The Azure Mountain

Chapter 116: Sacrificing the Small to Save the Large

"First beat of the drum, make the battle meal. Second beat of the drum, tighten the battle robes. Third beat of the drum, draw sabers from their sheaths. Fourth beat of the drum, engage in battle. Advancing and retreating both must listen to orders; violating orders makes it hard to avoid taking a saber strike. The three armies return to the camp with the Lord!"

Chen Ji looked up, only to see that back figure in the brown cross-collared robe, humming a little tune, stepping onto the river embankment step by step, disappearing behind rows of willow trees.

The other party came in a hurry and left in a hurry.

Like a famous leading role on a theater stage, having finished performing his own highlight moment, he retreated into the darkness outside the stage.

This time, Chen Ji was already prepared to use the furnace fires within his body to forcibly resist the dreamscape, even preparing to try reverse-pulling Meng Ji into Xuanyuan's Green Mountain.

If matters were exposed, he might be captured and thrown into the Inner Prison. If he could fight for an opportunity for exile and banishment, he would concentrate on cultivating the Sword Seed Cultivation Path in the place of exile. When he returned to the Central Plains again, he would kill all these dog thieves with one sword strike!

Of course, he might also fail to secure an opportunity for exile. In that case, he would invent some small gadgets and fight for a chance at a lighter sentence.

Chen Ji thought of many possibilities before entering the dream.

But he never expected that Meng Ji went easy on him.

Chen Ji didn't feel any enmity from Meng Ji. He only felt that when the other party looked at him... there was some envy.He recalled Meng Ji saying "gain the favor of that Lord", and suddenly realized: someone had instructed Meng Ji not to interrogate him.

Who?

Who had the qualifications to instruct Meng Ji?

Chen Ji had an answer in his heart.

At this time, Jin Zhu interrupted his thoughts, sincerely cupping his hands and saying: "Brother, there have been many misunderstandings in the past, I hope you can bear with me. I said before, as long as your innocence can be proven, I will definitely find a way to compensate you. From now on, whenever there is a place you need me, you only need to say a word, I will definitely not decline."

Saying that, he was about to enthusiastically shake Chen Ji's right hand, but Chen Ji calmly took a step back: "Lord, I request to resign from my post in the Secret Spy Division."

Jin Zhu hurriedly stepped forward with a smile: "Why are you suddenly leaving the Secret Spy Division? Our Secret Spy Division's salary is double that of other officials of the same rank..."

Chen Ji shook his head: "If my life is gone, what use is having money?"

Jin Zhu immediately changed his pitch: "Once matters here are settled, I will definitely report your merits to the Inner Chancellor and request a cultivation pathway for you. If you can break through to the Path-Seeking Realm before the age of thirty-six, living to a hundred years old won't be out of the question!"

Chen Ji took a second step back: "Lord, you previously promised me a cultivation pathway, but I have already risked my life and haven't even seen the shadow of a cultivation pathway. The big shots in our Secret Spy Division turn hostile faster than turning a page in a book, I cannot bear it."

Jin Zhu took another step forward: "Once you become a Zodiac, possessing our Ning Dynasty's fifth-rank official status, the mystical spells of ordinary minor pathways will be useless against you. Look at that Zhang Guo'er, ordinary people fear him, but the filthy things he raised couldn't even get close to my body!"

Chen Ji was just about to take a third back, but was preemptively grabbed by Jin Zhu: "Don't back away, don't back away. This time, even if I have to kneel in front of the Trouble-Resolving Tower and not get up for a long time, I will also kneel until I get a cultivation pathway for you!"

Chen Ji was silent for a long time.

At this moment, Jin Zhu's attitude completely reversed, actually no longer speaking words of threat.

Jin Zhu asked in a heavy voice: "Deal? I will request a cultivation pathway for you, and we will write off our past history in one stroke."

Chen Ji raised his head: "Deal."

In an instant, this world seemed to fall silent for a moment, even the towering flames in the distance stagnated for a split second.

Jin Zhu let out a long breath, and even the muscles on his face became much lighter.

For some reason, Chen Ji suddenly felt Jin Zhu had a sense of liberation, as if he had finally resolved a major life event.

Jin Zhu cheerfully patted Chen Ji's shoulder: "From now on, your life is even more precious than my life. Rest assured, whoever makes things difficult for you, is going against me."

Saying that, he sighed with some emotion: "Brother, don't blame me for being cautious. It's truly because I can no longer afford to lose."

Chen Ji was puzzled: "Lord, what does this mean?"

Jin Zhu smiled mysteriously: "You will understand in the future."

The sky had already brightened.

Chen Ji saw that the people on the river embankment gradually increased. The neighbors of the neighborhood ward, carrying wooden buckets filled with water, rushed towards the sea of fire. But the fire had already taken shape; that surging fire dragon wouldn't rest until it burned down the entire neighborhood ward.

Standing by the riverbank, Jin Zhu sighed with emotion: "This time, quite a few commoners have suffered disasters again. It is not what I wished."

Chen Ji glanced at him: "Lord, if there were no battle between the Secret Spy Division and the Liu family, there wouldn't have been this great fire either."

Jin Zhu thought for a moment and answered: "Chen Ji, let me ask you: a great fire will cause hundreds of households to suffer disasters, but if the Liu family is not eliminated and they are allowed to continue entrenched in Yuzhou, annexing farmland and concealing farmland reports, how many households will suffer disasters?"

Chen Ji shook his head: "Lord doesn't need to speak these things with me. I don't plan on understanding those grand principles."

"Suit yourself."

Jin Zhu turned to look at the center of the river, only to see Tian Ma standing proudly in a white robe on the small awning boat.

On the cold river of an autumn morning, a thin layer of mist was rising from the river surface.

Tian Ma stood within it, like a quiet banished immortal.

Jin Zhu said loudly: "No need to mind me anymore, go catch Liu Mingxian."

Tian Ma was seen quietly gesturing a few sign language movements at the bow of the boat. Jin Zhu also replied with a few sign language movements, and then the small awning boat slowly turned around and sailed into the thickening mist.

Everything was very quiet.

Chen Ji looked at Jin Zhu in astonishment: "Lord Jin Zhu, what is Lord Tian Ma...?"

Looking at Tian Ma's departing back figure, Jin Zhu said softly: "He can hear, it's just that he suffered from aphasia since childhood and cannot speak. The Inner Chancellor invited imperial physicians to take turns diagnosing him; herbal medicines were tried, acupuncture and moxibustion were also tried, but none could cure him."

Chen Ji asked: "Did my Master ever diagnose and treat him?"

Jin Zhu said: "Physician Yao also diagnosed and treated Tian Ma, but after Physician Yao took one look at him, he didn't even feel his pulse before turning around and leaving. I asked what was going on, and Physician Yao said there is no problem with Tian Ma's mouth, his inability to speak is because of a disease of the heart."

"Disease of the heart?"

Jin Zhu laughed self-mockingly: "Heh, our Secret Spy Division is full of people with heaven-born deformities and earth-born deficiencies. They are either physically deficient, or mentally deficient."

Chen Ji asked curiously: "What is Lord Jin Zhu deficient of?"

Jin Zhu looked at his two completely empty wrists and sighed bleakly and sorrowfully: "Right now, I am very deficient of money."

Chen Ji suddenly asked: "Lord, has Liu Mingxian been caught?"

"No, the Liu family's guest elders and Elephant Armor Guards risked their lives to protect him and fled."

"This is a good opportunity."

Jin Zhu looked in the direction of Peony Bridge and sneered: "He can't run away. This time, even if our Secret Spy Division has to turn Luo City upside down, we will also find him. These years, Liu Mingxian has been the one in charge of the Liu family. As long as we catch him, the Liu family is finished."

...

...

On the official road of Luo City, a carriage galloped swiftly. The receding wind rolled up the window curtains, making them sway, and the wooden wheels produced clattering sounds as they pressed against the flagstone road.

Liu Mingxian lifted the carriage curtain. His face was observed to be pale as he hurriedly urged: "Quick, return to the Liu family's large mansion, have someone go to the Yanshi Grand Camp to bring all the Elephant Armor Guards over, lest the Trouble-Resolving Guards surround the Liu family's large mansion!"

The person driving the carriage didn't answer him, and the carriage didn't head south either.

Liu Mingxian asked sternly: "This isn't the road back to the Liu family's large mansion! Where are you taking me?"

The person driving the carriage said calmly: "Second Master, Old Master instructed previously that if your matters were exposed, I should immediately take you to the ancestral tombs to see him. Right now, Old Master should be waiting for you at the ancestral tombs."

Liu Mingxian breathed a sigh of relief: "So it was the Old Master's arrangement... It's good as long as Old Master is here!"

He slumped back into the carriage cabin, only feeling a burst of swelling pain in his temples.

Holding power for eight years, he was like an emperor in this Yuzhou.

He thought he was already capable of handling matters independently, but he didn't expect that ultimately he still had to invite his father to come out of retirement.

The carriage went around and about, ascending Luo City's Mount Beimang.

When Liu Mingxian arrived at the ancestral tombs where memorial steles stood like a forest, Elder Liu was currently wearing a white hemp mourning robe and a filial mourning hat, quietly kneeling before Old Master Liu's mausoleum, burning a stack of yellow joss paper.

Liu Mingxian said hurriedly: "Father..."

Elder Liu said softly: "You also come kneel down, and burn some ghost money for your grandfather."

The calm voice seemed to hold a calming power.

Reluctantly, Liu Mingxian knelt to the side, took a stack of yellow joss paper from a guard's hands, and threw it all into the fire basin in one breath.

Elder Liu said slowly: "When you were young, your grandfather doted on you the most. Even if you wanted the stars in the sky, he would probably have to think of a way to get one down for you."

Liu Mingxian's expression stiffened.

Elder Liu continued: "I said I wanted you to go to the Capital City to be an official and see the world. But your grandfather couldn't bear for you to suffer grievances in the Capital City, so he insisted on keeping you by his side, serving as the Yuzhou Assistant Prefect for eight years. Do you know where you lost? Both you and your aunt lost in terms of vision."

Elder Liu looked up at the vast Mount Beimang enveloped in thin mist, and sighed: "The world in your aunt's eyes is only the sesame-seed-sized Three Palaces and Six Courtyards within that Forbidden City. The world in your eyes is only this single Provincial Territory of Yuzhou... How could you possibly win?"

Liu Mingxian was stunned.

Elder Liu slowly stood up and patted the dust off his knees: "Come accompany me in a game of Go. It seems we father and son haven't played against each other for a long time."

The guard laid out a straw mat, brought over a desk, and set up the Go pieces.

Elder Liu knelt and sat on the straw mat to place a piece, opening the game by defending the corner with a small knight's move. In merely thirty-two moves, he forced Liu Mingxian into deep thought, not knowing where to place his piece.

The more he looked, the more he felt the white pieces in his hand were like the Liu family's predicament—attacked from both sides, ambushed from all four directions!

On this Mount Beimang, battle drums seemed to sound, and it felt as if someone was violently plucking the strings of a Pipa, killing intent fully exposed!

"Hesitating and undecided?" Elder Liu sighed.

Liu Mingxian gritted his teeth: "Father, this game of mine, already has no path to survival."

Elder Liu pointed at the 'Hu' position on the Go board: "Place a piece here, sacrificing the small to save the large, and you should be able to struggle a bit more."

Liu Mingxian abruptly raised his head: "Father!"

The next moment, his neck was suddenly strangled by someone from behind, strangling him until he couldn't breathe.

Liu Mingxian struggled and kicked over the Go board, unable to say a single word.

His face turned blue-purple, and his eyes, like those of a dead fish, stared straight at Elder Liu, seemingly wanting to ask: "Why?"

Piece by piece, Elder Liu picked up the Go pieces from the ground, threw them back into the Go bowl, and sighed with emotion: "A-Xian, the person who wanted to protect you the most, has already been killed by your own hands."

Having said that, he stood up, took off his hemp robes and filial mourning hat, and walked down the mountain with a majestic dragon walk and tiger stride: "Give his corpse to Jin Zhu. Just say this rebellious son was deeply devoted to executing the Jing Dynasty thieves but narrowly avoided causing a great disaster, and committed suicide at home out of fear of punishment."

"Old Master, the Secret Spy Division won't believe it."

Elder Liu didn't turn his head: "Whether they believe it or not, is not important."

On the verge of death, Liu Mingxian saw one grey-clothed death warrior from the Yanshi Grand Camp after another walk out from the forest of memorial steles, silently following his father down the mountain.

(End of Chapter)