Chapter 1647 — The Lotus of the Dao Blooms on the Golden Boat
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 4 of 5
" Taishi said this with weighty earnestness to Shen Fengqing, who was staring with his mouth agape.
Shen Fengqing stared blankly at the golden hall and murmured, "If you were not such a round little fatty, I really would think what you say makes a great deal of sense. .
. " Shen Mu shook out his robes, pushed open the great gate of the palace, and stepped inside.
Before his eyes, a flower of the Dao, as if formed from countless sword blades, revolved slowly. Shen Mu stood there, on the verge of tears yet not weeping, on the verge of laughter yet not smiling, and for a long, long time he did not move. In the Heaven Court, after the enthronement ceremony of the Haotian Emperor, there had been another spell of clamorous festivity.
The Haotian Emperor enfeoffed his meritorious ministers, and the most conspicuous of these rewards was the enfeoffment of new Heavenly Venerables.
The Nether Son of Heaven was enfeoffed as the Yin Heavenly Venerable, the Great Sage of Reincarnation; the Ancient God of Taiji was enfeoffed as the Sun Heavenly Venerable and the Moon Heavenly Venerable; and the Eastern Emperor Azure Dragon was enfeoffed as the Azure Dragon Heavenly Venerable. Most unexpected of all was that Long Xiao had come as well, enfeoffed by the Haotian Emperor as the Tenth Heavenly Venerable, the Heavenly Venerable Long Xiao, in charge of the Beast Realm.
The other Heavenly Venerables — Fire, Void, Ancestor, and the like — also received their own enfeoffments and rewards, their standings more honored than before. When the grand occasion was over, the Haotian Emperor ordered a punitive campaign against the unsubmissive, preparing to use arms against the Extreme West Heaven and the Extreme North Heaven.
The masters of the myriad heavens and ten thousand worlds each returned to his own realm, and the various Heavenly Venerables likewise went back to their own territories, recruiting soldiers and mustering horses for the campaign.
The Fire Heavenly Venerable rode in his jeweled palanquin, seated within it with his eyes closed, nursing his spirit.
The palanquin traveled through the starry sky, blazing with light, leaving a long trail behind it in the stars.
Wealth and honor without returning to one's homeland is like strolling abroad at night in embroidered robes. It was for this very reason that he did not take the Spirit-Energy Transfer Bridge but insisted on riding his jeweled palanquin back to the Southern Heaven.
A Heavenly Venerable must keep the bearing of a Heavenly Venerable. The whole way was peaceful and uneventful.
When the palanquin arrived at the Southern Heaven, its pace gradually slackened. It sailed over the various heavens of the Southern Heaven, and below, the common people knelt prostrate in worship.
The Fire Heavenly Venerable inspected the regions as he passed; he saw that the Southern Heaven was neatly ordered, and yet signs of disorder were faintly emerging, and he could not help frowning.
Those who had risen in revolt were not of the human race but the demigods, who were burning, killing, and looting everywhere.
The humans, by contrast, were still as meek and long-suffering as ever, offering no resistance at all. The Fire Heavenly Venerable seized a demigod and questioned him.
The demigod stiffened his neck and said, "There is no money! In the Southern Heaven everyone is a farmer, a silkworm breeder, a weaver.
Who knows how to build a supervised manufactory?
Who knows how to make civilian-model primal soldiers?
Everything has to be bought from Jingping, and now even we lords and masters have no money left, so the only thing we can do is revolt!
" The Fire Heavenly Venerable set him down, waved a hand, and let him go, and could not help sinking into deep thought.