Chapter 21: Condensing Qi into an Egg

  Ding Yuan ultimately failed to become the 'hero who changed history', and still died at the hands of his adopted son Lü Bu. In the end, his head, worth a red Hare horse and countless gold and silver treasures, was sent to Dong Zhuo's mansion.

  After seeing this, Dong Zhuo was even more delighted and, having obtained Lü Bu, a great general, he once again thought of the matter of deposing Emperor Shao. This time, Dong Zhuo hardly had to say anything, as all the civil and military officials, upon seeing the axes and halberds placed on both sides and Ding Yuan's head with its eyes wide open, made a timely decision.

  But in fact, there were people among them who had never given up hope of overthrowing the emperor and establishing a new ruler. Especially when Dong Zhuo proposed to establish Liu Xuan, the Prince of Liang, as the Emperor, some people's eyes even shone with excitement.

  Of course, these things are impossible for Dong Zhuo to notice, and with his power in hand, even if he noticed, he might not care.

  It's already September, and the deep autumn wind has begun to carry a hint of winter chill. The knife-like cold wind cuts across my face, making life ache.

  Liu Xuan stood outside the Deyang Hall, but didn't feel any discomfort. When someone came out to summon him into the hall, he knew that from this moment on, he would be standing at the pinnacle of the Han Dynasty. However, whether he would be standing there in the cold wind or pointing his finger at the world, making everyone bow their heads, depended on his future actions.

  In the Deyang Hall, civil and military officials stood on both sides, no one dared to sit there. Until Liu Xuan came in, all the ministers cast their eyes on him.

  The one standing at the very top was Dong Zhuo. At this time, Dong Zhuo had proclaimed himself General-in-Chief and controlled all major affairs in the imperial court. He could even depose an emperor, making him truly the most powerful man of the present day.

  By Dong Zhuo's side stood a scholar, whose appearance was not unrefined and had an air of great Confucian scholars about him; however, his eyes betrayed a hint of cunning. Liu Xuan thought for a moment before guessing that this man must be Li Ru, Dong Zhuo's most trusted advisor and son-in-law.

  Li Ru would not be surprised to see this, and Liu Xuan even saw Lü Bu wearing armor and holding a long halberd standing beside him. The interior and exterior of the Deyang Palace were filled with armored soldiers, who held long knives in their hands, and anyone who made any unusual move would immediately be hacked to pieces.

  "This Dong Zhuo is indeed relying on military force to forcibly change the emperor!"

  However, these things have little to do with Liu Xuan. What he cares about is still the throne of the Han Dynasty. For now, let Dong Zhuo cause trouble if he wants to, and deal with him later after ascending to the throne.

  As soon as they entered the De Yang Hall, soldiers on both sides asked Liu Xuan to come forward. It was said that it was because of what had just happened, and these soldiers wanted to help him up. This was just a euphemism; in fact, they wanted to forcibly carry Liu Xuan forward.

  Just as he supported Liu Xuan's arms, he saw this Prince of Liang wave his hands and shout: "Get out of the way!"

  He had tempered his body for over a decade, and had long since cultivated a powerful physique. With a single flick of his sleeve, the two soldiers were sent flying out, crashing to the ground with a thud, and for a moment, they couldn't even get up.

  The officials saw the King of Liang being so stubborn and were also worried that if Dong Zhuo killed him in a fit of rage, what would they do then? At that time, only Chenliu Wang Liu Xie would be left, but Chenliu Wang was young, weak and often ill, and no one thought that Liu Xie would make a good emperor. In that case, the Han dynasty would have no hope at all.

  In comparison, Liu Xuan's ascension to the throne was more acceptable to the officials, which is also one of the reasons why Dong Zhuo's proposal to depose Emperor Shao and enthrone Prince of Liang as the new ruler did not meet with strong opposition from the officials.

  Liu Xuan did not expect that his recent performance would make the officials have a good impression of him. Now, he was worried about his life and after throwing away the soldiers, he asked Dong Zhuo: "General Dong invited me to ascend to the hall, could it be that you want to take my life?"

  Dong Zhuo and Liu Xuan stood facing each other, seemingly having known about Liu Xuan's bravery beforehand, so he didn't get angry just now, but instead showed a hint of familiarity with warriors, smiling: "Please invite the King of Liang to come forward and ascend to the throne as Emperor!"

  Liu Xuan heard this and didn't say a word, he just glanced at Liu Bian standing beside him and Empress He, then took big strides forward.

  In the eyes of others, Liu Xuan was only forced by Dong Zhuo and many soldiers to come forward. Only Cao Cao knew that Liu Xuan had also lost patience and did not continue to talk nonsense with Dong Zhuo, but instead came forward directly, allowing his attendants to put the imperial crown on his head, and then supporting him to ascend to the throne.

  At this time, all the officials bowed together after seeing him, and it was considered that the emperor had ascended to the throne. As for the sacrifices to ancestors and so on, they were all exempted by Dong Zhuo.

  After the ceremony, Liu Xuan became the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, while Liu Bian was demoted to King of Hongnong. Empress He was also expelled from the palace and placed in a remote residence with King of Hongnong.

  Dong Zhuo then proclaimed himself Grand Master in the palace, promoted his newly adopted son Lü Bu to be a Cavalry Commandant and Marquis of a Separate Fief, while the other officials remained unchanged. However, Dong Zhuo promoted Cai Yong in order to win over the scholars; this move frightened Cai Yong so much that he almost resigned from office, until Dong Zhuo had to threaten: "If you refuse, I will kill your whole family!" before forcing Cai Yong to accept his promotion and appointment.

  On this day, the Taiyang Hall was almost a stage for Dong Zhuo to show off his authority. Liu Xuan sat above, coldly observing Dong Zhuo's antics, not because he didn't want to say anything, but because he hadn't expected that as soon as he ascended to the throne, the last remaining dragon energy of the Han dynasty would rush towards him in a frenzy. If he hadn't controlled it, he feared that by now he would have turned into a gigantic human-shaped lamp of several thousand watts on the spot.

  The Han house declined, the dragon energy gradually weakened. Even so, the dragon energy gathered by such a large dynasty is not something that can be scattered at will. Although the dragon energy has weakened significantly compared to its heyday, Liu Xuan has become the emperor and is the focus of the gathering and protection of the dragon energy. It can be said that all the dragon energy of the Han house can now be called upon and absorbed by Liu Xuan.

  "If you cultivate diligently at this time, you will surely reap a great harvest!"

  After all the ministers dispersed, Liu Xuan returned to the palace and the first thing he did was to dismiss everyone, leaving only Cao Jiao to guard the door, while he himself quietly absorbed and refined the dragon energy.

  It wasn't until he was quietly cultivating that he unexpectedly discovered that although the dragon energy had recognized Liu Xuan as the current emperor, not all of it was gathering on his own body.

  A small portion of the dragon's energy dissipated and gradually evolved in mid-air, eventually transforming into a young dragon full of vitality - this is the omen of the birth of a new dynasty. Generally speaking, this young dragon will choose one person, and that person is very likely to become the new master of the world, establishing a new imperial court. The person who possesses the dragon's energy has some of the physiognomy of an emperor as described by diviners - of course, it doesn't mean that only this person can become the master of the world, if one can kill the person with the dragon's energy, they can seize their primordial dragon energy for themselves and also gain recognition from the dragon's energy.

  To refine the Dragon Qi of the Son of Heaven, Liu Xuan immediately understood that these dragon qi would suddenly rush into his body because they had entered their final state of decline and could only rush into the emperor's body to protect the emperor himself. They no longer had any protective power over the world, and even the last bit of dragon qi that entered the emperor's body would continue to decline until the last wisp of dragon qi dispersed, at which point even the emperor himself would no longer be protected. This also represented the complete destruction of a dynasty.

  Generally speaking, a dynasty without the protection of dragon energy will frequently experience various natural disasters, and frequent natural disasters will eventually lead to continuous man-made disasters, which is a sign of great chaos in the world.

  According to Taoist teachings, if the chaotic world is likened to yin, then this nascent dragon energy is the yang within that yin, representing the phenomenon of life emerging from death.

  But for Liu Xuan, this newborn dragon energy in this chaotic world was his arch-nemesis!

  He is not afraid of the decline of dragon energy, as long as the dragon energy enters his body, he has a way to re-refine it and transform the dragon energy in his body into an ascending dragon state. Then, with himself as the foundation, he will once again protect the entire dynasty.

  Of course, he is not afraid of chaos in the world. On the contrary, he would rather see the world thoroughly chaotic - after all, death gives birth to new life. If this dynasty empire becomes completely chaotic, it will be easier for him to pull out all the drawbacks one by one. But if it doesn't become chaotic, these drawbacks will remain hidden and solving them will be even more troublesome.

  Only those who have recognized the dragon's aura can find it as soon as possible, because the dragon's aura in their bodies is more pure and vibrant than the declining dragon's aura of this last dynasty. If they can seize it, their cultivation will be further advanced.

  "If nothing unexpected happens, it should be one of those few people without a doubt!"

  As he thought this way in his heart, he observed the changes of that dragon energy. In the end, he found that after the dragon energy condensed into a dragon shape, it really split into three parts. The dragon head rushed straight to a certain place in Luoyang; the dragon body flew directly northeast; and the dragon tail flew southward.

  The dragon's body and tail couldn't be dealt with at the same time, so the dragon's head rushed towards Luoyang. Liu Xuan couldn't let it go, mobilizing all the dragon energy in his body. If someone saw him, they would find that Liu Xuan was surrounded by a golden light, with misty air swirling around him, and vaguely, a giant dragon coiled around his body. The giant dragon's head rose above Liu Xuan's head, opening its big mouth, as if it were roaring towards the sky, or sucking in something.

  After a while, a golden light suddenly appeared above the emperor's palace and disappeared in an instant, entering the emperor's palace. The people in the palace were amazed, and even some imperial guards rushed to check what was happening, but they were blocked by Cao Jie one by one and not allowed to enter.

  In the bedroom, a giant dragon coiled around Liu Xuan's body was opening its big mouth to swallow a smaller but glittering golden dragon into its belly. Upon closer inspection, this small dragon only had its head and a small part of its body visible, shaking left and right in an attempt to escape the larger golden dragon's ingestion.

  That great dragon was actually Liu Xuan's body of dragon energy, seeing that his own dragon energy couldn't even subdue this small dragon head, in a fit of rage he pinched out the magic formula, mobilizing the remaining yuan Shen in his body, and even spat out a mouthful of vital blood, barely managing to swallow that dragon head.

  After swallowing the dragon's head, the golden dragon immediately entered Liu Xuan's body. The smoke and clouds inside his body changed rapidly, gathering towards a single point without stopping. In just an instant, it transformed into a golden egg, suspended within his body emitting a soft gentle glow.

  "Actually, at this time, a dragon egg has condensed!"

  After realizing what had happened, Liu Xuan's face was bitter and there was no sign of happiness.

  In the name of Dragon Egg