Translator: Dj2203
Editor: Dj2203
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Cold sweat slid down his back, and Zhong Youyu’s fingertips holding the rockery trembled slightly. It was really ridiculous that the dignified crown prince of a country would cooperate with barbarians.
Quietly exiting the imperial garden, Zhong Youyu walked all the way towards the emperor’s palace. Under the eighty-eighth jade stairs, he was surrounded by Yulin troops wearing silver armor. On the jade steps, more than a dozen Golden guards were also waiting in strict formation.
Both parties were the guardians of the royal family, but they appeared to be in a tense posture, which was really suspicious.
Zhong Youyu stopped at the foot of the jade steps and said loudly: “I, Zhong Youyu, would like to see the emperor.”
The commander of the Yulin Army stepped forward and bowed and saluted: “I have seen Duke Su. The emperor is seriously ill and is not able to see the foreign ministers.”
“The emperor has given a decree, and Duke Su is to be allowed in to see him!” The commander of the Golden Guards and the commander of the Yulin Army on the steps looked at each other as he raised the sword at his waist with one finger.
The leader of the Yulin Army said no more, and stepped aside with his eyes lowered, “Your Excellency, please.”
The spacious sleeping hall was filled with a strong smell of medicine. A gauze screen was erected between the dragon bed and the gate to prevent the evil spirits from breaking out and infecting those who came to visit the patient. The plain white gauze was as thin as a cicada’s wings and did not affect the line of sight. You could see the gray-white Emperor Yuanshuo leaning on the bed.
The maids and eunuchs serving in the palace had all changed, and they were very unfamiliar.
“Youyu, you’re here.” Feng Zhuoyi said unsteadily. If an immortal suddenly lost his spiritual power, and if he was not a person like Shen Lou who cultivated his body every day, he would become very weak.
“Your Majesty, I am guilty.” Zhong Youyu knelt on the ground, feeling very heavy in his heart. If the crown prince was really treasonous, he was an accomplice.
“Why are you like your father, taking all responsibilities on yourself?” Emperor Yuanshuo seemed to smile and said with emotion, “He told me when he was young that as long as he is around, he can protect me for a day. After he left, I wanted to protect you brothers. Now that you have grown up, I can go down to see him with peace of mind.”
After that, the eunuch who was waiting with him came out and handed an old letter to Zhong Youyu. The large open and closed fonts were exactly Zhong Changye’s handwriting.
[Recently, I often feel that my destiny is different, and I am afraid that a disaster will fall from the sky. The youngest son is not as good as me and is surrounded by wolves and tigers. If the minister does not survive, he hopes his children to be left alone by your majesty, begging and submissive.]
Zhong Youyu read it three times, with the corners of his eyes reddening. He always thought that Emperor Yuanshuo detained the two brothers in order to cause the Western Region to decline. Unexpectedly, it was his father’s request.
“I don’t know why he could predict that his end was coming. I thought it was a joke,” Feng Zhuoyi sighed deeply, “It’s fate, if your father was still here, why would Dayong be like this…”
“I dare not forget my father’s teachings, and I am willing to go through fire and water for my emperor.” Zhong Youyu put his father’s handwriting into his arms and kowtowed heavily.
“I don’t have much time left, and I don’t need you to do anything. If you meet Zhu Xingli, tell him to come and treat me.” Emperor Yuanshuo waved his hand, indicating that he could leave.
Looking at the whole Dayong, only Zhu Xingli knew something about the Devouring Spirits, and the doctors in the palace were helpless. The crown prince said that he had sent someone to notify Zhu Xingli, but his whereabouts were uncertain and he didn’t know where to convey his message.
On the bank of the Huyan River, the two armies faced each other. They were in a stalemate for a day, with no one making the first move.
Shen Lou stood on the slope and looked at the barbarian military camp opposite. Wen Shilan was obviously in the camp, and with the God of War there, the barbarians were like a pack with a wolf, their eyes glowing green, eager to pounce.
A white light flashed across the sky, and Zhong Youyu came with two guards on swords. Before he landed, the noisy voice reached his ears.
“Shen Qingque, receive the will of the capital!” Zhong Youyu threw away the two guards, climbed up the slope, walked to Shen Lou, who was motionless and did not greet him at all, and stuffed the prince’s signed decree into his hand.
Shen Lou took it without even looking at it, turned around and walked towards the camp, “I understand, you can go.”
“You know what the heck, you didn’t even look at it!” Zhong Youyu followed quickly, looking around to see that there was no one around, lowered his voice and said, “The crown prince asked you to withdraw your troops, otherwise you will be treated as a traitor. Don’t be stupid. Of the 200,000 troops, 150,000 are not yours. If there is a riot, no one can control the situation.”
“Even if we have to withdraw our troops alone, how can we withdraw now that we can’t even sustain food and Luli for more than three days? On the way back from the march, we also need to eat. Do you think that if we withdraw our troops, we will disperse on the spot?” Shen Lou walked to the door of the commander’s tent, and suddenly he stopped and looked at the guards guarding the door.
The young guard suddenly blushed and stuttered: “Master Marquis has already gotten up. He said he was going out to do some errands and would be back before dark.”
“Master Marquis? What Master?” Zhong Youyu immediately realized and chased after him. He followed Shen Lou into the commander’s tent and asked, “Is it Lin Xin?”
Shen Lou ignored him, opened the crown prince’s decree and glanced at it, took out a pen and paper and quickly wrote a reply, expressing his sincere words that he was willing to obey the imperial court’s will. But now that they were deep in the hinterland of the Northern Desert, the 200,000-strong army was short of food and Luli. Without supplies, the withdrawal of the troops could only be carried out by looting along the way, which may disturb the people. All that meant was that they could withdraw their troops only if they sent them food and Luli.
He raised his hand and handed the letter to Zhong Youyu and told him to leave quickly, but saw that he looked strange, “What’s wrong?”
“Qingque, the emperor has been poisoned by the barbarians and is about to die.” Zhong Youyu held the reply letter and said, although Emperor Yuanshuo was not a great emperor, he was still a good emperor. “The poison is called spirit-devourer, and only Lin Xin’s blood can cure it.”
“Who did you listen to?” Shen Lou lowered his face, staring at Zhong Youyu.
“The prince’s concubine, Mrs. Zhou, has something to do with the barbarians!” Zhong Youyu told him what he heard in the imperial garden. “Lin Xin happens to be here, so ask him to give me a bowl of his blood.”
“No!” Shen Lou firmly refused, “A Xin’s blood has no effect on the Devouring Spirit.”
If it could resolve the Devouring Spirit, how could Lin Xin have died tragically on Luqitai when he had sucked the Devouring Spirit in his body away?
“How can you be sure it won’t work? If the emperor’s poison is cured, everything in front of you won’t be a problem.” Zhong Youyu was very puzzled. “It won’t hurt to let out a little blood.”
“Zhong Youyu, don’t do it. It’s troublesome,” Shen Lou lowered his voice, like the undercurrent under the ice spring, cold and obscure, “Lin Xin’s blood is extremely special. If it falls into the hands of barbarians, the consequences will be disastrous.”
As night fell, there was dead silence in the emperor’s palace, only Feng Zhuoyi’s weak breathing echoed in the empty hall.
The sound of light footsteps came closer and closer. Emperor Yuanshuo suddenly opened his eyes, gripped the spiritual sword under his pillow, and turned his head to face a handsome face with droopy eyes.
“Hey, you’re in good spirits.” Zhu Xingli looked at the emperor with interest, as if he were watching a monkey doing somersaults on the street.
The Luli pendant between his eyebrows shone like stars in the candlelight. Feng Zhuoyi’s eyes also lit up with the exquisite and clear Luli. He spoke as if he was seeing his long-lost love, “Yixiao!” and waved him in. The Golden Guards retreated, and Zhu Xingli sat down beside the dragon bed nonchalantly, grabbed the emperor’s wrist and touched it, “Don’t call me that, don’t let the Golden Guards think that there is anything unclear between us.”
“Ahem…” Emperor Yuanshuo suddenly choked and coughed.
Zhu Xingli took out a handful of golden needles, and without looking at the length, he pulled it off and stabbed the emperor, “The emperor is really blessed by God. You are surrounded by the Yulin army and you can still ask me to sneak in. It’s a pity. You even have a turtle son who is usually so good but he bit your butt when he stuck his head out.”
“Zhu Yixiao!” Feng Zhuoyi’s blood surged, he gritted his teeth and glared at him, telling him to stop saying a few words.
“Loyalty is offensive, and the emperor is not happy to listen to it. But let me tell you the truth, if this crown prince is given a new job, he would not feed you the barbarian’s broken beads, and he would even build a big mausoleum for you.” Zhu Xingli said in his mouth. He kept holding on, and soon the emperor was pricked into a hedgehog.
“Pfft -” Emperor Yuanshuo spat out a mouthful of blood, “Do you think I didn’t die quickly enough?”
Zhu Xingli held his hands and laughed. It was a rare opportunity for him to play with the emperor, but he didn’t want to play too many tricks. After he had laughed enough, he said: “As long as I am here, you can’t die. But there is no cure for this thing. I can only save your life like Shen Qirui. I can’t even think about saving your spiritual veins. You will be a mortal from now on.”
After experiencing life and death, he had exchanged it for a profound enlightenment. Emperor Yuanshuo breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that his life could be saved, “That’s all, I can’t die, Dayong’s future still has to…ahem…”
“Your Majesty wants to know the future?” Zhu Xingli heard. He became interested in this kind of metaphysics and gossip. He took out three yin and yang coins carved from Xinghu stone from his sleeve and said, “I will tell you a divination.”
The square holes connected into yin and yang, and the six lines formed a hexagram.
After calculating back and forth for a long time, Zhu Xingli clicked his tongue, “If the Ziwei star[1] falls, then the country will last for less than ten years old.”
Feng Zhuoyi was surprised, “Ten years!”
“The emperor also knows that the calculated country is much more than the real one. From what I can tell, it is only five or six years old.” Old God Zhu Xingli said as he put away his Xinghu Stone coins.
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Small Theater:
“Famous Quotes of Dayong”
The important responsibilities of the country rest in a bowl of blood. However, Duke Xuan has to dig it out. ——Dayong·Duke·Zhong Youyu
Sighing that everyone is drunk and I’m the only one awake alone, seeing this group of stupid people, I have a headache. Only Xinxin understands, hum! ——Dayong·Duke·Shen Lou
The emperor is so fun. ——Dayong Grand Master, Formation Master, Pharmacist, Xinxin’s Master, Zhu Xingli
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[1] Zi Wei Dou Shu commonly referred to in English as Purple Star Astrology, is a form of fortune-telling in Chinese culture. The study of destiny is one of the five arts of Chinese metaphysics. Along with the Bazi chart, Zi Wei Dou Shu is one of the most renowned fortune-telling methods used in this study. Much like western astrology, Zi Wei Dou Shu claims to use the position of the cosmos at the time of one’s birth to make determinations about personality, career and marriage prospects, and more.