#510 - Talk about the rules (4000 words)

Emperor Wu's words echoed across the plaza.

The hearts of all the sect leaders present trembled.

In the eyes of these sect leaders, wasn't the relationship between the Wu Kingdom and the various sects already in the best possible state?

We give you face, and we attend your Myriad Dharma Assembly, outwardly acknowledging you as ruler.

In return, you provide us with disciples.

If our disciples need a place to train, they can come to your Wu Kingdom, and you only need to provide some resources; our disciples will then subdue demons and monsters for you.

Everyone gets what they need; hasn't it always been this way?

Not just between the Wu Kingdom and the major sects.

Isn't it the same with other dynasties in the world?

Why is it that when it comes to you, it's not the best state?

How does your Wu Kingdom compare to the Qi Kingdom? How does it compare to the Chu Kingdom? How does it compare to the Wei Kingdom?

Although your Wu Kingdom is one of the Ten Great Dynasties of the Human Race, it is the youngest, the least established, and the most lacking in foundation.

And you, in your current state, still want something special?

"I wonder, Your Majesty, what do you mean by this?"

A Jade Purity Realm sect leader stood up and spoke.

In reality, this Jade Purity Realm sect leader's words already contained a hint of impoliteness; there was even a sense of questioning in his tone.

Emperor Wu naturally heard it, but he continued to speak, his expression extremely calm:

"The relationship between the Wu Kingdom and the various sects and factions is still the same as before, with not much difference.

But, in My opinion, this is far from enough.

On the border of the Wu Kingdom, there is White River County, which contains four aristocratic families, and these four families are supported by four sects.

With the support of those four sects, those four families are extremely arrogant, having influence everywhere, and have almost devoured all the industries in White River County.

Several magistrates of our White River County have been unable to do anything about those four sects.

And those four sects can receive dividends from those four families.

In Jiangnan Prefecture, an inner disciple of a sect took a fancy to a woman who was already engaged, and forcibly abducted her to be a maid.

The woman's father filed a complaint for a long time, but to no avail.

Qingle City, the city lord of Qingle City is relatively close to the Three Seas Sect; although Qingle City is the territory of my Wu Kingdom, he needs to consider the Three Seas Sect's expression in everything he does.

The Legalists have a saying—'Knights use martial arts to disrupt the law, and Confucians use literature to disrupt the law.'

But in everyone's opinion, what about cultivators?"

Sect Leaders: “…”

On the plaza, all the sect leaders frowned, their expressions extremely displeased.

They all knew that Emperor Wu wanted to bargain with them.

But they were unwilling to accept it, not even a little bit!

If they accepted this kind of thing, what would happen in the future?

One step back, and you retreat step by step.

Moreover, since ancient times, it has always been mortal dynasties yielding to sects.

There has never been a case of sects yielding to mortal dynasties.

"Your Majesty is right!" A sect leader stepped forward, cupping his hands in salute, "Our sect's disciples naturally need to be restrained; after this old man returns, I will have a good talk with them!"

This sect leader seemed to agree with Emperor Wu very much, as if he really stood on Emperor Wu's side.

But in reality, they were just saying it verbally.

After returning, they wouldn't mention it at all, as if this incident had never happened.

Such things were too common.

In the past, Emperor Wu would turn a blind eye and laugh along with them.

But now, Emperor Wu didn't want to do that anymore.

Emperor Wu would not play Tai Chi with them this time.

Otherwise, this Myriad Dharma Assembly would be meaningless.

Emperor Wu stood up, with his hands behind his back, pacing back and forth on the high platform: "There is a saying that I have always liked very much, 'Without rules, there can be no order.' Verbal constraints are ultimately useless, so, I want you all to sign something."

A female sect leader stepped forward: "I wonder what Your Majesty wants us to sign?"

"It's nothing much; it's just a set of rules."

As the words fell, Emperor Wu waved his hand, and the mountain and river luck in the sky above the palace continued to condense, finally forming a golden paper.

On this golden paper, one black character after another appeared.

Everyone watched intently at the black characters on the golden paper.

"One. Within the Wu Kingdom, Wu Kingdom law is equal to that of cultivators; those who kill innocent people indiscriminately will pay with their lives."

"Two. Within the Wu Kingdom, the various sects and factions must not interfere with the mortal affairs of the Wu Kingdom."

"Three. The various sects and factions must obey the Wu Kingdom's dispatch, and the various sect leaders need to be conferred by the Emperor of the Wu Kingdom."

"Four…"

One rule after another appeared in front of everyone.

The more they looked, the more these people frowned.

How could they possibly accept these rules?!

In the eyes of these sect leaders, Emperor Wu was simply daydreaming!

Not to mention these sect leaders.

Even the officials of the Wu Kingdom who saw the rules on the golden paper couldn't help but gasp.

Cold sweat broke out on their foreheads, and they looked at their Emperor in disbelief! They wondered what had happened to their usually calm Emperor?

In fact, many of the officials in the court also had connections with the sects.

After all, sect cultivation also required resources, and they could get what they needed.

Of course, there were also officials who disliked these sects of the Wu Kingdom and had long wanted to rectify them!

But now, no matter what attitude these officials had towards these sects.

At this moment, they all realized one thing.

His Majesty was about to fall out with these sects.

On the vast plaza, no one spoke, and the entire plaza fell into silence.

Some sect leaders read these rules over and over again, suspecting that they had misread.

Some sect leaders looked at Emperor Wu, thinking whether this Emperor of the Wu Kingdom was crazy?

How could he think of doing these things?

What ability did he have?

Or rather?

How dare he?

"Your Majesty, these rules that you have formulated, I am afraid it will be difficult for us to accept," the Flying Fish Sect leader stepped forward and said, his expression extremely ugly.

In his opinion, being able to attend this Myriad Dharma Assembly and outwardly respect you was already giving you the greatest face.

But he didn't expect that you would even want to push your luck, not being satisfied with being the boss in name only, and even wanting to truly be our boss?!

Especially that one, "The sect leaders of the various sects and factions need the recognition and conferment of the Emperor of the Wu Kingdom"?

It was simply laughable!!!

Did you think we were your Wu Kingdom's feudal lords?

Since ancient times, there has only been the principle of sects controlling human dynasties, and there has never been a principle of human dynasties controlling sects!

"Your Majesty, these rules that you have formulated are very inappropriate; we were originally in a cooperative relationship," another sect leader said.

"Your Majesty, I hope you can withdraw this agreement; the Wu Kingdom has only been established for three hundred years, and to have such a big change, I am afraid it will not be conducive to the development of the dynasty, right?"

"Doesn't Your Majesty worry about the Wu Kingdom being shaken?"

The words of these sect leaders were becoming more and more impolite.

Even their tone contained some threatening meaning.

They looked down on mortals.

They had always believed that mortals were just mortals, and were no longer the same species as them.

And Emperor Wu was just a mortal who could control the mountain and river luck.

But now, this ant actually wanted to control an elephant?

How ridiculous was this?

How outrageous!

Faced with the questioning of these sects, Emperor Wu only curled his lips; Emperor Wu's voice was not loud, but it spread throughout the entire palace: "This time, I am not here to discuss with you, but to inform you!"

As soon as Emperor Wu's words landed, on the top of the palace, the golden dragon kept circling, looking down at everyone.

In the golden vertical pupils, there was nothing but anger and threat.

As if in the next moment, this golden dragon would pounce on them and devour these sect leaders completely.

"Your Majesty, do you want to start a war with us!"

The Baoshan Sect leader looked at Emperor Wu coldly.

He did not expect that after these people refused Emperor Wu, Emperor Wu would threaten them.

The killing intent carried by the golden dragon luck in the sky above the palace was not fake; he really wanted to kill these people!

How dare he?

Even if he was sitting in the palace, like a saint in this place, even the Ascension Realm could not do anything to him, but the problem was that so many of his Upper Five Realms cultivators, how could they be afraid of him alone?

Moreover, behind them were hundreds and thousands of sects! Tens of thousands of cultivators!

"I have said that this time I am here to inform you, not to discuss with you!"

Emperor Wu looked coldly at these guys who disturbed the Wu Kingdom's court and regarded the Wu Kingdom's laws as nothing.

"Those who are willing to sign their names on it can live; those who are unwilling will die!

You choose yourselves!"

When Emperor Wu's words landed, it meant that he had completely torn his face with these sects.

Even if there were some ministers who still wanted to speak for these sects, to ease the atmosphere and let His Majesty think twice, they could not do it.

To be honest, they really couldn't understand why His Majesty would make such a choice.

This was completely beyond their imagination.

Now, the Wu Kingdom is already very powerful, and its relationship with these sects is also quite good. As long as the orders are not too excessive, such as asking these sects to climb mountains of knives or jump into seas of fire, these sects will generally cooperate.

If the Wu Kingdom breaks with these sects now, it would be equivalent to the Wu Kingdom going to war with all the sects within its borders.

This is a very troublesome matter. If the northern barbarians move out at this time, or the demons of the Southern Border Demon Kingdom attack again, it will not be a simple case of internal and external troubles.

At that time, the Wu Kingdom might already be on the verge of life and death.

Just as the Wu Emperor was confronting these sect leaders, the corners of Xiliang King, Wu Tianhu's, mouth curved up.

He was waiting for just such a moment.

Previously, he had gone to Tianji City and met the city lord of Tianji City.

Wu Tianhu asked him to calculate a divination.

The city lord of Tianji City stated that if Wu Tianhu wanted to become the supreme ruler, the best opportunity would be the next Myriad Dharma Assembly of the Wu Kingdom.

And the next Myriad Dharma Assembly would be moved forward by a year.

Therefore, this time, Xiliang King, Wu Tianhu, came to Wudu not only to have his son marry Wu Yanhuan.

Marrying Wu Yanhuan was just an excuse, and also an attempt.

More importantly, he wanted to come to this Myriad Dharma Assembly to see what would happen.

But unexpectedly, the Wu Emperor seemed to have gone mad and wanted to devour these sects.

Wu Tianhu knew that now was the time for him to step forward.

Wu Tianhu stood up, walked to the center, and bowed to the Wu Emperor: "Nephew, stop talking nonsense! Quickly apologize to these sect leaders!"

Wu Tianhu came out and directly reprimanded the Wu Emperor, his tone very impolite, not treating the Wu Emperor as the emperor of the Wu Kingdom at all.

Under normal circumstances, Wu Tianhu's words would be considered treason and could be punished with the crime of rebellion.

But now, the situation has reached a point of no return.

Everyone has already torn their faces apart, and it is already close to a life-and-death situation, so what does so-called treason matter?

Wu Tianhu wanted to win the support of the major sects through this kind of performance, indicating that he would not be like this young Wu Emperor.

Sure enough, the gazes of these sects all turned to Wu Tianhu.

Most of the sect leaders actually knew Xiliang King, Wu Tianhu.

Moreover, this Wu Tianhu had a good relationship with many sects, often sending people to give gifts to these sects.

The moment Wu Tianhu came out, a thought emerged in the minds of all the sect leaders, which was to let Wu Tianhu replace him.

Since this Wu Emperor is disobedient and does not understand the rules, and wants to forcibly overturn the table, then there is no need for him to continue being the emperor.

If he doesn't want to leave with dignity, then we will help him leave with dignity!

"Uncle, what you said really chills my heart. When Uncle and the founding ancestors fought for the country together, how high-spirited you were, killing gods when gods blocked you, and killing Buddhas when Buddhas blocked you. No one could stop the late emperor and Uncle's footsteps.

The late emperor once said that he wanted to establish a dynasty completely dominated by ordinary people, instead of becoming an appendage of the sects, let alone being a dog for these sects.

Uncle, after 300 years, have you forgotten everything?

Are you already eager to be a dog for these sects?"

The Wu Emperor's words made Xiliang King, Wu Tianhu, frown and his face turn red.

He clenched his fists tightly and slowly said:

"Wu Chang, what you said is completely wrong! The stability of a dynasty requires the support of sects. The sect leaders of these sects are all our friends, this is not a relationship of subordination!"

[Driving back to my hometown, stuck in traffic on the road, feeling numb.

I've been stuck for two hours already, this chapter was written in the car.

After writing one more chapter, it will be my turn to drive.

By the way, will I be able to return to my hometown before twelve o'clock?]