"You demon brat! You clearly control the emperor, yet you set up the two of us immortals—you truly deserve death!!!"
"Oh?"
Faced with He Ran's accusation,
Yuwen Tuo smiled innocently. "Then who tried to assassinate His Majesty?"
"It was this fellow with the sword—ugh… Lord Yuwen, don't mind me, my heart is completely broken, there's no cure—kill these two hypocrites!"
At that moment,
Yang Guang could be called a golden man of Okka.
While urging his body to keep his meridians from snapping,
he denounced He Ran's crimes.
He nearly coughed blood straight into the face of that elderly immortal.
Self-directed and self-performed—
what logic was left in this?
In an instant,
He Ran's hair and whiskers flared, and the immortal sword in his hand blazed with light. He stared at Yuwen Tuo coolly and said, "You destroyed the power of the Thousand Buddhas in the grotto and took Fuxi's Qin—"
"Wait a moment…"
Yuwen Tuo's eyes brightened, and he interrupted He Ran's interrogation again.
"Are you here to avenge that grotto? You think I was wrong to take Fuxi's Qin?"
"What of it."
In his fury, He Ran didn't think it through, his face black as coal.
Then a shoe came flying at him.
Because it happened so suddenly,
and because a shoe had no offensive force, he hadn't bothered to defend.
"You Doge-coin-draft thing! Are you the ones maintaining that grotto's 'feelings'? Do you have any idea how many people were harmed by the power of the Thousand Buddhas!"
A great court minister could no longer sit still.
Those who didn't understand the Thousand Buddhas' power
naturally could not grasp the suffering of the Sui people.
In the old days,
people were the primary productive force.
If everyone turned monk, the country would be ruined.
The Thousand Buddhas' power in that grotto was nothing but a poison to the world.
And this old man, all immortal-bones airs, had actually come to denounce National Teacher Yuwen over that.
Truly hateful.
If there had been any doubts moments ago, they should see the truth now:
this old man really was nothing.
He called National Teacher Yuwen a demon brat—
I'd say you, old man, are the real bastard!!
Then the others followed suit.
But He Ran was an immortal, after all—how could he be humiliated like this?
He roared:
"Ahhhhh… you pack of demons, demons every one of you! You don't understand the power of ancient artifacts at all… you only know how to listen to the demon Yuwen Tuo!"
"On behalf of the common people, I pronounce you guilty!!"
Radiant sword-light
smashed the imperial hall.
And Yang Guang died then and there!!
Yuwen Tuo stepped forward, pointed at the dead emperor, and shouted in wrath, "You demon! You come to kill the emperor and want to rebuild that deceit of a grotto—who are you!"
"Why, I am an immortal! When—"
"Pah… and who do you represent? The common people? Are you worthy…"
The one hundred thousand Imperial Forest Guards trained by Yuwen Tuo
flooded into the palace.
Each one's aura was robust—though not equal to an immortal's,
it far surpassed that of ordinary cultivators.
Every man wore a short saber and carried a bow.
Since someone had volunteered to take the blame, he didn't mind ending Yang Guang's era right then and there.
It was splendid to have a fall guy at hand!
Faced with a hundred thousand cultivator-soldiers,
even an immortal felt a cold sweat bead.
This Yuwen demon was thoroughly prepared!
Damn it, we've been duped.
A breath of wind drifted by,
and He Ran finally woke to the fact—he had become the scapegoat.
At that moment,
the ministers below stared daggers up at him, the Imperial Forest Guards glared, and even the people outside the palace
seethed with hatred for him.
Unwilling as he was,
He Ran understood: killing Yuwen Tuo was impossible.
For now, there was only one plan.
Flee!
A dazzling light flared. He Ran grabbed Gu Yue and invoked immortals' arts to escape.
"You wait, devil—one day we'll return to kill you! You will pay the price for your crimes…"
When everyone's vision cleared,
curses erupted one after another.
Yuwen Tuo barked in anger, "Men—find where he fled! Even if he runs to the ends of the earth, you will hunt him down!"
"Yes!"
One hundred thousand Imperial Forest Guards shouted as one.
The ministers below were weeping now.
"Your Majesty, how unlucky you are…"
"Uuuu… why are those hateful demons so vicious? Why can't they understand human happiness?"
"Damn demons, damn monsters—I will not share heaven with you!"
One man was first to speak out his heart—
and the others naturally followed.
Shouting slogans cost nothing, after all.
Then came a shocking bulletin:
every member of the royal family had been slaughtered.
And the wounds were beast-mauls; fox paw prints were found nearby!
Well then—ironclad evidence.
The entire royal clan, dead!
Now the Great Sui had lost its dragon—there was no head to the serpent.
With the royal family gone, a new emperor must be chosen.
All eyes turned to Yuwen Tuo—but something unexpected happened.
He did not accept the public clamor.
Instead, he continued to refute the rumors,
and declared that whoever avenged the emperor would be the next emperor.
And since the sacrifice was not yet complete,
they would have to ask the God's will.
In this way, people saw the facts clearly.
Praise swelled in every quarter.
Yuwen Tuo truly harbored no selfish intent—otherwise he would have replaced that old thing Yang Su long ago.
If he'd wanted the throne,
he would have taken it already.
He was not so selfless for show.
Nevertheless, though Yuwen Tuo was not emperor,
his office as National Teacher was the highest in the land.
Everyone ought to seek his opinion.
"Master, is there anything else needed for the rites? Are the finances sufficient?"
"Does the canal still need digging?"
"What is our foreign strategy?"
…
Facing all these inquiries,
Yuwen Tuo answered fluently.
After all, his mother was an empress dowager; he was no stranger to affairs of state.
And when he learned that the world was encircling Gu Yue and himself,
He Ran couldn't hold it in—he vomited blood
and fainted on the spot.
He was still muttering as he passed out,
"Yuwen Tuo—wǒ rì—you immortal!!"
And thus the second one stunned by rage appeared.
...
Daxing City.
Though the emperor's death stirred quite an uproar,
when people found their lives unchanged, they accepted the new managers.
Some even thought:
it might be better without a royal clan.
But that was only a few voices.
With a church to shepherd the faithful,
and with Yuwen Tuo issuing orders to all quarters, the Great Sui truly did not seem much changed.
The only difference:
the Eternal Faith's position was stronger,
and ever deeper in the people's hearts.
Even the Taba clan of the grasslands publicly announced they would join the Great Sui system,
and believe in the Eternal Faith together.
Look—even though they were prairie folk, their hearts now beat in the body of Great Sui!
Such was the charm of the gods!
…
Palace of Victory.
"Stinking fortune-teller—let me go!!!"
"Zhang Lie… Zhang Lie, don't you like me? If you let me out, I'll marry you…"
"Why lock me up here? I don't want this!!!"
…
In an exquisite chamber…
Taba Yue'er was screaming her heart out.
A few days earlier she had followed Chen Jingchou on an adventure outside, and had been suddenly arrested.
She had thought she might see her father here.
She was told instead:
she had become a sacrifice to the gods,
a goddess to serve the gods together with her sister.
What a joke.
I'm a beautiful young woman who hasn't even found the one I like—this is how it ends?
Impossible.
And so—this scene.
But no matter how she screamed, no one came save the sister who brought meals each day.
Including Zhang Lie, who had escorted her,
no one else came.
"Huff… huff… ah, I ran out of breath! But what's the use—this place is full of seals—I can't break them!"
Taba Yue'er sagged to her knees, miserable.
Click.
With the sound of a door opening,
a familiar fragrance slipped into her nostrils.
Without looking up, she knew her sister had come.
"Here's your favorite—come eat…"
"I don't want it! Why do I have to be a sacrifice!! Sister, can't you go and beg Father?"
"Sister, you've grown up. You have to think of the tribe—don't be willful."
Taba Yuer straightened her face, looking at her sister with a sternness she'd never shown.
Their mother had died young.
She had spoiled her little sister all these years.
But now it was different.
They were grown—how could she keep being so wild?
If they could offer up her sister as sacrifice,
the tribe could continue to flourish.
Where else could such a good thing be found?
"Elder sister…"
"I'm sorry—this is your destiny. Think of your aged father. Are you really going to keep living so willfully?"
With that one line,
lively Yue'er went silent at once.
She could be spoiled and capricious—
but she could not bear to hurt her father.
After a long while, the girl whispered, "I understand. As long as it's Father's will… I'm willing to be the sacrifice."
In truth, she did not want to be a sacrifice at all.
But everything had a price.
Yuwen Tuo's condition for favoring their tribe was that the sisters become offerings.
Otherwise, as outsiders—
how could they integrate into Great Sui?
Though we will suffer greatly, in the eyes of future generations, we will be great heroes.
Sister… I'm so sorry.
...
Within the Nüwa Temple.
Chen Jingchou knelt before the shattered statue.
"I pray to Great Goddess Nüwa—demon Yuwen's sins are grievous—how can I defeat him!"
On the day Taba Yue'er was taken away,
he had been gravely wounded as well.
To take revenge—and to defeat Yuwen Tuo—
Chen Jingchou had sold his soul to the demon.
Now, under the other's guidance,
he had come to seek Nüwa's aid.
"Go to Tianwai Village—there are immortals there who can help you!!! This is my token…"
A strange sigil fell upon the back of Chen Jingchou's hand.
He smiled oddly.
"Thank you for your guidance, Goddess Nüwa…"
Indeed, what Lord Demon had said was true.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
This Nüwa, more than half her power lost, could not even sense the demonic qi within me.
.