Although the coronation ceremony was held in front of Taiji Palace, the new sovereign had to proceed toward Taihe Palace, where he would hold his first court session and issue his first decree for the ceremony to be considered complete.
“Your Majesty, please make your way to Taihe Palace!” the officials all loudly cried out.
Li Heng nodded. Without another word, he slowly descended the steps, escorted by numerous eunuchs.
In the entire process, Li Heng had a solemn expression, his gaze remaining fixed forward.
At this moment, he was the center of attention, the undisputed main character of the Central Plains.
But as Li Heng was passing by Wang Chong, he suddenly stopped.
“Wang Chong!”
Li Heng turned to Wang Chong, calling him by his name instead of by his title.
“I was able to reach this place today largely due to your efforts. I know that we can no longer be as close as before starting from today, with me calling myself ‘We’ and you calling yourself ‘subject’, but while the ways we call ourselves might change, deep down, I am still the same Li Heng!
“No matter what, I will always believe in you!
“We will never burden you!
“The previous Emperor and Duke Jiu were always the people that We most admired. Their friendship of sovereign and subject served as a children’s tale retold throughout the Great Tang. Although they are no longer here, We are confident that the two of us can continue the friendship between the previous Emperor and Duke Jiu, creating a new children’s tale for the Great Tang!”
The officials lining the steps were all moved by these words.
The coronation ceremony was extremely important, and all private relationships should have fallen to the wayside. For the new Emperor to stop for Wang Chong was an enormous honor.
And this wasn’t even considering that the new Emperor had said those words before the gathered officials.
Li Heng had referred to himself as ‘I’ in one sentence and ‘We’ in the next. This was not the new Emperor forgetting the past and drawing a clear line between him and Wang Chong. On the contrary, he had used ‘We’ for the officials to hear, and so that he could display his resolution and intentions.
The new Emperor’s regard for Wang Chong had reached a level that ordinary people could not fathom.
Wang Chong said nothing, only sighed.
How could he not understand Li Heng’s kind intentions?
To speak such words on such an important occasion in front of so many officials and foreign dignitaries, Li Heng was essentially granting Wang Chong a writ of pardon, establishing Wang Chong’s paramount status in the empire.
This was clearly his way of repaying Wang Chong.
“Thank you, Your Majesty!” Wang Chong earnestly said as he bowed. “No matter what, this lowly subject will do everything in his power to support Your Majesty and bring blessings and good fortune to the people of the realm!
“That has always been this lowly subject’s duty!”
Li Heng merely nodded and exchanged a glance with Wang Chong before he walked off toward Taihe Palace, escorted by the eunuchs and officials.
But Wang Chong did not follow.
The Great Tang had its own system, and every matter had an appropriate official to handle it. While Li Heng had spoken his previous words out of kindness, they were certain to have a negative effect on his reign. By not attending the court session, Wang Chong was attempting to minimize this negative effect and show that he was not trying to outshine the main character.
After glancing in the direction of Taihe Palace, Wang Chong took his leave.
He had far more important things to do than handle daily court affairs.
……
The officials of the Six Bureaus and the court all gave their support to Li Heng, and after he took the throne, the entire court began to operate like a highly efficient machine.
The empire swiftly recovered from the deaths of the Sage Emperor, Duke Jiu, and Yao Chong, and order was quickly restored.
Li Heng also quickly began to display the marks of a wise sovereign.
Li Heng handled court affairs efficiently and properly, not making a sloppy job of it. Even harsh and rigorous old officials like the Grand Preceptor and Grand Tutor couldn’t find anything to criticize.
Not only that, Li Heng used this opportunity to announce a general amnesty and no taxation for three years.
Li Heng also issued a series of plans covering the military, the economy, transportation, and even maritime affairs, implementing a series of reforms. Assisted by the massive stimulus of billions of taels of gold brought back by Wang Chong from Arabia, the Great Tang Empire quickly began to show signs of flourishing.
As the court proceeded with its affairs, Wang Chong, who had almost entirely withdrawn from the court, had secluded himself within the King of Foreign Lands Residence ever since the Sage Emperor’s passing, never taking one step beyond its gates.
For Wang Chong, his current task was far more important than anything else.
Buzz!
Seated in the main hall, Wang Chong was carefully reading a book.
But this was no ancient and stained text. On the contrary, it appeared to have been written in the last few years.
In truth, this was a book the Sage Emperor himself had written several years ago.
‘The Saint Martial realm, Great General, peak Great General… when a martial artist reaches this level, they reach the limit of the amount of Origin Energy they can absorb from this world. No matter how much more they cultivate, they will find it difficult to advance any further. Thus, while there are many martial artists in this world, even the strongest can only ever reach the peak Great General level.
‘For thousands of years, martial artists have always believed peak Great General to be the limit. Few understand that the martial path has no end. During Our ponderings, We began to comprehend the world. After several months of meditation, We vaguely began to understand its secrets.
‘There are hundreds upon thousands of different kinds of Origin Energy in this world. If one only absorbs the Origin Energy present in the world, one is in the ‘Post Heaven’. If one wishes to advance further, to rise to an even higher realm, one must break through space, surpass oneself, and interact with the energy of an even higher universe!
‘To go from absorbing the energy of a world to absorbing the energy of a universe is to go from ‘Post Heaven’ to ‘Prior Heaven’!
‘From what We understand, deep within the depths of spacetime, there exist three higher dimensions, and the higher the dimension, the greater the level of the universal energy. These energies can be divided based on their nature into the Subtle realm, the Grotto Heaven realm, and the Divine Martial realm. Each level also has its own levels of proficiency, which can be divided into basic, middle, high, and peak!
‘To move from one level to the next, one must comprehend the principles of energy, the world, the universe, and spacetime!
‘Though ascending through the three great Prior Heaven realms is exceedingly difficult, a breakthrough will lead to a complete transformation and an astonishing leap in strength!’
As Wang Chong sat in his armchair, countless thoughts ran through his mind.
It took a long while for Wang Chong to calm himself down after reading the book.
For the vast majority of people, there existed a large blank space between the peak Great General level and the Divine Martial realm—one that was excruciatingly difficult to overcome. Even Wang Chong, the Wushang Village Chief, and the Demonic Emperor Old Man did not know much about this. Not even the extraordinarily talented Qutaybah and Khatabah had known very much.
In this world, there was perhaps only one person who had thoroughly studied and understood these realms: the deceased Sage Emperor!
However, even though Wang Chong had known that the Sage Emperor knew, he could not ask.
But the Sage Emperor had perhaps understood Wang Chong’s desires the very first time he had appeared, so he had already made the proper arrangements, writing this book specifically for Wang Chong.
So the Subtle realm energy, and also the energies in True Lord Yellow Dragon, the Origin Immortal Lord, and Genesis Supreme… it is all the energy of a higher universe. This is why they’re so frighteningly strong!Wang Chong said to himself.
The world of martial arts was one of mysteries upon mysteries. Even though Wang Chong had reached the Subtle realm’s apex, and was capable of defeating the Tianfu Divine Lord in a single blow, he still only had a surface understanding of this higher energy and the mysterious dimension it originated from.
But after seeing the phrase ‘universal energy’ written in the Sage Emperor’s book, he finally understood.
The world’s Origin Energy, the Post Heaven energy of this world, could be compared to a burning bonfire. Meanwhile, the higher universal energy was like lightning from the heavens.
A bonfire and a lightning bolt: one was produced by humans and the other was unleashed by nature. One could tell which was stronger with a glance.
The same gap existed between a world’s Origin Energy and a universe’s energy!
So, the next step after the Subtle realm is comprehending the energy of the next dimension, which is where True Lord Yellow Dragon and Genesis Supreme draw their strength from!Wang Chong quietly said to himself.
He slowly raised his head, his starry eyes piercing through spacetime to look above and beyond the Subtle dimension.
In the past, Wang Chong only knew that the Subtle realm dimension was vast and mysterious. He had no inkling that there was another dimension farther above it, ensconced deeper in spacetime!
The Sage Emperor’s book had not directly boosted Wang Chong’s strength, but Wang Chong now understood the way forward. Understanding the nature of the martial path and its intent allowed Wang Chong to sweep aside all obstacles. This was even more important than directly increasing his strength.
The closer one approached the apex of the martial path, the harder it became to ascend!
True Lord Yellow Dragon and Genesis Supreme were unquestionably terrifying monsters!
When the Sage Emperor was around, these people had been rather afraid, but the Sage Emperor was no longer here to suppress them.
The Miniature Nine Provinces Domain was keeping them out of the capital for now, but Wang Chong knew that if he encountered these people outside the capital, he was dead.
Imperial authority which had the entire realm at its beck and call seemed immensely powerful, but for the likes of Genesis Supreme, it was as frightening as a clay chicken or pottery dog.
If they willed it, they could kill any official that left the capital, including Wang Chong.
The only reason they didn’t do this was their arrogance and conceit, their unwillingness to lower themselves to this level.
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