When an emperor had established his achievements, the mortals were no longer worthy of being his opponent.
But he was not invincible. He still had enemies. His enemy was something of a higher level, something that made the mortals helpless and sigh. Since the supreme emperor had achieved achievements that the mortals could not imagine, he would naturally point his sword at the enemy that the mortals could not do anything about.
For example, the lifespan of mortals was limited. Everything that happened in their lifetime would disappear sooner or later. Even the supreme emperor of the world was still so powerless in the face of the cycle of birth, old age, illness, and death.
The emperor wanted to overcome the limit of his lifespan, so he would seek the Dao, practice alchemy, and cultivate. But all of this was illusory. The high and mighty emperor was separated from the masses, so it was impossible for him to succeed.
For example, there were changes in the heavens, divine weapons changed, dynasties rose and fell, people went through birth, old age, illness, and death, and dynasties also went through birth, old age, illness, and death. Looking at the history books, there was nothing more than this.
The emperor wanted to overcome the principle of rise and fall, and wanted to establish a dynasty that would not change for ten thousand years. Unfortunately, no matter what he did, he could only treat the symptoms and not the root cause. Their methods of exploitation were too low-level, so it was called the feudal old society.
But the emperor was still working hard. Everyone knew how hard he was working.
But sometimes, the harder he worked, the deeper he fell into the trap.
Tianyuan won a great victory and left his name in the annals of history. The emperor's fame and self-confidence swelled like never before. Looking at the world, everyone was mediocre. In the mortal world, there was no one worthy of being his opponent. He set his sights on a higher level from the challenges of the mortal world. He was ambitious and wanted to implement his own will and rule.
At this moment, the rolling wheel of history rolled over a small stone.
It was stopped and could not move.
It seemed that something had gone wrong. This made the emperor, who had been going smoothly, very confused.
Soon, he realized that the problem was caused by one person. Sun Lang. It was always him. From the battle of the Great Desolate Mountain to now, all the things that were out of his control, all the setbacks and failures, could not be separated from this person. No matter how he planned, he could not win. No matter how he planned, he would find a flaw. No matter how meticulous the arrangements were, there would always be some unexpected accident.
What was even more ridiculous and comical was that there was a hint of fatalism in it.
It was the Empire who had set up Project Holy Sword. It was the Empire who had recruited Jia Ying. It was the Empire who had planned to resurrect Jia Ying, which was why they had accidentally summoned Sun Lang from the Outer Domain. Even though they had only wanted to make a last ditch effort and have Sun Lang take the blame, they had never expected that this piece of trash, who they had only intended to use to buy time, would actually grit his teeth and endure it. Not only had he obtained the Sword Spirit's approval, he had also begun to adapt and grow stronger at an astonishing speed.
The stronger Sun Lang became, the more worried he became. This was human nature. After all, the Empire had used him as a consumable in the beginning. No one believed that a weak and cowardly soul could last long in the bloody battlefield, but he had persevered and displayed unparalleled talent and speed of growth.
This was enough to attract the Emperor's murderous intent.
It was normal to kill by mistake and not let go of anyone. After all, it was impossible to grasp the human heart. Who knew what Sun Lang was thinking in the depths of his heart … Under that mischievous smile, there might be a deep hatred that could not be dissolved. That pain, that despair, that madness … Perhaps he was looking for an opportunity to take revenge.
Since that was the case, they should strike first to gain the upper hand.
Therefore, they had made meticulous arrangements and made detailed preparations, taking action at the most unlikely moment. In the Great Desolate Mountain, they would use the Holy Sword to devour Sun Lang's soul, turning him into a puppet that would forever be loyal to the Empire. Then, they would use the Empire's strength to launch a decisive battle and win the Heaven's Origin War in one go. For this, they had arranged a fatal situation …
But an accident still happened … a terrifying accident, a terrifying accident, an unexpected accident.
Not only did the luxurious lineup in the Great Desolate Mountain fail to stop Sun Lang, he had also forcefully killed his way out. The Seven Luminaries Sword Saint was killed and injured, and the 300,000 soldiers were almost completely wiped out. If the Sky Demon had not coincidentally arrived at that time, it would have been impossible to know how the situation would have ended. In the seemingly incomparably glorious victory to outsiders, there was hidden the hatred and even fear that the Emperor did not dare to speak of to outsiders … The foundation of the Empire had been shaken.
The Empire … had lost the ability to create an Imperial Army.
And the person they wanted to kill had only disappeared. After searching for a long time, they could not find his body.
Like a nightmare, after disappearing for two years, he had silently reappeared. He did not directly attack the Imperial Capital. Instead, he ran around in circles, but every time he was involved in the most important matters.
Ji Du's experiment was related to the important matter of creating an Imperial Army again. In the end, he had interfered and taken it away.
The night attack on Hu Shouxin in Mingzhou was the first step in cleaning up Sun Lang's old subordinates. But Sun Lang's sudden appearance made all the subsequent actions useless, and all the arrangements were meaningless.
The experiment on Bai Yuwei was even more important. In the end, everything was messed up by him.
The trap in Jinling was directly leveled by him. Not only was he unscathed, but he also forced the Imperial Court to give him a decent reward. Not only that, but he also took back his name.
In the past few years, the Empire had been thriving like adding oil to a raging fire. But under this prosperous scene, the operations against Sun Lang had failed one after another, becoming the most disharmonious note in this prosperous era.
It was like this every time. After doing so, it was not surprising that the Emperor had doubts about life.
This was because in his eyes, his enemies were no longer ordinary people, but things of a higher level. In the Emperor's eyes, even Sun Lang was just a chess piece used by the Heavenly Dao to deal with him.
But this chess piece was too good at playing …
He couldn't help but lament about the fate of the world.
Combined with Sun Lang's past and present life, the current dangerous situation, the hidden dangers of the Empire, everything seemed to be the result of the Empire's actions in the past …
In the main hall, the Emperor's sigh was light as a feather.
And Empress was trembling slightly.
It was excitement, not fear.
An Empress Concubine who didn't want to be the Emperor wasn't a good Empress Concubine. If she wanted to ascend the throne as a woman, what she needed wasn't filial piety or loyalty, but a rebellious heart. She needed to be ruthless and decisive.
The battle for the throne was the cruelest thing in the world. It was enough to make brothers turn against each other, enough to make father and son kill each other. The throne was the most attractive thing, and many people had been eyeing it.
For example, Empress.
She heard weakness in her father's sigh.
So she felt excited.
The Emperor began to believe in fate. He was old and muddle-headed. His spirit was slowly dissipating. He was about to die … There was no better news than this.
Empress did not believe in the so-called Mandate of Heaven, did not believe in the so-called fate.
She used to believe it, but she had begun to not believe it in the past few years.
If there was one thing she gained the most from knowing Sun Lang, it must be his thinking about all things.
In the past, when she had a good relationship with Sun Lang, they talked about almost everything. Sun Lang used the history of the Empire as a reference to explain to her the changes of civilization and the progress of society, the nature of the rise and fall of all dynasties, the reasons for the changes of all things. Everything could be explained by the return, and not attributed to the insignificant Heavenly Dao.
In Sun Lang's world, this was the fruit condensed from the wisdom of countless predecessors. This made her eyes even brighter, made her thoughts even calmer, and encouraged her ambition.
Thinking of this, she could not help but think of the past. At that time, the two of them were good friends who talked about everything. Their personalities were similar, and their thoughts were similar. She taught Sun Lang the general knowledge of the Empire, and Sun Lang told her the knowledge of the Outer Lands. The two of them often sat together in the tent, shoulder to shoulder, and read the same book together. Sun Lang would casually express his opinions. Some were nonsense, but some were penetrating insights.
He, who carried a lot of knowledge from another world, was simply a treasure that could be discovered at any time. Those were indeed very good days.
Unfortunately, nothing in the world was perfect. People always had to make a decision.
You can't let it go, but I can.
The memories of the past dissipated in her mind. Her eyes became cold again. Reorganizing her words, she said, "Forgive me for speaking bluntly. It's not like that."
"This was only a mistake during the battle of the Great Barren Mountain. Sun Lang was originally a difficult enemy to deal with. The reason he could win again and again was only because the enemy was in the dark while he was in the light. He seized the power of the Sacred Sword of the Origin, and his strength was rare in the world. He used strength to break through technique, so he was always successful. In the past, we were weak against strong people, so naturally we lost more than we won. But now, Sun Lang is about to come to the capital."
She raised her head and gave a cold smile full of murderous intent. "Although the plan was beyond our expectations, the result is still the result we wanted. It's good that he's here."
Father and daughter looked at each other in silence.
After a moment, the Emperor nodded. Coldness and confidence returned to him, as if the previous weakness was just an illusion. He said, "Since Shi 'er is so sharp, then I'll wait to see you win. I was just testing you. Since you have a card up your sleeve, then I'm relieved."
Empress bowed calmly.
She sneered silently in her heart.
She had already seen her father's weak appearance.
This was a great opportunity.
"Your fourteenth brother will buy some time for you. Take advantage of this opportunity, you can prepare well. I hope that unfilial son will not disappoint me again."
Empress said, "Yes."
"Then you can go," the Emperor said.
"Sun Lang will not give you too much time. Today, there were military officials who said that they wanted to hold a Thousand Miles Welcome Commander Of War. They wanted the Six Armies of Tianyuan to go to Summer Province to welcome him. Hmph, in their dreams. Do they want me to go there personally?"
Empress smiled when she heard this. "If they want to do this, then things will be delayed even longer. What we need most now is time. As for fame and face, let's give it to Sun Lang for now. Sooner or later, we will get it back one by one. If Sun Lang wants to be in the limelight, let him be. It will give my fourteenth brother time to show off."