Several passed away in the blink of an eye.
Lin Xue joined the Gold Dragon division and started training with the rest of the soldiers who were stuck in the same realm as her.
She was currently focused on polishing her existing techniques and Fu Sheng is happy to mentor her upon witnessing her lightning mode, which doesn't use her ether energy. Instead, her pure attribute energy is going to get consumed alongside her rapid depletion of stamina.
As a result, using such a technique is extremely taxing on one's body and she plans on improving her mastery to increase her limit.
Meanwhile, the situation at Phoenix Empire started getting worse day after day. Shang Jun's act of planned assassination of the noble clan leaders and elders while throwing the blame on the Rebel Forces enraged him. He hit back by destroying a couple of granaries in the imperial city, only to realize that the public sentiment on Rebel Forces turned worse.
However, Mark doesn't care about their feelings and neither does Shang Zexi. Hence, he continued to provide millions of gold coins as war funds to the former crown prince, who used it to increase his army's strength, hire adventurers, and eventually lure more experts from Shang Jun's side.
The situation has escalated to the extent that even some of the sects were pulled into this civil war. Assassination attempts were being made from Shang Jun, but for some reason, none succeeded in killing Shang Zexi or the leaders of the Yuan and Zhao clans as they moved to Northern Yuan province's headquarters. Every assassin who stepped into the Yuan Clan's territory mysteriously ended up dead.
Shang Jun was constantly on edge despite fame gaining among the commoners as he continued to compensate the people who lost their lives or fortune, which resulted in the rapid depletion of the treasury.
His governance gained stability amidst troubled times but his happiness was lost. Cashing on the opportunity, Mark instructed Shang Zexi to buy the farmers to cooperate in destroying their own fields for money and then later claim compensation from the district magistrates. This way, The Phoenix Rebels won, and the farmers also won, but Shang Jun ended up losing money.
Meanwhile, without Shang Zexi's knowledge, the Eastern Sun's King, on Mark's instructions, came forth to give a high-interest loan to Shang Jun in exchange for keeping the semi-divine weapons from the treasury as a mortgage.
The citizens were gripped in fear, not getting out of their houses as per the order from their Emperor.
The remaining soldiers deployed there were ordered not to engage in battle and hence, they gave way to 653 spirit warriors as they made their way to the imperial grounds, where Shang Jun was waiting for them, alongside Bai Xun who couldn't abandon his side due to his loyalty to the throne.
The acting commander of the Rebel forces, Lt. Zhou Ming addressed the Emperor, "You have lost, Emperor Shang. Destroy your cultivation with your own hands and surrender peacefully. You will still be granted a life but with limited freedom for as long as you live. Resist and you will die."
*Pfft* "Hahaha"
Shang Jun suddenly burst into laughter upon hearing those words from the enemy, startling the others. "Sorry, I always find it funny when I hear death threats. I can resurrect, you know."
In response, Lt. Zhou nodded as if he agreed with him, "I'm aware of the abilities of the Phoenix Bloodline. The very first bloodline skill itself is resurrection, which works one hundred percent every time as long as your death isn't of either natural cause or suicide.
However, you have a price to pay for it. Every time you resurrect, your cultivation drops according to your mastery. And it is also not an instant resurrection. You should have someone to protect your corpse for seven days before you resurrect. So, the users usually build a resurrection altar somewhere in secret and have a teleportation seal on their body.
The moment you die, the seal will activate and your corpse will be transported far away and only a barrier of demigod level can stop this spatial magic.
Since I know all of this, I know the way to stop it too. It is actually quite simple too."
"Oh, what do you plan on doing?" Shang Jun didn't show panic and acted calmly for some reason. He neither showed fear nor did he show any curiosity. He merely conversed with the enemy's acting commander.
With his long white hair fluttered with a blow of wind, Lt. Zhou brandished his spear like a whip as he answered, "I can't stop your body from teleporting away but I can seal away your soul with Soul Trapping Formation."