Chapter 83: Could This Not Be the Divine Manifestation of the Venerable Thunder Sound?

Zhang Zhao picked up the fire striker and blew on it; sparks of flame immediately flared to life.

Damn, a firecracker this big was bound to pack a serious punch. Zhang Zhao actually felt a little shaky inside — the childhood fear of getting blasted by firecrackers came flooding back to him.

A puzzled look appeared on Li Shengtian's face. From the intelligence he had gathered, this nephew of his was supposed to be famed for his ferocity, never flinching from blade or spear. So why did he now look so timid, like a frightened dog?

At that thought, the Son of Heaven of Khotan curled his lip in contempt. He snatched the fire striker from Zhang Zhao's hand and pointed at a model shaped like a city wall that Zhang Zhao had just molded from a lump of yellow clay.

"Erlang, what exactly are you trying to do? Are you going to use this fire striker to light that strange bamboo tube?"

Holy crap! Zhang Zhao hurriedly grabbed Li Shengtian's arm. This crude firecracker had at least half a jin of black powder packed inside. If it went off all at once, it would blast Li Shengtian half to death — that would be a disaster.

"Uncle! This thing is extremely dangerous. How about we..." Zhang Zhao glanced left and right. Standing around them were two or three palace attendants and five guards.

He randomly selected one lucky volunteer — after all, the guy was just too handsome, far too conspicuous.

"This general here — how about you do the lighting?"

Seeing how anxious and frightened Zhang Zhao was, Li Shengtian, out of caution, agreed with his suggestion. With a casual wave of his hand, the handsome guard walked over and took the fire striker from Li Shengtian.

After roughly explaining how to use it, Zhang Zhao grabbed Li Shengtian and retreated outside. At this point he couldn't be bothered with etiquette — who told Li Shengtian to act like such a curious little child? Even as Zhang Zhao pulled him along, he kept craning his neck to look.

'Hiss! Boom!'

A flash of fire shot along the fuse, golden flames blazed skyward, and an earth-shaking explosion rang out, so loud it made people's ears go numb!

In the next instant, the yellow-clay city wall sitting on a chinaberry-wood table shattered into pieces, and the yellow clay sprayed everywhere.

Li Shengtian was so startled that he sat down hard on the ground. He felt as if a thunderclap had exploded right before his eyes.

That shock was absolutely no less than the shock Zhang Zhao had felt the first time he ever saw an automobile.

Back then, as a young child, Zhang Zhao had seen an automobile for the first time from his father's carrying basket. His first reaction was that it was a roaring wild beast — and it was coming straight at him, surely to eat him.

That poor, sheltered little Zhang Zhao was so terrified he jumped straight out of his father's basket on the spot, nearly breaking his leg.

Li Shengtian felt exactly the same way. His instinctive reaction was that he had lately been indulging in wine and women, had not visited the Somoru Temple to worship the Buddha in a long time, and so the Buddha had sent down divine thunder from the nine heavens to warn him.

"Protect the king! Protect the king!" A palace eunuch howled as he rushed to Li Shengtian's side, immediately throwing himself on top of Li Shengtian, who was just trying to get up. Two more eunuchs followed, and the three of them covered Li Shengtian completely with their bodies.

Clatter-clatter! A flurry of footsteps rang out, and out of nowhere a large group of armored warriors appeared.

These men swiftly formed a circle, combining long rectangular shields with round shields, spears pointing outward, instantly creating an armored fortress.

The moment they were in position, everyone began escorting Li Shengtian as they retreated toward the depths of the inner palace.

As for Zhang Zhao — uh! He had no idea who shoved him, but before he could react, he went stumbling out of the shield formation.

Was this really necessary, damn it? Zhang Zhao wanted to go over and explain, but before he could even get close—

'Wind!' The Khotan palace guards, shields raised and spears ready, roared in unison, every one of them glaring at him as if he had murdered their fathers.

Taking in the full armor of the palace guards opposite him, and considering his own unarmed, unarmored state, Zhang Zhao very wisely stayed put.

He was quite certain that if he took one more step forward, those palace guards would absolutely cut him to mincemeat with blade and spear.

"Ouch! Ouch!" Groans suddenly came from the smoke-filled room. Zhang Zhao looked toward the sound.

The handsome palace guard came staggering out of the room, groaning. His face was blackened by smoke and so swollen it was unrecognizable. Zhang Zhao figured he must have lit the fuse and then stuck his head over to watch.

His body was even worse — covered in shit-yellow mud splatters and clumps, as if he'd just been fished out of a latrine pit.

He stumbled out, sat down heavily at the doorway, and stared blankly at Zhang Zhao.

Zhang Zhao stood awkwardly by the path. The two exchanged a glance, neither knowing what to say.

'Kula! Kula!' Before the two had been staring at each other for long, the palace guards who had just escorted Li Shengtian away came marching back in perfect formation.

Li Shengtian had also changed into a purple casual robe, and behind him followed a dozen or so monks in purple robes, every one of them fat-headed, big-eared, and sleek with grease — clearly enjoying a very fine quality of life.

"Master Moda, look!" Li Shengtian ignored Zhang Zhao and pointed at the room still emitting choking smoke, speaking to an old monk at the head of the group.

This monk looked more like an eminent monk than the ones behind him — at least he wasn't so sleek and greasy. Moreover, he had the features of a man from India, which at a glance made him seem quite authentic.

The monk looked at the dazed palace guard at the doorway, then at Zhang Zhao standing tall, sniffed twice, and suddenly intoned a Buddhist invocation.

"This humble monk congratulates the Son of Heaven. This smoke and dust conceals the qi of slaughter. To behold it is to see the might of one who subdues dragons and tigers; to hear it is to hear the awe-inspiring voice of a wrathful guardian deity of the Buddhist gate. Could this be anything but the divine manifestation of the Venerable Thunder Sound?"

He had spoken, yet seemed to have said nothing at all — perfectly in keeping with these bald donkeys' habit of speaking in riddles and hedging both ways.

And of the monks attending Li Shengtian, those who could occupy such exalted positions of patronage from the ruler of a nation — which one of them was a fool?

A few days earlier, Li Shengtian had said publicly from the Five Phoenix Tower that Zhang Zhao was fierce and brave, perhaps another divine general like Xue of Youzhou or Duke Zhuang of Xing, and that he would make use of him.

Moreover, Li Shengtian's deep longing for his elder sister was something even Cao Yuanxin, who shared his bed, probably did not understand as well as they did. How many times had Li Shengtian wept before the statue of the Auspicious Heavenly Maiden in Somoru Temple?

So these monks had almost immediately reached their judgment: as long as Zhang Zhao did not bring ruin upon himself, he was certain to win Li Shengtian's favor. To speak up now would be to earn an enormous debt of gratitude.

And since the Venerable Thunder Sound was one of the guardian deities protecting the Buddhist dharma, by saying this, whatever happened here, whatever merits Zhang Erlang earned in the future — would that not all be the power of our Buddha?

Sure enough, the moment the old purple-robed monk finished speaking, Li Shengtian's expression immediately brightened. He shot Zhang Zhao a fierce glare, then said to the old monk:

"If the Venerable Thunder Sound truly lends his aid, then my Great Jin Kingdom will surely be able to severely punish those Karluks who have turned their backs on the Buddha. All you masters, reciting sutras day and night to reach the Buddha above, have also rendered meritorious service."

"What are you still standing there for? Hurry up and take me inside to have a look! Since you possess the Buddhist thunder-sound dharma, why didn't you say so clearly just now? You made me look utterly ridiculous!"

This truly left him with no way to defend himself. If I had said so just now, would you have believed me? Who was it craning his neck like a curious little child?

All chapters have been cached for you. Download the APP to view them.