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Chapter Eight Hundred and Ninety One – New King, Old King
After finally completely what he had promised Shi, Zuo Mo sighed in relief.
He hadn't worried too much about succeeding to the throne. With his god-level cultivation, he was already one of the strongest in the world. The matter had gone smoother than he had expected. He had considered what he would do in the worst-case scenario. If he could not get the army of three hundred thousand to submit, he would lock the entire jie.
Of course, that was the worst-case scenario. This was because these three hundred thousand were the elite of Nether Realm. If he killed them all, Nether Realm would be greatly weakened. Zuo Mo did not have anything against killing them, but he did not kill needlessly.
Their surrender was the best result, it left the Nether Realm's strength intact.
This result was so good it was unexpected. He had to consider the next step.
Other than An Mo, Liang Wei, and the others, no one knew his status as the king of Mo Cloud Sea. He realised that this was a great opportunity.
Right now, he had not thought of how to use this secret.
Suddenly, the cheers outside interrupted his thoughts. His mind moved, and everything happening outside appeared in his mind.
There were numerous people gathered on both sides of the road. The crowd moved along the road and stretched out endlessly.
Where the chariot passed, people fell to their knees. The calls of "All Hail The King" rose up constantly.
An Mo and the battalion that accompanied him stood upright with proud expressions.
Zuo Mo was slightly shocked.
Even in Mo Cloud Sea, he would not be greeted with such a grandiose parade, even as founder of Mo Cloud Sea. This was due to the difference in the two cultures. The main members of Mo Cloud Sea were xiuzhe. Xiuzhe usually gathered in sects and meaning even at the best of times they were not truly united. As a result, xiuzhe did not have a king. For the mo, they were at their most prosperous and strongest when a powerful king appeared. In their hearts, the position of king was sacred. For the majority of mo, a King was their hope, he was the person that they could follow with their life.
The new king's powerful display caused all of Nether Realm to be filled with optimism towards the future.
Whenever a strong king appeared among the mo, it was usually when the mo were the strongest.
When the troops reached the perimeter of Nether King Palace, the palace was surrounded by an ocean of people. The leaders of all the factions from all over Nether Realm, big or small, had gathered here. They became excited when they saw the troops of the new king.
Zuo Mo stepped off of the chariot. The an endless sea of people that stretched out before him was shocking.
The tsunami of cheers caused every person to uncontrollably tremble. An Mo and the others were extremely excited. They were filled with pride and glory at seeing such a scene.
"All Hail The King!"
Someone shouted. More and more people raised their arms and shouted. The shouts gathered into a flood. Even the ground trembled.
"All Hail The King!"
"All Hail The King!"
People shouted at the top of their lungs as though they didn't now exhaustion.
Zuo Mo stood on the chariot. Still wearing the bronze mask, he seemed to be the moon surrounded by the stars and brilliant in his light [1]. He looked around. His gaze swept across people's faces. He saw their hopes towards the future, he saw their reverence of him, he saw the pride and excitement on their faces.
Suddenly, something seemed to weight heavily on his heart.
Starting today, he would lead them, he would become their king.
He took a breath and swore, "In the name of Nether King, I will protect this land!"
Only half of Shi's body remained. He heard Zuo Mo's oath. He knew that Zuo Mo was making a promise to him.
Shi showed an ugly smile. He let go of his last worry. There was only half of his body left.
Turning his head, he looked at the empty and large hall. He said to himself, "Let us do one last thing."
Shi's presence suddenly erupted.
His body released a starry light. The half of his body that remained quickly disappeared. At the same time, five familiar presences in five corners of Nether Realm shot into the sky.
Shi's face had a holy light. There was a small smile at the corner of his lips. He said softly, "Thank you all!"
The blinding light quickly consumed his body. The light that shot into the sky covered all of Nether Realm.
His expression was dignified and stern. "We six are willing to use our crippled bodies and incomplete souls to forever guard Nether Realm. Abandoning reincarnation, to return to chaos, to pray for peace!"
Boom!
The blinding light instantly swallowed Shi.
There were only whispers left in the air.
"… … to pray for peace … …"
Six pillars of light in Nether Realm shot into the sky and disappeared.
The large hall was completely empty.
Zuo Mo suddenly raised his head.
He felt Shi's presence!
"… … to pray for peace … …" He seemed to whisper by Zuo Mo's ear, but in a blink, Shi's presence disappeared.
Suddenly, a rice-sized dot of light appeared on Zuo Mo's face. It was cold, but filled with shen power.
Countless white dots came down from the sky like a beautiful fall of snow.
Someone in the crowd suddenly exclaimed, "This thing can increase shen power!"
People immediately became excited. They flew into the air and chased after these dots of light.
At the same time, the dots of light came like snow in every jie of Nether Realm.
Zuo Mo's spirits immediately dropped. He had been prepared mentally for Shi's death, but when it truly occurred, Zuo Mo could not stop grieving.
Shi was a unique existence to Zuo Mo. He had unparalleled power. Of all the experts Zuo Mo ever saw, Shi stood at the very top, but an expert like this was filled with love towards this land.
Zuo Mo had never felt that kind of deep emotion from anyone else.
And in the end … …
In the eyes of many people, a worldly apparition like this appearing as the new king ascended to the throne proved even more just how extraordinary the new king was.
The rain of light continued for three days and nights.
All of Nether Realm partied wildly for these three days and nights.
When the figures of five people appeared in front of Zuo Mo, Zuo Mo could not control his emotions any longer and his vision blurred.
"Young Master!' A Gui sobbed as she charged into Zuo Mo's arms just like back when they were small children.
Zuo Mo's tears flowed down his face. He couldn't speak. He could only pat A Gui's back.
After recovering, A Gui lost that wooden face. She was a strong person and she quickly noticed her loss of composure. She was slightly embarrassed and broke free of Zuo Mo's arms. However, two tracks of tears still remained on her face.
"Shidi!" Wei Sheng looked at Zuo Mo was red-rimmed eyes.
This man who was like steel was also overwhelmed with emotion. When he awoke and saw the five shen wood coffins and thought of how Shidi had dragged the five shen wood coffins to roam the endless void for ten years, he could imagine the hardship!
"Eldest Shixiong!" Zuo Mo was also excited.
The two exchanged a hard hug.
Luo Li stood next to Wo Li, having manifested into tangibility. Right now, he had broken free of the limitation of his technique. Both existing, neither a shadow. He was also excited. "Shixiong!"
Zuo Mo looked at Luo Li and smield. "Now Shidi finally gets his wish and can be together with Wo Li."
Luo Li hadn't thought that Zuo Mo would tease him. His face flushed red. Wo Li, on the other hand was not embarrassed. While she still didn't have a smile on her face, she was not as cold as before.
"Daren!" Zong Ru tried to keep his voice calm but Zuo Mo still heard the trembling and excitement.
Zuo Mo punched Zong Ru and said with a laugh, "Good good good!"
Of everyone, the calmest was Ceng Lian'er. She still looked unaffected. When she found Zuo Mo's gaze land on her, she blinked her eyes and said, "You have already become Nether King, why don't you become the Hundred Savage's King?"
Zuo Mo hadn't expected that Ceng Lian'er would open with this. He stilled.
"The relationship between our Hundred Savage Realm and you is closer than that of Nether Realm. It is good that you became the Nether King, but you cannot favor one Realm over the other. My father is still in Hundred Savage Realm." Ceng Lian'er blinked as she spoke.
Zuo Mo's mind refocused. He said with a snicker, "I was thinking about this."
Yes, Zuo Mo had thought about this.
Before, Zuo Mo had thought about how to use his status as Nether King. He thought of Hundred Savage Realm. If he used his status as Nether King to attack Hundred Savage Realm, the resistance he would encounter would be far lower than if he attacked Hundred Savage Realm as Mo Cloud Sea.
Because Nether Realm and Hundred Savage Realm were both populated by mo, the people of Hundred Savage Realm would not be as resistant to him as the Nether King. But if he attacked Hundred Savage Realm as Mo Cloud Sea, it would be easy to cause the mo to resist.
In these past few days, he had pondered the situation of Hundred Savage Realm. The Mo Shen Temple was the strongest of Hundred Savage Realm. Both The Mo Marshals Alliance and the Heroes Alliance had declined to ally with the Mo Shen Temple, meaning Mo Shen Temple still had a ways to go to unite Hundred Savage Realm.
For him, this was undoubtedly a great opportunity.
The power of Nether Realm had not been significantly damaged in this fight for the throne. If Nether Realm fought against Mo Shen Temple, the chances of victory were high. Using the authority of the new king to gather all to take down Hundred Savage Realm. Even if they just took the Mo Marshals Alliance and Heroes Alliance to squeeze the Mo Shen Temple's space, that would be beneficial for Nether Realm.
Once his status as the king of Mo Cloud Sea was exposed, it would not be so easy to do such a thing. No one would sit by and watch as a titan took form and grew stronger. The Mo Shen Temple wouldn't, Kun Lun wouldn't, and even the yao wouldn't.
They would ally together. Then they would be truly surrounded by enemies.
If he fought against Hundred Savage Realm using the status of Nether King, that was an internal conflict among the mo. Kun Lun would be wary but not to the same extent once his identity was revealed, the yao would not interfere. Fighting between yaomo were rare, and so the yao would not interfere.
Also, Ming Yue Ye was still too busy with her own affairs.
If they could take down Hundred Savage Realm, and he became the king of the mo, along with Mo Cloud Sea, his strength would be undefeatable. Even Kun Lun would become the second power.
At worse, he would just take over the Mo Marshal Alliance. That way, the Nether Realm's territory would be connected to Mo Cloud Sea, and an enormous faction would form.
Also, Zuo Mo still had other contingency plans.
[1] Editor's Note: Not how it works. But ya… okay poetic language.
Translator Ramblings: There's one realm done. I’m not sure how good Fang Xiang is at writing political machinations and overall politics. That might be one reason he is going so fast since what is left is essentially politics at taking over the world.