Chapter 267 — Slaying the Human Emperor
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 6
Cult Master, be careful. " Shen Mu looked at Emperor Yanfeng, and indeed a look of worry had come over his face. It was only natural: in the capital itself, the imperial guards holding the city gates were all men of the Nether Demon Cult—how could that leave him easy?
The Imperial Preceptor of Jingping said: "Now that we are in the city, what shall we do?
" Shen Mu took out two pills and gave one each to Emperor Yanfeng and the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping. "To the imperial city, to the Altar of Heaven—to watch the crown prince ascend the throne and sacrifice to Heaven.
" The imperial city.
The Hall of the Golden Throne.
"Ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten thousand times ten thousand years to our emperor! " Crown Prince Ling Yuxia of Jingping, robed in the dragon robe, sat upright upon the dragon throne, a monk standing at one shoulder and a Daoist priest at the other. Below, the civil and military officials bowed to the new emperor, a mighty spectacle. So many officials were there that the court hall was already filled with kneeling men; others knelt outside the hall, and still others upon the steps.
In the hall were envoys and embassies from several dozen nations, bearing the banners of their countries as they watched the rite. And several dozen cult masters and sect masters watched as well.
The rites of a new emperor's enthronement were exceedingly elaborate; by the time they were done it was nearly noon.
The spring sun gave little warmth. Ling Yuxia led the civil and military officials out of the hall, walking at their head, the ceremonial guard following close behind—among the guard many monks and priests, chanting sutras and scriptures in loud, resounding voices. Behind came the crown princess and a host of palace maids; the embassies followed after, and the heads of the great sects and clans came along toward the Altar of Heaven, the procession growing grander with every step. At Ling Yuxia's back came the Grand Guardian of the Heir, the Grand Tutor of the Heir, and other ministers of the first rank—men who had followed the dragon, his meritorious servants, his right arms, of the highest station.
With the emperor's "demise," Ling Yuxia had inherited the throne as a matter of course; yet he knew well that though he had roots at court, those roots were not firm. So he had summoned many eminent monks of the Great Tingming Temple and priests of the Daoist sect, demoted the officials who would not submit, and raised monks and priests to office. Of the civil and military officials at court, nearly half were monks and priests, chanting as they made their way to the Altar of Heaven—an exceedingly strange spectacle. As for the Duke of Weiguo, the Prince of Taishan, the Supreme Pillar of State, the Generalissimo of Heavenly Strategy, and others, Ling Yuxia, on the grounds of their "advanced years," had graciously permitted them to retire; they were to remain in the capital for the time being, and after the grand ceremony they might return home in silken splendor. Nearly half the officials at court had been sent into retirement—some of them still young. That too was a curious thing.
Ling Yuxia did not trust these "retired" officials. He could not let them leave the capital, fearing rebellion, and so kept them in a kind of house arrest within their own mansions, guarded by monks and priests of the Great Tingming Temple and the Daoist sect.
The Prince of Taishan, the Generalissimo of Heavenly Strategy, and the rest were still held in the imperial prison. Before anyone marked it, they had come to the Altar of Heaven. The officials poured out; the monks and priests, nearly half of them, took their places to either side of the steps.
Ling Yuxia, lifting his dragon robe, climbed the stairs alone, reverent and grave, while the crown princess and the women of the inner palace knelt below the terrace.