Chapter 197 — A Gathering of Masters

Si Yunxiang steadied her heart and raised her eyes, only to see that Shen Mu had already walked far off. "I will not be weaker than the so-called Tyrant Body.

We women of the Si family are born slayers of cult masters! The previous Holy Maiden killed the previous Cult Master, and I can do the same!

" The next day they arrived at Hong County, which had already fallen two days before.

When some soldiers caught sight of Imperial Teacher Jingping, they hurried forward to report: "Imperial Teacher Jingping, many people carrying banners have come into the city.

" "People carrying banners? " Imperial Teacher Jingping was surprised, pondered a moment, then looked at Shen Mu and said, "Pay them no mind.

How many banner-bearers have arrived?

" "A dozen or so. They all wore bamboo hats that hid their faces and carried different weapons wrapped tight in cloth.

They don't look like good people. " "You may withdraw.

" On the third day they came to Qinghe County, where many banner-bearers had appeared as well, far more than the day before—already fifty or sixty of them. On the fourth day they reached Wuyin City, and several hundred banner-bearers had surfaced in the city.

Shen Mu said nothing of where these banner-bearers came from or what they intended, and Imperial Teacher Jingping asked no questions. On the fifth day they emerged from the government offices, ready to leave the city for Daxiang. They had barely stepped out of the yamen onto the main street when a strange man in a bamboo hat, carrying a cloth-wrapped weapon, rose from where he had been sitting at the yamen gate and fell in behind them.

A few steps further, another came out of a side alley, also in a bamboo hat pressed very low, a long cloth-wrapped weapon in hand; then a burly man by the roadside stood up, hoisted a long cloth bundle, and followed as well. Before they had even left Wuyin City, several hundred strangely attired figures—dressed almost identically, men and women, old and young—trailed behind them.

Shen Wanyun, Yue Qinghong, and the others looked back, uneasy at heart. These people kept their hats pressed low, following neither near nor far, unwilling to show their true faces, and no one knew what they meant to do.

"Could they be those banner-bearers?

Then why is there no sign of their banners?

" Monk Yunque muttered. Imperial Teacher Jingping remained serene, entirely untroubled by the hundreds at their backs.

Outside Wuyin City, not far from the gate, stood a tea shed, and beneath it two elderly tea vendors, a man and a woman.

As they approached, the old gentleman and the old woman looked up and called out, "Honored guests, won't you have a cup of tea?

" Monk Yunque grumbled, "We've only just set out—what tea?

" Imperial Teacher Jingping said, "I am thirsty. " With that he sat down under the shed and asked for a cup of tea.

Shen Mu sat down as well, and the two elders took their seats too; the four of them sat at the four corners of the table, a cup of tea before each. Shen Wanyun, Yue Qinghong, and the others tried to come closer, only to find that though they strode toward the shed they never left the spot.

The shed was very near, yet after dozens of steps they found themselves exactly where they had started. Alarmed, they dashed toward it at full speed, incredibly fast, yet a zhang or so of distance still remained between them and the shed.

It looked close enough to touch, yet it might as well have been a thousand li away!

After a while, Shen Mu and Imperial Teacher Jingping finished their tea. Imperial Teacher Jingping rose to pay, and bowed slightly; the old gentleman and the old woman rose and bowed slightly in return. The two walked out of the shed, and Imperial Teacher Jingping said, "Let us go.

To Daxiang.

" Full of misgivings, they nonetheless followed his steps.

Yue Qinghong glanced back and saw that the hundreds of strange hatted figures were not following at all; they sat outside the tea shed, each cradling a cup of tea, drinking in silence—a most eerie sight.

"What a strange lot," Xue Hu'er said. Si Yunxiang drew close to Shen Mu and whispered, "Did you reach an agreement?

" Shen Mu nodded. "You will know when the time comes.

" When they arrived outside Daxiang City, army camps blanketed the wilderness—barracks and great stockades everywhere.

The Duke of Wei and the two grand generals, Guanjun and Huaihua, had massed their troops here but had not immediately assaulted Daxiang. Daxiang was a strategic stronghold of the Southern Wilderness; the enemy had gathered thousands of troops and myriads of horses, rebel armies converging from every quarter, and disciples of the various sects arriving in an endless stream, sleeping on their arms and awaiting battle. If war broke out, it would surely be a battle of epic grandeur. As Shen Mu walked along, he saw golden-armored stalwarts pushing enormous cloud chariots, drilling in siegecraft.

These golden-armored stalwarts were masters of the body-forging branch among the combat-technique schools, able in an instant to swell their flesh dozens, even hundreds of times, becoming giants clad from head to toe in armor cast of dark bronze and dark gold—the armor alone half a foot thick. As these giants drilled, iron chains were fastened about their bodies, and each had to hold up a shield with one hand while pushing a cloud chariot. The chariots were intricate: besides giant iron rams for battering gates and walls, they carried flying ladders that could rise more than ten zhang and be set against the walls for soldiers to climb.

Beyond that, there were soldiers activating formation diagrams, unrolling them and setting troops upon them to drill battle formations.

There were also cavalry mounted on great birds that, led by their commanders, plunged downward in dives; myriads of sword lights shot straight down from the sky, and with a single dive the ground for a dozen-odd mu around was bristling with flying swords! After the cavalry swept past, the flying swords in the earth rose with a clatter, one after another, into the sword cases on their riders' backs.

The flying cavalry came and went like wind and lightning, impossible to guard against. Nor was there only one such corps—there were dozens of flying-cavalry units, the great formations executing hive tactics and wolf-pack tactics; should ground forces meet the flying cavalry, it would be nothing short of annihilating.

And if they met a powerful foe, the flying cavalry could resort to kite tactics, stringing the enemy along until he dropped. Besides the flying cavalry there were tower ships: this time the Duke of Wei and Generals Guanjun and Huaihua had mobilized several hundred of them, each able to hold over a thousand men—an army of several hundred thousand.

"Imperial Teacher Jingping's military reforms have truly made the army of the Jingping Nation invincible.

If our Youmo Cult were to suffer an assault like this, we too would be wiped out to the last man," Shen Mu thought to himself. When they reached the army, Imperial Teacher Jingping exchanged a few words with the Duke of Wei and Grand Generals Guanjun and Huaihua, who had come out to welcome him, then led Shen Mu and the others toward Daxiang City.

The walls of Daxiang flew the banners of every sect and school, and the banners of some nations already destroyed. Imperial Teacher Jingping glanced up and shook his head.

"If the old era is not utterly destroyed, how can any great undertaking succeed? At any moment they will rekindle like dead embers and come surging back.

Revolution demands blood—it demands the fall of a hundred million heads. " Shen Mu asked, "Imperial Teacher Jingping, is everything in place? " "It is in place.

" Imperial Teacher Jingping looked up.

The city gates stood wide open, and two companies marched out, drawing up to left and right of the gate, Primordial Qi behind them condensing into phantoms of gods and demons—some divine, some demonic.