The Sword Dynasty

Volume 8 - Chapter 42

Chapter Forty-Two: Shaman

In the early morning, Zhao Gao appeared in the clinic above. He rolled through some of the medicines which were drying. During the many months before this, he had memorized all the traits and uses of these medicines. Han Yuchun had taught him medicine, but he did not have any practical experience. He had to be especially careful, and not make any mistakes.

“Teacher.”

A student appeared not far behind him, bowed and said, conflicted, “Someone from the palace came to invite Teacher again. I fear if you do not agree, it will be difficult.”

“Tell them I need to prepare some medicine. In five days, I will go into the palace with them.” Zhao Gao said in a slow quiet voice, “Tell them that they do not need to be nervous, I have an idea.”

“All right, I will tell them now.” Hearing his answer, the student immediately sighed in relief and turned to walk away quickly.

Zhao Gao touched the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. He knew that since even Han Yuchun’s student did not sense anything different, then in the future, no one would suspect his identity.

In the morning, in the Qi imperial palace, the Qi Emperor drank a bowl of bird nest soup, and another bowl of ginseng soup. Then he rubbed his eyes and stopped looking at the mountain of documents on the table.

In this war, he was Zheng Xiu’s ally. In reality, the border generals did not know that there was a secret Qi army that had started traveling days ago to the Chu in order to aid Zheng Xiu in killing the remnants of the Chu army.

If there had not been any problems, then Nanquan would have become a giant battlefield like Yangshan Commandery. The slaughter there would have been crueler than Yangshan, because the Chu soldiers had no other place to flee, and their bodies would fall there.

In the past days, the Qin troops had shown extraordinary determination, chasing the Chu troops without regard for the cost. This had given him great confidence. But as the newest military intent generals came, he had never thought that the problem would occur on the Qin Dynasty’s side.

Many among the chasing Qin troops had stopped. Some naturally were because the commanders were rebelling against orders out of care for their subordinates. But as the news from Qi Siren and the others arrived in the imperial palace, he could judge that some were because of Yuanwu.

There was one thing which was very simple. Most of the Qin army and cultivators were under Zheng Xiu’s control. But these troops and cultivators were loyal to Yuanwu, but Yuanwu did not directly command them. So when Yuanwu expressed a different opinion, then this war was completely taken over by Yuanwu.

The main Qin army did not arrive. Then the Qi army he had paid such a great price to arrange lost their use.

Most importantly, the person he had worked with before was Zheng Xiu. Now, when Yuanwu and Zheng Xiu did not stand on the same side, then many of his connections with the Qin Dynasty were cut off.

When Ding Ning appeared as the leader of the Ba Mountain Sword Field in Nanquan, there were more and more voices in the dynasty who opposed him. Especially when problems occurred between Yuanwu and Zheng Xiu, Jiaodong Commandery would fall into the hands of the Chu and Ba Mountain Sword Field. Such voices could not be suppressed.

He was not able to sleep for many days. But he was certain, after today, such opposition would completely disappear. Because today would be a great day that would forever be recorded in the Qi history books. It was the day that the powerful method of the Twelve Shamans would return to the Qi.

He started to wash, change clothing and soak in incense. The reason that he had to arrive in person was not because he needed to appear grandly in the history books and the records. The forces to protect the Twelve Shamans could not be dispersed.

All of the powerful cultivators in the imperial palace who protected him would travel with him to the place the Twelve Shamans were located. Then, he would pick the young talents absolutely loyal to him to make contact with the Twelve Shaman, to comprehend and cultivate the powerful methods.

That would be the most heavily defended place in the Qi Dynasty.

A group of cultivators would be born there who could change the world. The passion and feelings one felt could change their appearance. When he appeared in front of the subjects waiting for him, the light he gave off, in the life of his subjects, was like a swaying torch.

The experts from deep within the imperial palace all came out, and then protected him and the subjects to reach the side of the river. The river water was slightly red and the war roared. Three giant ships floated out of the water with a dark presence. These were three Nether Floats, one of the gifts that Zheng Xiu gave him.

Under the control of the Qi cultivators who had already mastered the formations, these three Nether Floats were very fast. In just half a day, they had passed through countless miles of green mountains.

Under the strong noon light, the three Nether Floats entered a gate. The river behind the gate headed straight towards a mountain.

There were cliffs on both sides of the river. More accurately, there was a circle of mountains which surrounded the mountain that the river was pointing at. Also, the river was a passageway that had been forcibly created through the ring of mountains.

The mountain was not big, just over a thousand feet high. But the trees were enormous, some seeming to have lived an unknown number of years, and felt like they were as tall as the mountain.

The most amazing thing was that the sunlight could not fall to the mountain. The bright light was blocked from the mountain by a strange power. Just dozens of feet away from the body of the mountain, the bright lights were formed into golden flames.

The mountain which had no light was pitch black. The outside of the mountain was golden flames, but the mountain itself was like eternal night. Such a scene would only occur in stories when they were describing the homes of demons.

The pitch black mountain had a wide staircase facing the river, just as wide as the river. The stairs extended halfway up the mountain. At the end was an ancient hall. This was the ancestral hall of the Qi Dynasty.

This had also been the ancestral hall of the Jin Dynasty which once had ruled over the Qi Dynasty’s land. Because their cultivation places and methods came from the same place, all of the cultivators on the land who cultivated the ghostly path had the same ancestral teacher.

There had once been an era where only the cultivators who absorbed primal energies into their bodies were thought orthodox. The cultivation who cultivated the path of ghosts were thought of as unorthodox and almost completely wiped out.

But one of the cultivators managed to survive that time, and had almost invincible cultivation. In the end, people had to admit the status of that cultivator on the ghostly path.

The ancestral hall and the Twelve Shamans came from that ancestral master. They were the twelve most important records of the ancestral hall with the most important contents. Only when they returned to their bodies would the powerful methods be complete.