The Chosen One Appears, Intercepting and Killing the Emissary of the Great Zhou

The streets and alleys of the capital had completely boiled over in the past few days.

All the teahouses, restaurants, and entertainment quarters were frantically passing around the latest issue of the Great Zhou Times. This royal mouthpiece, originally used to publish imperial court bulletins and commercial information, actually featured a serialized novel on its front page today with an extremely eye-catching and melodramatic title.

The title boldly read: "The Domineering Emperor and the Pretty Holy Maidens: That Night, the Collision of Ice and Fire, the Great Wasteland's Strongest Sadomasochistic Love!"

The content was written in a soul-stirring and deeply touching manner. In the article, the Great Zhou Emperor Wang Hao was transformed into a deeply affectionate, peerless lover who disregarded the world for true love; while the Holy Maiden of the Ice and Snow Divine Palace, Shen Xue, and the Holy Maiden of the Illusionary Sea Immortal Sect, Yun Meng, became extraordinary women who were deeply captivated by the emperor's charm, cast aside secular prejudices, fell in love at first sight with the emperor in the imperial palace, and privately pledged their lives to him.

The article not only described in detail how the two were awed by the emperor's domineering aura, but even vaguely depicted the hazy beauty of the three "sleeping under one large quilt and journeying to Mount Wu together." This made the blood of all the commoners in the capital boil, leading to an endless stream of large-scale, imaginative fantasies.

"His Majesty is truly a god! Not only can he strike a mighty figure dead with a single bolt of lightning, but he can even subdue two holy maidens of hidden sects at once!"

"I was just saying, why didn't those two great sects follow the Heavenly Secret Pavilion in rebellion? It turns out they have become our Majesty's fathers-in-law!"

"This article is written so well. I heard it was even personally polished by the Director of the Western Depot, Yu Huatian!"

"It actually wasn't Wei Zhongxian? I placed a bet at the Royal Casino that Wei Zhongxian would be the next Director of Ceremonies, what should I do now?"

...

Inside the Coiling Dragon Hall of the Imperial Palace.

Wang Hao listened to Wei Zhongxian reading the public feedback with rich emotion and satisfiedly crossed his legs.

"Not bad, public opinion warfare is also a part of war." Wang Hao picked up his teacup to moisten his throat. "As long as everyone in the world believes that my love for the two of them is true, even if the Ice and Snow Divine Palace and the Illusionary Sea Immortal Sect want to back out, they will have to weigh the spit of the people of the world. What's more, as soon as this article is published, that old schemer from the Heavenly Secret Pavilion will definitely not be able to sit still and will certainly think that the two sects have completely sided with me."

What was this called? This was called a rumor-based palace coup!

Aren't you aloof? Don't you want your reputation? I will directly use the state machinery to push this to the whole network, not only cooking the raw rice into cooked rice, but frying it into egg fried rice and serving it for the whole world to see.

"Your Majesty is wise! Once this plan is out, even if the two holy maidens are so angry that they shatter their silver teeth, they can only obediently throw themselves into Your Majesty's embrace!" Wei Zhongxian's skill in flattery was perfected to the highest degree.

"Enough flattery. How are the preparations for the diplomatic mission?" Wang Hao put down his teacup, his eyes turning cold and stern.

"Replying to Your Majesty, the Director of the Western Depot, Yu Huatian, has already assembled three thousand elite guards of the Western Depot. Adding the two divisions of heavy armored cavalry drawn from the suburban imperial guards, the total is twenty-six thousand men!" Wei Zhongxian hurriedly reported. "The betrothal gifts fully fill five hundred large carts. Gold, silver, jewelry, top-grade spirit jade, and heaven-tier cultivation methods are all available. With that kind of lineup, those who don't know might think we are going to pacify the Extreme North!"

"What I want is exactly this ostentation! I want the whole world to see!" Wang Hao stood up, a sharp light flashing in his eyes. "I just want to go propose marriage with great fanfare, fiercely disgust the Heavenly Secret Pavilion, and force the Ice and Snow Divine Palace and the Illusionary Sea Immortal Sect to pick a side. However, Xie Wujiu will definitely not watch helplessly as I win over these two sects. On the way, there will definitely be an interception."

"Your Majesty is wise. This old servant has followed your orders and invited the Supreme Emperor, as well as two other royal ancestors, to follow secretly. As long as any blind fools dare to come, we will definitely make sure they never return!"

Wang Hao nodded. Sending Yu Huatian with so many people to deliver betrothal gifts was fake; using them as bait was the truth.

...

Three days later, at a treacherous canyon leading to the Extreme North—Soul-Severing Valley.

The Great Zhou's diplomatic mission marched forward like a winding steel dragon. Twenty-four thousand imperial heavy cavalrymen wore bright armor, their murderous aura soaring to the heavens. In the center, three thousand Western Depot guards protected five hundred massive carriages filled with betrothal gifts.

Yu Huatian sat upright on a tall horse, his face feminine yet cold and stern, his gaze sweeping across the steep cliffs on both sides like a falcon.

Suddenly, a fierce wind whipped up, and the spiritual energy between heaven and earth instantly became violent.

"Halt!" Yu Huatian abruptly raised his hand. Three thousand guards drew their blades in unison, their movements perfectly synchronized, producing a teeth-aching sound of metal scraping.

In midair ahead in the canyon, a figure slowly emerged.

It was a young man who looked to be in his early twenties, wearing a cyan sword robe, his brow revealing an unyielding rebelliousness and arrogance. He stepped on the void, sword qi crisscrossing around him, looking like the ruler of heaven and earth. The most eye-catching thing was the cyan longsword in his hand, which exuded an ancient and desolate aura.

"The orphan of the hidden sect, Qingyun Sword Sect, Lin Wuwang is here!"

The young man's voice was like rolling thunder, mixed with massive true qi, echoing above the canyon. "The Great Zhou tyrant Wang Hao is cruel and heartless! He killed my sect's ancestor and destroyed my sect's foundation! Today, I, Lin Wuwang, entrusted by the mandate of heaven, will enforce justice on behalf of heaven, slay you lapdogs who aid the tyrant, and destroy these filthy betrothal gifts!"

On both sides of the canyon, following Lin Wuwang's appearance, over a thousand cultivators wielding weapons suddenly leapt out. They were all experts of the Justice Alliance secretly connected by the Heavenly Secret Pavilion. Among them were even two mid-stage Sky-Soaring Realm powerhouses, guarding Lin Wuwang on his left and right.

Lin Wuwang stood proudly in the void. Feeling the surging power in his body and the resonance from the 342nd-ranked strange artifact—Qingyun Sword in his hand, boundless heroic passion swelled in his heart.

He was the Chosen One! Since childhood, he had been a despised handyman in the Qingyun Sword Sect, but he unexpectedly obtained an ancient sword dao inheritance. Furthermore, when the sect was destroyed by the Great Zhou's raiding legion, he coincidentally gained the recognition of the sect-guarding strange artifact, the Qingyun Sword. The Pavilion Master of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion personally received him and told him that he was the child of destiny of this era, the fated person destined to overthrow the tyrant Wang Hao!

"Yu Huatian! You ball-less castrated dog!" Lin Wuwang pointed his longsword and righteously began the lines he had prepared for a long time. "You aid the tyrant, helping that fatuous ruler forcefully snatch the holy maidens of the two sects. The heavens cannot tolerate this! Today, I will use this Qingyun Sword to chop off your dog head and hang it above the city gates as a warning to others! Let me tell you, thirty years on the east side of the river, thirty years on the..."

"River my ass! So noisy!"

Before Lin Wuwang could finish his heroic words, down below in the Great Zhou military formation, a seemingly ordinary carriage suddenly exploded.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three terrifyingly extreme auras, like three pillars of energy reaching from heaven to earth, instantly tore through the sky!

The eighth realm of martial arts, the eighth level of the Sky-Soaring Realm! And there were fully three of them!

The leading old man, with white hair and beard but a physique as burly as a violent bear, was none other than Wang Hao's biological grandfather, Wang Jingyuan! The two beside him were Wang Jingyuan's blood brothers.

These three old hooligans—ah, no, old ancestors—spoke of absolutely no martial virtue at all.

They did not announce their names, nor did they bother to retort to Lin Wuwang's monologue. They did not even spare a single glance for the ambushers lying in wait on both sides of the canyon. The instant they burst out of the carriage, they drew upon a hundred and twenty percent of their cultivation, unleashing the most powerful killing moves of their lives. Forming an inverted triangle, they locked onto Lin Wuwang with deadly precision!

"My good grandson said it best: villains die from talking too much, and righteous folks die from stopping to listen! Who the hell do you think you are, daring to yap away here?"

Wang Jingyuan roared as he threw a punch. Carrying world-destroying might, the blow smashed directly toward Lin Wuwang's head. The terrifying sonic boom it generated even compressed the surrounding air until it burst into flames.

The other two ancestors also struck. One executed a Great Grappling Hand to seal off all of Lin Wuwang's escape routes, while the other wielded a silver dragon-gall spear, thrusting straight at Lin Wuwang's dantian like a venomous snake flicking its tongue.

Three peak big shots at the eighth level of the Sky Realm were launching a sneak attack on a Child of Destiny who had only just obtained a fortuitous encounter and hadn't even fully stabilized his foundation in the Astral Aura Realm!

"What?"

Lin Wuwang's previously arrogant face instantly twisted in extreme terror. His proud ability to fight above his realm was nothing but a joke in the face of absolute realm suppression and such a shameless sneak attack! He raised his Azure Cloud Sword in a desperate attempt to block.

"Crack!"

In a single exchange, before the eerie power of the Azure Cloud Sword could even manifest, Lin Wuwang's protective astral aura was shattered to pieces. He violently spat out a mouthful of blood, the bones in both of his arms completely pulverized.

"Young Master, watch out!"

Behind Lin Wuwang, the two Sky Realm Dao Protectors sent by the Heavenly Secret Pavilion felt their eyes almost split open in fury. They rushed forward desperately, attempting to block this fatal blow for him.

"Pfft!" "Bang!"

There was no suspense. The two Dao Protectors didn't even have time to let out a scream before they were instantly blown into a rain of blood by Wang Jingyuan's giant hammer-like fist and the other ancestor's spear.

However, this delay of less than half a breath caused a jade pendant on Lin Wuwang's body to violently explode. It transformed into a blinding white light that enveloped the heavily injured and dying Lin Wuwang, instantly tearing through space to spirit him away.

"That bastard protected by the heavens sure runs fast!"

Wang Jingyuan's punch hit empty air, directly flattening a mountain peak below. He coldly snorted, sweeping his gaze over the terrified ambushers of the Righteous Alliance as if looking at mere ants.

He took a deep breath, his voice ringing out like a massive temple bell, spreading across a radius of a hundred miles:

"Listen up, all of you! Within the borders of the Great Zhou Dynasty, there is no place for you outsiders to run wild! If anyone else dares to block my path while I deliver betrothal gifts to my granddaughter-in-law, I will exterminate ten generations of their family!"

Down below, Yu Huatian elegantly drew his embroidered spring blade and gave a sinister, effeminate smile. "Leave no one alive. Kill!"

The army of twenty-six thousand men, like a legion of tigers and wolves, instantly submerged the thousand-plus ambushers.

Meanwhile, in a hidden cave hundreds of miles away, the void split open, and a blood-soaked, mangled Lin Wuwang tumbled out. His eyes were bloodshot as he gripped the dirt so tightly that his fingernails cracked.

"Wang Hao! The Wang Family! I, Lin Wuwang, swear that if I do not avenge this, I am not human! I will definitely grind your Great Zhou imperial family's bones to dust!" The paranoid fire of vengeance that ignited after a Child of Destiny suffered a setback burned fiercely in his chest.

In the darkness, the figure of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion's Pavilion Master, Xie Wujiu, slowly emerged. Looking at the heavily injured Lin Wuwang, a glint of successful scheming flashed in the depths of his eyes.

"Good, hate them. The more you hate, the stronger your destiny will become. Wang Hao, did you think you won? A Child of Destiny is only in their perfect form and at their strongest when they turn to the dark side. Ye Chen was nothing but a half-finished product."