Chapter 4: Special Reward: A Contracted Divine Beast? Break Down the City Gate!

[System Notification: The population of the Datang Empire has reached 1,500.]
[System Notification: The number of disaster victims relieved in this operation has reached 1,100.]
[Congratulations, Host! You have simultaneously completed the secondary main quest and a special side quest.]
[The rewards for the main quest are being issued to the Host—]
[Congratulations, Host! Reward: The Datang Empire Imperial Palace is undergoing an automatic upgrade and renovation. It will soon become a Level 2 imperial structure, with enhanced landscaping and an increased total population capacity of 1,000.]
[Congratulations, Host! Reward: 300 additional Imperial Guards, 300 additional eunuchs, and 300 additional palace maids.]
[Congratulations, Host! Reward: Four new government offices added within the city. You may determine their functions and names.]
[Congratulations, Host! Reward: 200 additional Datang Empire bailiffs.]
[Congratulations, Host! Reward: The Distinguished Ministers System and the Imperial Examination function have been activated.]
[Congratulations, Host! Reward: Prosperity values for scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants within the Datang Empire have doubled.]
[All main quest rewards have been issued.]
[Notification: Issuing special side quest rewards—]
[Congratulations, Host! Reward: The divine power of "Compassionate Heart."]
["Compassionate Heart" is now binding with the divine power of "Vajra Methods." The Four Divine Beasts have been successfully activated.]
[Congratulations, Host! The Four Divine Beasts—Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, Azure Dragon, and White Tiger—are signing a spiritual contract with you and have officially become the guardian beasts of the Datang Empire.]
[Congratulations, Host! The Four Divine Beasts are forging an imperial barrier.]
[Barrier construction complete! It can withstand all attacks from human enemy forces, high-tier cultivator enemy forces, mid-tier demon and elf enemy forces, and low-tier devil enemy forces.]
[All rewards for both tasks have been issued.]

The system’s voice fell silent once more.
Li Muchen, who had been hurrying, stopped in his tracks. He quickly scanned the rewards from the special side quest that had just been issued. Once he confirmed that the Four Divine Beasts were stationed at the four cardinal directions, protecting the entire Datang Empire, his shoulders finally relaxed.
"Cancel all the previous orders," Li Muchen said slowly.
The Commander of the Imperial Guards was stunned. "C-cancel them?"
"Yes!"
"I was too hasty just now and forgot one thing. When the Heavenly God visited me in my dreams, He told me that He had arranged for divine beasts from the Heavens to protect the city. Therefore, cancel all the previous orders!"

Li Muchen left these words behind and strolled toward the city gate. He wanted to see for himself exactly who dared to run wild on his territory! The Commander of the Imperial Guards was left standing there, dazed for a long time.

At the city gate, Li Muchen stood upon the ramparts. The soldiers, who had been preparing to repel the enemy, had already been called inside by Li Muchen, and the gates were bolted shut. The first city of the Datang Empire was located on the highest ground for a thousand miles; standing on the watchtower of the city walls, one could take in everything within a thousand-mile radius. Even before the enemy forces reached the walls, Li Muchen and his soldiers could see their every move.

At this moment, at the four corners of the Datang Empire, Li Muchen, having gained the "Compassionate Heart" power, had his "Heavenly Eyes" opened. The Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, Azure Dragon, and White Tiger were guarding the four directions. Though they did not manifest physically, Li Muchen could clearly see the four divine beasts he had just contracted. As for ordinary people, they could not see the beasts. Li Muchen had intentionally kept the beasts hidden, lest they scare the intruders away too soon. His goal was to lure the enemy force in.

With the "Heavenly Eyes" ability, which functioned like a thousand-mile vision, Li Muchen could see exactly who the enemy leader was. When he recognized that familiar face, his eyes hardened.
"Wu Shanggui—"
"You sought the path to heaven but chose not to walk it; now you seek the gates of hell and have come knocking yourself!"
"Leading an army to force an abdication? Today, I will settle this score with you once and for all!"

The enemy forces reached the foot of the wall. The gates were shut tight, and Wu Shanggui, leading five thousand elite troops, looked up and locked eyes with Li Muchen. Li Muchen also noticed that hidden among Wu Shanggui's ranks were several cultivators.
Wu Shanggui’s angry voice rang out:
"Deposed Emperor! You certainly can run, can't you?"
"It took you less than half a month to get from the Great Zhao Kingdom to this Southern Barbarian territory."
"I underestimated you before, didn't I?"
Wu Shanggui, accompanied by the cultivators, had chased after Li Muchen, yet they had arrived days later than he had.

Li Muchen let out a scornful laugh, looking down from his high position on the wall at Wu Shanggui and his troops. "Enough talk! What are you here for?"
"Ha! What am I here for?"
"I am here to take your dog head!"
Wu Shanggui turned to the cultivators beside him and requested, "Elders, please, use your magic to open this gate."
"Hmph—a mere trifle of a spell!"
One of the elders began to focus his mind, chanting incantations in a language no one else understood, his hands weaving complex patterns.
"Gate-Breaking Spell! Open—the—gate!"
As soon as the words left his lips, the elder was struck by an invisible wall and sent flying ten meters backward.
"Clang—" The elder crashed to the ground and spat out a mouthful of blood. "Careful! There is a barrier here!"
Having said this, the elder fainted on the spot.

Wu Shanggui and the remaining cultivators turned pale.
"What is happening? How could the deposed emperor use magic?"
"It wasn't him!"
"We have monitored the deposed emperor for two years and never discovered any spiritual roots for cultivation."
"Could it be—that there are other cultivators backing the deposed emperor?"
"We must be cautious. Even if there are cultivators behind him, surely we elders, with our combined strength, cannot be defeated by them?"

On the wall, Li Muchen had already pieced together the truth.
"So, it was you behind the scenes all along, causing the drought in the Great Zhao Kingdom for the two years I was on the throne!"
Li Muchen glared at the people below, his heart burning with righteous fury. "Wu Shanggui—"
"Did you ever once think about the common people of the Great Zhao Kingdom?"
"Did you think of the starving victims who died because of the famine you caused!"
"Pah—" Wu Shanggui sneered, cursing openly. "Those lowly wretches? Why should I, Wu Shanggui, care about them?"
"You dog bastard!" Li Muchen stood on the wall and hurled a stone hammer down toward Wu Shanggui’s head. "A wretch like you is not fit to set foot on the soil of my Datang Empire!"
"Go! To! Hell!"