Chapter 905 — Don't Even Think About Taking My Life

I have accomplished the transmission of dharma and the passing of the lamp; it is time for me to return to my original self.

From this day on, I am once again the Lord Huo I was before, Constable Ma. Chenghuai, you come and drape the kasaya upon your senior brother and hang the prayer beads upon him. " The Xuanliao Demon Ape bowed in worship.

Chenghuai spread the kasaya and draped it over him, and hung the prayer beads about his neck.

Lord Huo said with a smile: "Chenghuai sees the nature; the fighting monkey mind.

Chenghuai, you help him subdue the monkey of the mind.

Zhankong, from now on you are Rulai. You two great monks, stay your steps here; our Buddhist affinity is at an end. " The Xuanliao Demon Ape rose and, palms pressed together, said: "Seeing off the benefactor.

" Lord Huo returned the salute, then followed the Lame Old Man, Shen Mu, and the others down the mountain.

The capital of Jingping. More and more of Jingping's people were escorted in from every quarter, and there were even remnants of the Chiming clan.

The camps around the capital were packed full of people, and the two hundred-odd deities of Jingping anxiously guarded these people of Jingping. But there were too many people, and the food supply became an enormous problem.

Among the scholars of the various academies and schools, those proficient in the art of creation opened up good fields and used the way of creation to make crops grow swiftly, then harvested and milled the grain. Yet the good fields could sustain only three or four harvests before their fertility was spent and they became poor fields, and so they had no choice but to keep opening new farmland.

Outside, soldiers ravaged and horses trampled; the gods and demons of the Heavenly Court came and went like ghosts.

To open fields outside was to easily lose one's life, and so no few scholars died. Inside and outside the capital, all was anxiety and gloom. On this day, one after another tower-ship of the Heavenly Court sailed in through the sky.

Countless gods wreathed in golden light, majestic and solemn, stood upon the ships, their divine weapons gleaming, their divine might overshadowing the world, pressing down upon the people of Jingping until they could scarcely breathe. Though the great army of gods and demons of the Heavenly Court had come, it did not attack. Instead it restrained the gods and demons of the Heavenly Court scattered throughout the land, keeping them from striking at Jingping's people, and their discipline was strict indeed.

Inside and outside the capital, many common folk again burned incense and bowed to these high and exalted deities, praying for peace.

"When people are in the midst of suffering, their baser nature is reborn.

" The Imperial Preceptor of Jingping stood atop the city wall, gazing up at the Heavenly Court's great army, then looking down at the countless common folk below bowing and praying to that army. A bitter smile appeared on his face as he said: "Your Majesty, I fear that in this life of ours we may never be able to change all this. " Emperor Yanfeng stood behind him, breathing with difficulty, and said in a hoarse voice: "Since ancient times, every age's revolution and reform has been attended without exception by bloodshed.

In the two dynasties of Chi and Ming, the Chi Emperor and the Ming Emperor left not even bones behind. Of the generations of Shanghuang, few met a good end. Kaihuang was overthrown, and the thirty-three heavens and the Heavenly Court were destroyed in a single day; a generation's great lord endured in silence in the Carefree Land. Jingping's reform faces even greater resistance. If bloodshed is required.

.

. " The Imperial Preceptor of Jingping said with a smile: "Let it begin with you and me. " Emperor Yanfeng laughed heartily, then suddenly sighed: "I only worry that after you and I die there will be no successors. Many in this world are foolish folk. The gods wish to keep the people foolish, afraid to resist, afraid to change; and the foolish folk willingly embrace their foolishness, unwilling to resist, unwilling to change.

Imperial Preceptor of Jingping, look: we have reformed to this day, and there are still those who kneel and worship the gods and demons.

The greatest resistance to reform sometimes comes from these very people.

" The Imperial Preceptor of Jingping was downcast and grieved: "To give one's life for such people—is it worth it? " "It is worth it!

" Emperor Yanfeng said loudly: "Smash the gods in the temple, smash the gods in the heart. Some will hesitate, but there are still those who have not knelt! " His eyes grew brighter and brighter as he smiled and said: "After they rise to their feet, some will kneel again, but some will never kneel again. Even if you and I become sacrifices to this reform, there will still be those who continue down our road, until this world is changed!

That—is worth it!

" In the sky, a towering deity flew in, coming to the air above the capital of Jingping. He was so vast that he warped space itself, the Heavenly Court's tower-ships circling around him as stars circle the sun.

That was the Azure Emperor of the Eastern Heaven.

He rose towering into the heavens, his face level with the sky, white clouds adorning his waist.

This deity, majestic with righteousness and radiant with ten thousand beams of light, possessed unparalleled power and might; the capital of Jingping and its countless millions below seemed as though they could be destroyed with a snap of the fingers. A divine official flew into the palm of the Azure Emperor of the Eastern Heaven and knelt in worship, bowing his head with the utmost reverence.

Then he brought forth a scroll of imperial edict, bowed once more, raised the edict high above his head, and, stooping low, flew backward. "Here in my court there has never been such a custom. " Emperor Yanfeng said with a smile: "The Heavenly Court's rules are too strict.

" The Imperial Preceptor of Jingping said with a smile: "Your Majesty forgets: when the upright officials in court impeached me and Hierarch Shen, they knocked their heads like pounding garlic, until their brows bled.

" Emperor Yanfeng's face darkened, and he said sullenly: "I ought to have your head.

I will remember this for now. " "Your Majesty will not have the chance.

" The Imperial Preceptor of Jingping smiled faintly.

He caught sight of his wife and daughter in the city, and his heart ached, but he turned away, his expression unchanged. "Criminal subjects of Jingping, receive the edict!

" The divine official held the edict in his hands, his voice like thunder, resounding through the clouds.

As soon as the words fell, countless common folk knelt, and some wielders of divine arts knelt as well.

Emperor Yanfeng and the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping felt another pang in their hearts, but seeing that many still did not kneel, their spirits eased again. The divine official glanced at the two of them, gave a cold laugh, unrolled the edict, and read aloud: "By the mandate of Heaven: the natives of Jingping have not reflected upon Heaven's grace, acting in defiance of Heaven, reforming the law to disrupt the Way of Heaven, bringing down the wrath of Heaven and the resentment of men, leaving the people no means to live. Yet Heaven has the virtue of cherishing life.