Chapter 293: Great Ming (6)
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The Mad Buddha was dead. I cut off his head as proof and kept it. That was what the Emperor had originally wanted from me. In truth he probably only wanted the Mad Buddha to disappear without a trace before his eyes.
“Junior Brother, are you all right?”
“More or less.”
Myeong-gyeong worried over me as I struggled to breathe with broken ribs.
For now I used my internal energy as best I could to set the bones and made temporary arrangements so the fragments would not pierce my organs.
“What about you, Senior Brother?”
“I’m fine. Nothing much. Cough.”
He covered his mouth and coughed, but blood also ran from Myeong-gyeong’s nose.
I had only the one external wound of broken ribs, while Myeong-gyeong had a broken shoulder and internal injuries as well. He was clearly in more pain than I was, yet he worried over me, which was strangely pitiable. But he would think that was a Senior Brother’s duty, so I could not say anything.
“We should recuperate a little before we go. There may still be people who served as the Mad Buddha’s underlings.”
“All right.”
Myeong-gyeong opened the latch outside the Martial Valor Hall first. Inside were women whose eyes had gone slack.
“Tch, filthy thing.”
I lifted the Mad Buddha by the hair and met his eyes. There was no chance the Mad Buddha could hear me now, but I still had words to say.
“Thank you, thank you. I do not know how I can repay this kindness…”
The only woman who had not gone mad came out and bowed to us again and again. Myeong-gyeong and I gave awkward laughs.
“Repaying the kindness is simple.”
“Wh-what is it?”
“No need to be so flustered. You only need to answer a few questions.”
“Ah, yes!”
“But first.”
I went inside the Martial Valor Hall. Dozens of women who had become idiots swayed atop one another like soft-bodied creatures.
“Let’s get these people outside first.”
They were not permanently reduced to idiots. Their brains had only been briefly consumed by demonic qi for a time. If they were continually exposed to natural energy, they would return to normal. Natural energy, whether against demonic qi or a formation, had the nature of restoring what had been forcibly twisted.
Since I did not know the formation’s exit, I could not treat them completely right away, but getting them out of the Forbidden City would at least bring some improvement.
Myeong-gyeong and I brought the women reduced to idiots outside the Forbidden City and lined them up leaning against the outer wall. The one woman still in her right mind, as though eager to repay us, dragged them out one by one.
“Hoo.”
“You truly are great heroes. Thank you.”
The woman bowed again, sweating profusely.
Even injured, the strength of martial artists like us and a commoner woman could not be compared. If anything, the woman had worked harder. That showed how great her gratitude toward us was.
“Good. Now I can ask a few things.”
“Yes.”
I asked the woman many things. The first thing I confirmed was the overall situation of this space.
According to her, everyone here had been forcibly detained by the Mad Buddha. Anyone who resisted had been killed. Well, a second life in a place this silent was nonsense in the first place.
And as I had expected, the Mad Buddha had locked all the women in the Martial Valor Hall. He had even separated married couples to do it. That was why there were only men.
Seen that way, this was truly a small Beijing, a kingdom belonging to the Mad Buddha alone.
In any case, according to the woman, we could rest somewhat easy. Everyone here had watched the Mad Buddha’s tyranny.
“Then no one should object to my killing the Mad Buddha, yes?”
“Of course not. If they learn the Mad Buddha is dead, everyone will cheer.”
Her voice was full of sincerity.
“You seem injured, so please rest here. I will tell everyone the Mad Buddha is dead.”
“Do that.”
There was not a shred of falsehood in the woman’s words. Before Myeong-gyeong and I could even rest, the villagers all came running to confirm the Mad Buddha’s death.
“I-is the Mad Buddha really dead?”
“Impossible. Even Lord Moon-Splitting Sword could not defeat the Mad Buddha last time.”
Many martial artists besides me seemed to have died trying to resist the Mad Buddha, so they could not easily believe it.
Only after I took out the Mad Buddha’s head, kept in a leather pouch, and set it before them did they burst into cheers.
Some people wailed loudly, and others vented their rage on the Mad Buddha’s head like madmen.
Seeing how intense the reaction was, fortunately there seemed to be no one who had served as the Mad Buddha’s underling, as I had feared.
“Great hero, truly thank you!”
“Thank you. I truly thought I would die trapped here for life.”
The men were all commoners. According to them, if there was even the slightest sign of martial training, they were killed. They had probably meant to watch for an opening and kill us by surprise as well.
Their thanks went on and on. And when they noticed we were injured, they waited on us with utmost care. Among the commoners there was even a physician who could treat our wounds.
In truth, even with all that care, little would change, but being treated like royalty still did not feel bad.
“Now let us find the exit.”
From then on I took command of the villagers and searched for the formation’s exit.
The exit was found in a rather anticlimactic place: the hut where we had first entered, the Mad Buddha’s home.
I had more or less kept that place in mind, so I ordered them to search it first. The villagers hardly had to go to much trouble.
First we sent those who had been imprisoned out of the formation. The residents of the fake Beijing all wept before the formation’s escape point. After seeing Beijing with the same scenery through all four seasons, they would now see living, moving nature with their own eyes. Their emotion would be unlike anything else.
They thanked me again and again for restoring their freedom, then left.
“So now we’re chivalrous heroes whose deeds are told across the Central Plains too.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Just following the Mad Buddha on your own makes you a chivalrous hero.”
Myeong-gyeong scratched his cheek. He truly seemed to think he had done nothing. But if we were scoring chivalrous deeds, I thought Myeong-gyeong ranked higher than I did.
I had only stuck close because I could hold my own, but Myeong-gyeong had charged in even though defeat was certain and his life was on the line.
I laughed softly. Things I once treated as stupid acts, I now called chivalry, which was funny even to me.
“You laughed at something stupid again.”
“Yes.”
“Anyway.”
Myeong-gyeong shook his head back and forth. We looked exactly like a beaten army. Naturally those wounds would not heal quickly, so though we had dealt with the enemy, we were far from fully recovered.
“But why aren’t we leaving?”
“Because there is more I want to find out.”
There was the long-named Emperor of the Forbidden City, and an immortal I wanted to question.
“You saw something inside the Forbidden City.”
“Yes.”
“I wish I could go in too.”
That was my one regret. Even if the danger had lessened, leaving an injured Myeong-gyeong alone was something I disliked.
“I’m fine. There is no one left anyway.”
“That we can’t be sure of.”
I thought there probably wasn’t, but one never knew.
I suddenly realized something. In this situation I had a powerful card I could use.
There was probably no one in the Central Plains who used that card as well as I did. It was connections.
In this case the other party was a god rather than a person, so it ought to be called divine connections, but either way.
“Let’s go for now.”
“Huh? Inside?”
“Yes.”
Before, perhaps I would not have known. Now there was nothing to hesitate over. When we passed through the Taihe Gate, Myeong-gyeong’s complexion quickly turned pale. With internal injuries on top of everything, his resistance to demonic qi would have weakened further.
“Hold on just a little.”
“Yeah.”
Thankfully Myeong-gyeong trusted me. By now we had built at least that much bond. He too believed I would not do anything reckless.
As I walked across the plaza of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, I looked back at Myeong-gyeong.
“Senior Brother.”
“Yeah.”
“Do you see an illusion now?”
“What illusion?”
“If you don’t, that’s fine.”
I confirmed one hypothesis of mine. The illusion of the Hall of Supreme Harmony plaza that I could see was not visible to Myeong-gyeong.
Before long Myeong-gyeong dropped to his knees, vomited, and fainted. I carried him on my back and entered the Hall of Supreme Harmony. On the Emperor’s seat, the jade-colored ghost still floated in place.
“Not a ghost, an immortal. You bastard.”
“You read my mind too? Cowardly.”
“What did you think an immortal was?”
I shrugged.
“Then you already know what I want without my saying it.”
“Yes. Well, I can do at least that much.”
The jade-colored ghost, no, the immortal Zhu Wenjing, chuckled and reached a hand toward Myeong-gyeong. Even inside a formation where energy was distorted, the spiritual force that reached Myeong-gyeong was enough to feel numinous.
“…Ooh?”
Myeong-gyeong’s voice came from over my shoulder. He had woken.
When I set Myeong-gyeong down, he stood on his own feet. He moved his hands and feet in astonishment. To be unaffected in demonic qi this thick was clearly surprising.
I nodded. If he was an immortal, he ought to be able to do at least this much. Otherwise there was no reason to call him an immortal.
“What is that?”
“Look over there.”
I pointed at Zhu Wenjing with my finger. Zhu Wenjing frowned, and Myeong-gyeong startled badly.
“Damn, what is that!”
“What is that. How impudent.”
Zhu Wenjing’s legless form approached Myeong-gyeong.
Soon Zhu Wenjing wrapped around Myeong-gyeong’s body. Startled, Myeong-gyeong froze stiff. After seeming to examine Myeong-gyeong, Zhu Wenjing floated before us again.
“How mischievous. You surely knew this child’s bloodline and brought him.”
Zhu Wenjing smiled bitterly. I had more or less expected it, but Zhu Wenjing had recognized Myeong-gyeong’s bloodline. The bloodline of the Imperial State that had overthrown Great Ming. In their words, the fake Zhou clan was none other than Myeong-gyeong.
“I knew. But to be precise, I thought it would not matter much. You are an immortal, after all, free from the bonds of the mortal world.”
“That is true, but it pains me somewhat to protect the descendant of a rebel.”
“It is fine. He is presently at odds with the imperial clan.”
“That seems a somewhat separate issue. The judgment is complicated.”
Could even an immortal not fully escape the bonds of the mortal world? Zhu Wenjing looked at Myeong-gyeong with bitter eyes. Myeong-gyeong, not knowing why the immortal looked at him that way, was flustered.
“Yes. Would one hold descendants who know nothing accountable for wrongs?”
“As wise as befits an immortal.”
“Somehow that sounds like teasing.”
“Not at all.”
I laughed, ha ha. Zhu Wenjing cleared his throat as though displeased.
“By the way, why have you come here again?”
“There is something I want to ask. Opportunities to meet an immortal are not common.”
“Even an immortal is not omniscient.”
Zhu Wenjing spoke as though troubled. He seemed quite wary of what I would ask. Immortals really did have sharp instincts.
“But now that I think of it, if you can look into my heart, there is no need to ask.”
“Looking into a person’s heart also requires divine power. It cannot be used every time.”
“Immortals are more inconvenient than I thought.”
“Enough jokes. Manifesting here at all is already a use of divine power.”
“Then I will get to the point and ask.”
I looked up at Zhu Wenjing.
“May I use this formation for a while?”
Zhu Wenjing smiled with eyes curved like crescent moons. He had probably read my intent through divine power.
Without question, this formation, dense with demonic qi, was the place where I could gain the most relative to the time I spent training.
“I am not the master of this formation. Would it not be enough for you simply to remain here?”
Zhu Wenjing laughed loudly. I frowned.
“Don’t do this when we both know everything.”
“I am not a person.”
“Because you are not a person, there must be something you can do.”
I said.
“For example, like with the formation beneath the sea, adjusting the time between the formation and the outside world.”
Zhu Wenjing’s laughter grew louder. I listened to it in silence. Zhu Wenjing’s laughter stopped abruptly.
“That is not an easy thing even for me. The formation beneath the sea was designed that way from the start, but this would have to be twisted entirely through divine power.”
“A human made it, so an immortal should be able to do it.”
“But it would consume much of my power. The risk is too great to do it for nothing.”
What a sly immortal. As expected, those who lived long were all schemers.
“So when you say you cannot simply do it, you mean you can if you receive something in return?”
“That is how it would be.”
“What do you want?”
“You.”
Jade-colored smoke from Zhu Wenjing enveloped me. I had not expected that answer and was briefly at a loss for words.
“Become the Emperor of Great Ming.”
And the words that followed robbed me of speech even more.