As the capital was restored to light, the only two giants present, Du Hong, a hundred meters tall, and Xiao Weiln, a hundred and fifty meters tall, immediately accelerated their approach to the imperial palace, eager to end things quickly.
Meanwhile, everyone who saw them.
Whether commoners or imperial guards.
Almost no one dared to attack them; most were terrified and fled as far away as possible, away from their path. The few who dared to draw their bows and arrows were largely ineffective, as their arrows either couldn't harm the giants or, at most, inflicted minor, practically bloodless superficial wounds.
And they were easily spotted by the giants.
Then, they were stomped to death.
So, overall, they were able to head straight for the imperial palace without any obstacles. Those in the palace who had already discovered this situation became divided. Some insisted they must not retreat and had to find a way to eliminate these two giants, while others argued that the emperor's safety must be guaranteed.
At the very least, the emperor and others should be evacuated from the palace.
And then some people could remain in the palace to fight the giants to the death.
However, they had greatly underestimated the giants' speed. While they were still debating in court, adhering to their old habits, the two giants met, exchanged a few hushed words, and then both sped towards the imperial palace.
They were also afraid the emperor might escape and be hard to find.
After all, they couldn't stomp through the entire capital, killing everyone, to ensure the emperor was dead.
So, of course, they had to quicken their pace.
As they ran, the ground, which had only been faintly vibrating, began to shake violently. Some people couldn't stand steady and could only lie down or even collapse on the ground. Some buildings that were not very sturdy also collapsed with a roar due to the tremors.
It was no joke; these two giants now weighed tens of tons. Their normal walking already created considerable noise, let alone the commotion caused by their running and leaping, which was akin to an earthquake-like disaster. This was entirely reasonable and normal.
Within minutes, while the ministers and the emperor inside the palace were still struggling to stand and hadn't even had time to escape, the two had already reached the palace. Then, before Xiao Weiln could even find a suitable weapon on himself and consider stomping as an attack,
Du Hong had already stomped.
He aimed both feet at the Hall of State, stomping frantically, covering every direction. He didn't forget to grind his feet, and the result was, of course, his feet were unharmed, with only minor damage to his shoes, while the Hall of State completely collapsed, crushed by his feet, along with most of the people inside. The very few survivors were mostly trapped in the gaps of some buildings.
Or barely breathing.
In any case, they were either dead or severely maimed.
After finishing this, Du Hong immediately shouted loudly:
"Hahaha, the emperor has now been trampled to death by this seat! Those remaining, do not struggle in vain. Also, where is the Crown Prince currently imprisoned?"
His voice was so loud that it could be said the entire capital heard it. Some people nearby even winced in pain, covering their ears, having gone deaf.
Following this, things became much easier to handle.
It was simply a matter of the two of them carefully locating where the Crown Prince was imprisoned, bringing him out, and demanding that he ascend the throne as soon as possible. After his ascension, he must quickly clear their names.
To be honest, the Crown Prince was a bit bewildered.
Besides being bewildered, he was also very scared.
Because before this, the Crown Prince had already envisioned his future. He thought he would likely be confined to his residence under surveillance, and then shortly after the new emperor ascended the throne, he might either be pardoned and released to live as a commoner, or directly killed by the new emperor, perhaps through a sudden demise. There was almost no possibility of any other outcome or a reversal of fortune.
However, it was truly as if the sun had risen from the west.
He had inexplicably turned his fortune around.
Unfortunately, at this moment, the joy of his turnaround couldn't completely overcome his fear of facing two terrifying giants directly.
He didn't dare to look up when speaking.
His knees even felt weak.
He could only reply in a very low voice.
However, his normal speaking voice might not even be heard by Du Hong and Xiao Weiln now, let alone a whisper. So they had to keep asking him to speak louder.
In the end, their communication method was the Crown Prince below shouting at the top of his lungs, while Xiao Weiln and Du Hong, who had already sat down cross-legged, strained their ears to listen carefully. After listening, they would try to lower their voices as much as possible when replying.
After half an hour of such difficult communication,
They finally reached an agreement.
The outcome of the agreement was that they would help the Crown Prince overcome all possible difficulties in his upcoming ascension. In return, after ascending the throne, the Crown Prince would clear their names and bestow upon them promotions and noble titles. And these would not be the titles of marquis or duke, as they might have imagined, but royal titles, similar to the title of King of Comradeship.
As for whether the Crown Prince did this willingly,
Or if he was so scared that he dared not offer them any less prestigious titles, that was not entirely clear.
But regardless.
It could be considered a happy ending for both sides.
And next, of course, was to clean up the aftermath.
In fact, the subsequent developments hardly required Xiao Weiln and Du Hong's involvement, because with the emperor and most of the ministers essentially dead, the deposed Crown Prince, with the support of two giants behind him, found it too easy to handle the aftermath and organize the ranks.
As for the replacement officials, they were also easily dealt with. They reinstated and promoted the officials from the Crown Prince's faction who had just been brought back from the imperial prison.
Not too long after.
The framework of the court was re-established.
Next were the disaster relief and the coronation ceremony.
At the same time, they had to package the events that had just occurred in a somewhat euphemistic manner and then announce them to the world.
As for how exactly it would be packaged!
It wasn't long before Ding Yun and the others found out.
Three days later, as soon as the simple coronation ceremony concluded, the new emperor's first imperial decree was issued. It stated that he was a reincarnation of the Ziwei Star, and the former emperor, defying heaven's will, tried to harm him. Then, heaven sent down two giant divine beings to assist him, and celestial retribution descended, obscuring the sky, with meteors and falling stars smashing the Hall of State and killing the former emperor and all the ministers.
And he, as ordained, inherited the mandate of heaven.
Ascended the throne as emperor.
At the same time, he also announced the exoneration of all members of the Crown Prince's party, granting a grand burial to those who had died.
Those who were alive were either reinstated or promoted.
And Xiao Weiln was enfeoffed as the Left King of Comradeship, Du Hong as the Right King of Comradeship, and Xiao Yunmeng as the Grand Celestial Venerable of Sublime Jade.
Also concurrently holding the position of Imperial Advisor.
The reason he enfeoffed Xiao Weiln as the Left King of Comradeship and Du Hong as the Right King of Comradeship was mainly because Xiao Weiln was nearly fifty meters taller than Du Hong. In their hierarchy, the left was considered more honorable, so he was naturally enfeoffed as the Left King of Comradeship.
As for enfeoffing Ding Yun as the Grand Celestial Venerable and Imperial Advisor, it was because he already knew who had created the two giants. If he hadn't considered immortals to be inviolable and feared angering Ding Yun, potentially leading to his demise, he would have preferred to marry Ding Yun and make her Empress.
Because if he could marry Ding Yun and turn this woman, who could create giants, into his wife, wouldn't he never have to worry about those two giants disobeying him or rebelling in the future?
Unfortunately, he only dared to think about it in secret.
He dared not reveal the slightest hint of it.
So he had to settle for the next best thing, showering Ding Yun with favor, bestowing upon her the title of Grand Celestial Venerable, no less than that of the legendary Heavenly Emperor, and also appointing her Imperial Advisor. If Ding Yun hadn't explicitly stated that she would not accept disciples or act as Grand Tutor.
He probably would have shamelessly begged to become her disciple.
Because even a master-disciple relationship would have made him feel a little safer.
After all, a master for a day is a father for life.