Chapter 334: Beating the Birdman with a Stick
Wuqimai is the high priest?

The first thing Yang Chang did when he woke up was to look at the altar to confirm. However, there was only a wooden man left on the platform. The high priest who was wearing a gorgeous cloak had already left the scene.

What about people?

"Brother Yang, there are hundreds of guards in this valley. When do we start?"

"Let's go to the valley entrance first and catch them all in one fell swoop!"

"Okay, okay, I can't wait any longer. But, you won't faint again, will you? If the fight starts later, I'm afraid I won't be able to take care of you."

"I am fine."

Yang Chang suspected that his fainting was related to the ritual performed by the high priest himself. Now that Wuqimai was not on the stage, it was a good time to launch an attack.

Before he urged the tiger to move, he suddenly patted the tiger's head gently to remind it, "You have to help me guard the valley entrance later. Don't let any of them go. Afterwards, all the food will be yours!"

"Ouch (quietly)."

"set off!"

There were hundreds of people in the valley, and even though the beast was as big as an ox, they dared not provoke it. Now that Yang Chang had taken action to kill it, the tigers' blood boiled and they ran even more vigorously.

How long will it take me to eat hundreds of two-legged beasts?
Yang Chang sat on the tiger's back, unable to understand how Wu Qimai could be the high priest.

After all, Fan Rui said it with certainty that only the prime minister could concurrently serve as the high priest. Could it be that Nianhan gave up the divine power as a deal in order to become the commander-in-chief?
Wuqimai held both political power and divine authority in his hands, which was equivalent to Song Huizong achieving great success in Taoism and then mobilizing the entire country's resources to cultivate it. How could this continue in the long run?
Well, it is better to arrive at the right time than to arrive early. We should nip Wu Qimai in the bud in advance to prevent him from causing serious trouble.

In fact, Yang Chang was worrying too much. Although Nianhan was the prime minister of the Jin Dynasty, he was never the high priest.

Before the Jurchens established their nation, Aguda was the military leader of the tribe, and Nianhan's father Sagai was the high shaman, that is, the spiritual leader, responsible for taming the tribes and hearing cases.

When Aguda led an army to fight against the Liao Dynasty, he was opposed by Sagai at first. Later, he succeeded after asking someone to intercede for him. He also selected the best of the captured spoils and presented them to Sagai, who represented the gods.

It can be said that before the founding of the country, the status of the shaman high priest was even higher than that of the tribal leader, but this situation changed after Sagai's death.

At that time, Nianhan had a high reputation in the army, so Aguda did not let him inherit the position of prime minister (high priest), but let his brother, deputy prime minister Wuqimai, take his place. Thus, he held the divine power in his own hands.

Even after a new prime minister was appointed, Wuqimai only entrusted government affairs to him, and the divine power was always controlled by himself.

Of course, after Aguda established his country and annexed Liao, the lives of the Jurchens became better and better. With slaves working for them, they no longer needed to worry about the climate. The vast territory could make up for the shortcomings, and coupled with the impact of Han culture, shamanism gradually faded out of their lives.

As the left deputy marshal of the Jin army, Nianhan controlled an army of more than 100,000 and the autonomy of the Yunzhong region. He could plunder anything he lacked through war and did not care about the so-called shamanism.

Pray for rain, relieve disasters, cure diseases, and curse.
This traditional shamanic magic was considered a minor skill by Nianhan. If he had not been crushed by Yang Chang's strength, he would not have suggested to Wuqimai to use curse to kill Yang Chang.

Yes, this strategy was proposed by Nianhan, who was the eldest son of the former high priest Sagai and was very familiar with shamanism. In order to agree to let Wuqimai go to the front line, cursing Yang Chang was a necessary condition.

Nianhan's two sons have already died. If he follows in Xieye's footsteps, the lineage of Sagai's eldest son will be completely wiped out, and Wuqimai cannot force him to die.

Yang Chang didn't know and didn't want to know about the grievances and hatreds among the Jurchen nobles. He only knew that no one in the valley today would see the sun tomorrow.

Soon, the tiger came down the mountain and arrived at the mouth of the valley.

oooo
A tiger roar at close range startled the guards in front of the valley so much that their hair stood on end.

What's going on? Is this the roar of a tiger?

It is an important place for sacrifice, and with so many companions guarding it, even the most powerful beast will die. What’s more, all the great and small witches from various tribes have gathered here, and they all have magical powers.

In such a short period of time, no snakes, insects, rats or ants were seen. What stupid cat dared to provoke us?
As a group of people were whispering, a black shadow suddenly jumped high up, like a hill passing over the leader.

"This is."

"What a huge tiger!"

"hiss"

"No, there are people on this beast's back. There are two of them!"

The guards communicated in Jurchen, which neither Yang Chang nor Lu Zhishen could understand. As the saying goes, an inch longer is an inch stronger, so both of them chose sticks as weapons.

As the tiger pounced, Yang Chang raised his iron rod and swept it across. The force of his attack was so exaggerated that the man was hit so hard that he exploded.

But Lu Zhishen felt uncomfortable sitting on the tiger's back, so he hugged Yang Chang tightly when the tiger jumped, and then jumped aside when it landed.

"I am used to fighting on foot, but you are fighting on a tiger, where are you going?"

Boom!
Lu Zhishen was tall and strong. He jumped off the tiger's back alone, scaring the Jin soldiers nearby to dodge. Everyone thought that the giant tiger was carrying another person.

The man who was closest to him ran late and was hit on the head with a mace by the big monk, and in an instant his three-box car turned into a two-box car.

You have a skull and I have a mace.

It turns out that the mace is harder.

Yang Chang rode on a giant tiger with hanging eyes. He swung his stick to create a bloody mist. Lu Zhishen hit him on the head with his mace, and the Jin soldiers were instantly subdued.

They were Wuqimai's guards, and they were all sons of noble Jurchens. Although they had never gone to the front lines to kill the enemy, they were experts in riding and hunting, and their martial arts were also outstanding, but they had never seen such a scene.

The tiger doesn’t look like a tiger, and the human doesn’t look like a human. What is going on?

Yang Chang was standing on the tiger's back and looking down from above, so he couldn't see clearly. Lu Zhishen was dressed as a Xi people, so no one thought that they were both Han people.

The two men's target was the monster in the valley, so they picked up two iron rods and kept swinging them, almost killing one Jin soldier with one rod. They had no ability and no time to resist, and dozens of people were quickly scattered and left the valley entrance.

A few people fled into the valley. Yang Chang did not ride the tiger to chase them in. Instead, he jumped off the tiger's back and patted it, signaling the other party to help him guard the door.

"Master, I will walk in with you. You will focus on dealing with the monsters wearing bird feathers on their heads and in strange clothes, and I will deal with the guards inside."

"no problem."

"How's your mace? If it doesn't fit your hand, change it quickly."

"It's top-heavy and not suitable for me. I want to find someone like you."

When Lu Zhishen looked down, Yang Chang handed him his special stick, "Why didn't you say so earlier? Here, take it!"

"Then you use"

"I can use anything."

Yang Chang raised his foot and hooked it skillfully, picking up a sword and holding it in his hand.

Although the Jin people inherited the Liao Dynasty's heritage, their smelting and forging technology was not mature enough. Their weapons were mostly iron rods, bone clubs, maces, etc., which were basically rough and blunt tools. Sharp tools such as swords were not well made.

The sword he had just picked up was of high craftsmanship at first glance. It was most likely a standard weapon of the Song Dynasty, captured by the front-line soldiers of the Jin army and given by Wuqimai as a reward to his personal guards.

Yang Chang changed his long weapon to a short weapon because he thought that if he separated from Lu Zhishen later, he could use the sword to trigger the [Lone Warrior] talent, which would allow him to kill enemies faster and relieve the pressure on the big insect mount at the entrance of the valley. It was said that Yang Chang would enter the field on a tiger, and Lu Zhishen would guard the entrance of the valley to clean up the fish that slipped through the net. This arrangement might be more efficient, but he didn't know how capable the shaman was. If there were a few wizards at Fan Rui's level, Yang would be nervous.

Even though their magic skills were not as good as Fan Rui's, they could unite and cast the nightmare spell. Yang Chang would not dare to put himself in danger. In addition to his high magic resistance, Lu Zhishen could also chant scriptures to recover from fainting. No one could replace him at this time.

The two of them walked forward side by side, like peerless masters coming to the villain sect to eliminate evil, with a kind of heroic spirit of "I will go forward even if there are thousands of people against me."

After Wuqimai finished performing the spell, he went to the temporary tent nearby to rest and waited for the great and minor wizards to perform the follow-up rituals. The second round would begin half an hour later.

The roar of the tiger at the valley mouth and the scream of the guards were soon heard near the sacrificial site. The ten great witches, each holding a magic weapon, were able to keep their positions, but the lesser witches behind them lacked concentration and became panicked the moment they were affected, causing the ritual formation to become somewhat chaotic.

As soon as Wuqimai closed his eyes and lay down, the chief guard Wanyan Shentu rushed into the tent, with obvious tension in his tone: "Your Majesty, wake up quickly, something big has happened!"

"Hmm? You're so flustered, how can you be so indecent? As long as I'm here, the sky won't fall!"

"It's really urgent. The entrance to the Sacrifice Valley has been lost and the thieves are coming to kill us. You must move!"

"what?"

As soon as Wanyan Shentumen finished speaking, Wuqimai was so frightened that he turned over and got off the bed.

He also heard the shouting outside the tent at this time, so he changed his previous calm attitude and frowned and asked: "If we don't alert the secret sentries on the way, I'm afraid it's our own rebellion. How many bandits are there?"

"Two. No, three."

"What?"

Wuqimai was confused when he heard this. He originally thought that his nephew Erlido led his confidants to launch a rebellion because he did not get promoted to Anban Bojile. But what are two or three people?
Wanyan Shentu hurriedly explained: "What I meant is that there are two people and a giant tiger."

"You have two hundred guards here, but you can't deal with two men and a tiger? They are animal trainers, right? Jurchen warriors enjoy fierce tigers and wolves, but are afraid of the so-called giant tiger? How big can it be?"

"No. Your Majesty has misunderstood."

Wanyan Shentu waved his hands and explained with a bitter face: "The tiger is as big as an ox, but it is not worth mentioning. The key is that those two people are like ghosts and gods. None of the guards can withstand their attacks."

"Is there such a thing? Who are these two people?"

Wuqimai asked as he walked towards the tent door, and then he heard Wanyan Shentumeng respond: "One is dressed as a Han Chinese, and the other is dressed as a Xi Chinese. They both seem to be communicating in Chinese."

“Chinese.”

When Wuqimai repeated this word, he suddenly saw that the "thieves" were killing the guards and forcing them to retreat. The Xi man was driving them with a mace like a pig, while the other man chopped down several people with a sword.

How is this possible? Is he using witchcraft, or are the guards pretending to be dead?

Are there any traitors among my personal guards?

hiss.
"His Majesty!"

"The two thieves are indeed very powerful. The guards are completely unable to stop them. We immediately rushed to the altar and had to use witchcraft to repel the enemy."

"Will this work? Your Majesty is a precious person, you should not go into danger. The witches will cast spells to deal with it. I suggest you hide in the dark first. If the witches can curse the two thieves to death, Your Majesty can go out and deal with the aftermath. If the witches can't curse the two thieves, then you can hide until the thieves retreat."

"I am the ruler of a country and the high priest of the shaman. You want me to hide? They are just two thieves. I don't believe I can't kill them. Let's go!"

Wuqimai aroused the spirit of kingship and hegemony, left these words in a decisive tone, and hurried to the altar. Wanyan Shentumen did not dare to remonstrate with him anymore, and could only follow him closely.

Before he came to report, he had already sent out most of the guards in the valley to resist, but according to the complaints of his comrades who escaped back, he had no confidence in repelling the enemy.

The hundred or so imperial guards surrounded Lu and Yang like a pack of wolves and started to kill them, but a large number of them were killed in the blink of an eye. The rest were immediately frightened and had no courage to continue fighting, and they scattered like birds and beasts in an instant.

Without the outer garrison to protect them, the witches and wizards near the altar had to stop the rituals they were performing and prepare to fight the enemy themselves.

Among these shamans, the minor ones cannot perform magic independently, like monks who have the ability to understand but have not yet broken through the realm. Only the major ones master some simple spells, but most of them are at the first level of Qi Refining Realm, and some have reached the second level of Qi Refining Realm. As the high priest, Wuqimai is actually still at the mortal realm.

The difference between him and the little witch is that he masters several important secret spells and special instruments to activate the spells, which were passed down by successive high priests before their death.

The early shaman high priests were all wizards with the highest realm of cultivation. However, as theocracy was passed down in a single family, the power brought distractions that slowed people down in cultivation, so the cultivation of each generation was not as high as the previous one, and by the time it came to Wuqimai, it was no longer able to break through.

Seeing the enemy charging towards the altar, Wu Qimai, relying on the presence of the great witches of the ten tribes, hurried over and shouted loudly: "What are you waiting for? The enemy is already on top of us, quickly use all your magic skills!"

"High Priest, the guards have to hold us back. Give us time to cast the spell. If we force the spell to be cast faster, it will definitely cost us our skills."

"Don't be timid when facing a powerful enemy. If you can't stop it now, Shamanism will be gone, and what's the point of cultivation?"

"This"

Wuqimai spoke with great righteousness, but he had no cultivation to waste. After he finished speaking, he saw that the great witches were still hesitating, then he realized that he was "harming others for his own benefit", so he issued a strict order to Wanyan Shentu Menbu.

"Let the guards fight to the death. If anyone unfortunately dies here today, I will give each of them a compensation of 100 gold coins and 100 cattle and sheep. If anyone dares to flee in fear, I will punish their entire family!"

"Yes!"

"You are only allowed to advance, not retreat. If all the guards are killed, you, Shen Tu Men, will go in person!"

"I will obey your orders!"

After Wanyan Shentumeng received the order, he went to the side and whistled to summon the assembly. He also prepared himself for a fight to the death. The great wizards had nothing to say and all went to find the small wizards in their own department for assistance, hoping to speed up the casting speed and minimize the loss of their own cultivation.

Even though the guards burst out with great morale, they were not able to complete a single move at the hands of Yang Chang and Lu Zhishen, and fell one after another at the edge of the altar.

It was not until Wanyan Shentumen was defeated that he was able to barely catch Lu Zhishen's iron rod, but the more powerful Yang Chang was left out.

He found Wuqimai in the back, and saw the "bird people" standing in their respective positions, as if they were performing some ritual, and it was obvious that they were not farting well.

A clanging sound.

Yang Chang picked up the two men's weapons and reminded Lu Zhishen: "Master, let me take care of this guy. You keep going forward. The big fish is yours!"

"Huh? Oh"

Lu Zhishen was just saying that he had met a good opponent and he could have a good fight with him, but when he heard that Yang Chang wanted to give up the big fish, he suddenly became excited.

He raised the iron rod and moved forward like a chariot, frightening the three great witches closest to him. They decisively gave up the tedious ritual and chose to use up their skills to cast spells quickly.

Rustle rustle.
Black smoke, purple lightning, green gas.
Everyone used their best skills at once to attack Lu Zhishen, but just as these spells were about to touch Lu Zhishen, they were swallowed up by the golden light from the monk.

"how is this possible?"

“Where’s the big fish?”

Lu Zhishen patted his head, feeling a little itchy but it didn't matter. He then raised his iron rod and started beating him: "How can a birdman recite sutras? Take this from me!"

At the same time, Yang Chang cleverly grasped the blade with his left hand, and with his right hand, he swung the sword to cut Wanyan Shen Tumen into two pieces.

(End of this chapter)