Divine Brilliance

The newly built palace was truly luxurious.

Under the protection of tens of thousands of cavalry, Zong Shou arrived at the place. He was in awe.

Compared to that Hanyan Palace, one was Heaven and one was Earth.

Even if the former was renovated, after all, Zong Weiran was a little stingy when he built it that year.

Who knew who built this palace, it was next to the mountains and rivers. It didn’t chase perfection but it merged well with the land and forest in the area. The pavilions and buildings were all exquisitely built.

It was really majestic and expensive but also filled with beauty and freshness. At a glance, it looked like a paradise, merging into the surroundings with nothing out of place at all.

Not only was the scenery great, but it was also a cultivation saint land.

Even the Juntian Celestial Palace that Zong Shou loved wasn’t as good.

Staying here every day and looking at the naturally formed scenery, the mountains and rocks, fountains, and waterfalls, one would definitely feel refreshed.

Zong Shou felt slightly annoyed.

“Who knew how much this palace cost? Did it come out of the military expenses?”

If it really did, then he really benefited this time.

Hu Zhongyuan who followed along looked at him like he was looking at an idiot.

“How can it all come from military expenses? It is only temporarily borrowing it. Inspector has sent a letter to the Cabinet to ask for funds from the treasury, the Prime Minister already passed it.”

Zong Shou’s face twitched, so that was it. He still needed to pay for this palace himself.

At this point, he would receive 20% of the annual income of Great Gan in the Cloud World. Along with the stone path and the various medicinal gardens, he would earn thousands of Celestial Stones a year.

However, the expenditure was large too. After this battle, he would have to hire more people as well as raise more Spirit Changing Demon Slaying Warriors and Source Ocean Demon Slaying Warriors.

His Book of Eon was also a bottomless pit that couldn’t be filled up.

The palace in front of him was like a slice of a huge chunk of his meat!

If only Renbo agreed it would be useless. However, Kong Yao was his concubine…

“Don’t say so much nonsense, how much does this cause?”

“We invited a few famous aristocratic families in the mid plains and dozens of Celestial Realm cultivators to build protection formations. The materials used are all top, so a total of 400 Low-Grade Celestial Stones. Inspector said that if it was not luxurious, we wouldn’t be able to bait them.

400 Low-Grade stones?

Zong Shou thought to himself. Forget it, it wasn’t much! He was rich and could take it.

A Taiyi God Lightning Ship cost 2,000.

Hu Zhongyuan still continued, “There were also those 300,000 elites who Inspector sent to control and recruit the various tribes. They were all peak Grade Three and there were 20,000 Grade Four ones. Inspector said that you pardoned all prisoners of war and even the south can’t be different. So we had to pay the expenses which was another 120. If not for all these people, how would we be able to build such a palace in just a month?”

Zong Shou nearly spat out blood as his eyes became dizzy. This Kong Yao really didn’t treat money as money, she was really betraying him! His money would be used up by her sooner than later.

The good mood that he was in before was gone now. It did look beautiful and could make one delighted, but each tree and blade of grass here was filled with his blood and tears!

While he sighed, his eyes were filled with praise.

Kong Yao now had 300,000 elite soldiers under her who had been through hundreds of battles.

The land to the south was fertile but it was filled with chaos. To go up against the endless beasts, although it was a desolate area, their martial arts skills and spells were more advanced.

They had little population but the number of experts they produced was much more than any other area. Going through numerous war matters, just gathering them and they could form into an army. There was no need to train them at all.

The barbarian race focused on brotherhood and as long as one attracted them and treated them nicely, they would fight to the death for them. Kong Yao really did well…

He was filled with dejection as he walked into the palace. Then, he saw that the palace was really filled with beauties. Maybe because they came from the south barbarian tribes, but their skin had a healthy color and they were really active unlike the weak servants within the palace.

Hu Zhongyuan was immediately in a daze; he felt as if they were tugging at his soul. His eyes rolled all around and he nearly drooled.

Zong Shou was also distracted for a moment and he thought to himself that Kong Yao actually really dared to place so many beauties in front of him.

He scoffed, did she look down on him? If he really got mad and went crazy he would marry a dozen concubines to make Yiren and her regret it.

He was annoyed, so he vented it out on Hu Zhongyuan, and he smacked his shoulder. True Qi injected in caused cracking sounds to spread through his body. The bones in his body felt like they had all been dislocated.

“What are you looking at? Everything here is mine. How can you look? Look more and I will dig out your eyes!”

Hu Zhongyuan’s body was powerless, he felt like 10,000 ants were biting him as he laid on the ground weakly.

He knew that he was dragged down for no reason but he didn’t care. He smiled, “Ruler, that is inappropriate! You should reward me with one or two, otherwise, how will you gain the hearts of your general?”

“Are you even a good general? How are you even loyal to me?”

Zong Shou scoffed in disdain. He knew that Hu Zhongyuan’s skill was really thick, so he waved his sleeves, “Forget it, I am too lazy to bother with you. These girls will be sent back anyway and I don’t have the power to deal with them. If you like any of them, then go chase them. As long as you don’t force and hold them hostage, it is fine. As long as you can take them away, then so be it!”

He turned around and said, “You all too!”

Those words were said to the other Gantian Generals who followed.

Everyone was delighted, their eyes lit up, looking at the girls like wolves.

Hu Zhongyuan was delighted and was rubbing his palms to prepare to relieve his past as Prince Hu in Gantian Mountain City. Zong Shou suddenly thought about something and gave a smile, “Oh right! I remember that, a day ago, when Concubine Yao chose you to come along, you weren’t willing? You said that it was boring being with me, so you wanted to bring the troops to have a good battle on the battlefield. I thought about it and decided to let you have what you wish. Tomorrow, you can head back to serve her.”

Hu Zhongyuan’s face turned green and he groaned. His Ruler was just too evil.

Chuxue carried her Blood Moon Blade, her hand covering her mouth as she giggled.

Zong Shou didn’t worry about him, and after stepping in, his mood changed.

The palace was already built, and even if it was destroyed, he wouldn’t get the celestial stones back. Rather than feeling annoyed by it, why not relax and enjoy it to make the most out of it?

He was someone who loved luxury, but due to the use of the Book of Eon, he was really poor. Actually, he really loved the palace.

Knowing that this was built by the finances of his treasury, he instead felt more at ease.

Walking out, as expected, everywhere was really beautiful.

There were steps made of white jade, no dust could get onto them. Those stone paths looked ordinary but they were all made out of dove blood stone which was equally as valuable as Grade Seven Mind Stones. Not only was it low profile and beautiful, but it had a different allure to it.

When he walked to the depths of the palace, Zong Shou was even more stunned.

“What a luxurious feast!”

Numerous top celestial brews were all poured into a white jade pond. It flashed white and just the fragrance alone made one drunk.

It wasn’t as exaggerated as a meat forest but the surrounding tables were all filled with delicious dishes and the smell made one drool.

Wine and dishes placed together made one tempted.

It was much more than what Jiezhou had in the past.

He recalled in the ancient records that Jiezhou only hung pieces of cooked meat beside a wine pond.

How could it compare to now when there were top chefs cooking for him?

The times of meat forests were long gone.

“Who knew that Little Yao had fallen too!”

Zong Shou felt heart pained. At the start, when Kong Yao looked at his golden brick hall, she looked over in disdain.

He took out a jade cup and scooped out of the pool.

He tasted it and felt that the sweetness was like that of fruits, flowing down into his throat.

Zong Shou was stunned, “Nine Fragrance Linglu, did it come out of the hands of Shangguan Zhenru?”

Zong Shou had long heard about this woman who caused Lei Dong and Ruotao to fall for her. He had also tasted the wine she brewed but didn’t see her before.

The generals behind him had eyes filled with shock. A female official bowed, “It is, half a month ago, Concubine Yao bought 50 jugs.”

Zong Shou broke into a laugh, was she worried he would be lonely here?

With wine to accompany him was not bad.

“Since there is wine and meat, then let’s call this Jiuchi Palace!”

He noticed long ago that this palace still hadn’t had a name.

“Jiuchi Palace?”

Hu Zhongyuan pinched his lower chin and thought about it seriously, “Not bad! I think we should call it Gold Palace, White Jade Palace, or Meat Forest Palace, it is more fitting of your identity as an Ignorant Ruler…”

Before he finished, Zong Shou smacked him such that he didn’t dare to say anything more.

Just at this moment, Zong Shou saw a spiritual light land in front of him.

It was a letter which he grabbed and then he laughed, “My army won, killing 320,000!”

Half a day ago, Kong Yao’s army started to leave Jade Straits.

However, when Great Shang was chasing and their troops passed that sword crack, they fought back. Pretty much killing the Great Shang troops there, forcing them to retreat to the north shore and look on as the Great Gan Army backed off.