Draped in animal skins and bird feathers, holding a beast-bone spear, Jianixi walked quietly up onto the high platform. His aura had already reached Foundation Establishment. The brilliant morning sun draped over his body, flecks of golden radiance making him look like a descending deity.
Below the platform gathered a boundless, dense black sea of Shanyue tribespeople, kneeling in devout, serene reverence. In everyone's eyes shone hope and light; the century of Shanyue chaos and disorder was about to end, and this king would usher in a new epoch for them.
Unlike the fervent excitement of the people below, Jianixi's gaze was instead filled with irony and contempt. Standing stiffly on the high platform, he looked coldly upon the Shanyue kneeling in worship below.
"Jianixi, the time has come."
Beside him, an old shaman clad in a black robe and holding aloft a beast-head scepter spoke hoarsely. His aura was actually at the peak of Foundation Establishment, his gravelly voice drifting into Jianixi's ears.
"Do not delay... As long as you go peacefully to your death, we will not touch your people."
The old shaman wore a helpless expression, having long since cursed all the fellow disciples who had shoved him down the mountain.
'So this Jianixi had already sensed something was amiss! No wonder each of them tried to push the job onto someone else... After being in seclusion for so many years, I actually thought this was a cushy assignment!'
'To force him into becoming a sacrificial offering willingly really was no easy task. The fellow has neither children nor wife; his only concern is these hundreds of thousands of Shanyue, so that was our only leverage over him. Were it not that the sacrificial altar requires him to step onto it of his own accord, why would we waste breath on nonsense? We could have simply bound him and thrown him on!'
Jianixi cast him a scornful glance, his grip tightening around his spear as he stepped forward slowly. A faint crimson radiance had already begun to flow through the patterns carved upon the high platform. Suddenly, he spoke:
"Old fellow, let me ask you: have you ever nurtured a people or commanded an army?"
Seeing Jianixi's dismissive look, entirely stripped of the helpless reluctance he had shown a few days ago when coerced using the hundreds of thousands of Shanyue, the old shaman's heart leaped into his throat. The hair all over his body stood on end, and he croaked raspy-voiced:
"Jianixi! Do not disregard hundreds of thousands of Shanyue and do something rash!"
Jianixi threw his head back and laughed, bristling with fury, his voice frigid:
"The army is my spear and blade; the people are my carriage! When has a man ever died for his implements?!"
The moment those words were spoken, the old shaman knew something was horribly wrong. He felt the magic power surging inside Jianixi's body, giving him the distinct sensation that the man was shattering his own Xuan Scenery. He cried out repeatedly:
"Master!"
Instantly, the clouds and winds churned across the sky. A gaunt, massive hand swept through the void to suppress the anomaly within Jianixi's body. Yet unexpectedly, a ray of profound light streaked in from the east, striking directly against that hand and delaying it for a heartbeat.
*Crack.*
Inside Jianixi's body, the six wheels shattered in succession, and the Dao foundation forged within him detonated with a roar. Crimson bloody light erupted forth, leaving the old shaman pale with shock and terror.
"What do you want, woman?"
Jianixi had removed his armor and asked her indifferently.
"I want the Great King to live,"
she had said.
The memory came to an abrupt halt. Right before the eyes of tens of thousands of Shanyue, this king of the Shanyue blew apart into a shower of flesh and blood, dyeing the entire high platform crimson.
Jianixi's brown eyeball flew out dozens of zhang, bouncing as it fell below the platform, and rolled to a stop right in front of a kneeling Shanyue woman.
The Shanyue woman, still carrying a child on her back, jumped up as though bitten by a serpent. Trembling all over, she cupped that deep brown eyeball in her hands. Her face drained of color into an ashen pallor, and after coughing a few times, she coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Heaven and earth fell dead silent in an instant. A colossal terror weighed down upon the army and common folk below, rendering them unable to utter a single sound. In the sky, dark clouds and lightning swiftly converged, and wild winds swept through every corner.
"Who was that...?"
A murmured whisper echoed by the old shaman's ear. He dropped to his knees, trembling violently. A cultivation at the peak of Foundation Establishment could not grant him the slightest sense of security; his heart was desolate and dead.
"Not an old friend... but a newly ascended Purple Palace... Who was it?!"
A thunderous roar of fury detonated beside the old shaman's ear. The Qi Refinement Shanyue on the platform instantly exploded into mince, and the platform erected from earth and masonry collapsed with a crash. Rolling waves of mud and gravel tumbled down, and a dense earthy scent instantly blanketed all of Dajueting.
"Who taught him the wheel-shattering disintegration?! Who?!"
A middle-aged man in black robes stood in empty air. Covered in dirt and kneeling in wretched disarray, the old shaman watched the middle-aged man lift a hand, his countenance brimming with sheer brutality.
"How many years has it been... No one has made this old man suffer such a terrible loss!"
A boundless aura swept across the land in all directions. Across Dajueting, the Shanyue began to shiver in fear.
"Master! That was the profound light technique... Most likely it was the demonic sect's doing!"
A chill ran down the old shaman's spine as he stammered out an answer, only to hear the middle-aged Purple Palace cultivator say coldly:
"The Qingchi Demonic Sect... Back when this old man ran unchecked through the realm, they were nothing more than a minor sect guarding a dilapidated mountain gate! Now they dare walk over my head!"
The moment his voice faded, he had already vanished from above the ruins. The old shaman knelt for a while before daring to steal a glance upward. Seeing that the middle-aged man was long gone, he boarded his flying shuttle and departed.
Only tens of thousands of Shanyue remained prostrate on the ground, weeping softly. Thousands upon thousands of wisps of ethereal incense turned into pale gray grievances, drifting in the sky above Dajueting.
"Great King..."
The Shanyue on the ground wept and kowtowed around that brown eyeball, but from afar, the rustle of fluttering wings slowly rolled in.
"Locusts! Locusts!"
The guards atop the city walls shouted in alarm. In the distance, a gray-black swarm of locusts surged like mountains collapsing and oceans overturning, their deafening rustle shaking the heavens as they soared freely over Dajueting, feeding on the grievances condensed from the severe drought and great disaster.
*Buzz...*
Though the heedless impact of locusts crashing against bodies merely stung, the Shanyue wailed for their mothers and fathers, trampling and shoving past one another. The entirety of Dajueting turned into a living hell in an instant.
"Great King!"
Watching the surging sea of people rapidly converge, the woman carrying the child quickly lifted the boy high into the air and threw him with all her might onto a low boulder. Immediately afterward, she was engulfed by the human tide, reduced to blood, mangled flesh, and broken bones upon the ground.
Amid the world-blanketing thrum of locust wings, the golden morning sunlight was swallowed by dark clouds. The entire Northern Foothills plunged once more into the deepest darkness.
—
Moist vapor spread through the air, and joyful laughter rang across the towns. The villagers brought out every kind of container, from chamber pots to giant earthenware vats, excitedly awaiting the arrival of the torrential downpour.
"Rain, at last!"
The sorrow on Li Xuanxuan's face finally cleared away. He watched with a broad smile as townsfolk ran about the streets. The drought had lasted for eight full months; now, rain had finally arrived.
Beside him, Li Xuanling kept his lips sealed in silence, but delight showed on his face as well. The gray Xuanshui sword light on the green-edged blade in his hand gleamed brilliantly, evidencing considerable progress.
Li Jingtian held her brush and looked out the window with a bright smile. Raindrops pattered down one by one upon the stone-paved street. Beside her, Chen Donghe stole quiet glances at her.
"Donghe," Li Jingtian suddenly called out softly.
Startled, Chen Donghe lowered his head with a flush spreading across his face, yet hastily replied:
"Ah? Yes?"
"Tell me about my father's deeds in the west."
Delight surged onto Chen Donghe's face at once, and he began recounting the events of the westward march in vivid detail. Li Jingtian listened quietly, nodding slightly from time to time.
The torrential rain swept through every corner. The villagers ran and celebrated in the downpour, their faces filled with merry smiles. Riding the wind among the clouds, Li Tongya observed for a time, a touch of ease softening his brow.
"A good rain. Truly a good rain."
Gazing far to the west, where that suffocating aura had already vanished, Li Tongya pondered inwardly:
'Jianixi must have met his end. Still, we must wait for word to confirm it... before we can breathe a sigh of relief.'
Having an enemy like Jianixi at their doorstep had always kept them tossing and turning at night. Once Jianixi was dead, the fifteen Shanyue villages would be nothing more than a disorganized rabble. So long as the cultivators of Mount Wu remained in their mountains, all the remaining Qi Refinement Shanyue tied together would not be enough to withstand a single blow from his hand.
'Besides, now that the blood sacrifice has concluded, who knows how many Qi Refinement cultivators remain among the Shanyue?'
Unfortunately, this boundary had been delineated by the Shanyue Purple Palace cultivator and the Qingchi Sect; otherwise, Li Tongya might well have crossed the border and annexed several villages.
Descending slowly into the courtyard, Li Tongya saw Liu Rouxuan coming forward to greet him with a warm smile.
"Husband is back."
Having cultivated for all these years, Liu Rouxuan's cultivation had reached only the third layer of Embryonic Breathing. After all, her talent was modest, and what she cultivated was merely a first-grade Embryonic Breathing cultivation method. Unable to advance an inch for years, a few strands of white had already appeared at her temples.
"Mm," Li Tongya replied gently. He and Liu Rouxuan had been together for nearly twenty years and knew each other intimately. Taking her hand, he noticed a hint of worry in her expression and smiled.
"What is the matter?"
"Husband..."
Liu Rouxuan lowered her eyes and replied:
"I have selected several concubines for you. They are all waiting outside."
Li Tongya froze on the spot. With a strange look, he waved away the women who were entering and chuckled helplessly.
"What are you thinking?!"
Liu Rouxuan's brows softened, and she said in a low voice:
"I know my talent is poor. I fear I will never achieve Qi Refinement in this lifetime and cannot accompany you for long. Now we have only Xuanling by our knees, and our offspring are few..."
Li Tongya parted his lips, but no words came out. The clan's medicinal pills and spirit rice had always been distributed according to aptitude. Even for Xuanxuan, Xuanling, and the others, the supply was scarce, so Liu Rouxuan had naturally been neglected. With her talent, she would likely never break through to Qi Refinement before the end of her days.
"This..."
Li Tongya forced out the word with difficulty. Given his principles, it was impossible for him to divert clan resources to favor his own wife. Yet Liu Rouxuan shook her head gently and said:
"That is not what I meant.
"I am not adept at fighting, and my aptitude is poor. Even if I reached Qi Refinement, it would only be a waste. How could I dare squander the clan's resources? I only wish for Husband to leave behind more offspring."
Li Tongya shook his head, quite moved, and said softly:
"Say no more of this. We were born of peasant folk and cannot take up the habit of keeping three wives and four concubines.
"Xuanling is obedient and composed, and he works hard day in and day out. That is all thanks to your care; I have yet to thank you properly."
Liu Rouxuan was about to speak further, but Li Tongya stopped her lips. Nuzzling against her temple, he said softly:
"If you want offspring, you can simply bear me another."
Chapter 105