Chapter 81

Divine Weapon Ancestral Grounds… These are places dedicated to the worship of Nation-Protecting Divine Weapons.

In the Central Plains Thirty-Six Kingdoms, there are thirty-six Nation-Protecting Divine Weapons, and naturally, thirty-six Divine Weapon Ancestral Grounds exist.

For the royal families of the thirty-six countries, worshiping Divine Weapons is even more important than honoring ancestors or past emperors.

It was only because Lin Yuan made an independent decision in the Greater Yan Dynasty Tian Gang, withstanding pressure from the court, that he managed to delay the worship of Divine Weapons for fifty to sixty years.

Even so, the number of living sacrifices sent to the Divine Weapon Ancestral Grounds each year hadn’t reduced in the slightest.

Lin Yuan turned a blind eye to this.

With matters like the succession of the throne, Divine Weapons might not pay attention.

However, if there was even a slight shortfall in the living sacrifices, it would surely attract the notice of the Divine Weapons.

At that time, the Divine Weapon would awaken and proactively seek out sacrifices.

The consequences of this would be difficult for the Greater Yan Dynasty to bear.

After all, when a Divine Weapon awakens on its own, the number of sacrifices it requires is much greater than when it slumbers.

Therefore—

Before accumulating enough strength to suppress the Divine Weapon, maintaining the status quo to gain more time to grow stronger is the correct choice.

At least Lin Yuan could be in control and choose when to take action.

Like now.

Lin Yuan thought now was a good opportunity to make a move.

Taking the opportunity of the worship ceremony, he would lure out the Divine Weapon and strike when it ‘fed’.

“Divine Weapon…”

After Lin Yuan agreed to the worship of the Divine Weapon, the Minister of Rites and many other ministers hurriedly started preparing the various rituals needed for the ceremony.

Lin Yuan, on the other hand, returned to Chengtian Hall, pondering the matter of ‘Divine Weapons’.

Having decided to take action against the Divine Weapon, Lin Yuan was, of course, fully prepared.

After studying the memories of numerous Evil Soldiers, Lin Yuan gained a deep understanding of the thirty-six Divine Weapons.

In terms of combat power alone, Lin Yuan was confident he was not inferior to any Divine Weapon.

What Lin Yuan needed to be wary of was the Divine Weapon’s final trump card.

Merging with heaven and earth.

Whether it’s a Divine Weapon or an Evil Soldier,

at its core, it is the external manifestation of the essence of the rules of heaven and earth.

Since it is an external manifestation, in times of need, it can naturally merge back into it.

The essence of Evil Soldiers is shattered, no longer intact, so they cannot return to heaven and earth.

But Divine Weapons are different.

If a Divine Weapon wishes, it can surely merge into heaven and earth.

In such a state, even if Lin Yuan were a hundred or a thousand times stronger, unless he could destroy heaven and earth, he could do nothing about it.

Of course, if it weren’t a last resort, with no other options,

Divine Weapons would not choose to return to heaven and earth.

Because by doing so, the Divine Weapon’s own consciousness would be washed away by the consciousness of heaven and earth.

Simply put, it would be ‘formatted’.

Centuries later, even if it emerged from heaven and earth again,

that Divine Weapon would no longer be the original Divine Weapon.

Because its inner consciousness would have changed.

Nevertheless.

Having chosen to make a move against the Divine Weapon,

Lin Yuan certainly wouldn’t just watch it return to heaven and earth.

One of his main purposes in taking action was to suppress the Divine Weapon in order to comprehend the essential rules it contained.

Over decades, the essence of rules within the fragments of many Evil Soldiers provided Lin Yuan with a tremendous help.

This was only from Evil Soldiers, that is, fragments of Divine Weapons.

What if it were a complete Divine Weapon, with its full essence of rules, how much help could it bring to Lin Yuan?

At the very least, it could elevate him to the Fourth Rank.

Not just an ordinary Fourth Rank.

But a Fourth Rank founded on the essence of rules.

“Since Divine Weapons can merge into heaven and earth,”

“then I will just cut off heaven and earth completely.”

Lin Yuan’s eyes were calm.

In his eighty years in this realm, with Against-Heaven’s Understanding, Lin Yuan had contemplated many fragments of Evil Soldiers and developed a secret technique to isolate from heaven and earth.

Using eighty-one pieces of Evil Soldiers as the core, he could completely seal off a certain area.

That is, cutting it off from heaven and earth.

However, such ‘sealing’ had its limits.

Heaven and earth have the ability to repair themselves, and with Lin Yuan’s methods, he could seal it for at most an hour.

That is, cut off from heaven and earth for an hour.

…

The matter of the Flame Emperor going to the Ancestral Grounds to worship the Divine Weapons became a top priority in the court.

Since it was a worship ceremony, a large number of sacrifices would be prepared.

The sacrifices for worshiping Divine Weapons are, of course, living people, and particularly cultivators with abundant blood and energy.

Since Lin Yuan’s ascension to the throne, although he hadn’t reduced the number of sacrifices, he tried as much as possible to select those sentenced to death or life imprisonment.

If there still weren’t enough,

he would recruit from the populace as much as possible.

Those who volunteered to be sacrifices would have their parents, children and so on taken care of by the state.

The elders would be supported by Greater Yan in their old age, and their descendants would have priority in education, entering politics or enlisting in the army.

This policy once sparked controversy in the court; many ministers thought it unnecessary, insisting that the honor of sacrificing for the Divine Weapons should be reserved for the peasants.

After all, implementing such a policy would definitely put a strain on the state treasury.

Yet, under Lin Yuan’s firm stance, the policy was still enforced.

….

“`

The process of offering sacrifices to the Divine Weapon was very cumbersome.

Numerous ministers had been busy for most of the day before they began the final offering.

As the Emperor, Lin Yuan walked at the forefront, heading toward the center of the Underground Palace in the ancestral grounds.

Several hours later.

Lin Yuan’s gaze was deep as he looked towards the center of the altar.

In his perception, a vast and mountainous aura was almost bursting forth.

This aura was ferocious and majestic, sharp and overbearing, surpassing any Evil Soldier Lin Yuan had ever encountered.

Even the ‘Splitting Heaven Axe,’ which was ninety percent intact, paled in comparison to this aura.

For eight thousand years, those Evil Soldiers had made no progress.

However, the thirty-six Nation-Protecting Divine Weapons continuously devoured the life force, blood, and souls of living beings, slowly improving, and over eight thousand years, dripping water had worn through stone, their strength naturally surpassing that of the past.

Not to mention, these thirty-six Nation-Protecting Divine Weapons were strongly fought for in the great battle of a hundred Divine Weapons eight thousand years ago, and they were the strongest thirty-six out of those hundred.

“The Sun and Moon Spear…”

A trace of a strange color flashed across Lin Yuan’s face.

This Nation-Protecting Divine Weapon of the Greater Yan Dynasty, the Sun and Moon Spear, was one of the Divine Weapons most adept at offensive powers among the thirty-six.

In that battle of Divine Weapons, the Sun and Moon Spear had pierced through at least seven or eight other Divine Weapons, its fierce might nothing short of awe-inspiring.

“All right.”

“You all may leave now.”

“I have something to say to the Divine Weapon.”

Lin Yuan sensed that the Sun and Moon Spear was about to appear, devouring the offerings.

He immediately turned back to look at the various ministers and the imperial lineage.

“Yes.”

“Then we shall depart first.”

Everyone was already somewhat breathless,

after all, as the aura of the Sun and Moon Spear gradually moved, facing such an aura as vast as heaven and earth, ordinary people found it difficult to endure.

And Lin Yuan’s reason was very sufficient.

The Greater Yan imperial family was the ‘spokesperson’ chosen by the Divine Weapons.

And as the Emperor, the highest in the royal family’s status, being alone with the Divine Weapon was only natural.

Soon.

Apart from Lin Yuan.

Everyone respectfully departed.

For a moment, the vast and enormous altar was left with only Lin Yuan and the living sacrifices kneeling in the distance.

The living sacrifices for this offering were all death row inmates from various places.

To ensure the smooth progress of the offering, these inmates were already unconscious.

Lin Yuan stood in place, quietly waiting for the Divine Weapon to appear.

At this time, Lin Yuan’s aura was contained; even the Divine Weapon could not detect any anomaly.

Otherwise, with the strength of Lin Yuan’s physical blood, the Sun and Moon Spear would have gone crazy by now. Why would it ‘dawdle’ as it was doing now?

Rumble…

Under Lin Yuan’s watchful eyes, a hundred-zhang-long divine dragon with the sun and moon revolving around it slowly flew out.

“A dragon?”

Lin Yuan’s eyes narrowed slightly.

It wasn’t a dragon.

The so-called ‘divine dragon’ was nothing but a phantom image transformed by the aura of the Divine Weapon.

Lin Yuan saw at the core of the ‘divine dragon’ phantom, a hazy long spear undulating.

The Divine Weapon, the Sun and Moon Spear.

Lin Yuan’s expression became slightly solemn.

This was not the first time he had seen a Divine Weapon.

In perusing those ‘Evil Soldier’ memories, he had seen many Divine Weapons.

He had even seen numerous scenes of the Sun and Moon Spear making its thrust.

But scenes were just scenes after all.

In comparison to the actual Sun and Moon Spear, it was like the light of a firefly vying with the bright moon.

“Hoo!”

The Sun and Moon Spear trembled lightly.

The hundred-zhang-long divine dragon phantom opened its huge mouth and slightly sucked in the direction of the sacrifices.

Suddenly.

A massive amount of life force, vitality, and souls were devoured into the dragon’s mouth.

“These offerings are not bad,”

the Sun and Moon Spear emitted a vast spiritual fluctuation, clearly somewhat satisfied.

“Are you the new Emperor?”

The Sun and Moon Spear seemed to sense something, emitting another spiritual fluctuation.

“Indeed,”

Lin Yuan nodded.

“In that case…”

The body of the Sun and Moon Spear shook.

An indescribable aura descended.

Each Emperor, during the offering to the Divine Weapons, would be branded with a Divine Weapon mark.

It was both a deterrent and a restriction.

Lin Yuan had to this day not undergone the Marrow Cleansing for the Retired Emperor, precisely because he was wary of this Divine Weapon brand.

“Wait a moment,”

Lin Yuan immediately spoke up.

As Lin Yuan pronounced the word ‘wait,’ he lifted his right foot and took a step forward.

By the time Lin Yuan finished saying ‘wait,’ his right foot landed, and with the altar as the center, the surrounding heaven and earth had already been isolated.