Chapter 260 — The Old Ox and the Broken Cart

West of Bazhou Prefecture, for a hundred li and more, all was grim and murderous; it seemed even the air had frozen solid. One after another the old Daoist priests and white-browed monks seethed with vital essence, which congealed behind them into sacred divinities whose grandeur swallowed rivers and mountains.

The Daoist Order and the Great Tingming Temple were of ancient lineage, older even than the Youmo Cult; in the eyes of those two holy lands, the Youmo Cult was a comparatively youthful sect. And from the divinities their vital essence had formed behind them, one could see the gods that had risen up over the long river of history: some with three heads and four arms, some with a turtle's back and a horsetail whisk, some with a sheng crown and a leopard's tail, some as vajra yakshas — divinities of every shape and form.

As for Qiong Fuzi, Tian Zhenjun, and the others, theirs was another sight altogether. Their lineages were not so ancient as the Daoist Order's or the Great Tingming Temple's, yet they were mighty beyond measure; the divinities manifested behind them were in some cases great Confucian sages, in some a woman holding a golden insect in her palms, in some a poverty god clad in a robe of a hundred patches. And behind Emperor Yanfeng, the court's first-rank grandees each presented a different aspect.

Behind Grand General of Heavenly Strategy Shen Jian, also named Shen Baoyue, what took shape was no divinity but a pair of maces — two golden maces blazing with golden light, eight-edged, spinning without cease. He was a man of the battlefield, one who cultivated neither gods nor Buddhas, but made his own weapons his gods; his charge was war and slaughter. Behind Grand Commandant Monk Yuankong there stood, likewise, no Buddha, but an ascetic, his body wrapped in chains, gripping a precept blade, in a posture of battle — the very image of the man himself.

Behind the Prince of Mount Tai, Ling Xuhua, nine dragons coiled about Mount Tai, with Mount Tai as the altar and the nine dragons doing worship; his charge was the sacrifices of Jingping. Minister of Works Wei Pingbo governed the waterways of Jingping, and what his vital essence formed behind him was no divinity but the long rivers and great dams of earthworks and waterworks; water conservancy was his god. Minister of State Xiu Leqing was a female official who held the treasury and the realm's finances in her keeping, and the divinity her vital essence formed was no god either, but strings of Great Harvest coins twisted together like great serpents and pythons. Coin was her god.

High Minister Su Yunzhi was also a female official; she had the right to open her own office, and her rank was equal to that of the Three Excellencies. She was a civil official without portfolio, yet her position was at the very summit of subjects, and she governed the great academies and small schools of every region; what her vital essence formed was no divinity either, but a scroll of books and a measuring rule.

Behind Grand General of Agile Cavalry Quan Dingwu stood a stallion wreathed in roaring flame, and on the horse a divinity bathed in the fires of war, with eight arms, holding saber and shield, spear and lance, sword and halberd; four faces looked in all four directions, and fire spouted from its eyes like light.

Yet the four faces amid the flames were all his own. From this one could see how the sect-leader-tier powerhouses of the court differed from those of the sects of the jianghu.

The Daoist Order and the Great Tingming Temple reverenced gods and Buddhas, and the divinities behind them were all gods and Buddhas; whereas the powerhouses of the court made gods of their own offices, turning the duties they held into their own divinities — each with his own charge, each with his own strength. Even Monk Yuankong, though he came from the Buddhist gate, made of himself an ascetic cultivating amid battle, and manifested no great Buddha.

A long-eared monk's expression shifted slightly, and he said in a low voice: "The Imperial Preceptor of Jingping's reforms have bred these heretical demons who reverence neither ghosts nor gods! They reverence not even gods and Buddhas, but bow down to all this muck and rubbish!

" Grand General of Agile Cavalry Quan Dingwu pointed at the long-eared monk and sneered: "Learn in order to apply it; knowledge and action as one. Long-Eared Monk, your cultivation is a little shallow — you will not escape the doom of death. " "What is a lifetime of bitter cultivation beside true insight into gods and Buddhas?

" Emperor Yanfeng said unhurriedly: "It is all a man's own ability; to lean on gods and Buddhas is the outer path. Let them do their own duties well, and raise those duties to the realm of gods and Buddhas — then they are gods and Buddhas themselves! " One after another the old Daoist priests lowered their brows, and the old Dao Sovereign shook his head: "Raise their duties to the realm of gods?

Once they become gods that way, will they not still be laboring for mortals? This is the doctrine of the Youmo Cult again!

It comes down to nothing but daily use for the common folk. Emperor, you have been too deeply influenced by the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping, too deeply influenced by the Youmo Cult.

" Emperor Yanfeng smiled: "If I went over to the Youmo Cult, I might well talk my way into a cult leader's seat. " "Since it is the demonic path, there is no more to be said.

" One by one the old Daoist priests adjusted the precious swords behind them, and someone — no one knew who — cried softly: "Kill.

" At those words killing intent filled the heavens, and the shivering cold wind turned piercing to the bone. Just then an old man came trundling up, hauling an ox cart.

The killing intent of the crowd subsided; each stood quietly, eyes on nose, nose on heart, saying nothing. The old man, seeing the sky full of gods and Buddhas, could not help but tremble with fright, and the ox too shivered, its four legs shaking, unable to draw the cart. In a rage the old man summoned his courage and whipped the ox again and again; only then did it put forth its strength and slowly drag the cart out of that place of trouble.

When the old man and his ox cart had gone far, battle was on the verge of breaking out.

These powerhouses of the Divine Bridge realm were just about to strike when suddenly the rumble of wheels came again — another ox cart drove up, an old man leading the ox and pulling the cart.

Seeing the crowd, the old man's legs shook under him and he stammered and trembled, and only with great difficulty got the cart away.

The crowd breathed a sigh of relief, and were about to strike when again came the rumble of wheels. One of the old Daoist priests could not help but say angrily: "In this freezing cold, with heaven-sent calamities and man-made disasters, where are all these ox carts coming from?

" The hearts of the crowd tightened; it was true.

Famine was everywhere now, and the cattle and livestock had all been eaten — how had three ox carts come along in such a short while, and every one of them passing by this spot? In this cart sat an old couple: a white-haired old woman and a half-aged old man. The crowd waited quietly for the cart to pass.

But the cart stopped.

The ox showed no fear whatever before the dreadful spectacle. The old man and the old woman jumped down from the cart, and as if by conjuring unfolded the cloth on the cart, gave it a light shake, then tore the cloth away — and at once a dozen or more strangely shaped figures appeared on the cart, packing the small cart so full they were nearly squeezed off it. "The Left and Right Protector Envoys of the Youmo Cult, the twelve Protector Elders, and two Heavenly Kings.

" The Dao Sovereign looked down, his face somewhat resigned: "I saw only an ox cart come, with two people and an ox; I did not expect sixteen people to pop out. The Youmo Cult plays its tricks well.