Chapter 1826 — Your Excellency Is Unwell and Must Be Treated
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
After a moment, Tai Yi said, "Ling's aptitude and understanding were the finest among you. Why did you not follow her after my death?"
The thirty-five of the Heaven-Opening Host exchanged glances and shook their heads one after another.
"Ling was not suited to be our leader. She was too soft-hearted; she could not see the essence of life."
The Smiling Man said, "Life is nothing but an accumulation of matter and energy. She thought it should be respected, but she overlooked that we can create life — even create worlds. We can shape worlds and lives into whatever form we wish! She could not do this. We have only one leader, and that is the Lord of Heaven Capital."
Tai Yi looked at them and frowned slightly.
Once, he had thought the same way; that was why he had had such followers.
But now his thinking had changed. Since becoming Tai Yi, he had tried his utmost not to interfere in the course of the Seventeenth Epoch, letting the Seventeenth Epoch develop on its own. This was an utterly different way of acting from the Lord of Heaven Capital.
"To rescue our leader, we once influenced the future from the past, and here we showed the Seventh Young Master the scene of Heaven Capital City opening the heavens in those days."
The Smiling Man said, "A pity that Young Master Chaos disappointed us. Just as he was about to heal the leader, he hesitated. Rest assured, leader, we can surely heal you!"
"Heal me?" Tai Yi looked at the Dao wounds on his body.
Clearly, the Heaven-Opening Host did not mean the Dao wounds left from the battle with the Third Young Master and the Fourth Young Master; they meant Tai Yi's thoughts and ideals.
The Heaven-Opening Host believed that Tai Yi's present thoughts and ideals were diseased, imperfect, and in need of healing.
And the means by which they would heal Tai Yi was to make him into the Lord of Heaven Capital — to make him the leader they had in mind!
They left the relics of Heaven Capital City. Strange things drifted through the Filth-Field of the Void, but faced with the Heaven-Opening Host, those strange things shrank back.
They searched the Filth-Field for a long while, until ahead of them a vast host of coffins appeared, many coffins linked together, sailing toward them.
The last time Shen Mu had come here, he had met the host of coffins blocking his way and had simply crushed through them with the Golden Ship of Salvation, smashing many coffins to bits; the rest had fled.
"Fellow Daoists!"
The Smiling Man stood before the Heaven-Opening Host, his Dao voice shaking the air: "The day of your deliverance is at hand! The Lord of Heaven Capital is about to descend, and then you shall see the light of day again and take your revenge! Your feud with Miluo Palace, your feud with the Seventh Young Master — all of it can be settled!"
The coffins seemed able to understand his words. They rejoiced and danced, and the chains binding the coffins rattled with a clatter.
"Young Master Chaos suppressed them for a reason," Tai Yi reminded the Smiling Man and the rest of the Heaven-Opening Host. "If they are released, the harm they will do is immense."
The smile on the Smiling Man's face looked utterly dreadful: "Miluo Palace is mightier than our Heaven Capital. Heaven Capital needs them to stand against Miluo Palace. Leader, you truly are ill — the you of old would never have thought this way."
The other members of the Heaven-Opening Host chimed in: "The leader is ill. In the old days, would the leader have bothered with such things? Even if the cosmos were shattered in battle, one would simply open the heavens anew and begin the experiment from the start."
The corner of Tai Yi's eye twitched.
They went on, and at last found the gate that the Golden Ship of Salvation had smashed apart. The thirty-five of the Heaven-Opening Host escorted Tai Yi straight in, laughing: "Young Master Chaos broke the formation here, which saves us no small trouble."