Within the imperial capital, some powerful figures began to join the scramble. Palaces and mansions, sects and families, were all plundered clean by the imperial guards, and carriages laden with more resources than they could hold rumbled into the imperial palace.
"Hand it over!"
In a merchant building, imperial guards pursued a woman and snatched a ten-thousand-year-old spiritual material from her grasp.
"No!!"
"Sir, sir... this spiritual material was obtained by my father at the cost of his life, sir!!"
The woman clutched the spiritual material, weeping uncontrollably. Her father had ventured into dangerous territory to find this spiritual material, risking his life to excavate it, all so she could ignite her divine fire.
"Let go!!"
"By the divine emperor's decree, all resources within the imperial capital are to be requisitioned for the court!"
"I advise you to let go, or do not blame my blade for being careless!"
The imperial guard looked at the frail woman and raised a steel saber high, its blade glinting.
"If you take my spiritual material, what am I living for!!"
"The Great Han is at our borders, and you, who have enjoyed the empire's bounty, would even rob a commoner of her spiritual material!!"
The woman refused to yield, her eyes filled with terror as she gazed at the spiritual material, wishing for death.
"Let go!"
The imperial guard raised his steel saber and brought it down towards the woman's neck.
The woman closed her eyes in shock, her hands still tightly grasping the spiritual material.
"Squelch!"
The sound of tearing flesh assaulted the woman's eardrums, and hot blood splattered onto her cheeks.
The woman opened her eyes to see a young man, holding a Xiu Chun Dao, decapitate the imperial guard. Su Dan Novel Network.
"As an emperor, one neglects the foundation laid by his ancestors. Even in escape, his gaze falls upon the sustenance of his people. What use is such a divine emperor?"
The young man glanced at the imperial guard's corpse, then approached the terrified woman. He saw her and she instinctively clutched the spiritual material to her chest.
"Stay here, and I assure you, your spiritual material is safe!"
The young man looked at the woman, his eyes gradually softening. He tore off his outer garment, revealing the flying fish costume beneath, which billowed in the wind.
"Flying fish costume!!"
"Xiu Chun Dao!!"
The woman gasped, "You... you are from the Embroidered Uniform Guard of the Great Han Dynasty!!"
The imperial capital of the Hai Yun Divine Dynasty, and there were Great Han Embroidered Uniform Guards, yet the court knew nothing of it.
"Heh heh!"
The woman gave a cold laugh, her body going limp with despair, "With the state of the capital like this, what good would knowing do."
"The Hai Yun Divine Dynasty, weathering storms for tens of millions of years, now... now it is destined for ruin and the fall of its cities!"
"This is not your fault!"
The Embroidered Uniform Guard looked at the woman. "Your divine emperor is unworthy of being your divine emperor!"
...
Mid to late March, the twenty-eighth year of the Great Han.
The most powerful overlord of the Western Hundred Cities, the Yaoguang Divine Dynasty, was annihilated. Hai Lingyu, the King of Chu of the Hai Yun Divine Dynasty, along with Hai Xing'an, the King of Xuan, unified their forces on the border where the Hai Yun Divine Dynasty had fallen.
The Great Han's Vermilion Bird Legion marched north, capturing several prefectures in succession. The victorious army struck fear into the imperial capital of the Hai Yun Divine Dynasty.
To evade their advance, the Divine Emperor Hai Yao ordered the imperial guards to scour all sects and families within the imperial capital within half a day. Laden with abundant cultivation resources, they boarded a teleportation array heading towards the Thunder Cloud Palace.
"Hai Yun Divine Dynasty!"
Hai Yao stood outside the teleportation array, a cold smile on his face as he looked at the smoke-filled imperial capital. "I will return!"
"Destroy the teleportation array!"
With his command, Hai Yao entered the teleportation array. The soldiers guarding outside immediately shattered the array. Henceforth, if the Great Han Dynasty wished to apprehend the Divine Emperor Hai Yao, they would have to go to the Thunder Cloud Palace.
A day later, outside the imperial capital, a magnificent army of a million soldiers clad in crimson armor, their blades held high, advanced towards the Hai Yun Divine Dynasty's imperial capital.
A piercing cry announced the arrival of a great dynasty.
Fa Zheng stroked his beard, gazing at the imposing city, and said softly, "Hai Yao has fled, it seems this tumor will continue to fester."
"Where are Zhao Yun, Zhang Fei, Huang Zhong, and Ma Chao!"
"Here!"
Zhao Yun and the other three stepped forward, their presence exuding immense power!
"You will each lead your soldiers and advance eastward, firmly controlling the entire border line, and strictly guarding against the Thunder Cloud Palace!" Fa Zheng said with a furrowed brow.
"As you command!"
"Follow this general into battle!!"
Outside the imperial capital, forty thousand troops changed direction and galloped towards the eastern horizon.
Boom!
Embroidered Uniform Guards ascended the city walls of the imperial capital. With a roar, the banner of the Great Han Dynasty was planted atop the gate tower.
"Hai Yun Divine Dynasty!"
Countless citizens wept, even after Divine Emperor Hai Yao's actions. Especially when Fa Zheng led the army into the imperial palace, their faith crumbled. The capital, which they relied upon for survival and had provided them with lifelong security, became history in that moment.
"Issue a decree that a portion of the resources brought by the army will be distributed to the inhabitants of the imperial capital, with efforts to pacify them. The current plight of the capital, though not caused by our Great Han, was indeed triggered by our Great Han."
Inside the imperial palace, Fa Zheng looked at the shattered palace gate and sighed. "Go and do it. The clans and sects within the imperial capital will all be dealt with according to the Great Han's celestial law."
By the end of March in the twenty-eighth year of the Great Han, the twelve prefectures of the Hai Yun Divine Dynasty had all fallen into Great Han's hands. Three days later, the Qiongqi Legion, cooperating with the Azure Dragon Legion, occupied the twelve prefectures of the Yaoguang Divine Dynasty one by one.
In early April of the twenty-eighth year of the Great Han, eighty-seven prefectures of the Western Hundred Cities were incorporated into the Great Han's territory. Since the fall of the Western Hundred Jade Mountain ninety million years ago, the eighty-seven prefectures of the Western Hundred Cities had been fragmented, with various divine dynasties rising and falling, ultimately failing to unify them.
Now, with a single decree from the Heavenly Emperor Yang Hao of the Great Han Heavenly Dynasty, several legions fought fiercely, annihilating powerful forces such as the Yaoguang Divine Dynasty and the Hai Yun Divine Dynasty.
"Ding! Congratulations to the host, Great Han heroes have slain five Saint Kings: Hai Wenshu, Hai Lingyu, Hai Xing'an, Bu Heliang, and Bu Fang, gaining 17.5 million slaughter points."
"Ding! Congratulations to the host, the White Tiger Legion has defeated the Hai Yun Divine Dynasty and the Heavenly Gang Supreme Sect's Ying Yuan's million elite troops, gaining 60 million slaughter points and capturing 800,000 elite soldiers!"
"Ding! Congratulations to the host, the Vermilion Bird Legion has defeated a million troops of the Hai Yun Divine Dynasty, gaining 40 million slaughter points and capturing 500,000 soldiers!"
"Ding! Congratulations to the host, the Qilin Legion and the Kui Niu Legion have defeated the Feng'an Divine Dynasty's army and the Yaoguang Divine Dynasty's army, capturing 900,000 soldiers and gaining 45 million slaughter points!"
"Ding! Congratulations to the host, the Yaoguang Divine Dynasty, Hai Yun Divine Dynasty, Feng'an Divine Dynasty, and Heavenly Gang Supreme Sect, a total of forty-four prefectures, have all fallen into Great Han's territory, gaining 300 million fortune and merit points!"
"Ding! Half of the fortune and merit points from the Nine Cauldrons of Fortune, the Nine Dragon Imperial Seal, the Xuanyuan Sword, and the Heavenly Emperor Divine Tablet are automatically drawn to consolidate the national fortune!"