687 - Bad sign: a mysterious case
Chapter 687, Bad sign·A mysterious case
In the history records of the Heaven Wasteland Imperial Court, the opening paragraph ——
“The first year of Heaven Wasteland. The original Snow Empire had been established for 147 years. The Crown Prince of the Yu clan of the Snow Empire Human Race imperial court, under the support of Ye Qingyu during the Battle of the Light Palace, followed the will of the heavens, the will of the people, and the fate of the nation. In the Snow capital Sky Hall, under the witness of all people, she was bestowed the imperial crown, imperial armour, and imperial sword, and stepped up the Nine level divine platform, bathing in the light of the heaven, earth, and sun. She ascended the throne, and was proclaimed the Empress. The title of the Empress is Wu Zhao. Sweeping away the chaos of Heaven Wasteland Domain, she declares the imperial decree that the capital will remain Snow capital, and will rule the five war zones, the four major foreign lands, and thousands of cities. All acknowledging their allegiance, she became the first Empress of the Heaven Wasteland Imperial Court since the birth of Heaven Wasteland Domain!”
“The new Empress was enthroned, benefiting the world. The second imperial decree declared to the world that, the citizens of the foreign races of Heaven Wasteland do not have to give payment to the imperial court for one hundred years, the gate will open up to allow trade and exchange, and interracial marriage is allowed. Since then, the citizens of all races in Heaven Wasteland Domain were grateful and celebration broke out across the state.”
In the history books of later generations, the evaluation of Wu Zhao Empress was extremely high.
……
In the blink of an eye, another half a year had passed since the Empress ascended to the throne.
There was a dramatic change in Heaven Wasteland Domain.
The fifth of the sixth month of Heaven Wasteland’s first year.
This was the date on which the Domain Alliance inspection envoys agreed to return to Snow capital and collectively report the results of the inspection of the Domain Alliance.
Early that morning, the Empress personally held a very grand welcome ceremony in the Snow capital, which the Empire Right Minister Lin Zheng personally presided over. The banquet was held in the imperial court to welcome the special inspection envoys.
This was considered normal courtesy and hospitality.
However, it was also from that day when things went a bit bizarre.
Following the usual practice of the Domain Alliance in the past. The Domain Alliance inspection envoys ended the six months inspection and returned to the capital of the domain being graded——The deadline to return to Heaven Wasteland Domain’s Snow capital was three days. In general, however, all special envoys will gather on the first day. Occasionally they may encounter something, which would lead to a slight delay, but that would at most be half a day, and every single one would return eventually.
But this time, there was an accident.
On the evening of the 2nd day, when all the city gates of the Snow capital were closed, most of the envoys still had not returned to Snow capital.
An atmosphere that was not quite normal began to permeate quietly.
The entire empire dared not to be careless.
A number of urgent commands were issued from the imperial city, Snow capital. All channels were operated in the first instance, searching for some possible clues. Although it was not yet the deadline, but it was a serious matter. Whether it was Empress Yu Xiaoxing, or the imperial military, all attached great importance to the matter.
Unfortunately, the result was not good.
These special envoys were top experts, and there should be few people in Heaven Wasteland Domain that can match their strength. Moreover, they were proficient in the technique of transformation, no one knew where they had gone, and there was no trace of them from the beginning. Even though the Imperial Empire had unified Heaven Wasteland Domain, the foundation was still weak, and to find clues to their whereabouts was simply as difficult as looking for a needle in the sea.
The third day.
The last glimmer of sunset faded from the sky.
The starry night sky descended over the entire imperial capital.
This was the deadline for the inspection envoys to return to the capital.
The number of envoys who eventually returned to Snow capital was seventy-one.
In other words, there were still twenty-nine people of the one hundred Domain Alliance inspection envoys who had not yet returned, and there was not a word that was heard back from them.
This was certainly bad news.
The special envoys who had returned to the Snow capital were also not in a good mood.
The news via their special channels had already been reported to the Domain Alliance in the very first instance.
In fact, at this point, many people understood that for the domain envoys that had not returned, there were grim possibilities.
The special inspection envoys were specially cultivated by the Domain Alliance. Each person, in addition to possessing extremely strong strength and secret techniques of transformation, was subjected to very strict discipline. Behaviours such as returning late were severely punished and as a result of tardiness, they may even be directly disqualified from carrying out the domain assessment task. This was an ending that no special envoy would ever want to face.
In the past million years, when the Domain Alliance had assessed other new and rising domains, there were occasionally special envoys being buried in the new domain for a variety of reasons, but the numbers were very little. At most it was just one or two. There had never been a case like today, when more than twenty envoys had mysteriously disappeared.
Such an outcome was undoubtedly shocking, both for the imperial empire and for the domain inspection envoys.
On the fourth day, there was finally news from the Domain Alliance.
Above the main palace hall.
“The life spirit walls of the missing domain inspections envoys have been destroyed, and they have all died.” An inspection envoy called Shen Yuan, the head of the inspection mission, gave such an answer in the face of the Empress Yu Xiaoxing. He was obviously very shocked. “This is really terrifying, could it be that in Heaven Wasteland Domain, there is some sort of dangerous place? Or is there any other danger? Your Majesty, what clues have you found these days?”
Sat on the gold imperial throne, Yu Xiaoxing gently shook her head.
“Your Majesty, I need a list and information of the top experts in Heaven Wasteland Domain,” Shen Yuan made a request.
Yu Xiaoxing, sitting high above on the imperial throne, and under the crown, her eyes flashed, “Could it be that Envoy Shen thinks that, the experts of my Heaven Wasteland Domain secretly killed the missing inspection envoys?”
“That's also a possibility.” Shen Yuan looked solemn.
In fact, the domain inspection envoys had patrolled Heaven Wasteland Domain for half a year, and were well aware of everything about this domain. They should have gathered much information on all the top experts, but Shen Yuan still had put forward such a request to the Empress. Obviously, he had special intentions in doing this.
“Allow.”
The Empress pondered for a moment, her red lips slightly opened, and gave an answer.
……
Over the next five or six days, Heaven Wasteland Domain fell into a tensed state.
The Domain Alliance once again sent out experts to capture the culprit, led by three Elders of the Alliance, along with more than seventy other domain inspections envoys, and various forces of the Heaven Wasteland Empire. A careful search across the whole of Heaven Wasteland Domain was conducted, hoping to find some clues about the missing inspection envoys, but unfortunately in the end all were returned in disappointment. There was not the slightest clue.
This matter was a mystery.
The twenty-nine extraordinary and experienced domain inspection envoys, like air, seemed to have melted into the world without leaving the slightest trace.
The massive search ended in failure.
On the 27th day, the seventy-one special inspection envoys and subsequent experts who came to Heaven Wasteland Domain finally left Heaven Wasteland Domain.
The situation facing Heaven Wasteland Domain was a bit complicated.
Although this would not completely sever the path of the rating of Heaven Wasteland Domain, nor will it directly sway the final results, it was guaranteed to have a certain impact. What the impact would be was not possible to determine at the moment, but this was not out of the control of Heaven Wasteland Empire.
Time went by.
Many people in Heaven Wasteland Domain were still immersed in the joy of the establishment of the Empire, still enjoying the great changes and rapid developments in Heaven Wasteland Domain, and were not aware of anything wrong. But for the many people who were standing on the top of this domain, they felt unsettled and nervousness.
Twenty-nine domain inspection special envoys had fallen consecutively. Such a fact was like a sword of Damocles suspended above the head of countless people of Heaven Wasteland Domain. Once it fell, it would be an unbearable weight for Heaven Wasteland Domain.
And no matter what the final decision of the Domain Alliance was, this was a bad sign.
After all, the assessment of Heaven Wasteland Domain had only just begun. To encounter such a rare setback was a bad sign. The entire rating process would most likely not be too smooth.
On the 30th day.
There were new movements.
A new envoy of the Domain Alliance had arrived.
According to the message conveyed by the new envoy, the initial review of Heaven Wasteland Domain had been completed. After receiving the reports from the seventy-one inspections, the alliance elders had come to the decision to allow Heaven Wasteland Domain to organize its own diplomatic corps. One month later, they were to come to the domain of where the Domain Alliance was situated, the [Ruins of Chaos], to formally accept the review of the Great Domain Alliance. They were to undergo the domain rating assessment which could take half a year, and fight for the future fate of Heaven Wasteland Domain.
The Domain Alliance did not make any further steps or any explanation as to what had happened to the inspection envoys who had disappeared in Heaven Wasteland Domain.
The Alliance elders seemed to have completely abandoned and were no longer trying to investigate the matter.
This matter had become a case of mystery.
The news spread, and all parties of Heaven Wasteland Domain finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, the Domain Alliance did not pursue this matter further, otherwise the situation in Heaven Wasteland Domain would have been very bad.
But after the relief, they were worried again. The tremendous pressure finally came.
There was no doubt that the result of the rating will impact the ultimate fate of the countless creatures of all races in Heaven Wasteland Domain.
Whether or not Heaven Wasteland Domain can develop independently in the future, or forced to become a subsidiary colony of other domains, will be at stake.
So the formation of the Heaven Wasteland diplomatic corps was put on the agenda right away.
……
……
Imperial city Snow capital.
The Light Palace.
In the past year, Ye Qingyu had rarely made an appearance. He seldom went out of the Light City, but also did not shut himself away to cultivate for a long period of time. Every day he would go to the fire tree woods for a walk, and occasionally eat together with Wen Wan and the others. The majority of the time he spent resting in the Light Palace, like an ordinary person. At night, Ye Qingyu would do nothing, no longer practicing at every second, but just lie on the jade stone bed and sleep.
He was acting like a hermit——