Chapter 1000 — Putting Yourself in Another's Place
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 4
" Shen Mu said evenly, "I, too, should like to put myself in your place. I simply cannot recall a single occasion when you put yourselves in anyone else's. When the Celestial Court of Kaihuang was destroyed, its people were scattered and driven from home; they died, they fled, and of every hundred but one survived. Those survivors fled to Jingping. Did Kaihuang ever give those people a thought? No, I wager he never did. Were those people not human? Were their descendants not human?
Ah, yes—they were the castoffs of the gods. " He laughed coldly.
"I used to believe that Huangxu were the castoffs of the gods. Only later did I learn that Huangxu were not; Jingping were the castoffs.
In those days I foolishly imagined Jingping to be the castoffs of the Celestial Court.
Only later did I realize I had it backward. Jingping were not the castoffs of the Court; they were the castoffs of Kaihuang.
" Qin Hanzhen frowned and could not hold back: "In the circumstances of that time, the entire Celestial Court of Kaihuang was on the verge of destruction; the only course was to preserve the main strength, the vital force. There was no way to protect those mortal commoners.
Only thus could there be any chance of counterattacking in the future! Consider it, Venerable Mu—had the positions been reversed, you would have done the same. . . " "Reversed positions? " Shen Mu said without inflection. "When catastrophe erupted in Jingping, was it not the very image of what the Celestial Court of Kaihuang had suffered that year?
The Imperial Preceptor of Jingping did not flee to Wuyou Township. Emperor Yanfeng did not flee to Wuyou Township. They both remained, remaining together with the people they were bound to protect. Nor did I leave. Could they not have left?
Could I not have left? " His gaze settled upon Kaihuang's face. "This is where Kaihuang falls short of me—falls short of Emperor Yanfeng and the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping. In that year you left, taking the strongest of your people with you, and established Wuyou Township. For twenty thousand years you have toiled without effect, achieved nothing, built nothing.
Because you left, there was no longer any age of Kaihuang.
We did not leave. We stayed. And so the age of Jingping still endures. Heh—reversed positions. .
. " He said with lofty arrogance, "Had the positions been reversed, I would have done better than you. Emperor Yanfeng and the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping did better than you. The ministers of Jingping did better than your ministers. " Qin Hanzhen said no more. Kaihuang nodded. "You did better than I did in that age.
Even in the Longhan age, I admired you; I thought you a hero, and myself no hero. I could never act as a hero as you do. " "Your Majesty!
" Yan Yunxi knit her brows.
"Why must you debase yourself for nothing? Even if it came to real battle, Wuyou Township would not be the least bit afraid—why bow your head to him? His so-called Creator formation, his so-called celestial palaces, his divine weapons—I see nothing in them but a hundred flaws, plainly meant to intimidate us!
" Shen Mu glanced at her and smiled.
"Heavenly Master Zixi, what you saw was what I allowed you to see. If I truly wished to wipe out Wuyou Township, you could not stop me. " Yan Yunxi blazed with fury; hatred made her teeth itch. Shen Mu said calmly, "You have hidden yourselves in Wuyou Township for far too long.
You know nothing of the world outside, which has been turned upside down; you have lost the heart to press forward and the will to fight. In one month I trained the Creators to this pitch. I do not need much time to raise the divine arts and daos of the Creators to a yet higher plane.
If I leave this time and bring an army again before Wuyou Township the next, what you will see will not be visualized celestial palaces, not visualized divine weapons and armor.