The turmoil at Yuesi Pavilion finally reached Ruan Yuan's ears. By the time the Lord of Changbai Mountain arrived, the slaughter was nearly over.
Bear, tiger, wolf, and peach-four kinds of spirits had unleashed a massacre. Peach trees thrust straight through the bluestone floor, their eerie branches piercing demons' hearts and thighs, leaving mangled corpses hanging high.
The ground beneath Xiong Yu's feet was littered with dismembered bodies, flesh and blood mashed to pulp.
White King and Gao Hu were both tigers. Most of their victims had their spines or throats snapped.
The demons Lang Xi killed had all bled out through their carotid arteries.
Blood covered the windows, the floor, and the walls.
The slaughterhouse struck the soul harder than any words could. The demonic savagery they had unleashed had yet to subside, but the child in the hall commanded an end to the killing like a general on the battlefield.
"Spare the Chicken Demon."
The Lord of Changbai Mountain stared at the scene in shock. He did not understand what had happened. It had only been half a day!
Why had the human, who should have been the weaker party, taken control?
Why would these demon heirs obey Wu Junji's orders and commit slaughter in full public view?!
Ruan Yuan demanded, "What happened?"
The demon heirs who had once respected him ignored his words. As one, they looked toward Wu Junji.
"As you can see, Their Highnesses were merely exercising their rights."
Wu Junji stood. The lanterns overhead illuminated his blood-soaked upper body. Blood flowed from the top of his head, and a huge lump had swollen on his forehead. He looked utterly wretched, as though he had little time left to live.
Ruan Yuan's words were half interrogation, half an attempt to coax out a confession.
"Your Highness, did they act under your instructions tonight?"
Faced with his own nation's crown prince in such a miserable state, his first reaction was not to offer comfort or summon an imperial physician. Instead, he tried every means possible to preserve the relationship between the Academy and the Demon Domain, even if that meant pinning the blame on one of his own.
Wu Junji wondered why he had failed to see this man's true face in his previous life.
He had immersed himself in their false teacher-student bond, listening to the man talk about the greater good.
That so-called greater good always ended with Wu Junji being sacrificed.
Wu Junji's gaze was so piercing that it made people forget his age. Instinctively, they scrutinized him warily as an opponent of their own generation.
"Headmaster, I am the crown prince of Great Zhou."
Wu Junji's calm cut deeper than a scream.
"Is Great Zhou about to fall, that its crown prince's life has become so cheap? Demons may humiliate me, and humans may humiliate me. I had thought that a scholar so well versed in the classics as you would understand propriety, hierarchy, the three bonds, and the five virtues."
"Your question only makes me feel that, with you as headmaster, Jixia Academy has long since rotted through. The resources of an entire nation have raised a swarm of festering maggots who know nothing of propriety, justice, integrity, or shame, who bully the weak, invert the hierarchy, and cannot distinguish black from white. What remarkable talent you have."
Ruan Yuan wanted to argue, but could only manage, "Please calm your anger, Your Highness."
Wu Junji gave a mocking smile and warned him:
"If you're a clever man, keep your head tucked into your turtle shell to the very end. Don't stick your neck out when you haven't the ability to back it up."
He walked toward the only survivor at the scene, a trembling Chicken Demon-the cook who had spat at him earlier that day.
Only half a day had passed, yet their positions had been reversed.
Wu Junji smiled as beautifully as blossoms and willows. He dug his hand into the wound in the cook's chest, burrowing deeper little by little as thick blood dripped down.
The cook's whimpering screams could not make him stop.
Only when his fingers tore a piece of flesh from the wound did he hold it before his eyes to examine it. That gaze made people shudder involuntarily.
Wu Junji had originally intended to divide the demon heirs, using human emperor fortune to bring them into his service. But upon seeing the Lord of Changbai Mountain, he changed his mind again and asked directly:
"You want human emperor fortune. Why not make a deal with me? Promise me one thing."
"I can establish a Demon Court for you."
The Lord of Changbai Mountain froze briefly. His goal was indeed to establish a Demon Court. Humans and demons would always stand opposed; their brief cooperation was only for the sake of a longer conflict in the future.
He swept his gaze over Wu Junji. Barely three feet tall, the boy would look like an offering in the imperial cabinet once wiped clean. He scoffed:
"You?"
It was only natural that the other party thought little of him.
He did not necessarily have to make a deal with the Lord of Changbai Mountain. Doing so would simply save him a great deal of time.
His ultimate goal was merely to farm.
What he yearned for was a unified realm, dreamlike modernization, and that fertile land in the Northeast.
He wanted to turn the marshes and vast pools of water into fertile fields stretching ten thousand miles.
Compared with other dynasties, Great Zhou could actually be considered prosperous.
But even the most prosperous dynasty had its degradation and darkness.
Beggars, for instance, had a hard time of it.
Human harvesting and mutilation were common, too.
The cries from the Abandoned Infant Tower grated on the ears, and the basins floating down the rivers must not be fished out.
Of every ten scholars selected through the imperial examinations, only two came from humble families, and even they ranked at the very bottom.
Fried dough sticks were cooked in century-old oil. Buy one and hang it up, then boil it with vegetables at New Year to give them a little grease.
A family of five, one bed, and a leaking thatched hut-they spent decades living like walking corpses. So long as the land was not strewn with the bodies of the starved, it was prosperity.
Musicians and artisans were registered among the lowly. Most did not live past forty.
Literati exchanging concubines was considered refined, and running naked after taking too much five-stone powder was considered rakish.
The generals guarding the frontier cities had never eaten their fill. They simply did not starve to death.
But none of these people stood in the way of Great Zhou's prosperity.
So long as there was no war, it was prosperity.
Wu Junji was demanding and fussy. He thought little of such prosperity, because he had seen something more prosperous.
He did not want much: conquer Great Fan, Great Meng, and Goryeo, turn the Northeast into fertile farmland, have cotton and electricity, and make the Abandoned Infant Tower disappear. That was all.
Yet too many things stood in his way.
Humans obstructed him, demons obstructed him, and even heaven insisted on obstructing him.
Others could use their fortune however they pleased. When it was his turn, he had to endure an entire miserable lifetime just to reach their starting point, going from someone without fortune to a bearer of human emperor fortune.
It sounded so splendid, yet looked good without being useful.
It looked precious, but was cheap in practice.
There was nothing else for it. He could only find every possible way to make himself valuable.
He enrolled, and people beat him.
He retaliated, and someone stopped him.
No one cared what he said.
The demons who had bullied him were all dead. His preliminary plan had already succeeded.
White King and the others had slaughtered their own kind indiscriminately and would naturally lose the other demons' trust. Their internal division would require only a gentle push.
Tonight's affair would be swept under the rug. Once White King and the other demons came to their senses and realized they had been used, they would most likely seek revenge.
But that would not kill him. He only needed to keep writing the Peaceful People's Encyclopedia and wait for the benefits he had secured to reach the common people. The fortune available to him would continue to grow.
He could try using human emperor fortune to create a Human Emperor Banner. Taking inspiration from the Yellow Weasel's Enfeoffment Petition, he could experiment on demons who had only just gained intelligence and create a group of demon subjects of his own.
If he lay low, he could change his circumstances within a year at most and would no longer be at anyone's mercy.
Then, if humanity offered him no place to stand, he would lead a band of demons to conquer the Northeast, declare himself king, and nibble away at Great Zhou.
But following the same path as his previous life was suffocating.
His forbearance would earn him no respect, and lying low would only bring him pain. Even when he soared high in the future, his past experiences would stab him again, branding him as lowborn.
The future was clear at a glance, and offered nothing to look forward to.
Wu Junji wanted a different life. Slowly, he raised three fingers, his ethereal voice reaching the ears of the demons and the cultivators alike.
"I swear upon my past life, this life, and my next life."
Violet-gold heavenly thunder wove into a net, crashing down again and again. The entire Yuesi Pavilion collapsed with a roar!
Hundreds upon thousands of people fell, and wooden beams crashed down, yet miraculously, not a single human or demon was injured.
Wind and rain surged, sounding drums and music. This oath was like the true words of the Great Dao, to be fulfilled by heaven and earth, humans and demons alike!
The deathly still human emperor fortune ignited with a boom. Golden spiritual light surged wildly, forming a phantom behind him.
It was Emperor Wu Junji, wearing a crown with twelve pendant strands!
It was the Wu Junji of his previous life, his sickly bones wasted away, who had exhausted himself inch by inch for the kingdom in his heart!
Two sets of matching features overlapped at that moment. Like ancient, rusted gears, the human emperor fortune turned-click, click-
Two voices rang out. One was mature and weary, as though it had witnessed seas turn into fields, its sound like a sorrowful wild goose's final song.
The other was young and cold, like an orchid rooted in a stone crevice, still tenacious even as the wind snapped its roots.
The two voices merged into one as he said:
"In my past life, I did not fail the common people. I had nothing to be ashamed of before heaven and earth."
"In this life, I swear to bring prosperity to the Demon Domain and to the common people."
"I make this great vow: all who gain intelligence shall receive my teachings. I shall establish laws, virtue, and doctrines. Demons shall enter the household registers. Those who till shall have land, those who dwell shall have homes, those who travel shall have vehicles, and those who suffer injustice shall have somewhere to appeal."
"There shall be rules for becoming generals and ministers."
"There shall be a path to leaving one's name in history."
"I shall unite the Nine Provinces, build a world of great harmony, and create an age of prosperity beneath heaven."
He said:
"If my words are false, let heavenly thunder shatter my corpse."
"If my oath goes unfulfilled, let ten thousand demons devour me."
"If my deeds serve selfish ends, let me become a beggar in the streets while alive, and let my corpse be defiled in a brothel after death."
He said, "I establish this oath with heaven and earth as witnesses. Henceforth, I shall use human emperor fortune to carry out the human emperor's oath. I shall have the authority to command and constrain the Demon Domain."
"Humans must honor me, and demons must honor me. Those who follow my path shall become immortals; those who defy my path shall be devils! Devils shall be driven out by heaven and earth!"
"If heaven answers me, I shall be the Human Emperor! Nothing may obstruct me!"
"If heaven does not answer, let my human soul perish. I want no next life!"
"Will you answer or not?!"
The human emperor fortune behind him grew dense to the utmost, surging like the Yellow River, flowing unceasingly like the Yangtze. In a single breath, it spread a hundred thousand miles!
Jixia Academy's fortune bell rang madly.
Everyone in the Demon Domain was horrified.
Every civil and military official in Great Zhou's court was horrified.
Human emperor fortune had stirred!
It was as vast as the sun in the sky, as lively as the rivers upon the earth!
The fortunes of the nations roared like dragons, paying homage from every direction!
Inside the imperial palace, the Retired Emperor's expression changed drastically. He blurted out:
"How dare he do this?!"
At the Great Light Sound Temple, Emperor Zhou jolted awake and rushed outside without even putting on his shoes, gazing up at that vast river of fortune.
An emperor's great vow-the last man to make one had lost his nation, his family, and his entire line!
All the nations shared an unspoken understanding: a great vow must never be made unless one was driven into a desperate corner.
A heavenly oath was equivalent to borrowing fortune from heaven. The fortune would nourish the nation for only twenty years. If the heavenly oath was fulfilled within those twenty years, everyone would rejoice. If it was not, what awaited Great Zhou was the depletion of its fortune and the destruction of its nation!
Emperor Zhou's mind went blank for a long moment. He had only parted with the crown prince that morning. When they separated, his crown prince had proudly declared that he would win him a mountain of gold!
Yet that very evening, he learned that the crown prince had been driven into a desperate corner.
Emperor Zhou's sky had fallen!
The flood dragon fortune he had branded between the crown prince's brows had shown no reaction, and Li Gong, whom he had stationed beside the crown prince, had brought back no word.
Yet the crown prince had been driven to desperation.
One day! Only one day!
They had been apart for only a single day!
Emperor Zhou's eyes turned bloodshot. He spun around and raced toward the Stables.
Eunuch Qian dared not stop him. Hastily grabbing an outer robe, he chased after him. Emperor Zhou swung onto a horse and ordered Eunuch Qian:
"Send word to the Grand Marshal's Residence! Mobilize the Northern Army and surround the imperial palace!"
"Hyah!"
Eunuch Qian's heart trembled. This time, the sky truly was about to fall.
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