World's First Traitor System (380)

Chapter 380 - The Formation Rises, The Sacrifices Are Ready

Did Great Zhou possess the Investiture of the Gods?

As soon as Fan Li asked the question, he felt more than ten pairs of hostile eyes fix on him.

Besides Shangguan Wan'er, there were also the surrounding Great Zhou generals.

"Is that a question for you to ask?"

The female chancellor’s expression turned grim, a palpable killing intent radiating from her.

The Great Zhou soldiers all gripped their sword hilts, ready to strike at a moment’s notice. However, none dared to actually harm Fan Li. He had to remain alive, completely unharmed, until the very end.

In the Four Exceptional Individuals Formation, Fan Li and the other three were vital, living sacrifices.

Fan Li smiled.

So, the Investiture of the Gods held a significant secret!

"Answer the question,” he said, making a throat-slitting gesture.

"You..."

Shangguan Wan’er was a woman of great intelligence, she wouldn’t give in so easily. Her anger was fleeting, replaced by an expression of cold disdain.

“You, the leaders of insignificant, small kingdoms, are not even qualified to possess the Investiture of the Gods, why bother asking?”

In Shangguan Wan'er’s eyes, Great Jin, with its two cities, was an insignificant, small kingdom.

Unfortunately, Yan Shifan, unaware of this, shouted, “Who says we are not qualified? Our kingdom’s divine beast, the Great Ming Vermillion Bird, has created the Investiture of the Gods!”

He usually scorned divine beasts, but, facing a shared enemy, even Yan Shifan knew they needed to present a united front.

"Hmph!"

Shangguan Wan'er glared at Yan Shifan.

She was unwilling to linger on the topic of the Investiture of the Gods and chose to remain silent.

"Yes?"

"Or no?"

"Chancellor Shangguan, do not make things difficult for yourself, a simple answer will suffice.”

Fan Li’s voice had an almost hypnotic quality. It sounded as if he had backed down. But in reality, he was simply reinforcing the focus on his question.

Shangguan Wan’er frowned. She was worried Fan Li would do something drastic. If she missed the Double Ninth Festival, to resurrect Wu Zhao, she would have to wait a whole year.

A year of time, who knew what could happen?

The Tang and Jin kingdoms that had also descended, weren’t to be trifled with.

Shangguan Wan’er struggled, before finally saying, “It doesn’t matter whether we possess the Investiture of the Gods! The people of Great Zhou are utterly devoted to His Majesty!”

Fan Li secretly rejoiced.

Pride was, after all, the easiest emotion to exploit.

Shangguan Wan'er could have simply answered yes or no, but she had said much more.

Fan Li immediately understood. The Investiture of the Gods, in addition to increasing cultivation speed, also made people utterly loyal to their ruler.

How it achieved this, he didn't yet know. But at the very least, he knew such an effect was real!

“Investiture…Investiture… Invest…”

Fan Li repeated the words in his mind, feeling as if he were on the verge of a revelation.

“Enough! I have answered your question. Now, come with me to the formation, willingly! If you try to stall again…”

Shangguan Wan'er knew threats were useless against Fan Li. So, she turned her killing gaze to Qing Qiu and Princess Chang Le.

Using his beloved women against him would surely get him to comply.

Fan Li shrugged. “I am a man of my word.”

…

The formation resembled an altar.

Constructed on a barren field, with mountains of stone, it was a three-tiered pyramid, like a monument, the peak of which was Wu Zetian’s wordless stele!

On the middle level, in the four cardinal directions, one of the Four Exceptional Individuals were to be placed.

On the lower level were flags and talismans, hinting at something profound.

Under Shangguan Wan'er’s guidance, Fan Li and the others each took their places.

“Thank you for your cooperation, if you endure until tomorrow, when Her Majesty returns to the mortal realm, you will all be handsomely rewarded,” Shangguan Wan’er said with a smile.

Her words were a blatant lie, obvious even to a child.

Handsomely rewarded?

After Wu Zetian’s resurrection, the most they could hope for was a proper burial as a reward for being sacrifices.

The four remained silent, as if each lost in their own thoughts.

Shangguan Wan’er smirked inwardly.

‘These four must have a way out, unwilling to simply die. Perhaps a secret technique, or perhaps some reinforcements are coming. But alas, the Four Exceptional Individuals Formation can suppress most techniques and I have also arranged heavy forces outside the formation. No mortal army can defeat the celestial army.’

Shangguan Wan'er shook her head, dismissing those thoughts. She looked up with reverence at the wordless stele.

One step at a time, she slowly approached the altar and bent her knees before the stele.

Outside the altar, the Great Zhou soldiers knelt as one!

“Heaven bless Great Zhou!”

“May the kingdom last forever!”

Shangguan Wan’er cried out, raising her hands high above her head. Her voice echoed through the barren fields, she was no longer the Chancellor, but a shaman, a priestess, drawing on mysterious power.

Fan Li frowned. His instincts told him, the formation was about to be activated.

“My Liege, return!”

“Your Majesty, return!”

"Holy Emperor, return!"

Shangguan Wan’er cried out three times, the Great Zhou soldiers responding with a deafening roar.

“Return!” The shouts resounded throughout the land.

It seemed that their cries were actually reaching something beyond the mortal realm?!

Fan Li felt it was all quite strange.

He remembered as a child he had witnessed similar scenes at funerals, using the most basic means to convey emotions, this was called ‘wailing’.

The cries continued for at least an hour.

Each time Shangguan Wan’er cried out, her voice became more hoarse, growing more desperate, as if she was a nightingale shedding blood.

Suddenly!

From the heavens, it seemed something was responding to Shangguan Wan’er.

A phoenix cry?

No, it seemed more like a dragon’s roar?

Fan Li doubted his ears.

Phoenix cries and dragon roars were distinctly different, how could he have confused them?
Listening more closely, he was certain. They were the roars of dragons.

"Wu Zetian’s destiny wasn't as an Emperor.”

Fan Li suddenly heard Princess Chang Le's voice, whispering through a sound transmission technique.

"She was the first to reverse her own destiny. She was originally destined to be an Empress who supported a man, but she managed to reverse this to become an Emperor. Thus, she transformed herself from a consort of the Tang, to the Wu Zhou Emperor.”

Fan Li was stunned.

He was surprised that Princess Chang Le knew of this secret, he was more surprised that Wu Zetian resembled someone he already knew.

That’s right!

The way she changed her destiny was the same as another woman who had turned a consort's destiny to an Emperor’s destiny.

The Great Ci Empress, Yao Guang!

“How did you know about this?” Fan Li asked.

“Hehehehe.”

Princess Chang Le laughed as she looked towards the sky.

“There’s a secret about the Brahma Sound Pure Land that even Sage Ruler Qing Qiu doesn't know. Nor do the other Pure Land Sages. Perhaps even Yao Guang herself is ignorant of this secret.”

“What secret?!” Fan Li asked, but a daring idea had already formed in his mind.

Princess Chang Le looked at him intently before finally nodding, "That's right, you are thinking correctly. The Brahma Sound Pure Land is simply Wu Zetian’s legacy in the mortal realm. Just as the Qin Dynasty was the legacy of Qin Shi Huang’s ascension to the heavens."