Spirit Vessel

"Pluff!" Blood gushed out and began to burn in the air. Beiming Moshou's arm dropped to the ground.

Everyone was shocked!

Moshou was pale with disorderly hair. He gritted his teeth: "Feng Feiyun, you win this time, but I will pay this humiliation back a hundred, no, a thousand times over!"

He swallowed a spirit pill to stop the blood loss. He was frightened due to his armor being broken through so he instantly flew up to escape.

Such a twist of events - a Super Giant like him, the Grand Chancellor of Jin, below one and above all - needing to run before a youth who has yet to hit witney of age. His reputation was ruined now.

"Whoosh!" Feiyun used his Swift Samsara and moved as fast as lightning to instantly catch up. He gathered the power of the beasts into his fist before punching Moshou's head, cracking it open and revealing the skull inside.

Moshou didn't die instantly since he was powerful, only falling down from the clouds.

Feiyun continued to land a barrage of punch on the guy until all of his bones shattered.

The Grand Chancellor had fallen. The world was shocked today; its people would tremble.

His mansion suffered the most terrible massacre and pillage by the Martial Army. Who knows if there were survivors?

The Beiming members' blood flowed like rivers. More than one hundred masters fell down.

Eventually, people found a total of 176 graves erected in what's left of the mansion. No one knew who built these graves but the names on the tombstones were carved with blood.

Princess Luofu survived the ordeal. She had left a stand of her soul on the sacred tablet so she was blessed with providence. Since she still had some soul left in her body as well, the Grand Tutor fed her a sixth-ranked Soulback Pill and saved her.

She woke up after three days. On the ninth day, she officially became the eighth-generation emperor of the Jin Dynasty after the ceremony - also the second empress in its history.

"Empress, the Grand Chancellor and his family might have been killed, but the Beiming Clan is still powerful with remnants everywhere after accumulating for thousands of years. Completely eliminating them will be difficult." An elegant and scholarly female official stood behind Long Luofu with a notebook in her hand.

She was Yao Ji who supported the princess to take the throne via planning and scheming. After the coronation, she became the most trusted official. Being given a royal title was not out of the question in the future.

Long Luofu stood in the center of the palace with her left hand behind her back, wearing the Regal Dragon Robe and an imperial crest. She stared at the gigantic dragon carved onto the wall and said: "They're one of the four great clans, it won't be this easy to uproot them. The greatest threat is still Beiming Potian, one of the dragons in the contemporary. If he were to mature, he'll try and devour the sky. Send my decree to the world - anyone who can bring me his head will be bestowed a county."

The new empress was alone with Yao Ji. After a long silence, she asked: "Is he still by the river?"

Yao Ji nodded.

***

After killing Long Shenya and Beiming Moshou, Feng Feiyun, bloodied, looked like a fool. He walked southward until he made it to the Jin River.

The tall waves continued on. A statue of a goddess towering at 1,874 meters was there - looking exactly like Shui Yueting.

He stared at it for a long time with Dongfang Jingyue behind him.

She was the only one who dared to hang around him after his demonic state.

Suddenly, he leaped into the sky, full of bloodthirst, and landed on the goddess' head before unleashing a mighty punch downward.

A crack starting from the head of the statue spread all the way to the soles. Next, cracks appeared all over the place.

This statue that has been around for several thousand years crumbled. Massive boulders fell to the bottom, nearly cutting the current off completely.

The monks on the mountain nearby were shocked after witnessing this terrible scene.

"What has he done!? The statue of the goddess has been here forever!"

"Amitabha! Feng Feiyun has gone mad! This collapse will herald an unimaginable calamity."

These monks began to chant, alarmed at the incoming calamity.

***

After breaking Yueting's statue, Feiyun jumped onto the cliff facing the monastery on the other side.

He took out his weapon essence and turned it into a saber. He began to carve at the top. Mud and rocks went flying everywhere, rolling down the cliff.

No one knew what he was trying to do and thought that he had gone crazy until several days later. They finally saw that he was carving a statue.

This cliff was several thousand meters high, who was he trying to carve?

After ten days, the head could finally be seen, around 300 to 500 meters large. The ears alone were gigantic. This was a gorgeous face - willowy brows, eyes like the limpid autumn water, exquisitely sculpted nose. This statue looked quite animated with a beauty not belonging to this world.

The monks stopped chanting as they were enchanted by the statue's beautiful face. An older nun on the other side of the river couldn't help but praise: "Feng Feiyun had carved a face beyond the mortal realm, will he be able to carve a figure worthy of it?"

Dongfang Jingyue stood there quietly, watching him destroying the statue to building one for Nangong Hongyan. She didn't move an inch, and neither did her emotions.

Three months passed by just like that. Feiyun had finally finished the last toe.

He didn't drink a drop of water or closed his eyes once. His hands were frazzled, fully stained with blood.

The statue was finally completed, towering at 1,875 meters, exactly one meter taller than the previous one of Shui Yueting.

Each strand of hair was carved with love and attention, containing an aura identical to that of Nangong Hongyan. How much love did it take to build this vivid work of art?

Feiyun didn't stop there and used his weapon essence to carve two words on the cliff to the right of the statue: "Supreme Goddess."

***

On that night, rain poured down with rumbling thunder.

"Supreme Goddess." In the imperial palace, Long Luofu walked back and forth below her palace's eaves-tiles, next to the rain and flashing thunder.

Yao Ji, adorned in a full female official robe, said with an insightful gaze: "Nangong Hongyan was killed in the fire formation; her soul is gone with no chance for rebirth. Feng Feiyun wants to deify her. As long as people worship this so-called Supreme Goddess, it will earn enough faith power to turn into a fiend."

"Yao Ji, you know the fiends very well. Just how much incense and faith are required to give birth to a divine source in that statue? Will it be able to condense a divine soul and have a human figure?" Luofu asked.

"The seventy-two countries to the west of Jin.. each of them have less population than 1/1000th of ours. Buddha Alun of Jizu required three thousand years of worship to have a divine source, then another two thousand more years of incense offering to have a soul. Five thousand years in total to come out of his statue as a fiend."

"The Sky God of Poliu accumulated 2,400 years of worship before obtaining a divine source, then another 1,800 years of incense to have a soul - 4,200 years altogether."

"These are two small countries with a limited population, so limited worship and incense. That's why it took so long." Yao Ji had a deep knowledge of the Yin World as well as the fiends. This made people curious about her real identity.

She eventually said: "Jin Empress, what do you think?"

"The dragons will devour the sky while the Supreme protect… the dragons will devour the sky while the Supreme protects…" Luofu murmured to herself, lost in contemplation. [1]

She eventually said: "Jin is chaotic with unrest everywhere, internal and external threats, the citizens are mourning and praying for peace, so they will need faith and hope, a personal one. Heed my order, I shall make Supreme Goddess as our national deity. All prefectures, counties, cities, cantons, towns, and even villages will need to build a shrine dedicated to her, ensuring peace and good weather."

In order to rule a kingdom, one would need solidarity - such as using faith and deities. It was a way of consolidating power.

This has happened many times in the past.

Some dynasties propped up sages, praising emperors as sons of the heavens, or bestowing the prestigious officials as deities…

Luofu wished to use Supreme Goddess as a way to connect the people while turning that symbol into something beneficial for her own reign.

Feiyun wished to create a god while Luofu wished to take advantage of this.

"Jin Empress, it has been quite busy since your coronation. The Grand Preceptor told me to ask you about a lack of an imperial title for your era. What would you like it to be?" Yao Ji asked.

Luofu stared into the rain before uttering: "Taiwei."

"First year and third month of Taiwei. The great Jin Empress bestow the Supreme Goddess the role of our national deity." The court scribe wrote this down on the imperial records. [2]

1. The original phrase is astronomy-based and meant to be vague. At that point, I thought it was referring to the red planet, or Mars in modern language. Now I know it's one of the constellations - Supreme Palace Enclosure. It would make sense that it acts as a protector. I changed all the relevant text to Supreme now.

2. Supreme's pinyin is Taiwei, so the year xxx of Taiwei, just like the year xxx of Reiwa or Heisei Era in Japanese. Just keep in mind that it means Supreme, the same symbols used for Hongyan's statue