Chapter 462 – Imperial Family's Treasury
Stone Tower was lofty and majestic. A new emperor had succeeded the throne. Draconic energy surged, and even those that weren't powerful cultivators could feel it. It was extremely shocking.
"Long live the human emperor!"
People shouted along the streets. The sound was extremely massive, and many commoners hollered in reply, creating an uproar. These people were precisely where the imperial draconic energy originated from.
Troop after troop of soldiers walked through the streets. They continued to the martial law, because the nervous atmosphere in the city had not yet declined. The new emperor succeeded the throne and swept through the three sects' cultivators. From here on out, there were still many things to take care of.
The imperial palace building complex was entirely constructed from golden rocks. It flowed with a faint golden lustre, and the entire structure was grand and holy. It possessed a great majestic feeling.
Shi Hao returned. He walked into this imperial palace and experienced this atmosphere of great changes. The people within this ancient palace could even more distinctly feel the imperial power.
"Your Majesty!"
The War King came. His way of addressing Shi Hao even made his old self feel a bit strange. Back then, he admired Shi Hao's father Shi Ziling quite a bit.
He never thought that there would be a day in the future when Shi Ziling's son would become the emperor. He was just a fifteen year old youth! In his eyes, he was still a child, yet he was already so powerful. It was simply a miracle.
"War King, there is no need to be so polite," Shi Hao said.
Seven or eight years ago, he completely burned down the second ancestral ground. The Rain Clan's people in the western border were extremely passive, and it was the War King that went out to investigate. He directly killed Yu Meng, showing his clear loyalty towards Shi Hao's bloodline.
Later on, when Shi Hao heard about these things, he felt rather grateful.
"I wonder if that fairy Yue Chan…" The War King sent these words secretly towards Shi Hao. He was rather curious about this matter, as well as extremely concerned.
This woman was too unordinary. If she was really killed, then it would definitely raise the Heaven Mending Sect's fury. They would disregard all regulations and frantically retaliate.
Shi Hao smiled extremely brilliantly. After witnessing yesterday's slaughter, even though he was still young, he appeared dignified and powerful in the eyes of many. Now that he looked so gentle and bright, it left many people amazed.
His lips carried a slight smile and he secretly transmitted back, saying, "She has decided to stay by my side as a maid."
"Ah?" The War King appeared extremely majestic. This individual with black hair scattering down was already not young, but when his blood essence surged and his body became covered in a layer of divine light, he looked just like a sun. At this moment, he was truly shocked. This type of news was truly a bit ridiculous, making even someone like him appear stupefied.
However, he quickly recollected himself. He widened his large eyes. This information was a bit too terrifying. If it was ever released, the entire world would erupt with activity. The most sacred fairy of a sect as powerful as the Heaven Mending Sect became someone's maid? Were they trying to trigger a interregional war?
"Your Majesty, you are still young, and you will definitely find one that is exceptional, there is no need for you and her…" The War King stopped his own words, because he still didn't really know what to say or how to persuade Shi Hao.
After receiving these news, his thoughts became all over the place. He felt that this type of action would definitely make the Heaven Mending Sect go crazy. It would definitely lead to a great disaster.
Shi Hao laughed. He naturally knew what the War King was thinking, and he understood even more that the War King feared that he would engross himself in women. These were difficult things to abstain from.
"This maid… is not bad." Shi Hao replied.
When the War King heard this, he became even more nervous. Fairy Yue Chan was an outstanding beauty, and this type of woman was exceptionally beautiful. Meanwhile, the new emperor was still young, and it wasn't good to be too fond of beauty.
The War King had also experienced youth, so he naturally knew knew that this youth was outstanding and open-minded. However, fighting the entire world over the intoxication towards a woman was still a rather inappropriate choice as the emperor.
"I already killed so many cultivators from the three sects, so even if I returned fairy Yue Chan and tried to negotiate, it will be useless. As such, I might as well just keep her."
"So it's like that…" The War King's face became wooden, and he felt a huge headache. He braced himself and said, "Your Majesty, if we forcefully restrain her here, that is fine, but please do not grant her the title of an imperial concubine and don't reveal her true body. Otherwise, not only the Heaven Mending Sect, but the other sect's younger generation individuals will all treat my Stone Country Emperor with hostility."
Shi Hao was between laughter and tears. The War King truly treated him like a child, thinking that he would make a mistake while engrossed in beauty. He could only force a smile and shake his head, not knowing what was proper to say.
"En, I won't allow her to leave the imperial palace for now. War King, please feel at ease," Shi Hao casually said without using an overly dignified tone.
"Even though she is exceedingly beautiful, you must continue to pay attention to cultivation and not lose yourself." The War King said.
The veins on Shi Hao's forehead jumped, but in the end, he nodded and said, "I understand."
In reality, after the War King heard what he said, veins also began to jump on his forehead. This young human emperor was really going to make fairy Yue Chan his woman, wasn't he? This matter would be too great.
It was one thing to offend the Heaven Mending Sect, but if news was released about this, then the young heroes of various sects in this world might cry in grief and attack out of anger.
Under the accompaniment of the War King, Shi Hao took a quick tour of the imperial palace. His brows continuously furrowed, because even though the vast palaces didn't fall, theres was still great damage.
"The palaces are unharmed, but quite a few of the great formations that were laid down here were destroyed." The War King sighed and spoke.
There were undoubtedly ancient divine formations in the imperial palace, and their power should definitely be great and unrivalled, yet they were still broken. The damage to the formations in the central heavenly palace was even more severe.
From what a Stone Guard said, in order for the Stone Emperor to protect himself, he used all defenses and power he had. He used the fate of the the nation and ancient divine formations to protect himself, allowing him to ultimately survive.
But now, where did the human emperor go? If he was still alive, why didn't he reveal himself? Shi Hao frowned.
"He might have entered the higher realms." An old guard said. He faintly recalled seeing a passageway open up that led into the void. Stone Emperor disappeared afterwards with his imperial bodyguards.
"I hope His Majesty is okay. I hope there is a day when he can rise in the higher realms and kill those creatures that believe themselves infallible!" The War King said.
Shi Hao saw most of the formations that were destroyed in the imperial palace. In his opinion, this was the greatest loss, because those were divine formations that were definitely enough to kill supreme experts and others.
They had to be fixed no matter what and maybe even improved one step further. Only then could they await the three sects' retaliation and take them all on at once.
However, when he thought about the endless materials required, Shi Hao felt a great pain. The imperial family's treasury shouldn't have been emptied from just this, right?
A sweet scent wafted out and medicinal grass shone. They had unknowingly made their way into the garden, reaching the imperial palace's spiritual fields. The fragrance was rich and intoxicating.
"Why are there so few?" Shi Hao stared at the magnificent imperial palace spiritual fields. This place was spacious, and it had special soil as well as spiritual springs to nurture it. It could definitely be considered a wonderful place to plant spiritual medicines.
Unfortunately, the medicine field's plants were few and completely different from how he had imagined them to be.
It could be said that what he looked forward to the most was seeing large amounts of spiritual medicines to refine his body and allow for a breakthrough. However, when he came here, he was only met with great disappointment.
"After the great calamity, the cultivators from the three sects invaded the palace and plucked many mature spiritual medicines," said an old guard.
Not only that, but his words implied that there were princes, princesses, and kings that participated in this. Some of them plucked them and hoped to collude with the great sects outside this region to assist in their own bodies' foundations.
"Cultivators of the three sects, you are truly asking to be killed!" Shi Hao coldly said. This was just too overbearing! This was the imperial palace of a country, yet the spiritual medicine fields had been pillaged just like that. They truly looked down on Stone Country.
Meanwhile, there were several princes, princes, and other nobility that didn't hold themselves back either. The destruction they caused wasn't small, plundering during the chaos.
"Your Majesty, those noble clansmen were all forced to remain in the palace and have not been allowed to leave the imperial capital," said the War King.
"Good, this time, there are some who need to pay for their own actions!" Shi Hao coldly said. There were some nobles who committed high treason as well as some generals who relied on those outside this region. This time, he had to take action mercilessly.
He was going to start dealing with what had to be dealt with.
"This treasury…" As soon as he entered the treasury, Shi Hao once again trembled furious. The entire treasury was empty with not much materials remaining.
"A portion of it was used up by His Majesty. When the great calamity came, he used up an endless amount of materials to refine shocking heavenly formations to defend against the heavenly law." After the War King spoke, he sighed. He knew about these things.
"The other great portion were indeed seized by others. The participants include the imperial children, cultivators of the three sects, and others." The old guard added.
Shi Hao sighed with lament. If the treasury's materials were piled up, there was still some hope. However, compared to the great light and precious energy scene that he thought would appear before his eyes when he entered, it did not come close at all.
How was he supposed to repair the ancient divine formations in the imperial palace now?
"Your Majesty, there is no need to be so anxious. This is the outer treasury. There is still an inner treasury that does not have less treasures than this place." An old guard said.
When Shi Hao heard what he said, his mind finally calmed by quite a bit.
They walked forward. An enormous stone gate blocked in front of them that did not seem to move at all.
"One must possess the human emperor's imprint before they can open this treasury." The old guard said with a sigh.
Shi Hao's mind was moved. He gave the War King and the old guard a look. He felt that these two individuals were loyal, devoted, and extremely trustworthy. He didn't conceal anything, bringing out the sparkling and translucent magical imprint before pressing it towards the stone doors.
The stone gates began to shine. Symbols flickered one after another, and eventually, tens of thousands of symbols covered this place densely. This was the first time he saw such a complex and terrifying formation, leaving Shi Hao stupefied.
Soon after, he became even more stunned. Golden auspicious light surged, and a multitude of precious light flew outwards. Multicolored mist filled this place; it was simply a divine treasury and too astonishing.
This was even greater than the imperial palace's treasury that he had imagined previously!
With just a brief glance, he already saw two types of divine materials. You have to understand that he had just walked into the treasury, and there were still other divine objects for him to discover.
Not only were there all types of materials, there were also magical artifacts. Some of the imperial family's most important treasures were sealed here, and only today did they finally see the light of day again.
"These are… four divine magical swords?!" Shi Hao was astonished. He saw four simple and ancient looking swords. After carefully inspecting them, he saw that the energy they released was astonishing. They were incomparably sharp.
They were of different types and eras, but they were all swords. They were collected by an ancestor and stored here together.
"What a stunning treasury!"
Shi Hao couldn't help but sigh with admiration. In the end, he said, "If these four divine swords are placed by the imperial palace's four entrances and a corresponding level of formation is laid, how terrifying would the result be?!"
When he made his way out from the inner treasury, Shi Hao still felt a dizzy. Just now, he saw too many good things. On his back was a halberd that was rumored to possess a powerful background!
"This is a divine magical artifact that was made during the ancient years to imitate the Kun Peng's Great Sky Desolation Halberd!" The War King and old guard's voices were still sounding by Shi Hao's ears.
This great halberd was extremely simple and unadorned. Its entire body was dark and without luster, but when it was activated, golden energy rushed into the heavens. It was incomparably terrifying!
"Your Majesty…" The War King's voice sounded from his side. Shi Hao finally calmed himself down and became clear headed again. After seeing the inner treasury, he was just too stupefied by all the astonishing materials inside.
"What is going on?" Shi Hao asked.
"Your Majesty, I will now bring you to the scripture house and precious techniques hall to have a look," said the War King.
When Shi Hao heard what was said, he immediately widened his eyes. His head was pounding fiercely. Comparatively speaking, this might be the place he actually looked forward to the most!