Chapter 312
Chapter 312
Duta Kuhai said.
“Then the Snowy Mountain Sacred Temple can also take part in saving the people. That is our true calling.”
The Khan asked.
“How many people has Shen Lang inoculated so far?”
The Crown Prince said.
“Not quite ten thousand. There are still hundreds of thousands who haven't been inoculated.”
“Then we shall save the remaining hundreds of thousands. But life is precious. If they wish to be inoculated and gain lifelong immunity to smallpox, they must pay a handsome price.”
Upon hearing those words, everyone said in unison.
“Your Majesty is wise.”
Duta Kuhai said.
“Our Snowy Mountain Sacred Temple has also been suffering through a harsh winter, so we were in need of donations.”
After learning of Shen Lang's inoculation technique, the Khan and the Snowy Mountain Sacred Temple planned to use it to make a great fortune. *Do you, the people of the Khanate, wish for immunity to smallpox? Do you wish to be inoculated? Then you must pay.* To think of profiting from a crisis, even when the nation was in peril, was truly something to behold. Moreover, you are the king, and are they not your people? Yet for a barbarian king like him, this was perfectly normal.
The Khan gestured magnanimously, as if bestowing a great favor.
“Of course, all of my warriors will be inoculated without charge.”
Once again, they all said in unison.
“Your Majesty is indeed brilliant.”
Su Yong spoke up.
“Please accept these gold coins, Your Majesty and Great Master Kuhai. We have but one request. Not only must you kill Shen Lang's entire delegation, but if possible, please bring me his head.”
Queen Su Mo said.
“Will a thousand of Great Master Kuhai's warrior monks be enough?”
Duta Kuhai sneered.
“A thousand is more than enough.”
Queen Su Mo, still uneasy, said.
“I will provide some warriors as well. They will all have shaved heads, so you can easily pass them off as warrior monks from the Snowy Mountain Sacred Temple.”
Duta Kuhai said.
“Shen Lang has barely a hundred men. Killing them all will be a simple task. But rest assured, Your Highness. I will accept your warriors.”
The Khanate's Crown Prince, Queen Su Mo, and Su Nan's confidant, Su Yong, all bowed in gratitude together.
“Great Master, we entrust today's battle to you.”
Duta Kuhai laughed as if such a battle was trivial and walked out.
An hour later.
In the northern wilderness, two thousand five hundred warriors gathered, all with shaved heads. Only a portion of them were warrior monks from the Snowy Mountain Sacred Temple; the rest were warriors of the Khanate or the Su Clan. But they needed the name of warrior monks. Shen Lang's usefulness to the Khanate had ended, and Su Nan had offered another hundred thousand gold taels to have him killed. With their interests aligned, the opportunity to kill him arose at once.
Duta Kuhai, mounted on a black ox, bellowed.
“To defend the faith of the Sky God, we begin this holy war! Kill every member of Shen Lang's delegation from Yue! Tear them limb from limb! Trample the Sacred Temple and level it to the ground! Kill!”
“Kill!”
The two thousand five hundred bald warriors charged toward the Sacred Temple where Shen Lang was.
* * *
Princess Aronana had fully recovered from smallpox, but unfortunately, pockmarks remained on her face. She counted them carefully in the mirror—a total of ninety-three. Ninety-three damned pockmarks. Still, she was fortunate it was only ninety-three. If it had been nine hundred and thirty, her face would have been truly horrifying.
She no longer stayed in the royal palace, but lived alone in a house outside. Even after her recovery, she didn't go to see her parents. The way her family had treated her during her illness had completely extinguished any expectations or feelings she had for them. Only Big Dummy, who had stayed by her side during her most difficult time, was her family now. In truth, this was quite normal in the Khanate. Once a woman married, she followed her husband in all things and became like a stranger to her own family. As Princess Aronana was lost in thought, Big Dummy walked in. Just hearing his footsteps outside put her at ease.
“Wife, Little Dummy came here and told me to say farewell to you. What's a farewell?”
“Farewell?”
Princess Aronana jumped up and said.
“You're leaving? No. From today on, I'm your woman. You have to stay by my side and not take a single step away.”
Big Dummy shook his head.
“I can't. I have to follow Little Dummy first, and when Master returns, I have to follow him.”
“Then what about me? What am I supposed to do?”
“Aren't you my wife?”
“That's right, I'm your wife. You have to stay with me.”
“Uh!”
Big Dummy didn't know what to do.
“Between me and Little Dummy, who do you choose?”
Big Dummy was even more at a loss. Aronana twisted his ear and said.
“Tell me, who do you choose? Me or Little Dummy?”
Big Dummy thought for a moment, then answered.
“I... right now, I'd choose Little Dummy.”
Aronana was furious, but she had no way of dealing with the simpleton before her.
“Wife, I'm going now.”
“You're leaving right now? Is Shen Lang crazy? It's the middle of the night, and a storm is about to break. He's leaving now?”
“We're not leaving tonight. Tonight, we have to fight.”
Aronana asked, puzzled.
“Fight? What are you fighting about?”
“I don't know what the fight is, but I have to go!”
Finally, Big Dummy slung his darksteel staff over his shoulder and left for the Sacred Temple. Princess Aronana quickly ran to the royal palace.
* * *
*Bang!*
A loud noise echoed. Princess Aronana burst into the room, and all eyes turned to her. Her father, Khan Arukhan; her brother, Aruotai; the Khanate's Queen, Su Mo; and the man she despised, Su Yong, were all there. From their expressions and the look in their eyes, it was clear they were plotting something.
Su Mo was Su Nan's younger sister and the Khanate's second queen. The first queen's name was Nuozha; she was a woman of the Khanate and the Khan's principal wife. She was also the birth mother of Crown Prince Aruotai and Aronana. However, she had left the palace a few years ago to become a nun and live in seclusion. That was how Su Mo had risen to the position of queen.
Aronana asked.
“Father, who is planning to attack the Sacred Temple and Shen Lang?”
Khan Arukhan answered.
“It is no concern of yours.”
Queen Su Mo said with a smile.
“Shen Lang built a sacred temple that blasphemed the faith of the Snowy Mountain Sacred Temple, so Duta Kuhai is sending his warrior monks to destroy it.”
The Crown Prince said.
“Little sister, this is a difficult matter for us to interfere in.”
“Father, Shen Lang saved your life. Besides, he saved countless people of the Khanate and freed us from the threat of the god of death that is smallpox. He has done a great service to our Khanate. You should send soldiers to help him.”
Khan Arukhan said in a chilling voice.
“Roro, remember this. We people of the Khanate only seek revenge; we do not repay favors.”
Those words were the true sentiment of all the Khanate's royalty. Queen Su Mo said.
“Roro, my family has a saying as well. A great favor can turn into a grudge. If someone shows you immense kindness and you have no way to repay them, the only path left is to kill them.”
Aronana cried out in indignation.
“Then what about me? My husband, Big Dummy, is still there.”
The Khan said coldly.
“Who dares say that oaf is your husband?”
Queen Su Mo said.
“Roro, isn't he just a simpleton? He's not worthy of you. We have already found a true hero to be your husband. You may have heard his name. Sanyanye!”
Sanyanye again. There were two great bandits in the east and west of the State of Yue. In the east was Gao Duhuan, and in the west was Sanyanye.
“Sanyanye commands thousands of men and possesses peerless martial arts. It's said that even the Governor of Tianshu in Yue holds him in awe. Wouldn't such a hero be a fitting match for our Princess Roro?”
Princess Aronana looked at them. They all had ice-cold eyes and cruel expressions. The people before her were no longer human; they were like wolves. Without another word, she turned and left. She immediately found her Green Dragon Crescent Blade, slung it over her shoulder, and headed for the Sacred Temple. She would fight alongside her husband.
* * *
By then, all the people of the Khanate who had come to the Sacred Temple for inoculation were gone, leaving only the hundred warriors under Shen Lang's command. Inside the temple stood three statues: the Duke of Zhou, Confucius, and the Holy Maiden. Of the hundred warriors, half were from Yue, and the other half were private soldiers of the Jin Clan and warriors from the Heaven's Path Society. All the warriors wore leather armor and had their bows strung, their faces filled with fear and anxiety.
*Rumble, crack.*
The heavy sound of thunder rumbled continuously outside, but still no rain fell. The dark clouds in the sky grew thicker and hung lower, looking as if they might fall to the earth at any moment. Countless eyes watched them from outside the Sacred Temple—all ordinary people of the Khanate. Over the past few days, tens of thousands had come here to be inoculated, which meant tens of thousands owed their lives to Shen Lang. Moreover, they were the very people who had knelt before the Sacred Temple. But would they fight for Shen Lang? That was impossible. They had neither the courage nor the strength to fight. They would only be spectators.
Inside the royal palace of the State of Yue.
*Rumble...*
The heavy sound of thunder rolled through the sky one after another. The air grew so oppressive it was hard to breathe. King Ning Yuanxian looked up at the sky; the layers of dark clouds seemed to be pressing down on his head.
*'Let the great rain fall, if it must.'*
He was wearing several layers of silk robes, so while the temperature around him was not hot, he felt a certain sweltering heat. It had already been a month since Shen Lang went to the Khanate as an envoy, yet he had not returned. The war situation in the State of Nanguo was growing increasingly dire. The Shaman Tribe relentlessly sent large armies, making the barbarians incredibly difficult to deal with. According to earlier predictions, this war should have been an easy victory, as Yue's spies sent to Nanguo had nearly seized control of their political situation. But in the end, the war did not go as the King of Yue had intended, and he had never imagined it would drag the State of Yue into a quagmire.
A month and a half had passed since the Sacred Temple burned down. At the time, what a commotion it had caused, how many officials had looked as if they would cough up blood in the royal court. But after ten days, they felt no need to continue the theatrics, and the people, feeling they had seen enough of the spectacle, began to let the memory of the burned temple fade.
At the time, it had been so satisfying to kill all the warriors from the Khanate who had burned the Sacred Temple. But after they were dead, many officials in Yue grew worried. Would the people of the Khanate retaliate? Could this incident become the spark for a war?
And indeed, after that incident, two delegations from the Khanate arrived in the capital of Yue. They made increasingly harsh demands, insisting that Yue must provide an explanation for killing their envoys, or they would meet on the battlefield. Not only that, but recent rumors had taken a stranger turn. Whispers started in the marketplaces, suggesting that the true mastermind behind the burning of the Khanate's Sacred Temple was actually Shen Lang, and his purpose was to attack the Su Clan.
Hadn't Shen Lang always spoken of destroying the Su Clan? But he was surely dead by now. Torn to shreds by the enraged Khan and fed to the dogs. The hundred men who went with him would have been boiled and eaten as well. With no news for over a month, they must all be dead. That pretty boy was truly something else. Who did he think the Khan was, that he could make him admit his guilt? And building a Sacred Temple on the Khanate's land? What a ludicrous fantasy!
*Rumble...*
Suddenly, a loud crash echoed, and even King Ning Yuanxian flinched slightly. The heavy rumble finally broke through the clouds, transforming into a thunderclap that seemed to shake the very earth.
“What happened to that woman?”