The Celestial Pavilion Finally Takes Action

Wang Hao stood up.

"The Crimson Moon Demonic Tome will be temporarily suppressed by the Thunder Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda."

"Only three pages may be opened each day."

"At least three people must be present during research, and Wei Zhongxian will dispatch the Eastern Depot to keep records."

"No one is allowed to privately copy the complete evil runes."

"What I want are purified military weapons, not a second Crimson Moon Demonic Cult."

Everyone said in unison, "We obey Your Majesty's decree!"

Wang Hao walked out of the main tent.

The rain had stopped.

Above the Crimson Moon Canyon, the clouds broke apart and sunlight fell through.

Amidst the ruins, the Great Zhou war banners fluttered loudly in the wind.

Cartloads of spoils of war were being transported out.

Spirit stones were piled up like small mountains.

Cultivation methods and ancient texts were sealed in boxes.

Cursed artifact fragments were covered entirely with lightning talismans.

The blood pool array foundations were dismantled into pieces, waiting to be shipped back to the imperial city for research.

The New Emperor Sword sat next to a pile of purified cursed residue, holding a small scale, weighing and cursing at the same time.

"Twenty-nine catties and eight taels!"

"Wei Zhongxian, did you deduct my rations?"

Wei Zhongxian said with a smiling face, "Master Sword, the scale was bestowed by His Majesty."

The New Emperor Sword immediately changed its tune.

"Then the residue must have shrunk on its own."

Xiao Chen looked at the busy Great Zhou army all over the ground and suddenly felt a bit dazed.

The Crimson Moon Demonic Cult had been annihilated.

This behemoth that had entrenched itself in the Western Regions for two thousand years was truly gone.

But Wang Hao did not immerse himself in the victory.

He had already started dismantling the enemies' corpses, flipping through their account books, and modifying their techniques, preparing for the next war.

This man was like a black dragon that would never know satisfaction.

After winning, he wanted the land.

He wanted the resources.

He wanted the techniques.

He wanted the talents.

He even wanted to squeeze the very last drop of value out of the enemy's evil tomes.

Xiao Chen couldn't help but whisper, "Ye Guyun."

"Hmm?"

"Do you think if he were a villain, the world would have been gone long ago?"

Ye Guyun looked at Wang Hao's back.

"Perhaps."

Xiao Chen asked, "Then what is he considered now?"

Ye Guyun fell silent for a moment.

"A villain who stands on our side."

Xiao Chen thought about it.

He couldn't refute it.

Wang Hao seemed to have heard their words.

He turned back and glanced at them.

Xiao Chen immediately stood up straight, although he stood very crookedly.

Wang Hao said flatly, "Are your injuries healed?"

Xiao Chen's expression changed.

"No! Three broken ribs! Severe internal injuries! Soul trauma! I need at least three months to recuperate!"

Wang Hao nodded.

"Then you will rest for seven days."

Xiao Chen almost jumped up.

"Seven days?"

Wang Hao said, "Geniuses recover quickly."

Xiao Chen gritted his teeth, "I am a human, not a spirit pig!"

Wang Hao thought about it.

"Can a spirit pig be ready for slaughter in seven days?"

Wei Zhongxian respectfully said, "Replying to Your Majesty, it cannot."

Wang Hao looked at Xiao Chen.

"So I have already been very accommodating to you."

Xiao Chen's vision went dark.

Wanyan Gu whispered from the side, "Look, His Majesty still compared you to a spirit pig."

Xiao Chen said angrily, "Shut up!"

Wang Hao ignored them.

His gaze looked toward the east.

The Crimson Moon Demonic Cult was destroyed.

The largest demonic faction in the Western Regions had been uprooted.

The Righteous Alliance was shattered.

Factions like the Ren family, the Li family, and the Heavenly Sword Pavilion had already been tied to the Great Zhou's war chariot.

Now, there was only one last trouble left on the chessboard.

The Heavenly Mystery Pavilion.

That Xie Wujiu, who thought he could calculate everything in the world, had already confirmed that he was outside his deductions.

Since he knew fear, he would definitely shrink back into his turtle shell.

Wang Hao knew very well.

The hardest part about attacking the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion was not its disciples.

Not its elders.

But that grand mountain-sealing array passed down for countless years.

But it didn't matter.

He had just dismantled the Crimson Moon Demonic Cult.

He had more resources, more blueprints, and more demonic tome runes in his hands.

Along with the Thunder Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda.

The New Emperor Sword.

Eight demigods.

A coalition army of seven hundred thousand.

And a group of geniuses who had just been beaten by him and weren't dead yet.

The corners of Wang Hao's mouth curled up slightly.

"Xie Wujiu."

"You'd better make your turtle shell a bit thicker."

"I like breaking hard things."

In the distance, the Great Zhou war drums sounded again.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

It wasn't an attack.

It was the rallying of troops before a triumphant return.

Above the ruins of the Crimson Moon Canyon, the black dragon banner unfurled in the wind.

Wang Hao stood with his hands behind his back, his voice spreading throughout the entire army.

"After the inventory is complete, rest here for seven days."

"In seven days."

"We march east."

"To the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion."

The entire army roared in agreement.

"Victory to His Majesty!"

"Victory to the Great Zhou!"

The sound waves pierced the heavens.

The New Emperor Sword, munching on residue, shouted indistinctly.

"Victory to extra meals!"

Wei Zhongxian glanced at him.

"Master Sword, shout that again and five catties will be deducted."

The New Emperor Sword immediately changed its tune.

"Victory to His Majesty!"

Watching this scene, Xiao Chen suddenly felt the future was pitch black.

In seven days, they would be on the road again.

They were either fighting monsters.

Or on the way to fight monsters.

And Wang Hao's war machine had only just begun to turn.

Seven days of rest was just a saying.

In reality, these seven days in the Crimson Moon Canyon were busier than the New Year celebrations of many sects.

In the Great Zhou military camp, they carried the wounded during the first half of the night, and carried boxes during the second half.

Those carrying the wounded cried out for their parents in pain, while those carrying the boxes beamed with joy.

The two-thousand-year foundation of the Crimson Moon Demonic Cult was beaten into ruins by Wang Hao in a single battle, but the things left in the ruins were still enough to make countless sects bleed from envy.

Spirit stones.

Blood crystals.

Array foundations.

Fragments of demonic cultivation methods.

Cursed artifact fragments.

And a pile of junk that looked useless, but which Wei Zhongxian insisted on sealing first and asking questions later.

Wang Hao's principle was very simple.

Anything left behind by the enemy, even a threshold stone, had to be registered in the ledger first.

What if it could be ground into powder to pave roads in the future?

This was called maximizing the utilization of imperial resources.

Xiao Chen's evaluation of this was: Even a passing dog would have two tufts of hair plucked by Wang Hao.

Then his evaluation was recorded by the Eastern Depot agents into the Post-War Ideological Observation Jade Slip.

That day, Xiao Chen's allocation of healing pills was reduced by one.

The reason given was: His mental state was too active, which was not conducive to resting.

Lying on the stretcher and looking up at the sky, Xiao Chen finally understood a truth.

In the Great Zhou, one could question the Heavenly Dao.

But it was best not to question Wang Hao's stinginess.

The morning of the seventh day.

Above the Crimson Moon Canyon, the black dragon banner rose once again.

The seven-hundred-thousand-strong army was fully equipped and ready.

The Eastern Depot agents sealed the final demonic cult storehouse, the craftsmen of the Directorate of Armaments loaded the dismantled blood pool array foundations onto carts, and the array masters of the Ministry of Works hugged several boxes of the Crimson Moon Demonic Cult's core array blueprints as if they were their own sons.

The people from the Demon-Purifying Military Industry Department had dark circles under their eyes and weak footsteps, yet everyone was highly spirited.

Because over these seven days, they had already analyzed the basic amplification structure of the first three pages of the Crimson Moon Demonic Tome.

Although it was still a long way from mass production.

But it at least proved one thing.

The demonic cult's evil arts, built on sacrificed human lives, could indeed be dismantled into energy amplification technology.

This made a group of old pedants both excited and disgusted.

They were excited because the Great Zhou's military industry system might truly take an epoch-making step forward.

They were disgusted because the things they studied every day were crying.

Wang Hao was very calm about this.

"Crying means there is still lingering resentment."

"Resentment can still be purified."

"Once purified, it can still be used as material."

"You all should be happy."

The people of the Demon-Purifying Military Industry Department remained silent for a long time, finally unanimously agreeing that His Majesty's mindset was very suitable for researching cursed artifacts.

Even cursed artifacts might not be as mentally stable as him.

The army set off.

Target: The Heavenly Mystery Pavilion.

After marching three hundred miles east, the red earth gradually disappeared.

The ground turned from scorched black to grayish-white.

The further east they went, the higher the mountains became and the heavier the clouds grew.

The location of the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion was known as the end of the sky in the Western Regions.

Rumor had it that it was neither on the ground nor in the sky, but hidden within a folded space.

Ordinary people walking there would only see a sea of clouds.

Even Sky Realm experts flying in would only lose their direction.

Relying on this great spatial array that combined nature and human artifice, the Tianji Pavilion had hidden from the world for many years, secretly manipulating the global situation.

Unfortunately, this time they had provoked Wang Hao.

There were two things Wang Hao hated most in others.

First, acting all mysterious and pretentious.

Second, not allowing him to tear down their facade after they acted mysterious.

The Tianji Pavilion hit both marks perfectly.

So, he was prepared to tear them down a bit more thoroughly.

As the great army marched to Duantian Ridge, Wang Hao looked up at the path ahead.

Duantian Ridge was no ordinary mountain range.

It looked like a giant sword that had slashed down from beyond the heavens, forcibly cleaving the ten-thousand-mile mountain range in two.

The cliffs on both sides were as smooth as mirrors, crisscrossed with sword marks, and the lingering sharp aura had not dissipated even after ten thousand years.

Legend had it that in the ancient era, a Sword Dao Martial God fought an Evil God here, cleaving the sky open with a single strike, and the descending sword qi transformed into Duantian Ridge.

Of course, such legends were mostly absurd.

But Wang Hao liked the absurd.

Because the more absurd a place was, the more likely it was to be a check-in spot.

He stood with his hands behind his back in front of the Black Dragon Chariot, a screen of light silently floating before his eyes.

[Special location detected: Ancient Sword Mark of Duantian Ridge.]

[Check-in conditions met.]

Wang Hao's eyes flickered slightly.

"Check in."

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully checking in at the Ancient Sword Mark of Duantian Ridge.]

[Obtained: God-tier martial art, Heaven-Cleaving Nine Swords.]

[Obtained Intel: The sword marks at Duantian Ridge originated from the ancient God-Burying War. A faint trace of divine pollution remains deep within the sword marks, related to the Mystery of the Buried Gods.]

[Hint: The Tianji Pavilion possesses nine ancient god corpses. The god corpses are pierced through their collarbones by God-Burying Chains. Defeating the god corpses will yield fragments of the God-Burying Chains.]

Looking at the system prompts, the corners of Wang Hao's mouth curled up slightly.

Heaven-Cleaving Nine Swords.

The name alone sounded perfect for dismantling doors.

That turtle shell of the Tianji Pavilion suddenly looked a lot more pleasing to the eye.

The New Emperor Sword, squatting beside the chariot gnawing on purification residue, suddenly shivered.

"Tyrant, your smile is very dangerous."

Wang Hao looked at him.

"Did I smile?"

The New Emperor Sword said earnestly, "You smiled, and it was the kind of smile that says someone is about to be unlucky, and someone else will have to work overtime."

Wei Zhongxian said softly from the side, "Master Sword has been observing His Majesty quite closely lately."

The New Emperor Sword puffed out his chest proudly. "Of course. I am going to be the sword that understands the tyrant best in the future."

Wang Hao said indifferently, "Then guess what I want to do right now?"

The New Emperor Sword pondered for a moment.

"Deduct my dinner?"

Wang Hao said, "Wrong answer. Deduct five catties."

The New Emperor Sword was speechless.

He had an epiphany.

Being the one who understood the tyrant best was useless.

Because the tyrant was unreasonable.

Right at the moment the Great Zhou army crossed Duantian Ridge.

Ten thousand fathoms high in the sky.

Deep within the sea of clouds.

A massive floating city hovered silently.

This city did not entirely exist in reality.

Half of it was exposed in the clouds, while the other half was hidden in the folds of the void.

The city walls were forged from cyan-white heavenly meteorites, their surfaces densely covered with starlight runes, every brick carved with deduction array patterns.

Countless streams of starlight cascaded from the firmament, falling into the thousand-fathom-tall white jade platform in the center of the city.

The Heavenly Dao Deduction Platform.

The true core of the Tianji Pavilion.

At this moment, at the top of the deduction platform.

Xie Wujiu stood before the star map, his face pale to the point of being almost transparent.

A vast star map floated before him.

Hundreds of millions of stars rotated slowly.

Every star corresponded to the fate of an important figure in the Eastern Wasteland.

Sect patriarchs.

Imperial monarchs.

Monstrous geniuses.

Hidden experts.

The trajectories of their fates were either bright or dim, strong or weak within this star map, pulling at one another to form the general trend of the world.

This was the foundation of the Tianji Pavilion, passed down for thousands of years.

It was also the thing Xie Wujiu was most proud of.

He used to believe that as long as the star map was in his hands, no one in the world could escape the heavenly secrets.

Until Wang Hao appeared.

In the center of the star map, there was a star that shone blindingly bright.

That star was not in its original Heavenly Dao trajectory.

It was like a sun that had suddenly intruded into the night sky, unreasonable, overbearing, and tyrannical, completely suppressing the light of all the surrounding constellations.

What was even more terrifying was that it did not operate according to its trajectory.

If deduced to go east, it insisted on going west.

If deduced to show weakness, it flipped the table instead.

If deduced to be injured, it turned around and blew up a Martial God avatar.

Xie Wujiu stared at that star, the corner of his eye twitching incessantly.

"Evaporating a Martial God avatar with one palm..."

"No."

"That wasn't a palm strike. That was a power that surpasses the current martial limits of the Eastern Wasteland."

Xie Wujiu's voice was hoarse.

"Wang Hao, you truly are not within the heavenly secrets."

He raised his hand and brushed it across the star map.

The moment his fingertip touched the star representing Wang Hao.

Boom!

The entire star map trembled violently.

A streak of golden lightning exploded from the surface of the star, striking back along the karma of the deduction.

Xie Wujiu let out a muffled groan, retreating seven steps in a row as blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.

Below the platform, the expressions of dozens of Tianji Pavilion elders changed drastically.

"Pavilion Master!"

"You must not deduce Wang Hao anymore!"

"The karmic backlash of this person's fate is too heavy. Even the Heavenly Dao Deduction Platform cannot suppress it!"

Xie Wujiu raised his hand to stop the crowd.

He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and suddenly laughed.

The laughter was very light.

Yet it carried a kind of madness born from being pushed to a dead end.

"I cannot deduce him."

"I cannot calculate him."

"I cannot avoid him."

"Wang Hao, oh Wang Hao, this venerable one has not encountered such a situation in a very long time."

"Since the heavenly secrets cannot calculate you, then I shall use something that does not require the heavenly secrets to stop you."