Chapter 288: The Founding Ceremony

“The Heavenly Lord is a benevolent being—how could he possibly slaughter a million people? You’ve all misunderstood him.”

“This wasn’t something I was supposed to tell you. It was a test—for you, the future Holy Spirits. But your crying and cursing were so unbearable that it drew discontent from above. So they sent me to tell you the truth.”

“After the blood sacrifice, you won’t go to the underworld. You’ll transform into guardian spirits of the Celestial Dynasty, eternal and undying, revered by all cultivators.”

Some of the people were moved, feeling that Yu Feng’s words made a strange sort of sense.

Right—how could a million people die every year? Cultivators couldn’t be that cruel.

Separated from the world of cultivators, mortals clung to an idealized image—flying through the skies, punishing evil and helping the weak, saving people from fire and water.

Only when they were chosen and locked away, awaiting death, did they wake up.

There were no chivalrous cultivators—only man-eating monsters.

The Tongu Continent was a world where the strong ate the weak. No one wanted to be eaten—everyone wanted to eat others.

But Yu Feng’s words rekindled that beautiful fantasy about cultivators.

Maybe this cultivator was telling the truth. Maybe they really would become eternal spirits, undying and immortal. Clinging to that thought, they nurtured a shred of hope.

They had no other choice. They could only believe him.

Facing a cruel reality, they would rather latch onto a sliver of hope.

Yu Feng secretly sighed. Senior Jiang’s script was ridiculous—but somehow persuasive, with a strange sort of logic that made it believable.

To the uninformed, it really could sound convincing.

“I borrowed the scheme from Outer World Fiends,” Jiang Li explained.

“There was once an Outer World Fiend invasion of the Nine Provinces World. They tried to claim they were saving people—that being killed by fiends meant ascending to heaven, enjoying wealth, endless spirit stones. Some people believed it.”

“Outer World Fiends?” Yu Feng had never heard Jiang Li mention them before.

Jiang Li lightly shook his head and didn’t elaborate.

He wished this world’s horrors were caused by Outer World Fiends.

Unfortunately, they weren’t.

The Blood River Ancestor observed Yu Feng’s efforts with divine sense and was stunned to find this little cultivator actually had some skill.

These ignorant mortals really were buying into his words.

…

“Blood River, how are the preparations for the ceremony going?” In the Sacred Hall, the Heavenly Lord sat like an indifferent deity, overlooking the six trembling Fusion-Stage cultivators below.

He thoroughly enjoyed this feeling.

In truth, if he wanted to secure his rule, the best move would be to kill all the Fusion-Stage cultivators—then he’d never have to worry about anyone breaking through to the Tribulation Stage.

But if he killed them all… who would he rule?

Summer bugs cannot discuss ice. What fun was there in ruling a bunch of clueless Soul Formation cultivators? He might as well rule mortals.

He was the oldest cultivator on the Tongu Continent—and the only Tribulation Stage being.

He had never sought immortality. He knew the Stairway to Immortality had vanished. No one could ascend anymore. So why not become the king of Tongu Continent instead?

He wanted to monopolize the continent. He didn’t want a second Tribulation Stage rival.

So he gathered all ancient texts left behind from the Celestial Realm—and destroyed them.

That included the Dao of Talismans, the Dao of Space, and more. If it could be hidden, it was hidden. If it could be twisted, it was twisted.

And the cultivators helped him. They hoarded knowledge, taking their techniques to the grave rather than sharing them.

It was perfect for the Heavenly Lord’s plan—lower the baseline of cultivation so that advancement became near impossible.

“Reporting to the Heavenly Lord, Blood River has come up with a clever idea. It’s sure to shine during the ceremony.”

“Oh? Then I look forward to it.” The Heavenly Lord was intrigued—Blood River rarely spoke this way, which meant he had something solid.

“If it’s impressive enough, I’ll name you First among the Fusion Stage.”

“Thank you for your great favor, Heavenly Lord!” Blood River Ancestor was overjoyed. Yu Feng really was his lucky star.

The other Fusion cultivators envied that old ghost.

No wonder—rumor had it that the Heavenly Lord rose to power through killing, which made him partial to Blood River Ancestor and handed him the most prestigious duty: organizing the founding ceremony.

After the six visible Fusion cultivators left, two more stepped forward.

“East Overseer, West Overseer—what’s Blood River’s clever idea?”

These weren’t their names, but their titles.

The Heavenly Lord had secretly raised two Fusion-Stage loyalists to monitor the others. None of the rest knew about them.

Though not particularly strong, they had mastered concealment techniques. No one at their level could detect them.

“Reporting to the Heavenly Lord—Blood River plans to brainwash the million mortals so they willingly die at the ceremony, shouting ‘Glory to the Celestial Dynasty’ as they perish.”

“Well, now, that’s quite amusing,” the Heavenly Lord said, pleased.

…

From that day on, Yu Feng lived and slept in the dungeon, rarely returning home. He even neglected dual cultivation techniques.

When Wu Lian heard about the plan to weave lies for the mortals, Yu Feng had initially wanted to tell her to avoid worrying her. But she insisted that a secret spoken aloud was no longer a secret—it could leak. So she told him not to explain.

She trusted that Yu Feng had a deeper purpose, and wasn’t simply deceiving mortals.

…

A month passed quickly. The long-awaited founding ceremony arrived as scheduled. Five million cultivators awaited this day.

The Tongu Continent had only five million cultivators in total—99% of them in the Qi Refining Stage.

That sounded like a lot, but compared to the Nine Provinces, it was pitiful.

Take the Tianyuan Imperial City under Yu Yin as an example—it alone had eight million cultivators. Stuffing all five million of Tongu’s cultivators in there wouldn’t even fill it.

The Heavenly Lord called it the founding of a Celestial Dynasty, but in truth, it was just the founding of a single city. “Celestial City” would’ve been a more accurate name.

A dazzling altar built from high-grade spirit stones glittered brilliantly. The Heavenly Lord, clad in imperial robes, took the stage.

This was Yu Feng’s first time seeing him.

Arrogant, exalted, treating others like insects—that was Yu Feng’s first impression.

It was hard to imagine he and Bai Hongtu were both Tribulation Stage cultivators.

Yu Feng found Bai Hongtu far preferable—witty, approachable, kind.

“So that’s the Tribulation Stage… He really does look powerful.”
“I didn’t believe they existed—I thought it was just a myth.”
“Same here. Before today, I didn’t even know if Fusion Stage was real.”

The cultivators whispered among themselves. It was their first time seeing a Tribulation Stage being.

And likely the only time in their lives. They cherished the moment.

With each step the Heavenly Lord took, everyone’s hearts thudded once.

Involuntarily, their heartbeats synchronized with his rhythm.

The Heavenly Lord reached the summit and declared: “Today, I act in Heaven’s stead and hereby establish the Celestial Dynasty on this land. The dynasty shall be called ‘Sheng.’ From this moment on, you are all citizens of the Holy Celestial Dynasty!”

The six public Fusion-Stage cultivators, and the two secret ones, all knelt and shouted, “May the Heavenly Lord live eternal, invincible through all realms! We humbly pay our respects!”

All other cultivators followed suit, kneeling and crying out together:

“May the Heavenly Lord live eternal, invincible through all realms! We humbly pay our respects!”

The roar of devotion surged skyward—thunderous, shaking the heavens, audible even thousands of miles away.