The Human Emperor

It was obvious that even though Li Linfu was allied with An Yaluoshan, as a member of the imperial household, Li Linfu did not agree with An Yaluoshan’s tactics of feigning idiocy and self-humiliation.

A beautiful dancing girl at the edge of the hall slowly began to shake the rattle-drum in her hand, and with the drum setting the tempo, An Yaluoshan smiled, raised his arms, and began to dance, his layers of fat dancing with him.

As An Yaluoshan jiggled his body, the laughter gradually began to die away, and something strange happened to the crowd.

An Yaluoshan wore a jacket on the upper half of his body and puffy pants on the lower half, leaving his plump belly in the center exposed. But as his body danced to the drums, his performance had a surprising force and beauty to it, a kind of grace that was completely different from that of a dancing girl.

The hall became much quieter, and everyone was drawn to An Yaluoshan’s dance.

But An Yaluoshan’s dance soon drew even greater laughter, because An Yaluoshan would wink at the crowd and make strange faces while dancing.

The crowd had originally been drawn by the unique beauty of An Yaluoshan’s dance, but now, they couldn’t help but laugh once more at An Yaluoshan’s actions.

“Interesting! Interesting! Too interesting!”

“I only knew that this Hu could fight, but I didn’t think that he could dance! This An Yaluoshan is truly an incredible person!”

“Of the major border commanders of my Great Tang, probably only the Andong Protector-General is capable of this!”

The spectators quietly conversed while continuing to chuckle at An Yaluoshan’s comical performance.

As everyone was entranced by An Yaluoshan, Gao Shang gave a satisfied nod and whispered, “It’s about time. We can begin!”

This scene had achieved the entirety of the effect he desired. All the officials and foreign dignitaries were focused on An Yaluoshan, allowing them to more easily maneuver.

Not only that, the louder they laughed, the more they would underestimate their liege.

Even if something strange happened, no one would ever link the events back to them.

“Your Majesty!”

At this moment, An Yaluoshan called out.

“This lowly subject’s dance was modified from the Hu whirling dance. It somewhat differs from the usual Hu whirling dance and was specially modified to present this lowly subject’s respect and love for Your Majesty!”

“Oh?”

The Sage Emperor’s eyes brightened with curiosity. This An Yaluoshan was truly full of surprises.

“Let Us see!”

The drumbeat changed into a completely different tempo, one that was tinged with strangeness.

An Yaluoshan flipped his hand over, revealing a curved blade made from a bull horn.

“Careful! Protect His Majesty!”

The surrounding Golden Guards became nervous.

“Withdraw!”

The Sage Emperor was unperturbed, and ordered his Golden Guards to back away.

The curved blade in An Yaluoshan’s hand was only around one foot long, and it didn’t have an edge. Moreover… he was no weakling sovereign. An Yaluoshan didn’t have the cultivation to stir up much of a storm in front of him and so many others.

An Yaluoshan waved a hand, and a dancing girl immediately threw over a waist drum painted white and red, which he grabbed and tied to his belt.

He swayed his waist, his left hand tapping lightly against the drum, his right hand gripping the blade as he took a step forward.

As An Yaluoshan took a step forward, the distance of one hundred feet between him and the ‘Sage Emperor’ was instantly broken, and an invisible energy surged out of his body.

The entire world was instantly transformed.

On the other end of the Imperial Palace, at the imperial observatory, several astronomers and officials were on the star observation platform, observing the night sky. Suddenly, the platform trembled.

“What’s going on? What happened?”

“Not good! The star observation platform shaking is an extremely ill omen!”

The astronomers and officials panicked. Looking around, they could already see that something was wrong. In this vast Imperial Palace, only the star observation platform was shuddering.

The officials instantly turned ghastly pale.

This was an extremely special star observation platform, its location personally selected by the foremost diviner of Taizong’s era, Heavenly Master Yuan. Moreover, the surrounding area had been rigorously surveyed to ensure that it was located at the very center of the Imperial Palace’s Dragon Qi.

Through divination, star observations, and geomancy, it had been determined that this area was where the Dragon Qi of the Imperial Palace was most concentrated.

These various special conditions meant that one could observe the Ziwei Emperor Star, the numerous general stars, and the shifts in the fortunes of the country from the star observation platform. Although it was not too detailed, one could get a rough estimation of the future through observing these stars.

If the star observation platform was unstable, it meant that the Imperial Palace was facing future turmoil. This was a major omen that the master of the heavens was about to change!

The astronomers and officials were stunned, and looked up as one at the sky.

“Not good! A comet assailing the Ziwei, a terrible omen! Someone is attempting to harm the Sage Emperor!”

“Look; the stars are dimming! This is an omen that the master of the world is changing. What… what is going on?”

The astronomers first saw a massive comet brimming with black Qi suddenly slam into the Ziwei Enclosure, and the Ziwei Emperor Star rapidly began to dim. Before anyone could react, the heavens seemed to sway, and the bright stars representing the officials of the Great Tang began to flicker like candles. In just a few seconds, they had rapidly dimmed away, with eighty percent of their luminosity completely vanishing.

Shock!

Incomparable shock!

The astronomers and officials shuddered, their bodies growing cold.

Those who worked at the imperial observatory were old officials who had worked for ten to twenty years at least. But in their decades of service, they had never seen this sort of omen.

“The stars dimming means a shift in the Dragon Qi! Come on! We have to report this to His Majesty!”

While the others were left stunned and awed, one astronomer rushed off the platform, a panicked expression on his face as he ran toward the Pavilion of Petal and Sepal.

……

At the same time, deep in the mountains of the southwest, the earth began to tremble, dust and debris rustling off the steep mountain slopes and leaves falling from the trees. Even the streams running through the mountains began to restlessly ripple.

Moreover, if one looked carefully, one could see golden light seeping out of the mountains and taking the shape of a dragon. But this gold was rapidly dimming, and the dragon seemed to be struggling in pain.

The cry of a dragon echoed through the darkness, causing countless birds to take off in alarm.

“The mountains are shaking! A shift in the earth veins! This… Who could be so bold to dare try and absorb the Dragon Qi of the Central Plains?!”

Nearby, beneath a large zhennan tree that was streaked with golden threads, a pair of eyes fluttered open, chunks of dirt falling from the eyelashes. In a flash, a pair of bright and wise eyes had opened.

The southwest was where the head of the earth dragon was located. When fortunes turned and the Dragon Qi of the Central Plains shifted, there was certain to be a reaction in the southwest. This was the most sensitive region, and thus, during the Rebellion of the Three Princes, when the Sage Emperor unleashed his attack, the mountains of the southwest had been the first to react.

For this reason, many hermits and ascetics cultivated deep in the mountains of the southwest, with this elder being one of them.

“Dragon Qi is the mark of the sovereign, the foundation of the Emperor. A change in the Dragon Qi means an imminent change in the realm. But the Dragon Qi of the realm congregates at the capital. If one wishes to absorb Dragon Qi, one can only do so within the Great Tang Imperial Palace, right in front of the Son of Heaven.

“Just who in the realm could be so bold as to dare enter the Imperial Palace and commit such a treasonous act right in front of the Sage Emperor!? Wretch, scoundrel, bastard!

“After decades of peace, the pitiable people of the realm might have to endure another disaster!”

The elder’s beard trembled, as did his robes. Absorbing Dragon Qi was something that no one in the world would even think about attempting. Only the most vile and treacherous would have the guts to commit such treason.

The elder’s fingers were constantly moving as if he was calculating something.

As if he had reached an answer, the elder’s fingers suddenly stopped.

“There’s still a chance, still a chance. In the Ziwei Emperor’s Court, there is still Sacred Lord White Tiger. Risky, very risky. This is the only chance. Everything will depend on Sacred Lord White Tiger.”

The elder looked north toward the capital, his eyes brimming with concern.

Only a man of extraordinary daring and audacity would dare to enter the Emperor’s Court and steal Dragon Qi in front of the Son of Heaven. If they dared to do such a thing, it was only because they had come well-prepared and confident. Stopping them would not be an easy task!

And as he was far away in the southwest, even a warning sent by messenger bird would arrive too late.

The world was about to shift, and he could only entrust his hopes to the guardian of the Sage Emperor within the Emperor’s Court, Sacred Lord White Tiger!