Killing Dao Fruit
Chapter 406 - 403: Civet Cat

Chapter 406: Chapter 403: Civet Cat

"The Emperor, father to Heaven and mother to Earth, shepherds the people on behalf of Heaven.

This divine position, although the most supreme and noble in the Human Dao, is different from the Immortal Dao, where all power resides solely within oneself, and from the Earth Gods, which lie between the two.

It all comes from the collective, not rooted in oneself but from the outside.

When the Flying Dragon was in the sky, the Qi Fortune was pure purple, protected by hundreds of gods, with the mandate of Heaven in its mouth. A single decree could dismiss or establish City Gods and Earth Gods.

But by the end of the dynasty, stripped of the aura of the Sacrificial Treasure, with the glory fallen and the Dragon Energy withered, one is immediately reduced to their original state.

At most, he was just an ordinary withered old man enveloped in white energy."

In a side hall in the White Sun World, Wang Yuan met for the first time his nominal uncle.

It was also the Old Zhou he had cursed countless times in secret.

Looking at the dying old man wrapped in a yellow blanket, the siblings couldn’t help but feel somewhat sentimental.

This Emperor Jianming, whose Military Skill Cultivation was only at the Daoist Soldier level, had been lying down from the second day of the second month until the fifteenth day of the eighth month.

Even with Daoist Skills to prolong life, he was now severely emaciated and disfigured, his back covered in bedsores, nearly at the brink of death.

No-Life Dao was only maintaining him alive to stabilize the "Dragon Qi Prohibition"; they would continue to keep him only until today, and naturally, he wouldn’t be treated well afterward.

Of course, if Zhou Wenrui hadn’t been severely injured and comatose due to the backlash of Dragon Energy, he would have already been disposed of, just like Eldest Prince Zhou Jingzhi, who had a "slip and drowned," with his bones rotted away.

Huang Wu, though she had long seen through her biological father’s true nature,

was still visibly conflicted, influenced by the fifteen years of beautiful memories from before his death.

Holding up the Treasure Mirror crafted from her own corpse, she gently shone it on the dying man on the bed, and the "Moon in the Water and Flower in the Mirror" immediately penetrated his dream realm.

The next moment,

in the midst of vast white fog, Emperor Jianming, no, King Jing Zhou Wenrui, reopened his eyes.

As his eyes refocused and his consciousness cleared,

he was stunned to find himself dressed in casual clothes, sitting in a familiar-looking tavern’s private room, accompanied only by a humble and obedient personal attendant.

"Wasn’t I injured by the backlash of Dragon Energy? Shouldn’t I... haven’t I prepared a contingency plan?"

Shaking his slightly groggy head, his memories emerged from the depths of his brain, making his eyes brighter and brighter,

He couldn’t help but pinch the back of his hand, murmuring incredulously to himself:

"I actually... returned to sixteen years ago? When none of this had happened?!"

Caught in a frenzy of joy, Zhou Wenrui failed entirely to notice two pairs of eyes coldly watching him from the sky through a mirrored surface.

As the saying goes, the bird’s cry is mournful as it nears death; a man’s words are kind at his end.

Some, after falling from the clouds, look back and see through the lure of status and riches, gaining enlightenment overnight and finding their way back to their original self to start anew,

Unlike Xue Jiexi, who desired power over all under heaven and descendants aplenty; and unlike Zhou Xinglou, who sought immortality and the pinnacle of Military Skill,

Zhou Wenrui’s obsession was to be a Holy Monarch of Great Yan, a lord of revival.

No matter his true thoughts, over these sixteen years, he did in fact act with stringent economy and loved his people.

The policies he issued did bring benefits to some of the populace.

Even though he caused misery to his wife and daughter, he could in no way be called an incompetent ruler.

If he truly had a repentant heart, the two could have well sent him to live out his remaining days as a monk in a little temple under Zhengguo Temple.

At that moment,

Zhou Wenrui suddenly heard the attendant beside him whisper:

"Prince, Princess Yunhe has arrived."

He immediately looked out the window towards the street outside the city, where accompanied by two maids, a sedan chair slowly advanced.

The small window’s beaded curtain swayed, and he could vaguely make out a beautiful girl with bright eyes and white teeth inside.

Seeing this scene, Zhou Wenrui hastily stood up and walked to the window, scrutinizing the surroundings.

He quickly noticed at a tea stand halfway down the street, five or six unsightly but robust men, glancing occasionally at the sedan chair.

Creeeak!

The palm grasping the wooden window sill involuntarily tightened because he was all too familiar with this situation.

The spies raised by King Jing Mansion and the magicians of "No-Life Dao" had long identified these secretive guards of Luoyang King,

But, for the sake of his "destined" grand cause, Zhou Wenrui had used the excuse of taking his daughter out to play and deliberately had her called out from the Prince Mansion.

And the essential rendezvous point, just near where those men were based!

If at this moment, Zhou Wenrui, having a "second chance" at life, suddenly changes his mind, there was still enough time to prevent a tragedy.

However, his eyes were like deep lakes,

Until the group of Luoyang King’s guards, led by Dao General Wei Anning, disposed of all the servants and abducted the sedan chair and the already unconscious daughter, he showed no reaction.

He merely murmured,

"Heaven has shown mercy on my earnest efforts and given me a second chance.

Xiao Wu and Qingyan, your sacrifices will not be in vain. Once I revive the dynasty and become an Eternal Emperor, you too will have your names etched in history!"

"With fiery vitality alone, greatness starts, commanding storms in the backyards frost! Stubborn and wise as to draw one’s awe, amidst bustling ruin, rich and poor, I fall!

I, the ruler of the mortal world, am clearly not bound by this mere Life Chart.

Since I have been given a second chance.

"""

No-Life Dao! Xue Jiexi! This time, I must shatter you traitors into ten thousand pieces!"

Having said that, he no longer glanced at the sedan at the far end of the alley that was about to disappear and turned away without hesitation.

Then, with the help of the "Golden Finger" known as foreknowledge, Zhou Wenrui embarked on a life that seemed like he was cheating.

He imprisoned Qingyan more cleanly and stealthily stole the [Wood Element Dragon Scale Armor].

After smoothly ascending to the throne and exhausting the value of Xue Jiexi and No-Life Dao, he kicked them away.

Luring the snake out of the hole, he deployed Xie Tianke, the number one blade in the world, to sweep through the Mountain Temple of No-Life Dao.

All the old insiders who knew any secrets from the past were completely wiped out; even Granny Denghua, who had told the story of "Huo Langlong" to Huang Wu and Wang Yuan, did not escape.

Elsewhere, he had long since known who would be wise or corrupt in the next sixteen years, appointing the capable and purging the corrupt officials according to a list.

For every year and place where a natural disaster would arise, he dispatched capable personnel in advance to manage them before any omens appeared...

In the harem, aside from Inner Official Lv and Su Yuru both drowning to their deaths,

the authority of his core group of twelve guardians expanded, nipping all the rebels in the bud within his territory.

As for those ministers in the court, regardless of their ability or achievements, anyone who dared to contradict him was also ruthlessly eliminated by the twelve guardians.

In just a short period of ten years, power had become unprecedentedly centralized.

Although natural disasters continued unabated, the Dragon Energy of Great Yan not only did not decrease but actually increased, truly displaying a grand vista of a dynasty’s revival.

Until this day when delegations from many nations arrived.

The courtiers and envoys from various countries knelt in the Golden Hall, chanting in unison: "Long live! Long live! Long long live!"

Outside the Imperial City, the common people gathered spontaneously, all praising, declaring Emperor Jianming as the truly eternal emperor.

Copying the exam he had once done, Zhou Wenrui staged a dramatic return of the king in his lifetime.

Clad in Dragon Scale Armor, seated high on the Dragon Chair, the revitalizing ruler was full of imposing aura and great satisfaction.

Touching the scale on his hand that belonged to Qingyan, he verified that her seal was still as solid as gold.

With a grand wave of his hand, he decreed:

"I shall offer sacrifices at Taishan to announce to heaven and earth, and to all deities and ancestors...."

Just at the highest point of his life, a sudden downpour fell from the sky.

Whoosh—!

The splendid era Zhou Wenrui had envisioned before his eyes was instantly swept away by rain and wind.

"Come back! Come back! My glorious era, my eternal emperor!"

Only a delirious old man, fallen from the clouds back into the mire, was left on the spot.

Where was any revitalizing ruler? What eternal emperor? What dominating the whole country?

Everything was just a beautiful dream in the Three Yang Small Realm of the forsaken old man on his deathbed.

"Xiao Yuan, sob sob sob..."

Although she hadn’t held much hope, seeing Zhou Wenrui not only unrepentant but also more ruthless in his choices,

Huang Wu still couldn’t help but bury her face in Wang Yuan’s embrace, crying profusely.

The downpour that shattered everything in Zhou Wenrui’s dream was merely a manifestation of the girl’s emotions.

Wang Yuan also shook his head as he watched.

"This is really something!"

Even living a second lifetime, Zhou Wenrui’s obsession still revolved around his own "revitalizing ruler."

For this goal, he was still willing to abandon everything.

Zhou Wenrui, Xue Jiexi, and Zhou Xinglou were essentially the same kind of person.

Disregarding good and evil, resolute and persistent, unscrupulous in achieving their goals, believing that the world should revolve around them, and never admitting their own mistakes.

All were qualified antagonists.

Apart from his face being as dark as black jade, Yama’s Avatar, almost identical to Wang Yuan himself, stepped forward, performed the Meridian Technique, and gently bowed to the old man on the bed.

[Three Bows of King Yan]!

Any enemy of a lower realm and divine position than Wang Yuan could not withstand these three direct bows from King Yanluo.

If Zhou Wenrui’s Emperor status had still been in effect, he certainly could have endured it.

Now, however, his death was certain!

But Wang Yuan had only just bowed once.

His exceedingly sharp senses suddenly captured a distant, agonizing scream of a woman carried by the wind.

In a moment of slight distraction,

he found that Zhou Wenrui on the bed had already breathed his last, and the [Yin Morality] naturally had nothing to do with Wang Yuan.

Firing a Fire Talisman to completely burn his corpse to ashes,

he was about to search for Zhou Wenrui’s soul.

But the corner of his eye caught glimpse of something resembling a shabby raccoon that had suddenly run out from beneath him out of the hall.

With just a light flicker, it disappeared from sight.

Pulling Huang Wu along, he quickly stepped out of the hall and listened carefully, only to realize that the scream heard earlier wasn’t singular but triple!

The couple exchanged glances:

"It seems... those three concubines are about to give birth at this moment?"

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