Chapter 1643 — Handwriting Reveals Character
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
Before long, Shen Mu's letter of surrender appeared in Hao Tianzun's imperial study.
Hao Tianzun unfolded the letter and read it through carefully, and could not help but burst out laughing, his satisfaction plain to see.
The more he read, the more elated he grew. The curious little calculations hidden between Shen Mu's lines made him clap his hands and roar. From those lines he could read Shen Mu's unwillingness, his terror, his despair, his helplessness, and the bluster that masked his cowardice—and beyond that, his greedy attachment to power and his unwillingness to let go of rank.
"A letter of surrender barely two thousand words long, and yet Mu Tianzun can dissect his own heart with such neat clarity. His literary gift truly shines—no less than a master of letters!"
Hao Tianzun laughed and said to the Chancellor, "After I finish, you shall read it aloud to me."
The Chancellor assented.
Hao Tianzun read on, and again could not hold back his mirth. "Bring me wine!" he cried. "How can one read Mu Tianzun's letter of surrender without wine to raise the spirits?"
Soon a divine attendant presented fine wine. Hao Tianzun drank as he savored the letter, praising it: "A soaring brilliance, a soaring brilliance! It ought to be printed in hundreds of thousands of copies and sent out through all the heavens and all the worlds, so that every god and demon may read it... Mu Tianzun, you son of a bitch!"
Suddenly he flew into a rage. The wine cup in his hand burst apart with a crack, and wine splashed across the floor.
Hao Tianzun's face was black with fury. He stared hard at that one line—the words Shen Mu had indeed written: "Already asleep."
In the imperial study no one knew why he raged. They exchanged glances, not daring to make a sound.
"That damned Mu Tianzun—wasting Heaven's gifts, ruining a goddess, a crime past all pardon! And that wretch dares to come and flaunt it before me. I will have his head!"
Hao Tianzun could not master his anger. One slap shattered the writing desk to powder, and he rose raging: "No—I will not kill him yet! Drag his envoy here. I will take his head and vent my spleen on it!"
The Chancellor said in alarm, "Your Majesty, when two states are at war, envoys are not put to death—and Mu Tianzun has come to surrender besides. If Your Majesty kills the envoy, how would Mu Tianzun dare surrender at all?"
Hao Tianzun's breast was choked with rage: "If I do not kill him, my hatred will never be appeased!"
The Chancellor hesitated: "Your Majesty, he who cannot bear small things will ruin great plans..."
Hao Tianzun glared at him: "So what if I kill one envoy? Mu Tianzun has enraged me. First I will have Xu Tianzun wipe out half the people of Jingping! Go, bind that envoy and bring him to me!"
The Chancellor dared say no more, and hurried off.
At that moment, Yuchenzi was at Bai Yuqiong's Qionghua Heavenly Palace. Bai Yuqiong knew he was an envoy of Jingping, and to avoid suspicion had refused to see him.
Yuchenzi lifted the hem of his robe and dropped to his knees with a thud outside the gates of Qionghua Palace, drawing passing deities to stop and stare.
Fearing a scene, Bai Yuqiong hastily ordered him brought in, and reproached him: "Envoy of Jingping, you are far too inconsiderate. I am of the human race, and here you kneel before my gate. If word gets out, people will think I am in league with your Jingping! Did Mu Tianzun send you? That old rogue is forever trying to drag me into his dishonor!"
Yuchenzi rose from the seat and knelt again, weeping aloud: "Celestial Master Bai, please save the human race!" And he knocked his head against the ground without cease.