Seeking Truth with a Sword

Chapter 727 - 657 Qinghe

Western Chang’an, Jude Square, Song Residence.

"Aunt Song, we’ll be going now," Li Ang and Chai Cuiqiao said, standing outside the courtyard gate.

"Mm," Aunt Song replied from inside the doorway. The loss of her husband in her youth and her son in middle age had nearly broken her, making her appear suddenly ten years older. "If you’re not busy, do come and visit more often."

"Mm, definitely."

The master and servant left the Song Residence, walking side by side in silence down the street.

More than half a month had passed since the rebellion, but its painful aftermath lingered.

The potholed road was strewn with paper money, and white banners hung everywhere along both sides of the streets. Market district officials directed laborers as they moved rubble and charred wood from the ruins of houses onto carts, transporting it outside the city for burial.

Some houses, seemingly undamaged on the outside, had wooden planks nailed over their doors and seals pasted on them, indicating that the entire family within had perished in the demon chaos.

A fine drizzle, like gossamer threads, began to fall unbidden. Chai Chai quickly found her purse and went to a street-side shop to buy an oiled-paper umbrella. Li Ang gazed at the curtain of rain, subconsciously touching his face. The scent of blood, it seemed, had not yet faded.

His thoughts drifted back to a few days prior.

...

Deep within the Imperial Palace dungeons, led by Shen Tuyu, Li Ang walked through a long, narrow corridor to see Li Shan in his cell.

Li Shan sat in the corner, leaning against the wall. Fine Gold chains pierced his scapulae, and his entire head was wrapped in several thick layers of gauze, leaving only his eyes, mouth, and the surrounding crusted flesh, raw and without skin.

The face that had been flayed from him could not be sewn back on.

"He wants to see you," Shen Tuyu said to Li Ang, his face devoid of expression. He then retreated into the darkness, saying no more.

After the rebellion was suppressed, Yu Country had imprisoned the surviving suspects in the Academic Palace, the garrison headquarters, and the Imperial Prison. Strict interrogations rooted out many traitors, like the Zhong Family, who had tacitly or even secretly assisted the rebellion. For a time, countless officials fell from grace, and numerous noble families had their estates confiscated.

(The Zhong Family was responsible for raising hunting hounds for the garrison. Li Shan’s tamed Jiao Dragon had been able to infiltrate Chang’an through the waterways, with the Zhong Family providing much of the cover.)

"You’ve come."

Accompanied by the faint scraping of chains dragging across the floor, the man who was once Prince Guang lifted his head slightly. A grim smile touched his lips, his raspy voice sounding inexplicably light.

"..."

Li Ang remained silent. Indeed, what more could be said through iron bars?

"I was raised in the deep palace," Li Shan began, speaking as if to himself. "From the age of two, when I began to form memories, my mother cautioned me that I carried the blood of the sinful Wu family; I was born bearing original sin. In the Imperial Palace, I was careful in all my dealings. Let alone with my own siblings, even towards any palace maid, guard, or eunuch, I had to maintain a constant smile. I dared not make a single misstep or utter one wrong word, terrified of incurring anyone’s resentment."

Li Shan continued, "You are one of the few people who didn’t look at me differently. Back when we were treating the blood-sucking worm infestation in Suzhou, your attitude towards me was the same as it was towards patients, officials, and common laborers. If not for all this..."

He gestured to the chains piercing his shoulders. "Could we have become friends?"

Thinking back to the time they had spent together in Suzhou, battling the blood-sucking worms, Li Ang was silent for a long moment before replying, "We already were."

"HAHAHA!" Li Shan laughed heartily before a violent coughing fit seized him. "COUGH, COUGH..." He coughed blood into his palm. "Then, after I am executed in autumn, I’ll trouble you to pour a pot of rice wine on my grave."

"Alright."

Li Ang nodded. Seeing Li Shan lower his head, he turned to walk towards the prison’s main gate.

"Brother Ang."

A sudden call came from behind him. "Don’t leave Yu Country."

Li Ang frowned and looked back. Li Shan was still sitting in the corner, staring straight at him. He repeated, "Don’t leave Yu Country."

Just as Li Ang wanted to ask for clarification, Shen Tuyu emerged from the darkness and pulled the heavy iron door shut.

...

Li Ang’s thoughts drifted back to the present. Chai Cuiqiao had already bought an umbrella and now held it open above their heads.

Master and servant continued along the street, passing through alleys and over bridges. Just as they neared home, they found their path blocked by a long procession.

It was a group of prisoners escorted by garrison soldiers. They numbered over a thousand—men and women, old and young—all with fair skin showing no traces of prolonged labor. Except for the very young children, each person wore handcuffs and leg irons.

Some elderly individuals who could no longer walk, or those with physical disabilities, sat on flatbed carts typically used for public shaming parades.

The common people of Chang’an Market stood by the roadside, pointing and muttering about the prisoners.

"Who are these people? Why are even seven or eight-year-old children in prison garb?"

"You don’t know? They are the traitorous Cui Family, accomplices in the rebellion!"

"Which Cui Family?"

"Which other Cui could it be? The Qinghe Cui Family!"

Descendants of Qi Taigong Jiang Ziya, their name renowned throughout the world, the most distinguished noble family in the land, having produced more than a dozen Prime Ministers—the Qinghe Cui Family, foremost among the Five Families and Seven Hopes!

At these words, a shocked murmur rippled through the crowd. The young people among the prisoners defiantly raised their heads, striving to maintain the arrogant pride of their noble birth, though little of it remained.

On the night of the rebellion, Jiao Dragons had roamed free and demons had wreaked havoc in Chang’an City, while Emperor Yu’s procession, en route to Mount Tai for the Fengshan Cermonies, had been attacked by Death Soldiers.

These Death Soldiers had ingested forbidden drugs, burning their life force to forcibly enhance their Cultivation. They formed an assassination Array of over fifty individuals at the peak of the Cloud Patrol Realm and seven at the Candle Cloud Realm, determined to slay Emperor Yu in the valley.

However, Emperor Yu’s party had been well prepared. The Emperor and Empress in the carriage were decoys. Among the convoy were several experts Emperor Yu had secretly transferred from Chang’an City, such as Garrison Commander Lin Hongbo and National Guardian General Yan Yundang.

The individuals who had appeared to be attending court as usual in Taiji Palace during that time were also decoys left in Chang’an. Such perfect impersonations implied preparations that had been underway for years, perhaps even more than a decade.

The battle that erupted in the valley was even more brutal than the fighting in Chang’an City. Both sides unleashed their trump cards. Entire mountainsides collapsed, rivers were dammed, and the earthquake triggered by the conflict swallowed several villages within a radius of several miles.

Ultimately, Emperor Yu’s side, having deployed Secret Treasures preserved for over three hundred years by the Academic Palace and Yu Country, achieved a pyrrhic victory. Without interrogation, all Death Soldiers were slain on the spot.

After their victory, Emperor Yu’s party did not pause for a moment, rushing directly to Wu City in Beizhou to surround the ancestral home of the Qinghe Cui Family.

At this point, there was no longer any need to quibble over the identities of the Death Soldiers or demand evidence.

The Qinghe Cui Family initially hoped to resist stubbornly, relying on a Mountain Guarding Array similar to the Mountain and River Guardian Talisman. However, they faced defeat when Emperor Yu directly severed Beizhou’s ley lines, cutting off all Spiritual Energy and shattering their Array.

Even if the remaining Cultivators in the Cui ancestral home had dared to fight to the death, the vast number of ordinary family members without Cultivation would inevitably have perished in the battle’s aftermath.

Furthermore, Cui officials serving in the imperial court, Cui women who had married into other families, and even children with Cui blood would all be implicated without exception; not a single one would be spared.

Then, not only would the noble family’s legacy be extinguished, but their very bloodline would be severed.

"The ancestors of the Li Family waded through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, causing heads to roll, to pacify the Central Plains. I do not mind doing so again."

Hearing Emperor Yu’s resolute words, the Qinghe Cui Family had no choice but to surrender their entire clan. Other noble families, like the Cui Family of Boling and the Xingyang Zheng Family, also abandoned any thought of resistance. Though their Mountain and River Guardian Talismans were still potent, the Haotian Taoist Sect, which had the power to rescue these noble families, remained confined beyond the frontier.

Thus, these noble families, direct and collateral lines alike, had anyone over the age of five put in shackles. Their Cultivation was sealed, they were clad in prison garb, and under the watchful eyes of garrison soldiers, they were humiliatingly forced to walk to Chang’an to face trial.

Today, the Cui Family arrived in Chang’an.

Li Ang watched this procession of highborn individuals with cold indifference, his eyes devoid of sorrow or joy. He stood by the roadside with Chai Chai, waiting for the convoy to pass.

He paid no mind to the prisoners, but among them, someone recognized him.

A very old man, his hair and beard as white as snow, slowly descended from one of the prison carts.

"Clan Chief?"

The surrounding family members hurriedly reached out to support him, but he gently waved their hands away. Refusing assistance, he walked over to Li Ang and bowed courteously. "Young Master Li, it has been a long time."