CHAPTER 722: 598 EMPEROR AND STATE PRECEPTOR

Shi Feiyang instructed Liu He to take the Earth Tablet to Master Tian Chi, teaching him to use the treasure to suppress the geomantic veins of the mountains and seas.

Although this was merely a temporary measure, the Earth Tablet was a convergence of Earth Dragon veins and condensed Essence Energy. In the past, Guang Chengzi had invested much effort in it, refining it to possess immense power.

After Shi Feiyang acquired it, he used his own methods to refine it anew, infusing it with twelve large bottles of Earth Essence Qi produced by the aggregation of myriad demons.

The Essence Qi of Earth Element and Earth transformed from gas to liquid, from liquid to solid. A single bottle of solidified Essence could create a mountain range three thousand miles long.

Additionally, there were six bottles of Yin Yang Magnetic Essence, all infused into the Earth Tablet. Through exquisite methods of refinement, its power was now more than tenfold stronger than when it was in Guang Chengzi’s hands!

However, human efforts sometimes reach their limits. The Ancient Poison Flames had been brewing underground for countless years and were on the verge of erupting. Even Master Tian Chi, with his Undying Body, holding the Earth Tablet could suppress it only for a short time. Moreover, the more it was suppressed now, the greater the force of the eventual eruption. Once Shi Feiyang was free, he would still need to go and thoroughly resolve it.

This time, Shi Feiyang returned to Central Earth, anticipating that Chi You would rise in Central Earth to initiate a massive calamity of war. Should he succeed, it would lead to mass slaughters and blood flowing like rivers, with nine out of ten homes emptied.

Therefore, he had to fulfill the responsibilities of the Great Ming National Master and first put the nation’s internal affairs in order.

The several grand rejuvenation projects he had set in motion years ago, after decades of effort from all sides, had achieved resounding success.

First, the Tarim Basin in the great Northwest had been filled, now forming the largest inland lake in this world. Stretching eight thousand miles east to west, at its widest point in the north to south nearly three thousand miles, the vast waters surged with misty clouds above while fish and dragons proliferated below, alongside swarms of shrimp and crab, creating many regions abundant with fish and rice.

The surrounding area’s temperature differences diminished, the glaciers on Heaven Mountain and Kunlun Mountain in the north and south all melted, the climate moistened, and vegetation flourished.

This influence reached Northwest Gansu, Ningxia, Shanbei, and other regions, turning all the loess into greenery, with plants and animals rapidly multiplying, yielding bountiful harvests every year.

More than a generation had passed, with three or four generations having emerged. Many people who had lived by this sea since childhood, fishing for their livelihood, had no idea that this place was once a barren desert.

This single achievement alone saved countless lives!

Additionally, the temperature control projects led by the Qingcheng Sect and the Snow Mountain Sect had also yielded significant results.

These two sects built Daoist temples in major areas across the country, first maintaining the stability of those places and protecting the local people from the invasions of Evil Demons and Demon Humans.

Secondly, they halted the arrival of the Little Ice Age. The zero degrees freezing line during winter was stopped at the north of the Yellow River, and the grain and rain line was pushed above Heaven Mountain, Yin Mountain, Xing’an Ridge, and Changbai Mountain.

Over the years, the land of the Central Plains enjoyed favorable weather, and the population exploded. Many once sparsely populated border regions now teemed with a large populace.

The third, the mutual markets between Great Ming and Great Yu, brought in items full of Spiritual Energy from the Outer Heaven Divine Mountain into the Central Plains, enhancing the quality of the general populace and producing many Martial Arts masters, which in turn led to the emergence of yet more Sword Immortals and Cultivators—a number many times greater than before.

The Qingcheng Sect and the Snow Mountain Sect, initially just having a handful of people, now had disciples all over the world, with each sect holding over a thousand individuals capable of wielding Flying Swords!

All other major Immortal Sects and Martial Arts Sects were also thriving, with their numbers ever-increasing.

These were the positive aspects. There were negative ones as well, such as the rampant cults. Shi Feiyang came to Central Earth this time to eradicate all the cults entrenched among the people.

He directly entered the Forbidden City, where the current Emperor was the son of Emperor Tianqi, Zhu Youxiao, named Zhu Citing.

The Emperor was already in his fifties or sixties, but due to years of Qi Refinement and health cultivation, he still appeared robust and vigorous, as if he were a man in his forties or fifties.

When he received news that the State Preceptor had descended to display his divine presence, the Emperor personally came out to welcome him, immediately dropping to his knees and bowing his head in reverence upon seeing Shi Feiyang...

As a child, when his father Emperor Tianqi was on the throne, he had seen Shi Feiyang several times when he had visited the capital.

He had grown up on the stories of Shi Feiyang and had always hoped the State Preceptor would return...

He did not wish to be Emperor; he wanted to embark on Immortal Cultivation.

In fact, his entire family aspired to Cultivation. Previously, Emperor Wanli had built Yuan Yang Palace and placed his own statue within it, keeping vigil beside Shi Feiyang.

Since Emperor Wanli, Emperor Taichang and Emperor Tianqi had all crammed their own statues in there.

Now three generations stood in Yuan Yang Palace, flanking Shi Feiyang. Zhu Citing had dreamt since childhood of becoming a little Taoist in Yuan Yang Palace, preferably learning the Dao directly from Shi Feiyang.

Later, upon becoming Emperor, he had given up on the thought of Cultivation, yet had a statue of himself made and sent to the main hall of Yuan Yang Palace. He stood to the right of Shi Feiyang, following his grandfather, Emperor Taichang, and facing his father, Emperor Tianqi.

In previous years, during the third swordfight at Jiuhua Mountain, the skies were filled with blood clouds, visible even from afar in the capital. Zhu Citing saw it too and thought it portended a major disaster. He stood accompanied by a eunuch, on the steps in front of Qianqing Palace, praying ceaselessly to Master Yuan Yang for help. And truly, the State Preceptor showed up, and not long after, the blood clouds dispersed and calmness returned to the heavens and earth.

Afterward, he inquired about the incident with Taoists from the Qingcheng Sect and the Snow Mountain Sect and learned that it was indeed the State Preceptor who had vanquished the Blood Demon and saved the mortal realm, which increased his adoration for Shi Feiyang immensely.

Now seeing Shi Feiyang once again, he looked exactly as he had when Zhu Citing saw him with his father as a child, not a single change.