Chapter 2397: The Decisive Battle (V)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
In front of Wang Chong was an identical copy of the capital. Though it was many times smaller, the tea houses, hostels, restaurants, streets, and the Imperial Palace in the center were all identical to the capital of Wang Chong’s memories.
From a distance, Wang Chong could even see the familiar Taibai Pavilion and Vast Crane Pavilion, everything realized down to the smallest detail. The only difference was that the city seemed rather empty. Only the large red lanterns hanging from the eaves granted this city a tiny bit of liveliness.
Even so, under the darkness, the quiet stillness of the capital instilled it with a hint of sinisterness.
“Heaven, come out!
“Stop with the mystifying act!” Wang Chong harshly said, but there was no response, and all was quiet.
Wang Chong frowned. As he looked at the capital, countless thoughts flitted past his eyes.
“I’d like to see what you’re trying!”
Raising an eyebrow, Wang Chong shot like a shooting star into the capital.
Thump! As one foot landed on a high wall, he felt a firm and cool sensation. It truly felt like actual stone.
Wang Chong’s heart slightly thumped, but he quickly crossed over the wall and landed in a street near the southern gate.
Buzz!
As he entered the city, he failed to notice an invisible energy spreading out from beneath the capital and instantly engulfing the ‘capital’.
In the depths of spacetime, the atmosphere grew increasingly bizarre.
At the same time, in the miniature capital…
Silence!
Absolute silence!
Wang Chong cautiously walked the streets all by himself. The only sound in the capital was that of his footsteps, making the place seem even emptier.
“It’s too similar!”
Wang Chong carefully examined his surroundings as he made his way forward. Near the city gate, he had seen a long scar on the ground, the patches of moss on the wall, and a restaurant with a missing piece of tile.
Wang Chong had lived more than half his life in the capital, and he had passed through here on his triumphant return from the war in the southwest, so he was very familiar with this place.
Heaven had not made a simple copy, it seemed, but had replicated the capital down to the smallest detail.
The eeriness that Wang Chong felt only intensified.
His surroundings were extremely quiet.
Wang Chong spread out his vast Psychic Energy, searching every inch of the surrounding space. Even though this place was identical to the capital he remembered, there was nothing here but empty rooms devoid of human figures. There were tables, chairs, beds, and cabinets, and Wang Chong even saw one table piled high with a sumptuous feast, the bowls and chopsticks neatly arranged. But this only made the whole thing even weirder.
Wang Chong suppressed the uncomfortable feeling in his heart and continued forward. At the same time, he unconsciously began to move faster.
He ventured deeper and deeper, and finally, just when he thought that he was in an empty city, he heard voices.
“Mm?”
Wang Chong immediately jumped onto the roof of a nearby house.
“Bronze Ox Street!”
Wang Chong quickly identified the direction and shot from the roof. A few moments later, he arrived at the source of the sound.
On this rather narrow street, various people walked back and forth within the bright lantern light.
Wang Chong saw a butcher selling meat, and a young maiden buying pearls and cosmetic powder while accompanied by her maid. He saw open businesses, attendants standing outside with smiles on their faces as they tried to attract clients… While there weren’t many people on the street, this was the only place where Wang Chong had seen living people.
Wang Chong quickly jumped down from the roof.
After a few moments of silence, Wang Chong tried to intercept that young lady buying cosmetic powder with her maids.
“Miss, where is this place?”
But to his surprise, the master and servant seemed to not see Wang Chong, walking right past him.
“Miss, this cosmetic powder is so pretty…”
From a distance, he could even hear the maid’s voice.
Taken aback, Wang Chong continued forward and attempted to intercept a green-robed scholar with an armful of scrolls.
“Old Sir, where is this place?” Wang Chong continued to ask.
But the scholar didn’t stop, pressing forward and almost running into Wang Chong. It was clear that Wang Chong had been entirely ignored.
Wang Chong finally felt that something was wrong. No one on this street noticed his existence, as if they existed in parallel dimensions.
Moreover, as he looked around, he realized that while everyone here seemed to be interacting with each other as normal, their expressions were extremely unnatural, their actions and words like puppets playing out their parts.
Wang Chong’s heart sank as he realized what was going on.
Buzz!
He reached out with his hand and grabbed a passing young girl, sending Psychic Energy into her mind.
“As expected.”
Wang Chong sighed, his eyes dimming.
As he had predicted, all of these people had had their memories wiped. The only thing left in their minds was planted memories, with everything else being blank.
There was no information on their name, origin, or why they were here.
Wang Chong was not unfamiliar with this method.
In the Celestial Palace incident, Heaven had used a similar ability to wipe all memories concerning him from everyone’s minds, and fabricate new memories.
It seemed that Heaven was playing the same trick.
Buzz!
Wang Chong waved his hand, and Psychic Energy spread out over the region. Thump! Thump! Thump! All of the people fell to the ground, unconscious.
Although these people had had their memories wiped and been turned into puppets, they were still living people. Heaven had captured them simply to decorate this empty ‘capital’.
Wang Chong didn’t know when Heaven had captured them, but he couldn’t just ignore them.
Whoosh!
Wang Chong slightly raised a hand, taking all the people on the street into the halo divine tool. Once he defeated Heaven, these people could resume their normal livelihood.
After doing all this, Wang Chong continued forward.
For some reason, the moment he entered this place, Wang Chong felt that Xu Qiqin… was here!
Not long after Wang Chong moved on, the miniature capital changed once more.
Bang!
Cheering came from an area to the southwest of the Imperial Palace, and then fireworks exploded into the air, casting their dazzling light in the darkness and bringing a festive air to the still ‘capital’.
“That is…”
Wang Chong raised an eyebrow when he saw where the fireworks were shooting up from.
If this place was a strict copy of the capital, then in that direction was undoubtedly… the Supreme King Residence!
Buzz!
A thought occurred to him, and Wang Chong immediately sent out a torrent of Psychic Energy toward that area where the fireworks had come from.
Whoooah!
A few moments later, a noisy clamor appeared in Wang Chong’s senses. More than half the capital away, Wang Chong saw his familiar residence, festooned with brightly colored lanterns, and around this estate, numerous people had gathered.
Several familiar words were written on the large signboard.
‘King of Foreign Lands Residence’!
There was no King of Foreign Lands Residence in the capital, only the Supreme King Residence, and the structure of the estate had also been greatly modified. As he was the head of all the Kings, there had to be ways to differentiate him from the other Kings, and this included the design plan of his estate. The Chamberlain of Dependencies and Bureau of Rites had drafted the plans, and they had been strictly carried out.
But in this miniature capital in the darkness of the depths of spacetime, the plan of the estate from when Wang Chong was still King of Foreign Lands three years ago had been preserved.
“This scoundrel… what is he trying to do?”
Wang Chong frowned. Heaven had almost perfectly replicated the capital from three years ago, but Wang Chong had yet to fathom Heaven’s intentions.
Buzz!
As this thought occurred to him, suddenly—
Originally, there had only been a few people in this miniature capital, controlled like puppets and distributed throughout the city. But in these few moments, more people began to appear like bamboo sprouting after the rain.
They seemed to grow out of the ground, and the street in front of the King of Foreign Lands Residence was particularly packed.
“Congratulations to the King of Foreign Lands!”
“Congratulations to Lady Xu!”
“The King of Foreign Lands is getting married to Lady Xu! The entire world should celebrate!”
The cheers resounded through the sky. At first, they were restricted only to that street in front of the King of Foreign Lands Residence, but it wasn’t long before the cheers spread throughout the capital.
“Congratulations to the King of Foreign Lands and Lady Xu!”
The cheers grew louder and louder.
In a nearby street, Wang Chong even saw people appear out of thin air, who immediately raised their heads in the direction of the King of Foreign Lands Residence and began to cheer.
Across the capital, there had to be hundreds of thousands of people, and this ghost city suddenly became bustling with life, as if it had returned from the underworld to the land of mortals.
More and more fireworks burst out in the night sky.
Wang Chong might have even believed that he had returned to the mortal world, on the day when he was to be married to Xu Qiqin.
But as Wang Chong felt the capital grow livelier and livelier, his expression grew colder and colder.
This was a puppet show!
And for this show, there was no telling how many people Heaven had captured.
Buzz!
A moment later, Wang Chong shot through the capital, instantly appearing in front of the King of Foreign Lands Residence.
Lanterns brightly lit the area!
A sea of people had gathered!
In the King of Foreign Lands Residence, he could see red congratulatory banners and red lanterns.