Chapter 723 - The Imperial Decree Arrives in the Snow
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
(TN: Way of Choices will be on break from December 25th, 2017 - January 7, 2018)
Zhou Tong crawled and struggled his way through the snow, the coughs from his throat ultimately transforming into a sobbing cry.
"Save me…somebody save me…"
His earlier cries of misery and lamentation had truthfully been somewhat faked. However, as he moved from the underground Zhou Prison to the small courtyard which basked in sunlight and then to the avenue covered in cold snow, he had been constantly escaping, constantly pursuing hope, yet he was disappointed again and again. Finally, he began to feel despair, his will collapsing like a flood bursting through a dam.
He sobbed in pain, his tears washing away some of the blood on his face before being frozen by the cold wind into an unsightly paste on his face.
His sobs were as unpleasant to hear as the screeching of an owl.
As an official most renowned for his cruelty, Zhou Tong had never once pardoned this world, never once felt a shred of kindness for it, never saved this world even a single time. Thus, this world naturally treated him with absolute cold. It would not pardon him, would not save him. The lights of the Road of Peace gradually faded into the distance and his path forward was plunged into darkness.
Some estates had still left their gates open, the closest one being the Prince of Zhongshan's estate. In the brightly lit depths of the princely estate, the Prince of Zhongshan sat on a chair with a frozen pear in his hand. As he recalled Zhou Tong's miserable appearance outside his gate, he felt incredibly happy, and even the frozen pear tasted sweeter.
A subordinate at his side hesitated for a while before saying, "This subordinate still feels this to be inappropriate."
"What's inappropriate? I've long wanted to tear that old dog into shreds."
After a pause, the Prince of Zhongshan added, "And what Mo Yu said was reasonable. Whether there was affection there or not, that I was able to survive until today could only be a kindness."
This subordinate was flabbergasted. He had not expected for the prince to truly be moved by Mo Yu's words.
It must be known that of the princes that had been living in the provinces and counties in the past few years, the one who lived the most miserable of circumstances was the Prince of Zhongshan. When compared to those princes of the other branch of the family that had been cruelly poisoned to death, he truly had survived, but he had been forced to eat shit and feign insanity…an even more horrifying fate than death.
"Does shit taste good? Of course not, but did you ever think, that woman back there was able to force me to eat shit; are you saying that she couldn't tell I was just feigning insanity?"
The Prince of Zhongshan expressionlessly said, "She naturally knew that I was just pretending, but she did not expose me because she liked seeing me eat shit. But at the very least, she did not have me die, and compared to death, what does eating shit count for? As descendants of the Son of Heaven, which one of us isn't capable of eating shit?"
Each of the ten-some princely estates had their different reasons for closing their gates and shutting Zhou Tong out.
The most honest and cowardly of them all, the Prince of Louyang, was buried beneath three layers of blankets, on one side worried for his acquaintance Mo Yu's safety and one the other side silently cursing Zhou Tong.
As for the most experienced and knowledgeable prince, the most powerful Prince of Xiang, he wasn't even at home today.
The gate to the Prince of Xiang's estate was open, the young Prince Chen Liu standing in the light. His expression was calm with a tinge of anxiety.
Zhou Tong crawled past him and Mo Yu followed.
Prince Chen Liu ignored Zhou Tong and said to Mo Yu, "It's just about enough."
Mo Yu ignored him and continued to wield her sword as a whip, driving the blood-covered Zhou Tong forward.
At the end of the Road of Peace was a vast estate, decorated with particular care and luxury. Even the newly renovated estate of the Prince of Xiang could not match it.
This place was the home of the Tianhai clan, the most powerful clan on the continent in these past two centuries. The powerful figures of the Tianhai clan, such as Tianhai Chenwu and the other elders, would naturally not remain in the capital tonight for such a sensitive moment and had long since left for the manor on the outskirts.
Th gate was still open and brightly lit. Tianhai Shengxue stood under the light, wearing clothes whiter than snow.
Zhou Tong crawled past the gate, shooting a glance, his eyes filled with bitter resentment. However, he could not plead for rescue or curse. He no longer had the strength to speak.
A laugh like silver bells rang out, then gradually devolved into weeping.
The Princess of Ping was standing behind Tianhai Shengxue.
After the palace coup, she had been brought back to the Tianhai clan. It was said that after a time, she might be married off to Prince Chen Liu.
As she stared at Zhou Tong struggling through the snow, she gave a somewhat insane smile, her beautiful face covered in tears.
"You look a lot like a dog today!"
She called out to Zhou Tong, her words like a curse.
Tianhai Shengxue did not stop her, only held her shoulder to stop her from impulsively attacking Zhou Tong.
He looked at the blood-covered Mo Yu and very solemnly said, "It's just about enough."
His meaning was the same as Prince Chen Liu's.
Mo Yu was someone that the Imperial Court had to arrest, the number one person on their most wanted list.
Mo Yu still said nothing. When she returned to the capital, she had never had any intention of leaving alive.
Zhou Tong's mind was a blur; even despair and anger had already receded. At this final moment, there was only a question.
Why is no one coming to save me? Principal Shang only needs to move a finger and I'll live, so why do I have to die?
Just like those massive beasts living on the snowy plains of the north, as he sensed his impending death, he subconsciously went to the place he was most familiar with to wait for death to fall.
To Zhou Tong, the place he was most familiar with was naturally that small courtyard in the alley of the Northern Military Department, so he headed in that direction.
That place was actually very close to the Road of Peace. It was for this reason that he had been able to bring his subordinates to the Xue Estate so quickly when the funeral was being held.
However, when crawling across the icy street, this distance would become extremely long, and that was also with the occasional flashing of a sword glow behind him.
Mo Yu was still occasionally brandishing her sword. Every time it fell, it would cut away a piece of Zhou Tong's flesh.
Zhou Tong's blood had nearly run out, his howls of pain growing weaker and weaker until they dwindled into nothingness. Just like some insensible man of wood, he continued to crawl across the snow.
A crowd of spectators had appeared on both sides of the street. As they watched the blood-covered Zhou Tong being constantly hacked at and humiliated, their initial shock transformed into a sublime happiness. Every time Mo Yu slashed her sword down and cut away a piece of flesh, the crowd would cheer.
Snow was still falling from the sky, but in the sky to the west, stars could be seen.
The ground of the courtyard within the alley of the Northern Military Department had been destroyed, slashed into countless pieces by the hacking and slashing of many, many swords.
Zhou Prison was truly destroyed. The buildings and the prison on the surface, and even those cells hidden deep below, were all revealed.
Those torture tools covered in blood and human flesh, those severed limbs and corpses, came together to form a scene of purgatory on earth.
Xue He had opened the doors of all the cells, and so those prisoners with lighter injuries had already fled. Only those with heavy injuries who teetered on the verge of death remained.
Those prisoners who had endured countless tortures were the most direct proof of this Netherworld brought into the mortal world.
The starlight spilled over Zhou Prison, its holy and beautiful light starkly contrasting against the nauseating sight of blood and filth.
A deathly stillness.
Xiao De and the experts of the army had killed more people than they could count, and the assassins of the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets were all extremely sinister individuals, yet none of them had ever seen such a miserable sight. Even the officials of the Department for Purging Officials found themselves rather disgusted by those blood-drenched rooms and grotesquely-shaped torture instruments, even though they had seen them many times and personally carried out those tortures.
Perhaps it was because this gory and nauseating sight had never been exposed to the light of day.
Zhou Tong's tracks could not be found.
All sorts of noises were coming from outside the courtyard, but there was a strange sense of silence hanging about.
Chen Changsheng was covered in blood, perhaps his or that of others.
He walked out of the courtyard. All of his swords had already returned to the sheath, but nobody stopped him.
The street was crowded with people, a dense mass except for one vacant space in the middle.
Zhou Tong lay on the snow, gasping his final breaths. His body was covered in wounds too numerous to count. It would not be wrong to say that he had been hacked into pieces.
Chen Changsheng walked up to him.
With great difficulty, Zhou Tong raised his head to glance at him. Surprisingly, he was able to recognize Chen Changsheng, and one final hope bloomed within his heart.
In his view, Chen Changsheng assuredly loathed him, as why else would Chen Changsheng be thinking every moment about killing him?
He was not afraid that Chen Changsheng hated him, only that Chen Changsheng did not hate enough.
He firmly believed that he had an extremely deep understanding of the human mind. The more one loathed, the less one was willing for their enemy to die.
Come, cut at me some more with your blade, torture me, humiliate me, castrate me, feed me lard, raise me into the most disgusting of fatties, and then squeeze out my fat and use it for lamps!
Everything is okay, as long as you don't kill me right here.
I beg of you.
Whether or not he had heard Zhou Tong's thought, Chen Changsheng drew his sword.
There was no disgrace or torture, no callous vengeance, only a bright sword glow, a clean killing intent.
With a swish, a fine line of blood appeared on Zhou Tong's neck and then quickly expanded. Ultimately, his head parted from his body.
Zhou Tong died, his eyes wide open in confusion.
The final question in his mind was probably 'Why was it so simple?'
Chen Changsheng looked no more at Zhou Tong's corpse. He walked up to Mo Yu and said, "You came."
Mo Yu replied, "Yes, I've come."
She felt rather tired and sat right on the ground.
Chen Changsheng also felt rather tired and sat on the ground next to her.
A shadow in the corner of the street slightly rippled as Zhexiu appeared. He was also very tired, but he did not sit down, because he knew that there was still another battle to fight.
The earth shook, a storm of thundering hooves loosening the snow.
Several hundred black-armored Imperial Guard arrived on the scene.
Xiao De and the other experts stood nearby.
Ten-some blue-robed Daoists of unfathomable cultivation had also appeared at some point.
Suddenly, the sound of hooves rose up again. A young eunuch on a horse came bearing a yellow imperial decree in hand.
This imperial decree naturally came from the palace.
The young eunuch announced to all present the charges against Zhou Tong, twenty-two in total.
These twenty-two crimes were counted up afterwards. At the time, no one had the mind to remember the details too clearly.
Everyone was in shock, from the officials of the Department for Purging Officials to the soldiers of the Imperial Guard.
Chen Changsheng also could not remember the current scene.
He only remembered that the young eunuch's voice was rather shrill and fleeting, sometimes close and sometimes far. In short, it didn't seem real.
He could also faintly remember that the imperial decree also mentioned something about death by a thousand cuts at the very end.
But Zhou Tong had already become a pile of mangled blood and flesh on the snow, his head already parted from his body.
It was no longer possible for him to thank the emperor for this kindness.
Chapter 724 - Sailing the Boat with the Current
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
(TN: Way of Choices will be on break from December 25th, 2017 - January 7, 2018)
As the reading of the decree came to an end, a deathly stillness hung in the air.
The crowd stared at the snow and at the beheaded Zhou Tong, their emotions stunned and in complete chaos.
To describe this man as strung through and through with evil would not be excessive. This person was guilty without a doubt, but no one had ever expected for the Imperial Court to announce that he was guilty.
The crowd turned their gazes to the young man and woman sitting next to each other.
The black-armored cavalry somewhat stiffly pulled on the reins of their horses, not knowing what they should do. Should they charge or put down their leveled spears? The redcoated cavalry and officials of the Department for Purging Officials all had pale faces and looked like grieving parents. The assassins of the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets, the experts from the military, and even Xiao De were just trying to figure out what was going on.
The situation had changed suddenly, so suddenly that even those involved found themselves unprepared.
Even Chen Changsheng and Mo Yu did not react for a few moments. Only when the young eunuch departed did they faintly begin to understand something.
Since this was all known, why act this way? Many people might have thought this way, but not the two of them.
"Only those idiots would think like that." Mo Yu pushed her disorderly hair behind her temples and gazed at the crowd that still surrounded them, a mocking smile on her lips. "If Zhou Tong were still alive, he would still be a valued minister of the state. It's only because we've killed him that they've decided to flay his flesh and stew his bones."
"This has always been Master's way of doing things."
Chen Changsheng felt today's snow and wind to be rather piercing. He gazed silently in the direction of the Imperial Palace and then elaborated, "When we were small, I and Senior believed that he was a poor Daoist. Because he was too poor, he had very extreme views of the world, and his way of doing things was excessively stingy. Now I understand that this isn't called being stingy, but completely using up one's resources."
A snowstorm enveloped the Imperial Palace, but the dilongs running underneath this side palace were blazing along, making the room as warm as spring. On the table were several imperial edicts from years past.
"I did not expect that your junior brother would truly be able to kill Zhou Tong. His performance exceeded my imagination, and so I am very satisfied. I am even more satisfied by the method he and Mo Yu used to kill Zhou Tong. The crueler and more unyielding their methods, the more shocking the story, the more it will be remembered. Naturally, Zhou Tong's evils will be included in this story."
Shang Xingzhou gazed at the young emperor seated behind the table. "Although Zhou Tong betrayed your mother and was used by me, nobody can deny that he served as your mother's representative for many years. Thus, his evil is your mother's evil, and the more of his evil Chen Changsheng reveals, the more the image of your mother will suffer, and the smaller the blame will be placed on me for leading the rebellion against her. At the same time, the more your junior brother's prestige rises, the more my prestige will rise as well. No matter how one looks at it, I gain nothing but advantages from tonight's affair, so long as I promptly promulgated that decree."
Yu Ren was thinking about the books in Xining Village's old temples, the fish in the stream, the beasts in the mountains…
Shang Xingzhou continued, "This way of doing things seems rather petty, but it is not stinginess. It is using things to their full extent."
Yu Ren raised his head and gestured a question: "Could it be that everyone in the capital has been used by you from the beginning?"
"At the very beginning it was not the case. Of course I wanted to protect Zhou Tong, and I was also intending to do a few other things tonight."
Shang Xingzhou very patiently explained, "But in the course of events, things began to change, so I changed in response."
To cultivators, change was a constant law under the starry sky. Everything in the world changed at every moment, and the same applied to this situation. Even in the span of a few hours, many changes would take place, like the spring weather thawing the thick ice on the river. If the response was not appropriate, even the sturdiest metal bridge would be washed away.
Shang Xingzhou did not explain what the changes were.
Perhaps it was that Chen Changsheng's strength had surpassed everyone's expectations and he had been able to last an entire day, that his sword had cut through the hard and frozen ground and revealed Zhou Prison under the starlight. Or perhaps it was that the Li Palace had remained quiet all this time, the snow and clouds drifting over the sky there like meek flocks of sheep that never once had any intention of crossing the fence. Of course, the most likely possibility was when Wang Po had cut off his arm, broken through into the next realm, and killed Tie Shu.
And there were also the lanterns of the princely estates on the Road of Peace extinguishing one by one.
"Do you know why your teacher is called Shang Xingzhou1?"
Shang Xingzhou suddenly asked.
Yu Ren knew that Shang Xingzhou was not his master's real name. At the very least, six hundred years ago, he had been called Daoist Ji.
The appearance, or obtaining, of this name inevitably had some meaning.
"Before His Majesty returned to the sea of stars, he did not forget that phrase: 'Waters can carry a boat, and they can also capsize them.'" 2
Shang Xingzhou's gaze fell on a certain part of the hall, his eyes seeming to travel back centuries.
Everyone on the continent knew of this famous saying, and Yu Ren was naturally no exception. And he also knew that 'His Majesty' here referred not to his father, but to his grandfather.
"On that night, His Majesty said to me, 'To walk through the world is like sailing a boat across the ocean. One must be cautious and mindful, and one cannot go against the current, or else one will capsize the boat.'"
Shang Xingzhou very calmly added, "Since everyone wants Zhou Tong to die, since this is the desire of the people, I must follow."
The word 'follow' was a very important word to the master and students of Xining Village's old temple, as this was the Dao that they cultivated.
Only tonight did Yu Ren realize that its origins lay in this saying: 'Waters can carry a boat, and they can also capsize them.'
Shang Xingzhou continued, "Of course, following the current does not mean obedience. The boat can only hope that the waters are calmer, that there are fewer waves, that there is not too much resistance."
Yu Ren gestured, "But in the final analysis, the boat must still revere the existence of the waters."
"The Duke of Wei once said, 'The resentment of this minister need not be feared; only the people should be feared. They can carry the boat and capsize the boat, so they must be treated with deep caution.'3 How could I not fear them?"
Shang Xingzhou looked into Yu Ren's eyes and said, "But positions are relative. Since you are the boat, you cannot think too much about what the water is thinking."
Yu Ren gestured, "In the end, you still have to think about it, or else Master would not have changed his mind."
"Everyone thinks that I have already done my best, but I was just stopped by you and them."
Shang Xingzhou's gaze fell on Yu Ren's waist, on that jade pendant gifted by the Qiushan clan head.
"All of you youths are putting your lives on the line. You are, Mo Yu is, Wang Po is, and so is your junior brother.
"I raised your junior brother for seventeen years. How could I bear to kill him? I could only watch as he killed Zhou Tong.
"Anyone can ask me about tonight's matter and I will have a clear conscience."
Just which part of these words was real and which was fake, Yu Ren found impossible to distinguish, but he understood.
Zhou Tong was the new government's ugliest and filthiest stain, and Chen Changsheng was that intractable thorn in his master's heart.
His master did not care who died, just as long as he did not have to personally carry out the deed.
Today, several soul-stirring battles and pursuits that had taken place in the capital were highly likely to shake the entire human world, but it had all been under his master's control.
No matter what changed, he would always end up as the final victor.
If Wang Po had been killed by Tie Shu in the Luo River, perhaps this victory would have been perfect.
"This was no scheme designed by me. I cannot control everything. After all, I'm not a god, nor am I Emperor Taizong."
Shang Xingzhou rejected Yu Ren's thoughts and said, "Today is more like a lesson. If Your Majesty wishes to be as great a man as Emperor Taizong and lead humanity into a future of endless light, Your Majesty must learn how to sail the boat with the current. No matter how much Your Majesty loathes the idiotic masses that cheer at torture, Your Majesty must still convince yourself into truly believing that they are a true ocean, must learn how to lead them, how to deceive them, how to borrow their strength and break through the waves."
Yu Ren could not understand all this, nor was he very concerned about it. He was only concerned about one thing.
He gestured with his hands, "Master, do you truly not like Junior Brother?"
Shang Xingzhou pondered this question, and then smiled. "Yes, I don't like him. I dearly wish for him to die, or perhaps I wish that he never lived in the first place."
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1.Xingzhou '行舟' translates to 'sailing a boat'.↩
2. A saying from the 'Xunzi', a book on the Chinese philosophy of Legalism written during the Warring States era. Apparently, this particular line was a saying favored by the actual Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty.↩
3. This line was written by one of the real Emperor Taizong's chancellors, Wei Zheng.↩