Chapter 1726 — The Sage King of Jiangguo
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 4 of 5
His Three Primes Spirit Convergence Formula marshaled the whole battlefield, reaching into its every minute corner; such was his wisdom that the Eastern Emperor forgot even his pain, and the gaze he turned on him was full of dread. "God and demon! " The Eastern Emperor could not suppress the dread in his heart; he felt that in Jiang Baigui's eyes there was only the purest li, and this li was not reason in the sense of rationality, but the li of principle, of the ordered way.
It made his flesh crawl, and he cried out: "Jiang Baigui, you are the purest god and demon!
You possess the most overbearing heart of a god and demon!
" "You call my Dao-heart the heart of a god and demon. I call such a Dao-heart inner sagehood.
" Jiang Baigui's face was calm: "The sage has that which gives him birth; the king has that which brings him completion; both spring from the One. The way of inner sagehood and outer kingship discerns the blindness of the multitude that cannot see, and gives light to the pent-up darkness of my own self.
It observes the men of the world, each following what he desires, each taking his own course as the rule. Preserve the Heavenly Principle, govern human desire: this is my way of the sage.
And now I have come near to my Dao.
" The Eastern Emperor's body trembled, and the dread in his heart grew ever greater. Jiang Baigui said his Dao was the way of inner sagehood and outer kingship, but to the Eastern Emperor's eyes this was the very heart of a god and demon. In that Dao-heart gods and demons dwelt together, a god-demon heart that holds in its hand Dao and Heaven, li and man, desire and art, law and formation, all alike.
On the battlefield, foe and friend alike, the Heavenly Principle and the human desire of every man were wholly within his grasp; such a man, was his the heart of a sage or the heart of a god and demon?
He doubted greatly. Even that jujube-red old nag had been within Jiang Baigui's calculations; it was the thread of dragon qi within the old horse that had held the Eastern Emperor to his last breath and kept him from death. The Heavenly Principle and human desire of all, wholly in his grip: how terrible a figure was such a man? "What the Woodcutter of Wentian Pavilion could not achieve, he has achieved in himself; he is more terrible than Wentian Pavilion.
Such a man is worthy of the name supreme wisdom! " The Eastern Emperor shuddered: "He is a Sage King.
Jiang, the Sage King of Jingping! " The four Dongxian hosts of gods and demons were trapped; soldiers died without cease.
Jiang Baigui controlled his two armies, nibbling away at them, devouring the living strength of the four hosts at the least cost, yet encircling without annihilating. Seeing this, the Cyan Emperor cried in a voice of anguish: "Do not rescue me!
Hold the camps to the death! " His voice could not carry out at all; yet at this moment a rank of Jingping's god-men stepped out from the throng, and the sound they gave forth was exactly his: "Do not rescue me!
Rescue Dongxian!
" These few gods and demons were no more than petty tricksters, cocks that crow and burglars that crawl, skilled at imitating the voices of others; yet they turned the Cyan Emperor's heart to ice. If this voice reached the Eastern Heaven's camps, it would surely draw out more of the Eastern Heaven's soldiers.
And those soldiers, marching out of the pass, would surely fall into Jiang Baigui's ambush.
The Cyan Emperor fought with all his might and cried in a furious voice: "That is not my order! Do not leave the city!
" Those petty tricksters raised their voices as one: "Hear my command!
Xixian and Tianfu, march out! " The Cyan Emperor's heart sank.
He saw the four divisions of Xixian and the two divisions of Tianfu charge out from the Eastern Heaven's great camp to rescue the four Dongxian hosts of gods and demons.