Eunuch Mei gasped in shock, "Your Highness, you can't. This… This will cause terrible chaos. The people's sentiment…"
There was a vague change in Xia Ji's expression, but very quickly, it turned into a smile as he said, "Are you trying to teach me what to do again?"
Eunuch Mei was stunned and he quickly knelt down and said repeatedly, "I do not dare, I do not dare do so."
The one hundred soldiers of sacrifice stepped forward to complete their duty without hesitation because of the token in Xia Ji's hand. They pulled out their swords with stoic expressions and walked toward the crowd.
Xia Ji added to his instructions, "Capture the leaders alive and grant them death by dismemberment. Cut them a thousand times with your swords, and not one cut less or you will make up for it on yourselves."
An ominous look flashed across the eyes of the soldiers of sacrifice. "Yes, master!"
…
The commotion from the other side had quickly garnered the attention of these 'mobsters'. They had no idea of the imminent danger about to befall them. Under the current circumstances, anyone with the slightest understanding of tactics would know better to conduct an execution. This would cause a massive loss of support from the people and add fuel to the fire.
With that in mind, someone from the crowd voiced out with malicious intent, "His Highness is blessed by Buddha and has saved the Imperial Capital. Please do not abandon your people while…"
Before he could finish his sentence, a soldier of sacrifice appeared in front of him and grabbed his face by the cheeks. The man's tongue was pulled out and immediately cut off. His master had instructed for one thousand cuts from the sword. This was just the first cut.
The unexpected scene stunned the people. Some of the instigators remained hidden with the crowd as they continued to shout, "His Highness has gone mad. He's killing all of us, the innocent commoners…"
"Xia Ji has stepped onto the demonic path. He does not care for our lives."
"Xia Ji is a cruel tyrant. He no longer has the blessing of Buddha."
"It's him, he is the one who refuses to open up the granary and relieve us!"
Those who had uttered the words could not hide no matter what they did. They were quickly discovered by the soldiers of sacrifice. Their tongues were cut off and they were then immobilized by strikes to the pressure points. The only pressure point that was not applied was the mute point. They were then promptly taken to the head of the bridge not far off and executed via dismemberment.
Some of the refugees had been looking forward to a riot. That would have given them the opportunity to reap some benefits during the chaos. However, under the watchful eyes of the Seventh Imperial Prince of the Shang Dynasty, no one dared do anything. The wailing of agonizing regret could be heard from the bridge behind him. It was so intense, it chilled the heart of anyone who heard it.
Following that, the other troublemakers' bravado dipped to a minimum as they quickly vacated the area.
The Imperial Princess walked toward Xia Ji's side with her hands lowered dejectedly. She had been crying so hard that her eyes were puffy.
Xia Ji gently touched her long hair, which was soft and fine, and wiped away her tears with the back of this hand.
Xia Xiaosu sobbed, "Big brother, I'm sorry… I'm the one who brought you all this trouble."
A gentle smile appeared on Xia Ji's face. "You're not the one at fault. Just don't come out here all by yourself the next time. Let the palace maids set up the congee stalls. You should stay in the palace and read more books."
"Okay!"
As they were conversing, the sound of fighting could be heard coming from the bridge where the execution had been carried out.
A cold look appeared on Xia Ji's face as he patted the Imperial Princess on the shoulder. "Follow me."
Xia Xiaosu quickly followed behind the steps of her older brother. The few guards with them did not dare to follow as they busied themselves picking up the pieces of the riot. Xia Xiaosu's gaze swept across the people on the street. Most of the refugees did not actually join in the earlier brawl. They looked quite pitiful as they huddled by the side, not knowing what to do. Her heart softened once again as she shouted, "We'll be back in the evening. There's still congee available."
This time, there was no one saying anything along the lines of her being a 'hypocrite'. Many of the refugees could not help lifting their eyes. The dull look in their eyes brightened as joy shone through them. Some of the children were even smiling at Xia Xiaosu. However, they quickly lowered their head in fear when they saw Xia Ji.
They walked toward the street and turned to a corner before stopping.
Xia Ji looked at the fight that was happening on the bridge. Many of the soldiers of sacrifice were surrounding a monk.
The soldiers of sacrifice were good with their weapons and were quite accomplished with their sword skills. Each slash of the sword was ruthless, but that monk deflected each attack effortlessly. The monk's staff acted as a go-between during the attacks and the soldiers of sacrifice eventually all fell into the water.
The monk looked at those soldiers of sacrifice still carrying out the torments and suddenly said a prayer of 'Amitabha' out loud. His voice sounded normal when it fell into the ears of those around, but many of the soldiers of sacrifice suddenly had a pained look on their faces and next, blood started flowing out of their ears.
"I am the monk Sorrowful Divine. How could all of you treat innocent people this way? Stop what you are doing now."
However, the soldiers of sacrifice refused to heed the word of the monk. They were soldiers of sacrifice. They had to complete their duty given by Xia Ji.
However, a commotion erupted from all directions when the monk announced his name.
"It's Sorrowful Divine Monk from Leiyin Temple!"
"The divine monk is merciful. He must be here in the Imperial Capital to save everyone from the pits of misery."
"Master Sorrowful!"
The voices rose one after the other.
Many of the people had looks of hope on their faces.
Sorrowful held onto his black monk's staff as he stood at the head of the bridge. There was neither happiness nor sorrow in his eyes as his gaze swept across the soldiers of sacrifice who had not stopped what they were doing. He suddenly said angrily, "Buddha might be filled with mercy, but he also possesses the rage of Buddha's warrior attendants and is relentless, prepare to…"
When he said this, he lifted his monk's staff with sudden force as the aura around him started to expand. When he said the words 'prepare to', his voice thundered. He was clearly about to initiate an attack mode of the sound category.
Before he could go into the attack mode, Xia Ji was already standing beneath the bridge, asking, "Prepare to do what?"
Sorrowful recognized who this was. He gave a gesture of courtesy with one hand and greeted, "Seventh Imperial Prince."
Xia Ji paused in his steps. The two men were ten feet apart. He returned the greeting, "Master Sorrowful."
Sorrowful said, "Your Highness, you had a game of chess with my senior on Mount Meru, obtaining a breakthrough in Pearl in the Sea. This signifies Your Highness's fate with Buddha. Why not sever your three thousand thread of worries [TN: In Buddhist terms, three thousand threads refer to one's hair, which represents worries in life.] and follow the path of Buddhism?"
Xia Ji asked, "What would happen to my loved ones then?"
Sorrowful replied, "Be a monk and you would no longer have a home."
Xia Ji continued, "What about my blood feud?"
Sorrowful replied, "Nothing is permanent. Men will experience life, death, change, and annihilation. The blood feud mentioned by Your Highness is just an earlier entry into reincarnation."
Xia Ji pressed, "Why are you here then?"
Sorrowful said, "To save people. These commoners may have taken liberties with their tongues, but they are innocent, after all. They have suffered enough punishment, which is why I'm here to save them.
"Your Highness may be fated with Buddha, but you are also trapped by your attachment to the world. I am here to advise Your Highness not to take the path of the demon. I am also here to save Your Highness."
Xia Ji said, "When Guifang conducted their siege, where were you? When Guifang retreated and dead bodies and hungry people littered the city, where were you? All I've done was capture a few mobsters instigated by some scheming mastermind and here you are, claiming to save them, and to save me… What right do you have?"
Sorrowful was not angered. He chanted his Buddhist name and said calmly, "Your Highness has been blessed by Buddha, defeating Guifang alongside the soldiers and generals guarding the city, this is a deed of merit. If you insist on the killing of a few commoners whose guilt is not worthy of death punishment, it would be equivalent to entering the demonic path. Is that worth it?"
Xia Ji rebutted with a question, "Men will experience life, death, change, and annihilation, so what's the point of saving a few mobsters such as these?"
Sorrowful replied, "Monks are people of compassion and mercy, of course they would need saving."
Xia Ji persisted, "If you want to save people, you would need to hurt others in the process."
Sorrowful said, "Those who hurt others with vicious and cruel tactics would be walking the demonic path. If I walk that path, I won't be hurting others."
"What would you be then?"
"I'll be cleansing them of their sins."
Xia Ji could not help laughing aloud at those words. He said sarcastically, "Master Sorrowful is indeed a divine monk. You spout nothing but rubbish. Any more words from you would just be laughable and filled with hypocrisy. You make irresponsible remarks and your words are filled with deception. Aren't you afraid of ending up in tongue-pulling hell?"
Sorrowful sighed softly. "Your Highness, are you intent on going through with this and entering the demonic path?"
Xia Ji was not angry about his words. He looked about at heaven and earth, suddenly saying, "Master, take a look at this lake in the Imperial Capital. Why does the water reflect so many different things?"
Sorrowful turned his head to look and replied, "Because there are trees at the lakeside, the clouds in the sky, the boats on the lake, the bridge on the water. The projection of all within heaven and earth falls within the lake water, and naturally, reflection appears."
Xia Ji said, "Master, since you are aware of this, where does the reflection of the demonic path, turning demonic, vicious and cruel tactics, and relentlessness that you are constantly mentioning, come from?!"
Sorrowful was taken aback and could not answer.