Escorting the Emperor Is My Duty

Boom!

The martial god avatar of the Heavenly Lord of the Scales.

Half of its body was blown apart.

Fear finally appeared on his face.

“Impossible!”

“Your Imperial Soul has already shattered!”

“How can you still unleash such power?”

Wang Hao said:

“I told you.”

“What you calculated was one man.”

“Behind me—”

“stands an entire dynasty.”

“Seventh Palm.”

The Imperial Dao River surged into the sky.

One hundred and seven black-gold warships.

All roared at once.

Thousands of World-Pickers.

The soldiers of the Northern Frontier.

Officials from the Six Ministries.

The Dragon-Slayer.

Hundred Burial Mountain.

The Star-Severing Hall.

The auras of everyone—

were drawn together by this palm.

A golden palm.

Covered the Nine Provinces.

The Heavenly Lord of the Scales roared.

All his remaining Ninth-Realm rings.

Exploded simultaneously.

“The Merchant Dao shall endure!”

“Weigh the heavens and earth!”

The shattered Scale of All Living Beings.

Rose once more.

But when the Seventh Palm descended,

the balance beam bent.

The legs of the Heavenly Lord of the Scales.

Suddenly sank into the void.

The sound of cracking knees rang out.

“Eighth Palm.”

Wang Hao’s Imperial Soul raised its right hand.

And slowly pressed downward.

A golden palm larger than the Nine Provinces.

Emerging from the depths of the starry sky.

Between its palm lines.

Were the countless living beings who had died in Great Xia.

The soldiers who had fallen in the Northern Frontier.

Uncle Shi, whose body had been shattered to pieces in the sea of corpses.

And an unfamiliar world that had only just broken free from the Merchant Alliance’s chains.

The Heavenly Lord of the Scales looked up.

It seemed as though he could see—

countless pairs of eyes.

All watching him from within that palm.

“No!”

“I am a peak Martial God!”

“I am only one step away!”

“From surpassing the Martial God realm!”

“I will not lose to a shattered dynasty!”

The Eighth Palm.

Descended.

Boom!

The Heavenly Lord of the Scales dropped to both knees.

The shattered Scale of All Living Beings.

Completely disintegrated.

His martial god avatar.

Was reduced to a single head.

His Ninth-Realm peak body.

Was covered in golden cracks.

Blood gushed from every one of them.

Wang Hao’s Imperial Soul.

Was likewise nearing its limit.

His right arm had already turned transparent.

A large portion of the soul beneath his chest had vanished.

System warnings.

Continued to appear.

[Imperial Soul damage: 60%!]

[Imperial Soul damage: 69%!]

[Current condition extremely dangerous!]

[Forcefully using the Ninth Palm carries the risk of Imperial Soul collapse!]

The Heavenly Lord of the Scales had also seen Wang Hao’s condition.

Kneeling in the void,

madness appeared on his face.

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“If the Ninth Palm descends,”

“this old man will die!”

“But your soul will also be annihilated!”

“For the sake of a dynasty—”

“is it worth it?”

Wang Hao looked down at the Nine Provinces.

Zhao Ergou leaned against the city wall and stood up.

The old Ministry of Revenue official clutched his account books tightly.

A-Li gripped the helm Uncle Shi had left behind.

The silver-haired youth stood in front of Wang Hao,

as though trying to stop him from striking again.

The myriad lights of the Nine Provinces.

Remained bright.

Wang Hao said:

“You made another mistake.”

The Heavenly Lord of the Scales froze.

“What?”

“It isn’t that I’m doing this for Great Xia.”

Wang Hao’s Imperial Soul slowly raised its right hand.

“It is because of them—”

“that I have become who I am today.”

The Imperial Dao River.

Instantly seethed.

The figures of nearly a billion people.

Appeared behind Wang Hao at the same time.

He was no longer a shattered Imperial Soul.

He was an entire dynasty.

A vast land of mountains and rivers.

A history of all living beings that was still being written.

“Ninth Palm.”

Terror completely erupted across the face of the Heavenly Lord of the Scales.

“Wait!”

“This old man can buy his life!”

Wang Hao’s movements paused slightly.

The Heavenly Lord of the Scales seemed to grasp his final hope.

“The master ledger of the Lifeless Merchant Alliance!”

“The coordinates of all sixty-three branch vaults!”

“Three hundred affiliated worlds!”

“I’ll give you everything!”

“Just let me live!”

Wang Hao asked:

“How long do you want to buy?”

The Heavenly Lord of the Scales was stunned.

“What do you mean, how long?”

“A life has a length.”

“Are you buying one breath—”

“or ten thousand years?”

The Heavenly Lord of the Scales gritted his teeth.

“Ten thousand years!”

Wang Hao shook his head.

“Too expensive.”

“This old man will pay!”

“I don’t have that many lives to sell.”

The Heavenly Lord of the Scales nearly vomited blood.

“Then how long can you sell?”

Wang Hao thought seriously for a moment.

“One breath.”

Killing intent surged in the eyes of the Heavenly Lord of the Scales.

“You’re toying with me?”

“No.”

Wang Hao said:

“One breath.”

“In exchange for the master ledger and the coordinates of the sixty-three branch vaults.”

“A perfectly fair deal.”

The expression of the Heavenly Lord of the Scales changed repeatedly.

The Ninth Palm above his head.

Was still slowly taking shape.

He had no choice.

A golden soul imprint.

Flew out from the brow of the Heavenly Lord of the Scales.

It contained the master ledger of the Lifeless Merchant Alliance.

As well as the complete coordinates of its sixty-three branch vaults.

Wang Hao raised his hand and caught it.

Then handed it to the old Ministry of Revenue official.

“Verify it.”

The old official rapidly opened the ledger.

After reading only three pages,

his breathing began to quicken.

He took out a Heart-Protecting Pill.

And stuffed it into his mouth in advance.

“Your Majesty!”

“It’s genuine!”

“Sixty-three branch vaults!”

“They contain a total of nineteen Ninth-Realm materials!”

“More than three thousand Eighth-Realm materials!”

“There are also mineral veins, medicine gardens, and warship workshops controlled by the Merchant Alliance!”

“Everything is recorded in the accounts!”

Wang Hao nodded in satisfaction.

“Deal.”

The Heavenly Lord of the Scales immediately said:

“Let this old man go!”

Wang Hao looked at him.

He did not move.

The Heavenly Lord of the Scales roared:

“You agreed to sell me one breath of life!”

Wang Hao said:

“It has already been sold.”

The Heavenly Lord of the Scales froze.

“When did it begin?”

“From the moment you handed over the ledger.”

Wang Hao glanced at a nonexistent clock.

“One breath has passed.”

The Heavenly Lord of the Scales’ eyes suddenly widened.

“You shameless bastard!”

Wang Hao said:

“Thank you.”

“Ninth Palm.”

“Prison the Heavens.”

“Cover the Earth.”

The golden giant palm.

Pressed down completely.

The shattered avatar of the Heavenly Lord of the Scales.

Disintegrated inch by inch within the palm.

His Ninth-Realm peak qi and blood.

Was like a golden sun.

Trying to break free from the palm.

But the mountains and rivers of the Nine Provinces.

The billions of lights.

And the will of nearly a billion living beings.

Pressed down at the same time.

“No!”

“The Lifeless Merchant Alliance will never be destroyed!”

“Behind the Alliance—”

“There is a true Transcendent!”

Wang Hao slowly closed his five fingers.

“Then let him come.”

Boom!

The heavens and earth of the Nine Provinces.

Shuddered violently.

The martial god avatar of the Heavenly Lord of the Scales.

His Ninth-Realm body.

And the shattered Scale of All Living Beings.

Were forcibly compressed by the Ninth Palm into a black-gold sphere.

Within the sphere.

A faint soul continued to crash against the seal.

Wang Hao did not crush it outright.

Instead, he tossed the black-gold sphere.

Into the first level of the Thunder Abyss Suppression Demon Pagoda.

“The Ministry of Revenue hasn’t finished interrogating him.”

“Don’t let him die yet.”

The Thunder Abyss Suppression Demon Pagoda trembled faintly.

Indicating that it understood.

The gate to the first level closed.

The Heavenly Lord of the Scales roared furiously.

“Wang Hao!”

“Didn’t you say you would kill me after one breath?”

Wang Hao said:

“I’ve changed my mind.”

“Interrogate him first.”

“Kill him after the interrogation.”

The voice of the Heavenly Lord of the Scales.

Was completely cut off by the tower gate.

The main battlefield fell silent.

The three remaining Martial Gods.

Lost their will to fight at the same time.

The Martial God in the early stage turned and fled.

A-Li controlled seven warships.

And adjusted their cannons simultaneously.

Seven Annihilation Cannons.

Precisely blasted the space in front of him.

They did not fire at him.

They specifically sealed off his escape route.

The old Ministry of Revenue official saw this scene.

And nodded in satisfaction.

“This girl knows how to manage a household.”

The Dragon-Slayer, meanwhile, brought down a single sword strike.

The early-stage Martial God expert.

Was cleaved in two along with his soul.

The Crone of Hundred Burial Mountain summoned corpses.

And carefully caught the body.

Not allowing a single drop of Martial God blood to fall onto the ground.

“Who does the corpse belong to?”

The old Ministry of Revenue official said:

“The national treasury.”

The crone said:

“This old woman caught it.”

“Add a transport fee for me.”

“How much?”

“Three high-grade spirit stones.”

The crone’s face darkened.

“This is a Martial God’s corpse!”

The old Ministry of Revenue official said:

“That’s why I’m giving you three.”

“An ordinary corpse only gets one low-grade spirit stone.”

The other two were mid-stage Martial Gods.

Seeing that escape was impossible,

they could only lay down their weapons.

“We surrender!”

Wang Hao looked at them.

“Do you have money?”

The two froze.

“Yes.”

“Pay your ransom first.”

“Then we can leave?”

“No.”

“Then why should we pay?”

Wang Hao said,

“Don’t pay,

and you die now.”

The two Martial Gods fell silent.

A moment later,

they voluntarily unlocked every storage artifact they possessed.

Their entire life savings

were handed over to the Ministry of Revenue.

The Merchant Alliance’s army

completely collapsed as well.

Those who escaped into the spatial rifts

numbered less than one in ten.

The remaining black-gold warships

numbered 234 in total.

All of them were taken over by the Great Xia fleet.

Added to the 107 ships they already had,

Great Xia now possessed, for the first time,

a total of 341 black-gold warships

capable of waging war across worlds.

Upon the Imperial Dao River,

Wang Hao’s imperial soul swayed slightly.

The Ninth Palm had exhausted his final reserves of strength.

The damage to his imperial soul

remained at seventy-seven percent.

His right arm had once again lost all feeling.

The silver-haired youth rushed over

and supported him with his body.

“Master.”

“Don’t die.”

“If you die,

who am I supposed to settle my debt with?”

Wang Hao glanced at him.

“You rendered meritorious service protecting me just now.”

The silver-haired youth’s eyes lit up.

“What’s my reward?”

“Your fine is reduced by one year.”

The silver-haired youth looked somewhat disappointed,

but soon cheered up again.

At least this time,

another twenty years wouldn’t be deducted.

But after he had just helped Wang Hao take two steps,

a tiny crack suddenly appeared

across the surface of the New Son of Heaven Sword.

The Heaven-Cleaving Strike just now,

combined with the successive battles,

had already damaged the artifact’s core.

The silver-haired youth’s face went pale.

“Master.”

“The sword’s cracked.”

“Repair it.”

“Who’s paying?”

“You are.”

“It cracked because of you!”

Wang Hao said,

“Protecting me is your duty.”

“Damage incurred in the course of duty

will be repaired at your expense.”

“The repair cost will be deducted from your future military pay.”

The silver-haired youth slowly let go.

Wang Hao’s body swayed,

and he nearly tumbled from the Imperial Dao River.

The silver-haired youth hurriedly caught him again.

He ground his teeth in fury,

but did not dare let go for real.

Inside the main hall of the Ministry of Revenue,

an old official spread open the account book of the Lifeless Merchant Alliance.

The coordinates of sixty-three branch vaults

were simultaneously marked across the Imperial Dao River.

One by one, golden gates spanning the starry sky

slowly opened.

On the other side of the gates,

mountains of spirit stones,

rows of divine-weapon workshops,

and countless Merchant Alliance banners

were all clearly visible.

The old official of the Ministry of Revenue picked up the official seal

and pressed it heavily onto the first page of the account book.

“The First Vice-Leader of the Lifeless Merchant Alliance,

Heavenly Lord of the Scales,

resisted arrest.

He has now been seized in accordance with the law!

All assets under his name

are hereby frozen!

The sixty-three branch vaults

are to be confiscated immediately!”

The 341 black-gold warships

slowly rotated their cannons.

The Great Xia dragon banner

whipped loudly beneath the heavens of the Nine Provinces.

Wang Hao raised the broken right hand of his imperial soul

and pointed toward the first golden gate.

“Deliver my decree.”

“Seize their estates.”