Chapter 218 — Never the Light of Heaven Again
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
After death his body was not even whole; the traitor Imperial Preceptor cut off his head, and there are still rumors in court and country that he was disloyal! " Crown Prince Jingping wept, then suddenly struck the table hard, his eyes red: "I cannot watch the Ling family's realm be destroyed in my Imperial Father's hands — even if it makes me an unfilial son! Loyalty and filial piety cannot both be fulfilled; I am unfilial, but I am loyal to the Ling family!
Some things must be done, and cannot be left undone! " Agitated, he paced back and forth: "How laughable that my younger brothers and sisters still live as if drunk or dreaming, never knowing that catastrophe is about to fall on the Ling family! My Imperial Father has already been hollowed out by the Imperial Preceptor; when the Ling family is driven from the throne, they too will be scattered like ashes! I cannot let such a thing happen, cannot let this Imperial Preceptor of the demonic path seize the magpie's nest like a dove! I will be emperor, and I will turn back the raging tide!
" At the Hukou Imperial Works, the Hall of Heavenly Craft and the Hall of Artisans had spent ten days and at last forged the five tower ships. The men installed the fifteen pill furnaces Shen Mu had made, mounting the furnaces aboard the ships and linking them to the bronze beasts.
Shen Mu had made slight changes to the tower-ship blueprints, altering certain arrangements: each ship needed three furnaces, and carried three bronze beasts, two at the stern and one in the belly, and the beasts' heads could turn in every direction. Converting the originally wooden tower ships to dark iron and dark copper greatly increased their weight; one furnace could certainly not lift them, so two more were added, and a bronze beast able to spray fire downward was fitted into the belly, so that takeoff and landing would not be too rough. The five iron-hulled tower ships were three large and two small; small as sparrows, yet with all their organs complete, and the two smaller ships had cabins and guest rooms fully furnished.
Shen Mu had them lacquered with a wood grain, so that they looked like five wooden tower ships and would not shock the world. Fan Yunxiao was excited beyond measure, pacing round and round the five ships, and said in a fluster, "Cult Master, which ship is mine? " Shen Mu pointed to the smaller one, and Fan Yunxiao's face fell at once: "Can I have a big one?
" "The big ones are for carrying troops and fighting; they are not as fast as the small ones. " Shen Mu said, "If you mean to keep on as a fire bandit, choose a small ship.
If you choose a big one, it can carry passengers well enough, but a big ship burns a great deal of elixir stone, and in peacetime the fare may not cover the cost of the stone.
" Fan Yunxiao hesitated.
"Then I will take a small ship.
What is the other small ship for?
" Though called small, it was not so very small: over ten zhang long, three zhang seven or eight wide, five zhang tall, able to carry twenty or thirty people. Shen Mu had the Dark Demon Cult disciples change their clothes and take away the three big ships, then sent the remaining small ship to the Imperial Academy, saying, "The New Year is near; this small ship is for my own comings and goings. Incense Master Fan, you have already entered the cult's Bandit Hall.
The Bandit Hall is one of the Holy Cult's halls, and it is not for me to say much — it is a livelihood for the cult's disciples, after all.
But robbing wealth is permitted; robbing life is not, and neither is robbing virtue.