The structure of the buildings here resembled the temple Feng Miaojun had seen in Yun Ya’s dream, though it was far less grand. It seemed that ancestral shrines all shared this appearance. The teleportation array had brought them to the main hall, and looking down through the wooden windows, one could see that the ancestral temple was built against a small hill.

The hill was small, with the temple gate opening halfway up the slope. Following upward in sequence, the great hall was positioned at the peak.

A faint golden barrier covered the entire building, preventing outsiders from entering. Large numbers of Jiao troops had gathered at the temple gates, relying on the barrier to resist the Wei forces.

However, the barrier did not block sound, and Feng Miaojun could still hear the clamor of voices from below, as well as… cannon fire.

The Wei people had also made this place a key point of attack. And Shah Yan no longer had any Giant Spirit God Cannons in stock, otherwise the ancestral temple would have fallen long ago.

But she had to move quickly. Under the full-scale attack of the army, this barrier would not last much longer.

Miao Fengxian pointed toward the center of the great hall: “The foundation stone is there.”

Feng Miaojun looked in the direction he indicated and indeed saw a stone shrine, inside which was a stone trough, though it was empty.

On the altar table that enshrined it stood a small tripod cauldron.

The State Vessel.

Miao Fengxian was the State Preceptor with no successor. Therefore, after his death, the State Vessel had transformed into light and returned to the ancestral temple, waiting here for the emergence of the next State Preceptor.

The ruler of Jiao Kingdom was already dead, so logically the foundation stone should have surfaced, no longer being integrated with the earth. However, to take away the foundation stone, there was still one final procedure to follow.

By now, Princess Hanyue had recovered her strength, though her face remained pale. She walked over and took out a small crystal vial from her bosom. Following Miao Fengxian’s instructions, she poured a drop of fresh blood from the vial into the stone trough and then recited the surrender decree aloud.

The blood in the vial had been taken from the Jiao royal bloodline. Earlier, when she had stamped the imperial jade seal, she had collected an extra drop of blood and put it away for this very moment.

As soon as the last word was uttered, a faint light flashed in the trough. Before anyone could blink, a round stone the size of a chicken egg appeared in the stone trough.

This stone was round and blunt, almost transparent, with a slightly purple hue, filled with greenish veins like human blood vessels and nerves.

This was the foundation stone!

Feng Miaojun saw this object for the first time and even softened her breathing.

She had read in the Smoky Sea Tower that foundation stones were not difficult to obtain; people often found them in ancient ruins. But once a foundation stone was buried, it became connected to the fate of the nation, and the prosperity or decline of the country would be reflected in the color of the foundation stone.

The foundation stone of the Jiao Kingdom was purple, indicating prosperous national fortune. Its national power had originally been rising steadily. If not for the incident at Yinzi City, it might have welcomed a flourishing golden age.

What a pity.

She also knew that without the authentication of blood from the royal direct lineage, outsiders who attacked this place would have to wait a full seven days for the foundation stone to rise on its own.

Seven days would be enough time for Jiao reinforcements to reach Yinzi City. So Wei King Shah Yan’s first choice was still to quickly take down the temporary palace, obtain the royal grandson’s blood to unseal the foundation stone, and end this war sooner!

Feng Miaojun extended her palm and grasped the foundation stone.

It felt slightly warm to the touch, its outer shell even soft as skin.

Seeing this, Princess Hanyue felt a pang in her heart. Though she was not from Jiao, her feelings for the Jiao Kingdom had grown day by day since her marriage.

Miao Fengxian closed his eyes, unable to bear the sight.

This was the foundation built by his ancestors, the motherland he had once sworn to protect. But now, he had to hand over this great land to someone else.

This pain, guilt, loss, and regret could drive a soul completely mad.

Feng Miaojun understood that once she removed the foundation stone and took possession of Jiao territory, the situation between the northern and southern continents would become incomparably complex. She and New Xia could only face an increasingly unpredictable future.

Once, what she feared most was trouble and adversity. But now…

Feng Miaojun raised her hand, spreading the surrender decree before the shrine, and pronounced each word distinctly: “Queen Feng Miaojun of New Xia accepts the surrender of Jiao Kingdom. From this moment forth, the territory of Jiao is also the territory of New Xia, and the people of Jiao are also my people! Those who violate Jiao lands, New Xia shall expel them.”

These words landed with gravity.

The blood seal on the surrender decree also radiated a faint red light.

From the moment she uttered the first word, her voice echoed throughout the sky above Yinzi City, lingering even after she finished speaking.

Everyone heard it, everyone knew.

Both the Wei and Jiao forces, locked in mortal combat, were stunned.

After Feng Miaojun finished speaking, she took a deep breath, then withdrew her hand, pulling the foundation stone directly out of the stone trough!

With a “crack,” the shrine split into pieces, and after a few moments, turned to powder.

When a nation was first established and the foundation stone buried, a shrine naturally formed above it for the nation’s people to worship and generate elemental power. Now that the foundation stone had been taken away and the country no longer existed, Heaven reclaimed the shrine, no longer allowing the people of this land to offer their elemental power to the fallen country.

Standing to one side, Miao Fengxian was mentally prepared, yet he still bowed his head deeply.

Souls cannot shed tears, otherwise he might have been weeping.

The once powerful and prosperous Jiao Kingdom no longer existed.

At the same time, a faint green light spread over all of Jiao Kingdom’s existing territory. With the power of heaven and earth, Feng Miaojun’s declaration echoed in the minds of every sentient being.

Amid the astonishment of countless living beings, the green light covering the entire domain lasted for a full twenty breaths before dissipating.

The Jiao Kingdom had changed hands.

At the center of this momentous change, Feng Miaojun felt grief and unwillingness transmitted from the foundation stone, indescribable yet truly existing.

It was the final cry of a dying nation.

She suddenly understood. A “country” was also akin to a living being, with the foundation stone as its heart.

A person dies without a heart, and a country vanishes without its foundation stone.

At this moment, her understanding of “life” itself quietly ascended to another level.

Feng Miaojun had no time to concern herself with the situation outside. Just after she seized the foundation stone, the small tripod on the altar table suddenly flashed with a few wisps of dim light, quickly transforming into something else.

The State Vessel had changed form?

Feng Miaojun was greatly surprised.

She did know that after a country’s demise, the State Vessel would relinquish its duty and return to its original form. But in her original thinking, something designated as a State Vessel by the founding ancestor of the Jiao Kingdom should at least be in the realm of divine artifacts, capable of bearing a nation’s fortune through centuries of rise and fall. How could it be the thing before her eyes—

Yes, this thing didn’t even have a proper shape, just a fragment of metal.

Feng Miaojun casually picked it up, examining it repeatedly. She found that it felt strange to the touch, neither quite like gold nor jade, with a copper-rust color. Judging by its curvature, its original form should have been a spherical container. This was merely a fragment after being shattered, with a single foot still attached, the design ancient and understated.

The fragment was adorned with many patterns, featuring plants, humans, demons, and beasts. All the sentient beings depicted had different expressions, but they all gazed in the same direction.