Chapter 920: The Emperor's Dragon Body

There were precedents for the Son of Heaven staying in a minister’s home during an imperial tour.

In fact, it was a long-standing tradition.

If the Emperor was on some sort of northern, southern, eastern, or western “hunt,” conditions could be rougher. Simpler. More perfunctory. That was understandable.

But under normal circumstances, if the Son of Heaven chose to stay in someone’s residence, that was an honor beyond measure.

Usually, the moment the Emperor stepped through the front gate, the original master of the household and his entire family effectively lowered themselves into servants and waited upon him with extreme caution.

Only in Prince Pingxi Residence would the imperial family be treated like ordinary relatives who had come over for a visit.

The Emperor, for his part, observed the etiquette of a guest.

Aside from a handful of eunuchs and palace maids he was accustomed to using, all other attendants had been settled outside the Residence.

One could say that apart from Wei Zhonghe... the Son of Heaven currently did not even have one particularly capable fighter at his side.

That too was a kind of freedom.

The imperial carriage had already entered Prince Pingxi Residence.

The Imperial Guards had been abandoned west of the Wang River and never followed him across.

At this point, what possible meaning would there be in arranging another ring of palace guards around the Emperor inside Prince Pingxi Residence?

It was simpler to hand responsibility for the Son of Heaven’s safety entirely to the Residence.

Whatever else might be said... when it came to security, the Emperor had always possessed enormous confidence in Prince Pingxi.

And so... the Blind Man simply walked straight inside.

The two eunuchs stationed at the entrance had already received instructions and did not block him.

The Emperor was sitting in a pavilion looking over the Crown Prince’s calligraphy.

He was frowning slightly.

The Crown Prince’s writing was beautiful.

His brush moved lightly and quickly.

The strokes were slender and vigorous, thin without losing substance.

The Empress looked at the page and praised it repeatedly.

The Emperor... was dissatisfied.

Unfortunately, that dissatisfaction was not something he could conveniently say aloud.

His son’s handwriting... looked far too much like that bastard Zheng’s.

Children instinctively imitated fathers.

The Crown Prince had been fostered in Prince Pingxi Residence for a year.

It was perfectly understandable that he would imitate his godfather’s script.

But Zheng Fan’s calligraphy was much like Daze Fragrant Tongue.

In his previous life, Zheng Fan had only known a handful of calligraphic styles.

He had practiced one of them with a fountain pen.

Now, in this life, when he needed to write with a brush, he naturally took the style he already knew and found time to practice it.

For a military noble who had risen from rough soldiering, his calligraphy was genuinely excellent.

But the Emperor felt that although his son’s script appeared to possess bone and strength within it, it was actually filled with a kind of deliberate delicacy.

An ordinary scholar could write this way for his own amusement.

An Emperor writing this way... lacked grandeur.

Worse, it invited self-pity and self-confinement.

The scale of vision was too small.

Naturally, the Emperor would never say these things to the Prince.

There was no need.

But if he ever did, Zheng Fan would probably sigh and say:

In the end, only an Emperor truly understands what an Emperor should be.

When the Blind Man entered, Wei Zhonghe smiled and went forward to meet him.

The people from Prince Pingxi Residence responsible for reporting arrivals only needed to bring him this far.

Naturally, they could not simply march up and speak directly to the Emperor themselves.

By coincidence, the Emperor looked over at that moment.

The Blind Man’s defining characteristic was rather obvious.

The Emperor immediately said:

“Let the gentleman come over.”

Wei Zhonghe stepped aside.

The Blind Man walked directly into the pavilion and saluted the Emperor and Empress.

Like Siniang before she became a Princess Consort, the Blind Man held no official appointment.

Siniang now possessed princely rank.

The Blind Man remained technically a commoner.

So his salute could be considerably simpler.

Of course... very few commoners possessed this degree of pride.

The Emperor interrupted the formalities and gestured for him to sit.

Then he signaled the Empress to take the Crown Prince elsewhere for the moment.

Before leaving, the Crown Prince very seriously bowed to the Blind Man in farewell.

Nominally, Prince Pingxi was the Crown Prince’s Godfather and Grand Tutor.

In practice... the person who taught the Crown Prince letters and statecraft was the Blind Man.

During the previous struggle for the throne in Yanjing, the Blind Man had remained behind rather than traveling to the capital.

So unlike A’Ming, Fan Li, and the others, he had met the Emperor only rarely.

Still... one look at a blind man moving freely through the inner residence, combined with the rumors about Prince Pingxi Residence’s “Wise Fan Li,” or occasionally “Blind Fan Li”... and his identity was not difficult to guess.

“Barring some surprise,” the Emperor said, “this gentleman and I should have been friends in spirit for a very long time already, shouldn’t we?”

The Emperor had long known that a considerable portion of his correspondence with that bastard Zheng had not actually been written by Zheng Fan at all.

If one person beneath Zheng Fan possessed the qualifications to write those replies, it was probably this “Wise Fan Li,” or “Blind Fan Li,” standing before him.

Of course... the Emperor did not believe everything Zheng Fan possessed had been manipulated from behind the scenes by this gentleman.

Just as earlier, when drinking on the summit of Mount Tai, the Emperor had once looked at Zheng Fan in surprise and said:

“You actually understand this?”

The Sword Saint had experienced the same confusion many times.

The Prince could casually say something exquisitely profound and send him into sudden enlightenment.

Yet the Prince himself remained merely a crude Fifth Grade Martial Artist.

Martial cultivation could be judged by visible standards.

Other matters were much harder to measure so directly.

And in civil governance, Zheng Fan had always performed exceptionally well.

So in the Emperor’s view, the Blind Man was probably one of Zheng Fan’s most important arms and legs.

But Zheng Fan remained the true center of everything.

The bastard was simply lazy by nature.

He had never respected imperial authority particularly much.

He certainly did not treat the Emperor as an outsider.

So whenever he could not be bothered to answer a letter, he instructed this gentleman whom he had personally cultivated to answer in his place.

That was the limitation of ordinary understanding.

Nobody believed people could be born already knowing things.

And naturally... nobody would believe a man could simply open his eyes one day and discover a group of subordinates around him who were already both brilliant in civil and military affairs... and absolutely loyal.

“I have made Your Majesty laugh.”

The Blind Man remained neither humble nor arrogant before the Emperor.

“Many of your insights have benefited me enormously,” the Emperor said. “They have given me a great deal of inspiration.”

“All of it should still be credited to our Prince for teaching this commoner properly.”

The Emperor clearly had no interest in praising Zheng Fan when Zheng Fan was not present.

And if Zheng Fan had been present... he would have been even less interested.

“What brings you here today?” the Emperor asked directly.

“This commoner came to examine Your Majesty’s illness.”

Wei Zhonghe’s expression changed instantly.

The Emperor’s physical condition was one of the greatest secrets in the entire state.

During the late Emperor’s final years, his health had deteriorated steadily.

Not only Yan, but every other state had tried to guess exactly when his body would finally fail.

At times, even palace maids and eunuchs who learned too much had needed to be silenced.

If this were not Prince Pingxi Residence... if the man before them were not one of the Residence’s gentlemen...

Wei Zhonghe might already have attacked.

The Emperor frowned slightly.

Then he recovered quickly and smiled.

“What illness does We have?”

“That can only be known after an examination.”

“Good.”

The Emperor agreed.

The Blind Man “looked” toward Wei Zhonghe.

“There should be a Go board inside.”

This courtyard had been prepared specifically for the imperial visit.

Anything the Emperor might need had been arranged in advance.

“Go get it,” the Emperor ordered.

“Yes.”

Wei Zhonghe personally went inside, brought out the Go board, and arranged it in the pavilion.

Then... the Blind Man and the Emperor began playing.

The Emperor had something on his mind.

Whenever one’s own health was involved, remaining calm was difficult for anyone.

And the Emperor understood perfectly well what the condition of his dragon body meant to the present situation in Great Yan.

It was no exaggeration to say... his health could influence the balance of all Xia.

Go tested calculation above all else.

In that respect, the Blind Man was unquestionably a monster.

Even if the Emperor had been fully focused, he would never have been the Blind Man’s opponent.

Distracted as he was... he had even less of a chance.

The Blind Man killed across the board with abandon.

The Emperor lost miserably.

After all, the Blind Man was not like those national Go masters kept at court, nor like ministers skilled in the game.

He had no intention of considering the Emperor’s feelings.

When the first game ended, the Blind Man did not hesitate.

He immediately began a second.

The Emperor followed.

During the second game... the Emperor thought of his father.

This was not the side chamber of the imperial study.

Yet faintly, as though from far away, he seemed to hear his father’s voice again.

It was too indistinct to make out the words.

The second game... ended with the Emperor losing just as badly.

The Blind Man immediately began a third.

The games moved quickly.

The Emperor lost quickly too.

So none of them lasted particularly long.

During the third game... the Emperor could not stop himself from looking toward the covered corridor in the distance, where his wife and son were talking.

The Blind Man still placed every stone extremely quickly.

But the stone between the Emperor’s fingers did not descend.

The Emperor said apologetically:

“Please play a little more slowly, sir.”

“As Your Majesty commands.”

The Blind Man slowed his pace.

The Emperor simply felt the first two games had ended far too quickly.

During the first, he had begun thinking about the storms of All Xia and Great Yan’s great undertaking of unification.

Before those thoughts could spread very far... the game had ended.

During the second, he had not even managed to hear his father’s voice clearly... before that game ended too.

The first and second were finished.

So be it.

But during this third game... he wanted to look at his wife and son over there a little longer.

Thoughts appeared in his mind without invitation.

If something truly was seriously wrong with his body... if there were no way to save him... what would happen to his family?

The moment he thought of his family... the Emperor immediately thought of that bastard Zheng.

Back when both men had still been doing only moderately well, they had once joked that whatever happened, each should at least preserve the other’s family.

When the struggle for the throne in Yanjing reached its most dangerous point, that bastard Zheng had sent his people to escort the Sixth Prince Residence’s entire household away.

The Emperor had never doubted that if Zheng Fan learned he had lost the succession struggle...

Zheng Fan would have spared no cost to bring his family safely back to eastern Jin.

The ten thousand Jingnan troops stationed in Yanjing at the time had been Zheng Fan’s final card.

There was no need to think long about it.

If the worst truly came... entrusting his family to that bastard Zheng would be the safest, most appropriate choice.

It was the path he would choose as a husband.

As a father.

Prince Jingnan... had once made the same choice.

The Emperor gradually sank into that atmosphere.

Accompanied by the crisp click of stones landing on the board, the game before him seemed to become some temporary vessel for his thoughts.

The Blind Man had deliberately slowed his pace.

Even so... the Emperor still lost the third game badly.

The Blind Man felt thoroughly satisfied.

Comfortable.

The Emperor asked:

“Sir, what is wrong with my body?”

The Blind Man raised his head.

“Your Majesty, now we can begin the examination.”

“...” the Emperor.

Wei Zhonghe’s face twitched.

So all that just now... really had been nothing more than playing Go?

During the games, both the Emperor and Wei Zhonghe had assumed this was some alternative method of diagnosis.

The world contained all sorts of strange specialists.

Diagnosing a pulse from a thread already counted as entry-level mystical medicine.

Neither had imagined... the Blind Man simply wanted to enjoy the pleasure of slaughtering the Emperor across the Go board.

“Your Majesty, please sit properly.”

The Blind Man stood and approached.

Wei Zhonghe narrowed his eyes.

But he did not stop him.

This was Prince Pingxi Residence.

If Prince Pingxi wanted to assassinate the Emperor, it would be absurdly easy.

There was no need to perform some elaborate charade.

“Does Your Majesty experience any bodily discomfort?” the Blind Man asked. “This commoner means any symptoms that are comparatively obvious.”

“Occasionally, I have nosebleeds. Aside from that, nothing particularly serious.”

The Emperor was almost certainly destined to die young.

Nobody knew the exact age.

But compared with his father... his life should be much shorter.

The Blind Man had specifically asked Tian Tian about every detail he remembered from the prophecy.

In that prophecy, when Tian Tian attacked Yanjing City... he was not actually very old.

And there was another point.

In the prophecy, Tian Wujing died in battle at Zhennan Pass.

Died in battle.

Setting aside for the moment whether destiny was truly immutable... a death in battle was both difficult and not difficult to change.

The thousand-li rush to Snow Sea Pass had completely overturned the entire situation in eastern Jin.

Then, during the national war between Yan and Chu, Master’s deep penetration behind enemy lines had disrupted the Chu deployment.

Those two brilliant strategic moves had successfully reversed the entire course of that war.

If Old Tian no longer possessed a military reason he absolutely had to die... then killing him naturally became much more difficult.

The Emperor was different.

Unless he died to assassination, his problem lay inside his own body.

The Emperor was surrounded by experts.

His imperial physicians were among the best in the world.

If even with all that protection he still died young... then the situation truly carried a sense of inevitability.

The Emperor sat still.

The Blind Man placed the thumb of his right hand lightly against the center of the Emperor’s brow.

“What sort of method is this?” the Emperor asked.

“Your Majesty, please calm your mind.”

“It was We who spoke too much.”

The Emperor closed his eyes.

The Blind Man closed his as well.

Wei Zhonghe stood nearby.

Very quickly... he sensed spiritual force flowing out from the blind man’s body.

It was deep.

Pure.

Like mercury spilling across the floor, penetrating every opening.

There was no need to wait half an hour.

No need even for the time it took to drink half a cup of tea.

In truth... perhaps fewer than ten slow counts passed.

Then the Blind Man opened his eyes.

At the same time, he removed his thumb from the Emperor’s forehead.

The human body was unimaginably complicated.

It should have been impossible to examine everything at once.

But this time... the answer truly came quickly.

The examination had barely begun... before it was over.

Wei Zhonghe watched the Blind Man’s expression carefully.

Unfortunately, the Blind Man had long since perfected an unmoving, ancient-well calm.

And there was no gaze for Wei Zhonghe to read.

The man had no eyes in the first place.

Wei Zhonghe knew the Emperor’s physical condition better than almost anyone.

He also knew about the strange episodes the Emperor had suffered in the past.

He had worried.

He simply had not dared think too deeply.

Now that someone had lifted the cloth covering the matter, the chief eunuch of Great Yan’s inner palace, who had served two Emperors, could no longer avoid treating the issue with absolute seriousness.

“How is We’s body?” the Emperor asked first.

The Blind Man stepped back two paces and bowed.

“Your Majesty’s dragon body is healthy and strong. This is Great Yan’s good fortune.”

Mm.

That was a blind man telling a bald-faced lie.

An exceptionally blind one.

The Emperor nodded.

“That is good.”

“This commoner has completed the examination. This commoner takes his leave.”

The Emperor reached into his sleeve and took out an exquisite snuff bottle.

He held it toward the Blind Man.

“This is not a reward. It is the consultation fee. Rules are rules.”

The Blind Man smiled.

“This commoner thanks Your Majesty.”

Then he left.

Wei Zhonghe frowned.

He clearly wanted to speak and yet hesitated.

There were some things a servant naturally had to see without seeing and know without knowing.

But when a matter touched a fundamental line...

Wei Zhonghe still possessed one.

He was the Son of Heaven’s household slave.

The word “household” meant he was family.

“Your Majesty...”

The Emperor raised one hand.

“That bastard Zheng will tell me.”

Wei Zhonghe remained grave.

“Your Majesty, how can a matter concerning your dragon body be...”

“Wei Zhonghe.”

The Emperor interrupted him.

“This slave is here.”

“Do you believe that in this world, aside from my Empress, Noble Consort, and children... and the present Crown Prince... fine. Include you, Companion Zhang, and a few others as well. But among outsiders... the person who least wants something to happen to my body... is probably that bastard Zheng.”

...

Outside Fengxin City.

Gourd Temple.

The paper man remained curled in a dry corner, endlessly contemplating life.

The old monk had already gone to rest.

The young monk had just replenished the lamp oil.

Once he finished his work, he sat on a little stool, held a pastry, formed an orchid gesture with his fingers, and ate it bit by bit.

Anyone accustomed to seeing the figure who danced elegantly in the winds over Jin territory... would probably lose control upon seeing this scene.

The paper man watched.

Then quietly muttered:

“Son of Heaven... heavenly phenomena... national fortune...”

At first, the young monk merely assumed the Daoist had gone mad again.

He glanced over once, then ignored him.

After finishing the pastry, the young monk became sleepy.

He leaned forward over the stool.

Before long... he fell asleep.

The paper man continued murmuring those same words over and over.

In truth, the Daoist had long since recognized the young monk’s true identity.

The two had even fought above Fengxin City before.

The words he kept repeating were merely bait.

He wanted to draw the snake from its hole.

The young monk, who had been lying there dozing, suddenly raised his head.

His gaze turned toward the paper man.

In an instant... his Dharma aspect became solemn and majestic.

That gaze alone would have been enough to make believers prostrate themselves.

The paper man spoke:

“No matter how much a flood dragon transforms toward becoming a true dragon, so long as it still wears that layer of skin, it cannot truly be called a dragon. But now... the true dragon, the Son of Heaven himself, is right here. You truly feel no temptation?”

The young monk shook his head.

The paper man became frustrated.

“You’re really determined to hang yourself from a single tree?”

The young monk asked:

“Do you know why most people who fall from trees and die end up falling?”

“Why?”

“Because they climb one tree while constantly looking toward other trees. If they fall to their deaths... they deserve it.”

After saying that... the young monk lowered his head again.

Before long, soft snores emerged.

...

“You examined him?”

Zheng Fan sat inside a room, looking at the Blind Man who had returned to report.

A’Ming stood nearby.

Originally, Zheng Fan had planned to personally persuade the Blind Man to examine Ji Old Sixth’s body.

The Blind Man had gone on his own initiative instead.

And the explanation the Blind Man gave... might have sounded absurd to outsiders.

But to Zheng Fan... it was extraordinarily detailed, logical, and convincing.

“Replying to Master, this subordinate examined him.”

“That quickly?”

“Because it was over almost as soon as it began.”

“Tell me.”

The Blind Man raised one hand.

He pointed toward his own head.

Then said:

“Master... inside the Emperor’s brain... there is a... tumor.”

[End of Chapter 920]