Starforce Warriors-Chapter 900: Myriad Immortals Conference (2)

All eyes turned toward the sky as the Divine Bird White Crane descended into the camp. A man leaped down from its back. He wore a plain robe of coarse cloth, cloth shoes on his feet, and two swords strapped to his back. He was slightly plump, with fair skin, radiating an odd mix of dignity and warmth.

It was none other than Emperor Zhao Kuangren of the Great Song. The crowd was stunned.

Why did he come back?

“What are you doing here?” Li Yiyun stepped forward coldly, and blocked his path without any courtesy. “Master doesn’t want to see you. Go back to your throne and enjoy your riches and glory.”

“Second Brother, mind your manners!” Kou Zhengyang quickly stepped in, pulling Li Yiyun behind him. He bowed respectfully to Emperor Zhao Kuangren and said, “Your Majesty, this is a place of great peril. Since you’ve already departed, you should not entangle yourself in this matter again.”

He could somewhat understand Zhao Kuangren. As emperor, Zhao had to weigh the legacy of his ancestors and the welfare of his people. He couldn’t afford to act out of emotion or personal bias. Sometimes, one’s role dictated their sphere of influence, regardless of right or wrong.

Zhao Kuangren cupped his hands and bowed deeply to both Kou Zhengyang and Li Yiyun.

“I greet my two senior brothers,” he said solemnly.

“Your Majesty, what... what is the meaning of this?” Kou Zhengyang was startled and quickly stepped aside.

After all, he was a subject of the Great Song. How could he possibly accept a bow from the emperor himself?

Zhao Kuangren, however, straightened and said solemnly, “I am no longer the Emperor of Song. I am now but a commoner in coarse clothing. Senior Brother, there is no need for formality, so accept this bow with peace of mind.”

What?

The words caused murmurs of disbelief to ripple through the crowd. Faces turned toward one another in stunned silence. Just then, Li Xiaofei emerged from his tent.

“You abdicated the throne?” He gazed at the slightly plump, fair-skinned man before him, a rare trace of surprise flickering across his face.

Zhao Kuangren fell to his knees and performed a full kowtow before Li Xiaofei.

“Disciple greets Master.” He bowed to the ground and declared loudly, “My earlier departure was not out of cowardice or fear of death, but because of the constraints tied to my former status. I returned to Bianjing, passed the throne to the Crown Prince, then entered the ancestral temple and renounced my status as a descendant of the Zhao royal family. I have completely severed all ties with the imperial family. I am no longer the Emperor of Song, nor a member of the royal house. From this day forward, I am but a disciple beside the Master, willing to follow him to the end. Through life or death, never to abandon him.”

His words rang through the camp like a bell of iron and stone. Every face was filled with shock. Li Yiyun stood frozen, stunned beyond belief.

“You... you returned just to abdicate the throne?” Emotions rippled across his face. Li Yiyun was shocked, ashamed, and in disbelief. His voice trembled as he said, “You... I... I wronged you...”

Zhao Kuangren rose, his expression calm and his voice warm as he said, “Had I explained my intentions earlier, Master might have stopped me. Now that the matter is settled, I can report it truthfully to Master and all my senior brothers.”

Li Yiyun stood there in a daze.

Thud.

He fell to his knees before Zhao Kuangren.

Bang, bang, bang.

Three loud kowtows echoed.

“Brother Li, what is the meaning of this? Please, get up quickly!” Zhao Kuangren hurried forward to help him up.

“No. You are the senior brother now,” Li Yiyun replied loudly. “I’ve always been a wild and unruly man of the martial world. I never respected the courts or the royal family. I always believed myself to be the true embodiment of a wandering hero. To be honest, I used to harbor doubts about you. I thought you stayed by the Master's side to scheme something in the shadows. But now...”

Again, he kowtowed three more times. “I’ve never bowed to an emperor in my life, but today, you’ve earned it.”

Li Yiyun declared, voice ringing with emotion, “I stayed because I have nothing to lose. I’m just a vagabond of the martial world. But you... you were the emperor of Great Song, the Son of Heaven. Yet you gave up your throne just to follow Master. I can’t compare to you... I was wrong. I’m not worthy of being your senior. From this moment on, you are my elder brother.”

He stood up and bowed deeply once again. Zhao Kuangren was visibly moved. This was the spirit of the martial world. True chivalry indeed. Kou Zhengyang, watching from the side, was equally stirred.

“That’s right. Yiyun speaks true. From now on, you are senior brother to us all.” He bowed and said aloud, “Greetings, Senior Brother.”

“Greetings, Senior Brother!”

“Greetings, Senior Brother!”

Voices rose in unison as everyone in the camp bowed together. The chorus of greetings thundered like a tidal wave, rolling across the foothills of the mountain.

Zhao Kuangren stood rooted in place. He had witnessed countless grand occasions since ascending the throne as emperor. But not even those could compare to this moment, when over nine thousand voices declared him brother.

He had even seen battle formations of tens of thousands and over a hundred thousand soldiers. He had stood amid ironclad legions roaring ‘Long live the emperor! Long live! Ten thousand years!’

Yet even such awe-inspiring scenes, no matter how thunderous the cries, could not compare to this moment, when nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine voices called out the simple words, Senior Brother.

Zhao Kuangren trembled, his entire body overcome with emotion. He returned the bow solemnly. Then he turned, knelt before Li Xiaofei, eyes reddened with tears, and said, “Master, I humbly ask you to accept me as your disciple.”

“Very well.” Li Xiaofei, too, was visibly moved.

To be honest, he hadn’t been particularly bothered when the Song Emperor had quietly left. But Zhao Kuangren’s return touched him deeply.

Who dared say there were no true men among the human race? Who dared claim the human race was not united? Before him now stood ten thousand disciples, an unyielding force forged in sincerity and steel.

“Thank you, Master.” Zhao Kuangren beamed with joy as he said, “When we ascend to the summit of Heaven Drum Mountain, I’ll be at Master’s side. This time, I’ll see it through to the end. Even if it means being crushed to pieces, I’ll walk this road with you.”

“Good.” Li Xiaofei nodded with a smile.

Far away, beneath a pine tree atop a rocky hill, Chicken Bro lounged with beauties in both arms. Watching the scene from afar, he muttered, “Damn... that guy... truly the human race’s slyest fox. In just one month, he managed to talk the emperor into crippling himself. Now he’s got all these people ready to die for him without hesitation...”

He shook his head with a grin and continued, “That kind of skill... even I couldn’t pull it off.” 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

***

Farther away, at the peak of a solitary mountain.

Lu Jiansheng stood with his sword on his back, gazing at the camp nestled below. He watched everything unfolding within it, and a trace of envy shimmered in his eyes.

He had once belonged there. But now, he had left. He wanted to return but he couldn’t. He lifted his head to the distant horizon. Night was deepening. A boundless darkness was devouring the land. The air seemed to carry the faint scent of blood.

“Tomorrow...” Lu Jiansheng murmured under his breath.

***

The next day. Clear skies. PM2.5 index: 0.

A tense yet electric atmosphere blanketed the camp. No one spoke. They quietly packed their belongings. They polished their swords. Even the rusted ones, worn and nicked, were cleaned until the edges gleamed like frost.

They strapped their armor tightly to their bodies. They tied their laces with care. They finished all of their rations. They helped one another prepare. Then, one by one, they began walking toward the central tent at the heart of the camp.

Everyone waited silently outside the tent. The old, long-haired horse tethered nearby chewed its fodder quietly. Just days ago, its mane had been dry and tangled. Now, it gleamed, silky and smooth.

In the days it had carried Li Xiaofei across five thousand kilometers, it seemed to have awakened, gaining a spark of spiritual awareness. The flap of the head tent lifted.

Li Xiaofei stepped out. His expression remained calm and composed, exuding an effortless grace that inspired reverence and trust.

“You all... Li Xiaofei looked at the crowd and gently shook his head.

Another night had passed, and there were still ten thousand people in the camp. No one had left. Ever since Zhao Kuangren’s return, the plan to draw lots and decide who would stay and who would go had been abandoned. No one wanted to leave.

This time, they would follow their teacher, the godlike figure in their hearts, together. They would ascend Mount Myriad Saints. They would march together toward Heaven Drum Mountain.

“Master, let us go with you!” Zhao Kuangren shouted loudly.

Li Xiaofei mounted his horse and said, “Let’s go.”

Two simple words, and every face lit up with a smile.

Let’s go!

They set out behind their teacher. No matter what lay ahead, even if it was to be blades and fire, or an abyss without end, they would press forward without hesitation.

The procession advanced in silence but their morale burned high. In the blink of an eye, they reached the entrance to Mount Myriad Saints. Mount Myriad Saints comprised eighteen mountain ranges in total, their peaks and ridges crisscrossing for thousands of miles. Majestic and graceful, they stood like nature’s fortress.

At the center of this vast formation was Heaven Drum Mountain, the site of the Myriad Immortals Conference. It was the second-highest peak, famed for its unique shape that resembled a colossal stone drum.

In order to reach Heaven Drum Mountain from the base, one had to pass through the main gate of the Myriad Saints Immortal Sect and cross ten peaks. It was a daunting journey.

Ordinarily, it would take four to five hours on foot. But today, the sect had opened the chain-linked Immortal Bridges between the ten peaks. Once they climbed the first, Nine-Tendon Peak, they could use the bridges to cross swiftly. The entire journey would take no more than an hour.

The old long-haired horse strode confidently up the steep stone steps, as if walking on level ground. Behind it, the followers marched in columns three men wide, forming a long dragon of a line that climbed the mountain in silence.

It did not take them long to reach the halfway point of Nine-Tendon Peak. There, they came upon a wide clearing. It was the entrance to the inner sect of the Myriad Saints Immortal Sect.

Beside the clearing sat a clear and still pool that had never dried in ten thousand years. The pool exuded a constant chill; it was said to be fed from a spring deep beneath the earth that connected directly to an extreme cold leyline. It was a rare and precious immortal blessing.

The long-haired horse came to a halt. Six figures stood beside the boulder next to the pool known as the Sword-Dropping Pool. They were Lu Jiansheng, Xue Qing, Jianling, Jianxuan, and two others.

“What are you doing blocking the path?” Li Yiyun, always the first to charge forward, shouted harshly, face full of displeasure. “What, just the few of you think you can stand in Master’s way?”

Lu Jiansheng said nothing. He and the others stepped forward slowly.

Thud.

All six dropped to their knees before the horse.

“Master Li, please... go back.” Lu Jiansheng raised his voice. “The six of us owe you our deepest gratitude for your guidance. But we must block the road today. We beg you and your disciples to turn around. Please, do not go to Heaven Drum Mountain.”

“What is the meaning of this?” Zhao Kuangren stepped forward, frowning. “Brother Lu, we know each other well. If you’re truly grateful for Master’s teachings, why block the way? If we insist on going forward, will you draw your swords on us?”

Lu Jiansheng remained kneeling, head bowed in silence.