Chapter 276.1: The Flesh and Blood Progenitor Descends on the Capital of Jing! The Emperor Bows His Head and the Demon God Appears! (I)

Something huge had happened in the Jing Dynasty!

The old emperor, who had supposedly died, had turned up suddenly with a healthy glow on his face and a strong body. Then came a series of struggles as the old emperor's ways were nothing the young emperor could match.

A number of the ministers who had previously served him rallied to his side one after another. Inside a single month, he had climbed back onto the throne and was ruling the realm again. It seemed simple, but a great deal of cruel fighting had occurred behind the scenes.

Regardless, the upheaval was good news for the Temple of Flesh and Blood. As it happened, Chen Ping was reporting on exactly that.

"It's said that the old emperor swallowed blood from a blood descendant and converted himself. It even goes further than the emperor, progenitor.

“A great many of the high officials and nobles in the capital of Jing, all once men who were riddled with sickness or worn down by age and hanging on by a thread, have quietly swallowed our blood descendant's blood and converted.

“That's why the argument over our temple at court has been heating up. There are a good many ministers backing us now, and the old emperor's own attitude is far from ordinary."

The news came as a small surprise to Lu Changsheng, but upon thinking a little, it was clear why it happened.

The Jing Dynasty held the half-demons of the Demon God Ministry in its hand, but what of it? A half-demon was a half-demon and a man was a man. The two were nothing alike. Men grow old, fall sick, and die while half-demons do not. Whatever went out to deal with true demons was a demon itself at the core, and had nothing to do with humanity. People stayed fragile throughout.

When a man grew old and came down to his last breath, a half-demon could do nothing for him. A half-demon's blood did a man no good at all. On the contrary, it would probably work as a summons to their grave, so nobody dared try swallowing demon blood. Doing that was the same as looking for your own death.

However, blood descendants were another matter. One drop of blood was all it took to convert a man, and it strengthened his body, provided him with energy and a long life, all with no side effects anywhere.

Who would not want to be a blood descendant on those terms? What ordinary man could hold out against a temptation like that? The old emperor himself had not managed it, so what hope had anyone else?

"Chen Ping, keep this in mind. A man converted into a blood descendant would not necessarily turn his heart toward the temple. A blood descendant is a blood descendant; the temple is the temple.

“There is a wall between any two hearts, and even a blood descendant keeps his own thoughts behind it.

"Those high officials and nobles, including the old emperor, may well want the temple rooted out entirely so they can hold the blood descendants in their own hands. However, they will never know what being a blood descendant actually means..."

A thread of a smile showed on his face.

There was, in fact, a side effect to being a blood descendant, and it simply happened to rest in Lu Changsheng's hands. He had never made it public, and it belonged to him alone, to the Flesh and Blood Progenitor and nobody else.

The side effect was a simple one. Every blood descendant would obey an order from the Flesh and Blood Progenitor. Regardless of their identity, no one could defy such an order. That was the single side effect of being a blood descendant.

"At this pace, the temple will take far too long to convert the whole of the Jing Dynasty, and fighting the dynasty only brings benefits to the demons. What is happening now suits us well. With the old emperor and a great many ministers and nobles converted, it makes everything easier for us.

"I will go to the capital of Jing myself and have a proper talk with him. Get ready, Chen Ping. The temple is going to be carried across the whole dynasty to convert every single person, and the preparation starts now."

A chill went down Chen Ping's spine. Convert the entire Jing Dynasty into blood descendants? What kind of madness was that?

Nonetheless, thinking back on the things the progenitor had already done, it was not impossible at all. The temple was in control of a whole province, and its strength was formidable. Converting thirteen more provinces of the Jing Dynasty ought to present no difficulty at all.

"Rest easy, Progenitor. I will have it all arranged properly such that the moment the temple can be carried across the dynasty, every blood descendant will spread over the Jing Dynasty in the shortest time possible. As for the capital, it is the Demon God Ministry's ground. I would have to ask you to take care of things there." Chen Ping slid in the warning carefully.

The Demon God Ministry had a demon god in it, and a demon god was equivalent to an ancient demon standing above the demon kings. In the demon nation and in the human dynasties alike, the strongest things in plain view were the ancient demons and the demon gods. The Demon Progenitors were too far lost in history, far enough that a good many people had nearly forgotten they existed at all.

"It doesn't matter. Meeting the demon god of the capital is exactly what I am going for."

There was a sentence that Lu Changsheng left unsaid. He currently stood at Fifth Growth; any progress from training alone had slowed badly. With only about seven more years left until the end of the ten, the pace he was making was not enough to reach Sixth Growth.

The only way to change that was to scrape up something good. The capital of Jing, for instance, was one, and the Demon God Ministry was another. There would be good things in obtaining both, and he was not going to return from his trip empty-handed.

With that, he left Shanan Prefecture alone and went straight for the capital of Jing. A month later, he finally arrived.

In that month, his Flesh and Blood Martial Dao had not even gained so much as one percent. It sat where it had been, at one percent. At Fifth Growth, his progress had turned extremely slow. Without demon plants, he couldn't even see progress.

Lu Changsheng stood looking at the city in front of him.

So this is the capital of Jing.

It was magnificent, imposing, and towering with the weight of authority showing in every part of it.

The dynasty had stood for more than five hundred years. Five centuries of rule had given it wealth and depth past imagining, but the same five centuries had rotted it through.

There were a great many refugees even under the emperor's own feet, and outside the walls lay the bodies of refugees who had starved to death. It was enough to tell how grave things had become.

Lu Changsheng got into the city without trouble and headed straight for the palace. Standing outside it, he could see how many guards were posted within, and getting in without a sound looked difficult. There would also certainly be a demon king guarding the place.

No point alerting the Demon God Ministry yet.

He thought it over and decided that he would have to slip in amongst others.

"Oh?"

While he was thinking about it, a richly appointed carriage came rolling slowly toward the palace. A man who rode a carriage up to the palace gate was no ordinary man, and it was even better that Lu Changsheng could feel a blood descendant's aura inside it. Having a blood descendant on his side made everything simple.

Whoosh.

He walked up to the carriage slowly and stopped it.

The guards flanking it barked at him harshly, naming the rank of the man inside as they did. "How dare you dare block the marquis's carriage! Stand aside quickly!"

"The marquis?" Lu Changsheng smiled slightly. "The marquis and I are old acquaintances. Is that not so, my lord?"

The guards were all on edge. Lu Changsheng had appeared far too abruptly, and carelessness here meant trouble of the largest kind.

As his words finished, though, the marquis's voice came out of the carriage. "We're old acquaintances indeed. Come inside, and we will talk."

One of the guards pressed his objection carefully. "My lord, you are going into an audience with His Majesty, and this man's origins are unclear..."

"Insolence! I have said he is an old acquaintance. What is unclear about his origins?"

"Yes, my lord," the guard said hurriedly and stood respectfully aside. Lu Changsheng smiled a little and stepped onto the carriage.

It was very spacious inside, and in it sat one middle-aged man draped in expensive clothing. Terror was written all over his face, and he was shaking from head to foot.

It was the marquis. He was trembling as though something terrible and uncanny had just happened to him. The marquis shook even as he spoke, and it seemed to cost him everything he had. There was nothing but terror in his eyes. "Who... are you? Why can you control me? Even my words, I... even what I say is under your control? What kind of demonic creature are you?"