After breaking up with my girlfriend, I became a Great Sage of the Demon Clan.

Penglai in the North Sea.

Wenquxing looked behind him at the coastline of Penglai Island.

The scenery beyond the coastline began to distort, the light dimmed, and the entire Penglai Island seemed to begin to peel away from the real world.

The Star Lord of the Central Dipper behind the Star of Literature laughed.

"Penglai Island is closed. Unless it opens itself at the right time, it will be useless even if the four divine beasts gather together."

The unique characteristic of Penglai Island, a forbidden zone for humans, is that it appears and disappears on a fixed schedule.

It just didn't disappear on time today.

Chapter Twenty-Four: The Demise of a Nation

Dawu Mountain, a courtyard.

Zhao Wenhe picked up Zhou Yan, pushed open the door to a bedroom in the courtyard, and threw Zhou Yan inside.

Zhou Yan landed and managed to stand firmly on his feet, avoiding the embarrassing situation of rolling several times after landing before getting up.

Standing at the doorway, blocking the light, Zhao Wenhe spoke softly.

"Minister Bai, the imperial edict..."

Zhou Yan thought for a moment and then chuckled awkwardly.

"Regarding this imperial edict..."

With a casual grab, Zhao Wenhe pulled out the Chongming Bird.

For a moment, Zhou Yan had no idea what the Plague God had done. Zhao Wen's hands were clean and empty just a second ago, but they were exposed as soon as he grabbed them.

Zhao Wenhe said calmly.

"This child doesn't have much meat, but it should taste delicious when stewed."

Zhao Wenhe began to grip the Chongming bird's neck tightly. The Chongming bird's eyes bulged outwards, and its wings flapped forcefully against Zhao Wenhe's hand. Zhao Wenhe did not react and just looked at Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan's lips moved, and after a few seconds he turned around, went to the desk in the room, took out a gold-inlaid memorial, spread it out, and then took out a pen.

When he took it out, Zhou Yan was stunned for a moment, and the young man looked up at Zhao Wenhe.

The last empress curled her lips into a smile.

"It seems that Minister Bai is not proficient in literature?"

Zhou Yan gave a wry smile.

"I just don't understand the format."

Although Zhou Yan had read the edicts from Chaos and Little Yama, these edicts were not written by Zhou Yan; he truly did not know how to write them.

Besides, a normal person only needs to learn the format of a thank-you letter or similar letter; who would learn the format of an imperial edict?

Zhao Wen smiled, a smile that was breathtakingly beautiful.

"Minister Bai, I say, write it down."

Zhou Yan placed the brush on the memorial.

Zhao Wenhe's tone turned serious.

"By the mandate of Heaven, Bai Ze hereby issues the following decree:"

I have heard that the mandate of Heaven is not constant, but only returns to virtue; therefore, Yao bestowed the mandate upon Shun, and Shun upon Yu, which was truly fitting. Zhao Wenhe, the eighteenth generation descendant of the Zhao family, is a woman of both literary and military talent, of pure and virtuous character, respectful, frugal, benevolent, and filial.

He revered Heaven and Earth and his ancestors above, and protected all the people under Heaven below. He possessed the qualities of Yao and Shun, and the abilities of a sage. He was concerned about the affairs of the nation, revitalized the court, and was worthy of the throne.

"I, Yu, decree that all living beings under heaven may be blessed, and I beseech the Great Emperor of the North Star in the Central Heaven to appoint him as the new emperor, to establish the imperial lineage, to act in accordance with Heaven's will and the people's will, so that all under Heaven may rejoice."

As Zhou Yan wrote, he kept glancing at Zhao Wenhe.

Name: Zhao Wenhe.

Age: 283.

Height: 170cm.

Weight: 130 kg.

3D: ...

Personal attributes.

Strength: 23000 (1 represents the average physical fitness of an adult)

Neural reaction speed: 23100

Agility: 23100

Endurance: 2000 billion

Intelligence: 200 billion (speed only)

Spirit: ∞

Perception: 200 billion

Bloodline: Eight Righteous Gods - Plague Lord (Awakening Level 88%)

Bloodline Awakening Passive Skill.

Plague God: Immune to all plagues, and possesses plague-related magical arts, spells, and evil magic.

Divinity: As long as there are diseases and plagues in the world, one can be resurrected an infinite number of times through this concept.

Expelling disease: Can expel all diseases within a certain range.

Peach Blossom Curse: A divine curse left behind by Guang Chengzi; you can understand it as a meme virus.

Dragon aura: ? ? ?

Major Luck Cycle: ? ? ?

Huangji Jingshi Quan: A world-shaking boxing technique derived from Taizu Changquan.

Purple Dragon Qi: Qi Sea completes, physical attributes greatly improved, and all physical abilities greatly enhanced.

The Three-Three Return to Origin Scripture: Recreates the Qi Sea, making one's internal energy nine times that of an ordinary martial arts master, and the same applies to Qi recovery.

Human Emperor: This skill is no longer effective.

? ? ? :? ? ?

? ? ? :? ? ?

? ? ? :? ? ?

Zhou Yan then glanced at Zhao Wenhe's personal profile.

Because the woman's awakening level was too high, Zhou Yan saw very little. However, before he finished writing the memorial, Zhou Yan roughly figured out the woman's background—the last empress of the previous dynasty.

"I've finished writing it."

Zhou Yan put the brush aside and reached out to the memorial in front of him that he had finished writing.

Zhao Wenhe, holding the Chongming bird by the neck, walked over. This woman walked with a generous and graceful demeanor, showing that she had undergone special training in walking.

Zhao Wenhe approached Zhou Yan, tossed the Chongming bird to him, and then picked up the memorial Zhou Yan had written.

"Bai Aiqing, your handwriting..."

Zhou Yan rolled his eyes.

What era are we living in? Apart from those who want to show off or those from middle-class or higher families, which child still learns calligraphy? Zhou Yan only learned to write with a calligraphy brush in elementary school as an extracurricular activity.

"it is good."

After reading the memorial, Zhao Wenhe handed it to Zhou Yan.

"Minister Bai, it is now your turn to petition the Heavenly Emperor to establish me as the ruler of humanity."

Zhou Yan: "..."

Zhao Wenhe then looked at the Chongming bird that Zhou Yan was holding. The Chongming bird cried out in fear and shrank into Zhou Yan's arms.

Zhou Yan patted the Chongming Bird's head and said in a hoarse voice.

"The Taisho era has been over two hundred years since its fall, and people's hearts have long since changed. Why should Your Majesty be so fixated on this?"

The Eastern Xia Federation has been without an emperor for two hundred years, yet everyone is still doing well. The feudal-era belief in monarchs has long been proven by reality to be nothing but a joke.

Therefore, including Zhou Yan, at least 99% of the people in the Eastern Xia Federation thought that "the emperor is useless."

Oh no, with Zhao Wenhe's looks, Zhou Yan reckoned that if this empress went online and became a streamer, she could easily attract a bunch of sycophants by selling some of her body. It wouldn't be impossible for those sycophants to call her Queen or His Majesty.

Of course, given Zhao Wenhe's current attitude, he is clearly not satisfied with the extent to which a sycophant licks a goddess's boots.

This beauty aspires to be an emperor, a ruler who, with a single word, can slaughter countless heads and command the submission of the entire world.

Zhao Wenhe said nonchalantly.

"Let the world change as it may, as long as I remain the same, this world will still belong to my Zhao family!"

At first, the words were just loud, but later they went beyond just being loud. Each word was like a thunderclap exploding in the room. Even after Zhao Wen and the empress, who was full of dragon aura, stopped speaking, Zhou Yan's ears were still filled with the thunderous aftertaste.

Bai Ze's omniscience provided Zhou Yan with an explanation—the Lion's Roar.

The empress spoke with the power of a lion's roar, creating a thunderous sound effect. A normal person might have been intimidated by this extraordinary phenomenon.

But Zhou Yan didn't. He even wanted to retort, "You're so great, but the Taisho era still collapsed, didn't it?"

Of course, these words were too sarcastic, so Zhou Yan didn't choose to say them to his face, but instead said...

"Since Your Majesty has the heart to restore the nation..."

"Bai Ze also had to express his opinion."

Zhou Yan took out a small basin from his own little universe, and then took out some white paper. Zhou Yan squatted down and lit the white paper.

The firelight filled the entire room, its rays licking at Zhao Wenhe's body and casting flickering shadows on the stunning empress's features.

Zhou Yan threw the memorial he had just written into the brazier.

Zhao Wenhe slowly lowered his eyelids, and in the firelight, images mixed with memories appeared.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, we have invited a celestial being from the mountain..."

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, as long as the Celestial Masters of the Imperial Observatory perform their rituals, everything will be alright..."

Thus, the altar with ninety-nine steps was built in the royal palace's Wentian Altar. In order to demonstrate their determination, Zhao Wen and the eunuchs around him sacrificed more than thirty commoners to the heavens.

Meanwhile, the old Taoist priests, dressed in Taoist robes and exuding an air of otherworldly wisdom, took to the stage one after another, holding the sharp swords and magical artifacts prepared for them by Zhao Wenhe, to invite the gods and Buddhas of the heavens above and the ghosts and immortals of the nine netherworlds below.

In short, all the true gods and immortals in heaven and on earth must be invited down to vindicate the Great Zheng Dynasty and warn all those who disobey that the Great Zheng Dynasty is the legitimate successor of Heaven, and that all other rebellions are going against Heaven and will surely be punished by Heaven.

Zhao Wenhe performed this kind of sacrifice five times before the fall of the Dazheng Dynasty.

After each performance, all the officials and military officers would shout "May the Great Zheng Dynasty live ten thousand years! Long live Zhao Wenhe!" as if this moment were still the same as the founding of the dynasty.

Then, during this reign of ten thousand years, the Taisho Empire was engulfed in war and famine, with the Taisho Dynasty's regular army suppressing peasant uprisings everywhere.

In the daily reports, the regular army of the Taisho Dynasty was described as brave and skilled in battle, and in every battle, they slaughtered the enemy, causing countless deaths and injuries. However, Zhao Wenhe keenly noticed that the peasant soldiers, who were said to be being defeated by the Taisho army, suffering countless deaths and injuries, and being forced to abandon their armor and weapons, were getting closer and closer to the capital.

Until a certain leader of peasants with the bloodline of a true god led over 100,000 peasant soldiers equipped with foreign-supplied firearms into the royal city...

"Oh."

Zhou Yan's laughter interrupted Zhao Wenhe's daze, and Zhao Wenhe's gaze returned to reality. He saw the brazier that Zhou Yan had taken out and the flames inside gradually dying out.

And, the memorial to the throne in which Zhou Yan wrote a prayer.

The memorial was engulfed in flames, but there was not a single trace of it being burned.

Zhou Yan took the memorial he had written himself out of the fire. In any sacrificial ceremony of the Eastern Xia Federation, you had to write a prayer before the ceremony and burn it, as if to show it to the object of your prayer.

In the past, Zhou Yan thought this action was useless. Did he think that if the gods in heaven were unhappy with the burning of the prayer, the ritual would stop?

It wasn't until now that Zhou Yan realized there was actually some truth to the practice of burning paper money at the beginning to ask the bigwig if he was willing to do something.

Zhou Yan waved the undamaged memorial in front of Zhao Wenhe.

"It seems the Ziwei Emperor doesn't want to read my report."

Zhao Wenhe did not show the disappointment or anger that Zhou Yan had hoped for. On the contrary, the empress chuckled calmly.