Chapter 213: Participating In The Trial
After the Battle of Ding Ling City, Xuan Chong conducted a round of screening on the captives, keeping some Horned People who knew beast taming to ensure the daily feeding of these Triceratops Giant Beasts; the remaining majority, Horned People not deeply corrupted by Evil Moon, would also serve as labor for port construction.
In December of the 2nd year of Tong Zheng Calendar, Ka Wu hired adventurers in the port and, via sailboat, escorted Silver Horn’s sixteen subordinates, bound hand and foot, to Griffon City.
It was also thanks to the Horned People’s tenacious vitality after witchcraft transformation; after being shot so many times and having the lead bullets dug out, they could still heal.
After Ka Wu returned to the city-state, numerous Feathered People gathered around the wooden cage, watching the enemy. The Horned People corrupted by Evil Moon roared, some trying to use witchcraft, but the black obsidian restriction on the iron cage isolated his mental power.
This black obsidian, a specialty of Thorn Ridge Forest, is called “Yin Sha Ghost Stone” by Da Yao alchemists; it is a strange object that can defile spiritual energy.
In the city-state, the old king and Prince Lu Er Ge watched their kingdom’s archenemy paraded through the streets in the prison cage from the tower.
King: “How do you view our northern allies?”
Lu Er Ge: “This time they faithfully fulfilled the contract, at least this time.”
The king’s tone became somewhat skeptical: “And next time? Is our relationship with them that of allies or master and servant?”
Lu Er Ge remained silent. Because after the war, Xuan Chong had told Ka Wu: this battle was not fought in vain; the Feather Tribe needed to provide women for a marriage alliance.
The king said: “Da Yao is a powerful empire. If there is to be a marriage alliance, I hope to have Xi Yuan marry the northern general.”
Under his father’s gaze of blue pupils, Lu Er Ge’s pupils also gradually turned blue: “That Da Yao general did not approve of this matter.”
The king revealed his obsession: “Ka Wu said he wants to participate in our king test. If he passes the trial, what do you think will happen?” — What he could not tolerate most was his originally loyal knights developing admiration for others.
Lu Er Ge struggled to shift in purity: “If he passes the trial, it means he has the qualifications of a king. I will admire him.”
The unusual color in the king’s pupils grew heavier: “If you think so too, then it means he can find a large number of followers in the Tranquil Sea.”
…Ritual law ideology and bloodline ideology…
In the military tent, Xuan Chong asked the civil official attendants who had come for internship nearby: “The Feather Tribe city-state wants to marry me. What do you all think?”
“Absolutely not!” one student immediately said excitedly, and then the others also expressed their views, stating the pros and cons.
Xuan Chong smiled as he watched these student faction members, letting them state their reasons.
Xuan Chong himself had never considered agreeing to the Feather Tribe city-state lord’s marriage alliance request of sending a woman. Because he did not want to send Xuan Cheng.
If Xuan Chong had a son or daughter with her, although he would get zero inheritance rights in the Southern Border; it would pose a great threat to Ding Ling City and the northern Thorn Ridge trade route. Because these two places were too close to the Feather Tribe’s territory and could be split off by the Feather Tribe’s native forces.
Calculating from the most serious national interests: if in the future Feather Tribe forces split land in the name of Wu Fei’s heirs, then the split Ding Ling City and Thorn Ridge trade route would inevitably become Feather Tribe-ized culturally. Just like the several waves of vassal lord melee wars now in Da Yao, all fighting to divide land and establish domains in the name of Emperor Shu’s heirs’ orthodoxy.
Xuan Chong was no Alexander; after that man’s far expedition ended, the vast territory fragmented into five parts amid his heirs’ chaos. And the land Xuan Chong had conquered, he had no intention of giving back. Even if he couldn’t swallow it today, he would stick his chopsticks in it.
The ministers following Xuan Chong could leave heirs, but Xuan Chong as monarch could not; as for Wu Lu’s future heirs, whether to marry nobles with Feather Tribe bloodline from the southern border? That would depend on the degree of “Yao-ization” in that region. Barbarians were not worthy of marrying Central Plains nobles.
After these student faction members had all finished advising, Xuan Chong nodded: “That’s right; when it involves public authority, it indeed requires caution; if local private clans use marriage alliances to involve private interests in public affairs, how about you all set a regulation?”
While sincerely accepting advice, Xuan Chong began reminding these future key ministers of his that the temptations of beauty they would face in the future would not be any less than his own!
Soon these students discussed that in the future, for the group of officials holding public authority, their marriages would need approval from the monarch.
These interns suggested it quite cheerfully; after all, they were not prefecture officials now! Yet years later, they would dumbfoundedly discover they had bound themselves.
…Xuan Chong: Male children conquering the world in another realm must be careful; after marriage, the divided land becomes joint property…
In Ding Ling City, Xuan Chong was observing the place locals called Tranquil Sea, also the Ding Ling Ocean in Xuan Chong’s mouth.
Xuan Chong began studying how to tackle the “trial”.
On the sea chart, the sea area occupied by the Feather Tribe had Tranquil Sea, Swift Swallow Ocean, Bohe Strait, and other place names.
Among them, Tranquil Sea was on the equator; this sea was very distinctive, an absolute circle. This circle was too regular, somewhat like “man-made”. As for the center of the circle, it was perpetually shrouded in mist.
In Feather Tribe legends, only kings could pass through its central area. The Horned People had previously caused chaos, obstructing the northern Feather Tribes’ trial path.
Through high-altitude detectors, Xuan Chong observed that in the central area of Tranquil Sea, there was something rising directly from the horizon.
A few days later, Xuan Chong specifically went to Chi You Mountain to check materials. And in the ship’s system database, there were two pieces of information Xuan Chong could not understand but felt very important.
The minerals category database’s intelligent introduction: “This planet meets conditions for off-world mining; a massive amount of ‘Heavenly Covenant Substance’ has been injected into its core, capable of forming anti-gravity fields in the area. Thus large amounts of material can be sent to space orbit.”
The intelligent introduction recording interstellar cultural diffusion: “This star region belongs to Immortal Realm forces; Immortal Realm people have the habit of building floating palaces. (This point Xuan Chong understood; there were several floating palaces in Yao Capital, rumored to be built by immortals)”
But immediately after, this intelligent annotation marked the locations of “floating” palaces. Besides marking the Heavenly Palace in Yao Capital, it also marked the Tranquil Sea area. And the Immortal Palace in the Tranquil Sea area was very high, requiring ground positioning services; thus the Immortal Palace’s founder would leave an “Immortal Servant group” on the ground, having the “Immortal Servants” periodically carry positioning chips back and forth between heaven and earth.
Seeing this content, Xuan Chong felt he had grasped a clue; because this Immortal Servant work seemed specially related to the Feather Tribe trial no matter how you looked at it.
Xuan Chong complained: So the Feather Tribe trial is actually “running water pipes for the Immortal Palace”, and the genetic enhancement transformation given after running the pipes was taken as the bloodline reward for passing the trial.
…Deconstructing culture…
In April of the 3rd year of Tong Zheng Calendar, Ding Ling City was completed. After hosting the city consecration ceremony, Xuan Chong hurried nonstop to Storm City to prepare for the sea trial ceremony.
But Xuan Chong only brought Ang Ri and a few close confidants, as well as Mu Yun Kuohai, this local subordinate.
First, he did not want the “trial” culture to infiltrate his own city and become customary rules. After all, it was barbarian custom.
Second, he did not want it known that he was taking a risk. Xuan Chong knew if he said “trial”, the numerous officers and soldiers would definitely oppose it.
In Storm City port, batches of Feather Tribe rode wind-riding ships on standby. ‘The Feather Tribe’s observers were using star instruments to observe the distant starry sky angles, because the Feather Tribe believed that when the three most sacred stars intersected, the divine palace passage would unfold.
At this time, as long as the Feather People spread their wings, like moths to a flame, they would follow the stars’ guidance and rush into the tunnel drooping from the divine palace to the ground.
Since this tunnel straight to the divine palace on the sea surface was invisible to the naked eye. Only Feather Tribe flying past and reaching a certain height could feel it. For the Feather Tribe, this was quite physically draining, but for Xuan Chong, in his view at this time, he already saw the line drooping from the sky; this was a passage that remained straight even in the space distorted by Evil Moon.
Storm City was about two hundred seventy kilometers from that passage, so the Feather Tribe used giant eagles pulling carts on the sea surface to find the correct target point before spreading wings and flying high.
Under the witness of many people, Xuan Chong ascended into the air, not by Feather Tribe wings, but by a set of external path implements he had crafted himself.
This was a propeller airplane, also bound with four rocket thrusters filled with compressed gas and oxygen. — When boarding this thing, Xuan Chong checked his personal mecha folding pod. If it went wrong, he would deploy the mecha and fly down.
Actually the mecha could also fly up, but the mecha was irreplicable. This set of implements needed for ascension, Xuan Chong had compiled a database for the crafting method and recorded it in a jade slip.
Xuan Chong hoped that future external path cultivators could follow the blueprint, using this method to replicate the Feather Tribe ascension trial.
After all, for the Feather Tribe trial, as long as one went up and obtained the reward, it was fine; this was leaving a plan for Yao Person descendants to claim with “Xuan Cheng”.
Amid the astonished gazes of the Feather People, the flying machinery ascended amid roaring, shot to the cloud tops, then detached and flame-climbed into the sky.
Half an hour later, inside the silica glass canopy, Xuan Chong watched massive dust friction-sparking around him, knowing he had crashed into the “Heavenly Palace drooping tunnel”. Because only in the atmosphere of the tunnel pillar could so much dust suspend. Thus he suddenly pulled up sharply, the airplane shooting up like green onion plucked from dry land.
Suddenly, Xuan Chong felt gravity gradually weakening; checking the altimeter, he found it was five thousand meters altitude! In the past, only Feather Tribe kings could float here, touch this low-gravity belt, then ascend to the sky.
Xuan Chong looked down at the earth; the horizon was distorted, like pinching a point on a bed sheet and lifting it, and that lifted sharp cone, looking south, was Death Island marked on the map, currently being polluted by descending heavenly power.
Xuan Chong looked up toward Evil Moon’s direction. At least from this angle, that area was like a black hole; only the starlight distortion phenomenon could confirm Evil Moon’s existence. Such distortion had already reflected on the ground an entrance straight to Evil Moon.
…Clash with tradition…
In the Feather Tribe city-state, batches of Feather People looked up at the distant heavenly pillar. Because as long as a Feather Tribe astrologer entered the tunnel, a light spot would appear on the originally invisible heavenly pillar.
Specifically, refer to the Tyndall effect; the light beam is invisible from other angles, but visible with dust scattering. The Feather Tribe entering the heavenly pillar and glowing was not the Tyndall effect, but gathering photons from surrounding space.
In this heavenly pillar passage, any Feather Tribe individual would produce a hundredfold light relative to the outside, but now Xuan Chong’s aircraft was very large in volume, producing over a thousandfold light.
On the white tower and sailboat masts, Feather Tribe nobles discussed animatedly. These Feather People soon realized that in this trial process, the northern Yao Person had taken first place. Of course, their attitude now was not kneeling in submission. Xuan Chong did not encounter the American blockbuster plot where the protagonist learns local skills and is recognized by local elders.
Soon a traditionalist Feather Tribe loudly declared: “These outsiders don’t follow the rules; they don’t count as passing the trial!”
As several Feather People jeered, numerous Feather People voiced opinions, saying “Not counting if not flying up with wings!” “Doesn’t count; what kind of trial is this? I could do it with that machinery too!”
Pairs of wings flapped, like fierce birds baring claws and teeth.
…Xenophobia…
Ang Ri, Mu Yun Kuohai, and others who escorted Xuan Chong over all sensed the crisis.
Mu Yun Kuohai: “My lord, we? (He hesitated, wanting to withdraw)”
Ang Ri glanced faintly at him: “Your loyalty is wavering.”
Mu Yun Kuohai was stunned, then gritted his teeth: “My lord, I!”
Ang Ri interrupted him: “Stay here and wait.”
Ang Ri was about to summon Tai Yue Luan when he suddenly saw a familiar person: that Master Cang Meng was here.
Ang Ri stared at him; unexpectedly, amid the Feather People’s excited agitation, this “prophet” ignored the opinion storm created by the Feather People and walked straight over.
Ang Ri’s hand gripped the sword.
Yet Cang Meng said: “Lord Ang Ri, long time no see.”
Ang Ri: “Yes, what message do you bring this time?”
Cang Meng looked at the storm clouds in the distance, where Evil Moon’s drooping tentacles were descending: “The demon is about to arrive; please inform the Lord of South Spirit to prepare.”
Ang Ri glanced at the surrounding Feather People full of xenophobic hostility: “You say this Evil Moon descent is here?”
Cang Meng: “Yes.”
Ang Ri mockingly: But they don’t welcome us here.
Cang Meng raised his hand; a surge of energy forcibly silenced the Feather People within a hundred zhang around. The Feather People instantly fell silent; an old Feather Tribe noble recognized Cang Meng, pointing at him (only lip movement): “You, you are!”
Cang Meng ignored him, saying to Ang Ri: “They are all fools; we sages must not be confused by them.”
Ang Ri swallowed; Cang Meng’s displayed cultivation was higher than his. He might not be able to fight him now.
Ang Ri: “Since you think ‘disaster’ is coming, why not tell my family lord directly, instead of having me relay it?”
Cang Meng sighed: “That one is the Chosen One; I can only observe from afar, not touch; otherwise I will suffer fiery disaster.”
Ang Ri: “My family lord does not like being directed by external forces.”
Cang Meng smiled bitterly: “It is not me directing him; he is a heavenly person, where his heavenly will goes, I observe and follow.”
…Disaster…
On a sea ship fifty kilometers away, Gold Horn was extremely angry. From the mouths of the northward Horned People he had rescued, he learned of his brother’s death and gnashed his teeth.
Gold Horn said grievingly: “Brother, I long warned you to be careful with that blazing fire Chosen One from the north, not to touch directly, or you would get burned; why wouldn’t you listen?”
The other Horned People on the ship all knelt; compared to Silver Horn’s mood swings, Gold Horn had maintained a relatively stable personality when receiving Evil Moon’s blessing, and he had subdued his subordinates with this bravery.
The surrounding Horned People small leaders saw their boss grieving and all said: “Master, we must avenge the second master!”
Gold Horn gritted his teeth: “Of course we must avenge! Contact all our lines; I want every city on the northern shore of Tranquil Sea to burn.”
What Gold Horn meant by “move” was to contact all Horned People slaves in Feather Tribe city-states for uprising. That’s right — on this coastline, Horned People were slaves of the Feather People.
Xuan Chong had studied the Feather Tribe, especially after secretly dissecting corpses, confirming their muscles had extremely strong explosive power, combat style biased toward technique and agility, skilled in using double-edged swords, or dagger and shield combinations, but with insufficient endurance; if wearing 20 kilograms of heavy armor, stamina would deplete quickly.
From another perspective, Feather People could not do coolie labor, so they captured Horned People slaves to fill the labor shortage in their city-building process.
Of course, due to the Feather Tribe’s long-term ruling status, with Horned People at the bottom, Horned People and Feather People were not in the same belief system; when Feather People sang hymns happily enshrining the sky, Horned People knelt in darkness, enshrining the earth in pain. (From this, the caste system is awesome, able to make ruling ethnicity and enslaved ethnicity share faith)
Since the Horned People’s pain had no outlet, the power they worshipped tended toward “chaos”, hoping for a slim otherworldly chance after order vanished — and this was exactly what the Evil Moons anticipated.
Gold Horn came to the boat head; eight Feather People were hung out, their wings broken and twisted, eyes gouged blind; a demon ritual began.
Crimson red power spread on the ship; then the 666 crammed Horned People on this ship all received blessing, with four-colored Evil Moon enveloping this ship packed full of Horned People.
