This voice, naturally, belonged to Jiang Chen. He had employed his Dragon Roar Divine Ability, and these words rang out with overwhelming momentum — like thunder, like lightning, like a god descending to the mortal realm. His bearing was extraordinary, carrying the sovereign air of one who commanded all living beings and held the power of life and death in his hands.
Nor were his words mere bluster. Should he so desire, a single command from him could paint the streets of the Crimson Cauldron Imperial Capital in rivers of blood and piles of corpses!
He could even leave not a single soul alive.
Jiao Yun of the Huai Mountain twins waited for Jiang Chen to finish before speaking up in a booming voice of his own. "Our Young Lord possesses the virtue of mercy toward all living things. Whether you live or die rests entirely upon his whim. Should anyone dare to aid the tyrant in his wickedness, let the fate of the six great sects of the Myriad Domains serve as the Crimson Cauldron Imperial Capital's warning!"
When the Central Crimson Cauldron army had invaded the Myriad Domains, they had refrained from slaughtering commoners to any great degree — but the high-ranking cultivators of the Myriad Domains had been all but exterminated. Those they hadn't killed outright, they had enslaved and sold off for profit.
In that catastrophe that had befallen the Myriad Domains, apart from those lucky few who had managed to escape, the vast majority of warriors from the six great sects had been slaughtered clean. A minority were turned into slaves.
And beyond the six great sects, even the fifth-rank and sixth-rank sects had not escaped unscathed. Once the Central Crimson Cauldron forces had worked themselves into a frenzy, even many independent cultivators had perished miserably.
Apart from the mundane kingdoms that had not been invaded, every sect and power of any standing had been uprooted root and branch.
"Palace Master, care to say a few words?" Jiang Chen had brought the members of Dan Qian Palace along with him on this campaign.
Palace Master Dan Chi nodded. "Your Majesty the Crimson Cauldron Emperor — if you are still a man, then atone for the sins you have committed. Do not drag the common folk of this entire city down with you to the grave! Back then, driven by your own ambition, you willingly became a lackey of the Immortal Sky Capital, invading our Myriad Domains time and again, destroying our sects and slaughtering our warriors. Today is the day we, the survivors of the Myriad Domains, strike back!"
The indignation and suffering Palace Master Dan Chi had endured over the years could not be vented in so few words. But hearing his cry ring out above the Crimson Cauldron Imperial Capital eased some of the bitterness that had been weighing on his heart.
And now came the reckoning...
The martial world had its own rules — and the most straightforward rule of all was this: repay a tooth with a tooth, repay blood with blood!
The blood that the Myriad Domains had once shed — let the Central Crimson Cauldron pay it back tenfold!
...
Inside the Crimson Cauldron Imperial Palace, the elite of the imperial clan and the great ministers of the Crimson Cauldron Empire had gathered virtually in one place.
"My beloved ministers, the enemy is at our gates. Do not pretend to be deaf and mute. Whoever has a strategy for repelling them, present it at once. Should we survive this crisis, I shall share my empire with you all." The Crimson Cauldron Emperor was busy issuing empty checks.
Nearly the entire corps of the empire's ministers had assembled here. In addition to the military officials, the civil officers and advisors were all huddled together like quails, their faces drained of color. They could barely stand upright, let alone propose any strategy for repelling the enemy.
"Your Majesty, at a time like this, there is only one option: fight to the death. I am willing to lead eight thousand of the Tiger Guard and ride out to meet them in battle. I refuse to believe that the Central Crimson Cauldron has spent a thousand days training its soldiers only to find them useless when the hour comes!"
The speaker was Commander He of the Imperial Guard. Commander He's cultivation stood at the seventh level of the Imperial realm — a level that placed him among the top ten in the entire Crimson Cauldron Empire.
The Imperial Guard he had trained were adept at employing battle formations, specializing in head-on engagements. This was the source of Commander He's hardline stance.
Several other military officials echoed his sentiment. "Your Majesty, I am also willing to lead a contingent of warriors to fight alongside Commander He. How many people did this Glazed Royal City send to the capital? At most, just a few thousand. Our Crimson Cauldron Imperial Capital has a population of ten million, with at least two million cultivators. We have no fewer than a thousand Imperial-realm experts and countless Saint-realm powerhouses. Surely such a force can ride out, deliver them a crushing blow, and put the fear of death into them!"
"Your Majesty, you must not!"
Immediately, someone stood up to object. "That Young Lord of the Glazed Royal City came prepared. The only reason he has not launched a full assault is because he is wary of the palace's defensive formation. He is trying to provoke us into riding out to fight. Once our main force is spent out there, the palace's defenses will be left wide open."
"Exactly, Your Majesty. We have the advantage of terrain — why throw it away to fight and die in the open? Relying on the palace's defensive formations, even if we cannot hold out indefinitely, we can last for some time. When reinforcements arrive—"
"Reinforcements? What reinforcements?" Commander He flew into a rage. "In this world, the strong devour the weak. Once the Glazed Royal City's army marches out, who would dare come as reinforcements?"
"Your Majesty, the Central Crimson Cauldron's enmity with the Myriad Domains was entirely caused by the Immortal Sky Capital. We and the Immortal Sky Capital share the same fate — if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold. How could they sit idle and watch us die?"
"Right! How could the Immortal Sky Capital possibly let us fall? Surely they cannot think that if our Central Crimson Cauldron is destroyed, they will be able to wash their hands of it and stay out of it entirely?"
"Furthermore, we have three great sects and over a dozen fourth-rank sects within our borders, with countless powerful cultivators. Your Majesty should issue an order immediately, commanding them to rally to the capital and come to our aid. As long as the capital stands, the Central Crimson Cauldron stands. If the capital falls, the Central Crimson Cauldron loses its soul."
"Indeed! The empire has supported them for thousands of years — precisely for the day when they would be needed to put their lives on the line. Now that the empire is in peril, these sects must serve it unto death!"
"Your Majesty, with forces coordinating from inside and out, the crisis will surely be resolved!"
The fact that the three great sects had washed their hands of the matter was something these court officials knew nothing about. One after another they spoke up, creating a clamorous commotion.
The Crimson Cauldron Emperor's face was ashen. The empire had supported these people in times of peace, and in the long years of prosperity, one could not see their true nature. But now, at this critical moment when the empire's survival hung in the balance, the worthlessness of these fools was laid bare for all to see.
It was at that moment that Jiang Chen's voice once again rang out over the Crimson Cauldron Imperial Capital.
"Your Majesty the Crimson Cauldron Emperor, the Heavenly Dao is just, and retribution never fails. Where is the fighting spirit and courage you once showed when you invaded the Myriad Domains? Have all that remains been tucked away behind a turtle's shell?"
"Do you truly believe that cowering inside your palace means there is nothing our Young Lord can do to you?"