Chapter 1644 — I Have a Dream: The Wayfarer's Chapter
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
"These painters are all wine-sacks and rice-bags! To read from between the lines the state of Mu Tianzun's mind when he wrote his letter of surrender—sheer daydreaming! Mu Tianzun has long since learned to counterfeit his feelings and inject false emotions into his calligraphy and painting. Of the characters he writes, not one is to be believed! " His gaze fell on Yu Chenzi once again, and he sneered, "Mu Tianzun sent him here to stage a play! The best course now is to kill Yu Chenzi, seal his head in a jade casket, and send it to Mu Tianzun! " He raised his palm high and slashed it down through empty air.
"And then let Your Majesty have Xu Tianzun wipe out half of Jingping's population, warning Mu Tianzun that this is what comes of hoodwinking Your Majesty! " Hao Tianzun frowned. Yu Chenzi smiled faintly and said nothing. Meng Yungui said in a loud voice, "Your Majesty, temper authority with benevolence, and only then will the realm be at peace!
In dealing with Mu Tianzun, one must kill the chicken to frighten the monkeys! " "I fear he would rather fight to mutual destruction. " Hao Tianzun shook his head.
"Heavenly Master Meng, a Mu Tianzun stripped of every restraint is the most fearsome Mu Tianzun of all. You would have me wipe out half of Jingping's population in a single stroke, yet you have not considered that he is still the Great Master Imperishable through Ten Thousand Kalpas.
Press him to desperation, and he will resurrect those people, rekindle his Dao heart, and fight me to the death—what then?
" Meng Yungui raised his eyebrows and was about to speak when Hao Tianzun lifted a hand and said coolly, "What I want is a Mu Tianzun who is a walking corpse, a Mu Tianzun whose Dao heart has crumbled.
Press too hard, and you will rekindle his fighting spirit instead. If he abandons Jingping and leads Ling, Yue, You, and Lang in a desperate gamble with death—heh, in the Heaven Court who would dare claim he could keep himself whole?
" He rose to his feet and paced back and forth.
"There is one truth you have never understood. I intend not only to slay a man and shatter his heart; I intend also to reap the greatest profit! What I want is not only Mu Tianzun's Dao heart shattered and collapsed, groveling beneath my feet—I want a Jingping that is whole as well! " Meng Yungui frowned.
Hao Tianzun tossed the letter of surrender over and laughed. "Take a look, you, at Mu Tianzun's letter of surrender. A shattered Jingping is not worth a single coin, but a surrendered Jingping can secure my realm's peace for ten thousand generations! " Meng Yungui unfolded the letter and read it with care; when he came to the words "your servant is already asleep," he too could not help frowning. "Heavenly Master Meng, you have tallied the circulation of heavenly coin, and you have agonized over the Heaven Court's economy, feeling that the heavenly coin will in all likelihood collapse and cannot hold out for a hundred years.
" Clasping his hands behind his back, Hao Tianzun said unhurriedly, "If the heavenly coin collapses, all the heavens and myriad worlds are certain to rise in revolt. It plagues your mind, and it plagues mine as well. But once Jingping is in my hands, this pit of the heavenly coin can be filled! Not only filled—I can go on to seize total command of the economy and resources of all heavens and myriad worlds!
He who commands the economy and commands the resources—who can still resist him?
" Meng Yungui closed the letter, his face moved, and said, "Does Your Majesty mean to use this opportunity to swallow Jingping and gain complete mastery over all heavens and myriad worlds? Your Majesty's grand vision and heroic strategies far exceed your servant's. " Hao Tianzun laughed.
"Your gaze is fixed far too short.