I am Guhuoniao, not an umbrella demon, please do not disturb me.

The two Nascent Soul cultivators, both with rich combat experience, quickly threw out their magical artifacts to engage in a fierce battle with Dongqing. Their main bodies swallowed a few pills to quickly recover. While they were still recovering, one of them remotely controlled a magical artifact while the other engaged in close combat with Dongqing.

Spiritual energy emanated from the sky from time to time, and below them, Dongqing and the two Nascent Soul cultivators were locked in a fierce battle, with Dongqing firmly gaining the upper hand.

In the square in front of the palace, the Black Armor Army finally moved.

Before the main hall, the Emperor frowned, sometimes looking up at the sky, sometimes at the vast army of black-armored soldiers.

Thirty thousand people is a terrifying number, especially when these people are gathered together, disciplined, and arrayed in a neat battle formation.

At a glance, they were all black-armored soldiers like giant locusts, with the front row holding shields and the back row holding spears and lances, which they used to throw weapons to kill enemies or to launch close-range attacks.

Admittedly, this Black Armor Army was well-trained, but it was still far inferior to the Golden Armor Imperial Guard.

The Emperor stood before the main hall and suddenly waved his hand. The 10,000-strong Imperial Guard, outnumbered, charged forward. The enemy formation was broken, but the cultivators remained. The hundreds of cultivators could still exert their strength in front of the 10,000-strong Imperial Guard, but only to a limited extent.

A barrage of spears was hurled out, and the Black Armor Army quickly erected shields, forming a solid wall of metal shields in a short time.

One wave of attacks failed, so another was launched. At the very back, a group of imperial guards took out specially made longbows for breaking shields, drew them to their full draw, and with a command from their commander, arrows rained down from the sky.

There are strong people in the mortal world.

It is not uncommon for some martial arts practitioners, after reaching a certain level of cultivation, to defeat or even kill Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Moreover, the imperial court is not entirely devoid of cultivators. Some possess partial cultivator power, but their cultivation methods are entirely different. These semi-cultivators are equally powerful, and when cultivated to their peak, they are no less than any Golden Core or Nascent Soul cultivator.

Two volleys of arrows killed many men, giving the Black Armor Army no chance to regroup. With a command from their commander, the 10,000 Imperial Guards drew their long swords and charged out with overwhelming force.

This day was destined to be a day of bloodshed.

Before him stood vast swathes of cultivators, yet the Human Emperor remained undaunted, not cowering within the palace walls.

This is one of the few good qualities he possesses.

Xu Yuanqing jogged over, knelt down and bowed, "Your Majesty, please bear with this humiliation for a few moments, I will go to the ley lines immediately."

"Hmm, shall I set off now?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, just proceed according to plan."

"My dear minister, this divine phoenix..."

"Your Majesty need not worry. The Divine Phoenix Empress's intervention is due to an agreement I made with her, and she has come to support the palace."

The Emperor nodded slowly. "Is there anything I can do?"

As a human emperor, he was at a loss for what to do when his own home was attacked. Fortunately, he had Xu Yuanqing by his side who could give him advice, so he wasn't caught off guard. Even these imperial guards were arranged here in advance by Xu Yuanqing, who had long guessed that the Third Prince was not behaving himself.

Xu Yuanqing lowered his head, "All that's needed is for His Majesty to issue an edict establishing the Divine Phoenix as the Great Spirit Totem after this matter is over."

Xu Yuanqing felt a little uneasy as soon as he said this.

He hadn't considered this matter beforehand, nor did he expect things to develop to this point. He hadn't even communicated with Bai Qingyu, the person involved. He only thought of it halfway to the palace.

To be honest, Xu Yuanqing had already done his best to get to this point. As for how to clean up the mess afterward, he only had a rough plan, especially regarding what to do after the matter was over.

All he thought about was success, not failure. The reason was simple: failure would mean that both he and the Emperor would die, so what was the point of thinking about it then?

The main purpose of asking the Emperor to establish Bai Qingyu as a totem is to bind Bai Qingyu to the same warship. Regardless of whether Bai Qingyu is willing to take action or not, even if he stays aloof and doesn't care, it will still bring some deterrence to these sects.

"I will make the arrangements myself. My dear minister, please set off quickly."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Xu Yuanqing was still wearing his wedding attire, except that he had dropped the embroidered ball from his chest.

Just as he told Bai Qingyu, this grand wedding did indeed have a purpose, but it was also truly his heartfelt intention. Xiao Lan treated him very well, while he, on the other hand, was busy working for the sake of the nation's destiny. Just when he finally saw the situation in the capital improve and the nation's fortunes rise a little, so many cultivators interfered again.

Now, let alone the fate of the nation, he himself is in dire need of protection. More than one sect is eyeing him, and he has received no fewer than fifty death threats in recent days. If it weren't for his status as the Imperial Preceptor and his relationship with the Divine Phoenix Lady, which made them hesitant to act against him, he would have been dead long ago.

While there's still a chance to get married, so that you won't die and won't have any regrets, then take the initiative.

Heading towards the earth's veins, Xu Yuanqing's plan was simple: to stimulate the dragon veins and force the nation's destiny and fate to repel these cultivators.

Not only did he work hard, but the emperor also set off for the Imperial Ancestral Temple and the Temple of Heaven to plead with his ancestors.

As long as we can successfully provoke the resistance of the nation's dragon vein, expelling these cultivators should not be a problem.

In fact, Xu Yuanqing was very averse to this method.

Because it's too unstable, everything depends on fate. But fate is something that can only be roughly predicted in normal times. If you rely on it to decide a life or death, then this tactic is only viable at midday; it will inevitably lead to trouble sooner or later. That's why he told Bai Qingyu that his chances were only 50%.

There's a 50% chance of success and a 50% chance of failure.

Volume 1: Chapter 184 Xu Yuanqing's Methods

Fate is mysterious and profound. Xu Yuanqing often calculated fate, but he only used it as a reference. Unlike his master, he preferred to make his own judgments when making decisions. This time, he really had no other choice.

If you don't try, you'll die anyway, so you might as well give it a shot and place all your hopes on fate.

Bai Qingyu saw Xu Yuanqing's calm and collected demeanor, but he was unaware of the struggle and despair in Xu Yuanqing's heart. Since this group of cultivators entered the capital, Xu Yuanqing had never felt so pale and powerless, not even when the capital was so desolate.

Because the power of cultivators is simply too great, no matter how powerful he is, he is ultimately just a mortal. All his schemes are laughable in the eyes of cultivators. His Imperial Preceptor's Mansion is monitored and listened to for twelve hours a day, yet he cannot detect anything. He is like a puppet. In their eyes, all his actions seem ridiculous.

If it weren't for the fear these cultivators had shown, Xu Yuanqing felt that even if he survived, he wouldn't be much worse off.

The most dangerous time was when a monk tried to directly control his consciousness and turn him into an obedient puppet without killing him.

Within the earth's veins, Xu Yuanqing held a black jar, barely larger than the palm of his hand, hidden in his sleeve.

“Master, I am sorry for being unfilial. I have reached the end of my rope and have no other choice. This is the only way to save my life. It is not only for my sake, but also for the sake of all living beings.”

“The cultivators caused trouble, attempting to usurp the throne of the Human Emperor. I am incompetent and no match for them.”

"The Divine Phoenix Lady is ultimately an outsider. I am already eternally grateful for her saving me once. This calamity can only be overcome by me alone."

Xu Yuanqing drew a diagram on the ground centered on the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams. He opened the jar, and what was inside was none other than his master's ashes, or more precisely, a portion of his master's ashes.

The ashes were also recently refined. Under the guise of relocating his master's grave, he openly dug up his master's coffin, refined the remains, and kept some for himself. When his master was reburied, Xu Yuanqing could hear the cultivators mocking and laughing at him.

Are you out of your mind, Imperial Advisor? You dug up the remains of the old Imperial Advisor who raised you with great care and dedicated his life to the Great Spirit, and melted them down to ashes. You didn't even allow him to die with a complete body. To put it bluntly, this is called scattering bones to ashes. If your master knew this in the afterlife, he would come back as a ghost and strangle you.

Not only the monks, but also other officials and common people pointed fingers at him.

Moving graves is nothing to be ashamed of; on the contrary, it is a manifestation of filial piety.

But you can't burn your master's remains. The old national advisor devoted himself to the country until his death. How can you insult his body like this?

Some even say that he held a grudge, killed his junior brother, and then humiliated his master.

He killed Xu Yuanlang, and he might have killed the old Grand Preceptor as well.

Kneeling on the ground, Xu Yuanqing banished the jumbled thoughts from his mind. Dressed in a bright red robe, a festive sight, he stood before his master's urn.

As Xu Yuanqing continued to mutter something, the ashes in the urn gradually began to ripple. A gentle breeze blew by, carrying away the ashes inside.

Xu Yuanqing was unaware of all this; he was tightly closing his eyes and concentrating.

I don't know how much time passed; maybe ten minutes, maybe half an hour.

Xu Yuanqing suddenly seemed to sense something, as if a rough, large hand was pressing down on his head.

Slowly opening his eyes in a daze, Xu Yuanqing saw an old man with a phantom figure standing in front of him. Although he could only make out a general outline of the old man's face, Xu Yuanqing was certain that this was his master.

It can't be wrong, it must be Master!

"Master..."

The old man had his hands behind his back. He was tall and muscular, over two meters tall, with broad shoulders and a thick waist, and did not look like a civil official at all. Many military generals were not as robust as this old man.

The old man suddenly kicked Xu Yuanqing to the ground and pointed at him, cursing loudly.

"You little bastard, I raised you all these years for nothing! I told you long ago that I'm afraid of fire, and you still dared to set me on fire?"

Even though he was kicked over, Xu Yuanqing was genuinely happy and burst into tears of joy. This upright man's eyes reddened and he was about to cry.

He missed his master so much. The years of fighting alone made him realize how tired his master was when he was alive. He couldn't understand his hardships until he was in his master's position and gradually became like him. Only then did he realize how difficult it was.

The emotions that hadn't surfaced in front of Bai Qingyu erupted at this moment.

The old man was about to kick him, but seeing how pitiful Xu Yuanqing looked, he let go.

"Leave this to me. How could I have taught such a useless disciple? I've told you before, as long as I'm still alive..."

At this point, the old man fell silent.

Yes, he's no longer here.

Even when he was still alive, he would tell Xu Yuanqing every day, "Silly disciple, as long as your master is still alive, you don't have to be afraid of anything. Go ahead and do whatever you want. I'll take care of whatever happens."

"Master, you are already dead," Xu Yuanqing whispered a reminder.

"I know, just leave this to me. Get lost and get the country's fortunes in order, or I'll teach you a lesson."

He waved his hand like he was shooing away a fly. Xu Yuanqing was startled. When he came to his senses again, he slowly opened his eyes. He was still kneeling on the ground, not the one who had been kicked down. Everything in front of him was normal, even the ashes in the urn were the same.

Xu Yuanqing got up, took the urn back, and found that the ashes inside were only less, and the color had become much darker and duller, completely losing its luster.

Carefully putting the lid on, Xu Yuanqing wiped away the tears that had not yet dried on her face.

"Master..."

Whether it succeeded or not, Xu Yuanqing didn't know; he left everything else to fate.

·

Above the imperial palace, in the outer heavens, Bai Qingyu faced the siege of multiple powerful figures with ease. With a wave of his hand, he blasted one of the Void Refinement cultivators apart with his umbrella. The platinum-gold power trapped the other two Void Refinement cultivators within it, causing it to shrink continuously. No matter how the two Void Refinement cultivators tried, they could not break through this golden sphere.

The three Nascent Soul stage cultivators were unable to intervene to save the person; Bai Qingyu was putting immense pressure on them. Two of the three were seriously injured, while Bai Qingyu had not yet unleashed his full power.

Having reached this point, they have a very deep understanding of Bai Qingyu.

They often collect a lot of information about Bai Qingyu, and they always suspect that the monk named Qingfangzhu who took away the other shore flower back then was Bai Qingyu in disguise.

Not only did the Red Spider Lily make an appearance in Tongzhou, but they also found the demon named Qingfangzhu. He was indeed a monk, but his strength was nowhere near as formidable as rumored—the difference was like heaven and earth.

Therefore, they could tell that Bai Qingyu wasn't really going all out, because he hadn't absorbed the power of faith from Xizhou yet.

The power of faith in Xizhou comes from people, while the power of fortune comes from the world of Shangchuanzhou. The combination of the two is terrifying. It's as if the power of an entire continent is supporting Bai Qingyu. How could he not be strong under such circumstances?

Therefore, in their view, Bai Qingyu only used half of his power.

The last two Void Refinement cultivators also died, transforming into a sky full of golden light and disappearing from everyone's sight.

Bai Qingyu is different from Dong Qing. Dong Qing is kind-hearted and unwilling to kill. He only severely injures those Nascent Soul cultivators, rendering them unable to fight.

Bai Qingyu, on the other hand, would kill without hesitation.