Late at night, in the Imperial Study of the Great Zhou Palace.
Wang Hao dismissed his attendants and sat alone on the dragon throne. At this moment, he lacked the imperial majesty he displayed when facing millions of people during the day. Instead, he looked more like a petty accountant in the marketplace, calculating how to save a few cents on tomorrow's groceries.
"System, settle the phased mission for the Martial Arts Tournament today."
[Ding! The Martial Arts Tournament has concluded successfully. Host has signed in successfully.]
[Reward obtained: Martial God Realm One-Day Experience Card x1 (Upon use, grants the absolute power of the peak Martial God Realm for one day, ignoring the backlash of the laws of heaven and earth).]
[Reward obtained: Demon Suppression Intelligence System fully upgraded (Can accurately lock onto the locations of large Nightmare nests within the Eastern Wasteland and analyze their pollution levels).]
Looking at the "Martial God Realm One-Day Experience Card" radiating brilliant golden light in his system space, Wang Hao was dumbfounded with joy.
"The Martial God Realm... The Eastern Wasteland hasn't seen a Martial God in thousands of years, right? Those so-called patriarchs are at most at the peak of the Sky Soaring Realm, mere demigods, lingering on with one foot in the grave."
Wang Hao tapped the table, his eyes terrifyingly profound. With this trump card, he wouldn't be going to the Demon Suppression Conference in three days to negotiate, but to issue an imperial decree.
In the blink of an eye, three days passed.
The Great Zhou Palace, Hall of Supreme Harmony.
The atmosphere in this magnificent grand hall, capable of holding tens of thousands of people, was currently so oppressive that it felt frozen.
Inside the hall, the civil and military officials of Great Zhou lined up on the left side, each of them looking down, keeping their eyes on their noses and their minds focused.
On the right and in the back were all sorts of powerful figures from the Eastern Wasteland: elders of major hidden sects, heads of top-tier noble families, and titans of the Rogue Cultivators Alliance. Of course, there were also the top hundred geniuses of the Heaven's Pride Ranking, such as Xiao Chen and Ye Guyun, who were forced to wear the "Great Zhou Standardized Intern Uniform." They sat at the very back to audit the meeting, each bearing an expression as grim as if they were attending a funeral.
In the VIP section, the three women, Shen Xue, Yun Meng, and Ren Mingyue, also attended, representing the super factions behind them. Today, they had changed into formal palace attire, exuding peerless elegance, but their eyes currently revealed a sense of solemnity.
"The Emperor of Great Zhou puts on quite the airs. We've been waiting here for a full incense stick's worth of time, and he still hasn't come out?" an elder at the Astral Qi Realm from the southern "Purple Heaven Sect" snorted coldly, his tone full of displeasure.
"Hmph, what Demon Suppression Conference? He just wants to use the Crimson Moon anomaly to extort benefits from our major sects. Does he really think that by painting a pretty picture, he can make us hand over our resources?" echoed the head of another hidden noble family, his eyes full of shrewdness and disdain.
Among the big shots present, who wasn't an old fox that had lived for hundreds of years? In their view, although the Nightmares were terrifying, they only operated in the extreme north and the northwestern borders of the Eastern Wasteland. If the sky fell, Great Zhou, being the tallest, would bear the brunt of it. If Wang Hao wanted to take this opportunity to weaken them, there was no way!
Just as the crowd was buzzing with discussion, preparing to unite during the meeting to show Wang Hao who was boss...
"The Emperor arrives!" Wei Zhongxian's sharp, piercing voice penetrated the great hall.
The entire hall instantly fell silent.
Wang Hao was dressed in a pure black dragon robe devoid of any complicated decorations. He didn't wear the imperial crown, only casually tying up his black hair with a jade hairpin. He walked steadily up to the dragon throne but didn't sit down. Instead, he turned around directly, looking down at everyone in the hall from his high vantage point.
There were no pleasantries, no opening remarks.
Wang Hao waved his large hand: "Ministry of Works, activate the array."
"Buzz—!"
The floor in the center of the Hall of Supreme Harmony suddenly split open to the sides, and a massive recording array platform rose up. Immediately after, the array was activated, and a series of three-dimensional projections, so clear they were hair-raising, were presented directly before everyone's eyes.
The first scene: The Yan Mountain Secret Realm.
What was originally a blessed land filled with dense spiritual energy had now turned into a swamp of black and purple sludge. In the image, a sect master with cultivation at the Astral Qi Realm was wailing in agony. His body expanded uncontrollably, his flesh and skin tearing apart as black tentacles covered in barbs grew out from within. His eyes transformed into bizarre compound eyes, and he spewed green acid from his mouth. Finally, amidst extreme distortion, he turned into a monster that only knew how to slaughter.
"Hiss—!" The sounds of people gasping for air echoed one after another throughout the hall.
The Purple Heaven Sect elder who had been clamoring just moments ago instantly turned deathly pale: "That... That is Sect Master Liu of the Profound Sound Sect! He... He was actually polluted into such a monstrous state?"
The scene shifted to the second projection.
This was live footage of the northwestern border captured right after the system's upgrade. Amidst the boundless thick crimson fog, a mountain of flesh over a hundred zhang tall was slowly moving. Embedded in the mountain of flesh were thousands upon thousands of human heads, all of them letting out shrill, miserable screams. Wherever this mountain of flesh passed, the earth instantly rotted, not a single blade of grass survived, and all spiritual energy was drained away, turning the area into a dead zone.
The most terrifying thing was that the footage clearly showed the surface of the sealing barrier where the Crimson Moon Demon Cult was located was already covered in dense cracks like a spider web! Bizarre projections even appeared in the sky above, and those demonic scoundrels of the Crimson Moon Demon Cult were actually packing up and preparing to flee.
"This... Is this the main body of the Crimson Moon Nightmare?!"
"The barrier is going to shatter? That's impossible! Ancient texts record that the seal should last for at least another three hundred years!"
Fear spread madly through the Hall of Supreme Harmony like a plague. The big shots of the hidden sects, who had just been thinking about how to bargain with Wang Hao, now felt their legs go soft, cold sweat soaking their backs.
For the first time, they had seen the true face of the "Nightmares" so intuitively and clearly. This wasn't a factional struggle, and this wasn't a fight over resources; this was naked genocide!
Looking at the group of old fellows below who were scared pale, Wang Hao laughed inwardly, but his face wore an expression of bitter heartache.
"Have you all seen it?" Wang Hao's voice was deep and suppressed. "The Profound Sound Sect, all three thousand members of the sect, were reduced to aberrations overnight due to the leakage of the Crimson Moon Nightmare's eerie aura. That ancient seal can hold for one more year at most!"
"One year!" Wang Hao slammed his hand onto the dragon desk, letting out a loud bang that caused several family heads to shudder violently.
"In one year, the main body of the Crimson Moon will break the seal, and this hundred-zhang-tall mountain of flesh will step into the heartland of the Eastern Wasteland! Do you think your sect protection arrays will be able to stop it? Do you think you can survive by hiding deep in the mountains and old forests?"
"This is no longer a matter for the Great Zhou alone; this is a catastrophe concerning the life and death of the human race in the Eastern Wasteland!"
"The Crimson Moon Demon Cult, possessing the Martial God's body, has actually given up trying to control the Crimson Moon Nightmare and has already packed up and fled. Moreover, the Heavenly Secret Pavilion is lurking in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity. The situation is extremely dire."
Deathly silence filled the Hall of Supreme Harmony; there was only the sound of everyone's heavy breathing.
"Your Majesty!" A veteran rogue cultivator expert stepped forward, his voice trembling. "Since the situation is so disastrous, does Great Zhou, as the orthodox ruler of the Eastern Wasteland, have a countermeasure?"
"Good question." This was exactly what Wang Hao had been waiting for.
He put away his previous anger, his expression becoming incredibly solemn and full of grand vision: "In the face of such a catastrophe, fighting independently will only lead to a dead end. My countermeasure consists of only a few words—Unify the world!"
"The Great Zhou proposes that, starting today, the Eastern Wasteland Demon-Suppressing Co-Lord Alliance be established!"
"All sects, noble families, and rogue cultivators of the Eastern Wasteland must engage in joint defense, joint training, joint intelligence, joint finances, and joint logistics!"
"I shall twist the power of the entire world into a single rope, unified in deployment, for only then can we carve out a bloody path of survival for our human race in this great catastrophe!"
The moment these words came out, the various big shots who were previously immersed in fear instantly snapped awake.
Joint finances? Joint military power? Joint intelligence?
You might as well just tell us to hand over our underwear to the Great Zhou!
"Your Majesty, I am afraid this is inappropriate..." an elder of the Purple Heaven Sect said, bracing himself. "Our sect has a legacy of a thousand years. If we hand over our finances and intelligence, wouldn't we exist in name only?"
"Indeed, Your Majesty. The alliance can be built, but the power cannot entirely belong to the Great Zhou!"
Watching this group of guys who valued their lives but valued their money even more begin to struggle again, Wei Zhongxian kept his head down to the side, sighing inwardly: These idiots, haven't they figured it out yet? His Majesty playing that recording just now wasn't to discuss things with you; it was to scare you soft first, and then force his way!
Wang Hao sighed, his expression as if looking at a group of reckless ants who did not know the meaning of death.
"If you all feel that my proposal is inappropriate, or if you have a better way to stop that hundred-zhang mountain of flesh, I am all ears. I absolutely will not force you." Wang Hao spread his hands, adopting a posture of "if you can do it better, be my guest."
The entire hall fell silent; no one dared to reply. Who would dare guarantee they could stop that thing?
Just as the meeting fell into a stalemate, a cold and clear voice rang out from the VIP seats.
"My Ice and Snow Divine Palace agrees with the Great Zhou Emperor's proposal. When a nest is overturned, no eggs remain intact. In the face of this catastrophe, unified deployment is the only way to survive."
The crowd turned their heads in shock. The one speaking was actually the aloof and unapproachable Shen Xue, who was like an iceberg snow lotus!
Immediately after, Yun Meng also stood up, wearing a gentle smile: "My Illusory Sea Immortal Sect is also willing to cooperate deeply with the Great Zhou Demon-Suppressing Alliance in terms of intelligence and maritime defense lines."
The entire audience was in an uproar!
The representatives of two major super factions were actually publicly endorsing the Great Zhou at a time like this!
Ren Mingyue looked at her two best friends beside her who had stolen her lines, gritting her teeth in secret anger. Unwilling to fall behind, she immediately stood up: "The hidden Ren family... is willing to provide the first batch of spirit stone military funds to support the alliance's operations!"
Xiao Chen and the others in the back row watched, dumbfounded. They suddenly realized that Wang Hao was not only a tyrant, but also an ultimate devil who manipulated people's hearts! Even these three aloof and lofty divine maidens were completely under his control!
"Good!" Wang Hao laughed heartily. "Since the general direction is set, let us take a look at the specific details."
Saying so, Wang Hao pulled out a thick stack of documents from under the dragon desk.
"Grand Companion Wei, distribute the Preliminary Constitution of the Demon-Suppressing Co-Lord Alliance to my beloved subjects, and let them study it well."
The crowd watched Wei Zhongxian walk over holding the constitution that was thicker than a brick, and their hearts simultaneously skipped a beat.
This dog emperor... he even had the damn constitution printed out in advance?!
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
m back to his original world. In the end, he realized he had overthought things. [Hey, why is Shen Manni, the female lead, acting strange? Shouldn't she be fawning over the male lead at this point?] [Zhou Qiaoqiao, are you sick? Weren't you supposed to break off your engagement today?] [Damn it! An Youyi, please do your job as an undercover agent and sell my information to the protagonist, you idiot!] ... At this moment, Xu Mo himself didn't know that these female leads had already heard his inner thoughts. Then they decided not to play by the rules. Xu Mo: Please respect my profession as the big villain!
his freshman year, Su Bai accidentally bound the "Indulgence Tycoon System." 【Sleeping in? Reward: +$1,000】 【Spent $288 at a street barbecue stall? Cashback: +$2,880】 【Dropped $14,396 on in-game skins? Special reward unlocked: A brand-new Porsche Panamera!】 Luxury cars, penthouses, corporate shares, financial empires… College life was all about living freely and doing whatever he pleased! … When the adorably naive academic genius faced family medical bills and financial struggles, Su Bai waved his hand dismissively: "Your future is on me." "Wuwu~ Big Brother is so good to me! I’ll become a scientist to repay you!" When the genius girl got bullied by a shady professor? Su Bai casually dropped a billion-dollar investment, forcing the university to grovel and beg for her return. A company’s funding chain collapsing? Su Bai smirked—cash was the one thing he’d never run out of. Years later, when people traced the rise of the AI prodigy beauty, who was the man behind her success? Not just that—Su Bai also became the tsundere campus belle’s unattainable dream, the contrast senior’s daily necessity, and the beautiful counselor’s emotional anchor…
to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”
