Chapter 354 — Four Honored Guests of Heaven Above
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 5
The Imperial Preceptor handed the register to the Duke of Wei behind him, saying, "Let the officers look it over, each find his opponent, and prepare to kill the foe. " The Duke of Wei summoned the famed generals of the army who stood at the Heaven-Man and Life-Death realms, and gathered them to study the register together. The Imperial Preceptor said, "The Golden Palace is guarded by formations, by the prohibitions and killing arrays laid down by the Great Venerables and Shaman Venerables of every generation, and now all of them are being driven to the full against our army. Since Khan Luandi has it in his heart to overthrow the Golden Palace, he must have a settled plan, some means of breaking it.
" The Khan did not answer; instead he asked, "Why does the Imperial Preceptor not ask me why I surrendered? You see me come to surrender and you trust me so wholly, take no precaution, even ask me how to break the Golden Palace; are you not afraid that I am feigning surrender, that I will feed you false intelligence and bring about the annihilation of your whole army? " The Imperial Preceptor shook his head. "You surrendered because of the shaman poison.
" The Khan was silent.
"The Great Venerable ordered the Great Shaman and the Shaman King to loose the shaman poison.
On the grasslands, nine houses in ten stand empty; of the grassland peoples only one in ten is left alive. Only the dwellers in a few of the great grassland cities did not die.
" The Imperial Preceptor said, "You are the emperor of the grasslands. Your people have been slain in such numbers; on whom will you take revenge?
Only on the Loulan Golden Palace. So I trust you, and have no need to doubt you. " The Khan fell silent, and after a long while he let out a breath of foul air and said, "When two nations go to war, the common folk are not slain. Had I broken into the Kingdom of Jingping, the people on Jingping's soil would have been my people, and I would not have harmed them. Were Emperor Yanfeng to break into the grasslands, the herdsmen there would be his people, and he would not harm them. But the Loulan Golden Palace has destroyed my tribe, and this I cannot bear. Imperial Preceptor, I will tell you every weakness of the Golden Palace, holding nothing back.
" The Imperial Preceptor showed a smile. "Do you know how long I have waited here for you to come?
Now that you are here, the holy lands of the world are one fewer! " The Khan was utterly convinced. "So long as the Imperial Preceptor stands in the court, Luandi will not rebel one single day!
If I break this oath, may my eyes be pecked out by the gyrfalcon, my heart torn out by the great eagle! May my sons and grandsons be slaves and serving maids!
" The capital, where nine dragons gather, nine dragon-like mountain ranges converging to gather the qi of nine dragons: this is the imperial capital. "Coming down to the mortal world this time, and seeing the Imperial Preceptor conquer the grasslands, I know at last that Jingping's armies take on more and more the bearing of a heavenly army, more and more like the armies of gods and demons in the Kaihuang era.
" Above the capital, a reed awning some mu across hung in the air; on the clouds beneath the awning sat several men and women of uncommon bearing, the awning shading them from the sun as they looked down to examine the fortunes of the Kingdom of Jingping. These men and women were all exceedingly handsome, and all seemed young in years, yet their cultivation was frighteningly high; they had the aspect of gods and Buddhas. One of them was Star Lord Qiao, with Yuliu and three other women waiting on him at the side.
Xu Shenghua was there too, but standing beside another young man, his master, Lord Yu. And this time it was not they alone who had come.