Chapter 354 — Four Honored Guests of Heaven Above

"Let him come up," said Imperial Preceptor Jingping, mildly.

Khan Luandi came forward bound in chains, trussed fast, several soldiers following behind and shoving him along. "This guilty subject, Luandi.

.

. " As the Khan was about to bow, Imperial Preceptor Jingping's expression shifted a little; he raised a hand and caught him up, and said with a half-smile, "Is Brother Luandi trying to make me an unrighteous man?

" The Khan seized the moment to rise, and laughed: "If I can spoil the friendship between you and Emperor Yanfeng, then I still have a chance to rise again in the east. " The Imperial Preceptor shook his head.

"You cannot spoil it. Even if you bowed to me before the whole army, the Emperor would not suspect me; it is only those upright ministers of the clean stream who give me a headache. The fewer troubles, the better. Brother Luandi, let the chains drop from you.

I do not accept your surrender. When we return to the capital, bind yourself and beg the Emperor to receive it. " The Khan's body swayed, and at once the chains broke apart inch by inch and fell to the ground.

Many of the officers' hearts jumped, and they stepped forward one after another; the Imperial Preceptor raised his hand and bade them withdraw, saying, "There is no need for such wariness. " The Khan's eyes flickered. "I have heard that Imperial Preceptor Jingping contended with the Divine Chancellor and took grave wounds, and that even with the Little Poison King and the Little Divine Physician to heal you, your cultivation has not yet returned to its peak. Are you not afraid that I might suddenly rise up and strike you down?

" "I am not.

" The Imperial Preceptor said, "A month ago I would have been. But now I have comprehended the way of the sword.

My wounds are still with me, yet I need no longer fear.

You strike, you die. " The Khan was seized with dread. The Imperial Preceptor lifted his head and looked toward the Loulan Golden Palace ahead, and said, unhurried, "Look, Brother Luandi. The Loulan Golden Palace is impregnable; the Great Shaman and the Shaman King keep stern guard; easy to hold, hard to take. If we storm it, our army will surely suffer grievous slaughter. And I sense dreadful, terrifying auras hidden within the palace; they must be the past-life bodies of the Great Venerable.

I sense eighteen auras as fearsome as gods. That is why I have quartered the army here and not moved to this day. " The Khan said, "Those eighteen bodies, like gods, like demons, like Buddhas, are the eighteen lifetimes of the Great Venerable's flesh. They are exceedingly terrible, and they are the strongest force guarding the Loulan Golden Palace. Besides the eighteen past-life bodies of the Great Venerable, the Golden Palace also holds twelve sect-master-level beings who have cultivated to the realm of Communion with the Divine; the strongest of them is the Shaman Venerable.

That man's strength is no less than mine.

" The Imperial Preceptor asked, "And how many experts are there at the Heaven-Man and Life-Death realms?

" The Khan laughed.

"How should I know? " "You took Emperor Yanfeng for your model. You should know. " The Imperial Preceptor glanced at him and said softly, "I, for one, hold in my hand the names, the abilities, and the primal weapons of every expert of the Heavenly Sacred Cult, the Daoist Sect, and the Great Tingming Temple.

Above the nation, no holy land is permitted to play the tyrant. You are the emperor of the grasslands; naturally you would not allow the Loulan Golden Palace to sit upon your head. You must know. " The Khan praised him: "That I cannot best Emperor Yanfeng is precisely because he has Imperial Preceptor Jingping to aid him.

Had I a helper such as the Imperial Preceptor, why should I have had to surrender at all? As for the experts of the Heaven-Man and Life-Death realms within the Loulan Golden Palace, I have already prepared a register, and I offer it to you.

" With that he drew out a register.

The Imperial Preceptor handed the register to the Duke of Wei behind him, saying, "Let the officers look it over, each find his opponent, and prepare to kill the foe. " The Duke of Wei summoned the famed generals of the army who stood at the Heaven-Man and Life-Death realms, and gathered them to study the register together. The Imperial Preceptor said, "The Golden Palace is guarded by formations, by the prohibitions and killing arrays laid down by the Great Venerables and Shaman Venerables of every generation, and now all of them are being driven to the full against our army. Since Khan Luandi has it in his heart to overthrow the Golden Palace, he must have a settled plan, some means of breaking it.

" The Khan did not answer; instead he asked, "Why does the Imperial Preceptor not ask me why I surrendered? You see me come to surrender and you trust me so wholly, take no precaution, even ask me how to break the Golden Palace; are you not afraid that I am feigning surrender, that I will feed you false intelligence and bring about the annihilation of your whole army? " The Imperial Preceptor shook his head. "You surrendered because of the shaman poison.

" The Khan was silent.

"The Great Venerable ordered the Great Shaman and the Shaman King to loose the shaman poison.

On the grasslands, nine houses in ten stand empty; of the grassland peoples only one in ten is left alive. Only the dwellers in a few of the great grassland cities did not die.

" The Imperial Preceptor said, "You are the emperor of the grasslands. Your people have been slain in such numbers; on whom will you take revenge?

Only on the Loulan Golden Palace. So I trust you, and have no need to doubt you. " The Khan fell silent, and after a long while he let out a breath of foul air and said, "When two nations go to war, the common folk are not slain. Had I broken into the Kingdom of Jingping, the people on Jingping's soil would have been my people, and I would not have harmed them. Were Emperor Yanfeng to break into the grasslands, the herdsmen there would be his people, and he would not harm them. But the Loulan Golden Palace has destroyed my tribe, and this I cannot bear. Imperial Preceptor, I will tell you every weakness of the Golden Palace, holding nothing back.

" The Imperial Preceptor showed a smile. "Do you know how long I have waited here for you to come?

Now that you are here, the holy lands of the world are one fewer! " The Khan was utterly convinced. "So long as the Imperial Preceptor stands in the court, Luandi will not rebel one single day!

If I break this oath, may my eyes be pecked out by the gyrfalcon, my heart torn out by the great eagle! May my sons and grandsons be slaves and serving maids!

" The capital, where nine dragons gather, nine dragon-like mountain ranges converging to gather the qi of nine dragons: this is the imperial capital. "Coming down to the mortal world this time, and seeing the Imperial Preceptor conquer the grasslands, I know at last that Jingping's armies take on more and more the bearing of a heavenly army, more and more like the armies of gods and demons in the Kaihuang era.

" Above the capital, a reed awning some mu across hung in the air; on the clouds beneath the awning sat several men and women of uncommon bearing, the awning shading them from the sun as they looked down to examine the fortunes of the Kingdom of Jingping. These men and women were all exceedingly handsome, and all seemed young in years, yet their cultivation was frighteningly high; they had the aspect of gods and Buddhas. One of them was Star Lord Qiao, with Yuliu and three other women waiting on him at the side.

Xu Shenghua was there too, but standing beside another young man, his master, Lord Yu. And this time it was not they alone who had come.