Chapter 427: Ruthless Emperor Tongchu

The imperial capital of the Great Tong Dynasty, Changyang Prefecture!

Inside the Great Tong Hall, Lei Zhen sat heavily on the imperial throne, his face dark with fury.

The throne that once stood beside his had been completely smashed to pieces.

In front of the hall, the demon ministers all kept their eyes lowered, not daring to make a sound. No one wanted to draw attention and bring disaster upon themselves at such a time.

“Surrender! That bastard actually surrendered!”

“Half the territory of my Great Tong Dynasty, countless young and able-bodied soldiers—just handed over to Yan Wuyong like that!”

“Even the demons who had stayed behind in the city were slaughtered to the last!”

“Such a traitor, faithless and disloyal—worse than pigs and dogs!”

The more Lei Zhen spoke, the angrier he became. Faint tiger stripes appeared on his forehead. “If I had known earlier, I should’ve just killed him outright instead of showing mercy!”

“Someone! Go find him! I want to know where that bastard is hiding. When I get my hands on him, I’ll flay him alive, rip out his tendons, refine him into a ghost to be tortured day and night!”

Just then, an urgent voice called out from outside the hall.

“Report!”

A demon soldier stumbled in, not waiting for Lei Zhen to speak before blurting out, “Your Majesty! Qiuti Prefecture has fallen! The entire city—one hundred thousand demons—slaughtered!”

“What?!”

Lei Zhen shot to his feet—just as several powerful auras rapidly approached the great hall from outside.

As expected, one after another, messenger demons rushed in, delivering grim news.

“Hexi Prefecture has fallen. Fifty thousand demon troops within the city—all dead…”

“Yu Prefecture has fallen. Thirty thousand stationed demon troops and two demon generals—killed!”

“Huilang Prefecture has fallen. The demons in the city were all wiped out. Three of Your Majesty’s sons—killed in battle…”

The string of devastating reports echoed through the hall, leaving everyone stunned. No one had expected so many prefectures to fall in a single day.

Not even the demons within the cities had survived.

“Who did this?!”

“Was it Yan Wuyong?!”

Lei Zhen’s eyes were bloodshot. After hearing that even his own sons had died, he could no longer contain his rage.

“Reporting to Your Majesty… it—it was Emperor Tongchu…”

“Bullshit!”

Lei Zhen roared, “That guy is just a mortal! Even if he joined Yan Wuyong, he’s still a mortal!”

Despite the pressure, the demon soldier pressed on, “It’s absolutely true. Emperor Tongchu used some wicked art to refine himself and his entire army into ghostly troops…”

“These ghost soldiers are incredibly strange. Even if scattered, they resurrect and are extremely difficult to deal with…”

“Enough!”

Lei Zhen cut him off. “I don’t care what he’s become. I want to know—where is he now?”

“Reporting to Your Majesty—Emperor Tongchu and his ghost troops were completely destroyed a day ago!”

“Such things defy the natural order and are rejected by the Heavenly Dao. They cannot endure in this world.”

Upon hearing this, Lei Zhen narrowed his eyes and looked at the demon soldier suspiciously. “How do you know? Did you see it?”

“Reporting to Your Majesty, I was a messenger from Hexi Prefecture. After Emperor Tongchu’s army massacred the demons in the city, I was caught trying to flee with a message…”

“Hmm…” Lei Zhen nodded slightly. “So, you all were the same? Caught while fleeing, and Emperor Tongchu deliberately let you return to deliver the message?”

Hearing this, the gathered messenger demons fell silent—then slowly nodded.

“I see.”

With a meaningful look, Lei Zhen suddenly threw a punch. With a deafening blast, a golden beam of energy burst forth—

The messenger demons, who had just narrowly escaped death, were instantly reduced to dust…

At once, all the demon ministers in the hall dropped to their knees, crying out, “Your Majesty, please calm your anger!”

After a long moment, Lei Zhen exhaled slowly. His fury eased slightly, and he returned to his throne with a solemn expression.

“Forget it. Just a useless burden. So what if he betrayed us?”

“With the strength of my Great Tong Dynasty, we can still rise again—”

“Pah!”

“To hell with the Great Tong Dynasty!”

As he spoke, Lei Zhen punched again, blasting a massive hole through the gates of the Great Tong Hall!

There once hung a gilded plaque reading “Great Tong Hall”—now, it too was reduced to dust along with the eaves.

“From this day forth, the Great Tong Dynasty is no more! It shall be renamed the Great Lei Dynasty!”

“And I, Lei Zhen, shall be the Demon Emperor of the Great Lei Dynasty. What say you, my loyal subjects?”

As soon as Lei Zhen finished speaking, the kneeling demon ministers immediately kowtowed in unison, imitating the manner of human officials.

“Congratulations to Your Majesty on your ascension!”

“Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!”

“Hahaha~” Realizing that he had finally, rightfully, become the Demon Emperor, Lei Zhen was in a much better mood.

He raised a hand and said, “Rise, my subjects. Let us now consider how to annihilate the Yan Southern Army and achieve eternal glory!”

…

“Your Majesty!”

“We have seized over ten million dan of grain in this campaign!”

“Tens of thousands of strong, able-bodied civilians!”

“After this battle, the Yan Southern Army can expand to a force of one million!”

Military Advisor Liu, holding the registry in his hands, beamed with joy. His curled goatee twitched upward with excitement.

At his desk, Yan Wuyong flipped through the battle reports, then looked up seriously.

“Advisor Liu, what do you think of this Emperor Tongchu?”

Liu was briefly caught off guard by the sudden question. After some thought and a deep breath, he replied, “To be honest, Your Majesty… Emperor Tongchu was truly a ruler by nature—better than his brother…”

“Ruthless and cunning, willing to do anything to achieve his goals, patient, and able to swallow his pride.”

“If not for his terrible luck, the selfish nature of the demon clans, and the fact that he crossed paths with someone as destined as Your Majesty… he might truly have built a kingdom where humans and demons coexisted…”

“Hmm.” Yan Wuyong nodded. He felt Advisor Liu’s assessment was fair. In his eyes, there was no one more ruthless than Emperor Tongchu.

Had it not been for his ability to manipulate battle aura, he likely wouldn’t have been able to outmaneuver Emperor Tongchu.

“And I don’t think he was as filthy or despicable as the rumors say. Judging from his final act—refining himself into a Ghost Emperor, leading ghost troops to slaughter the demon cities—it seems he was avenging the civilians who were devoured.”

Yan Wuyong paused. “From that, it appears he wasn’t truly evil—just that our goals differed, which made him seem irredeemable to us.”

“Thinking back on it, during his years in power, the demons didn’t massacre civilians after occupying cities…”

“If that wasn’t due to his restraint, I’d never believe the demons could hold back like that.”

Hearing this, Advisor Liu smiled with intrigue. “Strange… Has Your Majesty grown soft? Feeling regret over Emperor Tongchu?”

“Not regret…” Yan Wuyong shook his head. “Just… reflecting on the nature of life, that’s all.”