"Your Majesty, the bones of the Ten Divine Beasts have been retrieved from the Blood Sea Suspended Coffin ruins!"
Within the Xuanzheng Hall, Wei Zhongxian stood respectfully, holding ten balls of light in his hand.
"Begin!"
Yang Hao closed the memorial and stood up. Twenty years ago, Yang Hao had issued an edict commanding the Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander, Mao Xiang, to lead the guard in the Blood Sea Suspended Coffin to excavate the bones of the Ten Divine Beasts.
These Ten Divine Beasts were the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermillion Bird, Black Tortoise, Qilin, Taotie, Qiongqi, Liantian Si, Kui Niu, and Jin Ni.
These Ten Divine Beasts corresponded to the ten divine souls of Yang Hao's Ten Divine Fires. After being nurtured from the divine souls of the divine beasts and occupying a divine fire each, Yang Hao continuously channeled the national destiny of the Great Han to empower and nourish them.
Now that he had reached the Quasi-Sage realm, his own foundation and divine power were sufficient to further advance the ten divine souls, using the primal essence of the divine beast bones as a vessel and the divine souls within the divine fires as the core to shape their physical bodies.
"As you command!"
Not long after, Yang Hao entered a secret chamber. The chamber was filled with various pills, spiritual materials, beast treasures, and a massive amount of spirit stones, all prepared for this breakthrough.
When Wei Zhongxian unsealed the ten balls of light, ten roars shook the air, and then they entered the grand array in the center. Yang Hao stepped into it, ready to shape the physical bodies of the divine beasts!
The moment Yang Hao stepped into the array, dragon roars echoed and phoenix cries shook the heavens above Chang'an City!
In the sky, a crimson Vermillion Bird ignited myriad feet of divine fire, soaring with its wings spread. With each flap, boundless divine light bloomed, auspicious colors radiating in all directions. Layers of crimson divine fire swept through like clouds.
At the same time, a myriad-foot Azure Dragon roared in the void, soaring through the vast sky. Its four claws were covered with overwhelming divine light. With a single roar, the sky cracked, and endless divine light scattered.
Simultaneously, in another part of the sky above Chang'an City, a White Tiger's roar reverberated, its monstrous killing intent rampant. The world turned blood-red, as if it were the beginning of creation, or as if countless divine armies had formed a grand formation, intending to sweep through the heavens.
Suddenly, the world lost its color and plunged into darkness. A blood-red giant eye appeared, like an immortal or demon from the upper realm looking down on all beings. With a single cry, heaven and earth revived, and the divine sun descended!
Just then, within the Western Hundred Cities' territory, all living beings gazed at the sky in terror. A mysterious giant horn appeared, emitting dazzling divine light. As it emerged, the heavens collapsed!
...
At this moment, the entire Western Hundred Cities fell silent. Within Lingzhou, Zhixin, with his hands clasped, strode through the void, appearing at the zenith of Lingzhou's sky. His Buddha-eyes shimmered with golden light.
"Vermillion Bird!"
"That is the divine fire of the Vermillion Bird!"
"The Vermillion Bird and the Phoenix clan have long since vanished from the Three Thousand Dao Provinces. Where did this divine soul come from?"
"The West?"
"It's the West, the direction of Chang'an City!"
At the Primordial Divine Mountain, three cries resounded for thousands of miles. The clan leaders of the Fire Phoenix, Seven-Colored Divine Phoenix, and Nine-Headed Phoenix tribes ascended to the sky, their eyes lost in disbelief as they gazed at the indescribable phenomenon.
"It's the Heavenly Emperor of the Great Han!"
At some point, Xia Xinyu appeared beside the three. Her face was calm. After meeting in the imperial palace twenty years ago, she knew that Yang Hao harbored a divine soul of the Vermillion Bird divine beast within him, though it was very weak then.
Despite its weakness, it was still the Vermillion Bird divine beast!
"The Heavenly Emperor of the Great Han?"
The leader of the Fire Phoenix clan turned his head and looked at Xia Xinyu, who resembled a fairy. "Princess, that is the Vermillion Bird divine beast. If it is allowed to grow, it will be a powerful being capable of pushing aside the Three Thousand Dao Provinces with ease!"
"Princess, look, it's not just the Vermillion Bird divine beast, I also see the White Tiger and the Azure Dragon among them!"
"Mmm."
Xia Xinyu nodded. "I must leave. I will take Hong'er and the other two with me. There's a memory I haven't recalled, and I need to go to Undying City."
"Esteemed clan leaders, of the eighty-seven Dao Provinces in the Western Hundred Cities, twenty-two have already entered the territory of the Great Han Celestial Dynasty."
"Today's phenomenon in the sky suggests that the Western Hundred Cities will fall into the hands of the Great Han before the end of the year. Yaoguang is not capable, and neither are you!"
"The Primordial Divine Mountain lost its hegemonic position the moment the Phoenix clan disappeared. Its current survival is merely due to past sentiments with the eight great families. Now that those sentiments are severed, you must make preparations, not for yourselves, but for the disciples of your three clans."
"You must fend for yourselves!"
With that, Xia Xinyu's figure vanished, leaving only the three clan leaders in the vast void.
"Where has the army of the Great Han reached now?"
Gazing at the celestial phenomenon, the Fire Phoenix clan leader pondered for a moment.
"According to news from the clan, the White Tiger Legion has reached the border of the Yuhua Divine Dynasty. Yuhua Mingda cannot hold on; Cao Wei alone could destroy Yuhua. The Great Han's actions are merely to use the Yuhua Divine Dynasty to better deter the twenty-two Dao Provinces of the Yuhua region."
"Furthermore, the Great Han Celestial Dynasty's Kui Niu Legion has reached the border of the Feng'an Divine Dynasty. The army led by Holy King Bu Pinglong of the Yaoguang Divine Dynasty has already penetrated the Feng'an Divine Dynasty."
"Holy King Bu Pinglong, a Saint King, might not last long!"
The Seven-Colored Phoenix clan leader's face contorted in pain.
"Senior Zhixin is now a citizen of the Great Han Celestial Dynasty. I hope the Heavenly Emperor of the Great Han, in consideration of our ancestor, will spare our Primordial Divine Mountain a way to survive!"
...
"Where is this coming from..."
A roar echoed through heaven and earth. In the sky of the Haiyun Divine Dynasty, a middle-aged man appeared, clad in a dragon robe and wearing a dragon crown. Dragon roars emanated from him. In his palms, a dense imperial aura was brewing. A golden seal, entwined with nine dragons, hung from his waist, its national destiny immeasurable.
"Is that?"
The moment the man in the dragon robe appeared, all beings in the imperial capital of the Haiyun Divine Dynasty were shocked. Indeed! That was Hai Yao, the Divine Emperor of the Haiyun Divine Dynasty, a powerful being at the ninth level of the Saint King realm.
He was only one step away from the Great Saint realm!
Since the subjugation of the Western Hundred Cities, not a single Great Saint realm being had appeared in the eighty-seven Dao Provinces of the Western Hundred Cities, even to this day.
Before the Great Han Celestial Dynasty emerged, legends of three hegemons circulated among the major powers of the Western Hundred Cities. These three hegemons corresponded to individuals, not forces. These three were Hai Yao, the Divine Emperor of the Haiyun Divine Dynasty; Zhixin of the Buddhist Underworld Temple; and the deceased Divine Emperor of the Yaoguang Divine Dynasty.
However, even though the Divine Emperor of the Yaoguang Divine Dynasty had passed away, the Yaoguang Divine Dynasty's status as the paramount hegemon of the Western Hundred Cities remained unshaken.
Within the imperial lineage of the Yaoguang Divine Dynasty, there was an elder. Although his foundation had been excavated to its extreme, and he had no further possibility of advancement, he was still a formidable being at the ninth level of the Saint King realm.
Despite the demise of the former Divine Emperor of the Yaoguang Divine Dynasty, with this elder present, its hegemonic position remained secure.
Now that Zhixin had joined the Great Han Celestial Dynasty, the Great Han Celestial Dynasty had directly annihilated the Tianyuan Sect with one move, and two armies were heading straight for the Feng'an and Yuhua Divine Dynasties.