July 16th, 9 AM, Year 3789 of the Great Zhou Celestial Dynasty.
After over a century of planning and forty-nine years of preparation, the Myriad Year Mystic Ice Thawing Plan was officially initiated.
Four Grand Elders of the Martial God level from the Xuan Yin Sacred Land, Xuan Yang Sacred Land, Creation Sacred Land, and Medical Saint Valley stood in formation within the depths of the Imperial Palace, positioned at the four corners of the Myriad Year Mystic Ice that encased the slumbering Emperor Qian Yu. Precisely on schedule, each began to exert their cultivation.
The Xuan Yin True Essence was used to neutralize the mystic ice, the Xuan Yang True Essence to revive the physical body, the Creation True Essence to activate the life force within, and the Medical Saint Valley's role was primarily to patch up any deficiencies and cover any potential unforeseen circumstances, as well as to repair any damage to his foundation later on.
His expertise would be needed.
Under the concerted efforts of the four Martial Gods, the Myriad Year Mystic Ice rapidly melted and vanished. Emperor Qian Yu, sealed within, gradually softened from his rigid state under the nourishment and repair of the Creation True Essence and Xuan Yang True Essence.
His cells and blood vessels revived, and his heart began to beat.
Soon after, he opened his eyes.
"Who are you all..."
Although Emperor Qian Yu was pleasantly surprised to open his eyes again, his joy turned to shock when he saw four unfamiliar Martial Gods standing beside him.
What had happened in the world?
How could there be four Martial Gods...
And all standing right next to him.
"Greetings, Ancestor Emperor. I am your direct great-granddaughter, the current Empress of Zhou. Please rest assured, you are in no danger. These four Martial Gods were invited by the Imperial family to treat you. For now, please cooperate with their treatment. I will explain everything to you in detail once your foundation has recovered somewhat."
As Emperor Qian Yu was in a state of shock and confusion, the newly enthroned Empress Luan Xiang, a Martial Saint who had been overlooked due to the presence of the four Martial Gods, specifically offered an explanation.
After speaking, she stepped back slightly.
This was to give the Martial God from the Medical Saint Valley ample space to treat Emperor Qian Yu.
Emperor Qian Yu was not foolish. Even if the four Martial Gods were not here to treat him, he would have been powerless to resist.
Therefore, he obediently followed the medical advice of the Martial God from the Medical Saint Valley, actively cooperating with the treatment. He undressed when asked, remained still when instructed, took the medicine, and bathed in the medicinal bath. In less than six hours, over half of the damage to his foundation was repaired. The remaining issues would only require a year or so of continued medication and acupuncture to fully recover.
Even before his complete recovery, however, his lifespan had been extended by several hundred years.
His immediate crisis of life and death was averted. Emperor Qian Yu immediately summoned his great-granddaughter, wanting to understand what had happened since he was frozen.
And why so many Martial Gods had appeared.
Facing his great-grandfather's incessant questions, Luan Xiang realized that a simple explanation would not suffice. She gave a brief overview of the general situation and then ordered the imperial records of the past two thousand years, as well as the recently published "Comprehensive History of the Great Zhou Dynasty" and "The Unification of the Nine Provinces, a Flourishing Era," to be brought to him.
This way, Emperor Qian Yu could read them himself.
As for her, she had state affairs to attend to and no time to sit and narrate two thousand years of history to Emperor Qian Yu. Even a brief summary would likely take her until the next day to finish.
Thus, he would have to rely on himself.
Emperor Qian Yu was literate, so he didn't mind. He quickly waved his great-granddaughter away.
He then focused on the pile of books beside him.
He read about his daughter's glorious achievements. He saw how, on the day of her enthronement, she successfully broke through to the Martial God realm, suppressing the world. He saw how, within a month of her coronation, she issued the "Imperial Expansion and Colonial Decree," initiating an unprecedented period of imperial expansion and the delegation of power to kings and noble families.
While he had known his daughter was making preparations, he was deeply moved and astonished by her audacious policies and measures.
"Within a century of her ascension, she unified the Nine Provinces, mobilized an army of over ten million, amassed countless grains, and even developed terrifying weapons that ordinary mortals could use to kill Grandmasters and Celestial Beings. Ordinary small nations, lacking any Martial Gods, were easily swept aside.
"Universal literacy and universal martial arts.
"The things this girl has done, I never even dared to imagine. Yet, she actually achieved them.
"However, it is also thanks to those high-yield spirit rice seeds. Without the promotion of those seeds, universal martial arts would not have resulted in a strong populace, but rather widespread starvation.
"It seems my great-grandfather was right. This girl might indeed bring about miracles, and indeed, her words have come true. She unified the Nine Provinces. The unification of the Nine Provinces in myths and legends, the deeds of the Three Sovereigns, have long been proven to be mere fabrications. They unified not the Great Nine Provinces, but the Small Nine Provinces. Therefore, Yun Xia is the true first Emperor to unify the Great Nine Provinces, an act that opened up heaven and earth!
"Her merits truly surpass those of the Three Sovereigns!
"No wonder she dared to directly elevate the Great Zhou Dynasty to the Great Zhou Celestial Dynasty and proclaim herself Heavenly Emperor during her celestial offering.
"Such achievements are indeed beyond comparison to the Three Sovereigns.
"Her self-proclamation as Heavenly Emperor is only natural.
"No one can refute it."
"Alas, but this girl is too generous. She has made millions of copies of her fundamental cultivation technique, the 'Primordial True Scripture,' and disseminated it across the land as the method for universal martial arts. Since ancient times, who has ever shared a Martial God cultivation technique so readily? Even within their own families, it was difficult for those not of direct lineage to access them. Is she not afraid of more Martial Gods appearing and shaking the foundation of our Great Zhou Celestial Dynasty?
"Hmm, wait. The four who treated me just now were Martial Gods. If our Great Zhou Celestial Dynasty only had one or two Martial Gods, it would be impossible to have four Martial Gods obediently following orders, wouldn't it? Could it be that my daughter has broken through to become a Land Immortal?"
With this thought, Emperor Qian Yu, filled with curiosity, skipped over less important matters and directly turned to the latter part of the historical records, wanting to understand why there were so many Martial Gods, and how the Great Zhou Celestial Dynasty could remain so stable.
Logically, shouldn't these Martial Gods be arrogant and even seek to usurp the emperor's authority?
The subsequent historical records
Soon resolved Emperor Qian Yu's doubts.
The historical records clearly stated that over ninety-nine percent of the populace cultivated the "Primordial True Scripture," revered Emperor Yun Xia as the Grand Ancestor of Martial Arts, and referred to themselves as disciples of the Heavenly Emperor.
In less than a century, the world became one where Celestial Beings were commonplace, and Martial Saints roamed everywhere. Many sacred lands and top sects suffered greatly, with many of their disciples rebelling.
After all, ordinary citizens could cultivate Martial God-level techniques, while the disciples of these sacred lands could only cultivate techniques that reached at most the Martial Saint level. Who could tolerate this?
They themselves might not have expected to switch their cultivation, but they certainly didn't want their children to have no chance to cultivate the "Primordial True Scripture."
The end result was that all martial sacred lands and top martial sects voluntarily submitted to the Celestial Dynasty. Their members, disciples, and sect properties were all registered, taxes were paid, and they were required to abide by the law, bringing them all under the management of the Great Zhou Celestial Dynasty's household registration system.
This overturned the old precedent where martial sacred lands and top martial sects were not subject to the laws and household registration of the Great Zhou Celestial Dynasty.
In return, Emperor Yun Xia personally revised their cultivation techniques, upgrading some of their Martial Saint-level techniques to Martial God level, preventing them from eventually perishing due to their inability to attract disciples with Martial God techniques.
Additionally, Emperor Yun Xia also helped them revise their original Martial God-level techniques, making those that were originally difficult to learn, or that required special physiques to cultivate, more broadly applicable.
This allowed those martial sacred lands and martial sects to barely preserve their reputation and avoid immediate collapse.
After this exchange, those martial sacred lands and martial sects had to recognize Emperor Yun Xia as their half-master. Not wanting to betray their teacher, they were naturally unwilling to act against the Great Zhou Celestial Dynasty.
Of course, this was only one part of the reason. A more crucial factor was that Emperor Yun Xia had already demonstrated her cultivation as a Land Immortal, and the secret to breaking through to become a Land Immortal by cultivating the "Primordial True Scripture."
This secret was held exclusively by the imperial family of the Great Zhou Celestial Dynasty.
To obtain it, one had to sign a contract of employment for a thousand years as a retainer with the Great Zhou Celestial Dynasty, as well as a lifetime contract never to act against the imperial family of the Great Zhou Celestial Dynasty. These two contracts were monitored by the Celestial Dynasty's destiny. Violators would suffer a backlash and die.
Given the current prosperous destiny of the Great Zhou Celestial Dynasty, which had unified the Nine Provinces, it was a trivial matter for it to inflict backlash and kill a few Land Immortals. No one dared to break these contracts. Therefore, to put it bluntly, virtually all Land Immortals in the world were currently employed by the Celestial Dynasty, or had been employed by it in the past.
And they had all signed these two contracts.
With no Land Immortal daring to act against the imperial family of the Great Zhou Celestial Dynasty, and with many Land Immortal retainers serving the Great Zhou Celestial Dynasty, naturally, no one dared to harbor any ill intentions.
After reading all of this, Emperor Qian Yu could only feel self-reproach and regret, while simultaneously feeling fortunate for the decision he had made in the past.
He then headed towards the new Sutra Repository to find cultivation techniques.
Even his great-granddaughter, who had just turned twenty, had reached the peak of the Martial Saint realm. He, her great-grandfather, was still a peak Martial Saint. It was truly embarrassing to admit. Regardless of whether it was for a longer lifespan or for his dignity, he had to strive for progress.
He quickly sought out some Martial God-level cultivation techniques to examine.
Now that the Great Zhou Celestial Dynasty's destiny was at its peak, with the destiny of the Nine Provinces unified into one, was it not enough for him to break through to the Martial God realm?
It was likely that breaking through to become a Land Immortal would be effortless!
He absolutely could not let such a golden opportunity slip by.