Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Gu Shenwei stood up. He did not expect to be reunited with the girls under such circumstances.
They were among the young women who were about to be set on fire on the altar, which was close to one kilometer away from him, and were in a state of partial loss of consciousness. The 10 tribal chiefs were encircling the altar and facing outwards, singing about something in unison.
Below the altar stood the nobles, swaying to the same rhythm with increasing vigor.
The prostrate slaves were at the perimeter. They were curled up like porcupines and looked from afar like pieces of stones wearing long robes.
On the altar, the sacrifice was about to begin and both Shangguan Ru and Maid Lotus, along with the other three women, were about to be immolated. Gu Shenwei felt a little helpless, as even a flying bird could not cover one kilometer in an instant. What made matters worse was that he had to fight his way through thousands of people in the crowd, and even if they did nothing, they would still form a formidable barrier between him and the altar.
Gu Shenwei was without support; the 10 conscripted savages he had brought along with him were a few kilometers behind him. He could not summon them in time. The soldiers from the Great Snow Mountain were even further behind him and could not possibly be expected to come to his aid in time.
Gradually, on the altar, the singing from the 10 tribal chiefs grew into a crescendo.
Gu Shenwei had no other option. In this instance, his sword and saber were useless.
He lifted the cowhide horn from the Snow Mountain slung at his side to his lips, took a deep breath, and blew into it.
The first blast from the horn drowned out the singing of the tribal chiefs. It felt as if the low growls of a dragon were traveling toward the altar from afar. They burst forth from the earth itself, shaking the entire world and shooting up to the skies. There was no sign that the growls would stop as they continued reverberating higher and higher upward.
Both the ruling and slave classes of the Land of Fragrance had never heard such a sound before. They were caught in a moment of connection with their gods and could suddenly feel that their eardrums and hearts were under tremendous attack by the noise. To them, even the ground seemed to be trembling and looked as if it would split open any moment to swallow them up.
Gu Shenwei did not have time to consider so many things. He only wished that the sudden blasts from the horn would draw the attention of most of the locals, earning him some precious time to reach the altar before the burning began.
The result was totally unexpected by him.
The blasts, which sounded like the growls of a dragon, smashed away everything in his path. The prostrate slaves were extremely terrified and pressed themselves flat to the ground, grabbing on to every blade of grass or piece of rock they could, as if it would help them withstand the might of the heavens.
The nobles, who had been standing a moment ago, were even more terrified and either squatted down and hugged their heads or knelt and kowtowed. None of them dared to check out where the blasts came from.
Gu Shenwei held the horn in one hand and his saber in the other as he ran down the slope. He stepped over the bodies of the crowd before him and stopped and lifted his head to continue blowing into the horn after every few steps he took. He made the blasts follow the echos, creating a continuous stream of sonic attack.
He did not meet any resistance all the way to the foot of the altar.
Shili Molo was the first to recover from his shock. He pointed to the Dragon King and shouted, “He’s only one man, stop him! Stop him quickly!”
Dozens of nobles stood up upon hearing his exclamation, daring to look in the direction of where the blasts came from.
“One man!” shouted several others.
“Stop him!” more nobles began ordering their slaves as they, however, retreated back to hide. The Five Peaks Saber was glinting in the Dragon King’s hand and even more terrifying than the horn blasts.
The slaves on the perimeter of the crowd slowly lifted their heads, but none of them got up.
As slaves, they had no right to get close to the altar, and the honor of attending today’s ritual was bestowed only upon the most excellent of them. Most of their class would only be hearing about the altar by word of mouth.
No matter how urgent their masters sounded, none of the slaves dared to break against tradition which has been passed on for many generations.
The Dragon King looked like a nimble stag, leaping past at least eight or nine flight of steps with every step he took. Soon enough, he was about to reach the top of the altar.
Shili Molo panicked. He did not know what the Dragon King intended to do. Before Old Man Mu went for his retreat, he ordered Shili Molo to hold the army from the Great Snowmountain back by any means necessary but had not explained the relationship between the two ‘heroines’ and the Dragon King.
“People of the ruling class, come! Protect the altar!” implored Shili Molo. He could only seek for their help now.
The nobles felt that it was an appropriate call for help by their leader, but each of them also felt that their personal safety was paramount and that his or her constitution was weaker than everybody else. As such, they remained full of hope that somebody else would step up.
Gu Shenwei stood on the top of the altar and laid his horn down. He was the most surprised out of everyone present; the seemingly impenetrable crowd was even more harmless than the vegetation and rocks in his path on his way to the rescue.
Till now, Shili Molo kept speaking in his native language, but stopped pretending to not know Central Plains Chinese at this moment. He stumbled backward by three steps before managing to say, “Dragon, Dragon King, you… we did not offend you, so why…”
“Who are these women to be sacrificed to?” Gu Shenwei questioned, moving closer by another step. The other nine tribal chiefs had retreated a step down the platform, leaving Shili Molo alone to face the Dragon King.
The 10 women who were supporting the sacrificial lambs also had retreated along with the other tribal chiefs; they were nobility and it was the first time they were attending to a slave.
The five women who were nearly sent up the pyre to be burnt alive had been shocked out of their daze by the horn blasts, but were still experiencing the effect of the knockout powder they had taken. As such, they were still standing unsteadily.
Shangguan Ru and Maid Lotus had recognized Gu Shenwei, but both of them did not feel that he was real. Shangguan Ru even grinned like a young child, believing herself to be in her own personal sweet dream.
Shili Molo appeared even more feeble without any supporters around him. “They, they are meant to be sacrificed to all the deities in the heavens. It’s their honor and they’re… all willing participants.”
“I’m a deity. Sacrifice them to me.”
Shili Molo seemed to grow shorter in stature. He did not believe the Dragon King and was even more shocked that the young barbaric man would spout such disgraceful and blasphemous words which exceeded his limits of tolerance.
“You… aren’t…” The words took up all of the old tribal chief’s remaining energy, but they came off as incoherent mumblings.
It was not enough to just rush up to Shangguan Ru and Maid Lotus, he had to think of a way to get them out safely. Even though the slaves did not dare to come near to the altar, they would not permit their enemy to leave easily under the orders of their masters.
Gu Shenwei lifted the Five Peaks Saber high up and addressed the entire crowd. He had channelled his Internal Strength into his voice, and it reverberated far and wide. Everyone surrounding the altar, regardless of whether he or she was standing or prone, could hear him clearly. “If you wish to please the gods, very well. I’m a deity and accept your gift. These five people will now be received by me. I don’t want them to die; I want them alive.”
Shili Molo flew into an uncontrollable rage for the first time in his life. He had met the Dragon King before and even negotiated with him. “How could this man be a god? If I had to choose, I would select the merciless Old Man Mu to be my deity,”he thought.
“Demon, leave this altar!” shouted Shili Molo, as he raised his crutch, which was pure white in color, high up with both hands. He suddenly straightened himself up and charged bravely towards the unwelcome intruder who had come to disrupt the ritual, showing a side of himself that the people of the Land of Fragrance had never seen before.
The Five Peaks Saber cut a thin, straight line from the old tribal chief’s forehead right down to his belly.
His white robe flew open, exposing his emaciated chest covered with white hair.
Gu Shenwei supported Shili Molo’s back with his other hand and flung his corpse onto the pyre. He then grabbed a flaming torch from the edge of the altar and threw it onto the pyre as well.
In no time, a raging fire was burning.
“As you wish,” said Gu Shenwei softly, before raising his voice to continue, “The demon has left the altar.”
In his desperation, Gu Shenwei had committed a very basic error. He was speaking with Shili Molo all this while, but had unusually forgotten that most of the people of the Land of Fragrance could not understand Central Plains Chinese.
Only a few people among the crowd could understand the Dragon King, but it was them who did not believe him the most. They started stirring up the anger of the others, in their native tongue, to avenge the death of the old tribal leader.
A few thousand nobles gave each other courage as they surrounded the altar and started advancing up the platform one step at a time.
Shangguan Ru and Maid Lotus were still not completely conscious and just like the other three women, they were weak and standing unsteadily. They looked as if they would collapse at any moment.
The fire on the pyre grew larger and he could feel wave after wave of heat assaulting his back. Gu Shenwei took another deep breath as he lifted the horn to his lips once again, before blowing into it as hard as he could.
The effect was not as visible as the first time he tried doing the same thing. Most of the mob halted in their steps but did not fall to their knees as they did before. They hesitated and were at a loss, waiting for each other to react. It only took one of them to take up the lead before the entire mob would charge forward without consideration for personal safety.
Real leaders were born during such times. However, the people of the Land of Fragrance had enjoyed centuries of peace, and leaders were already redundant in their society. It would take time for someone to break free of the bonds of tradition, and for now, they were still waiting on each other to act.
The Dragon King gazed over all of their heads toward a gentle slope far away. Someone noticed this and looked in the same direction as well. What followed next was a shout of terror.
The 10 conscripted savages had caught up on their horses. They could recognize the blasts from the Dragon King’s horn and would only act upon its direction.
Five of them were armed with sabers while the others wielded swords. They let out beast-like howls in unison which ranged from sharp to low pitches. It sounded like 10 different kinds of animals had emerged from the forest and were competing in a contest of voices.
They then formed up into a single rank and charged into the restless and noisy crowd.
Their decision was a mistake. Cowards would surrender if they faced an enemy with impossible odds, but the right amount of stimulation could cause them to become bold.
Gu Shenwei was not in time to stop the loyal soldiers, and he could not even if he tried.
The 10 savages were like a sharp spear which was pierced deeply into the gigantic body of an enemy; it plunged deeply into its body but could not cause any significant damage due to the sheer size of the opponent.
They were instantly surrounded by the slaves and dragged around and beaten. Even so, they did not seem to be afraid in the least and did not retreat. They were stimulated by the horn blasts and seemed to have been bestowed with divine strength. With every stroke of their weapons, they would shout a phrase, the first words in Central Plains Chinese they had learned over the last 10 days or so.
“Dragon King!”
Gu Shenwei looked at Shangguan Ru and Maid Lotus, who were standing beside him. He could not bring himself to look on helplessly as his soldiers got slaughtered. As such, he resumed blowing on his horn and spread out his right arm, which was holding onto his saber, like a huge bird with only one wing, and leaped at the nobles a few steps below him.
Gu Shenwei’s spur-of-the-moment rescue very nearly became a tragedy from which there was no turning back.
As he leaped into the air, drawing the attention of many people, an even louder horn blast was heard.
It was not a solitary blast, but a combination of two to three thousand blasts being grouped into a formidable force, returning the call of the Dragon King’s horn from afar.
It came just at the right time and it broke the last line of defence of the locals.
Those who could understand Central Plains Chinese and were stirring up the mob not too long ago became the first to fall to their knees. They mimicked the tone of the savages as the shouted “Dragon King” loudly.
More and more of the locals followed suit, shouting out the words but completely unaware of its meaning.
They had already acknowledged him as their god.
