Thus, Ding Yun, single-handedly, thoroughly cleansed the moral atmosphere of the entire Qi Kingdom, and the lives of the common people in various regions also improved somewhat.
Though some might still be poor.
But at least they no longer had to fear oppression.
If they had matters to report to the authorities, local officials dared not neglect them or engage in favoritism. Although not all, a majority across the nation was already a great improvement.
Moreover, as Ding Yun strictly punished inactive officials in various places, news of local wicked families also spread, and similar situations gradually decreased.
If things could have continued this way, Ding Yun would have been too lazy to cause trouble, let alone invade other countries.
However, she might not want to invade other countries, but that did not mean other countries did not see her as a threat.
A person who could, at any moment, single-handedly destroy a country's royal family and all its civil and military officials. Which surrounding country would not be filled with dread? Before she became emperor, others could barely accept it.
Or at least, they wouldn't be too afraid.
And would not actively provoke her.
But as she became Empress, other countries, judging her by their own standards, would fundamentally believe that if they possessed such terrifying power, they would surely find ways to attack other countries, unify the world, expand their territories, forge an unprecedented immortal legacy, and achieve eternal fame.
Therefore, they naturally began to panic, to seek alliances, and to look for ways to deal with her.
They even felt that as long as she was alive.
They could not eat or sleep peacefully.
And Wei Xiangxun and Du Kui, whose lives were spared by Ding Yun, after finally stabilizing the internal situation of Wei.
And securing the throne.
Also began to seek revenge.
Thus, the countries around the former Zhao, now Qi, under Du Kui's matchmaking, contacted each other and began to discuss how to jointly eliminate the enemy.
However, considering that their greatest threat was actually Empress Anping, not Zhao, they ultimately did not form a million-strong allied army to attack Zhao.
Instead, they united talented individuals from various countries, found ways to obtain secret weapons such as gunpowder "Thunder Bolts" and inextinguishable fire oil, and at the same time, each country dispatched some personnel to form a death squad of nearly a thousand people. Carrying these weapons, they infiltrated Zhao to assassinate Ding Yun.
Fearless of death, willing to die in the attempt if they failed.
Knowing that Princess Anping was impervious to blades and arrows, possessed immense strength, and was immune to all poisons, they could only place their hopes on fire attacks, hoping she would be afraid of fire. Thus, the secret weapons they chose were mostly fire-related. Of course, they also brought various poisons, hidden weapons, and sharp blades. They even brought some special death warriors trained for suicide attacks.
In summary, this thousand-person team carried the most ferocious and terrifying weapons or poisons their respective countries could find, intending to perish with Ding Yun.
Ding Yun was initially unaware of these matters.
Because she had no trusted confidantes, and the Qi family could not help her much for the time being. Some officials and noble families simply did not want her to remain emperor, but they lacked the courage to openly oppose her and challenge her.
However, while they lacked the courage to openly oppose her, they could still conceal some information and even help the thousand-person death squad cover their tracks.
Therefore, Ding Yun only realized something was amiss when the death squad was less than a thousand meters away from her. She noticed their footsteps were different from normal merchants, and they carried the scent of sulfur and various foul-smelling poisons.
She immediately guessed that they were likely not here for peace.
And were probably coming specifically for her.
Discovering this situation, Ding Yun, out of concern for accidentally harming innocent bystanders, hurriedly fled towards the uninhabited areas. She led them into a desolate canyon.
Only then did she stop, waiting for them to arrive.
Soon after, countless attacks rained down upon her, including all sorts of thunder and fire bombs, poisons that meant instant death upon contact or inhalation, various corrosive liquids, and even inextinguishable fire oil that would burn without being extinguished once ignited.
While these could not kill Ding Yun.
They undoubtedly had a great impact on her.
Even being smeared with rotten eggs felt uncomfortable, let alone being covered in gunpowder, burning oil, and various poisons and corrosives.
What was most unacceptable to Ding Yun was that her clothes were all burnt off. If not for the burning oil on her body, she would have appeared like a human torch.
If not for the burning oil on her body, she would have been naked in broad daylight.
Previously, the Wei Emperor had only wanted to verify her identity, but before he could, Ding Yun had hanged him at the city gate. One could imagine how furious Ding Yun was at this moment.
Since arriving here, she believed that although she had done many reckless things, she had always adhered to the principle of "I do not offend, others do not offend me." This was the case with the Wei Emperor, and the same with Zhao Jun.
The same applied to the royal family and feudal lords of Zhao.
Yet, despite this, people continued to find trouble for her. When domestic troubles were resolved, foreign troubles arose. This made her wonder if she appeared too easy to bully, or if this world had sensed she was an outsider and was specifically targeting her.
However, because the death warriors were still attacking her, Ding Yun did not ponder further. Instead, she immediately began to counterattack. For example, she casually attacked a death warrior wearing armor, calmly strangled him, took off his armor, and put it on herself.
Only then did she begin her fierce counterattack, and within a short while, she had annihilated all the thousand-odd death warriors.
After completing this task, Ding Yun of course did not continue her patrols. She immediately returned to the capital to dispatch border troops, personally leading them, under the guise of revenge, to conquer the world.
Because she could easily kill enemy generals and destroy enemy city gates with a single punch, these two points alone were enough to cause the enemy's morale to collapse. Thus, Ding Yun's personal expedition was naturally unstoppable. Almost every six months, she directly annihilated a neighboring country and annexed it completely.
This speed was limited by her immobility and insufficient manpower.
If she had sufficient manpower and could teleport between different cities, she might have easily annihilated a country in less than half a month.
Of course, even so.
Ding Yun's speed was undoubtedly very fast.
In a total of less than five years, with a combined casualty of less than ten thousand, she completely annihilated all the surrounding countries. All countries with contiguous borders were destroyed. As for those across the sea, because they had little contact with each other, Ding Yun had not taken action against them for the time being.
And after the conquest was completed.
The next step was naturally to fully absorb and digest the conquered territories and complete a peaceful transition as much as possible.
Simultaneously, by destroying all her neighboring countries, Ding Yun successfully collected enough gold to transform her physical body into an immortal golden body. She then spent some time consuming the gold.
Finally completing the transformation into an immortal golden body.
At this point, she could have withdrawn at any time, as all the original body's requests had been fulfilled.
And the golden finger had been tested sufficiently.
However, Ding Yun worried that if she left now, the newly unified world would quickly disintegrate, leading to countless deaths. At the same time, she felt that this golden finger must have some issues, as she felt her actions were somewhat inconsistent with her true personality.
The fact that people constantly targeted her was also quite strange.
Especially the actions of some people, which seemed to be driven by desperation, as if they were rushing to kill her.
When peaceful coexistence was entirely possible.
Why insist on targeting her and trying to kill her?
Considering these two factors, Ding Yun ultimately did not leave immediately. Instead, she chose to raise an heir from the Qi family, selecting a female infant to nurture, and stayed in the imperial palace to research and analyze the golden finger.
Of course, if rebellion occurred anywhere.
She would still personally lead troops to quell it.
This situation of people rebelling from time to time continued for five years, until after five years, large-scale rebellions ceased. Minor disturbances could be quickly quelled by local officials, and the world was generally at peace.
What followed was a period of waiting.
If Ding Yun died within a few years, like Qin Shi Huang, the world would certainly disintegrate rapidly and return to an era of chaos, and it would take an unknown number of years to unify again.
Because the current unification of the world.
Was entirely maintained by her personal might.
Before most people's minds fully accepted this, such unification was undoubtedly fragile. Otherwise, there would not have been so many rebellions in the preceding years.
But as long as Ding Yun lived long enough and continued to promote the unification of thought and culture during her reign.
She did not need to live for thousands of years.
As long as she outlived one or two generations.
Then this unified realm would be truly stable.
Moreover, only a prosperous era could promote the emergence of more delicacies, allowing her to gain more points to further explore the "Foodie System." Therefore, Ding Yun could only continue to labor diligently to unify culture, unify thought, develop the economy, and improve the living standards of the people.
This effort continued for another twenty years.
In this year, the Qi Kingdom was already a prosperous era. In this year, the heir Ding Yun had chosen turned twenty-eight years old, had inherited Ding Yun's ideology nearly perfectly, and was capable of independent action. It was also in this year that Ding Yun abdicated.
She abdicated the throne to the heir she had chosen.
She herself chose to continue touring the world, completing the tour she had been unable to fully finish thirty years ago. This would allow her to inspect the administration of various regions, and also to taste the new delicacies that had emerged in various places over the past twenty years, and whether any new ingredients had appeared.
Because Ding Yun had only abdicated the throne.
She had not died.
Therefore, she could still suppress the realm, and no one dared to cause trouble. The world continued to develop peacefully.
In the first few years, some people would still try to test if Ding Yun had grown old and weak. But as time passed, and as the old aristocratic families who had been hiding gradually died off, people gradually stopped testing Ding Yun.
But even so, Ding Yun did not leave immediately.
Instead, she lived for several more decades.
After painstakingly trying and finally verifying the potential hidden dangers of this golden finger, she personally entered her mausoleum and departed.
This was in the one hundred and sixteenth year of the Qi Kingdom.
The world had been unified for over a century, and the emperor was already the fourth generation. Even the story of Empress Anping was considered a fabrication created to maintain rule.
But even so.
Her unification of the world could not be erased.
The world bestowed upon her many titles—
Such as the first female god of war in the creation of heaven and earth, the supreme Empress of Unification, Sage Ancestor Qi, Empress Anping Heavenly Emperor...