397 Exhortation (1/2)
Old Man Mu's corpse still could not be found. After the fire had died down, more than 100 people formed a single row and combed the remnants of the Flower Soul Forest, trying to find evidence of his body, but all they could discover were mutilated remains belonging to the dozens of soldiers from the Great Snowmountain who were killed by the All Annihilating Formation.
As such, Gu Shenwei had to remain in the capital for two more days and he continued to send out large numbers of his men to search for any remains. They nearly unearthed the entire ground where the forest used to stand, but to no avail.
Eventually, everyone had to agree with Shangguan Fei's deduction: ”As the fire raged on, Old Man Mu panicked and triggered one of his booby traps. He ended up being cut to shreds by his very own formation; his remains is surely among that pile of bones.”
This seemed like the only possible outcome for the old devil. Gu Shenwei decided that he could not delay his departure any longer and he made up his mind to leave the capital the next morning to catch up with the main troop.
He hoped that Shangguan Ru would stay behind in the Land of Fragrance and rule over the remaining slave soldiers, the elderly, women and children on behalf of the dead swordsmen from the Great Snowmountain.
However, Shangguan Ru had still not given a reply to his unexpected request.
Shangguan Fei was even more anxious than the Dragon King and more proactive than his sister on this matter. He tried to persuade her no less than three times a day. ”Younger sister, it's a great opportunity and you shouldn't miss it. Do you still wish to travel southward? If you go any further, you'll end up in the sea. Stay and be King, no, Queen of the Land of Fragrance. Isn't that a great idea?”
”You won't find any place better than here. See, each season is like Spring and the flowers are flourishing. The fruits and vegetables grown here are so abundant that no one can try them all; you only need one kind of food to survive here. Furthermore, the people here are great as well. Everyone is educated and polite. They are all obedient slaves and know what they should or shouldn't do; you needn't worry about them.”
”I did some thorough research. The Land of Fragrance is blessed in its current geographic location; easily defensible and surrounded by mountains everywhere. To its northwest is a forest inhabited by savages, and the only accessible route is a narrow mountain passage to its northeast. If you erect a checkpoint there, you can easily defend against a strong army of thousand men even with a hundred men. With that...”
He trailed off, and upon seeing that his sister was not particularly angry, he decided to come clean. ”If you really do not wish to govern a country, let me help you out. Speak to the Dragon King and let me stay behind instead. To be honest, I have so many plans in mind. I promise that we'll make the Land of Fragrance prosper and that its royal line will forever bear the Shangguan name. When that happens, why do we even need to return to the Stone Castle for? Here is a bigger, safer Stone Castle.”
”Just do it, sister. It's not easy to win the Dragon King's trust, and if you hesitate further, who knows, somebody else might take up the opportunity.”
Shangguan Ru had been pestered by her brother until she reached her breaking point. ”Invite the Dragon King and Maid Lotus over,” she told him.
Shangguan Fei was delighted and shouted with joy. He was so excited that he was glowing. ”That's good. We have to work hand in hand immediately on various projects. Our nation has everything but young males; they have all been taken by the Dragon King. However, the men of the surrounding lands are too savage and we cannot welcome them into our country. We can only solve this with one method: let every remaining soldier take up to five wives and push them to produce more males. After one generation... Oh, you wish to see the Dragon King.”
Once the two guests arrived, Shangguan Ru chased her brother, who was still feeling excited, away.
Shangguan Ru invited the Dragon King and Maid Lotus in. She did not want to discuss her decision to stay, rather, she wanted to speak to them about the Blessed Child. ”I wrote down a copy of his incantation. Take it and tally it against the documents left behind by the high priest; you should be able to piece the eighth chapter together.”
She had deduced that when the Holy King was betrayed, he had not believed in anyone again and hence divided the most important cultivation method of Internal Strength from his sect into separate ancient documents before coming up with an incantation that was mixed with truth and falsehood as a means to piece together the entire manual.
She placed the stack of papers on her desk but she knew that both the Dragon King and Maid Lotus were naturally suspicious. As such, she called the Blessed Child out and asked him to recite the incantation once more. ”I wrote it down a little hastily and there are probably a few errors. We'd better check my copy with the source.”
Gu Shenwei believed in Shangguan Ru. Furthermore, the documents left behind by the high priest were kept in the military camp, and even if she wanted to come up with a fake incantation, there was nowhere for her to begin with. Even so, he agreed to let the Blessed Child recite the incantation again.
It was one thing to trust someone, but to express that trust was another matter altogether. Gu Shenwei felt that he did not have to offer preferential treatment to anyone.
Throughout the past two days, the Blessed Child remained by Shangguan Ru's side; he was willing to become her servant.
He was still much frightened after having been terrorized by Old Man Mu and stammered as he talked. After every few sentences, he would twist his head to look at Shangguan Ru and continue reciting only after being encouraged and comforted by her.
He quickly recited the entire incantation, which was a few thousand words long. Shangguan Ru had taken perfect dictation. Gu Shenwei was especially interested in the second half of the incantation.
The first few hundred words were exactly the same as what Shangguan Ru had predicted - they seemed like a clue written in some sort of code. Not only was it mixed with truth and falsehood, the content was also jumbled and there were many contradicting parts within it.
But that night, everyone realise something wrong in the first half of the incantation if the Blessed Child had recited more than the first 50 words.
However, the content of the incantation changed after 600 hundred words or so; it was no longer a jumbled-up set of instructions for Internal Strength cultivation, but a set of exhortations which actually made sense.
The creator of the incantation was exhorting his disciples not to practice the Dajue Book of Swordcraft without good reason.
Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus were finally convinced that 'Dajue Book of Swordcraft' was the proper title for this unique manual, and that 'Death Scripture' was only a description used after.
According to the incantation, good and evil come from the same source; and it varied from person to person. Say, using steel as an example: It could be used to make tools and equipment for the benefit of mankind, such as hoes and picks, but it could also be made into weapons which could harm others and the users as well. It also exhorted that the swordcraft taught in the manual was extremely powerful and was the only one in the world, only someone of great wisdom could control such a devastating force.
As for what constituted great wisdom, the incantation provided a simple analysis: if one practiced the Dajue Book of Swordcraft and there were any signs of its effect backfiring, then one should immediately stop learning it.
Not only had Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus experienced said signs while practicing and using swordcraft taught by the book, in fact, but they had also experienced its effects first hand.