Mutated Tao

“Hold the plate~ We bow down in worship~ Praise be to the Heavens~ May everyone prosper~”

There was a grand altar in the palace of the Liang Kingdom, and it was built to absorb and amplify the voices of the old eunuchs, allowing their voices to spread far and wide.

Hundreds of officials were standing below the grand altar, and their hands holding bone plates were raised as they knelt toward Gao Zhijian on the east.

The drummers around the altar displayed their perfect coordination to play a rhythm.

Li Huowang and Li Sui were standing far away on a roof, and they were staring at Gao Zhijian’s face hidden behind the veil of his crown.

“Dad, how much longer must we stand here? I’m hungry,” Li Sui asked. She had no idea what was happening, so she decided to focus on her needs instead.

“Soon.”

“Hold the plate~ We bow down in worship~ Praise be to the Earth~ May everyone prosper~”

The eunuchs' feminine voices pervaded the plaza as they chanted in unison.

“Hold the plate~ We bow down in worship~ Praise be to the Emperor~ May everyone prosper~”

The scene of Gao Zhijian moving through the cardinal positions under the guidance of the eunuchs made Li Huowang feel weird.

His friend, who traveled with him and went through life-or-death situations, was about to become the emperor.

Regardless of how good their relationship was in the past, their relationship was bound to change today.

Ji Lin was forced to turn ruthless in the palace, and Li Huowang didn’t know how much would the simple Gao Zhijian change. He hoped that Gao Zhijian would maintain his character and not turn into someone despicable.

He was thinking about this when he saw Gao Zhijian being escorted down the altar by the eunuchs.

Li Huowang jumped down and asked the Imperial Preceptor, “Lord Imperial Preceptor. Is the ceremony over?”

“It’s not going to end so soon! After praying to the Heavens, Earth, and the Emperor, he would still need to go and pray in the temple,” the Imperial Preceptor coldly said, “Er Jiu, I won’t look into the transgression you've made in the past, but you must understand that the Dragon Vein will affect the entire kingdom. If something bad happens to the Dragon Vein, you'll get swept up in the resulting catastrophe as well for as long as you're still living in this world."

“Oh.” Li Huowang nodded and followed Gao Zhijian to the temple. He was worried about Gao Zhijian, and he wanted to look out for the latter himself.

Since it was an important ceremony, the Imperial Preceptor and the Chief of the Surveillance Bureau would send someone over to monitor everything. However, Gao Zhijian was one of his own, so Li Huowang would rather trust himself to do the job rather than trust others that they could do it.

Li Huowang turned invisible and followed Gao Zhijian before reaching the entrance of the temple.

The officials, eunuchs, and the consorts stopped outside. Only the old eunuchs brought Gao Zhijian inside the temple.

No one stopped Li Huowang as he walked into the temple, but he could feel the gazes of many people boring down on him from the dark.

“You. Are you the new emperor of the Liang Kingdom? What is your surname?” A dissonant voice came from the coffin.

“Gao.”

“Such a shame. To think that our Ji family would perish... haha…” The previous emperor chuckled sadly.

Based on his reaction, Li Huowang assumed that someone else had explained the matter to the previous emperor.

Under the guidance of the eunuchs, Gao Zhijian personally placed the tributes to the Dragon Vein and lit up three incense sticks. He stuck those incense sticks on the incense burner before kneeling three times and kowtowing nine times.

When he had just finished the final kowtow, the Imperial Preceptor rushed forward and produced a jade green scroll. He stood in front of Gao Zhijian and showed the Dragon Vein the content of the jade scroll.

It was a profound jade scroll. The exterior was jade, but its interior was a slice of paper softer than tofu that somehow had information recorded on it.

The thin paper fluttered in the air like the feathers of a phoenix or the scales of a dragon. Dense golden words flickered on the paper.

“The Heavens call for the luck of the world! This is the decree of the emperor! The previous emperor has perished and has returned to the five elements! With the grace of the Heavens, we beseech the current emperor to uphold the mission of the past emperors, to join their ranks, and to follow in their footsteps!” the Imperial Preceptor recited. The roars of a dragon echoed from the depths of the coffin, and the roar resonated with the Imperial Preceptor’s voice.

A powerful pressure manifested from the coffin, and everyone found it difficult to breathe. They only felt better after prostrating on the ground.

Li Huowang pulled Li Sui behind him when he felt something invisible emerge from the coffin to envelop Gao Zhijian.

Gao Zhijian’s skin broke open like dragon scales, and his blood covered every inch of his clothes.

“Zhijian! Are you okay?!” Li Huowang exclaimed. He had just raised his right leg when two old eunuchs holding golden horse-hair whisks kneeled in front of him.

“Please rest easy. Our Lord is currently shouldering the entire luck of the Liang Kingdom. Nothing must go wrong here.”

The two old eunuchs were kneeling, but the tingling on Li Huowang's neck told him that he'd be decapitated if he were to take one more step.

Realizing that this was part of the procedure, Li Huowang stopped worrying and observed the scene with Li Sui.

Soon, Gao Zhijian’s body started changing. He became similar to the emperors in the coffin as he sported dragon claws, whiskers, and horns.

Gao Zhijian raised his claws and pulled something in the air. At the same time, everything came to a halt. The powerful presence from within the coffin vanished as well.

Li Huowang found it strange. Gao Zhijian was far from becoming the Dragon Vein, but his aura had changed to resemble one.

The ceremony was over, and Li Huowang didn’t need anyone to tell him that. The Liang Kingdom's luck was on Gao Zhijian's shoulders now, and he had truly become the Emperor of the Great Liang.

Senior Li, do you see this? The Qi Kingdom is saved. Li Huowang gingerly stroked the spine sword and sighed. He suddenly remembered the little girl who had cried until her voice became hoarse. She's going to live at the very least.

The old monk’s illusion was even more excited than Li Huowang as he said, “Daoist, you did a good deed! This is a major good deed! You’ve saved so many people that you'd automatically become a Bodhisattva in your next life.”

Li Huowang couldn't care less about that. He was more concerned about the fact that Zhuge Yuan had deceived him.

“If one wants to be successful in politics, one must bring fresh changes to it first. One must follow the rules set by one's predecessors. One must be kind and gracious to start a new rule,” Huangfu Tiangang said; he was still reciting sentences that were too difficult for Li Huowang to understand.

However, Li Huowang deemed those words as unimportant, as the most important step was over.

The remaining steps were simply for formalities' sake.

Taking one last look at Gao Zhijian’s back, Li Huowang pulled Li Sui outside and said, “Suisui, it's time for us to leave.”

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