By now, the terror that the corpse’s revival had brought upon everyone had already receded.
All the civil officials—whether of the Donglin Party, remnants of the eunuch faction, or moderates—had forgotten their factional struggles, forgotten Yuan Chonghuan, forgotten the Later Jin.
At this moment, they wanted only to seek immortals.
Faced with their questions, Chongzhen nodded slightly.
Merely having “a corpse speak” was not enough to make these scholar-officials, who had read the books of the sages and revered ghosts and spirits while keeping them at a distance, believe completely.
He needed to display methods more pure, more in line with their imaginings of the immortal arts.
“We know that if We do not allow you, Our beloved ministers, to witness it with your own eyes, you will inevitably harbor doubts.”
Chongzhen’s gaze swept across the hall, taking in every expression on their faces.
“In that case, We shall let you see what is meant by the wondrous arts of immortals.”
The moment his words fell, Chongzhen’s gaze abruptly locked onto Zhou Yanru, the Minister of Rites, who stood in the front row, still shaken and unsteady.
“Minister Zhou.”
Chongzhen smiled.
“Be careful.”
Before Zhou Yanru could react, he saw the emperor upon the throne loosely gather his five fingers, then flick them lightly—
Whoosh!
A streak of white light, condensed as if solid and dazzling to the eye, shot forth like an arrow loosed from a bowstring!
Its speed was beyond what the naked eye could catch.
Zhou Yanru had no time at all to make any movement before he felt a burning, stabbing pain atop his head.
Then came the smell of something scorched.
Zhou Yanru instinctively reached up to touch it, only to be scalded and hastily blow on his fingers.
In the eyes of the others, however, a fist-sized hole had appeared right in the center of the black gauze hat that symbolized his status as a second-rank official.
Only after a long while did Zhou Yanru realize the fiery pain atop his head.
This time, he finally touched his bare scalp.
“Ah!”
Zhou Yanru let out a scream that hardly sounded human, both hands flailing as he covered the top of his head. His entire body trembled from extreme terror; not the slightest bearing of a weighty court minister remained.
“Your Majesty!”
“Quick, protect His Majesty… er, it seems there is no need?”
“What kind of demonic—immortal art is this?!”
The officials erupted into an uproar.
Quite a few were so frightened that they retreated again and again, as though that arrow of light would shoot toward them the very next instant.
They had seen it clearly: the emperor had merely flicked his hand casually, yet had unleashed an attack sharper than that of a powerful bow.
Faced with Zhou Yanru’s wretched state and the astonished cries of the crowd, Emperor Chongzhen explained calmly:
“This is a crude minor technique known as the Condensed Spirit Arrow. As the name suggests, it is to highly condense the spiritual power cultivated within the body and shoot it out like an arrow. To cultivators, it is nothing more than a basic method of attack.”
The assembled officials listened, dumbstruck.
With such power, if it were aimed at the chest or head, would it not kill in an instant?
And this was only “basic”?
Before everyone could finish digesting their shock, Emperor Chongzhen moved again.
He raised both hands and formed a square-shaped hand seal.
“Bzz…”
An invisible ripple spread outward from him as its center.
There was no heaven-shaking, earth-shattering spectacle.
But everyone in the hall soon sensed something strange—
It was sound.
Sound had vanished.
Cries of alarm, breathing, whispered conversations, even the sound of heartbeats—all had disappeared!
Everyone opened their mouths wide and shouted at the colleagues beside them in disbelief, yet they could only feel the vibration in their own throats.
Strangely, however, the howling of the cold wind outside the hall and the calls of birds carried in with perfect clarity.
Chongzhen reversed the gesture of his hand seal.
Cries of alarm and sounds of breathing flooded back into everyone’s ears, as though the silence just now had been nothing but an illusion.
But they soon discovered:
Outside the hall had suddenly fallen silent, as though there were no wind in the world, no birds at all.
This method of controlling sound was even more inconceivable to them than the Condensed Spirit Arrow!
Chongzhen dispersed the hand seal.
Everything returned to normal.
“This is the Silence Spell. Depending on the hand seal formed, it can designate an area or range and produce various effects that prohibit the transmission of sound. It can be used for secret conversations, or to disrupt and confuse enemies.”
Aside from gaping in astonishment, how else could the crowd react?
At last, Chongzhen turned his gaze toward the center of the great hall, toward Mao Wenlong’s coffin.
He raised his hands in the air, making a lifting motion.
The next moment, the coffin lid that had been lying on the floor actually rose into the air by itself!
It ascended steadily, passed over the coffin, then settled onto it with a perfect fit.
This time, even Han Kuang, Wen Tiren, and the others who were best able to keep their composure showed horror in their eyes.
“This method is called Seizing Objects Across Space. Without contact, one can use spiritual power to manipulate objects. At first, it is no more than moving cups and dishes, but when cultivated to great depths, moving mountains and filling seas is no empty fantasy.”
With the demonstration of spells complete, Emperor Chongzhen flicked his sleeve and turned around, calmly seating himself once more upon the dragon throne.
From his elevated position, he looked down at the officials below, who were like wooden carvings and clay statues, and asked indifferently:
“Do you, Our beloved ministers, now believe that We have indeed learned immortal arts and received the favor of Heaven?”
Silence.
After a deathly silence.
As hereditary nobles whose titles were passed down without diminution, Duke Chengguo Zhu Chuncheng, Duke Yingguo Zhang Weixian, and the others were the first to react.
Their fortunes rose and fell with the state, and their dependence on imperial authority was the strongest.
Having witnessed such a divine miracle and realized that the emperor had truly obtained power beyond the mortal world, they almost simultaneously knocked their heads to the ground:
“Your Majesty is a true dragon Son of Heaven, blessed with an immortal destiny. This is truly the fortune of all people, the blessing of the Great Ming!”
“Heaven protects the Great Ming and has bestowed immortal arts upon Your Majesty!”
“Congratulations to Your Majesty! Congratulations to the Great Ming!”
With the nobles taking the lead, the civil officials also awoke from their shock.
Han Kuang and Wen Tiren, these two leaders of differing political views, exchanged a glance at this moment and both saw swiftly kindling ambition in the other’s eyes.
Almost at the same time, the two lifted their robes and knelt, leading the civil officials to kneel as a group. Their cries, though not as fervent as those of the nobles, were filled with awe:
“We, your subjects, respectfully congratulate Your Majesty for glimpsing the immortal path!”
“Your Majesty’s fortune is as vast as the heavens, protected by Zhenwu!”
“May you forever enjoy immortal blessings, and may your lifespan equal the heavens!”
Emperor Chongzhen raised his hand faintly.
“Rise, all of you.”
Zhou Yanru, whose coiffure had been pierced through with a hole, awkwardly supported one side of his official hat to hide his embarrassment while asking in as tactful a tone as possible:
“Your Majesty’s immortal arts are profound and mysterious; we are utterly convinced! It is only that this subject wonders whether the Great Emperor Zhenwu, Subduer of Demons, aside from teaching Your Majesty immortal arts, has also handed down any other immortal decrees? Has he any instructions for the rivers and mountains of our Great Ming?”
He had practically asked the question that lay in the heart of every official.
That an immortal had taught the emperor immortal arts was astonishing, of course, but if this immortal destiny could benefit the nation, and benefit them, his subjects…
Emperor Chongzhen’s gaze grew deep as he looked toward the endlessly distant void and said solemnly:
“The Immortal Emperor has indeed handed down a decree.”
He paused, lifting everyone’s heart into their throat.
“He too is concerned for the common people of the Great Ming and wishes to see Huaxia flourish. However, the Great Emperor and the immortals of the Heavenly Court have long been beyond the cosmos, protecting the myriad heavens and worlds. They cannot divide their attention to shelter one corner of the mortal realm.”
Hearing that they could not “protect them at all times,” a few people’s faces showed slight disappointment.
But Chongzhen’s next words exploded beside their ears like a thunderclap:
“Thus, the Great Emperor has commanded Us, in this land bereft of spiritual energy, to open an immortal path in the mortal world and gather anew the spiritual vitality of heaven and earth. We are to transform the Great Ming into a flourishing age of cultivation and strengthen the foundation of Our race. In the future, we shall roam beyond the heavens and together protect the cosmos.”