Finding Xie Wang's hideout was very difficult, yet for some illogical reason, finding the way to go back was super easy. It was so illogical since they searched for Xie Wang's hideouts at daylight, while they returned to the village at night, when the sun had disappeared. They could even reach the foot of the mountain very fast. Without wasting time, they directly returned home and went to sleep.
But even though Zhu Su had been lying on the bed, his eyes still opened wide. His experience in Mount Laojun screwed up his mind. The beauty of Mount Laojun, its mysteriousness, the strange feeling he got, the echoing sound that only he heard by himself, and the strange accident that harassed a squad of Mu Ying's army... Somehow his hunch said, all of these were not separated, all did not stand without connection. They were like pieces of a fragmented puzzle, but if he managed to combine them, they would form into an important key to win the fight against Xie Wang.
The question was, how to put these pieces of puzzle together?
Still, he did not find the answer.
The more he thought about it, the more he agitated. Leading him to be unable to sleep despite he was physically exhausted. As a result, he stayed awake until morning.
When Wu Qi came bringing food the next morning, he twitched in surprise as seeing Zhu Su's dull face.
"Your Highness, do you feel unwell?" Wu Qi asked.
"I'm okay... I just get insomnia because of staying awake overnight..."
"My goodness, Your Highness, you need enough rest to be able to defeat Xie Wang!"
"Ah, I have been used of not getting enough sleep. When Ming has not yet been stable, I often helped my father by working far into the night," Zhu Su replied in a casual manner. "I just get curious about the weirdness happening yesterday, so I kept thinking about it, and thus I couldn't sleep."
"Well then, Your Highness... I'm just worried about you..."
In fact, besides busy looking for a solution to win against Xie Wang, what Zhu Su felt most disturbing was his disappointment since he failed to find the enemy's headquarters. He stayed cool in front of his men, declared that running away was a good strategy, but in fact, he felt ashamed of what he said. He was the same as a child, easy to be euphoria and enthusiastic in performing something, yet because he performed by just following emotions without making careful planning, all thus ended in vain.
A thought suddenly passed through his mind; Perhaps, it was actually his careless and hasty character which made him now get stranded here. He thought, simply talking with his father-in-law was a casual thing, he made respond immediately without thinking more carefully. The same thing happened right now. He was burned with anger as Xie Wang had publicly humiliated him, he was determined to avenge by insulting Xie Wang back. But what happened later? It was he who got embarrassed by Xie Wang, once again.
"... cleanse your mind from hatred..."
Could this be the true meaning of those words? God knew the reason why he came to Mount Laojun, it was simply because of anger. And anger, instead of bringing him to success, in fact dropped him to the brink of failure. He had to calm down. Cleansing his mind, making it be neutral, and finally, he could be led to an expected result.
"I change my mind." Zhu Su finally said. "I will still go to Mount Laojun, but not to search for Xie Wang's hideouts. "
"So, what do you want to do?"
"To contemplate."
***
Once again, Zhu Su departed to Mount Laojun accompanied by Wu Qi and Hu Nayin. They could reach their destination faster since they had memorized the path. About Mu Ying and his army, they had not yet returned from Mount Laojun, and their news was still unheard. They were not meeting with anyone today. And still, they could not find Xie Wang's hideouts.
Mount Laojun seemingly gave a strange sensation - that the whole living things had been sucked into this mountain.
"The forest on this mountain is very quiet. It seems like nobody occupies it," Zhu Su expressed his thoughts.
"This area is indeed the most mysterious area in Mount Laojun. There is a rumor that it can "hide something" ." Hu Nayin replied.
"That's why Xie Wang builds his headquarters here, huh. I get it..."
When they arrived at the lake, without further ado Zhu Su sat on a large rock at the lakeside, thus began his meditation.
A gentle breeze blew, sometimes it blew briskly, sometimes it disappeared. The water on the lake was gurgling, brought a cool sensation to the earth. Once in a while, the leaves were swung by a puff of wind. Zhu Su closed his eyes, stared through the darkness, but his four senses still remained in contact with nature. It soon brought him to peace, calm, and a feeling of great relief.
During this time, he had no time to meditate. His teachers often encouraged him to meditate, and he himself also wanted to practice it, but he never had a chance to do it. His teachers also often encouraged him to meet with mountain ascetics, but most of the ascetics had established themselves secluded from worldliness, and once they heard that a prince wanted to meet with them, they immediately shut themselves off tightly. As if by contacting with political world would make them dragged from the happiness of their hermitage.
"... Now the wheel of fate has turned, opening your Great Destiny..."
Is this a good thing I can get by coming to Yunnan? Free from busy working hours, no need to find a teacher and I can immediately practice contemplation by myself, by directly connecting with nature?
It was true, in Kaifeng, he lived in a large and luxurious palace, was surrounded by his entire family, got the best service, was able to do whatever he liked. His prestige was very high. Nevertheless, he could not go anywhere, was pinched with a flurry of activities, not to mention the complex palace rituals and political intrigues which could cause headaches. On the other hand. Being sentenced was a shameful and depressing matter, he was separated from his family and had to live with lousy facilities since Yunnan was far more retarded than Kaifeng. But the natural beauty he was enjoying now, that was something he would never get in Kaifeng. Especially the sensation of peace he got when meditating now. He was almost certain, even the wisest hermit would not be able to teach him to reach this level.
This is life. Just like Yin Yang * . We can't say that only Yin is good, or only Yang is good. Both are equally useful. It is similar to joy and sorrow in life. Now I am enduring a hard time, but from this hard time, I gain true knowledge. I can learn directly from nature.
Learn directly from nature...
The idea came up all that way. It was so evocative Zhu Su soon opened his eyes. Then slowly said, "I get it..."
"Your Highness?" Surprised, Wu Qi and Hu Nayin who also joined him in meditation, fast approached him.
"The solution to deal with Xie Wang... is indeed inside this mountain. But the way to realize it, is not here." He rose out of his feet. "Let's return to the government office. We work there."
***
"Why does he run away so fast? And more, what he did was merely sitting and doing nothing!" Xie Wang found that his level of enthusiasm dropped as he saw Zhu Su was now going down the mountain.
Rumilie smiled in disdain. "That means, I say it right. He doesn't deserve to be compared to the great Khans. He doesn't even have a drop of their courage!"
"Huh... such a shame. To tell the truth, I just suppose that this son of Hongwu Emperor will be as powerful as his father and I have been afraid of him somehow... Or maybe he is terrified because we have crushed Mu Ying's army..."
Xie Wang curved a terrible smile. Behind him, a straggle of corpses was lying in shredded conditions, the greenish pasture had turned into a sea of reddish blood.
They were the dead bodies of Mu Ying's army.
"But, the cowardice of this Ming Prince has proven it. That the moment has come. The long-awaited moment to counterattack, to take revenge for my whole family, has come!"
...
* Yin Yang = a concept of dualism, describing how seemingly opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another.