This chapter name is a separator, dividing the content
Just as the Mountain Shaking Tiger had said, the death of Song Ya had indeed caused great turmoil in the martial world.
Although Song Ya was a detestable person, his martial arts skills were very high.
Moreover, he was not a gentleman of integrity; he was always the one to set traps for others and never fell for them himself. His usual tactics of sneak attacks and sudden betrayals clearly did not work against this old fox.
Yet, Song Ya still died, as pitifully as those nameless underlings, suffering a very aggrieved death.
— Any person with a bit of experience in the martial world could tell from the corpse that Song Ya had suffered severe internal injuries, his meridians and internal organs shattered, ultimately leading to his demise.
“Who in the world could have done such a thing?”
The Leader Ming of the Spring Mountain Sect stood beside the coffin, angrily surveying those around him.
The big names of the martial world who had hurried over upon hearing the news all had ugly expressions. They couldn’t help but wonder if they could have killed old man Song Ya with a powerful strike in a head-on fight.
The answer, of course, was no, due to insufficient internal strength.
The reputation of the Spring Mountain Sect in the martial world was complicated, almost falling into the category of the unorthodox. But Song Ya was among the small group at the pinnacle of the martial arts world, and his tragic death sent shivers down the spines of other masters.
Some of them were not even as skilled as Song Ya, and if they were unlucky, they might be the ones lying in the coffin today.
“Leader Ming, please calm down.” The speaker was the abbot of Hengchang Temple, also a towering figure in the martial world, akin to the North Star. Not every generation had a martial alliance leader, but Hengchang Temple and Tianshan Sect were two constant peaks in the martial world.
Hengchang Temple was full of monks, while Tianshan Sect had many swordsmen.
The abbot, now in his sixties, had long eyebrows that hung over his forehead. Wearing a purple and patchy kasaya, he spoke solemnly while twirling his prayer beads: “Song Ya left a dying message before he passed.”
“That’s nonsense!” The Leader Ming, with his anger boiling over, clearly did not believe a word of about the state teacher.
These days, information was passed by word of mouth; without the ability to record and replay the situation, no one could be sure of the authenticity of Song Ya’s last words, except those who were present at the time.
The abbot of Hengchang Temple sighed, “Leader Ming, your sect elder breathed his last near the official road.”
That place was busy with travelers, including many people from the martial world.
— It was a good location, hence there were two young heroes from the martial world putting on a show there.
“Among those who heard the words at the time, in addition to the nameless juniors of the martial world, there were also disciples from two escort agencies, four small sects, and lower members of the evil Luotian Sect’s branch. Even if someone wanted to fabricate nonsense, they wouldn’t have the ability to bribe so many forces in the martial world and control their speech. Leader Ming, you’re taking yourself and the Spring Mountain Sect too seriously.”
This time, the speaker was a gaunt middle-aged man with a bitter face, who, upon opening his mouth, spoke with sarcasm.
The Leader Ming pointed at him in fury and said, “Scholar Mei, our elder Song Ya was known along with you as one of the ‘Three Friends of Winter’ in the martial world. Now that he has passed away, is this your attitude?”
“Scholar Mei has always been ashamed to be mentioned alongside such shameless fellows.” Scholar Mei snorted disdainfully and politely said, “These nicknames in the martial world, if one comes up with them themselves, so be it. But there are those meddlers who link together people who are unrelated. I thought Leader Ming had also suffered from this in the past, otherwise, why would you always have a grudge against the Golden Sword Taoist from Qingcheng Sect? Back then, you two were also once heroes, known as the ‘Golden Sword and Silver Saber.'”
Leader Ming’s face twisted as if he were about to breathe fire.
Seeing the situation turning sour, the crowd hurried forward, each trying to mediate the dispute with their words.
In their hearts, they knew what Leader Ming wanted to say: the only person who could have killed Song Ya was probably Qingwu Ancestor from the Cangfeng Sect. But everyone present was a renowned figure in the martial world; they would not voice their suspicions lightly unless they were prepared to make an enemy.
Leader Ming did not really want to start a fight with Scholar Mei. There was already a mess to be dealt with, and he couldn’t afford to bring another powerful enemy upon his sect.
“Close the coffin,” he said dejectedly.
Two disciples from the Spring Mountain Sect stepped forward, taking nails to seal the coffin completely.
The weather was not yet hot, and the body had been lying for two or three days and was still presentable. But after a few more days, it would not be suitable for viewing. Since the victims and several prominent figures of the martial world had seen the body, it was naturally time to prepare for burial.
“Choose a better spot for the grave,” Leader Ming said, his hand clenched in his sleeve. Thinking of the Feng Shui for the grave, he thought of Cangfeng Sect, convinced that this matter was related to Qingwu Ancestor.
Golden armor, the treasure of Emperor Li’s tomb, the former dynasty’s state teacher… there must be a connection between these, with someone orchestrating everything, letting the situation escalate! Now, the identity and purpose of the person behind the scenes were still unknown, but the subsequent events would undoubtedly occur in Taijing.
Leader Ming composed himself and looked around: “Abbot Yuan Hui, and all fellow daoists, does anyone know what kind of person this state teacher of the Chu dynasty was?”
The crowd looked at each other; some were ignorant, while others had some records in their sects but knew not enough details.
In the end, it was the abbot of Hengchang Temple who first spoke: “This person’s surname is Meng, named Qi. During the previous dynasty, a high monk from our temple went to the capital to preach Buddhist scriptures. He stayed at Baoguo Temple in Taijing, where he happened to hear some rumors.”
He recounted how the state teacher Meng of the Chu dynasty was adept at controlling ghosts and could know many secrets.
The elites ran to Baoguo Temple to ask for magical implements and Buddha’s blessings, wishing they could also hang a picture of Zhong Kui catching ghosts.
They dared not meet Meng’s eyes for fear of attracting ghosts.
“…sounds like the Jinyiwei, could it be that this state teacher was in charge of the emperor’s secret guards?”
“As far as I know, there was no Jinyiwei in the Chu dynasty, as for secret guards, that is unknown,” said Scholar Mei coldly, fed up with these martial world peers, half of whom were illiterate, and the other half had not properly read books.
They were unclear even about official systems.
Scholar Mei continued: “Meng Qi is recorded in history as a trusted old minister of Emperor Li Yuanze of the Chu, who had accompanied Li Yuanze in battles across the land, taking part in the Liangjin Battle, the great Qingjiang Battle outside Taijing, and once, without reinforcements, defended the Donglin Pass fortress for six full months. During that time, the Chen dynasty attacked the city countless times, and there were troops from Xiliang moving south, all repelled by Meng Qi one by one. Donglin Pass stored the Chu army’s food supplies and was critical to the safety of the supply lines. At that time, Li Yuanze’s army was trapped near Hanze, suffering from epidemic diseases and enemies on all sides, nearly leading to their complete destruction. People only remember the strategists and warriors from this battle, neglecting Meng Qi who was guarding the supply line. Even the history books only sporadically mention him, which is unfair. This person was not well-known, but he was indeed a great talent.”
The topic of the country and the world brought complicated expressions to the faces of those from the martial world present.
No wonder, during the last years of the Chen dynasty, when many heroes rose up, many martial sects also got involved.
Among them, the best outcome was for a lay disciple of Hengchang Temple who, after the founding of the Chu dynasty, received a third-rank military official position and was sent to govern a locality. Because the court forbade officials from associating with lawless knights-errant, that general later had little to do with Hengchang Temple.
Not to mention other sects — under the rolling iron cavalry, most died amidst the chaos of war.
Those with high martial skills were sent to become assassins, fighting each other incessantly. By the time the Chu dynasty was established, not one in ten martial sects remained, a true calamity. Many martial arts manuals were lost, and many sects’ lineages were broken. To this day, the martial arts of the entire jianghu (martial world) are far inferior to those of a hundred years ago, and the spirited grandeur of roaming the jianghu with a sword, as depicted in the storybooks, no longer exists.
Many martial sects held grudges against the Chu dynasty, simply because they had backed the wrong side, suffered heavy losses, and resented the eventual victor.
Especially since the Chu dynasty had enacted harsh laws forbidding the carrying of weapons into cities by commoners unless they held official positions, which led many lower-tier martial artists to give up their swords and guns to learn hand-to-hand combat instead. Meanwhile, disciples of the major sects scrambled to purchase flexible swords and learn to use unusual weapons like the judge’s pen or the iron fan. If someone wanted to bring disciples to visit friends, they could only disguise themselves as street performers or acrobats.
With the fall of the Chu dynasty and the subsequent rise of the Qi dynasty, which followed the old systems but was lax in enforcement, things were much easier. People simply wrapped their weapons in cloth, and as long as they weren’t openly displayed, it was fine.
Life was much more comfortable than before.
Of course, this was something no one would say out loud, as it would be deemed spineless. The prosperous times of the Chu dynasty were still fresh in memory, and now the world was in chaos; the Qi dynasty was in no aspect comparable to the Chu.
“Cough, listening to Scholar Mei, this person should have been a military official? How did he become the state teacher?”
Everyone knew what a state teacher did, especially with the presence of the Cangfeng Sect and Taoist groups of Taijing in the jianghu.
If Meng Qi truly had the ability to bewitch and deceive, why didn’t he use it on the battlefield to intimidate the enemy, as many self-proclaimed divine emissaries did?
“The peculiar thing is exactly here. When Emperor Li Yuanze of Chu established his capital in Taijing and set the country and era names, he granted titles to his meritorious subjects. Yet Meng Qi received such an ambiguous position — sounding prestigious but without power. He didn’t have enough military renown to make the emperor wary of him. Moreover, he was overlooked not just at the time of the granting of titles but also during the purging of meritorious subjects. He was left out of both major events, so little is known about this state teacher.”
The people exchanged perplexed looks, the more they talked about it, the more mysterious it became.
Leader Ming, holding back his anger, laughed scornfully: “How interesting, it must have taken the strength of nine bulls and two tigers for the mastermind behind the scenes to dig this person out of the history books!”
At this moment, the sand rat crouched on the beam thought, “…”
There was no need for nine oxen and two tigers; it just took the clever idea of a plump rat to press himself into service.
Meng Qi almost had a newfound respect for Scholar Mei. His own achievements were so sparsely recorded by the historians that even less was known about him, and it was remarkable that someone could piece these fragments together.
Li Yuanze was not a dynasty emperor from hundreds of years ago who had portraits made of his meritorious subjects in the Lingyan Pavilion, making them well-known to later generations. In fact, just being able to accurately mention Meng Qi’s name was already quite impressive.
Meng Qi, although very self-assured, was not foolish. He had no expectation that the jianghu people, who had not even read the Analects, could quickly uncover his past.
He knew the views of the lower-tier jianghu from casual listening at roadside tea stands, but how the upper echelons of the martial world, like the Spring Mountain Sect and Qingcheng Sect, thought, he truly did not know.
So he skillfully transformed into a sand rat and slipped over to eavesdrop.
Meng Qi took note of Scholar Mei’s name and continued to observe the others.
The abbot of Hengchang Temple clasped his hands and chanted a Buddhist mantra, sighing: “Regardless, according to the records of Baoguo Temple, this state teacher Meng should be almost a hundred years old, having disappeared for many years. How could he reappear to commit murder?”
The sand rat thought, “…”
That’s nonsense, according to the age of “state teacher Meng,” he was clearly only eighty-seven years old!
Eighty-seven! Not even ninety-seven!
But the sand rat could not come out to defend himself, so he had to endure the defamation of being of an advanced age.
Fortunately, the physician was not present.
“Speaking of treasures, I do have a piece of information,” spoke the Golden Phoenix Young Master, playing with the folding fan in his hand, smiling enigmatically, “It’s related to the Imperial Jade Seal.”
“What?”
The crowd gasped in unison.
“It’s said that Emperor Lu Zhang of the Qi dynasty did not obtain the Imperial Jade Seal, and its whereabouts are a matter of speculation, one of which involves the state teacher Meng.”
“That’s impossible,” Scholar Mei stated emphatically. “When Emperor Ling of Chu was in power, state teacher Meng had already disappeared. By the time Lu Zhang seized the throne, Meng Qi had been missing for many years. How could it be related to him?”
Golden Phoenix Young Master smiled and said, “Because I have a lead that suggests fifty-five years ago, when the Crown Prince of the Chen dynasty fled with the Imperial Jade Seal, the one ordered to pursue him was Meng Qi. Later, the Crown Prince drowned himself in the river, and the Chu army dredged the Qing River for three days before declaring the seal recovered and brought back to Taijing. What if the Jade Seal the Chu dynasty recovered was a fake, and the real one had been switched by state teacher Meng since then?”
Everyone was stunned.
The sand rat on the beam was also stunned.
“What would he switch it for?” asked Scholar Mei.
The sand rat couldn’t help but nod in agreement. Indeed, what use would he have for the Jade Seal? It was hard and inedible; could he use it as a pillow?
“Maybe it’s unrelated to state teacher Meng, but our current predicament is related to it,” Golden Phoenix Young Master said with a meaningful tone. “Forgive my limited wisdom, but I can think of no other possibility. The treasure of Emperor Li’s tomb is a bait thrown out, and what the person behind the scenes really wants might be the Imperial Jade Seal. Nowadays, many desire to be emperor, and that piece of jade is heaven’s mandate.”
The crowd shuddered, recalling that Qingwu Ancestor had a disciple who had defected to King Tianshou.
And they thought of the numerous martial artists serving the kings of the south, King Wu and King Ning.
“Amitabha,” murmured the abbot of Hengchang Temple, lowering his eyes.
The martial sects are now in decline, and such prominent sects must not get involved in these murky waters again.
“Tomorrow, I shall take the monks from my temple back to the mountains.”
“That’s wise. I shall do the same.”
One by one, the others expressed their agreement, leaving only the Golden Phoenix Young Master, who enjoyed the chaos, and Leader Ming of the Spring Mountain Sect, who harbored personal grudges.
Leader Ming was reluctant but finally said, “I will not ascend to Cloud Mountain, but will investigate the situation from the outside.”
Hearing this, the sand rat quietly slipped away. Although there had been a mishap, with these renowned martial elders departing, the remaining martial artists would likely hesitate. Qingwu Ancestor’s plan to lure people to Emperor Li’s tomb could be considered half-failed.
Humph.
As the former dynasty’s state teacher, he achieved his goal today without even showing his face.
This chapter name is a separator, dividing the content
Just as the Mountain Shaking Tiger had said, the death of Song Ya had indeed caused great turmoil in the martial world.
Although Song Ya was a detestable person, his martial arts skills were very high.
Moreover, he was not a gentleman of integrity; he was always the one to set traps for others and never fell for them himself. His usual tactics of sneak attacks and sudden betrayals clearly did not work against this old fox.
Yet, Song Ya still died, as pitifully as those nameless underlings, suffering a very aggrieved death.
— Any person with a bit of experience in the martial world could tell from the corpse that Song Ya had suffered severe internal injuries, his meridians and internal organs shattered, ultimately leading to his demise.
“Who in the world could have done such a thing?”
The Leader Ming of the Spring Mountain Sect stood beside the coffin, angrily surveying those around him.
The big names of the martial world who had hurried over upon hearing the news all had ugly expressions. They couldn’t help but wonder if they could have killed old man Song Ya with a powerful strike in a head-on fight.
The answer, of course, was no, due to insufficient internal strength.
The reputation of the Spring Mountain Sect in the martial world was complicated, almost falling into the category of the unorthodox. But Song Ya was among the small group at the pinnacle of the martial arts world, and his tragic death sent shivers down the spines of other masters.
Some of them were not even as skilled as Song Ya, and if they were unlucky, they might be the ones lying in the coffin today.
“Leader Ming, please calm down.” The speaker was the abbot of Hengchang Temple, also a towering figure in the martial world, akin to the North Star. Not every generation had a martial alliance leader, but Hengchang Temple and Tianshan Sect were two constant peaks in the martial world.
Hengchang Temple was full of monks, while Tianshan Sect had many swordsmen.
The abbot, now in his sixties, had long eyebrows that hung over his forehead. Wearing a purple and patchy kasaya, he spoke solemnly while twirling his prayer beads: “Song Ya left a dying message before he passed.”
“That’s nonsense!” The Leader Ming, with his anger boiling over, clearly did not believe a word of about the state teacher.
These days, information was passed by word of mouth; without the ability to record and replay the situation, no one could be sure of the authenticity of Song Ya’s last words, except those who were present at the time.
The abbot of Hengchang Temple sighed, “Leader Ming, your sect elder breathed his last near the official road.”
That place was busy with travelers, including many people from the martial world.
— It was a good location, hence there were two young heroes from the martial world putting on a show there.
“Among those who heard the words at the time, in addition to the nameless juniors of the martial world, there were also disciples from two escort agencies, four small sects, and lower members of the evil Luotian Sect’s branch. Even if someone wanted to fabricate nonsense, they wouldn’t have the ability to bribe so many forces in the martial world and control their speech. Leader Ming, you’re taking yourself and the Spring Mountain Sect too seriously.”
This time, the speaker was a gaunt middle-aged man with a bitter face, who, upon opening his mouth, spoke with sarcasm.
The Leader Ming pointed at him in fury and said, “Scholar Mei, our elder Song Ya was known along with you as one of the ‘Three Friends of Winter’ in the martial world. Now that he has passed away, is this your attitude?”
“Scholar Mei has always been ashamed to be mentioned alongside such shameless fellows.” Scholar Mei snorted disdainfully and politely said, “These nicknames in the martial world, if one comes up with them themselves, so be it. But there are those meddlers who link together people who are unrelated. I thought Leader Ming had also suffered from this in the past, otherwise, why would you always have a grudge against the Golden Sword Taoist from Qingcheng Sect? Back then, you two were also once heroes, known as the ‘Golden Sword and Silver Saber.'”
Leader Ming’s face twisted as if he were about to breathe fire.
Seeing the situation turning sour, the crowd hurried forward, each trying to mediate the dispute with their words.
In their hearts, they knew what Leader Ming wanted to say: the only person who could have killed Song Ya was probably Qingwu Ancestor from the Cangfeng Sect. But everyone present was a renowned figure in the martial world; they would not voice their suspicions lightly unless they were prepared to make an enemy.
Leader Ming did not really want to start a fight with Scholar Mei. There was already a mess to be dealt with, and he couldn’t afford to bring another powerful enemy upon his sect.
“Close the coffin,” he said dejectedly.
Two disciples from the Spring Mountain Sect stepped forward, taking nails to seal the coffin completely.
The weather was not yet hot, and the body had been lying for two or three days and was still presentable. But after a few more days, it would not be suitable for viewing. Since the victims and several prominent figures of the martial world had seen the body, it was naturally time to prepare for burial.
“Choose a better spot for the grave,” Leader Ming said, his hand clenched in his sleeve. Thinking of the Feng Shui for the grave, he thought of Cangfeng Sect, convinced that this matter was related to Qingwu Ancestor.
Golden armor, the treasure of Emperor Li’s tomb, the former dynasty’s state teacher… there must be a connection between these, with someone orchestrating everything, letting the situation escalate! Now, the identity and purpose of the person behind the scenes were still unknown, but the subsequent events would undoubtedly occur in Taijing.
Leader Ming composed himself and looked around: “Abbot Yuan Hui, and all fellow daoists, does anyone know what kind of person this state teacher of the Chu dynasty was?”
The crowd looked at each other; some were ignorant, while others had some records in their sects but knew not enough details.
In the end, it was the abbot of Hengchang Temple who first spoke: “This person’s surname is Meng, named Qi. During the previous dynasty, a high monk from our temple went to the capital to preach Buddhist scriptures. He stayed at Baoguo Temple in Taijing, where he happened to hear some rumors.”
He recounted how the state teacher Meng of the Chu dynasty was adept at controlling ghosts and could know many secrets.
The elites ran to Baoguo Temple to ask for magical implements and Buddha’s blessings, wishing they could also hang a picture of Zhong Kui catching ghosts.
They dared not meet Meng’s eyes for fear of attracting ghosts.
“…sounds like the Jinyiwei, could it be that this state teacher was in charge of the emperor’s secret guards?”
“As far as I know, there was no Jinyiwei in the Chu dynasty, as for secret guards, that is unknown,” said Scholar Mei coldly, fed up with these martial world peers, half of whom were illiterate, and the other half had not properly read books.
They were unclear even about official systems.
Scholar Mei continued: “Meng Qi is recorded in history as a trusted old minister of Emperor Li Yuanze of the Chu, who had accompanied Li Yuanze in battles across the land, taking part in the Liangjin Battle, the great Qingjiang Battle outside Taijing, and once, without reinforcements, defended the Donglin Pass fortress for six full months. During that time, the Chen dynasty attacked the city countless times, and there were troops from Xiliang moving south, all repelled by Meng Qi one by one. Donglin Pass stored the Chu army’s food supplies and was critical to the safety of the supply lines. At that time, Li Yuanze’s army was trapped near Hanze, suffering from epidemic diseases and enemies on all sides, nearly leading to their complete destruction. People only remember the strategists and warriors from this battle, neglecting Meng Qi who was guarding the supply line. Even the history books only sporadically mention him, which is unfair. This person was not well-known, but he was indeed a great talent.”
The topic of the country and the world brought complicated expressions to the faces of those from the martial world present.
No wonder, during the last years of the Chen dynasty, when many heroes rose up, many martial sects also got involved.
Among them, the best outcome was for a lay disciple of Hengchang Temple who, after the founding of the Chu dynasty, received a third-rank military official position and was sent to govern a locality. Because the court forbade officials from associating with lawless knights-errant, that general later had little to do with Hengchang Temple.
Not to mention other sects — under the rolling iron cavalry, most died amidst the chaos of war.
Those with high martial skills were sent to become assassins, fighting each other incessantly. By the time the Chu dynasty was established, not one in ten martial sects remained, a true calamity. Many martial arts manuals were lost, and many sects’ lineages were broken. To this day, the martial arts of the entire jianghu (martial world) are far inferior to those of a hundred years ago, and the spirited grandeur of roaming the jianghu with a sword, as depicted in the storybooks, no longer exists.
Many martial sects held grudges against the Chu dynasty, simply because they had backed the wrong side, suffered heavy losses, and resented the eventual victor.
Especially since the Chu dynasty had enacted harsh laws forbidding the carrying of weapons into cities by commoners unless they held official positions, which led many lower-tier martial artists to give up their swords and guns to learn hand-to-hand combat instead. Meanwhile, disciples of the major sects scrambled to purchase flexible swords and learn to use unusual weapons like the judge’s pen or the iron fan. If someone wanted to bring disciples to visit friends, they could only disguise themselves as street performers or acrobats.
With the fall of the Chu dynasty and the subsequent rise of the Qi dynasty, which followed the old systems but was lax in enforcement, things were much easier. People simply wrapped their weapons in cloth, and as long as they weren’t openly displayed, it was fine.
Life was much more comfortable than before.
Of course, this was something no one would say out loud, as it would be deemed spineless. The prosperous times of the Chu dynasty were still fresh in memory, and now the world was in chaos; the Qi dynasty was in no aspect comparable to the Chu.
“Cough, listening to Scholar Mei, this person should have been a military official? How did he become the state teacher?”
Everyone knew what a state teacher did, especially with the presence of the Cangfeng Sect and Taoist groups of Taijing in the jianghu.
If Meng Qi truly had the ability to bewitch and deceive, why didn’t he use it on the battlefield to intimidate the enemy, as many self-proclaimed divine emissaries did?
“The peculiar thing is exactly here. When Emperor Li Yuanze of Chu established his capital in Taijing and set the country and era names, he granted titles to his meritorious subjects. Yet Meng Qi received such an ambiguous position — sounding prestigious but without power. He didn’t have enough military renown to make the emperor wary of him. Moreover, he was overlooked not just at the time of the granting of titles but also during the purging of meritorious subjects. He was left out of both major events, so little is known about this state teacher.”
The people exchanged perplexed looks, the more they talked about it, the more mysterious it became.
Leader Ming, holding back his anger, laughed scornfully: “How interesting, it must have taken the strength of nine bulls and two tigers for the mastermind behind the scenes to dig this person out of the history books!”
At this moment, the sand rat crouched on the beam thought, “…”
There was no need for nine oxen and two tigers; it just took the clever idea of a plump rat to press himself into service.
Meng Qi almost had a newfound respect for Scholar Mei. His own achievements were so sparsely recorded by the historians that even less was known about him, and it was remarkable that someone could piece these fragments together.
Li Yuanze was not a dynasty emperor from hundreds of years ago who had portraits made of his meritorious subjects in the Lingyan Pavilion, making them well-known to later generations. In fact, just being able to accurately mention Meng Qi’s name was already quite impressive.
Meng Qi, although very self-assured, was not foolish. He had no expectation that the jianghu people, who had not even read the Analects, could quickly uncover his past.
He knew the views of the lower-tier jianghu from casual listening at roadside tea stands, but how the upper echelons of the martial world, like the Spring Mountain Sect and Qingcheng Sect, thought, he truly did not know.
So he skillfully transformed into a sand rat and slipped over to eavesdrop.
Meng Qi took note of Scholar Mei’s name and continued to observe the others.
The abbot of Hengchang Temple clasped his hands and chanted a Buddhist mantra, sighing: “Regardless, according to the records of Baoguo Temple, this state teacher Meng should be almost a hundred years old, having disappeared for many years. How could he reappear to commit murder?”
The sand rat thought, “…”
That’s nonsense, according to the age of “state teacher Meng,” he was clearly only eighty-seven years old!
Eighty-seven! Not even ninety-seven!
But the sand rat could not come out to defend himself, so he had to endure the defamation of being of an advanced age.
Fortunately, the physician was not present.
“Speaking of treasures, I do have a piece of information,” spoke the Golden Phoenix Young Master, playing with the folding fan in his hand, smiling enigmatically, “It’s related to the Imperial Jade Seal.”
“What?”
The crowd gasped in unison.
“It’s said that Emperor Lu Zhang of the Qi dynasty did not obtain the Imperial Jade Seal, and its whereabouts are a matter of speculation, one of which involves the state teacher Meng.”
“That’s impossible,” Scholar Mei stated emphatically. “When Emperor Ling of Chu was in power, state teacher Meng had already disappeared. By the time Lu Zhang seized the throne, Meng Qi had been missing for many years. How could it be related to him?”
Golden Phoenix Young Master smiled and said, “Because I have a lead that suggests fifty-five years ago, when the Crown Prince of the Chen dynasty fled with the Imperial Jade Seal, the one ordered to pursue him was Meng Qi. Later, the Crown Prince drowned himself in the river, and the Chu army dredged the Qing River for three days before declaring the seal recovered and brought back to Taijing. What if the Jade Seal the Chu dynasty recovered was a fake, and the real one had been switched by state teacher Meng since then?”
Everyone was stunned.
The sand rat on the beam was also stunned.
“What would he switch it for?” asked Scholar Mei.
The sand rat couldn’t help but nod in agreement. Indeed, what use would he have for the Jade Seal? It was hard and inedible; could he use it as a pillow?
“Maybe it’s unrelated to state teacher Meng, but our current predicament is related to it,” Golden Phoenix Young Master said with a meaningful tone. “Forgive my limited wisdom, but I can think of no other possibility. The treasure of Emperor Li’s tomb is a bait thrown out, and what the person behind the scenes really wants might be the Imperial Jade Seal. Nowadays, many desire to be emperor, and that piece of jade is heaven’s mandate.”
The crowd shuddered, recalling that Qingwu Ancestor had a disciple who had defected to King Tianshou.
And they thought of the numerous martial artists serving the kings of the south, King Wu and King Ning.
“Amitabha,” murmured the abbot of Hengchang Temple, lowering his eyes.
The martial sects are now in decline, and such prominent sects must not get involved in these murky waters again.
“Tomorrow, I shall take the monks from my temple back to the mountains.”
“That’s wise. I shall do the same.”
One by one, the others expressed their agreement, leaving only the Golden Phoenix Young Master, who enjoyed the chaos, and Leader Ming of the Spring Mountain Sect, who harbored personal grudges.
Leader Ming was reluctant but finally said, “I will not ascend to Cloud Mountain, but will investigate the situation from the outside.”
Hearing this, the sand rat quietly slipped away. Although there had been a mishap, with these renowned martial elders departing, the remaining martial artists would likely hesitate. Qingwu Ancestor’s plan to lure people to Emperor Li’s tomb could be considered half-failed.
Humph.
As the former dynasty’s state teacher, he achieved his goal today without even showing his face.
