Chapter 191: The Fall of the Qi Kingdom
Thus, all Twelve Heavenly Kings were dealt with.
The Heavenly Kings probably never expected that they were just trying to clean up a mess left from three hundred years ago, and yet within an hour, all twelve of them had been wiped out.
Facing the woman inside the mystic realm, Jiang Li sighed, “What a sin.”
“Give them some money, let these women either find decent husbands or spend the rest of their lives alone,” Yu Yin offered, drawing from her own experience. After she killed the former Tianyuan Emperor, his three thousand concubines had given her a massive headache.
Killing them wasn’t an option, nor was letting them go. Yu Yin had given them some spirit stones to fend for themselves.
The women left behind by the Twelve Heavenly Kings presented the same problem.
Their purity had been ruined, and the reputation of the Twelve Heavenly Kings was tarnished from this day forward.
If these women wanted to survive, they’d have to hide their pasts.
“Finding a decent husband basically means marrying some honest guy,” the Ruyi Gourd felt like it got Yu Yin’s meaning and spoke up to explain.
Yu Yin smacked the dumb gourd hard.
“No one’s mistaking you for mute if you don’t speak.”
“Oh.”
“Hand them over to Bu Jing,” Bai Hongtu suggested, letting Bu Jing handle the arrangements.
“Alright,” Jiang Li agreed.
These women didn’t know what was happening in the outside world, nor the true nature of the Heavenly Kings. They still thought the Kings were saviors. So when six of them died in the mystic realm, the women were wary of Jiang Li and the other two—some even felt hatred.
It was a matter of limited perspective, and Jiang Li didn’t blame them.
In fact, it wasn’t just these women. The entire Huan Yu World had only just begun to suspect the Heavenly Kings. Most people still believed they were saviors.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have gathered such massive power from faith.
Now that the Kings were dead, people might think Jiang Li was the invader.
Even though the aura Jiang Li exuded was extremely calm.
Besides that, there was the matter of how to handle the Qi court, and how to best promote the ancient martial manuals, among other things.
The death of the Twelve Heavenly Kings symbolized the end of the old era, and the beginning of a new one—a messy beginning.
“But what’s that got to do with us? Let Bu Jing worry about it,” Jiang Li said bluntly.
This sort of thing wasn’t something Jiang Li had a solution for either. He became the Human Sovereign because he cared for the Nine Provinces and had the strength—not because he was good at governance.
Just like he didn’t know the Dao of Time, he also didn’t know how to run a country.
The three of them led the women out of the mystic realm and returned to Wubu City.
By this point, the Night King was reduced to just a skeleton, not a shred of flesh left. Beneath the bones was a mountain of meat slices, thin as wings.
Lingchi.
Bu Jing stood beside them with a blade in hand, silent and expressionless.
The Night King, being a Soul Formation Cultivator, had an incredibly tough physical vitality. Some of those meat slices were still twitching and fusing.
But there was no way he’d come back from this. The twitching and fusing were futile. Very soon, they’d lose all vitality.
The Night King was well and truly dead.
Bu Jing’s expression finally changed.
His lips curled slightly, as if smiling, but his nose twitched and tears began streaming uncontrollably from his eyes.
Bu Dong was the same.
The two brothers knelt on the ground, crying and laughing at the same time, completely disregarding their image.
Finally, they turned to the east and kowtowed three times, to honor the spirits of their parents.
Only after the two had let it all out did Jiang Li descend to the Bu Clan.
After explaining everything about the women he brought, Bu Jing nodded softly and said he’d take care of it.
Seeing Bu Jing so composed, Jiang Li realized this was the oldest man in the Huan Yu World, separated by more than ten generations from the people of today.
Just like Immortal Elder Changcun.
If not for his past with the Mortal World Celestial, Immortal Elder Changcun also carried that same calming steadiness.
“We’re not skilled in martial arts, so we can’t guide you. The path ahead is yours alone. And besides, we’re not people of this world. We won’t stay here. The fate of Huan Yu World is yours to decide,” Jiang Li said before leaving.
Bu Jing and Bu Dong expressed their thanks to Jiang Li and the others.
Their gratitude was immeasurable. The kindness shown by the trio was as vast as the heavens—no amount of thanks or praise could ever be enough.
“Complete the martial path system as soon as possible. Then we can meet again.”
“Yes.”
…
The first thing Bu Jing did upon returning to the Bu Clan was announce a name change—from the Bu Clan back to the original surname, Bu.
“King of Qi…” Bu Jing looked in the direction of the Qi capital, hundreds of miles away, and revealed a chilling smile.
Revealing the real history to the people and spreading the ancient martial arts manuals—Heavenly Kings had been the biggest obstacle, and the Qi court the second.
It was time for the Qi Kingdom’s history to end.
As the only Outer Realm expert alive, Bu Jing was unmatched in the Huan Yu World. Even if someone broke through to Outer Realm later, they still wouldn’t be a match for him.
He alone could reshape this country more thoroughly than ten thousand troops ever could.
Even if the court mobilized its army and the King of Qi called upon top-tier palace experts to protect him, they couldn’t stop Bu Jing from taking the king’s head and dooming the Qi Kingdom.
Unlike common wars with massive casualties and destruction, war involving an Outer Realm martial artist meant casualties could be kept to a minimum. Bu Jing bypassed the army and all the inner palace guards to capture the King of Qi directly.
Then, Bu Jing made a proclamation to the world:
“The first four martial realms can be viewed as Inner Realm stages. The fifth is Outer Realm. It continues the old martial path and marks a new beginning.”
“Inner Realm and Outer Realm both share the word ‘Jing’ (Realm). That shall be the name of the new nation.”
“The new nation shall be called Jing Kingdom!”
“Bu Dong will be King Jing!”
The head of the Bu Clan—or rather, now the head of the royal Bu Clan—was in a daze after hearing the news.
It had only been a month. How did their tiny, shady clan suddenly become the royal family?
“So that means… I’m now the patriarch of the royal family?”
The clan head fell into thought. It was said that big shots liked writing memoirs in their old age. As the patriarch of a royal family, he definitely counted. So how should he start it?
On such-and-such date, our clan was low on funds, and the other three noble families in Wubu City were trying to bankrupt us.
A month later, we became royalty and ruled the world.
“Hmm, that sounds a little too short,” the clan head scratched his head.
…
Jiang Li first used the system to return to the Nine Provinces, then had the Brahma Tower open a temporary portal to bring Bai Hongtu and Yu Yin back.
Jiang Li pulled out the newly obtained Fragment of the Stairway to Immortality and placed it next to the one extracted from Luo Ying. The two fragments, though shaped differently and initially incompatible, fused together immediately.
They became one larger fragment of the Stairway to Immortality.
That surprised Jiang Li. He thought even if he gathered all the fragments, he’d need to find a way to merge them. He didn’t expect the fragments could fuse on their own. No need for intervention.
“So it looks like the fragments come from two sources—one directly from the system, the other stripped from certain individuals,” Jiang Li concluded.
“Where’d you get that fragment from?” Bai Hongtu was stunned. Everyone was doing the same thing—how come you ended up with a Stairway to Immortality fragment?
“Got it from a mission.”
“What mission?”
“Counterattack mission.”
Bai Hongtu chuckled dryly twice. A counterattack mission? Yeah, right. You’re a Mahayana Stage cultivator—who are you supposed to be counterattacking?