Chapter 46: Gaochang Part 5

“Ah, yes,” Yelu Dashi said. “Without the Previous Emperor saving your life, you’d have drowned in the Xiao Family pond. But is sparing you a favor? Besides, people must look forward. Admit it—we lost. Losers lose; that’s how it goes, as your Song People say. Shangjing fell to the Jurchens. In our lifetime, you and I may never return home.”

“What are you getting at?” Xiang Xian interjected suddenly.

“You speak Liao tongue?” Xiao Kun was quite surprised.

Xiang Xian did, of course. In his youth, he’d traveled much of Shenzhou—not fluent, but he could understand and speak.

“I want to tell you both,” Yelu Dashi said, “whether Great Liao rises again depends on me now. The Heavenly Mandate is mine—not Yelu Yari’s, nor some so-called Imperial Jade Seal. If seals worked, your Han dynasties wouldn’t have fallen, would they?”

“You must face facts,” Yelu Dashi pressed. “Young Master, state my plan. Yari, Shu Lie—they’re worthless spawn of my useless cousins. Yet before you stands a Yelu heir to the throne…”

“…Bila Ge lent me Tingzhou to regroup. Coordinating with the Khagan’s consorts and Yemi, I command fifty thousand troops, far from the Central Plains. No battles with Jin Troops in nearly a decade.” Yelu Dashi approached Xiao Kun, dipping a finger in his milk tea to sketch a rough Western Regions map on the table. “I need a year to reorganize the army, then march east on Gaochang and south through the Tianshan Mountains.”

Xiang Xian laughed suddenly. “Bila Ge lends you Tingzhou, and now you want to swallow Gaochang in return?”

“Not all us Liao People are like that,” Xiao Kun explained to Xiang Xian.

“I understand,” Xiang Xian said with cupped hands. “General, your thick skin is the thickest I’ve ever seen.”

Yelu Dashi just snorted coldly; he didn’t care what others thought.

“What kingly virtue does Bila Ge have to rule the Western Regions? Given time, he’ll be Western Xia’s prize. I’ll build a new Great Liao here and restore Khitan glory!” Yelu Dashi declared. “It’s the only way now. The Yelu Yanxi line is smoke in the wind. Young Master Xiao, I need your help. Naturally, I’ll fulfill your wishes too. Once the realm submits, however many troops you need against the Heavenly Demon, I’ll provide.”

Xiao Kun pulled something from his bosom—a small Four-Clawed Dragon.

“What’s that?” Yelu Dashi stepped back half a pace. He’d heard in Shangjing of Xiao Kun’s peerless martial arts and many magic treasures, fearing a sneak attack.

“Don’t be nervous, General,” Xiao Kun said. “It’s not a killing weapon—just a pendant Sa Luan gave me before parting.”

Xiao Kun toyed with the stone four-clawed dragon pendant between his fingers, tapping it on the table.

“Even as he abandoned me for the Demon Race at the last moment,” Xiao Kun said, “he hadn’t forgotten you. He tried to get me to bring him to the Khagan’s consorts to find you.”

“Young Master Xiao,” Yelu Dashi said gravely, “back in court, we didn’t interact much. All said you were a good minister who cared for the people. The Xiao Family thought you too emotional for great tasks. Do you truly believe that, if restoration succeeds, Sa Luan would be a benevolent emperor?”

“Leave,” Xiao Kun sighed deeply. “I swore before my Master never to kill Yelu or Xiao Family members in this life. You don’t understand, General. Your grand visions of conquest will end as bones and ruins.”

“And you?” Yelu Dashi shot back suddenly. “You cultivators always bear burdens heavier than mountains. The world has endured that way for millennia. Think I came just to spout frog-in-a-well nonsense? Your life’s just squatting in a bigger pond than mine!”

Xiang Xian jolted at those final words, viewing Yelu Dashi anew. He’d initially seen him as ambitious and ruthless, trying to sway Xiao Kun for another path to restoration.

But by the end, Xiang Xian sensed Yelu Dashi had never truly hoped to convince Xiao Kun.

“Old Wu, see him out!” Xiang Xian said.

“You’ll come find me one day,” Yelu Dashi replied.

Xiao Kun unstrapped his Tang Dao and laid it across the table, saying gravely, “General, you’d best hope that day never comes. If it does, I might have to break my oath.”

The threat carried immense weight. Yelu Dashi retreated a step and left the room without another word.

“Huh?” Chaosheng’s voice came from outside. “Who are you?”

Chaosheng had just finished breakfast and run into Yelu Dashi at the door. Inside, Xiang Xian and Xiao Kun said nothing. Xiang Xian glanced out and remarked, “The future emperor of Great Liao.”

But Chaosheng said from outside, “Ah, the Breaking Army Star.”

Xiang Xian and Xiao Kun exchanged a look. Xiao Kun hesitated to speak, but Xiang Xian, unconcerned, said, “Isn’t it the Purple Tenuity Star?”

Chaosheng pushed the door open. “Only a throne that endures is the Purple Tenuity Star.”

Suddenly, everyone heard Yelu Dashi roar in fury and storm out of the inn.

“That last line was brutal,” Xiang Xian said, hand over his forehead. Chaosheng’s words meant Yelu Dashi’s Liao, even if founded, would last only one generation—Khitan lands becoming a mirage, hope lost forever.

Chaosheng: “What did I say wrong?”

“Nothing,” Xiao Kun sighed. “As Shuhu foretold. But immersed in it, one can’t help feeling unwilling.”

Xiang Xian stretched lazily. “We should have Hulü Guang warn Bila Ge.”

With that, Xiao Kun’s affairs were settled. He sat there still, somewhat melancholic.

“Master,” Wu Yingzong said, “should the future emperor take the Imperial Jade Seal?”

Xiao Kun: “…”

Xiang Xian snapped back. “You’re still here?! Yelu Dashi!”

“You… let go!” In the hall, Yelu Dashi tried stealthily taking the jade seal but was quickly spotted. Wu Yingzong’s hand pinned it down with immense force. As the Liao Army’s mightiest warrior, Yelu Dashi strained every muscle but couldn’t budge Wu Yingzong.

After all that talk, Yelu Dashi had stooped to stealing the seal, losing all face. He raged, “This belongs to Great Liao!”

Xiang Xian emerged to see Yelu Dashi hunched over, hugging the seal and pulling with all his might, while Wu Yingzong held it with just two left fingers.

“You haven’t been emperor yet,” Xiang Xian said. “Be good and go home. Don’t make Grandpa beat you. Xiao Kun can’t kill Yelu clansmen—I never swore.”

With that, Xiang Xian casually drew Xiao Kun’s Tang Dao, flicking his wrist in two dazzling saber flowers. Yelu Dashi yanked his hands back and leaped away. The inn’s crowd scattered in a flash.