Chapter 1756 — I Am No Sage: A Certain Gentleman
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
He walked on, and saw ahead more than a thousand demon gods driving nine huge coffins on cloud chariots, coffins wound all over with chains, advancing eastward.
Among those demon gods there were few of any strength: only one blind old man was a powerhouse of the Imperial Throne, and one woman in white whose strength was barely worth a glance. To Xing An, none of it was of any account.
"Judging by the make of those coffins, they must be imperial coffins."
His heart stirred slightly and he looked back. What these people guarded must be the deep rear of Lanfeng Valley; several thousand li from here lay a few cities of the human race.
"None of my concern."
He was just about to go and seize the imperial coffins when suddenly, before the coffins, divine light and demonic light surged, and there, pouring toward them like a blanket over the sky, came the Heavenly Court's Divine Stratagem Left Guard and the army of the demon race.
"Form up!"
The woman in white raised her sword and cried in a loud voice, "Prepare to meet the enemy!"
The thousand-odd demon gods arrayed themselves in desperate haste; some of them were young, still carrying a certain childishness.
And the blind old man undid the chains on the nine imperial coffins, pushed back the lids, and bowed, saying, "Senior brothers, this is our last battle."
Xing An was doubtful. "These coffins look to be of the Shanghuang era. Can the nine of them hold the imperial corpses of Shanghuang Heaven Emperors? I have never yet had a Shanghuang Heaven Emperor in my collection..."
He had only just thought it when suddenly the box at his feet spread its six legs and left him, heading straight for the woman in white.
Xing An was dumbfounded. The box ran faster and faster, and soon rushed down the peak to the woman's side and nuzzled against her legs, very affectionate.
Seeing the box, the woman in white was both startled and delighted. She bent down to stroke it and murmur something to it, and the box hopped and capered with joy, greatly stirred.
Xing An walked up and saw that the woman was quiet and demure, sweet of face, with a pair of small dragon horns hidden in her hair; she must be of the dragon race.
"The Shanghuang Sword God?"
Xing An tilted his head and thought, then said, "No wonder you know my box so well. I have heard that in those years Sect Master Shen awakened my box and rode it back forty thousand years, and there met you."
"You are Xing An?"
Bai Qu'er was surprised. Stroking the box, she said, "In those years Shen Mu and I did indeed ride that box through a whole night's flight, and I am grateful to it for carrying us out of the Heavenly Court's pursuit."
Xing An nodded, walked to the Shanghuang imperial coffins, and peered inside. Doubtful, he said, "These Heaven Emperors have been dead no one knows how long, and now they have become corpse demons; it is only obsession at work. If you meet the Heavenly Court's Divine Stratagem Left Guard, you cannot possibly contend with them. The fighting strength of the Divine Stratagem Left Guard is comparable to a Heavenly Venerable. The obsession in your corpses will soon be shattered to powder, and even your corpses will not be preserved."
He shook his head, looked back at the thousand-odd Shanghuang gods, and shook his head again. "You cannot hold out a quarter of an hour. You will all die here."
Inside a coffin, a Shanghuang corpse sat up, ghost-fire glimmering deep in its eyes, corpse-aura spreading, and said in a ghastly voice, "We are already dead. What is there to fear?"
Xing An laughed despite himself. "This battle of yours is utterly pointless. You cannot hold them!"
Bai Qu'er stepped forward and said earnestly, "The reason the Divine Stratagem Left Guard and the Youdu demon gods march so urgently is that Jingping's Imperial Preceptor Jiang Baigui is pursuing them from the rear with a great army. If you can hold them for a single day, the Imperial Preceptor can bring his troops up..."