Chapter 405 A Fateful Union
Li Keyong laughed upon hearing his words, as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world. “God?”
A smile appeared on Yelv Abaoji’s face. The smile seemed bright and harmless, however, a sharp edge was hidden inside. “The lord seems to have some misunderstanding about God?”
With a flick of his sleeves, Li Keyong grinned and said, “There are gods in the world and immortals in the heavens, but there is only one god between heaven and earth, that is myself!”
“God is god, and man is man. Since the lord is so confused about your position, it seems I need to help you so that you know your identity.” Yelv Abaoji’s tone was casual as usual, and the smile on his face did not diminish in the slightest. He didn’t seem angry all, but he raised his hand to Li Keyong gently.
He raised his hand so lightly that it seemed as if he was picking up falling snowflakes. It was gentle and unthreatening. However, when Li Keyong and Kang Junli saw this scene, their expressions changed dramatically.
The Spiritual Qi in the room was emptied in an instant!
It was as though the two cultivators were stuck in a swamp, not only could they no longer sense the Spiritual Qi around them, even the circulation of the Spiritual Qi in their Ocean of Qi was extremely difficult. It was like a man being tied up, where he could no longer move freely. This was fatal for a cultivator.
There could only be one explanation for being able to extract the Spiritual Qi in the room and suppress the circulation of Spiritual Qi of two cultivators at the same time.
It was that the opponent’s cultivation was far superior to them!
They both realized the situation was bad and hurriedly pulled out at the same time.
But it was too late.
Yelv Abaoji smiled brightly, and his eyes were full of tease. “You are so anxious to leave, and as a friend, of course I have to see you out.”
He pressed his wrist violently.
The Spiritual Qi that gathered in his palm turned into two transparent springs and struck suddenly.
Li Keyong’s eyes bulged. He clearly saw the Spiritual Qi coming at him like flowing spring, and it wasn’t that fast, but he just could not avoid it in time. It was because his body speed had been completely suppressed.
Thump! Thump! The streams of Spiritual Qi hit Li Keyong and Kang Junli square on the chest. They both spat mouthfuls of blood at the same time, and they landed hard on the cold, hard, granite pavement in the courtyard like kites with broken strings.
Li Keyong and Kang Junli were both furious.
Anyone would feel embarrassed if they were attacked so relentlessly by a prairie man in their own house, on their own territory.
But they could only suppress their anger.
Because there were more than a dozen Qidan cultivators staring at them from the walls and roofs.
Even without the cultivators, Yelv Abaoji’s attack was enough to frighten them. So they dared not act recklessly.
Yelv Abaoji came to the door, and looked at them with his hands behind his back. His bright smile revealed a hint of sincerity. “My friend, now you should know that you can’t be disrespectful towards God. If God wants to kill you, he wouldn’t even need to do it himself. His warriors and servants can make you... well, fall on your back.”
Li Keyong reluctantly stood up. He had vomited blood several times already, then Yelv Abaoji hurt him again, so his vitality was greatly damaged. Now, he had little combat power. But even with him at his heights, he knew he was no match for the opponent, so it made little difference.
“What exactly do you want?” Li Keyong asked with a somber face.
Yelv Abaoji laughed and said, “It seems that our lord, Your Highness, did not listen to me. But it doesn’t matter, I can repeat it again: we are here to help you. And you have seen our strength, and felt it personally. I believe you will not refuse again.”
Li Keyong really couldn’t refuse anymore. This was certainly not because he thought the opponent was stronger than Li Ye’s cultivators, but because he knew that the opponent was stronger than himself. Therefore, now his life rested in the hands of the opponent.
He had no choice.
Li Keyong understood this, and naturally Yelv Abaoji understood as well. So he gestured and said, “If the lord understands, we might as well sit down and talk. Believe me, the warrior of God has enough power to help you make a resurgence. And he doesn’t require anything in return. On the contrary, God is willing to give you a chance to worship him and become his servant. This is definitely a good thing, and you must know that not everyone is eligible to serve God.”
When Li Keyong sat down, he understood a lot of things.
The most important point was why the opponent wanted to help him deal with Li Ye.
That was undoubted. If the opponent had other agendas, he didn’t need to hide it. They had the strength to make Li Keyong obey.
The Qidan tribe had risen through sweeping the central and eastern grasslands. Now that they had taken the Tartar territory, if they wanted to expand further, they would only face two more opponents.
To the west was the Uighur tribe who practiced the Ming Religion, their forces were based mostly around Tianshan and the Western Regions. And to the south was the Tang Dynasty under the rule of the Immortal Court Taoist sect.
Compared to the barren Western Region and the Uighur Territory, which was nothing special, the prosperous and wealthy Tang Dynasty was undoubtedly more attractive.
However, the grasslands had not yet been completely settled. Of course, the Qidan did not want a peaceful and prosperous Tang Empire to appear. After all, at the heights of the Tang Empire, the entire grasslands bowed its heads and were under its jurisdiction.
If the Tang Empire quickly settled their domestic chaos and resurrects again, then it would only be natural to settle the grasslands again—at least, the Tang Empire would not want a strong and united enemy in the north.
The risen Qidan was the fateful enemy of the Central Plains. It was either that the Qidan sending troops south, or that the Tang army going up north.
And that was only secondary.
What was more important was that no gods or immortals were uninterested in the great divine land of the Tang Empire.
Li Keyong sneered and said, “I just can’t believe that Li Ye, with only 100,000 troops and a war zone reaching only a few vassal states could attract the attention of the grasslands. Even you Qidans want to use my hand to restrict him.”
Yelv Abaoji made no comment and just said, “The lord must know Li Ye’s strength better than us. The fact that he could sweep Hedong with just 100,000 Pinglu troops says it all, doesn’t it?”
Li Keyong stopped beating around the bush and said, “Tell me your conditions and your requirements.”
Yelv Abaoji clapped his hands and said, “Talking to smart people is labor-saving. Now that the lord is being direct, why would I hide? The conditions we can give are very favorable. Since the lord has failed in borrowing troops from the Tartar tribe, we can provide them. We can also provide the cultivators that the lord couldn’t get from the Tartars. Our requirements are very simple, you just need to bow down to the Qidan and accept our rank of nobility and become a servant of God.”
Li Keyong frowned and asked, “Religion of God?”
Yelv Abaoji smiled, full of pride and self-confidence. “God’s warriors naturally have names. Just like Buddhism and Taoism. God’s warrior’s religion is called the religion of God.”
Li Keyong fell silent.
Yelv Abaoji had made it clear that if he wanted the Qidan to help him, he must become a Qidan minister and a member of the religion. In other words, from hereon in, he would no longer be an independent feudal prince, but a spokesperson supported by the Qidan.
For Li Keyong, however, this was no psychological burden. For him, it would be nothing more than replacing Buddhism with the religion of God. From the bottom of his heart, he would neither be a disciple of Buddhism nor a member of the religion of God. He would just pretend to practice the religion for he relied on the strength of their cultivators.
When he achieved the great cause of the True Dragon and ruled the world and gained the blessing of the imperial movement, he would then kick the opponent away. Bu then, he would send troops to the grasslands and annihilate the Qidan.
At the end of the day, everything was just the strategy of temporary union and borrowing power.
Therefore, after a moment of groaning, Li Keyong accepted the conditions.
Yelv Abaoji appreciated Li Keyong’s acceptance of the situation. He then added with confidence, “The lord really is a hero. Believe me, with the help of God and the Qidan tribe, you will be able to accomplish great things.”
He said those words with sincerity, like he didn’t know Li Keyong’s true intentions at all.
But in fact, Yelv Abaoji knew everything.
After all, he would be the founding ruler of the Liao Dynasty.
The warriors of god were currently fighting against the Immortal Court in the immortal territory. So the more chaos there was in the divine land, the better. This way the Immortal Court would not be able to gather the power of the divine land. So Yelv Abaoji did not care if Li Keyong had truly given his allegiance.
Regardless of Li Keyong’s intentions, Yelv Abaoji had the confidence to control him.
After all, Li Keyong was just a mortal, but he had immortals backing him.
As long as Li Keyong became a worshipper, then the power of the religion of God would penetrate into the Tang Empire. Just like a wedge driven into the flesh and blood of the Immortal Court Taoist sect, which would continue to make the Immortal Court lose blood.
Just as Buddhism expanded its influence in the north, once Li Keyong took refuge in the religion of God, then the God’s temples would be built in Hedong. And countless people would become believers, and in turn, the Immortal Court would lose the power of incense and worship.
Both of them thought they had each other stitched up, and their faces were filled with smiles. It was as if they were afraid that the other party would not feel their ‘sincerity’.
Then came the moment of the pledge.
Since he had lent his beliefs in the religion of God, then all ceremonial rules and regulations must follow the model of the religion. Li Keyong instructed Kang Junli to prepare sacrifice items such as incense and livestock. He intended to set up an altar at the Inspector General’s Manor and prepare for his acceptance into the religion.
As they waited, they talked cordially and chatted. Yelv Abaoji confided, “The Qidan rose from a small tribe to the great power it is now. And they achieved this result through fighting bravely in many bloody battles. They only wanted to rule the grasslands. The lord should understand that our people are not adapted to the way of life in the Central Plains, so we won’t go down south to the Yellow River. When the lord achieves your great career and becomes the master of the Central Plains, please do not set off to the north and disrupt the peace in the grasslands!”
Li Keyong immediately assured, “I assure you that my plans are for the Central Plains and has no intention of going north. Moreover, for thousands of years, the Central Plains has never really included the grasslands as their counties. Not to mention that there are no real benefits in the expedition.”
They talked very well and were very satisfied.
But at that moment, an anachronistic voice came, “What a peaceful scene between a guest and a host. I, the solitary prince, was almost moved by your sincerity. I almost want to give up Hedong and go back home.”
Upon hearing the voice, both Yelv Abaoji and Li Keyong’s expressions changed, and flew out of the door to the courtyard at the same time.
When they looked up, they saw a young man in black robes hanging in the sky under the stars. He was overlooking the sentient beings with such distinguished air of elegance and coquetry.
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