We bear people have power

Sicklehammer City is at war again. Why "again"? Because this is the second war since the recent defeat of the five-nation coalition.

Last time, Zhang Yuanshan, riding the war clouds, led three thousand warriors and easily annihilated the invading army of fifty thousand. Of the survivors, few escaped; many more went mad.

They drooled, shouting things like divine soldiers descending from the sky and heavenly fire destroying the world—all sorts of incomprehensible slang—before running back home on instinct.

Fortunately, Sicklehammer City repaired the cement road. If it were still the muddy road, every single one of these lunatics would have died on the road.

Even if there were a smooth road to take, only one in a hundred of these survivors would be able to return. A few managed to run back, but before they could even find out what had happened, they were killed to silence them.

The elite troops advanced side by side, suffering heavy losses. If this were to become known, it would likely lead to immediate domestic unrest.

However, these five small countries soon no longer needed to hide it, because they discovered that they were not the only ones who were in trouble; their neighbors were not much better off either.

But this gloating didn't last long, because they soon received an ultimatum from Hammerhammer City—surrender or die.

The first challenge was an ultimatum, and such domineering power made the five small nations grit their teeth in hatred. Even though you annihilated my elite army, I am still a nation, and the population of any one of my citizens far exceeds that of your Sicklehammer City!

Want to swallow the whole country whole? Aren't you afraid of overeating and dying?!

With this naive idea in mind, the five small countries sent a joint diplomatic mission, hoping to negotiate with Sickle Hammer City. At worst, they would cede territory and pay reparations, which was the norm for small countries in the Western Regions when they lost battles.

Comrade Wu Meiniang, the deputy city lord of Sickle Hammer City, personally received the diplomatic delegation and hosted this group of Han and non-Han diplomatic envoys with the highest-level state banquet in Sickle Hammer City.

Well, it's actually just tea brewed with spring water, and the tea leaves are still damp, but they can't tell the difference anyway.

The spiritual spring water had extraordinary effects, with immediate benefits for strengthening the body, so the diplomatic envoys all clamored for more after drinking it. They also thought to themselves that the fact that Sicklehammer City offered such a priceless treasure to entertain them showed their sincerity in seeking peace.

Unexpectedly, the first words spoken by this stunningly beautiful deputy city lord left them completely dumbfounded.

"Since you've all had tea, let's not waste any more time and sign the unconditional surrender document."

As she spoke, Wu Zetian had five exquisitely crafted surrender statements placed in front of them.

This is not how things work! You've already asked someone to surrender before we've even started negotiations. Isn't that bullying?

One of the envoys immediately changed his expression and loudly rebuked, "We came here to stop the fighting, not to surrender."

Upon hearing this, Wu Zetian casually asked, "What country are you from?"

"I am Huo Xun, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites and General of the Cavalry..."

Before the man could finish reciting his long list of official titles from his counterfeit Tang Dynasty, Wu Meiniang impatiently waved her hand and said, "Since you won't surrender, then you are an enemy country. Drag him out and execute him. Have Zhang Yuanshan lead his troops to pacify Huoxun Kingdom within a day, or else you'll have to answer to me with your head."

No one would take this as a joke, or even if someone did, when the bloodied head of the Huo Xun Kingdom's diplomatic envoy reappeared before everyone, everyone understood that Wu Zetian's words were absolutely true.

For a moment, everyone fell silent.

Wu Zetian ignored these forgetful fellows and quietly drank her tea. A full three hours passed, from dawn to afternoon, until the diplomatic envoys were starting to feel their legs go weak.

That's right, they had to stand. Since Wu Zetian didn't give them chairs, they had no choice but to stand.

At that moment, a valiant man with a long sword at his waist entered the council chamber. In his hand, he held a human head with glaring, angry eyes.

"Reporting to the Deputy City Lord, Zhang Yuanshan has successfully completed his mission and brought back the head of the King of Huoxun. The capital of Huoxun has fallen, and the Crown Prince of Huoxun has surrendered the entire kingdom."

Zhang Yuanshan's words struck like a heavy hammer blow to everyone's hearts. Already feeling weak from standing, they all knelt upon hearing this news.

In three hours, the Huo Xun Kingdom was destroyed!

If word got out, people would probably think it was a wild and unbelievable story, but looking at that head with its eyes wide open, it was indeed the head of the King of Huoxun Kingdom, leaving them no choice but to believe it.

"Very well, you wait here for now. Who knows, we might have to destroy another country later," Wu Meiniang said softly.

These words sent chills down the spines of the remaining four envoys. Huo Xun Kingdom might not be the most powerful of the five, but it wasn't the weakest either. If a city could be breached and a kingdom destroyed in three hours, how long could the remaining four kingdoms hold out?

Without further ado, Wu Meiniang spoke again: "The surrender document, to sign or not to sign?"

A direct confrontation was out of the question; the head of that guy from Huoxun Kingdom was still bleeding. So, some people thought of stalling for time.

The Ronglu Kingdom envoy said, "This matter is of great importance. We need to return to our country and report to our king before we can make a decision. Please allow us to leave, Deputy City Lord. We will reply as soon as possible."

"Why make it so complicated? Sign it and you surrender; don't sign it and we'll beat you until you surrender. You want to report to the king? Then I'll let you report to him in person. Zhang Yuanshan, capture that Ronglu king alive for me."

But this time, before Zhang Yuanshan had even left the council hall, he heard the Ronglu Kingdom envoy kowtow and say, "I'll sign, I'll sign, I'll sign now."

After saying that, he grabbed a brush and quickly wrote down his name. He also took out the ambassador's seal and stamped it with three red seals in one go.

No one would laugh at the cowardice of the Ronglu Kingdom's envoy. This Sickle Hammer City was too strong and too ruthless. It would destroy the city and the country at the slightest disagreement. No one dared to gamble their own life and the lives of the entire nation's people.

With the Ronglu Kingdom's envoy leading the way, the remaining envoys from the Mo and Xiaowan Kingdoms also signed the surrender documents. Of the five-nation allied forces, Huoxun Kingdom had already been destroyed, three kingdoms had surrendered, and only the Mi Kingdom's envoy remained, still appearing indifferent.

"What, you're not planning to sign?"

"A surrender document that humiliates and destroys our nation's sovereignty is naturally unacceptable," the Mi Kingdom envoy declared righteously.

Wu Zetian was a little surprised; she hadn't expected the envoy from the Mi Kingdom to be such a valiant and unyielding man.

"Since that's the case, I'll honor your loyalty." Wu Meiniang waved her hand, and ordered her men to drag him away and behead him.

"Hahaha, the Imperial Advisor will avenge me! You will all die!" the man laughed maniacally before being dragged away.

Upon hearing this, Wu Meiniang said, "Wait," and then asked, "The national advisor you mentioned, is it the national advisor of the Mi Kingdom? What is his name?"

"Our national teacher is the Fire Five Mage, possessing great supernatural powers and profound Buddhist teachings. He will surely kill all of you madmen!" the Mi Kingdom envoy shouted.

"Fire Five?!" Wu Meiniang's eyes narrowed.

When Guan Bo contacted Wu Meiniang, Wu Meiniang was personally on the front lines. Above the battle clouds, five thousand law enforcement officers stood ready, determined to capture Huo Wu, the Grand Preceptor of the Mi Kingdom.

That's right, Wu Zetian's purpose in leading the army was to capture Huo Wu, not to care much about this small country with few people.

The population of Mi Kingdom is probably only two or three hundred thousand, a dilapidated city. A single bombing raid could completely destroy it.

However, this matter became complicated because it involved the Fire-generation monk organization. Guan Bo had encountered Fire One and Fire Eighteen before, both of whom were Golden Core cultivators.

Although it was the weakest kind of Golden Core cultivator, it was still a level higher than Zhang Yuanshan's. Therefore, Wu Meiniang was not at ease letting Zhang Yuanshan lead his troops here on his own.

War clouds gathered, and they had already arrived at the palace of the King of Mi.

Thousands of surrender petitions rained down from the sky, landing in the royal palace. If the king of Mi Kingdom did not surrender within an hour, the army of Sickle Hammer City would begin bombing.

But less than an hour later, a burst of blood-red light shot into the sky from the palace.

"This is bad. It seems someone in the palace is using evil magic to perform a blood sacrifice." Wu Meiniang was a direct disciple of Fangcun Mountain. After her two souls merged, she regained all her memories, so her insight was naturally extraordinary.

One glance was enough to tell that the blood-red light was malevolent, concealing thousands of vengeful spirits. The light shot straight into the sky, seemingly about to cleave the battle clouds in two.

However, the next moment, countless wooden balls flew out and collided with the blood-red light. Although these were just ordinary explosive talismans, their quality couldn't compare to the blood-red light sacrificed by thousands of people, but their sheer quantity made up for it!

Wu Zetian threw out 100 boxes of exploding wooden balls without any remorse. Each box contained 500 balls, which meant 50,000 balls in total.

The violent explosion tore a portion of the battle clouds apart. However, this celestial treasure was miraculous; even when broken into hundreds of small clusters, it was still able to steadily support the person.

The streak of blood was neutralized by the power of the explosion, causing no damage whatsoever.

War clouds gathered again, and Wu Meiniang gave the order: "Throw them all down! Blow this palace to the ground!"

Although he felt this was a bit too cruel, considering there were many innocent palace maids and eunuchs in the palace, Zhang Yuanshan would probably have offered some words of persuasion if someone else from Sicklehammer City had been in command.

But Zhang Yuanshan dared not disobey Wu Meiniang's orders in the slightest.

Over this period of time, Wu Meiniang's cultivation gradually recovered, and even improved compared to before. An indescribable aura of majesty also continued to grow, and even a cultivator of extraordinary strength like Zhang Yuanshan felt a sense of trepidation in front of this mistress of Sickle Hammer City.

Tens of thousands of explosive balls rained down, turning the entire palace into an inferno. However, to Zhang Yuanshan's surprise, he didn't hear many screams from within the flames; it seemed the palace was already deathly silent before the bombing.

Soon, a bloody light rose from the sea of ​​fire, and a gaunt monk with a bitter expression appeared in mid-air, gazing at the battle clouds before him.

“Amitabha Buddha, you benefactors have committed countless sins and will go to hell,” the monk said, pressing his palms together.

Wu Meiniang sneered, "You've already slaughtered everyone in this palace, condensing the bloody light behind you, and you still accuse us of committing murder? You're really shameless."

“Amitabha Buddha, I was just helping them to reach the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss sooner, while you are waging war out of greed. The two cannot be compared,” the monk continued to argue.

"Shameless bald monk!" Wu Meiniang cursed, then stopped talking to the man. With a flick of her wrists, a pair of silver dragon swords transformed into silver dragons and pounced on the monk.

As its cultivation level gradually deepens, the Silver Dragon Sword seems to show signs of transforming into a dragon. Once the dragon horns grow out, it will be able to metamorphose into a dragon, and the Silver Dragon Sword will also transform into the Silver Dragon Sword.

The blood-red light obtained from the evil ritual of sacrificing thousands of people transformed into a phantom dragon, entangled with the silver celestial dragon. Countless shrill, vengeful spirits were hidden within the blood-red light, revealing that his claim of granting people an early ascension to paradise was a lie. Clearly, even their souls were imprisoned for use in magical battles; there was no paradise to speak of.

The Bloodlight Dragon appeared to be stronger than the Silver Dragon, completely suppressing its opponent.

“Your strength is extraordinary, but you have not yet condensed your golden core, so you are no match for me. If you are willing to convert to Buddhism, I can spare your life.”

Wu Meiniang scoffed, "Isn't it just a golden elixir?"

In an instant, the sky and earth changed color, and a layer of dense thunderclouds reappeared above the battle clouds.

In that instant, Wu Zetian actually triggered the Golden Core Heavenly Tribulation!