Chapter 259 — The Human Emperor, the Dao Sovereign, and the Tathagata
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 4 of 5
Yanfeng smiled and turned to the ministers behind him: "There will be a good harvest!"
The Dao Sovereign said: "Your Majesty, this year there will be; next year, perhaps not. This old Daoist has brought a scroll recording the tales of the Wasteland, called the Kaihuang Kalpa Sutra. Your Majesty may read it slowly, and we shall walk slowly. If, when Your Majesty has finished it, you still insist on the reforms, then these sun and moon shall be exchanged for a new heaven."
Tathagata sighed: "The Dao Sovereign is compassionate."
The Dao Sovereign shook his head: "He does not know the peril here. If he knew, he would be as we are." With that, he placed the Kaihuang Kalpa Sutra in Yanfeng's hands.
"Your Majesty, beware of treachery!" warned Supreme Minister Su Yunzhi.
Yanfeng said with a smile: "It does not matter."
He took the Kaihuang Kalpa Sutra from the Dao Sovereign's hand, opened it, and read carefully.
They walked on unhurriedly; Yanfeng turned page after page, reading the Kaihuang Kalpa Sutra from beginning to end. The Dao Sovereign and Tathagata never urged him, but walked on quietly.
When they had gone a hundred li or more, Yanfeng finished the Kaihuang Kalpa Sutra, steadied himself, looked up at the sky, and said nothing.
The old Dao Sovereign said: "Your Majesty, with all living beings in your heart, you must know what to do now."
Yanfeng stared blankly, lost in thought, then suddenly said: "When I was small, the State of Jingping had not yet so great a territory, and the emperor was not yet so honored. In those days sect after sect and clan after clan still lorded it over all. Once I went abroad with an embassy, on a visit to a place called the Kingdom of Yuanqi — what is now Yuanzhou. A thunder calamity was raging there; dark clouds covered the whole of the Kingdom of Yuanqi, and thunder cracked and crashed without cease, striking dead countless oxen, sheep, and beasts, and countless common people too."
"The Emperor of Yuanqi knelt with his civil and military officials in the thunder calamity, praying and confessing his guilt, and the people of the kingdom knelt on the ground as well, begging Heaven to calm its wrath. In that thunder calamity, the emperor was struck dead. Only later did I learn that the Heaven they spoke of was no god of Heaven, but the Thunder Hidden Sect — a sect. Most likely the harvest had been poor and the tribute of fine things to the Thunder Hidden Sect had been too little, and so the Thunder Hidden Sect sent down the tribulation. What wrought the thunder calamity was the Thunder Hidden Sect's guardian spirit-treasure, the Nine Heavens Thunder-Luring Canopy. The emperor took the guilt upon himself, and so the Thunder Hidden Sect struck him dead and replaced him with another emperor. It was then that I thought..."
He looked at the Dao Sovereign and Tathagata and said, word by word: "I will overturn you! And now, I have done it. Only what I and the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping have done is not yet enough, and so there is this snow disaster. Is it not a god? Then I will overturn the god!"
The Dao Sovereign could not help saying: "Does Your Majesty not have all living beings in your heart? Do you wish to turn Jingping into a wasteland like that? You and the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping carried out the reforms; you and the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping struck down those sects and unified so vast a realm — this old Daoist never stopped you, did he? But if you reform again, then Heaven will be angered, and all living beings will be endangered!"
The old Tathagata said: "Your Majesty, think thrice."
Yanfeng said: "You have your faith, and I have mine."
The old Tathagata sighed and said to the Dao Sovereign: "Old friend of the Dao, let us change emperors."
The Dao Sovereign fetched his Dao sword and nodded: "So be it. Kind words have all been spoken, but His Majesty will not be awakened; we can only change emperors."