BXBX NOVEL Chapter 527: Several weeks later
She was currently focused on polishing her existing techniques and Fu Sheng is happy to mentor her upon witnessing her lightning mode, which doesn\'t use her ether energy. Instead, her pure attribute energy is going to get consumed alongside her rapid depletion of stamina.
As a result, using such a technique is extremely taxing on one\'s body and she plans on improving her mastery to increase her limit.
Meanwhile, the situation at Phoenix Empire started getting worse day after day. Shang Jun\'s act of planned assassination of the noble clan leaders and elders while throwing the blame on the Rebel Forces enraged him. He hit back by destroying a couple of granaries in the imperial city, only to realize that the public sentiment on Rebel Forces turned worse.
However, Mark doesn\'t care about their feelings and neither does Shang Zexi. Hence, he continued to provide millions of gold coins as war funds to the former crown prince, who used it to increase his army\'s strength, hire adventurers, and eventually lure more experts from Shang Jun\'s side.
The situation has escalated to the extent that even some of the sects were pulled into this civil war. Assassination attempts were being made from Shang Jun, but for some reason, none succeeded in killing Shang Zexi or the leaders of the Yuan and Zhao clans as they moved to Northern Yuan province\'s headquarters. Every assassin who stepped into the Yuan Clan\'s territory mysteriously ended up dead.
Shang Jun was constantly on edge despite fame gaining among the commoners as he continued to compensate the people who lost their lives or fortune, which resulted in the rapid depletion of the treasury.
His governance gained stability amidst troubled times but his happiness was lost. Cashing on the opportunity, Mark instructed Shang Zexi to buy the farmers to cooperate in destroying their own fields for money and then later claim compensation from the district magistrates. This way, The Phoenix Rebels won, and the farmers also won, but Shang Jun ended up losing money.
Meanwhile, without Shang Zexi\'s knowledge, the Eastern Sun\'s King, on Mark\'s instructions, came forth to give a high-interest loan to Shang Jun in exchange for keeping the semi-divine weapons from the treasury as a mortgage.
For the past couple of months, Mark constantly pushed Shang Jun little by little to draw out his backing. After all, from an assassin successfully captured by one of Fu Sheng\'s two lieutenants with 8-circle realm cultivation, Mark found out his backing.
It is the Nine Hell Pavilion, a sect from the Fire and Ice plane of existence. According to Fu Sheng, they weren\'t powerful and at best considered a tier-3 sect, with tier-6 being considered the lowest and tier-1 considered the highest.
While they were no match for a tier-1 power, like the Ancient Lan sect, their leader is still a Saint Realm expert who could send an immortal or a demigod to help out Shang Jun, if he is an important figure in their sect.
In fact, Mark also had no idea whether Shang Jun himself belonged to any sect as he didn\'t have a chance to meet the young emperor and hence, couldn\'t get to scan him for the details.
Seeing that Shang Jun isn\'t making any big move, Mark pushed him further by sending an instruction to the Gold Dragon division\'s two lieutenants, one was dispatched to the Qian province and the other was dispatched to the Jin Province, killing the acting commanders as well as the elite soldiers and freeing up Qian and Jin families.
It\'s been a week since the war completely tipped in Shang Zexi\'s favor and apart from Sui province, the entire Empire fell into the hands of the Rebel Forces. The Western and Eastern divisions have lost their generals, acting commander, and lieutenants, forcing the army to either return to the capital city or scatter.
Yet, Shang Jun still focused on keeping the imperial city under control, with the help of the Northern division. Expert assassins were lurking in the shadows of the palace, constantly protecting him from the shadows
Intending to end the battle for good, Mark passed his final set of instructions to Shang Zexi and his subordinates.
On the 73rd day of the formation of the Phoenix Rebel Force, with two 8-circle realm experts leading an elite army of atleast thousand in number, full of 5-circle and 6-circle experts hired from various sects, guilds, and freelancers, half of the northern division was deployed in the outskirts area where the enemy army is coming.
A direct war erupted between both forces, leading to hundreds of casualties from the Rebel Forces and thousands of casualties from the imperial forces.
As the final General of the Army fell, the Phoenix Rebel force made their way into the capital city.
The citizens were gripped in fear, not getting out of their houses as per the order from their Emperor.
The remaining soldiers deployed there were ordered not to engage in battle and hence, they gave way to 653 spirit warriors as they made their way to the imperial grounds, where Shang Jun was waiting for them, alongside Bai Xun who couldn\'t abandon his side due to his loyalty to the throne.
The acting commander of the Rebel forces, Lt. Zhou Ming addressed the Emperor, "You have lost, Emperor Shang. Destroy your cultivation with your own hands and surrender peacefully. You will still be granted a life but with limited freedom for as long as you live. Resist and you will die."
*Pfft* "Hahaha"
Shang Jun suddenly burst into laughter upon hearing those words from the enemy, startling the others. "Sorry, I always find it funny when I hear death threats. I can resurrect, you know."
In response, Lt. Zhou nodded as if he agreed with him, "I\'m aware of the abilities of the Phoenix Bloodline. The very first bloodline skill itself is resurrection, which works one hundred percent every time as long as your death isn\'t of either natural cause or suicide.
However, you have a price to pay for it. Every time you resurrect, your cultivation drops according to your mastery. And it is also not an instant resurrection. You should have someone to protect your corpse for seven days before you resurrect. So, the users usually build a resurrection altar somewhere in secret and have a teleportation seal on their body.
The moment you die, the seal will activate and your corpse will be transported far away and only a barrier of demigod level can stop this spatial magic.
Since I know all of this, I know the way to stop it too. It is actually quite simple too."
"Oh, what do you plan on doing?" Shang Jun didn\'t show panic and acted calmly for some reason. He neither showed fear nor did he show any curiosity. He merely conversed with the enemy\'s acting commander.
With his long white hair fluttered with a blow of wind, Lt. Zhou brandished his spear like a whip as he answered, "I can\'t stop your body from teleporting away but I can seal away your soul with Soul Trapping Formation."