Stealing The Heavens
chapter-208

Five demon kings were sitting loftily and calmly on the dais. The entire hall was now enveloped by an incredibly dense demonic energy, which was wantonly emitted by the group of about thirty demons who sat on the second layer of the dais together with Jing Ke and a few other men. The demonic energies lingered in every inch of the hall, causing the bodies of all members of the Imperial Clan, members of the nobility, and ministers to become stiff. Cold sweat broke out and wet their clothes while they remained kneeling on the floor.

Sitting on the dais and wearing a smile on his face, Yan Dan ran his eyes over the faces of many members of Imperial Clans and ministers, who kept silent like a cicada in cold weather. A menacing gleam was seen flashing in his eyes.

Before this, thoughts had been brewing in the minds of many of the people gathered here, plots or schemes they were secretly drafting up. Some were covetous for Yan Dan's throne, or had evil plans for Great Yan Dynasty's land. But when the frightening and mighty overall strength enough to easily destroy everything that belonged to them, including their lives, was presented in front of them, these specially privileged persons, leaders of wealthy clans, lofty and powerful ministers, all would have to drop to their knees and bow humbly!

Great Yan could only have a supreme sovereign, Yan Dan!

One might be holding himself aloft before all the other people, stirring up storms in Great Yan Dynasty, or able to decide the fate and glory of millions upon millions of civilians. But they needed to remember that the one who gave them their status, power and strength, was Yan Dan. He was the emperor, and they were the ministers. So, serving him was their only duty!

Suddenly, Yan Dan broke out into a loud laughter.

The bright gray and white beams behind his back shot up into the air. Amidst the bright beam that constantly shifted between the aura of life and death, a large, ancient, and heavy wheel, emanating an intense cold air, was seen rising up slowly. The wheel had a diameter of sixty feet, about ten feet in its thickness, and fully engraved with countless primordial runes that were profound and strange, beyond anyone's ability to read. Six tiny bright beams split the wheel into six equal portions. On top of each portion was a vague image of humans, ghosts, animals, and all sorts of strange creatures.

Wu Qi gave the large wheel a rough glance, and in an instant, it matched with a famous treasure he saw in the Scroll of Stealing.

It was the 'Disc of Heavenly Dao Transmigration', an Acquired Spirit Treasure that was crafted together by several almighty experts and possessed fantastic abilities. The Disc of Heavenly Dao Transmigration had a very practical usage for demons and evils. By nature, the bodies of demons and evils carried the energies of evils and devils, as they had done too many evil things in their past life before they became what they were. That was the reason they were reincarnated as demons. Caused by the karma they carried from their previous lives, the strength of thunder tribulation these demons had to face was comparable to those unlucky people of Long Bo Kingdom, and only one out of ten thousand demons could survive through their thunder tribulation.

But, with Yan Dan controlling the Disc of Heavenly Dao Transmigration, these demons would be able to enter transmigration once again, removing the karma they brought from their previous lives and make the path of cultivating Dao in their current life smoother. Demons transformed from birds and beasts were savage and cruel by nature, and they did not have a calm state of mind. As a result, whenever they were struck by the inner devil or heavenly devil, it was rather easy for their souls to be devoured. The Disc of Heavenly Dao Transmigration allowed these demons to enter the Dao of Transmigration, so they could contemplate in three thousand lives, and thus, strengthen their Dao heart and never be moved by any foreign factors.

With the support from the Disc of Heavenly Dao Transmigration, these demons would have a heavenly path pointing straight to immortality.

It was no wonder why five great demon kings would throw themselves into Great Yan Dynasty, and why a few almighty demons who lived in seclusion would become the secret sinecures of Great Yan Dynasty.

On top of that, Yan Dan had even burned his Imperial Decree and informed the Heaven that he would make five demon kings the Imperial Advisors of Great Yan Dynasty. With that being done, the fate of five demon kings would be bound together with Great Yan Dynasty's fate. They would be supported by the energy of human emperor of Great Yan Dynasty, which made every word they said and every action they took be backed by the willpower of millions upon millions of Great Yan Dynasty's people. As long as they could protect the safety of these people of Great Yan Dynasty, they would be protected by the power of virtue.

What these strong and mighty demon kings feared the most was the Heaven Immortal Tribulation that came to them on the day they formed their Nascent Divinity. It was extremely difficult for demons to attain the fruit of Dao, and only one in a million demons could survive through the Heaven Immortal Tribulation. However, as long as they were protected by the virtue of Great Yan Dynasty, and supported by the willpower from millions of people, the strength of their Heaven Immortal Tribulation would be reduced to less than 1%. As a result, as long as they pushed their cultivation base to the limit, breaking into the realm of Heaven Immortal would be a piece of cake.

With the lure of this Disc of Heavenly Dao Transmigration and the enhancement from the fate of Great Yan Dynasty, the five demon kings had no choice but to become the Imperial Advisors of Great Yan Dynasty, becoming the dynasty's most loyal hatchet men. With the help of these five demon kings and their hundreds of millions of demon descendants, in the eyes of Yan Dan, the internal conflicts of Great Yan Dynasty were merely some small jokes.

When Wanying Dragon King was attacking Qin army, he had summoned an army consisting of hundreds of millions of aquatic demons in Longyuan River without too much of an effort. So, how many demons were there under the five demon kings who were equally famous as him? When faced by this formidable army of demons, no matter how big and wild an ambition a minister had, he would have to bow his head before Yan Dan, throwing the little wild ambition in his mind into the toilet.

It was indeed a marvelous measure! Wu Qi stared at the smiling Yan Dan, and could not help himself but praise inwardly. It looked like Yan Dan had secretly prepared himself countless trump cards. Just this Disc of Heavenly Dao Transmigration which imitated the function of Six Great Divisions in the Wheel of Karma, its power was no weaker than the Cauldron of Yu. In the records of Spirit Treasures Wu Qi read from Scroll of Stealing, this disc was listed among the top Acquired Spirit Treasures. It would be not that easy for Ying Zheng to fight against the Great Yan Dynasty.

The vast aura emanated by Yan Dan had blended with the demonic energies released by the demons, pressing and restricting all the ministers in the hall and making them unable to move. The faces of many people, including Yan Xianchen, had turned deadly pale. Cold sweats were rolling off their faces and dripping down from their chin, causing the floor mat before them to become soaking wet. Their minds were blanked as they kept staring at the huge wheel hovering above Yan Dan. They had no idea where this huge Disc of Heavenly Dao Transmigration came from.

As the most powerful man among all Eight Governing Princes of Great Yan Dynasty, Yan Xianchen actually did not know that Yan Dan owned an Acquired Spirit Treasure like this!

The huge Disc of Heavenly Dao Transmigration was spinning slowly amidst the shimmering gray and white glow. The gleam flashed suddenly, causing all the people in the hall to tremble, as if their souls were about to be crushed into pieces by the gleam. In addition to that, they felt as if there were countless fearsome existences about to spring out from the six divisions and devour their souls. Under the tremendous pressure, none of the civilian and military officers in the hall would dare to have any dark schemes in their minds anymore.

Seeing the reaction of the people, Yan Dan let out a hearty laugh. Then, he said in a soft voice, "All these years, Yan Dan had been in a secluded cultivation, seeking ways to make the breakthrough. That was the reason I delegated my power to the Eight Governing Princes. Fortunately, I've made the breakthrough recently. My cultivation base has skyrocketed. Not only have I attained the mastery stage of Nascent Soul realm, with the help of the Spirit Treasure, I'll be able to give birth to my Nascent Divinity soon, truly stepping into the Dao of Immortality. Therefore, I no longer need the help from the Eight Princes to govern the state affairs."

He took a deep breath and continued, "Ma Yi, draft my decree. From today onwards, I'll personally oversee the state affairs. All the imperial orders without me personally going through them and being branded with my private seal, they will be considered as invalid, and no people of Great Yan should obey them. The power of three Prime Counselors and nine ministers, and all the official departments will be retracted. All ministers shall report directly to me. Starting from today, the system of Eight Governing Princes will be completely abolished."

"We will carry out Your Majesty's order faithfully!" All ministers of Great Yan cried out together.

Nodding his head satisfyingly, Yan Dan stuck out his chest and said in a cold voice, "We, the Great Yan, have a feuding dynasty named Great Qin. You don't have to know the origin of this Great Qin, but just remember one thing: the Great Yan and Great Qin are unbending enemies. Under this heaven, only one of us can exist in the end. The army of Great Qin had been detected in Meng Mountains, less than four hundred thousand miles away from our border. Therefore, I've decided to prepare our army and fight with Great Qin to the death!"

He rose suddenly, and continued in a cold voice, "The North, South, East, and West Supervisor Courts will be abolished, and they will now be the field headquarters of North, South, East, and West, in charge of governing all vassal kingdoms in the four regions, preparing the army for the war against the Great Qin. The original Supervisors are now the Senior Supervisors that manage the four field headquarters, and will be promoted to the East, West, North, and South Generals, having the status equal to a Chief General. They will be responsible for preparing the army provisions and military gears, assembling captains and soldiers, fortifying the defense of the city and outposts, and maintaining a strict control of discipline in the army."

Then, he snorted coldly and cried out sternly, "Before the Great Qin is annihilated, the four field headquarters will never be abolished. All the vassal kingdoms will have to obey the orders from the Chief Supervisors of their respective regions, gathering all their forces and battling the Great Qin together with the army of Great Yan!"

Wu Qi narrowed his eyes and lightly poked Lu Chengfeng's back with his finger.

Lu Chengfeng's body had turned stiff. He was so nervous that he nearly broke out in laughter. The four field headquarters were given the power of governing and distributing all the military provisions, manpower and money of every single vassal kingdoms in their region. Such rights were many times more powerful than the previous West Supervisor post. Also, the four Chief Supervisors were allowed to execute the military law, which meant he could punish every single monarch under him with the military law. The power of this post was incredibly huge.

After that, Yan Dan gave out another imperial decree. The chief supervisors of four field headquarters were actually the chief supervisors of rear supply bases and the chief inspectors of military law, while those responsible to fight the war with Great Qin Dynasty were the other Generals. In the West Field Headquarter that was under Lu Chengfeng, it was Chief General Fan Yuqi, and the main force led by him, the 'Black Swallow Army', which he had been secretly training for years.

In brief, Fan Yuqi was in charge of fighting the enemy head-on, while anything outside of that would be taken care of by Lu Chengfeng. The soldiers' pay and provisions, the assembling and deploying of the reserve army, the repair of city walls, fortifying of outposts, and the execution of the military law, all of these were under Lu Chengfeng.

As the West Field Headquarter was facing the Qin army directly, Yan Dan had specially given Lu Chengfeng an absolute authority. Among all the vassal kingdoms that were under the West Field Headquarter, if any monarch did not obey his orders, Lu Chengfeng had the right to behead them first and then make it known to Yan Dan. As for all goods and materials that were needed by the army, Lu Chengfeng could requisite them at his will. Even if he emptied the national treasury of those vassal kingdoms, as long as that was helpful to the war, Lu Chengfeng could make an arbitrary decision.

Lu Chengfeng walked out from the crowd reverently and respectfully, and received the Imperial Decree from Ma Yi, which gave him the great power and authority.

On top of that, the five Imperial Advisors who had just been appointed by Yan Dan would also be stationed in the West Field Headquarter, bringing together countless of their apprentices, disciples, and descendants. Of course, the five Imperial Advisors would only strike when they were faced with cultivators of Great Qin who had the similar overall strength as them. Lu Chengfeng only had the temperance rights on them, but no authority to command them and enforce the military law on them.

After that was the official declaration of Imperial Decree. The power of governing the state affairs that was once distributed among the Eight Governing Princes and even Yan Qijun had now returned to Yan Dan's hands. Without personally going through by Yan Dan and getting branded with his private seal, any orders that came from all the official departments of Great Yan Dynasty would lose their legal status.

Under the threat of five mighty demon kings and dozens of powerful demons, the influential members and ministers in the hall bowed their heads submissively and obeyed the imperial decree. No one dared to show any expression of objection on their face.

Even Lao Ai, who had just been conferred as the Prince of Changxin and gained a seat on the dais, was seen moving and twisting his body constantly, as if there were some spikes underneath his buttock. Under the pressure coming from five demon kings, the peerless man of evil such had become rather reserved.

Yan Dan took notice of the strange expression on the faces of his ministers, and could not help but clap his hands and laugh aloud.

"Come, make merry to your heart's content in tonight's banquet!"

He pondered for a brief while, then said in a deep voice, "Invite old mister Mo, old mister Su, old mister Xun and old mister Han Fei up here. Join Yan Dan for the feast."

Wu Qi was not surprised by the joining of Mo Di and Su Qin. But upon hearing the name of Han Fei and old mister Xun, it immediately stunned him and made him turn stiff, as if countless electric arcs had just zapped through his body. It needed no explanation for Han Fei[1], but could that old mister Xun be the real Xun Kuang[2]?

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[1] Han Fei - He is also known as Han Fei'zi, a Chinese philosopher of the Warring States period "Chinese Legalist" school. He is often considered to be the greatest representative of Chinese Legalism, his work Han Feizi consisting of the combination of the core Legalist principles. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Fei)

[2] Xun Kuang - He is also widely known as Xun'zi, a Chinese Confucian philosopher who lived during the Warring States period and contributed to the Hundred Schools of Thought. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xun_Kuang)