Chapter 466 - 465: Clear Mind
"It's alright... Fortunately, thanks to Xiao Meng, the Hongchen family chose to side with Haiyuan City early on. Otherwise, today, our Hongchen family would have been buried with this empire."
His eyes fell on his granddaughter, Meng Hongchen, who was closely following behind Lu Jingming. For a family head like him, it hardly mattered who ruled the empire. What mattered was whether the family's legacy and honor could continue into the new era, or even reach greater heights. Now, Meng Hongchen had become one of Lu Jingming's legitimate women, and was destined to be a favored consort of the new empire that would unify the continent. With this connection, the Hongchen family's position would be as stable as Mount Everest, and perhaps even rise further.
After unifying the continent, Lu Jingming would inevitably redistribute benefits. As one of the first families to defect, and the one that formed the closest ties, the rewards for the Hongchen family would be unimaginable.
"How should one choose... Though I am old, I know in my heart that the era of the Xu family has passed, and next is Lu Jingming's era."
In his heart, Jing Hongchen finally let go of his last attachment to the Sun Moon Empire.
Thus, amidst the chaos of war, their group calmly approached the grand palace gates, symbol of the Sun Moon Empire's supreme power, unimpeded. The heavy palace gates had long been battered open by force. Lu Jingming strode straight in without hesitation.
They walked across an empty courtyard, only traces of fierce battle left behind, and along the long red-carpeted corridor.
Finally, they arrived at the most magnificent and solemn audience hall.
The doors stood open.
Inside, unlike the chaos outside, there was an eerie silence.
Lu Jingming's footsteps echoed crisply on the marble floor as he entered, gaze fixed straight on the farthest end.
Atop the high stairs, upon a massive throne forged from rare metals, sat a lone figure: Xu Tianran.
He wore the most lavish black dragon robe, his long hair carefully combed.
There was no longer any gloom, madness, despair of a defeated man, or unwillingness on his face.
He simply sat there in silence, an odd and almost peaceful calm about him.
His eyes stared vacantly ahead—at Lu Jingming, yet as if peering into some void beyond.
At his side stood a quietly aging figure: Kong Deming.
The old man, who had pioneered soul tool technology for the Sun Moon Empire, now wore no expression at all.
Lu Jingming was surprised at Xu Tianran's state, raising his brows slightly.
"So you've awakened," he said, his voice breaking the silence of the hall, with a barely perceptible note of inquiry.
At these words, some focus finally returned to Xu Tianran's hollow gaze. He slowly raised his head to look at Lu Jingming. The corners of his lips curled into a cold smile.
"Awake?" he repeated in a low voice, his laugh growing louder, madder.
"Whether they are ministers, brothers, or women, I have never trusted anyone... I believe only in the power in my own hands."
Abruptly, his voice stopped and the smile vanished, replaced by a trace of resentment.
"But sometimes, human will is just too fragile... Even I am no exception."
He did not look at Lu Jingming, but at the empty air beside him, as if seeing a shadow invisible to others.
"At the last moment, I regained my senses. I think 'she' did it on purpose."
Lu Jingming heard this but dared not respond.
Though it sounded like an illusion, it was indeed possible. For a being that fed on negative emotions, nothing would taste sweeter than the emperor's explosion of despair, regret, defeat, and pain at the instant of betrayal and empire's collapse.
At the final moment, to let go of his control over Xu Tianran's soul, to make him taste and face his own irredeemable defeat—this was exactly what Phantylia would do.
To her, it was vital to let the main course ferment into perfection before feasting.
"But her influence is only the key," Lu Jingming's voice rang out again, cutting off Xu Tianran's soliloquy. His tone was flat, exposing the truth Xu Tianran least wished to admit.
"But in the end, every choice was made by you yourself.
Even without Phantylia, your own ambitions would have swelled, and someone or something else would have emerged to devour everything."
Lu Jingming's words struck like a heavy hammer, smashing fiercely into Xu Tianran's heart.
Xu Tianran's body trembled, as if falling into a trance for a moment.
Ah, yes... it was you.
It began when he was still crown prince, when he killed his own brothers with his own hands in the brutal struggle for the throne, trampling their bones to sit in this seat.
It began when he allied himself with the Holy Spirit Church and bowed to the evil soul masters who spread terror throughout the empire, all for the sake of power.
It began when, to consolidate his rule, he did not hesitate to bring down the cleaver on meritorious senators...
Ambition, suspicion, and a desperate hunger for power by any means had long taken root in his marrow.
Phantylia's appearance was like a spark on a pile of dried tinder long prepared, making the flames burn all the more uncontrollably.
Realizing this, the resentment in Xu Tianran's eyes gradually faded, replaced by a sense of relief as he accepted his fate.
He looked at Lu Jingming again, a smile on his face.
"Heh heh... heh heh heh... When we first met formally, I never thought you'd know me so well."
His laughter was tinged with emotion.
"If we hadn't been enemies, perhaps... we might have truly become friends.
Who knows, right?"
Lu Jingming shook his head slightly, his face showing neither joy nor anger.
"I don't hate ambitious people. In the end, the driving force behind human civilization is 'desire'.
The desire to eat well and dress warmly, the desire to explore the unknown, the desire to become strong, the craving to rule... As a human, I am no exception."
He and Xu Tianran were, at their core, the same kind of person—both with unimaginable ambition, both eager to seize the entire continent.
The only difference was, he was stronger.
So-called "hatred of one's own kind" meant that two ambitious people could never coexist peacefully—one's ambition would always devour the other.
In other words, they were fated to be enemies.
Thinking thus, Lu Jingming completely lost interest in this philosophical dialogue.
He gazed at Xu Tianran, his eyes turning cold and indifferent once more.
"Celenova and Phantylia have abandoned you. They haven't appeared. Face this ending alone. Now, what is your trump card? Show me, if you can."
He had no intention of continuing to speak with a dying man. Xu Tianran had no chance of survival.
This war that swept the entire continent required someone to bear the blame to quell everyone's anger. And Xu Tianran was the most suitable candidate. He would die with the eternal infamy of having waged war and slaughtered billions. Thus, his name would be inscribed forever on the pillar of shame in history—achieving a different kind of immortality.
"Ha ha... ha ha!"
Upon hearing Lu Jingming's question, Xu Tianran's laughter filled the empty hall, thick with madness.
Smiling, he slowly, bit by bit, rose from the cold throne.
A cripple with severed legs, yet now able to stand straight without any external support.
"BOOM——!!!"
An unspeakably terrifying pressure, filled with destruction and annihilation, erupted from his frail figure.
Purple, lightning-like serpentine thunder exploded violently around him.
Every arc of lightning carried the power to rend the universe.
The hard marble on the ground disintegrated and ionized in an instant, turning to charred powder in the deafening roar.
Rank 99. Ultimate Douluo.
Those who had followed Lu Jingming, including Jing Hongchen, changed expressions drastically the instant they felt this pressure. Their eyes were full of shock and disbelief.
"This... How is this possible?!"
Jing Hongchen, who had worked with Xu Tianran for years and thought he knew the emperor well, was stunned.
Though he knew Xu Tianran was exceptionally talented, he never imagined that this low-key emperor had, without anyone noticing, reached the very pinnacle that ordinary people could never attain.
This was a true Ultimate Douluo, hidden in the empire's shadows.
Yet, in the face of such terrifying might, enough to shake heaven and earth, Lu Jingming's expression did not change.
He stood calmly, his robe unmoving, as though the destructive thunder that filled the hall was nothing but a gentle breeze on his face.
Lu Jingming was not surprised.
Xu Tianran was originally one of the top prodigies on the Douluo Continent, and his martial soul, the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon, was a top-level dragon attribute martial soul with destructive powers.
After being heavily influenced by the Lord Ravager, he had constantly been infused and baptized with pure destructive power.
In this case, his strength had improved by leaps and bounds—it was inevitable.
Moreover, with the end of the Holy Grail War, the overall plane level of the Douluo Continent had risen, raising the energy ceiling as well. What was once a difficult bottleneck, the limit of Ultimate Douluo, was now much easier to surpass.
Xu Tianran reaching this level was completely within expectations.
If he had inherited a true god's position, and had time to gather faith to build his own godhood, with his talent and opportunity, he might have even truly become a god.
In theory, those who relied on themselves to break through to the ultimate limit were the ones most likely to reach the divine level.
Under Lu Jingming's gaze, Xu Tianran's momentum climbed to its peak.
He spread his arms and looked up at the sky, shouting madly,
"I am the lord of the Sun Moon Empire, Xu Tianran! If you want this world, then kill me with your own hands!"
"But before that, allow me... one last, grand ceremony."
"ROAR——!!!"
A dragon's roar, full of destructive will, suddenly exploded.
Behind Xu Tianran, an unrivaled gigantic dragon phantom, forged of pure purple lightning, appeared and roared.
It was his martial soul, the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon.
The moment the dragon phantom appeared, the entire palace hall twisted violently, groaning as if unable to withstand the destructive force.
The next moment, Xu Tianran suddenly roared.
The gigantic Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon phantom, emanating a world-shattering aura, abruptly shrank and plunged into his body as a purple streamer.
Martial Soul Possession.
"BOOM——!!!"
A column of purple destruction, more than ten times thicker than before, soared into the sky, centered on Xu Tianran.
The palace ceiling, heavily reinforced with countless defensive soul arrays, was instantly dissolved, ionized, and reduced to the most basic particles, vanishing silently into the air before this lightning pillar.
A huge hole opened in the great hall above, revealing the crimson sky reflected by the light of war.
Xu Tianran floated in the air, his entire body wrapped in wild purple lightning, his long hair flowing upward in the absence of wind, crackling with purple sparks at the roots.
His eyes had turned completely pure purple, devoid of any human emotion, leaving only pure madness intent on destroying everything before him.
As the pure, extreme destructive force erupted from Xu Tianran, the closest, Kong Deming, was the first to feel the terror.
The old man, who had devoted his life to soul tool technology, found his mind blank in an unprecedented way at this moment.
In his cloudy eyes, he saw the mad and terrifying figure enveloped in purple lightning.
A cold, piercing chill spread through his limbs.
"This... what power is this?"
Kong Deming's body trembled slightly, uncontrollably.
It was not just soul power, nor was it familiar energy.
It was something more fundamental, more chaotic.
It was pure because it existed only for destruction.
It was chaotic because it rebelled against all rules and order.
He felt a fatal threat from Xu Tianran.
The Xu Tianran before him was a terror he could not comprehend at all.
He... he was no longer human...
Kong Deming struggled to reach this conclusion, his heart turning cold.
He had always known this emperor was not a simple, hidden being, but he had never imagined that beneath the mask, he would become... a monster.