Chapter 394
Chapter 394
The moon was bright in the sky, the stars sparse. The Qiang King noticed someone looking up at the night sky. It was Su Jianting. Arutai asked him.
“What are you doing here?”
Su Jianting immediately bowed at the waist.
“This subject greets Your Majesty.”
“Did I not ask what you were looking at?”
“At home, I often gazed at the stars in the night sky. I was just about to analyze how the stars here differ from the ones I see at home.”
Arutai let out a loud laugh.
“All under the vast sky are but ants. When an ant looks at the sky, is it not the same everywhere?”
Su Jianting was taken aback.
*Does Arutai know how to say something so philosophical?*
The Qiang King Arutai said, “Those were not my words, but those of King Gong of Nanguo. He said that a person who is too foolish should not look at the sky often, for it only makes them dumber. They forget they are but dust, living a life of hardship. He also said that a person who is too clever should not look at the aky too often, for they will become lost in it. Su Jianting, are you a clever man, or a foolish one?”
*So that’s it. It’s not strange for a great hero like King Gong to say such things.*
Su Jianting smiled and said, “This subject is an ordinary man.”
“When a person reveres the heavens too much, they are prone to idle thoughts. The people of your Eastern world think a single shooting star is a sign from the heavens, don’t they? If several meteors fall, the king must, for no clear reason, write an edict of self-reproach. Of course, having no reverence for the heavens at all is not good either. My royal father had no reverence whatsoever.”
In other kingdoms, a son would not speak of his father’s faults. To rule with the ideology of filial piety, one must revere one’s ancestors. But in a country like the Qiang State, which followed the strong, such customs did not exist. The moment the old Qiang King died, no one held any reverence for him. To this day, no one even cared how Aruqiang had died. Yet, despite Arutai's almost unfilial words, Su Jianting dared not reply. Besides, he couldn't figure out what Arutai was trying to say.
The Qiang King Arutai spoke very calmly.
“My royal father burned all of the Aru clan’s totems and emblems. That alone shows his lack of reverence for the heavens. Our Aru clan’s totem is the Heavenly Wolf Devouring the Moon. It means the Heavenly Wolf swallows the moon. We, the Aru royalty, have the strength and wildness of the wolf, and the eyes and wings of the eagle. Only then can we fly to the ends of the sky and receive the protection of the heavenly gods. Therefore, it was wrong of my royal father to burn the clan totem. From this day forward, I will re-establish the clan totem, and the Heavenly Wolf Devouring the Moon shall be the flag of our new kingdom!”
Hearing this, Su Jianting’s heart trembled. Arutai was subtly warning him not to think of him as he did his father, Aruqiang. *Do not think I am unaware that you people harbored ill intentions and coaxed my royal father into burning the clan totem. Do not entertain the vain delusion of first making the Heavenly Wolf totem disappear, then weakening the Aru royalty’s rule, and finally swallowing the Qiang State whole.*
Su Jianting bowed and said, “Your Majesty is wise. This subject will follow your thoughts! I will have the flag of the Heavenly Wolf Devouring the Moon made this very night.”
The Qiang King Arutai shook his head.
“There is no need. I will use that flag again after we have eliminated Aronana.”
Since Aronana had used the flag first, Arutai intended not to use it until she was dead.
“Go and sleep! We must depart early tomorrow to wipe out all of Aronana’s settlements. The day after, we will enter the State of Yue, join your father, and rampage across the entire Tianshu Province until we have beaten King Ning Yuanxian of Yue to the point of wailing!”
Su Jianting bowed his head.
“This subject obeys your command.”
“Your father must be growing impatient from waiting. Hahaha! But why aren’t you sleeping with my sister? Is she too ugly?”
Su Jianting, still bowing, replied, “No, Your Majesty. I will go to bed right away!”
That night, Su Jianting held his breath and slept with the Qiang King Arutai’s sister. Afterwards, he felt a little disillusioned with life. She was actually very beautiful, but her smell was overpowering, and though she was young, her posture in bed was extremely skilled, like that of a seasoned warrior.
*The sacrifices I, Su Jianting, make for the great cause of my clan are truly immense.*
***
The next morning, before the sun had even risen, Arutai’s army of forty thousand had finished their meal.
“All troops, move out!”
At the command, over twenty thousand cavalry took the lead, with the remaining twenty thousand infantry marching behind. They charged imposingly towards Aronana’s snow mountain settlement. At a distance of about twenty *li*, the cavalry would reach the settlement in one *shichen* at most. The twenty thousand cavalrymen advanced at a special pace, neither a run nor a walk, which the fast-marching infantry behind them could just about keep up with.
As day broke, the snow mountain settlement came into clear view. Countless tents were packed tightly within a mountain valley, and numerous totems of the Heavenly Wolf Devouring the Moon had been erected. The stone wall at the valley entrance was also clearly visible, with a multitude of flags hanging upon it—flags bearing the Aru clan’s totem, the Heavenly Wolf Devouring the Moon.
The five-*li*-long stone wall served as the snow mountain settlement's only line of defense. However, in Arutai’s eyes, this wall seemed too weak to withstand a single blow. It was not like the easily defensible city walls commonly found in the Eastern nations. This stone wall was thin and low, easily demolished. To think of defending a settlement with such a wall, Aronana’s three thousand must be completely delusional.
When they were still five *li* away from the settlement, the Qiang King Arutai gave the order.
“Halt!”
At his command, the great army assembled. A single charge would be enough to tear down that flimsy stone wall and trample Aronana’s settlement. Just then, another group of soldiers came rushing from the north. They were all bald—the monk soldiers of the Great Calamity Temple. An ascetic monk, Kunan, and a female Daoist priest led the force.
The moment Arutai saw the female Daoist, his gaze went straight to the space between her hips and thighs. He looked at all women that way. Then, in his mind, he would imagine how he would take her. The Qiang King sought to sleep with every woman in the world. However, Great Master Prajna from the State of Chu paid no mind to Arutai’s gaze. Most men who saw Prajna in her Daoist robes thought of sleeping with her. Since all men in the world were lewd, was there any need for her to care about such thoughts? Prajna was solely focused on killing Li Qianqiu.
Of course, she had no grudge against Li Qianqiu, but her master had a great feud with his father-in-law, the previous Sword King. It was said to be the shame of the Daoist Palace of Devil Rock Mountain. Such a disgrace could only be washed away by killing the Sword King of the South Sea.
“Qiang King, have you been well?”
The ascetic monk Kunan shouted with a loud laugh. The Great Calamity Temple had adopted a strategy of cooperating with the Su clan, but not with the Qiang King. This was because the previous Qiang King had stood by and watched the ascetic monk Kuhai die. Moreover, between the Su clan and the Qiang State, the Great Calamity Temple predicted that Su Nan had the better odds.
The Qiang King Arutai smiled and inquired, “Has High Monk Kunan also been without trouble? What brings you here?”
“I intend to visit the Great Calamity Palace.”
The Great Calamity Palace was the largest palace complex in the State of Yue, built upon the Great Snow Mountain. The Great Calamity Temple had not only developed the mountaintop to build the palace but had also created a square large enough for tens of thousands of believers to kneel and pray.
“What a coincidence. I was about to go to the Great Calamity Palace myself. I intend to repair it and make it the traveling palace of my new kingdom.”
Kunan’s face momentarily twitched, but he set that matter aside for the moment and said coolly, “I have another purpose for coming here. To kill Shen Lang!”
“Shen Lang? That fellow is here?”
Su Jianting’s heart trembled.
*Shen Lang, that wretched bastard, is here too?*
“That is correct. Shen Lang, that young viper, is also in the snow mountain settlement.”
The Qiang King Arutai said, “That man must be killed.”
“Well said. That man must die.”
Su Jianting shouted in agreement, “That man must be killed.”
Su Mo, Su Ying, and Su Xiao all said in unison, “That man must be killed.”
The ascetic monk Kunan said, “Then let us set aside the matter of the Great Calamity Palace for later and kill Shen Lang first!”
“Excellent!”
The Qiang King replied, and the two thousand monk soldiers of the Great Calamity Temple merged with Arutai’s great army.
“All troops, assemble! Form ranks and advance!”
The army of over forty thousand advanced majestically towards the flimsy stone wall of the snow mountain settlement, drawing ever closer to the five-*li*-long wall. Three *li*! Two *li*! Finally, when only one *li* remained, the Qiang King Arutai bellowed.
“Charge the enemy line. Kill every last one of the traitor Aronana’s followers!”
“Charge!”
In an instant, twenty thousand cavalrymen charged madly forward. The cavalrymen all held iron hammers in their hands. They intended to use the momentum of their charging warhorses to smash down the five-*li*-long stone wall with their hammers. The monk soldiers of the Great Calamity Temple carried thick, massive logs, using them as battering rams as they charged relentlessly toward the stone wall. In an instant, the entire ground shook, and their roars pierced the sky. All insects and beasts within a ten-*li* radius scattered in flight. Like a swirling sandstorm, like a violently surging dark cloud, the Qiang King’s twenty thousand cavalrymen charged ever faster.
“Kill, kill!”
The stone wall of the snow mountain settlement grew closer and closer.
“Fire! Fire the arrows!”
The order was given, and behind the stone wall, the defending army unleashed a frantic volley of arrows. Thousands of arrows filled the air, tracing an arc as they fell fiercely upon the Qiang King’s cavalry.
*Thud, thud, thud.*
The Qiang King’s cavalry did not wear iron armor, so the sharp arrows easily tore through their skin and pierced their bodies. The cavalrymen hit by arrows fell from their warhorses one after another, only to be trampled and crushed by the warhorses following behind. The twenty thousand cavalrymen had been too densely packed.
“Fire!”
“Fire!”
As Shen Lang and Aronana’s orders rang out, volley after volley of arrows rained down relentlessly. The Qiang King’s cavalry and the Great Calamity Temple’s monk soldiers charged on command, dying brutally. But the precious opportunity to shoot down the enemy with arrows was too short. The two armies were only a hundred meters apart. With less than ten seconds before they clashed, the number of soldiers they could shoot down would be two or three hundred at most.
In an instant, the twenty thousand cavalrymen of the Qiang King reached the front of the stone wall and fiercely struck it with the hammers in their hands.
*Bang, bang, bang.*
A series of loud sounds echoed, and the flimsy stone wall began to sway.
“Charge, leap over the wall, and kill every last one of Aronana and Shen Lang’s followers!”
At the Qiang King’s command, countless Qiang warriors ran with the vigor of wild beasts, using their warhorses to leap over the stone wall that was less than three meters high. In the blink of an eye, the Qiang warriors surged toward the wall like a tidal wave. The most intense battle had begun. The army of over forty thousand, like a raging tide, sought to submerge and annihilate Aronana and Shen Lang’s mere three thousand.