The Four-Winged Divine Eagle, Zhuang Xiaoyun, was about to lead his men in slaughtering all eighty or ninety of the wandering cultivators when Gui Wu hurriedly pleaded with Shi Feiyang. "Your Majesty, Dragon Emperor! Please show mercy and spare them."
"They're utterly useless," Shi Feiyang said. "Keeping them alive would only waste food. Better to kill them and feed them to those obedient subjects below."
"They're useful! They are! They..." Gui Wu hurriedly shot the others a look, signaling them to demonstrate some use.
Some hastily shouted, "I'm willing to serve Your Majesty unto death! My flying sword is quite powerful..."
Gui Wu added, "With their help, the task Your Majesty assigned me would surely succeed."
"Oh?" Shi Feiyang asked the others. "Are you willing to work for me?"
At those words, a dozen or so immediately dropped to their knees with a series of thuds. "We would gladly serve Your Majesty! You asked Fellow Daoist Gui first just now. Had you asked me, I would have undertaken the task for you."
Standing on the steps, Shi Feiyang tossed down a wooden token, which landed before Gui Wu. "Very well. Swear a solemn oath before this Life-Bound Yuan Token that, after returning, you will obey Gui Wu and help him complete the task I assigned him. If you break your oath, fire will ignite within your hearts, burning you to death on the spot!"
The cultivators exchanged looks. None wanted to swear such an oath, but they had no choice. Beneath another man's eaves, they had to bow their heads. One after another, they swore their binding oaths before the token.
Shi Feiyang told Gui Wu to put the token away, then urged them to leave. "The Aurora Fire has already passed its weakest point and is beginning to rise