting and Mingzun, with only one requirement: "quick victory, no massacre of the city, and no disturbance to the people."

Qingting originally had less than ten Grandmasters. Zhang Jichang surrendered first, and Lin Chaosheng, the leader of the sect, was surrounded by the Grandmasters and suffered a hidden loss when he came to meet the Underworld Lord. Afterwards, he ambushed and killed two of them. Later, Ji Chen broke into the capital and killed three more.

After the Great Snow Mountain Lord cooperated with Lin Chaosheng, the Grandmaster of the Secret Realm immediately withdrew to the Secret Realm Temple. Then Lin Chaosheng killed two Grandmaster Commanders, and then Shaolin Temple betrayed them one after another.

After suffering repeated heavy blows, only one member of the royal family, the Grand Master, remained in Qingting.

The same was true for the Heavenly Principle Sect. After the leader of the Wuwei Sect fled to the Western Regions, only the Underworld Lord, a lone master, remained.

After the White Sun Sect uprising that swept the world, nearly half of the twenty grandmasters and three peerless masters in the world had perished.

Upon receiving the order, the abbot of Shaolin Temple, eager to make a name for himself, set off overnight. Together with Zhang Tianshi, who was being used like a mule, they rushed to Qingzhou and, together with Wang Jiaozhu, who was keeping an eye on the Underworld Lord, captured the seriously injured Underworld Lord and escorted him to the capital.

The Heavenly Principle Sect was thus destroyed, and its remaining forces in various regions quickly surrendered.

After Ji Chen briefly commended the three, the three grandmasters did not stop. They traveled two thousand miles a day, intercepted the remnants of the Qingting army that were retreating westward, beheaded the last grandmaster of the Qingting army, and brought him back to the capital, where his head was displayed for three days.

The territory of the Nine Provinces was basically under Ji Chen's control.

With the new dynasty about to be established, the leaders of meritorious sects from all over the country, along with the old members of Ji Chen's own faction, eagerly flocked to the capital.

The coronation ceremony is imminent.