Chapter 1708 — Mountains Layered, Rivers Doubled, the Silver River Pours Down
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 5
Yan'er said, "You fear she has grown reluctant to give up the power and privilege of the Heavenly Court? " The Southern Emperor nodded. "The Heavenly Court has already named her a Heavenly Venerate—beneath the Heavenly Emperor, and above countless living beings and gods alike! Once one becomes one of the Ten Heavenly Venerates, steeped in power and privilege, there is no turning back.
To make her turn back, to become once more the hidden piece of the Moon Heavenly Venerate and myself, there must be a great victory to change her heart!
And yet this victory.
. .
" Yan'er's heart sank.
And yet this victory could not possibly appear in the South Sea.
For now, the Red Emperor Qi Xiayu had not yet made up her mind. If she made up her mind and personally led the demigod host of the Southern Heaven into battle, that would be the moment she became one of the Ten Heavenly Venerates in truth, with no possibility of return! Where would the victory come from that decided the fate of the Yuan World and of Jingping?
The Western Land. Even surrounded by lovely women, Yue Tingge wore no smile upon his face at this moment.
He raised his head and gazed up at the heavens above, where the White Emperor had led twenty-seven army marquises in raising the walled city of bronze and iron.
The battle between the two sides was about to erupt. Emperor Yanfeng had issued an edict placing Yue Tingge in charge of the war in the Western Land, yet only after Yue Tingge arrived did he discover that of all Jingping's territories, this was the weakest link. When the Yuan World broke its seal in those years, the Western Land had been left hanging in isolation, no longer sharing a border with Jingping, and had become an exclave.
That the Western Land endured at all was owed to Xiong Qi'er, mistress of the True Heaven Palace, and to Xu Shenghua of Shangcang, who held it in their grasp; Jingping had also built teleportation portals to ease travel and trade.
In the Jingping Reforms, the Western Land had become a vital link. Yet after all, it lay too far, and with Xu Shenghua absent, the defense of the Western Land had become the greatest of difficulties.
The Western Land possessed two holy lands, the True Heaven Palace and the Shangcang Academy, and fortunately the Western Emperor White Tiger had established a third holy land here as well; many of the White Tiger god clan's women, fierce in battle, made their home here too.
Yet the troops were truly too few. The towering mountains, lakes, and rivers of the Western Land had all been awakened by its women and transformed into giants that propped up heaven and earth; every tree and blade of grass became a soldier, and so they contended with the White Emperor's great army.
Yue Tingge had once been the First Heavenly Master of the Heavenly Court, of fearsome renown, yet even the cleverest housewife cannot cook a meal without rice—the Western Land had too few gods and demons, and even he found himself stretched thin. Fortunately the women of the Western Land were exceedingly skilled in the art of spirit-summoning; a touch could transform mountains, rivers, grass, and trees into living beings.
But even so, Yue Tingge struggled greatly, and moreover, though the Western Emperor White Tiger sent down a projection, her true body had not come, and her support for the Western Land was slight.
"The White Tiger hesitates. She believes Jingping may not win, and so she is unwilling to send her main forces here.
" Yue Tingge knew this well.
By now the Western Land had established a Spirit-Energy Transmigration Bridge with the Western Pole Heaven, and it would not be difficult for the Western Emperor and the White Tiger god clan's host of the Western Pole Heaven to descend. The reason the Western Emperor White Tiger delayed was that she believed Jingping was certain to lose, and she did not wish to stake all her hopes here.