Chapter 822 — Two Empresses Stand Side by Side
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
The writing on the walls of the building said that Her Majesty the Empress had descended into the mortal world to visit Guixu, the ancestral land, and had long delayed her return; the Heavenly Emperor ordered the Left Yulin Army to proceed to Guixu and escort the Empress back to the Heavenly Court.
After some days, the Left Yulin Army submitted a memorial to the Heavenly Emperor, saying that the Longbo Kingdom near Guixu had rebelled. The Longbo Kingdom was mighty, had seized Guixu, and had the Empress trapped; they begged His Majesty to send troops to quell the rebellion.
The Heavenly Emperor therefore ordered the Right Yulin Army to march against the rebels. Yet no sooner had the Right Yulin Army set out from the Heavenly Court than the Left Yulin Army submitted another memorial, saying that the Empress had been attacked and gravely wounded.
The Heavenly Emperor issued a supplementary edict, ordering the Right Yulin Army to investigate the case of the Empress's attack to the very bottom.
Wei Suifeng, being the Right General of the Yulin Army, led the Right Yulin Army in haste to Guixu, and joining forces with the Left Yulin Army, defeated the Longbo Kingdom, captured the Longbo King, and the Longbo Kingdom surrendered.
Her Majesty the Empress's wounds had likewise healed a great deal, and she meant to return to the Heavenly Court once she had recovered fully.
Yet that very night trouble arose once more: the dark currents of the great abyss of Guixu erupted, and there was neither sun nor sky, nor any star to be seen.
All manner of eerie things poured forth from the great abyss. Hearts trembled. The whole night passed in unease.
It was already dawn when the dark currents ceased. The soldiers found Her Majesty the Empress's corpse upon Mount Fanghu. In the detached palace, every maid was dead, and the Left General of the Yulin Army lay dead outside the palace as well.
Wei Suifeng took the Eight Dragon Kings of the Longbo Kingdom captive, encoffined the Empress, ordered the Eight Dragon Kings to stand guard over the Empress's coffin, and further ordered his officers and men to investigate what had happened that night and determine the cause of the Empress's death.
Some soldiers said they had seen two Empresses in the darkness of the night. Others said that a demon god had spewed from the great abyss of Guixu and assassinated the Empress.
Wei Suifeng's investigation yielded nothing. He thereupon had the Empress's coffin placed aboard the ship, and escorting the Longbo King, hastened toward the Heavenly Court.
They sailed upstream along the Heavenly River, and after several months arrived at Yuandu.
The Heavenly River floated above Yuandu. Suddenly the river was shrouded in heavy mist, and an officer reported that a woman was standing at the heart of the river working magic.
Here the writing on the wall broke off, leaving only one puzzling sentence: "I came from Guixu, and meeting this woman I returned to ancient times, to probe the mysteries of antiquity and seek out the riddles of history. Now I have met this woman again, and I think it is time I extinguished my lamp and went back."
"The Longbo Kingdom!"
Zulong Wang suddenly blurted out, "They say Longbo, the Jingping Imperial Preceptor, was the earliest of dragon kind! A kingdom formed of heaven-born, earth-nurtured divine dragons—a great dragon kingdom, they say, formed of the heavenly dragons born from the dragon vein of the ancient Heavenly Court! The dragon folk there stand three thousand zhang tall, with inexhaustible divine strength. And the Longbo King is the foremost divine dragon in all the world. I had thought it was only a rumor—never did I expect there truly was a Longbo Kingdom!"
A demigod beside him said, "That old dragon just now, the one who had merged with the building—could he be the Longbo King?"