Chapter 150 — The Heavenly Lord of the Northern Desert

"The Martial Emperor?

So Senior Brother Bashan's fame in the Man-Di Kingdom is that great!

" Shen Mu clicked his tongue in secret amazement. Ling Yuxiu said hurriedly, "Teacher, you are a master of the school of combat technique? " Libationer Bashan nodded and smiled. "In those years I followed my honored master and cultivated the blade.

Later my master vanished, and my blade-art made no progress for a long while. Then came the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping and his reforms, so I came to Jingping to study the arts of magic and of the sword, hoping to borrow stones from another mountain to break through my bottleneck. But come to think of it, what I am strongest in is not combat technique, but battle-arts.

" Ling Yuxiu was shaken inwardly.

All along the road, Libationer Bashan had taught them Daoist arts and divine powers and expounded scroll after scroll of the classics, so that she had thought his greatest mastery lay in magic and swordsmanship.

That he should prove to be an heir of the school of combat technique was truly a surprise! More surprising still was that Libationer Bashan should hold in the Man-Di Kingdom the title of Martial Emperor, and be held in such esteem. That could be called the highest honor an outsider could win in the Man-Di Kingdom!

The barbarian general led them through the frontier pass and said, "What does the Martial Khan come to our land to do? Ever since you threw in your lot with Jingping, the brave men of our grasslands have held you in contempt, and mean to take back the title of Martial Khan.

" Libationer Bashan laughed.

"The scholars of my Grand Academy wish to walk the road I walked in those years, and to try their strength against the young heroes of the Shaman Cult. " The barbarian general's body gave a slight shudder.

He looked at Shen Mu and Ling Yuxiu and sneered, "These two? " Ling Yuxiu was elated. She threw Shen Mu a glance and said with a low laugh, "So we are going to try our strength against the young heroes of the Shaman Cult.

" "These two," said Libationer Bashan. "This time I mean to go to the holy place of the grasslands, the Loulan Golden Palace, and sit before its gates to block them.

In those years it was by blocking the gates of the Loulan Golden Palace that I won the name of Martial Khan.

" The muscles at the corners of the barbarian general's eyes twitched. He sneered, "In those years you succeeded in blocking the gates only because the Heavenly Khan was with you.

And now, how does your strength compare with the Heavenly Khan's? " "I am inferior, but not by much.

" The barbarian general's face darkened.

He barked at one of his soldiers, "Loose the eagle-vulture wolves!

Tell the Loulan Golden Palace that the Martial Khan has come to block their gates!

" The barbarian soldier shouted in haste, and after a moment winged giant wolves rose into the air one after another, beating their wings toward the depths of the grasslands.

The barbarian general looked at Libationer Bashan and bowed. "Martial Khan, the road ahead is rough and full of hardship.

After you!

" Libationer Bashan laughed heartily and led Shen Mu and the others into the grasslands. Ling Yuxiu asked, "Teacher Bashan, who is this Heavenly Khan the barbarian spoke of? " "My honored master.

The Heavenly Blade.

" Libationer Bashan raised his head to the sky and said calmly, "In those years he took me to block the gates of the Loulan Golden Palace, and was honored as the Heavenly Emperor Beyond the Frontier.

" "So Grandpa Zaifu was once so magnificent.

" Shen Mu was startled.

That hot-tempered Zaifu, who found fault with everyone he laid eyes on, had gone to the Granny Temple to sell meat, cleavers in both hands and a face full of slab-like muscle, fierce as a demon, and had frightened many a little girl of the Wasteland into tears. And he had once borne the title of Heavenly Khan?

The Heavenly Khan was the Heavenly Emperor; what a magnificent name was the Heavenly Emperor's! How could it be used merely to frighten little girls into tears?

Shen Mu truly could not picture how overbearing Zaifu must have been in those days. Snow Fox murmured, "Martial Emperor Beyond the Frontier, Heavenly Emperor Beyond the Frontier.

. . how magnificent. . .

" The grasslands were vast and sparsely peopled; sometimes they walked half a day without seeing a single village. As far as the eye could reach there was not a cloud in ten thousand li, and the green of the grasslands met the blue of the sky in a single line, refreshing the heart and mind. Libationer Bashan's features were rugged, his frame tall and powerful, most imposing, somewhat like the men of the grasslands; and whenever they came upon a village, the herdsmen would come forward to offer wine, full of warmth. "Jingping has three great sects: the Way Sect, first among the righteous paths; the Great Thunderclap Monastery, first among the Buddhist schools; and the Dark Demon Cult, first among the demonic paths. " At nightfall they came to a village and made camp. Libationer Bashan sat by the bonfire and said, "But on the grasslands, the first holy place is the Loulan Golden Palace, the greatest of the shaman sects.

The Great Shamans of the Loulan Golden Palace hold the highest station on the grasslands; the khans of the grasslands all receive their sovereign authority from the Shaman Venerable of the Loulan Golden Palace.

If an old khan dies and his son wishes to succeed him, he must go to the Loulan Golden Palace and beg the Shaman Venerable to grant him authority. " Ling Yuxiu said, "Jingping was once the same. I heard my imperial father say that in early years Jingping was only a tenth of its present size, a vassal state of the Longevity Sect. In those days our Ling family was not of the imperial line either. Later the sect master of the Longevity Sect wearied of the emperor of the time, deposed him outright, chose my ancestor as emperor, and changed the dynasty just like that. Afterward my Ling family governed with diligence, developed in secret, and in the end did away with the Longevity Sect; only then did we grow great. " Shen Mu was somewhat taken aback; he had not known that Jingping had such a past. Libationer Bashan drank, set down his wine gourd, and said, "The land that is now Jingping was once more than thirty small kingdoms.

Each had its emperor, and each was swayed by a sect.

Those sects lived off those kingdoms; every year the emperors had to pay tribute to the sects.

Now the sects have become vassals of the state, and naturally they are none too pleased; given the chance, of course they rebel. Beyond the frontier there are a good many sects as well, but the strongest and greatest is the Loulan Golden Palace.

Every kingdom and every khan submits to the Golden Palace; no other sect can contend with it at all.

" Shen Mu asked, "Senior Brother, how does the power of this Loulan Golden Palace compare with the three great sects? " "About the same," said Libationer Bashan calmly. Shen Mu's eyes lit up.

To block the gates of the Loulan Golden Palace was the same as blocking the mountain gate of the Way Sect or the mountain gate of the Great Thunderclap Monastery; the difficulty could well be imagined!

"But this trip to the Loulan Golden Palace is not to block the gates, but to steal something. " Libationer Bashan chuckled.

"Junior Brother, Princess, the two of you will block the gates; I will go into the palace to steal the thing, and once I have it we leave at once. Princess, in the next few days I will intensify your training in the fundamentals, and draw out the full power of the imperial family's Nine Dragons Emperor's Art!

" Ling Yuxiu felt a little uneasy at heart. The next day they set out again, but this time Libationer Bashan made them walk, and as they walked he had Ling Yuxiu put into practice the arts she had learned.