The Earth Dragon swings its tail!
The true Earth Dragon swings its tail!
Boom!
Outside, the earthquake, which had already been gradually calming down, suddenly reached another peak.
Crack!
The earth cracked, with a massive fissure extending along the direction of the dragon’s tail, tearing through half of Shengjing City, reaching the city wall.
Boom!
Before everyone’s wide-eyed gaze, this section of the city wall collapsed with a deafening roar, shaking the heavens and earth, burying the defending troops and revealing a massive breach.
Hiss! Hiss!
Immediately afterward, twelve beams of golden light fiercely pierced into the Earth Dragon’s body, causing it to roar in fury but no longer able to move even an inch!
“Amitabha! The Earth Dragon has been subdued! If we can hold for another half an hour, the twelve golden statues will completely suppress its resistance, and our great task will be accomplished!”
The old monk loudly proclaimed, “However, during this time, heavenly punishment will surely arrive, and the twelve golden statues must not be moved lightly!”
“Half an hour! Half an hour!”
Shang Jie murmured, suddenly shouting wildly, “Zeng Guang!”
“Your Majesty!”
Behind him, a personal general immediately knelt down.
“You lead my palace guards to engage the enemy! Even if you die, you must hold out for half an hour!”
“Understood!”
The general’s face was as firm as iron. He immediately led elite troops, ready to face death.
These were elite soldiers who guarded the imperial palace, the last reserve of Shang Jie. Although they couldn’t change the outcome, they could rely on the streets and alleys, even the ruined palace walls, to defend for half an hour, and Shang Jie was very confident.
…
Outside the city, Ji Yi stared at the massive breach in the city wall, and even the moat that had automatically filled in, astonished. However, he eventually recovered his composure, having the mandate of heaven, and shouted loudly, “The heavenly mandate is with me! Why are you not attacking yet!”
At this moment, with obstacles gone, the city assault was almost a smooth path!
“Heavenly mandate is with me! Heavenly mandate is with me!!!”
Compared to the heavily casualties among the defenders, Ji Yi’s camp was seemingly spared by the earthquake, suffering only minor damage, with only the vanguard mostly killed. Seeing this, their morale soared to the extreme, and soldiers rushed toward the breach under the leadership of squad leaders and battalion commanders.
The defenders had suffered heavy casualties in the earlier earthquake. Seeing this scene, they lost heart and will to fight, kneeling down and discarding their weapons: “We surrender! We surrender!!!”
Previously, Shang Jie had imposed heavy taxes to cast the golden statues, already causing widespread rebellion across the land.
Now witnessing this living miracle, how could ordinary people still resist? They knelt down and surrendered.
“Wu Wang is heroic and outstanding, and with this, the heavenly mandate is clearly with him!”
“We may be generals of the Shang dynasty, but how dare we resist the will of heaven?”
Several Shang generals, leading elite troops, directly defected: “Issue orders, we dare not oppose the heavenly mandate. We change our banners on the battlefield, surrender to King Wu, welcome King Wu’s army into the city, and volunteer to serve as the vanguard!”
Under such circumstances, there were indeed too many who switched sides.
Normally, even if the city walls were breached, street fighting would drag on for a long time, often causing heavy casualties, with defenders sometimes being forced to retreat.
But now the defenders defected en masse, making the advance effortless, with widespread surrenders and minimal resistance.
This was also the heavenly mandate. Previously, the Shang dynasty relied on the city walls to maintain their military spirit.
But now, without their support and intimidated by the earthquake miracle, with Shang Di having little remaining fortune, he could no longer control his subordinates, who immediately turned against him.
In an instant, the enemy army reached the foot of the imperial palace, with some Zhou generals even eager to capture Shang Jie for credit!
“Hmph! Traitors who betray their lord!”
On the palace wall, Zeng Guang looked at the smoke filling the city, his face dark as he shouted loudly, “The Shang dynasty has raised soldiers for a thousand years; today is the day to protect our home and country. You men repair the walls, while the rest follow me!”
The earthquake not only collapsed the city walls but also left Shengjing in chaos.
At this moment, Ji Yi had no intention of engaging in street battles or conquering the entire city. The sole objective of King Wu’s army was to seize the imperial palace and destroy the twelve golden statues!
“Commander…”
Looking down at the sea of enemy heads, one of the palace guards hesitated: “Why don’t we… escape?”
Puff!
Before he could finish speaking, a flash of blood appeared, his head flew up, blood gushing like a fountain.
“Anyone who dares to speak of surrender or escape will be an example like him!”
Zeng Guang raised his blood-stained three-foot sword, his tiger-like eyes scanning the troops, and not a single soldier dared to meet his gaze.
However, he failed to notice that several lieutenants exchanged glances behind him, their eyes filled with ominous intentions…
…
“Not good!”
Outside the city, the Taoist priest Yu Qing suddenly calculated with his fingers, his face turning pale: “The Famen sect has concealed the heavenly mechanism, deliberately advancing it by half an hour!”
“The Earth Dragon has already been subdued, and it won’t be long before the final refinement… Even if the army advances rapidly, it might still be too late!”
Wu Ming also looked serious as he withdrew his gaze: “At this point, the only option is to have King Wu ascend the throne immediately, invoking the heavenly mandate to completely seize the remaining fortune of the Shang dynasty!”
“There’s no other way!”
With time pressing, even if Ji Yi wanted to play the game of “hundred officials urging advancement, three refusals and acceptances,” there was simply no time.
In an emergency, fortunately, the altar to heaven was already prepared, as was the imperial robe. Ji Yi immediately changed into a grand ceremonial robe, prepared three sacrificial offerings, and ascended the altar to worship heaven, surrounded by officials and generals.
“Your Majesty Ji Yi, Prime Minister of Mountains and Rivers, declares to heaven: Shang Jie is tyrannical… following heaven’s command to punish… now establishing the nation’s name as ‘Zhou’!”
Ji Yi read the sacrificial text with solemnity, for the first time declaring himself emperor before heaven and earth, exuding a certain majesty.
Originally, this hasty sacrifice to heaven would not only be ineffective but might even incur heavenly punishment.
But Master Yu Qing seemed to be well-prepared; despite the haste, all rituals and offerings were complete, and heaven itself was quite accommodating.
Boom!
Just as Ji Yi burned the sacrificial text and made the offering, the sky suddenly trembled, and crimson clouds emerged, forming majestic formations that radiated a five-colored mystical glow visible to the naked eye.
“Auspicious sign! A great auspicious sign!”
“Our emperor is indeed the true dragon son of heaven! The one with heavenly mandate!”
“Long live the emperor! Long live ten thousand years!”
…
The officials and generals below all bowed solemnly. Wu Ming, hiding in a corner, opened his heavenly eye and saw even more.
He saw that after Ji Yi declared himself emperor, almost half of the nation’s fortune surged toward him, transforming from black to white, from white to red, golden energy rising, and emitting green, forming a five-colored crown, suppressing all under heaven.
Roar! Roar!
A purple aura surged forth, soaring straight into the heavens, within which a crimson dragon perfected the final stroke of divine grace, instantly ascending to the status of a true dragon!
The heavenly pillar has been established!
From now on, the Zhou dynasty is the true heavenly mandate orthodoxy, and under this influence, the last remnants of the Shang dynasty’s fortune also collapsed.
“Wow… Heaven really gives face!”
Wu Ming watched with some helplessness from the side: “Half of the world hasn’t been conquered yet, and it’s already submitting? And even contributing fortune? This is even more ruthless than the great wizard Liu Xiu! A true child of heavenly mandate!”
It was clear that today Ji Yi captured Shengjing, and indeed, half of the world could be pacified with a mere proclamation.
But for the news to spread so quickly was because heaven itself was giving him an unfair advantage.
This could only be said to be because the Shang dynasty’s establishment of the twelve golden statues was intolerable to heaven and earth, benefiting outsiders for free!
…
“Heavenly mandate? Fortune?”
Inside the palace, Shang Jie felt a sharp pain in his heart at this moment, as if he had lost something extremely important.
Rip!
After the Zhou dynasty’s heavenly pillar was established, the last bit of fortune covering the Shang dynasty also dissipated.
Fish-scale clouds roared and surged, purple lightning snakes danced wildly, suddenly transforming into eighty-one bolts of thunder, tearing through the void with a sound so mighty it surpassed everything before!
“Heavenly orthodoxy has already changed? So quickly?”
The old monk, who was stationed at the center, also changed expression: “Not good!”
Boom!
The thunder fell, directly striking the blood curtain of the ten thousand monks, sweeping away astonishing power in an instant, tearing through everything.
Moreover, the destructive force of annihilation instantly reached every monk within the formation.
Within the formation, the monks who were originally sitting cross-legged with no breath were struck like by lightning, instantly turning to ash and completely annihilated.
A flash of lightning, and a thunder mark suddenly appeared on the old monk’s golden body!
“National Teacher?”
The lightning kept falling, directly hitting the main bodies of the twelve golden statues, causing Shang Jie’s expression to change repeatedly.
“I have incurred heavenly punishment and am about to perish, my form and spirit destroyed forever!”
The old monk sat cross-legged, his face unusually ruddy, as if in a final glow: “Your Majesty must not grieve, nor must you use the main bodies of the twelve golden statues, lest we fail at the last moment…”
“I am about to disperse my golden body relics to assist my junior brother in praying for the descent of the Great Brahma God to save this chaotic world!”
“Amitabha, what joy is there in life? What sorrow in death? To sacrifice one’s life for righteousness is the path of Brahma!”
The old monk recited the verse, suddenly sitting cross-legged.
Buzz! Buzz!
A bit of powder first appeared on his shoulders, then the thunder mark expanded, instantly covering his entire body. The whole person turned into dust, scattering in the wind.
Originally, the old monk’s Buddhist cultivation was profound, and he had been conferred the title of National Teacher. His Arhat golden body was already perfected. Even if he were to reincarnate, his golden body would remain uncorrupted for ten thousand lifetimes, even directly achieving a fruit position, and after death could be enshrined as a Brahma god.
But now, under heavenly punishment, his form and spirit were completely destroyed, leaving not even a trace!
Only a ray of Buddhist radiance, shimmering with the hues of seven-colored glazed glass, seemed to morph into a rainbow bridge, piercing through the void and arriving at another destination in an instant.
“Amitabha, my elder brother goes first; I will follow shortly!”
One of the last three holy monks knelt before the Great Brahma statue, blood seemingly about to flow from his seven orifices.
At this moment, the Buddhist light pierced through the void, and with just a pounce, his entire body began to burn fiercely.
Golden threads of vows continuously transformed into Buddhist scriptures, floating around the Brahma statue, slowly sinking into it.
“It’s done!”
Even though he was being roasted by flames, the holy monk’s expression remained unchanged as he kowtowed: “A disciple of Brahma respectfully invites the Dharma Body of the World-Honored One to descend!”
Boom!
A circle of compassionate, vast, mighty, and radiant power descended. The Brahma statue trembled, opening a pair of eyes filled with compassion.
“Hail the World-Honored One!”
The holy monk’s face showed fervor and devotion as he suddenly kowtowed again: “This disciple now departs!”
He was completely destroyed in the flames, his soul and spirit annihilated.
The golden eyes of the Master moved, but there was no compassion to save him.
With complete annihilation of form and spirit, not even reaching the Pure Land, how could he be saved?
Though vast is the world, even the World-Honored One, the Brahma god, is not omniscient and omnipotent!
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