Chapter 830 — Elegy of the Imperial Scion
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
" Zhe Huali said calmly, "Though I respect you, I will not be loyal to you, nor will I trust you. I trust only my blade. I am loyal only to my blade. " "You men who rose from low and humble stations, you rough-hewn folk — why must you always flaunt your talents and hold the world in contempt?
" Prince Qiuming sighed.
"You people are the ones I cannot abide. The moment you have a scrap of ability you turn your noses to the sky and think yourselves so very great. You never stop to consider that I was born better than you, and work harder than you, and stand higher than you in strength. I lower myself to speak with you civilly, and still you are this unruly.
" "Because.
.
. " Zhe Huali drew his blade and charged him, the demon blade raised high, and in an instant blade-light filled the heavens, blade-qi like a long rainbow, as he roared, "The station and the glory you held from the moment you were born are things we could strive for hundreds of years, or all our lives, and still never reach!
" His blade art grew faster and faster, and within the blade lay his own ambition, his own heart's blood, his own integrity! "You think it only natural that you were born into the imperial house; to us it is a thing beyond reach! " "You think us arrogant and contemptuous of all, never knowing how many of us poor and lowborn have died, how many white bones we have trodden upon, to come even this far!
" "You think yourself diligent, never knowing how much blood and sweat every single step costs us, how many bones of comrades and enemies we must climb over to crawl up to this place!
" "Follow you, and make you the Unchanging Constant? " Zhe Huali's demon blade went mad; blade-light like quicksilver spilled across the ground became his brush, his ink, letting him pour out his heart and write his own feelings.
"If I yield to you, if I follow you, how am I to face the comrades who died at my side? How am I to be worthy of the enemies who died beneath my blade?
" He laughed aloud and unleashed his own great Dao of the long blade. "Why should the sons of the Heavenly Emperor be born a cut above all others, as a matter of course?
Why should they be beyond death? " Prince Qiuming met his blade with sword-light and smiled. "I have heard that those who enter the Dao through the blade all carry a singular grandeur of spirit. A pity that I was born noble; it is a thing even I cannot avoid. But had I been born into a poor and humble house like yours, I too would have risen all the way, soaring to glory!
This is not confidence, but. .
. " His sword-light burst out of a sudden, like countless silver needles shuttling at flying speed, each needle aimed precisely at Zhe Huali's blade-light, blocking it. There was no longer a sword in Prince Qiuming's hand.
His body gave a sudden shudder, and behind him appeared the forty-nine principles of the Heavenly Dao, running crosswise.
He pushed both hands forward, and a dreadful divine power erupted, a monstrous force crushing down upon Zhe Huali's demon blade and driving it back!
One great hall after another in the barracks came apart, crumbling beneath the might of his divine power!
Zhe Huali grunted, spat blood, and unleashed the second stance of his demon blade, cleaving through the principles of the Heavenly Dao.
Chih-chih-chih. Silver needle after silver needle shot into his chest and out through his back, blood spraying. Prince Qiuming's body swayed, and behind him rose the phantom of a demon god, ox-horned, tiger-faced, human-bodied, ox-tailed. He drove out a fist, and rolling demonic qi of Youdu turned into a demonic divine power; the enormous fist, trailing countless silver needles, smashed into Zhe Huali, crushing him down with a thunderous boom onto the main hall before Shen Mu.
The main hall was half caved in by that one blow.