Over on Ian's side, a streak of light flashed across the sky and vanished.
One moment, they were in the humid bamboo forests of Miaojiang; the next, they stood upon the thick yellow earth of the eight-hundred-mile Qinchuan in Guanzhong.
The air was dry and solemn, carrying the unique aura accumulated over a millennium by the imperial capital.
A massive mausoleum stretched across a towering mountain range.
This was none other than Zhao Mausoleum, the tomb of Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin.
Li Bai's soul appeared somewhat ethereal in the face of this majestic presence.
"Immortal, why have we come here..."
Ian's gaze bypassed the layers of stone steps, looking toward the imperial tomb that had slumbered for centuries.
"Brother Li, you feel that Li Xingyun is unfit for this great responsibility."
"Rather than searching the whole world for a wise ruler who might not even exist, we might as well just bring out a ready-made one."
"And to bring back a true emperor, a little sense of ceremony is always required."
The moment his words fell, Ian slowly raised his right hand.
Then, he gently pressed down toward the ley lines of Zhao Mausoleum.
Earth-shattering incantations and obscure, incomprehensible spells were automatically filled in by Li Bai's imagination.
Rumble—
As Ian pointed his finger, the entire mountain—no, the entire Guanzhong region for a hundred miles around—began to shake violently.
The sky was shrouded in thick, dark clouds.
Fierce winds howled, sweeping up the dust on the ground and emitting shrieks like wailing ghosts and howling gods.
Thick bolts of purple lightning darted madly through the clouds, illuminating the world in flickering flashes of light and dark.
It was as if some entity slumbering here was about to be forcibly awakened from its silence by this unrivaled power.
Li Bai's soul was so shocked by this apocalyptic scene that he nearly dissipated on the spot.
Immediately after, he witnessed a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life.
From the depths of the mausoleum, countless firefly-like motes of light slowly rose from the surrounding thick soil and rock layers.
The motes of light grew more numerous and brighter.
They converged into a dazzling river of light, spiraling out of the ground to intertwine and condense in midair.
Within the radiance, blurry human figures began to take shape.
Gradually, the clothing on their bodies shifted from ethereal to solid.
There were burly generals clad in armor and wielding giant axes.
There were civil officials wearing Liang crowns and vermilion official robes.
There were also Taoist mystics in robes, exuding a transcendent, immortal aura.
Cheng Yaojin, Zhangsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Wei Zheng, and so on.
...
One after another, figures who had left illustrious names in the annals of history materialized before Ian and Li Bai.
The founding legends of the Great Tang reappeared in their entirety at this very moment.
"Mother of mine, where is this?"
A booming shout broke the deathly silence of the area.
Cheng Yaojin shook his head, looked down at his incredibly solid hands, and patted the sturdy armor on his chest, his face written with confusion.
"Didn't I die ages ago and get buried in the dirt?"
"Zhijie, watch your words."
A gentle yet authoritative voice rang out.
Zhangsun Wuji looked around, feeling the fierce wind blowing past his body and the familiar yet foreign sensation of blood flowing through his veins.
His brows furrowed tightly, and a moment later, he reached a conclusion that even he found hard to believe.
"I fear... we have been summoned back to the mortal realm from the depths of the underworld by some heaven-defying method."
"Resurrected?"
As soon as these words were spoken, all the newly awakened souls erupted in an uproar.
Right at this moment.
At the very center of all the motes of light, within the most dazzling radiance, a figure slowly materialized.
He wore a profound black dragon robe and a crown with twelve beaded tassels, his posture as straight as a pine.
Even just standing there quietly, an imperial aura that could swallow mountains and rivers and awe the four seas arose naturally, pressing down so heavily that everyone present found it hard to breathe.
This man was none other than the eternal emperor, Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin.
"Your Majesty!"
The moment they saw this figure, all the bewilderment and shock on the faces of Cheng Yaojin and the others completely transformed into fanaticism and excitement.
Without any hesitation, they all dropped to one knee in unison, their movements perfectly synchronized, the clashing of their armor ringing out loudly.
"Your subjects greet Your Majesty!"
The reunion of ruler and subjects felt like a lifetime ago.
Among the crowd, an old man in Taoist robes had also been resurrected.
It was Li Chunfeng.
He wasn't as excited as the others; instead, he immediately began counting on his fingers to divine the situation.
Upon calculating, his expression changed drastically, shifting from surprise to sheer terror.
It turned out that his divination revealed the heavenly secrets were now in complete chaos—the future could not be scried, and the past was shrouded in thick fog.
He abruptly raised his head, casting his gaze toward the instigator of all these anomalies in the distance, the man dressed in robes as white as snow.
While the ruler and his subjects were conversing.
Ian's gaze fell upon the stunned remnant soul of Li Bai beside him.
He extended a finger and gently tapped the center of Li Bai's forehead.
An unimaginably majestic surge of life energy instantly flooded into the ethereal soul.
In an instant, a massive energy vortex formed with Li Bai's remnant soul at its center.
The surrounding spiritual energy of heaven and earth was forcibly extracted and poured into him in a savage manner.
It was as if heaven and earth were the furnace, and creation itself was the craftsman.
A perfect body was rapidly being forged.
Bones, flesh, and meridians.
Li Bai could clearly feel a long-lost sensation—the feeling of being alive—returning to him.
He felt the touch of the wind blowing past his cheeks.
He heard the strong, rhythmic beating of his own heart.
He could even smell the fragrance of damp earth after the rain in the air.
When the last ray of light dissipated, a middle-aged scholar dressed in white, with a handsome and elegant face that exuded even more immortal grace than before, appeared in his place.
He looked down at his hands, feeling the vast power within his body that was capable of moving mountains and draining seas. Two streams of clear tears could no longer be held back and spilled from his eyes.
Without hesitation, Li Bai bowed deeply in Ian's direction.
"This immortal's grace of recreation, Taibai shall never forget for all eternity!"
On the other side.
Li Shimin had already calmed his emotionally overwhelmed ministers.
He turned around and cast a gaze that seemed to see through the affairs of the world toward Ian.
He showed no fear at the other party's godlike methods. The imperial majesty carved into his very bones ensured he would never easily bow his head to anyone.
He stepped forward slowly, his voice as steady as a mountain.
"Who might you be, sir?"
"What is your purpose in performing such a heaven-defying act?"
Faced with the questioning of this eternal emperor, Ian hadn't even had time to answer.
Beside them, Li Chunfeng suddenly seemed to have figured out a crucial point and abruptly threw his head back in roaring laughter.
"Hahahaha..."
The laughter was somewhat suppressed at first, but it grew louder and louder, filled with relief and endless joy.
"So that's it! So that's how it is!"
"The heavenly secrets did not deceive me!"
"I understand! I understand now!"