***At the highest peak of the Huang Mountains****
The cloud in the sky was carved into the shape of a white platform... It had four marble stairs... connecting the bottom of the mountain to its peak... Jian Hao knelt at its center... recalling the lost stations of his journey... so he began to sob intensely... to be freed from the bitterness of loss and disappointment. ...Here he stood again... watching his reddened eyes... the indignant sky with remorse... until a giant bell appeared above it from nowhere... he began to tighten his huge rope... the more he tightened it, the more he wanted to cry, declaring the end of their journey, indeed his journey. The golden bell ball collided with its edges... it issued resounding bells from miles away... it violently shook the leaves of the trees... and stirred up the birds from their nests... and with its action, the flags planted at the end of each staircase fluttered... welcoming the League of the Four Clans... Let the leader of each clan ascend his own ladder... following in his footsteps the successors to the throne and the entourage of guards and soldiers...
The first person to hasten the question was the leader of the Shi clan, who was characterized by the sharpness of his tongue and the features of his face, citing the obsidian stone on his pinky finger, the intensity of strength and determination to get what he wants from whomever he wants...
"I see you are empty-handed, where are the treasures?"
The Gao clan leader, in a hurry to touch the treasures of the Holy Land, muttered: "Where, where is the loot cart?"
The Yan Clan Leader added with great curiosity:
"Have you reached the Land of Miracles? How was it? Is it different from our lands? Speak, servant."
- A flurry of questions, with conflicting intentions, surrounded the only survivor until the leader of the fourth clan (Tu) spoke to him, calming the situation:
"There were many questions and we did not hear a single answer from you. Tell me, what happened to you?"
The collision of their gazes revealed what their hearts longed for. As much as the leader of the Fire Clan (Shi) yearned to possess the riches of the Land of Miracles, as much as the leader of the Emerald Clan (Gao) yearned to touch the sacred things that would raise his kingdom to a position it had not achieved in decades, while the old man of the Agate Clan longed for Yellow (Yan) denied his doubts about a land that he had never heard about from the ancient sages, while the leader of the Heaven Clan (Tu) kept the words on his mind, which was his best way to secure the situation....
Their eager accents for his answers... stimulated the slave's spirit to break free from the mold of submission... For the first time, he let loose his tongue before the leaders of the major tribes... without fear of what would happen to him...
"This servant can no longer bear the cruelty of your greed. You are sacrificing your lives for powers that will not bring back those who have departed and treasures that will not replace those who have been lost."
The Gao leader gets angry at him: Lower your voice while talking to your superiors Jian Hao, are you crazy?
The slave screams in pain: Madness is more merciful than what I suffer. I was responsible for protecting them, but in the end they protected me. You lost them in the most horrific ways and you are here preoccupied with the sacred? "
Leader Xi's sheath pounded on the ground, and he took his last breath:
Answer my question: Did you discover the secrets of that land or not?
Commander Tu hummed in a heavy tone: "Slow down, let's understand the princes first."
The other roars in horror: This mission required years of preparation and waiting. The return of this slave was not and will not be in my calculations.
Jian Hao scolds them: Gold Slave and the only strong one here is you
With a quick movement, Commander Shi's sharp sword fell on his neck:
Believe me, if it weren't for what you're hiding, I would have cut your throat since you arrived.
The Gao Clan Chief held his scabbard trembling, as did the guards behind him:
You are not allowed to raise your sword against a member of the Gao Clan. Lower your weapons before we declare endless war.
His threat did not shake one iota of the Xi leader's willingness to take the soul of that slave. For him, the Gao leader's statement is just a trick used by the weak to undermine the power of the strong. Whoever wants to attack should do so without resorting to an empty hypothesis... and it will not harm him to allow the situation to escalate further. However, the war had been postponed for years, so, as usual, the Tu Clan Leader was forced to intervene...
"Swords shall not be raised under the eyes of heaven. Will you break the covenant? Come on, lower them. Let us listen to his story."
The leader of Shi lowered his sword, waiting to hear what pleased him... while the slave regained his breath regretfully:
Passing into such a forbidden land was not easy, but getting out of it was a thousand times worse. At first it enchanted us with its beauty and the grandeur of its secrets, until we decided to return. Then that land was no longer as we knew it. I fought us fiercely, until we lost everything we had collected during the trip, and then I ended up escaping. On a boat alone in the sea, but the awakening swept over me, froze my organs, and I sank into the depths.
The Gao Clan Leader stepped forward and pulled Jian Hao's robe nervously:
What do you mean by losing everything you collected? What do you mean by going back alone?? I sent you to take care of the prince. Your mission was to cut off your head in its place, you vile slave. In what way do you return to me alone? Where is Gagi? Where is he? He speaks the words.
He started slapping and kicking him while his men dragged him away.
The old man of the Yan Clan couldn't bear the news of the passing of the youngest flower in his palace... if it weren't for the guards who gathered to carry him:
"My rose, my tired heart heard the news of your departure, why did you not listen to me, why did you insist on leaving your garden, oh, on a throne whose foundations were shaken by your loss, oh, on an immeasurable sacrifice. "
Both leaders continued to lament until he heard the sound of the slave's knees hitting the ground from the force of the Shi Clan Leader's punches:
It is impossible for the princes to disappear and this weak slave to remain. It impossible for the Shi Clan's claws to break under any force. Everything said now is a lie a lie. No, no, no, but a planned conspiracy in which you all participated. You agreed to be alone with the Shi clan's son. You have been saved. Then she hid the treasures and in front of me she claimed the opposite...
Jian Hao spat out blood and commented, "Ah Shi Hua, you don't deserve a father like that."
Finally, he receives a decisive blow to the neck, which ends their heated conversation...
**Raises his head****
He raises his head again on the same platform... in different circumstances... a mild climate... a clear sky... an autumn breeze shaking the tree branches... emitting beautiful melodic music... announcing the presence of the Sage of the Century...
"Heaven blesses this meeting and promises you great spoils, of course, if you fulfill your covenant... The sea will make its way to a land where no human foot has set foot before... You will see and hear what no one has ever seen before... Getting there will not be as easy as returning... But the reward is that it will all be worth it... Growth and prosperity will reign on your thrones... In fact, the greatest ambitions in you will close your eyes..."
Then he laughed, waiting for an answer from the tribal leaders: "What do you aspire except prosperity for your lands?"
The Shi Clan Chief scratched his chin and replied: "That's right, old man. Prosperity is upon us."
The Gao clan leader clapped sarcastically: "Look who is talking about the prosperity of his people? And who almost killed half of his guards because of false news about blessed fruits inside the caves of giant lizards?
The other shrugged his shoulders with satisfaction: It was not fake news, but rather training to prepare for a day like this. Unlike you, I have not seen your armies fighting honorable battles.
The Gao leader gritted his teeth from the bitterness of the truth he heard from the mouth of his hateful enemy, but the intervention of the Tu clan leader saved the situation.
"Sorry, gentlemen, arguing about the past will do no good to anyone. What matters to us now is reaching the land of miracles and dividing its treasures fairly. O wise man, perfect and perfect...
The wise Hamm ordered: "Let a professional adventurer come forward from each clan who is able to bear the difficulties of this mission."
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