Chapter 1010 — The Struggle of Sovereigns, Close-Quarters Slaughter

The drums rolled like thunder, shaking heaven and earth, as though the sound of the war drums were meant to rouse the Wuyou Township of today—to rouse the elders who did nothing but wallow in self-pity and curse heaven and blame their fellow man, to rouse the young who drowned in soft comforts and luxury and had no thought of striving onward. Shen Mu was not beating Kaihuang; he was beating the decayed spirit of the Kaihuang Era. And in the eyes of everyone in Wuyou Township, Shen Mu was no longer Shen Mu—he was that Heavenly Court they had sworn to resist unto death, that tyranny!

That scene of Kaihuang being beaten inside Shen Mu's domain showed them their leader fallen beneath the iron hooves of the Heavenly Court, fallen beneath the iron fists of the Heavenly Court's gods. Within Shen Mu's domain, the faces of those gods and demons twisted into savage grins, mocking the people of the Kaihuang Era for not knowing their own strength, mocking Kaihuang's perseverance and sacrifice as utterly incapable of awakening the benighted people of this age. The Heavenly Court that Shen Mu represented was mocking them, mocking them for having once been Kaihuang's companions, Kaihuang's fellow travelers on the Dao, and yet having become pitiful wretches and parasites who could only hope Kaihuang would turn the tide.

They had become mere spectators, able only to wave banners and shout encouragement for Kaihuang; they had become the protected, who panicked and grieved like mourners at a parent's death the moment Kaihuang failed. Shen Mu, aloft and exalted, looked down with cold eyes and mocked them—they were not fit to be Kaihuang's fellow travelers on the Dao! And yet. . .

This was wrong! They, the elders, had in that era been the favored children of heaven too, filled with boundless heroism, daring to defy the Heavenly Court and defy injustice, possessed of the grand ambition to remake heaven and earth! At the beginning, they had not been Kaihuang's subjects; they had been his comrades on the same path.

Only because Kaihuang had greater resolve, greater perseverance, greater means did they raise him up to be Kaihuang. They were not people who needed Kaihuang's protection.

The Kaihuang Era was not the era of Kaihuang alone—it was the era of them all!

The war drums sounded, the thunder rolled, and the blood in the hearts of the people of that age twenty thousand years ago grew hot once more, burned once more.

Amid the drumbeats, the spirit of that era seemed to be reborn, sprouting anew in every heart, growing anew, swelling anew!

Kaihuang's reforms had from the first been the reforms of everyone in an era; to pin one's hopes on a single man was to lose the very essence of reform. When everyone sank into their own private worlds, hoping a single leader would change everything, reform lost its soil.

When they let their hot blood cool and could only curse heaven and earth with their complaints, the spirit of former days was gone. When the new generation grew up in such an atmosphere, how could they still possess the fighting spirit of their forebears? How could they inherit the epochal spirit of the Kaihuang Era's reforms?

That they, when their aspirations could not be realized and their ambitions found no outlet, gave themselves over to wine and women and the most extravagant luxury—that was no longer so strange.

When the Way does not prevail, one does not set out upon a raft across the sea—for this is Wuyou Township, and they cannot leave.

They can only drown themselves in debauchery. But now, the epochal spirit that had lain silent for twenty thousand years was awakening amid the sound of the war drums.

Some had already awakened; they would let their spirit fill heaven and earth, to awaken more people, to restore the reforms and transformations of the Kaihuang Era! It was not too late for anything; they could still begin again.

Even now, they could yet stride forth and begin anew! Amid the drums, Shen Mu sensed that will to battle from twenty thousand years ago, that spirit unyielding through a hundred setbacks, unbowed and unbroken, that bearing which dared to be first under heaven, dared to spill hot blood against the Heavenly Court, that grand ambition to shatter the cage and shatter injustice!

This essence, this vigor, this spirit was very like Jingping's—and yet different. In what specific ways it differed, Shen Mu could not tell in so short a time.

He opened his hand, and Kaihuang dropped from between his two fingers like a heap of rotten meat, crashing into the rolling yellow sand. Shen Mu's enormous face leaned down from the heavens, almost pressed against the tattered, ruined Kaihuang Heavenly Court, his voice like thunder, a great bell striking the ear: "You.

. .

" "Are you rebelling? " His roar shook heaven and earth; the breath he expelled became a gale that swept across the Kaihuang Heavenly Court.

An old man, white-haired, his upper body bare and powerfully built, slapped his chest with a steel blade and cried out fiercely: "Rebel? Then we rebel!

" Voice after voice shouted, roared, drowning out Shen Mu's voice: "Rebellion!

" "Rally the banners anew, and storm the Heavenly Court beyond the realm! " "This Wuyou Township—I am done staying in it!

I will fight my way out of this cage and do battle once more!

" .

. . Shen Mu's face darkened, and he bellowed: "Insolence.

. .

" He was about to speak when Princess Consort Zhen seized him and said in a low voice: "Shen'er, that is enough. Say no more!

" Yan Yunxi also flew over, and with a wave of her hand clouds and mist layered across the sky, hiding their figures. Layer upon layer of cloud piled in the heavens, gradually covering the Kaihuang Heavenly Court.

Within the mist, Princess Consort Zhen pulled Shen Mu downward, Yan Yunxi guarding at their side, staring around in alarm, speaking swiftly: "The hearts of the people can be used—but they have grown hot past the point of reason.

If you speak again, those fellows whose heads have been addled will harden their hearts and kill you as a Heavenly Venerable of the Heavenly Court beyond the realm!

" Shen Mu was startled, and stammered: "Surely not? " Yan Yunxi sneered: "You beat Kaihuang so savagely, and you set yourself up as the Heavenly Court—right now you are the symbol of the Heavenly Court beyond the realm.

At this moment, some can still tell that you are you and the Heavenly Court is the Heavenly Court, but others cannot.

With the crowd in such a frenzy, killing you would be perfectly normal.

They hate you to death.

" Shen Mu said guiltily: "I was beaten pretty badly by Kaihuang too.

Just now, Kaihuang's thirty-fourth heaven sword path ran me through.

" Yan Yunxi sneered. Shen Mu looked at Princess Consort Zhen: "Mother, isn't that so?

" Princess Consort Zhen nodded helplessly: "Kaihuang really did go too far—he wounded Shen'er badly.

" Just then Qin Hanzhen's voice came, quiet: "Quite a few addle-headed fellows have flown up into the sky; clearly they mean to kill you to vent the surging vigor in their bodies. I will go find Kaihuang and ask him to calm the crowd. At a time like this, only he can step forward. " And he hurried off again. Princess Consort Zhen and Yan Yunxi took Shen Mu dodging here and hiding there, lest he be exposed.

At this moment the people of Wuyou Township had been stirred up, reason crushed beneath emotion, emotion holding the upper hand, and they needed an outlet.

Shen Mu had already been cast as the representative of the Heavenly Court; if he was discovered, it would mean certain death. "There is no staying in the Heavenly Court. Let us get out! " Princess Consort Zhen and Yan Yunxi carried him swiftly away from the Kaihuang Heavenly Court.