C222

Duan Meng had refined 10 thousand tons of Ten Millennia Coldwood over and over again, and with a little bit of his spiritual force, he had finally refined a tenth grade soul pill.

After the old emperor, Li Zu, devoured it, his soul force rapidly increased, and even his own soul core expanded. Only now did Li Zu truly feel that his cultivation had increased tremendously, and he could vaguely sense what was going on.

"So that's how the heavens' reaction is." Li Zu had a trace of the heavens' reaction, and he felt that he wasn't far from ascending to the tribulation level. Only then did he invite Duan Ling Tian into the throne room.

"Young master Duan, your grade ten soul pill is truly amazing. After I swallowed it, I had a faint feeling of the heavens and finally understood why I was unable to undergo tribulation. Right now, I don't have much time and can use the Tribulation Lightning at any time. I need to find a successor."

Duan Ling Tian smiled. "Since the Emperor has such a thought, then I recommend your son, Li Yuan."

"Li Yuan?" "Hehe, I guess. Li Yuan is your disciple, so of course you want him to take over my class."

I don't wish for Li Yuan to become an emperor at all, I only wish for him to practice alchemy with me. But, that son of yours isn't someone who is in the same pool as me, and he must become an emperor. Otherwise, he wouldn't accept it in his heart.

"He is currently the head of your Pill Sect. It is not suitable for him to be the emperor. First, he has to resign his position as head. I have to make him a prince before I have the right to succeed the throne."

After a few days, Duan Ru had Li Yuan resign as the Sect Leader of the Pill Sect. For the time being, a vice Sect Leader Gu Tai was in charge of matters related to the Pill Sect. Li Yuan entered the Imperial Palace within a few days and was conferred the title of a prince. Another month passed before the old Emperor announced his abdication and issued an edict directly made Li Yuan the new Emperor.

For a time, the entire Royal family was shocked.

Everyone knew that Li Yuan was born out of a concubine and didn't even have the chance to be conferred the title of prince. Although the old emperor bestowed Li Yuan the title of prince, some of the older members of the imperial court didn't have much of an opinion on him. But now, the old Emperor actually gave the throne to Li Yuan directly, which caused him to be slightly dissatisfied.

In particular, in order to succeed the throne, the Third Prince, Li Huai, had crazily planned for the annexation of Cold Ice City. In the midst of the chaos, he had cut off the First and Second Princes one by one; his goal was to clear out the obstacles in his path. It could be said that the current Third Prince was the strongest power outside of the imperial family.

Third Prince Li Huai naturally wasn't willing to let things go like this. If Li Yuan ascended the throne and quickly cut him off, then he might as well take the initiative and gain the upper hand.

Other than having no military power, Li Huai had already bribed 80% of the officials, especially some civil servants. Almost all of them had been bribed by Li Huai. This time, when the old Emperor announced that Tang Li Yuan would ascend to the throne, Li Huai incited those old officials to submit a letter and requested the old Emperor to retract the order.

Who was the old emperor? Naturally, he was clear that his future was given to him by Duan Ru Yue, so he naturally couldn't fall out with him. Since Duan Ru Yue was able to refine a grade 10 soul pill, he might even have a trump card. Even if he had offended the civil and military officials of the imperial court, he could not afford to offend Duan Jian.

Moreover, Li Yuan was also his own son. As for the fact that his son had succeeded the throne, it actually didn't have much of a relationship, all of it was his own flesh and blood. If Li Yuan couldn't suppress the 100 officials and couldn't sit still on the throne, he couldn't blame himself. However, the old emperor knew very well that Duan Jian was definitely there to support his disciple. Moreover, the old emperor had military power in his grasp, so even if the civil officials were to cause trouble, it would be of no use.

Li Yuan ascended the throne as scheduled and successfully took over the military power of the Ice Empire. He quickly bestowed the title of the ten Great Generals of the Ice Empire. Of course, the removal of the marshal was not done arbitrarily; it was because the marshal's position had been raised once again, rising and falling secretly along with his wealth that the marshal had been able to leave his post and focus on his cultivation.

The military power was firmly grasped in his hands. Subsequently, Li Yuan chose a large number of talented people from among the pill refiners and added them to the ranks of the civil and military officials. Any civil or military officials who were slightly dissatisfied with him would be dismissed and replaced with his trusted aides.

In less than two months' time, Li Yuan had replaced 80% of the old officials and replaced them with fresh blood. At the same time, he grasped the situation. Only then did he become the true ruler of the country.

However, this was good as well. The citizens of the Ice Empire weren't particularly interested in cultivating. This was because in the last few hundred years, there had been very few people who had ascended through tribulation, thus giving the commoners a false impression. They felt that cultivating was unreliable and was more important to their health, so there weren't many officials who truly wanted to become immortal, especially the officials of the Icy Empire's cultural relics.

The reason why he was cultivating now was only to increase his own strength, not to ascend through heavenly tribulation. Now it was different. Li Yuan added a large number of people from the Pill Sect into the civil and military officials. These people were all pill refiners and were already Immortal cultivators. They quickly formed a cultivation trend throughout the country.

Everyone wanted to cultivate to the Immortal Realm, so they didn't have any more thoughts to make trouble for the imperial government. Li Yuan's goal was achieved, and when he ascended the throne, his outstanding management ability was revealed, stabilizing the entire world. Even the old emperor was impressed when he saw this.

Another fact was that Li Yuan used a large number of pill refiners as officials. If he was an alchemist, he would have a huge amount of wealth. These people would try their best to collect some pill refining materials, but they wouldn't covet the country's money.

Most importantly, the influence of these alchemists caused a large number of citizens to cultivate diligently. Everyone hoped to transcend tribulation to ascend to the Immortal Realm, which would reduce the upheaval in the country and further stabilize the power of the Ice Empire.

The first step Li Yuan did was to stabilize the government, and then he started his second step, which was to deal with the Earth Sect. There were also those that dealt with Third Prince Li Huai. At the moment, the one who was most dangerous to him was the third prince. Needless to say, Li Yuan used the authority of the country to kill the Third Prince for treason. He then begged his teacher to let the Pill Sect take over the Earth Sect.

Anyone who was willing to accept a merger would be treated with great respect, especially when using spirit pills. The Pill Sect had plenty of spirit pills. Those who refused to accept the annexation would be killed, their roots cut. Under the high-pressure policy, there were very few who were unwilling to merge.

Only some of the Third Prince's trusted aides weren't very obedient to the new Emperor, so Li Yuan used an iron hand technique. With this, the entire country was shaken. However, Li Yuan knew that there were many capable people in the martial arts world, and as long as there was a genius, they could endanger the safety of the imperial family.

Therefore, Li Yuan invited all three sects that had been defeated by the Earth Sect back, and had the royal family come up with the money to support them in setting up a foothold in the capital city. Soon, the Heaven Gate Sect, the Mysterious Gate Sect, and the Yellow Gate Sect were back on their feet. In the capital, along with the Pill Sect, they had become one of the four great powers that occupied Cold Ice City.

By doing so, Li Yuan had subdued all the martial artists in the world and that was only suppressing the Earth Sect. Adding the powerful Pill Sect into the mix, the entire martial arts world had become his.

Of course, Li Yuan's ambition was not here. He wanted to cultivate to the Immortal Realm. However, he wanted the Ice Empire to become his descendant Empire and not the country of his brothers and sisters.

No matter how much power the Emperor had, it was not as attractive as cultivating to become an immortal. Li Yuan knew very well that everything he had done was given to him by his master. If not for his master, the Emperor would not have passed on the throne to him.

After stabilizing the situation, the rest was much easier to deal with. Li Yuan had chosen many beauties throughout the country and filled the harem. Even his number of concubines had reached 1200. Li Yuan's way of doing things was very clear. Not only did he want to become an immortal cultivator, he also wanted to become an emperor that had existed throughout the ages. His own children could not be fewer. The old emperor had more than 400 children. He must surpass them. This was Li Yuan's thought process.