Chapter 439

Great Zhou calls itself a land of rites, the sole legitimate dynasty within ten thousand li of the eastern region of the Eastern Continent; Great Qin, Northern Wasteland, and the like are all classed as barbarians and Hu people!

Now the Great Qin envoy and the Second Prince, speaking openly in the hall, propose a wager to celebrate the Empress's birthday; if they refuse, they would lose face!

Of course! It's also impossible to wager endlessly; by customary rule, heaven has surplus, matters do not exceed three, nothing may go beyond three times!

In other words, no matter what difficulty Great Qin poses, this is the last one!

Although everyone wanted to curse, they could only endure it temporarily and then silently look toward the Empress.

On the high platform, the dragon throne, a green-robed Daoist nun, silent and kind, smiled slightly: "Good!"

The emperor also laughed and said: "It's rare to see the Empress happy; Great Qin's envoy, what shall we wager? Begin!"

Ying Zihou said: "Since it's a wager, we ought to have a stake!"

"Impudent!" Crown Prince Ji Gan shouted loudly, "Where is this, what day is today, celebrating the Empress's birthday, what stake could there be?"

Ying Zihou said: "Everyone knows that the founding of Great Zhou by its emperor after touring the lake came from a wager with the Grand Marshal of the preceding Great Wei dynasty!"

Zihou, lacking talent, wishes to use this wager to promote peace between the two nations, for eternity, never again to be enemies!

Ji Gan opened his mouth, but was speechless.

The nobles and officials all around, black and pressing, could not help whispering.

Taking peace and ceasefire between the two nations as the stake, this is not only for the Empress's birthday, but also the purpose of the Great Qin envoy's mission!

The emperor pondered a moment and said: "Qin's envoy, please speak, what sort of wager is this?"

Ying Zihou said: "Simple! In this round we compete in taming spirit beasts; the stake…"

Before he finished, the Qin Prince lazily said: "The imperial capital of Great Zhou has ninety thousand craftsmen who tame spirit beasts and feral beasts, all kinds of experts; this is something Great Qin and the Northern Wasteland cannot match, so you'd better not seek embarrassment!"

That remark is faultless; Great Zhou's beast-taming spiritual masters are unmatched under heaven, even if Qin recruits the fiercest people, they will fare poorly.

Who would have thought Ying Zihou still wore a smile, saying: "I said we would tame, but not ordinary spirit beasts!"

The Qin Prince exclaimed in surprise: "What spirit beast is that?"

Ying Zihou gathered his smile and said seriously: "Ancient beasts sealed within the Heaven-Earth Primal Stone!"

"What?!"

"This…"

A single stone stirred up a thousand waves, and the crowd erupted into clamor.

"Heaven-Earth Primal Stone" is an extremely special thing; it is, after the final ancient sealing of demons war a hundred thousand years ago, when rivers collapsed and reformed, a stone containing a trace of primordial spiritual energy!

Ordinary Heaven-Earth Primal Stone is not particularly rare; after all, aside from study it has no other use, but when it contains a sealed object, it is different!

Anything that survived the ancient Heaven-Earth demon war unscathed and wrapped itself in stone is without exception an ancient divine artifact!

Containing a spirit beast? That must be what divine beast!!

Ying Zihou seemed quite pleased with the reaction, gave a faint smile, an affected composure: "There are two Heaven-Earth Primal Stones, taken by our Great Qin's national master after ten years of labor from the depths of the ancient snow mountains; we can be certain each contains a spirit beast!"

The Qin Prince set aside his weariness, eyes bright, said: "This is interesting; I've seen many Heaven-Earth Primal Stones, but never heard of one containing a spirit beast!"

Young man, how do we wager? And what exactly is the stake?

Ying Zihou said: "Two Heaven-Earth Primal Stones, Great Qin and Great Zhou each take one, each opens it; whoever first tames the spirit beast inside wins!"

The stake… Great Zhou's Prince Wu marrying our Great Qin's Princess of Wei, I will marry Great Zhou's Princess of Peace, and the two nations will cease hostilities!

As his words fell, the entire hall fell into a frightening silence.

At the nobles' seats, Ji Yaofan clenched his teeth and fists.

Not far away, Ji Yaoyue had an expressionless face, unknown what she was thinking.

The atmosphere was quite strange.

Everyone looked at the emperor, finding he seemed to have fallen asleep.

Looking at the Qin Prince, he was searching under the table, not knowing what he sought.

At that moment, the Empress, holding a whisk, suddenly spoke: "Good!"

Ying Zihou was overjoyed, turned to look outside the palace gate, and clapped three times forcefully.

As the applause faded, two large carts drawn by eight horned horses came slowly, each carrying a three-zhang-high object covered in black cloth.

Ying Zihou turned and bowed: "The Heaven-Earth Primal Stones are too huge, their spiritual energy too tumultuous; I respectfully invite the Empress and His Majesty to leave the hall to view them!"

Countless gazes turned to the Empress, including the emperor.

The Empress nodded: "Very well!"

A group of eunuchs and palace maids immediately led the way out of the hall, laying down a fresh red carpet.

Then the Empress and the Emperor led, followed by princes and princesses, civil and military officials, nobles and vassal envoys, as they exited the hall.

At that moment, the two large carts had already arrived ten zhang ahead and stopped.

Ying Zihou, in wide sleeves, walked calmly to the two carts and gave a slight nod: "Lower the stones, unfold the cloth!"

"Yes!"

Two tall, bald, black-lipped men obediently directed the carts to lower the stones!

Ying Zihou turned to the crowd and explained: "These two Heaven-Earth Primal Stones are especially unique; they are said to come at least from the ancient demon war a hundred thousand years ago! Their spiritual energy is abundant, yet mixed with a heart-soothing killing and lethal qi; only those whose eight characters are firm and immune to all poisons can guard and nurture them, and these two sturdy men are poison-people!"

"'Poison-people' are those who practice poison arts, survive a hundred trials of poison, their bodies are toxic; those with cleanliness obsessions flee far from them!"

The Qin Prince seemed to have a cleanliness obsession, waving his hand impatiently: "If you're going to open them, do it quickly; why all this talk!"

Ying Zihou smiled, turned back, saw the two huge stones had already landed, and casually swept away the black cloth.

As the black cloth fell, two streaks of glazed, unusual color appeared, shimmering and drifting in all directions; immediately killing and lethal qi surged forth, emanating from the stones.

Looking at the stones, under three zhang high, uniformly lustrous pale green, the surface mottled, clearly the result of countless years of spiritual cleansing; within the stones are two vague shadows, indescribable,

you could say they are animals, or herbs!

This left those who had imagined various forms in their minds deeply disappointed!

Grand Chancellor Cao Zhen coldly said: "Is this the spirit beast inside the Heaven-Earth Primal Stone that your country speaks of? To me, this is clearly two strange ambers!"

Ying Zhi Hou laughed and said: "No! Our Great Qin Grand Preceptor personally inspected and concluded that inside were two ancient spirit beasts, and they are still alive! The Grand Preceptor of Great Qin at the Void God realm—could it be that even Great Zhou doesn't trust him?"

Matter concerning the Void God great cultivator, no one dares to speak recklessly anymore!

Xu Lulu has been accompanying the Heavenly Empress; at this moment she called out softly: "Let's begin! Don't waste too much time, lest we delay the Empress's birthday banquet!"

Ying Zhi Hou smiled, pointing at the two stones: "Your country chooses first!"

His Majesty the Emperor said: "Esteemed ministers, is there anyone skilled at taming beasts?"

I can!

From not far away in the crowd, an old man with a fluttering white beard stepped out!

Upon seeing this old man, everyone felt greatly relieved, even as if using a cannon to swat a mosquito!

(End of chapter)