Chapter 263 - Confrontation.
Yang Dao sat in the void with his eyes closed. He did not bother with the majesty of the king. Laohu Bai stood beside him maintaining vigilance. She was standing calmly but her senses were alert to the limit. She was aware of what these people could do. They worshiped strength, and to test strength, they could go to any limit.
The king sat on the throne and he had his eyes half-closed. He wanted the boy to speak first and lose the initiative. However, this kid dared to meditate in front of him, as if he did not exist. He opened his eyes and said to Laohu Bai, “The Child Of Chronicles sure has his arrogance.”
The man had a burly figure, long hair cascading down his shoulders. He was dressed in a black robe with some silver thread embroidering on it. Angular face, sharp eyebrows, and a strong aura emitting from him. A long sword rested beside him.
Normal people can be easily influenced by him but the two in front of him were anything but normal. Laohu Bai said, “Indeed. However, his majesty does not lose his grounds in comparison.” she spoke with a sarcastic tone.
The king laughed and said, “I heard that he defeated Achilles? That is why I allowed him inside the palace. However, if he wishes to talk to me, he needs to earn that.”
Laohu Bai raised her eyebrow and asked, “Are you sure about that?” and her aura started to flood the whole courtroom. The king was taken back by this pressure. It has been a lot of generations since they have seen the last Emissary Of Heavens visiting the realm. The king heard that the guardian following the child was strong but this was not what he expected.
He almost choked from the pressure emitted by Laohu Bai, but he would not be putting his arrogance down. He was the King after all. He said, “Yes, this is a tradition. He needs to compete with all the ministers, and then me to talk to me. He must defeat us all, to show that he is better than us. There will be no exceptions.”
As he spoke the pressure on him increased. Yang Dao suddenly said, “Baibai, do not scare him.”
Laohu Bai immediately took back the pressure and the king sighed. He would lie if he said that the white-haired lady did not scare him. His back was wet with cold sweat. Yang Dao said, “Call your ministers over. Let us compete.”
The king nodded and he clapped his hands. A few old men walked into the courtroom from the side door. A total of five old men, all dressed in grey robes. These people carried a huge amount of vicissitude in his eyes. Their faces were wrinkled and long white beards.
Yang Dao stopped floating and stood on the ground. He exchanged a glance with them and nodded. The people also nodded. The king spoke, “Old people, you can start competing with the Child Of Chronicles.”
The old men nodded. The Kingdom of the dark had no respect for the elders of love for the younger, all this belonged to power. The more powerful you are the more perks you have. One of the Old men said, “My name is Aldeon. I am the minister of war. We will compete in the art of war strategy. Is this acceptable?”
Yang Dao nodded and asked, “How do we compete?”
Aldeon replied, “We have a board game, the objective is to capture the king…” he described the rules to Yang Dao. After the description was complete, Aldeon called a few soldiers to set up the game table.
Yang Dao and Aldeon sat on either side of the table and the game began. Laohu Bai stood behind him, her eyes were trained on the game table, but her senses were covering the surrounding courtroom. She was always on guard, this was her innate instinct of the White Tiger.
…
On the game table, a few pieces were arranged in a specific way. The game was similar to chess, however, the pieces on the table were different. It was a map of an imaginary land, with two different kingdoms. The motive was to use the army and conquer the other kingdom.
According to the rules, the people will have ten minutes to arrange their pieces according to their own desire. Yang Dao saw that Aldeon had no intention to manage his pieces. He waved his hand and bend the air. The air current was like threads, roping his desired pieces like beads in a rosary.
He arranged his archers in four groups and kept them behind the infantry. He sorted half of his cavalry ahead of the infantry. The horsemen were all armed with long spears. Yang Dao was aware that he could not deal with the chaotic opponent with this method. However, he did not intend to show his motives so soon. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
After twenty minutes, Aldeon said, “The game begins.”
Yang Dao nodded. In this game, both the players could attack simultaneously. So they began, Aldeon waved his hands, and the swarm charged forward. The old man had a smirk on his face. He thought that Yang Dao was trying to face him with the standard measures of the light kingdom.
The boy also followed up, he moved his hands and the archers started the arrow rain. Aldeon said, “It won’t work.”
Yang Dao smiled and said, “We will see.” as soon as the swarm came close enough. He moved his hands, the cavalry charged forward, however, they did not attack the swarm but split it. The cavalry was like a spear, splitting the masses.
The key element was to shred the swarm into smaller patches. The cavalry did not follow a straight line. They would split and regroup from time to time and started to shred the swarms. The next thing Yang Dao did was to throw his infantry into the mix. The short patches were dealt with a quick assault.
Aldeon started to lose. After a few moments, he lost fifty percent of his army. Yang Dao’s pieces had casualties but still, they outnumbered Aldeon and soon the old man lost. Yang Dao said, “The problem with chaos is, that if you can divide it. It is no match against organized chaos.”
His words shocked Aldeon. Now that he noticed, he found that the cavalry had no specific path when they shredded his assault. He sighed and said, “I accept my defeat, Lord.”
He accepted Yang Dao’s superiority over him in the skill of war.
The other ministers nodded. What followed was a series of competitions. Yang Dao had to compete in poem writing, painting, and debate. Yang Dao won the competitions with ease and defeated the four ministers. Then he gazed at the king and said, “When do we fight?”
He was aware of what the competition would be when he would be facing the king. The King said, “We fight tomorrow morning, in front of the citizens. They should know your strength if they are to follow your words.”
Yang Dao nodded and turned around. He wished to leave the palace when the king spoke, “You can read the chronicle while you are here.”
Laohu Bai said, “Young Master, your strength will increase if you read that book.” her voice was low enough for only Yang Dao to hear.
The boy nodded and Aldeon took the initiative to lead him to the center of the palace. The old minister was very respectful to him. He led him to the center of the palace where a black book was placed. Similar to the palace in the Light Kingdom, they had no patrols or guards here too. Yang Dao did not waste any time and started to read the book.
Laohu Bai stood beside him like always. The chronicles here were simpler than the ones he read in the light kingdom. He found all sorts of things mentioned inside the book. Some amused him while some made him facepalm.
He said, “Did they all get drunk when they came here? What is this bullshit? Here is a guy who made a law that only peanuts must be eaten with their liquor?” he cast a gaze at Laohu Bai.
The girl shook her head helplessly. She was not aware of why did some people make this kinda law.
…
While Yang Dao was reading the book, the King had publicized that he will be dueling with Yang Dao a day later. The whole kingdom of the Dark was set on fire and it was boiling like water. Everyone wanted to watch the child of chronicles fight the King. Some wanted the king to win, while some prayed that the Child of Chronicles can beat the heck out of the arrogant money-grubber to bring good changes to their country.
Yang Dao was unaware of all this and he was immersed in reading the thick book in front of him. Suddenly he realized what the book was to teach him, and he fell into epiphany.