Chapter 380: Mount Juxu, Carved in Stone to Record Merit!

Li Guanyi saw faint auspicious clouds stirring in the depths of the sky's cloud sea, and exchanged a glance with Yao Guang; the silver-haired girl began the rites of heaven-offering, while the other shamans and priests served only as assistants.

Amidst the vast, boundless heavens and earth, the silver-haired girl's prayers rose.

This scene sank into the eyes of countless Western Regions nobles and soldiers, many of whom had luckily survived, laid down their arms, and returned to farming, carrying the ancient king's tale and the story of the silver-haired goddess to every corner of the Western Regions.

In every mural painted with pigments ground from stone, the figure offering sacrifice to the sky was always the ethereal, goddess-like silver-haired woman—beautiful, dreamlike—standing in stark, heart-stopping contrast to the king clad in ink-black battle armor, his face obscured.

During the sacrifice, the ancient, resonant chanting mingled with the white smoke of burning incense and rose to the heavens; the Khans and kings of the Western Regions could not help but dance to please the gods, and Mount Juxu remained as primordial, majestic, and sacred as ever.

Many of the Western Regions people, though fearful and submissive toward Li Guanyi presiding over the heaven-offering, also felt admiration and a faint resentment—complex emotions too tangled to articulate at once.

Yet now, Li Guanyi raised his hand, halting the chanters, strode forward to the altar's edge, and hurled the wooden tablet inscribed with the heaven-offering prayer into the bonfire; flames roared fiercely, and Li Guanyi broke from the proper ritual.

He raised his wine cup toward the layered clouds above and called out loudly:

"Majestic Heaven, illuminating all beings."

"Times change, customs differ; Heaven's mandate has reached its peak, its law extended to all the world."

"May it be received!"

His voice, slow, calm, and measured, carried with the qi of the Eighth Heaven far beyond; just as the Western Regions folk began to feel this held no meaning, a change came—the clouds above scattered entirely.

Layer upon layer of white clouds surged apart like tidal waves.

Nine-colored auroras descended from the sky.

Like the promise of a nine-colored divine deer, they enveloped the vast expanse—magnificent, breathtaking, perfectly matching the ancient epics of the Western Regions, turning the sky's white clouds into gemstone hues.

All were stunned, lost in awe for long moments, then cried out:

"??!! What is this?!"

"Divine light?"

"Who? The one offering sacrifice—could it be the gods have manifested?!"

Everyone was dumbfounded, except the aged high priest, his head bleeding from Heliang Bo's blows—he suddenly understood, his face alight with fervor, and knelt down, crying: "It is the Eternal Heaven! The Eternal Heaven has manifested! The Eternal Heaven has revealed its holiness!"

"Tian格尔 is the Eternal Heaven walking upon the earth!"

"It is the hand of the celestial spirits."

"Sent here with a mission to unify all under heaven and the Western Regions."

The faces of the Khan of Dayuan, the King of Yuechi, and others changed, frozen—they could not believe this, yet what they saw before them was so grand, so awe-inspiring, that disbelief was impossible.

The ordinary Western Regions warriors had already gone slack with shock.

Li Guanyi: "…………"

Wait, did it have to get this big?

Just by the spectacle, this outdid even the Ancient Crimson Dragon.

Li Guanyi suddenly wondered: Could the Ancient Crimson Dragon really only be notable for being strong?

All around—whether the priests or the Khans of various tribes—subconsciously lowered their heads; only Li Guanyi stood straight, his sleeves billowing.

He lifted his gaze.

The clouds above churned like boiling water, the auroras spreading until the entire sky was dyed in nine hues—brilliant, majestic, breathtaking—and petals of condensed cloud descended from the air.

The warriors who had followed Li Guanyi here could still hold their composure, but the warriors of the Western Regions' tribes were shaken by this overwhelming, sacred spectacle; someone began, then others followed, and they knelt beneath the grand celestial phenomenon.

They bowed their heads, chanting ancient Western Regions ballads.

The clouds parted, and a magnificent nine-colored divine deer stepped slowly from the clouds, its antlers elegant, radiating nine-colored splendor—this was the divine embodiment of Western Regions myth, the transformation of the Eternal Heaven.

This time, even the Khans of Dayuan and other tribes changed expression; beneath this sacred, awe-inspiring aura, they knelt. Li Guanyi stood at the altar, gazing at the nine-colored divine deer.

The nine-colored divine deer regarded the kneeling kings, sensing the surging qi of human destiny, and fell silent for a long while, asking inwardly:

"... What happened?"

Li Guanyi blinked, smiling as he replied:

"I came to offer sacrifice to heaven myself."

The nine-colored divine deer was even more incredulous: "They actually agreed?"

Li Guanyi answered: "They dared not refuse."

"How is it? In this Mount Juxu, personally receiving such sacrifice—do you now feel some sense of auspicious omen?"

The nine-colored divine deer remained silent, gazing at the kneeling kings, momentarily speechless. Li Guanyi had cast the prayer into the fire; its appearance had left a profound imprint in the hearts of these already subdued kings.

The nine-colored divine deer's renown and weight in the Western Regions were too great.

The silver-haired girl, within this towering mountain, had performed the heaven-offering in the style of the Guanxing lineage—her silver hair fluttering, distant and ethereal; this ritual was less about the Western Regions' Eternal Heaven and more about honoring the Heaven of the Central Plains.

After the sacrifice ended.

Li Guanyi personally rode the nine-colored divine deer, weapon in hand, ascending before all eyes to the highest point of Mount Juxu—the peak of the sacred mountain of the Western Regions, where stood a massive stone.

Li Guanyi thought: If it were Xue Shen, he'd surely want to blast this rock apart—he had no such intention.

Li Guanyi raised his battle halberd and carved words upon the highest peak of this sacred Western Regions mountain.

"In the thirteenth year of Tianqi, spring, Li Guanyi of Jiangnan led his troops here to subdue."

"Carved in stone to record merit."

"Enfeoffed as Mount Juxu."

"Let future generations who come here raise their cups and drink together."

It was written in ancient Central Plains small seal script.

The handwriting Murong Qiushui had painstakingly taught him since childhood now rested here; Li Guanyi withdrew his halberd, reached out, and traced the characters, murmuring softly:

"Auntie's brushwork has stayed here with me; even after a thousand years, someone will still see it."

"She'd be happy, wouldn't she?"

"She'd surely think Little Cat was the greatest, that Little Cat loved Auntie the most…"

The nine-colored divine deer was astonished, lifting its head—it saw on the young commander's face not the pride of a conqueror, but a quiet longing, as if a child eager to show off to a loved one.

Li Guanyi turned, gazing at the military might beneath this holy mountain, at the boundless expanse of the Western Regions, his chest swelling yet remaining calm, murmuring: "Deep penetration with a lone army, sealing the mountain to offer sacrifice to Heaven, watering horses on the snow plains."

"Since ancient times to the future, which lord of the Central Plains has ever come thus?"

"Which man has ever penetrated so deeply with a lone army?"

Sacrificing to Heaven, inscribing stone, slaying a king, seizing a city—these acts were grand, and with the appearance of the Fire Qilin, they were layered with profound divine mandate.

The customs of the Western Regions were cunning yet pure, fierce yet devout.

They could slaughter one another madly over women, gold, or the position of Tian Kehan, disregarding blood ties, yet also prostrate themselves in devotion to the Eternal Heaven.

Without such valor and such heroic deeds, any omen would be a joke; but with unparalleled achievements and unmatched bravery, mercy coupled with cruelty, inspiring awe—and accompanied by an omen—it would be like adding flowers to brocade, fire to oil.

The tide of fate surged forward, nearly beyond obstruction.

Most were subdued; even the clear-headed had to consider whether they could withstand this invincible blade. As the smoke of the sacrifice to Heaven gradually faded, the Western Regions soldiers watched Li Guanyi descend from the heavens atop the Fire Qilin.

Their hearts were filled with profound awe.

The Grand Priest held out an ancient wine jar, offering it with utmost reverence, saying:

"This is the finest wine, prepared over three hundred years in our Shatuo Kingdom for the rites of sacrifice to Heaven. This jar was left behind by the first overlord of the Western Regions, the King of Tuyuhun, after his sacrifice to Heaven—it has aged to perfection."

"It is wine offered to the gods. Today, I present it to you."

Li Guanyi uncorked the wine—it was indeed an exquisitely rich vintage. His gaze swept over the soldiers who had fought beside him, and the now-subdued Western Regions troops. Suddenly, he laughed:

"How could I drink such fine wine alone?"

He clenched his fist; the Fire Qilin flame surged upward. Li Guanyi struck once.

The thin ice over the river flowing beside the holy mountain shattered instantly. The river's current was always swift, never fully frozen; now, with the Fire Qilin flame burning through, it surged violently, layers of ice cracking and splintering.

Li Guanyi carried the rich wine to the riverbank and poured the entire jar into the flowing water, saying: "This wine is too fine to drink alone."

"Let us all drink together!"

Li Guanyi tossed the empty jar aside, raised his hand, and addressed the six thousand elite troops, and the now-subdued Western Regions forces, loudly:

"Drink!"

"My brothers, drink deeply!"

All soldiers rejoiced; the Western Regions troops bowed in sincere submission.

Momentum surged like a flood—slaying kings, sacrificing to Heaven, inscribing stone to record deeds; during the sacrifice, the Fire Qilin descended from heaven, clouds roared and surged in all directions. These extraordinary omens coalesced into one invisible, intangible, yet undeniably real, thunderous tide.

The grand sacrifice lasted three days. Li Guanyi offered sacrifice to Heaven here, then, following Central Plains customs, traveled to another mountain range to offer sacrifice to Earth. During these three days, the Fire Qilin manifested many divine signs, and Li Guanyi's prestige grew ever greater.

He did not leave immediately, but rested and recuperated beneath the holy mountain.

The khans of the Western Regions held secret councils.

"This Tian Kehan already controls sixty cities, plus the former territory of the ancient Agni Kingdom—he was already a khan with the achievements of a Wang Jue, commanding two hundred thousand troops, among the strongest in the entire Western Regions."

"Before, Helian Bo sought to attack him—that was Helian Bo's affair."

"Now Helian Bo is dead."

"And Tian Kehan has sacrificed to Heaven and Earth, his prestige so immense, with the divine omen of the Fire Qilin. Since we have come here to establish a Wang Ting, and since we must establish a Wang Ting, we must have a supreme ruler."

"The khan of khans, the king of kings."

"Since someone must be this one…"

"Why not Tian Kehan?"

Someone objected: "Why must it be Tian Kehan?"

"Even if he holds Anxi City, he is still a Central Plains man!"

The Khan of Dayuan replied: "Of course it need not be him—but if you become the lord of the Wang Ting, the khan of khans, can you withstand Tian Kehan's blade? Can you receive the blessing of the Fire Qilin, the incarnation of the Eternal Heaven?"

"If you can, I will gladly bow to you as Great Khan."

The khan who had objected could not answer.

A deathly silence fell. They exchanged glances, and no one spoke against it again. Some had been crushed by Li Guanyi in direct combat; others had been shattered during the grand sacrifice; still others had witnessed the might of Li Guanyi's troops as they stormed the Shatuo Kingdom.

This momentum, this heroic record—and especially the Fire Qilin descending from heaven—the Fire Qilin was the oldest legend of the Western Regions. The Buddhist sects said the Fire Qilin was one of the Buddha's incarnations; the oldest myths held that the Fire Qilin was the earthly manifestation of the Eternal Heaven.

Tian Kehan sacrificed to Heaven—and the incarnation of the Eternal Heaven came down to crown him.

To the people of the Western Regions, this carried immense impact.

Like a man from the southern lands sailing to offer sacrifice, and the goddess Mazu appearing in person to bless him.

The Khan of Dayuan whispered: "Good. Since none of you object…"

"Then let us go to congratulate him."

"Chancellor Chancellor Chen Fu to him."

"Obey his commands."

The Lord of Yuechi said: "But how shall we address him?"

"Great Khan? Great King?"

"Or perhaps, Sage Khan?"

The khans fell silent. Then the Khan of Dayuan spoke: "I have a suggestion. Since this man himself took the name Tian Kehan, the oldest hero's name, let us call him thus."

"Tian Kehan, Great Khan."

"The name is slightly awkward, with too many syllables, inconvenient for daily use. But if we follow Central Plains style, it should be more concise—so we shall call him thus."

The khans remained silent. No one spoke further.

Yet in every mind arose this lofty, overbearing, awe-inspiring title.

…………………

"News from the Western Regions has been sealed. All the fleeing soldiers and khans who knew of our arrival have been detained here—but such a seal cannot last long."

Fan Qing was uneasy. The core of this strategy lay in speed: replenishing supplies along the way, severing intelligence transmission. Once word reached Yu Langwang, that cunning general, all plans would collapse.

Fan Qing urged: "We must resolve matters here completely before the news leaks, my lord."

Li Guanyi nodded and said, "Relax, things will change in the next few days—panicking won't help. How about some meat? I think I cooked it well; there's indeed xie ziran here."

Fan Qing choked.

The Fire Qilin watched the sky in silence.

On her left and right sat two people: on the left, the cross-legged young general, who had turned eighteen just after the New Year; on the right, a petite silver-haired girl with a blank expression.

Li Guanyi roasted meat; Yao Guang roasted buns.

After roasting the buns, the silver-haired girl would earnestly invite the Fire Qilin to taste them.

The Fire Qilin, having suffered before, had long since run off.

But the Fire Qilin was simply too gentle to refuse the girl, so she quietly chewed—the flavor was truly mysterious.

The Fire Qilin began to miss the city of Anxi.

There were fruits, specially cultivated by the farmer-philosopher Xu Tiange, sweet and juicy; there was the little girl who personally groomed her fur.

She even began to miss the ancient Western Regions breads.

One bun made the Fire Qilin's memories flash like a spinning lamp.

Fan Qing, Khan Qibili, and Generals Ling Pingyang were all worried, but Li Guanyi remained relaxed and carefree, cutting meat with his short sword and reassuring them:

"The Western Alliance troops are stationed behind Anxi City only by Helian Bo's orders—Helian Bo is a cunning man."

"He insisted on precise troop control, demanding frontline commanders follow his commands. Now that Helian Bo is dead, the Western Alliance won't act rashly. Besides, with Master Pojun's strategy, he must have guessed we succeeded."

"Fan Qing, you needn't worry about the Western armies."

"We should be worried about Yu Langwang."

Dozens of thousands of Western troops now linger near Anxi City, but since the Wang Ting has disbanded, they remain stationary.

Yet if this massive army stays motionless for too long, Yu Langwang's sharpness and cunning will surely sense something is wrong.

That man's strategy is as elusive as a gazelle's hoofprints, as free as a celestial horse—more trusting in instinct than in military doctrine. Li Guanyi fears that if he delays too long, Yu Langwang will connect Li Guanyi's refusal to fight with the Western army's inaction.

So Li Guanyi also hopes this matter is resolved quickly.

The qi within the Nine Cauldrons is full.

Completely full—but he still didn't know how to mobilize it. He toyed with the Golden Wang Yin of Tuyuhun, pondering it all, when suddenly a cold, lethal voice came from outside:

"We wish to pay homage to Tian Kehan."

"If possible, please announce us…"

Fan Qing bowed to Li Guanyi, stepped out, and moments later returned at a sprint, his voice urgent:

"Lord!"

"It's the khans of the Western tribes."

Li Guanyi held the Golden Wang Yin and said to Fan Qing:

"Is this the turning point? The opportunity?"

"Invite them in."

Fan Qing's heart surged with excitement, yet he remained calm, saying:

"Yes!"

Li Guanyi tossed the Golden Wang Yin, then placed it on the table.

Fan Qing strode out of the camp and personally led the Western khans and Wang Jue inside. Seeing Li Guanyi's disciplined, imposing army, the Western khans all showed signs of shock, their expressions growing even more reverent as they advanced.

Entering the command tent, they saw Li Guanyi still clad in armor and battle robe, seated like a crouching tiger.

The khans of Dayuan, the rulers of Yuezhi, and over thirty other minor kings stepped forward, holding objects in their hands. They halted ten paces from Li Guanyi, then knelt on one knee.

Then they opened the boxes, lifting them high—inside were seals, large and small, each radiating a thread of human qi.

BOOM!!

As the khans knelt, holding the Wang Yin aloft—

Inside Li Guanyi, the Nine Cauldrons suddenly roared.

The section representing the Western lands on the cauldron's surface glowed with golden light; the already partially formed golden map now shifted and flowed with greater clarity.

The bronze cauldron shrieked violently, its qi surging into the heavens.

Li Guanyi knew—

The conditions were met.

The opportunity he had longed for since arriving in the Western lands.

Just as he had acted in the Western lands, he would recast a second Nine Cauldron, then use this human qi to link the qi of the Southern Jiangnan Cauldron with that of the Western Cauldron.

From the initial attempt in Aqi Ni City, to the gains when he broke through the Qizhongtian Sect master realm, until now—he had finally grown, finally succeeded. But he did not yet know what effect this second Nine Cauldron would have.

He did not yet know what changes would occur when the second Nine Cauldron linked with the Jiangnan Cauldron. But no matter what, wherever the Nine Cauldrons were forged, Li Guanyi would gain a boost akin to military momentum.

With the Western army and the forging of the Nine Cauldrons, he could finally stand against Yu Langwang's million-man momentum—face him, squarely, on this battlefield of the world!

Thus, the Western stalemate—

Was about to break!

Li Guanyi's thoughts surged within him.

The Western khans produced another massive Juan Sect.

Nearly as tall as a Han man's chest, and extremely heavy.

Fan Qing and Khan Qibili carried it to Li Guanyi's side, and together they unrolled the enormous scroll before him—it was a more detailed map than the Western topographical chart he had obtained.

Desert, oases, mountains, terrain.

Each city-state and tribe was marked—every one of the Western lands' thirty-six tribes. As the scroll unfurled, it slowly revealed itself before Li Guanyi, and upon the territories of these thirty-six tribes were stamped countless seals.

It seemed coincidental. It seemed a cosmic echo.

As the scroll fully unfurled, golden light within Li Guanyi's Nine Cauldrons converged and spread—until the scroll was completely laid open, and utterly imprinted upon the Nine Cauldrons.

Outside, banners whipped wildly in the wind, the clashing of armor plates rang out with a grim sound; Khan Qibili stood rigid, Fan Qing's gaze was bright, Generals Ling Pingyang and Wang Shunchen both held weapons, standing on either side of Li Guanyi.

The khans knelt halfway to the ground, bowing their heads, respectfully saying:

"Tian格尔 Khan, your military might is invincible, your aura overwhelming, and you are blessed by heavenly gods."

"We humbly offer to establish Wang Ting, uniting beneath Tian格尔's command."

"We beg to bestow upon Great Khan Your Radiance a noble title—"

"Namely:"

The khans of the Western Regions lifted their heads, their expressions reverent and submissive, filled with awe, and spoke in unison:

"Tian Kehan!!!"

Boom!!!

Upon the Nine Provinces Cauldron, the destiny-energy roared.

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