Chapter 1202: The Dilemma

Shi Zongtang remained seated on his dragon throne but his hands were moving continuously as he casted his spell. Streaks of light that were of five different colors condensed together and transformed into a radiant Dao Fruit.

This Dao Fruit drifted upwards to the ceiling of the great hall as ray after ray of light extended in all directions.

Xiling City, the capital city of the Great Qin Empire, looked as if it was converted into a colossal magic formation as innumerable runes and patterns chained together to form a magic formation that loomed over the entire city.

The radiance coming from the magic formation spread out in all directions, as if it was going to blanket over the entire region that belonged to the Great Qin Empire.

And the core of this magic formation was the Great Qin Royal Palace.

Within the royal palace of the Great Qin Empire, streaks of golden light rose up from the ground like uncountable sky pillars as they connected the earth to the heavens.

A five-talon golden dragon shimmered in the sky and danced within the layers of golden light.

There was a large disc formed completely from golden light rotating incessantly at the core of the magic formation in the great royal hall as it sucked on the draconic energies around it.

However, at this very moment, the rotations of the golden light disc appeared to be affected by something as it shuddered and quivered. Red, green, yellow, black and white draconic energies began to dissipate continuously.

The draconic energies that leaked out surged through the void and were condensing towards a point far away in the horizon. In the process of movement, the five-colored light dragons started to change - they began to shed their original color and were gradually tainted with a purple-golden hue.

The purple-golden light dragons vanished into the void. Somewhere in the void, there appeared to be a royal decree that called for all dragons to convene.

And in the Great Zhou Empire far away, voluminous amounts of draconic energies began to aggregate from all directions towards Tianjing City.

The light dragons that belonged to the Great Zhou Empire radiated with purple-golden light. Row after row of light dragons congregated in Tianjing City, while the city was also enveloped by a gargantuan magic formation, so large that it seemed to block out the Sun, as large amounts of draconic energies were sucked into this giant magic formation.

The subjects of the Great Qin Empire inside Xiling City were sullen. Besides Shi Zongtang himself, the other powerful cultivators of the Great Qin Empire stood up one after another before they transformed into streaks of flowing light and surged out of the royal palace, and eventually into the other important structures of the royal palace.

Under their direction, nine enormous pillars of light blasted into the sky from the royal palace and formed a protective dome around it. Their powers were infused into the protective magic formation around Xiling and lent a hand to Shi Zongtang's efforts in stabilizing the draconic energies of the Great Qin Empire and prevent Liang Pan from stealing them.

Shi Zongtang was despondent. He was new to the throne, and the passing of the Energy of Draconic Origin was not yet complete. The previous emperor, Shi Yu, personally led an expedition into the Barren Expanses but met his unfortunate end. This piece of news greatly affected the citizens of the Great Qin Empire, and this caused the inheritance of the Energy of Draconic Origin to become even more unstable.

If there was enough time, the Great Qin Empire would be able to survive past this ordeal by relying upon the defensive formation created and nurtured over Xiling City's long years of existence. Unless the Great Zhou Empire activated their armies and invaded Xiling City, the Great Qin Empire would endure.

However, when the Imperial Palace returned to its former glory, it possessed the unexpected effect of attracting the Energy of Draconic Origin across the entire Divine Lands and, suddenly, the situation of the Great Qin Empire became a lot more precarious.

Emperor Tai was the first human emperor of the Primordial Age and was also the first human emperor to experience the separation of the Grand Celestial World into the Divine Lands and the Barren Expanses as civilization entered the Antiquity Age.

The destiny-level magic item that he forged, the Imperial Palace, had fully recovered ever since the great damage that it sustained all those years ago. This produced an immediate and formless blow to the Great Qin Empire.

The Imperial Palace was dissimilar to the defensive concept of power that was unique to the Immortal Dragon City. The Imperial Palace took after the principles of Emperor Tai himself - to reign supreme over all else, to become the supreme leader of the world and to be the dictator of the age.

Even if the Great Qin Empire still had the Immortal Dragon City, just with respect to the problem of contesting for the Energy of Draconic Origin, they would still be at a disadvantage against the Great Zhou Empire and the Imperial Palace.

If they had the Immortal Dragon City, Shi Zongtang would be able to rely on the defensive capabilities of the Immortal Dragon City to resist and endure this ordeal of inheritance. He would have the opportunity to hinder his adversary's advances in the period of time needed to pass the draconic energies.

But now, even if the magic formation around Xiling City was channeled to its maximum possible power, they could only watch as the Energy of Draconic Origin continued to dissipate and irrevocably slip from their grasp.

What made Shi Zongtang and Shi Zongmao even more upset was the fact that they had just accepted refugees into the Great Qin Empire's borders. The emotions and the hearts of disenfranchised citizens were not yet stabilized, and they were starting to shake even more.

In the middle of their perilous situation, there was a voice that suddenly popped into the heads of the Great Qin Empire's citizens.

"Emperor of the Great Qin Empire, Shi Yu, was too ambitious and blindly invaded the Barren Expanses and met his demise. Without even calculating the deaths of soldiers of the Great Qin Empire, he threw away the Immortal Dragon City and this dragged innocent citizens into the fray and sent everyone into mortal danger. The Great Qin Empire has erred, and this is the consequence."

"The demons have risen and invaded the Divine Lands in force. I am ordained by the heavens, and I will protect my citizens..."

It was the voice of Liang Pan, the current emperor of the Great Zhou Empire. His voice was calm, but there was a majestic feel about it that made it seem like the morning bell that knocked heavily onto everyone's hearts.

The voice belonged to their archenemy, and it was just normal speech, yet there was a mystical force embodied within that stirred up the minds of the Great Qin Empire's citizens and sent them into some sort of trance. They felt as if the contents of the speech no longer mattered, as if they were compelled to kneel and submit to that majestic entity.

The hearts of the Great Qin Empire's citizens appeared to be twisted by some insidious force.

This mystical force didn't produce any form of aggression, and this meant that the defensive formation couldn't do anything at all.

Shi Zongmao was still on his way back to Xiling City. His presence in the royal palace of Xiling City was but a projection with his mana, and he was instantly infuriated by Liang Pan's voice. "That thieving bastard!"

Liang Pan was making it clear that he was bullying the Great Qin Empire for their loss of the Immortal Dragon City, and the fact that they were defenseless against the incredible and formless concept of power produced by the Imperial Palace - he wanted to cut the tree at its roots and dig out the entire foundation of the Great Qin Empire.

The new emperor, Shi Zongtang, was forlorn. Following the continuous destabilization of his citizens' minds, the Great Qin's draconic energies were leaking out even quicker and the process seemed unstoppable.

The solution to the problem as simple. The Great Qin Empire could simply stop congregating their own draconic energies - that way, Liang Pan wouldn't be able to disturb the minds of the Great Qin's citizens without directly attacking Xiling City. Even if he attempted to steal the Energy of Draconic Origin from the outside, it would be a lot less effective.

However, this would mean that the Great Qin Empire would descend into further decadence, on top of the fact that they were already at the bottom of the abyss and had an important hurdle to cross, making their circumstance all the more perilous.

"If we continue like this, we are helping our enemies for free. Larger volumes of draconic energy will be stolen by Liang Pan and the Imperial Palace." Shi Zongtang's brows were tightly knitted together.

Every mistake was bound to lead to another, especially in the backdrop of such a dangerous situation. Everybody watched each other closely, and the moment one party mis-stepped, it would lead to another disaster and then another, till this party reached a point of no return and had no chance of coming back.

The moment he took over the throne, the Great Qin Empire was immediately mired in a brand-new calamity and were instantly thrown into the deep end.

Ceasing their collection of the draconic energies would mean temporarily holding back the Great Zhou Empire and their underhanded move. However, this wasn't beneficial at all to the Great Qin Empire. In the subsequent war between the worlds, they would be defenseless if they weren't strong enough and could only pray that powerful demons wouldn't come knocking on their gates.

While Shi Tianhao and the others would hurry towards Xiling City, nobody would be able to ensure their safety once the war reached its climax.

Even if the Celestial Sect of Wonders sought justice afterwards, whatever loss sustained by the Great Qin Empire was irrevocable. Any form of vengeance and retribution couldn't change the fact that lives and other things were lost and unreturnable.

If they continued to collect the Energy of Draconic Origin, even more of it would be pilfered by the Great Zhou Empire and Shi Zongtang would only retain a small piece of the cake. Without even discussing his exasperation and whether he was willing, the boost in his power and whether it would take effect at all was uncertain.

Shi Zongmao glanced at Shi Zongtang on the dragon throne. They had glum expressions on their faces as Shi Zongtang said slowly, "Like you, and the emperor before me, I don't like to leave my fate in the hands of others. However, we have no choice but to place all our trust in the Celestial Sect of Wonders."

"We will swallow this humiliation to ensure that the Great Qin Empire will our last fighting chance. It's a better decision than letting the Great Zhou Empire profit for free!"

Shi Zongmao watched Shi Zongtang closely but heaved a heavy sigh in the end. "I guess we don't have a choice."

Shi Zongtang pointed at the golden Dao Fruit hovering in the upper regions of the great hall. The Dao Fruit flickered once and was transformed into five-colored rays of flowing light as they dissipated in all directions.

The draconic energies congregating around the lands of the Great Qin Empire paused in their tracks and gradually settled down.

At this moment, a voice rang out from above Xiling City. "The Hades Tribe has returned, and the entire Divine Lands is in peril. I am trying my best to unify the power of the entire human race to resist against the Hades Tribe. This is a responsibility that belongs to everyone, and nobody can deny that."

"If we have the heart yet we are not strong enough, then it is what it is. I will not force anyone. However, the Great Qin Empire decides to protect themselves even though they have strength left - and that is an erroneous decision. Haven't you heard that if a unit of the family falls, the entire family will be at risk?"

Shi Zongtang and the others' expressions changed - it was Liang Pan's voice.

Shi Zongtang could still feel the draconic energies around his body that had yet to dissipate. He immediately detected that something was amiss, and the draconic energies that were connected to him suddenly began to feel an immense pressure.

It was a violent energy, with a force that could break the entire world, and surged forth from the draconic energies that had yet to be disconnected and came straight for Xiling City!

It wasn't possible for the streams of Energy of Draconic Origin to severe themselves forcefully. However, that explosive energy could follow the draconic energies straight into Xiling City. Shi Zongtang's eyes sparkled as he quickly realized what was going on. "Liang Pan, are you redirecting the strength of the Imperial Palace and the draconic energies to Mount Baiyun?"

Liang Pan's calm voice rang out. "Start congregating the draconic energies again. If not, Xiling City cannot resist the power of the Hades Tribe. Not just you - the entire Xiling City will be laid to ruin."

As if it were proving his point, the giant magic formation above Xiling City started to tremble violently. In the heart of the magic formation above the royal palace, lights began to flicker and displayed a stance as if the entire thing was about to collapse.

The powerful cultivators of the Great Qin Empire who were directing the magic formation all began to feel the intense pressure. The weaker ones were already injured as their immortal souls took damage.

Within the royal palace, Shi Zongmao betrayed a look of frustration and helplessness as he roared into the sky. His projection could no longer be maintained and shattered into pieces.