Chapter 279: Mountain Fire

Xue Yi, the current State Preceptor of the Great Yan Dynasty, knelt on the stone steps at the foot of Tianhu Mountain.

He felt no humiliation.

In some respects, he had long since attained the detachment of a true man beyond worldly affairs.

As far as his own life was concerned, Xue Yi had long felt that he had already gotten more than his share out of it. That made it much easier for him to face whatever came next with equanimity.

Rows upon rows of weapons were pointed at him.

Xue Yi paid them no mind.

In fact, he even looked past the soldiers with some interest at the jars of lamp oil being transported over and piled up behind them.

He very much wanted to tell the soldiers of the Jingnan Army that there was no need to go to all that trouble.

The Daoist temple on the mountain had already prepared plenty of oil.

Carrying all of this extra oil up the mountain would only be troublesome.

But although such a reminder could certainly be considered “kindhearted,” it would also sound a little too much as though he regarded himself as the host here.

Alas.

A perfectly good Tianhu Mountain.

Because of him, it had been dragged into this vortex.

A century-old Daoist lineage... probably had only a few hours left.

Deep down, Xue Yi could not help admiring the judgment of the Marquis of Jingnan’s wife.

To die amid mountains and clear waters like these—looked at from another angle, was that not a kind of good fortune?

When ordinary families held funerals, they usually hired a couple of Daoists to perform rites.

Wealthy households would put on elaborate land-and-water rituals. If they did not invite ten or twenty Daoists, people might say the dead had been sent off without proper dignity.

As for truly great officials and nobles, anything fewer than a hundred would practically be an insult to the family’s status.

But the wife of the Marquis of Jingnan?

She might be taking an entire mountain of Daoists down with her.

Heh.

Now that was face.

Now that was ceremony.

She had certainly gotten her money’s worth.

The hooves of a Pixiu struck the ground with a deep, trembling rhythm.

The sound drew closer and closer.

The surrounding soldiers of the Jingnan Army instinctively straightened their backs.

Xue Yi also lifted himself a little and raised his eyelids.

The principal figure and the aggrieved party had arrived.

The Marquis of Jingnan wore no armor.

After dismounting from his Pixiu, he began walking toward them.

Xue Yi sighed and slowly rose to his feet.

“You are here, so I will stop kneeling.

“I do not want to use these knees of mine to pressure you.”

Tian Wujing stopped in front of Xue Yi and raised a hand.

“Fall back!”

“Fall back!”

“Fall back!”

The various commanders immediately passed down the order.

The entire Jingnan Army withdrew five hundred paces.

Once the armored soldiers pulled away, it was as though the air itself had begun circulating again.

The crushing atmosphere that had made it difficult to breathe finally eased somewhat.

Xue Yi looked at Tian Wujing.

He still remembered the first time the Emperor, the Marquis of Zhenbei, and Tian Wujing had entered the palace together many years ago.

Tian Wujing had still been very young then, yet everything he did had been proper and methodical. He had observed etiquette with meticulous care.

The two older “brothers,” by contrast—the future Emperor and the future Marquis of Zhenbei—had been the ones without the slightest sense of decorum.

Now, the one who had been young was grown.

And the ones who had once been older were old.

As the Grand Eunuch of the palace, Xue Yi was one of the people the Ji imperial clan trusted most.

In truth, he also served as one of the imperial physicians.

But he only took His Majesty’s pulse and occasionally prescribed Li Liangting medicines to replenish qi and blood.

He could clearly sense that both the Emperor and the Marquis of Zhenbei were aging day by day.

No matter how peerless a hero one might be, everyone eventually bowed before the passage of time.

The Marquis of Jingnan, by contrast, was still in the prime of his life.

And by all reasonable estimation, his peak should last for many years yet.

When the three of them stood like the legs of a tripod, Great Yan could expand its borders and fight two states at once—and still win.

But when that truly dangerous day arrived, Great Yan would need at least one pillar left to hold up the heavens.

Otherwise, the tower they had built so high might collapse all too easily.

“Marquis,” Xue Yi said, “I came to give you an explanation.”

Tian Wujing said nothing.

He merely looked at Xue Yi.

At the elder who, when Tian Wujing was a child visiting the palace, used to hand him freshly steamed rice cakes straight from the basket.

“I was originally a disciple of the Tianhu Dao.

“This is my old sect.

“His Majesty sent me here to bless your soon-to-be-born child, so I came.

“I have not left the palace in many years. Since I was already out, and since I had come all the way here, I thought I might as well return to my old mountain and have a look. That is why I stayed on Tianhu Mountain.

“And I suppose I should thank you, Marquis, for smashing the State of Jin apart.

“It meant that when a mediocre former disciple like me returned wearing the title of Great Yan’s State Preceptor, my old sect received me as an honored guest.

“Heh.”

Tian Wujing remained where he was, quietly listening.

“You were leading troops outside.

“When I arrived, the child had not yet been born, so I saw no reason to make an unnecessary visit.

“I thought I would simply wait until the child was born, then go see the baby.

“Then your wife came up the mountain.

“At a pavilion halfway up the slope, she said she wanted to rest.

“After dismissing the people around her... she disappeared.

“The people on the mountain and the soldiers of the Jingnan Army searched for an entire day and night before they finally found her.

“But by then... she was already gone.”

Tian Wujing’s expression remained unchanged.

“Wujing, His Majesty’s health is not what it once was.

“Years of exhausting himself have taken their toll.

“He cannot rest.

“And he does not dare rest.

“So if your child were a boy, then speaking plainly, yes—he would pose a very serious threat to the Ji Clan.

“While His Majesty lives, naturally the realm remains calm.

“But once His Majesty passes away and the Crown Prince ascends the throne...

“You know that nephew of yours.

“Do you really think he could keep you under control?”

Tian Wujing still said nothing.

He simply listened.

“But you and Liangting have always understood His Majesty’s nature.

“Ordinary rulers often change drastically as age and sickness approach and their final years draw near.

“But our Emperor will not.

“This flourishing age of Great Yan was built upon the three of you.

“He has always known how to take hold of power.

“And he also knows how to let it go.

“What His Majesty is considering now is launching another campaign against Qian in a year’s time.

“That has been the great wish of his entire life.

“Only after the State of Qian is broken can the grand balance of the East truly fall into Yan hands.

“You are a Marquis who commands armies.

“There is no possibility you do not understand His Majesty’s intentions.

“So let me say something taboo.

“Whether you, Tian Wujing, had a son or a daughter, His Majesty would not have cared.

“In fact...

“His Majesty may not even care whether the Ji Clan rules for ten thousand generations.

“What he wants is for the people of Yan to stand supreme.

“Whether you take that throne one day, or Liangting does—so long as Great Yan’s great ambition is fulfilled, there is every chance His Majesty would not care.

“That is our Emperor.

“The Emperor I watched grow up.

“The Emperor whom you, Tian Wujing, and Li Liangting have always been willing to follow at any cost!

“You did not misjudge His Majesty, Tian Wujing.

“Not in the past.

“Not now.

“And you never will!”

Xue Yi drew a breath.

Then he took two family letters from inside his robes and placed them on the ground before him.

“One of these is from His Majesty.

“One is from Liangting.

“There was also another message.

“It was not a written letter.

“Before I left Yanjing, someone passed it to me through the mouth of a death-sworn operative.

“The message said that the wife of the Marquis of Jingnan was a chess piece planted by the State of Qian deeper inside Great Yan than any other.

“A piece buried twenty years ago.

“A piece never contacted.

“Never activated.”

At last, Tian Wujing raised his head slightly.

“After receiving that message, I told no one.

“To speak frankly, the Secret Intelligence Department is nominally under my authority.

“But I never concern myself with routine matters.

“I leave all of that to Wei Zhonghe and the others.

“And whether she truly belonged to the Silver-Armored Guard or not did not matter to me.

“Even if she did—she was carrying your child.

“Everything could wait until after that child was born.

“That was your child, Tian Wujing.

“The bloodline of your Tian Clan.

“This was another reason I remained on Tianhu Mountain instead of descending into the city.

“But I never imagined...

“I did not go down the mountain, and yet she came up.

“You should understand why she chose to die at this particular moment.

“All I can say is that she chose her timing well.

“As for the rest...

“I have no desire to say more.”

When he finished, Xue Yi turned around.

He looked up the stone steps leading toward the mountain.

In his eyes, he seemed to see the image of his younger self climbing those very same steps long ago.

Tian Wujing still said nothing.

A long time passed.

Then, with his back still turned to Tian Wujing, Xue Yi smiled faintly.

“Do you not trust what I have told you?

“Or do you not trust...”

Xue Yi spread his arms.

A faint layer of blue mist began rising from his body.

“Wujing, I know there is bitterness in your heart.

“I know there is rage in it too.

“You wanted an explanation.

“So I will give you one.

“This Tianhu Mountain, and I myself, will be that explanation.

“My only regret in this entire affair is that when she came up the mountain, I guessed what she meant to do.

“I was afraid that if I descended to meet her, this basin of dirty water would be poured too deeply.

“So I did not go down.

“If I had gone to meet her then... perhaps she could have left this world a little more peacefully.

“Everyone has their own fate.

“A cultivator spends an entire lifetime seeking nothing more than to defy Heaven and change that fate.

“But no matter how brilliant or gifted you are, in the end it is still nothing more than a flower in a mirror, a moon reflected on water.

“Li Liangting possessed extraordinary talent in his youth, yet an injury prevented him from ever truly entering the Martial Artist’s Great Dao.

“His Majesty possesses the talent and vision of a sovereign for the ages, yet Heaven has denied him years at precisely this moment.

“One Emperor and Two Marquises—place any one of the three of you alone into another age, and each would possess the makings of a hegemon.

“And you, Tian Wujing... were you not born with the fate of a solitary man?

“But His Majesty does not believe in fate.

“Li Liangting does not believe in fate either.

“And neither do you.

“Yet whether you believe in it or not... fate is still here.

“One Emperor and Two Marquises are Great Yan’s greatest fortune.

“And yet they are also the misfortune of the three of you.”

Blue flames began burning across Xue Yi’s body.

He was forcibly dissolving his mortal form.

“I, Xue Yi, possess neither great virtue nor great talent.

“Yet two generations of sovereigns favored me.

“They let me cultivate with the Yan Cauldron.

“They let the fortunes of the state accompany my path.

“Last winter, Master Zang severed Great Yan’s dragon vein outside Yanjing.

“His Majesty does not believe in the doctrine of fate and fortune.

“Because His Majesty is the Son of Heaven.

“The Emperor of Great Yan.

“A man in that position must possess such domineering confidence!

“I, Xue Yi, am untalented.

“But today, I return the Yan Cauldron’s qi that I intercepted within my body—together with the century-old Daoist lineage of Tianhu Mountain—back to the Yan Cauldron!

“May Great Yan establish a foundation lasting ten thousand generations!

“May His Majesty, and may Great Yan’s two Marquises, enjoy blessings without end!”

The flames surged upward.

Within that firelight, Xue Yi’s figure began growing more and more insubstantial.

Atop the mountain, the Daoist temple also burst into flames.

Oil had already been poured throughout it.

One Tianhu Dao disciple after another threw themselves into the inferno, choosing to end their own lives within the blaze.

Xue Yi turned around.

For the final time, he looked at Tian Wujing.

“Tian Wujing!

“Who in this world cannot die?

“Who is too important to die?

“Who has ever had an easier life than another?

“And whose suffering is truly lighter than anyone else’s?”

Amid the flames, Tian Wujing walked straight through Xue Yi’s nearly transparent body.

Then he began climbing the stone steps.

One step at a time.

He climbed from the foot of the mountain.

He reached the mountainside.

And then he entered that pavilion.

A clean breeze drifted through.

For a moment, Tian Wujing seemed to see the shadow of a woman standing inside.

She held a sword.

Then she drove that sword into her own body.

Within the breeze, he seemed to hear the soft murmur she had left behind that day:

“Marquis... this concubine never meant to deceive you...”

Tian Wujing raised a hand and touched one of the pavilion’s pillars.

It was almost as though a trace of warmth still lingered there from where her back had rested against it.

“Foolish woman.

“So what if you were from Qian?

“I am a demon who slaughtered his own entire clan.

“Why would I ever despise you for that?”

[End of Chapter 279]