Chapter 1137 The Fake God Emperor’s Trusted Subordinates
The bell from the Divine Capital echoed throughout the entire Eastern Continent.
It rang for a whole day and night. Every creature on the Eastern Continent heard it as if it were really vibrating in their hearts. It was sending out a kind of power and a strong aura.
When a God Emperor ascended to the throne, the sound of the bell would ring throughout the entire continent.
The lasting of the bell and the aura contained in it would also transmit a lot of information. For those who really knew the cause of the matter, the ringing of the bell this time made them more and more shocked. The forces, who originally had turned rebellious because of the death of the Fake God Emperor, also made a choice one after another after they understood the meaning of the bell.
“Hurry up, send someone to deliver a congratulatory letter immediately. No matter which Divine Son ascends to the throne, we must show our position as soon as possible!” In the giant city under the control of the God’s Palace, a City Lord gave an order and prepared great gifts.
“Such a powerful bell is unprecedented. Military Counselor, immediately send someone to refuse the invitation of the Feather Clan. There must be no delay in this matter. If the Feather Clan envoy doesn’t know things better, you’ll just kill him!” In the camp of the border town, the military official who was originally indecisive made his decision at this moment.
“Get ready. I’m going to the Divine Capital in person. Pass down the orders that the disciples of the sect are not allowed to go out during this period, and no one is allowed to do anything out of line on their own accord. Ask Third Elder and Sixth Elder to return to the Back Mountain of the sect for secluded cultivation. Seventh Elder and Second Elder will go to the Divine Capital with me.” The Sect Leader of the Six Emotions Sect, one of the top sects on the Eastern Continent, also felt a kind of deep fear at this moment. He was determined to go to the Divine Capital to pay his respect to the new emperor in person.
Things like that were happening in many parts of the Eastern Continent.
The ascent of the new emperor was definitely a major event. No one dared to neglect it.
…
…
“Huo Jun’s trusted subordinates have all been thrown into the prison?”
On the top of the divine mountain, Ding Hao looked down at the wind and clouds between heaven and earth. His cyan shirt fluttered in the wind, and he looked slightly surprised.
Behind him stood hundreds of figures of different heights and ages. They were ministers and army commanders that served the royal families of God’s Palace. With many powerful troops, they were now the leaders of the major forces in God’s Palace. Every one of them was a big shot with great prestige and power of a certain region. Their casual coughs could cause changes in the Eastern Continent.
“Your Majesty, when the Fake God Emperor was in power, Huo Jun was his trusted subordinate. He was arrogant, domineering, and bullied the members of the imperial family. Everyone was angry but didn’t dare to oppose him,” a short and fat middle-aged man said loudly. “The remaining troubles of the Fake God Emperor’s time should be eliminated. Your Majesty, when you weren’t in power yet, we didn’t dare to decide on our own. Now that you have ascended to the throne, please issue an order to kill Huo Jun and his other companions under the Fake God Emperor’s command as well as to set an example for others!”
“Hear, hear!”
“I agree with him.”
A few people immediately seconded the proposal.
These people all knew that there was a blood feud between the new emperor, Ding Hao, and the Fake God Emperor, so they thought that he must have a lot of killing intent toward the remaining supporters of the Fake God Emperor. In their opinion, after the new emperor ascended the throne, in order to show his benevolence, he would not take the initiative to start a massacre. But if such a thing was uttered by them, the new emperor would definitely take advantage of the situation, and they would also be thought highly of by Ding Hao and become his trusted subordinates because of what they said.
Ding Hao did not even need to look back to know what these people were thinking.
“Pass down my orders. Huo Jun and his men are pardoned. Order someone to bring Huo Jun’s personal disciple here,” Ding Hao said lightly.
“What…” The stout middle-aged man’s face changed.
“You shouldn’t, Your Majesty. These people are the remaining troubles of the Fake God Emperor. You can’t let them off easily!”
“Your Majesty, you are kind-hearted and don’t want to kill anymore, but you don’t need to be merciful to these people at all. They have weakened the foundation of God’s Palace, which is a great sin and unforgivable. Please reconsider this!”
The others didn’t get Ding Hao’s intention for a while. They thought that Ding Hao was letting those people off in order to catch them later, so they quickly tried to stop him.
“I won’t repeat myself.” Ding Hao’s calm tone had unquestionable aggressiveness and majesty, which made those people look at each other and dare not say anything more, but they could no longer figure out what the new emperor was going to do.
Ding Hao did not want to speak his mind.
These people had been muddling along. Most of the time, they only focused on fighting for power and profit while hiding in the Divine Capital. They had no idea what had happened in the outside world, or why the Fake God Emperor had died, or what Huo Jun and the others had done. As martial arts experts, their vision and vigilance had degenerated. They were like parasites of God’s Palace. Once God’s Palace collapsed, in fact, in this dog-eat-dog world, these people would soon, like children wandering at night with night pearls, become corpses and rotten meat.
Today, Ding Hao was greatly disappointed when he saw the so-called ministers and elites of God’s Palace. Presumably, when the Fake God Emperor had been guarding the divine mountain for many years, he had also been in a bad mood. Otherwise, he would not have trained Huo Jun, a person who had rebelled from the Western Expedition Army, as a trusted subordinate.
In comparison, Ding Chulin, the Eighth Divine Prince who betrayed Ding Hao’s father, was actually a quite capable man in God’s Palace. Over the years, he had been able to become the One Abreast King by relying on his own strength. Compared with Ding Xingjin and the others, he was much wiser and more powerful.
Ding Hao could not help but sympathize with the Fake God Emperor.
He had no right to inherit the throne. After ascending the throne, he might have wanted to make great efforts to govern God’s Palace, but soon he found that the men under his command were all unsuitable, and it was even difficult for him to take revenge. He had to employ some generals from the Western Expedition Army. Maybe in the end, even he had to admit that the most elite, loyal, talented, and capable people of God’s Palace were all from the Western Expedition Army, and they had been the subordinates of the Eldest Divine Prince.
The elders and young people in front of Ding Hao were really a bunch of good-for-nothings.
They didn’t even know why the Fake God Emperor had died and who had planned all of this. They were just like a group of maggots that ate rotten meat, only left with the instinct to fight for power and profit. Such beings were harmful and could not do any good deeds.
Now that Huo Jun was dead, Ding Hao did not want to explain anything to these people.
Perhaps even if Huo Jun was alive, he wouldn’t bother to explain his intention to these people. In Ding Hao’s opinion, Huo Jun would prefer to be considered as a subject of the Fake God Emperor after he died to repay Ding Hao’s father’s kindness. This was also his original intention to use his death to repay the Fake God Emperor.
But as for Huo Jun’s trusted subordinates, Ding Hao hoped to protect them.
One reason was that the people Huo Jun attached importance to were certainly not good-for-nothings. They might even have the potential to develop. The other reason was that these people had been acquainted with Huo Jun. They could be considered as the last bit of inheritance that Huo Jun had left behind in this world. They should not be extinguished.
Moreover, Ding Hao was very curious about Huo Jun’s personal disciple.
Huo Jun was a man of high standards, and his Taoist technique was not simple either. The successor he had chosen must be an outstanding talent, and he had high expectations of him. Ding Hao hoped to meet this young man and support him, which could be regarded as some kind of repayment for Huo Jun.
Ding Hao stood on the top of the divine mountain for a while. He then waved his hand and said, “Third Uncle, Fourth Uncle, and Ninth Uncle will stay here. The rest of you can leave.”
People looked at each other in dismay.
The coronation of the new emperor, Ding Hao, was extremely simple without any ceremony or proclaimer. He had ascended the throne that everyone had dreamed of with just a few words. They had thought that he would announce it to the world in a high-profile way or draw the ministers over to his side. They assumed that he should at least comfort his people, but who would have thought that he would be so cold and domineering that he did not take the old ministers with royal blood seriously?
Everyone had resentment in their hearts, but they didn’t dare to express it. They all expressed their gratitudes and left.
The moment they turned around, many people’s eyes fell on Ding Xingmu, Ding Xinghua, and Ding Xingxue, and their eyes were full of envy and jealousy. These three people had been about to be rejected by the power circle of the Divine Capital and lose their power and influence. No one could have thought that once the great change took place and the new emperor rose, these three weak men also gained great power.
Seeing that Ding Hao was indifferent, many people knew that they could not attract the attention of the new emperor for the time being, so now they had different plans. They thought that if they could get closer to the three favorite uncles of the new emperor, they might be able to have a meteoric rise in the future.
All of the ministers retreated.
There were only a few people left on the summit of the divine mountain.
“Your Majesty, you should comfort these people. After all, undercurrents are surging in the Divine Capital and have not yet subsided…” The Third Divine Prince, Ding Xinghua, could not help reminding Ding Hao. He was a little worried that Ding Hao was acting on impulse.
Ding Hao smiled and said, “Third Uncle, don’t worry. They are just a group of good-for-nothings. They’re not worth caring about. God’s Palace is just like a sick person. If I want to cure it, I have to use strong medicine to get rid of these parasites… I’m not familiar with the political affairs of God’s Palace. I’m afraid I’ll have to trouble you.”
“It’s all right. We’ll do our best to help you,” The three Divine Princes said.
Ding Hao laughed and said, “That’s great. Since you have agreed, I will immediately announce to the world that I’ll confer on you the titles of Regents. You will be specially in charge of the political affairs of God’s Palace. You have the right to act first and report later. You can make your own decisions at will. I will refine three divine swords personally, named the Imperial Swords. As soon as these swords are made, you’ll use them to act on my behalf. You can kill anyone from the imperial family, the immortal generals of the army, and the ordinary people, as well as the peddlers and officials! From now on, all the affairs of God’s Court inside and outside the court will be decided by you.”
“What?”
“What…”
“You can’t do that!”
The three Divine Princes were all shocked. They had never heard of such arrangements before. For thousands of years, there had never been a Regent in God’s Palace. Before that, there had been officials who were in power, and Ding Chulin was one of them. However, it was already extremely glorious for him to be conferred the title of One Abreast King. It was even shocking to them that Ding Hao would forge the Imperial Swords and grant them the swords. In this way, although the three of them were not the God Emperor, they had the power of the emperor and could act like one.
