Chapter 330: The Taoist Master
At that moment, Jiang Qiubai was in a daze, too.
Even though there were very few things in the world that could throw that Sage into a daze.
The scene before him was surely one of the few things.
After 10,000 white wolves, which were regarded as auspicious beasts by prairie dwellers, and their 14 kings appeared simultaneously, the one, they ushered in as if their dominator was not a new Emperor Brightness but a fat dog resembling an aardwolf. It was hard to picture that, wasn’t it?
Jiang Qiubai always considered himself as the only one on the planet who had seen most of the world.
But even so, he found it hard to digest such an absurd sight.
As the current master of the Wolf Temple, he knew well about prairie wolves and white wolves. Nevertheless, he could never imagine a dog being able to command a wolf pack, especially a white wolf pack.
He forcibly rubbed his eyes and then took a closer look at the scene.
Opposite him was that funny dog with two-tone eyes and black-white fur. It was seated, surrounded by the 14 wolf kings. It tilted its head and rocked back and forth, its eyes scanning Jiang Qiubai and Shangguan Yuting. Clearly, the dog eyed Shangguan Yuting more frequently than it eyed Jiang Qiubai. It habitually left its mouth open, its tongue draped around its chin. Its facial expressions looked… well, quite expressive.
Silhouetted against the 14 imposing white wolf kings, the weird two-tone-eyed dog looked just like an imprisoner at first glance. But on second look, it could be detected that the 14 white wolf kings were rather respectful and reverent before that weird dog. They all lowered their chins and even dared not breathe freely in its presence. Judging by their slightly bent forelegs, they must be on their knees like subjects wors.h.i.+ping an emperor. That was a gesture of absolute humbleness. Based on that, it was discernible that the dog was the precise king of the ma.s.sive pack of white wolves.
Despite all that, Jiang Qiubai still found the whole scene rather ridiculous.
It felt like… em… like a battle-wise army and a group of brave generals were led by a paunchy, fatuous monarch, didn’t it?
Yes, a fatuous monarch!
Jiang Qiubai heard a click in his head.
It was a truly fatuous monarch with a hideous look.
Unlike human society, white wolves did not select their king by bloodline or inheritance. Instead, they ascertained their hierarchy solely according to individual strength and cultivation. That meant each king had to fight its way to the throne. Thus, there came the question: what kind of power did that filthy, sneaky, fawning, two-tone-eyed dog possess to subdue and unite 14 packs of white wolves on the prairie and force the 14 old kings to be held at its command?
Jiang Qiubai was irresistibly tempted by the idea of weighing that weird dog out.
But just at that moment, that two-tone-eyed dog barked jubilantly. It jumped several times on the spot as though putting on adorable airs before rus.h.i.+ng down the snow-capped hill and heading for Jiang Qiubai and Shangguan Yuting. As the dog scampered, it gave the two a big smiley face. Its features screwed up, which looked rather bizarre, but that appeared to be… kind of cute.
Cute?
You are the fu*king king of white wolves! How could you get yourself a.s.sociated with the word ‘cute’?
Jiang Qiubai felt what he witnessed that day was too ridiculous to be true.
He touched his forehead with a hand anxiously.
This is not the white wolf my Wolf Temple holds as our token.
Definitely not!
Next to him, Shangguan Yuting suddenly let loose a shriek of surprise.
Jiang Qiubai looked up into the distance, but his eyeb.a.l.l.s almost fell out of their sockets the next second. It turned out that the two-tone-eyed dog had missed a step halfway down the hill and directly lost its balance before falling face-down into the snow. But it all happened before it reined in its running four legs. So, the next scene they spotted was the dog simply rolling down the hill along with the snow and soon evolving into a s...o...b..ll, which kept rolling towards them…
Shangguan Yuting darted another look at Jiang Qiubai.
That is the… most elegant creature on the prairie as the legend has? The new Emperor Brightness?
Why does it look like just a joke?
Jiang Qiubai was speechless for the moment.
Why is a dog ruling the white wolf pack?
Has any huge change occurred on the prairie?
As the master of the Wolf Temple and one of the commanders of the top nine Holy Clans on the Divine Land, he just could not let that kind of change happen.
The pure bloodline of white wolves has been tarnished by a two-tone-eyed dog!
Then, just as that thought rose up in his head, he felt a jolt at his feet, and a trickling sound was heard. When he looked down, he found that two-tone-eyed dog had already come to him when he was not looking, and it was standing on its hind legs while peeing on his shoes…
How could this be?
Jiang Qiubai was astonished.
He was a Sage, one of the few who were standing at the top level of martial arts practice. But how come the weird dog tricked his senses, broke his defense, and urinated straight on his shoes before he realized it… Another question suddenly occurred to Jiang Qiubai—why did he fail to detect the dog’s existence before the 14 old kings emerged? Normally, given his spiritual force, he could have spotted anything funny within several thousands of miles at once.
Jiang Qiubai then realized one thing—he could not sense the dog unless he resorted to this eyesight, could he?
And he could not repel it, right?
So the dog just invaded within his reach without him noticing, didn’t it?
As those thoughts flashed across his mind, Jiang Qiubai saw the two-tone-eyed dog already edging its way to Shangguan Yuting. Wearing a flattering smile, it rubbed its flurry head against Shangguan Yuting’s leg as it moaned softly, just like a spoilt pet before its master. Meanwhile, the dog’s tail wagged frantically against the ground, which stirred up puffs of snow mist like a broom.
It almost felt like the dog could travel in time. An instant ago, it was still watering Jiang Qiubai’s shoes; a second later, it was already wagging its tail at Shangguan Yuting’s feet. It moved with such swiftness that even Jiang Qiubai did not see how it was done.
This dog… is kind of fishy.
Jiang Qiubai was aghast at the sight.
Then, a warm and moisture sensation flew to his palm.
When he took a second look, he saw the two-tone-eyed dog had already appeared by his feet, licking his palm with a simper.
But what perplexed him was that in normal cases, even other Sages or the head of the top nine Holy Clans could by no means touch his palm without him realizing it. So are you kidding me? A dog?
No, no, no, that can’t be! Jiang Qiubai reminded himself hysterically. This is not a fu*king dog at all!
A dog can never do that!
However—
“Woof! Woof, woof, woof!”
The two-tone-eyed dog barked sharply. It showed its tongue to him and wagged its tail again.
Fine, you are a dog!
That’s for real.
But where did this dog come from?
Next second, the weird dog appeared by Shangguan Yuting once more. It wrinkled its nose and sniffed hard, as though it had made a discovery. Its face looked more cheerful, its tail wagging more rapidly. It started barking again and bounced around Shangguan Yuting with excitement…
Unexpectedly, Jiang Qiubai failed to catch how the weird dog got there again.
…
…
One hack stopped thousands of troops.
News about the battle in Longcheng Pa.s.s got out like a tornado.
The story of the appearance of Lord Taibai, Li Mu, in Longcheng Pa.s.s bandied about, too.
So did the report saying that among the ten cities and nine counties in the border area of the Western Qin Empire, more than half had been lost overnight.
A mysterious force had surfaced without notice. It had joined hands with some prairie tribes, shrines, and the frontier army of the Northern Song before throwing a destructive blow to the frontier troops of the Western Qin Empire. After losing the protection set in the ten cities and nine counties in the border area, the vast fertile land of the Western Qin Empire was left unfenced. As long as the Northern Song and the prairie tribes wanted, they could dash to the heart of the Western Qin Empire at any moment.
If it had not been for the sudden appearance of Lord Taibai, Li Mu, perhaps the border crisis of the Western Qin Empire would be worse.
During the whole day after Li Mu had suppressed the prairie army under Spider Shrine’s control with that one hack and caused them to retreat a hundred miles, they had not dared to send any scout into Longcheng Pa.s.s. What was more, under Li Mu’s threat—”Anyone who enters Longcheng Pa.s.s will be killed”—the prairie army showed signs of disintegration that very night. At last, they thoroughly abandoned the military operation on attacking Longcheng Pa.s.s and backed away to the depths of the prairie.
That was all attributed to the warning of a Sage.
When a Sage decided to shelter a city, that meant anyone who dared to launch attacks would be courting death.
Moreover, the forces that invaded and seized the other places in the border area of the Western Qin Empire also felt shaky at the news.
Because no one was certain whether Lord Taibai, Li Mu, had launched that strike on a whim or he simply had chosen to fight them for the royal family of the Western Qin. In the latter case, what was waiting for those invaders, who had already gained their first victory, was definitely catastrophic. Once a Sage announced his or her opposite view, the invaders would have to cough up all they had swallowed. That basically implied all their careful scheming would have been for nothing. Well, no one could take that, could they?
Yet, very soon, a piece of more sensational news was put about across the vast land.
It said that Dao Chongyang, the master of Qingcheng Mountain, a prestigious Holy Clan in the Northern Song, would go to the Western Qin to challenge Li Poyue. The latter was the Guanshan Master, also known as the number one martial arts pract.i.tioner in that empire.
The news was too shocking.
The wranglers in Guanshan Prairie and the Taoists in Qingcheng Mountain seldom went against one another. Even during the period when the Western Qin and the Northern Song were least friendly to each other, those in Qingcheng Mountain and in Guanshan Prairie were never at odds. However, just after the frontier army of the Northern Song, the barbaric tribes on the vast prairie, and a mysterious force had jointly attacked the Western Qin, Dao Chongyang, the man who claimed to be the master of the Taoism in the world, threw down the gauntlet to the master of the Guanshan Prairie. Did that mean the Northern Song and the Western Qin were about to enter the most tragic era of war after 1,000 years’ peaceful time?