Burn the corpses of the Barbarians Clan soldiers, to prevent plague from breaking out.

Give those Northern Expedition Army officers and men who died in battle a proper burial, erect steles for them, and before those stone steles, cast the heads of those from the Northern Barbarians Royal Court into skull mounds, to serve as a lesson to all Northern Barbarians.

At the same time, swiftly detach elites to head to the snowfields and hunt down those seeds of the royal court who fled in advance, to eradicate all future troubles.

In the blink of an eye, a full day had passed.

The next day, at dawn.

Mounds of graves and rows of stone steles had already been set up; they were to extol the Northern Expedition Army, and of course, some were for the valiant soldiers among the auxiliary forces.

This was all to calm their hearts.

And before the many stone steles, there stood several hundred skull mounds of different sizes; from a little distance they seemed majestic, but up close they evoked sheer terror.

This campaign, after a simple tally, yielded immense spoils; not to mention the several million head of cattle and sheep already sent back to the Central Plains, even now there were still several million head of booty.

The three great Royal Courts were wiped out, countless tribes great and small were eradicated, and resources were piled up like mountains; it could be said the entire Grassland had been scraped clean as if peeling off its very skin.

Such a vast trove of resources would more than suffice to sustain several Immortal Sects; it was wealth on the level of contending with nations, laying down an incomparably deep foundation for the future Great Yan Dynasty.

So long as the foundation is strong, it can foster countless low-level Martial Artists, and from that ocean of low-level Martial Artists, there will naturally emerge many more High-level strong people.

And the bedrock of a Dynasty is Martial Artists of every tier!

All the Northern Expedition battles taken together, in total they beheaded one Earth Immortal powerhouse, seven Yang God True Monarchs, twenty-four Refining God True Masters, thirty-nine Primordial Spirit True Masters, and more than five hundred Dan Realm Masters.

As for low-level Martial Artists, their number is beyond counting!

They slew over five hundred thousand Northern Barbarians soldiers, and took close to a million prisoners.

One could say that this single Northern Expedition completely shattered the backbone of the Northern Barbarians; from this day on, the chance for them to stand up again was vanishingly slim—virtually impossible.

At the same time, all the manuals, experiential inheritances, and such of the Northern Barbarians clan were for the most part seized; this was tantamount to severing the very roots of the Northern Barbarian Prairie.

Utterly ruthless!

And on this very day, more than one hundred thousand uninjured Northern Expedition troops formed up in perfect order, split into a dozen-odd square formations, standing before those stone steles; at their head was the Regent King, Chen Yuan.

Jiang He, Chen Huaiyi, Song Yingqiao, Yang Huatian, Wei Wuque, and many other powerhouses and generals of the Northern Expedition Army all took their places to the rear.

Chen Yuan’s gaze was steady; holding a bowl of wine in his hand, he spoke in a clear, ringing voice:

"With this wine, this king toasts all officers and men who fell in the Northern Expedition; your sacrifice was not in vain—for from this day forth, the Grassland will no longer be a scourge to my Central Plains.

This bowl of wine, I also toast all the men of resolve and innocent commoners of the Central Plains who, over the past thousand years, died beneath the hooves on this Grassland; your blood-debt—this king has avenged it for you!

This bowl of wine, this king further toasts you, Wei Jinfeng. What you failed to accomplish, this king has accomplished in your stead. It is a pity that you are no longer here before me; look down from the heavens.

Look—these hundreds of thousands of li of Grassland shall henceforth become the horse pasture of my Central Plains; the folk of Liangzhou and Youzhou shall from this day on no longer live upon the borderlands. This king has expanded our territory by two hundred thousand li!"

That faint voice resounded in everyone’s ears; all present wore solemn expressions, mixed with irrepressible joy, and a deep awe toward Chen Yuan.

The wine in the bowl traced a line as it spilled onto the ground, and Chen Yuan casually dashed the bowl to pieces.

Behind him, all the powerhouses likewise offered wine, spilling it on the ground and smashing their porcelain bowls.

"Regent King, ten thousand years! King Yan, ten thousand years!"

"Regent King, ten thousand years! King Yan, ten thousand years!"

"Regent King...."

Over one hundred thousand voices roared in unison, the sound shaking the heavens, their Qi piercing the nine skies!

King of Beiliang, Wei Wuque, knelt on the ground, tears brimming in his eyes, his heart surging; toward the direction of Liangzhou he kowtowed three times. After he returned, he was determined to go to his father’s side and recount this great war in detail.

"When the royal army has pacified the northern Grassland, at the family sacrifice, forget not to tell your father."

...

...

With the end of that final great battle with the Royal Court, with Huang Ji’s death, with the Grassland’s powerhouses cut off, this campaign’s curtain finally fell.

What followed was the aftermath: dealing with the affairs of the Grassland, which Chen Yuan entrusted entirely to Wei Wuque to take charge of; of course, matters still had to be reported back without omission.

He believed that with his own personal guidance, and with his hatred of a father’s murder in his heart, Wei Wuque would surely handle matters on the Grassland in a way that satisfied him.

And on the very day when all the fallen officers and men of the Grassland were buried, the Beiliang Army’s great victory, at Chen Yuan’s instruction, was swiftly sent back to the Central Plains via Sound Transmission Talismans.

He did this for two reasons: one, to set everyone’s minds at ease and further elevate Chen Yuan’s prestige in the Central Plains. After all, such a world-shaking achievement—

Would absolutely raise his fame in the Central Plains to a terrifying height.

This was something even the Grand Ancestor of Chu in bygone days had never accomplished.

A complete pacification of the Northern Barbarians.

Merit for the age; beneficence for a thousand autumns.

The other reason was that Chen Yuan meant to use it to overawe the Demon clans of the Southern Border. He needed to make a trip to Qi Ling Mountain to seize an opportunity and increase his strength, and he would be unable to return to the Central Plains for a short while.

But once news of his great victory was sent back, it would certainly make the Demon clans of the Southern Border wary, guessing that he might already be back, merely waiting to spring a trap on them at some critical moment.

In this way, there was great hope of buying time.

And then he would be able to simply sweep across the Southern Border!

On this day.

Liangzhou City was exceedingly lively; to be precise, ever since the successive good tidings from the Grassland had arrived, the whole of Liangzhou City had been in a fevered mood. On the one hand, they were overjoyed.

On the other hand, they were waiting for the final, decisive victory.

Fen Tian Demon Emperor was temporarily lodging in that same inn as before. Because of the frequent news of victories from the Grassland, all the inns within Liangzhou City had gone to half price—an unprecedented bargain.

Sipping the wine of the Human World, he suddenly looked toward a certain direction.

And then, several voices came into his ears.

Over a dozen riders galloped through Liangzhou City’s streets, Black Dragon Banner held high, shouting loudly:

"Great victory, great victory, great victory on the Grassland!"

"Great victory!!!"

"The Regent King has beheaded the Grassland Heavenly Khan Huang Ji, the Northern Expedition Army has wiped out the Grassland’s three great Royal Courts, slain nearly a million Barbarians, and taken nearly a million prisoners—the skull mounds cast from them tower into the clouds!

From this day forth, two hundred thousand li of Grassland will be the horse pasture of our Central Plains!"

"Great victory, the Regent King..."

"Great victory, the Grassland is routed, our army is triumphant...."

Countless voices rang out; for an instant, all the streets of Liangzhou City fell silent, as if frozen in that moment—and then came an enormous roar.

Boom!!!

As though a thunderclap had exploded, everyone instantly burst into an uproar.

An old man with a severed arm knelt on the ground, tears streaming, shouting with all his heart for the Central Plains to live ten thousand years.

A young man cried out at the top of his lungs, as if pouring out every last ounce of his strength.

A seven- or eight-year-old child waved the pinwheel in his hand, a bright smile blooming on his face.

There were....

The hundred forms of life, the myriad faces of the marketplace—yet in this moment, every face was alight with excitement; some were even trembling all over.

They kept repeating news of this great victory, as if afraid it would prove to be nothing but a dream.

What they had long yearned for had finally... come to pass!

"King Yan, victorious for ten thousand years!"

"The Central Plains, victorious for ten thousand years!"

"Liangzhou, victorious for ten thousand years!"

"Regent King, victorious for ten thousand years!"

"King of Beiliang, victorious for ten thousand years!"

"Old Prince...."

But in the end, all the voices gradually converged into a single cry.

"Long live King Yan!"

"Long live King Yan!"

"Long live King Yan!"

"All wine and meat in this shop are free today—celebrating Great Yan, celebrating our Central Plains!"

"This shop is giving away pork today—congratulations to our brave lads of Liangzhou!"

"This shop is awarding one hundred taels of silver today—to celebrate our Great Yan!"

"The girls of this shop today... celebrate the Regent King!"

"This shop...."

Merchants one after another hoisted their signs, determined to turn this very day into a great festival. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

On the second floor, seated high above, Fen Tian Demon Emperor’s face also showed a smile. Watching the cheers of these ants, the corners of his lips curled slightly as he murmured to himself:

"In this final hour, celebrate to your heart’s content. Heheheh... Regent King, thank you for helping this emperor get rid of a nuisance. Heheheh...."