An arm tumbled down from the roof to the ground. The moment they caught sight of
it, they knew that it was clear that Yan Shou had lost his upper arm. He repeatedly fell
made an attempt to retreat, trying to stop the bleeding as he dea as he wore a face
hideously distorted by pain. He, too, nearly fell from the roof, naturally unable to
participate in battle again.
Baoyun and Shen Qiao exchanged a number of moves in their battles, before the man
came to the sudden realization that Shen Qiao did not use up all of his strength in
battling Yan Shou just then. Rather, the jian qi of his sword remained abundant, and
flowed without pause; Baoyun considered the advantages and disadvantages of
prolonging this battle, and believed that, even if he emerged victorious, it would be a
wretched sort of victory. Moreover, he did not have any sort of profound hatred for
Shen Qiao. Even if he were to kill him, it would not be much to his advantage.
It would
have been better to use a little over half of his strength so as to prevent Shen Qiao
from fulfilling his desire to kill Yan Shou instead of engaging with him for very long.
Right then, Xiao Se shouted: "Baoyun-zhanglao, Yan-zhanglao isn't looking good!"
Outside of having lost his arm, Yan Shou's entire body was covered in dozens of
internal and external wounds of varying sizes. At that moment, he had lost a significant
amount of blood. Even if he had closed his acupoint to stop the blood from flowing, he
would have had to circulate his inner strength and breathing. It wouldn't have reduced
the bleeding by any significant means anyway.
The more fatal thing was that the
technique Yan Shou utilized to earn his reputation as the Bloodstained Monk required
the use of the right hand that he had lost. Even if they were able to save his life, his
strength would be reduced by a significant amount with the loss of this hand.
And this,
for those who studied wugong, would be the most fatal blow.
His mind was filled with hate for Shen Qiao, and hate for Baoyun and the others who
only stood and watched. Combined with hate and anger, he could only faint away.
Baoyun, upon hearing these words, took advantage of this opportunity to escape.
"Shen Qiao! There will come a day where you will repay in full for the crime you
committed of wounding an elder of our Hehuan Sect!"
Shen Qiao responded lightly: "There isn't a better day than today, is there? Why wait
for some other time when we can settle things here now!"
Immediately after saying this, he pointed his sword in Yan Shou's direction and flew
directly towards him. Clearly he was taking advantage of the brief moment wherein the
man would be unable to strike back and kill him at once!"
Baoyun was taken aback. It seemed that he did not expect Shen Qiao to be so
persistent .At once, he rushed ahead, with one hand ready to strike him
It was right at this moment that Bai Rong flew past. With the slender fingers of her soft
white hands, she produced sky blue lotus flowers, their appearance fine and exquisite,
elegant and charming—it was too much for anyone's eyes to take in.
However, Shen Qiao's sword swept across them, and the curtain of light from his sword
split into tens of thousands of images in a split second, forcibly dispelling Baoyun and
Bai Rong's offensive maneuvers, even causing Bai Rong to strike Baoyun with one of
her hands.
"Bai Rong!" Baoyun shouted, angrily.
capital. I must ask, has something happened here? Did those subjects wrong His
Majesty in some way?"
"Oh, they certainly did," the soldier said. "His Majesty wants to rebuild the Imperial
Palace. These people's fathers and brothers, or perhaps even their husbands, were
once subjects of the Imperial Court. Every single one of them submitted a memorial to
the Emperor expressing their opposition against reconstruction, infuriating His Majesty.
They were the ones who caused this."
"Rebuild the palace?" Shen Qiao said, taken aback. "According to what this poor
Daoist knows, His Majesty is hardworking and spends very little, as though he were one
to not seek a life of comfort and pleasure."
"Daozhang, I must offer you some advice," the soldier said nervously. "Do not ever
utter these words once more when you reach the city! The former Emperor indeed did
not spend luxuriously and loved his people. But this new Emperor isn't like this at all!
The crown prince didn't even observe his father's death for even a full month. He even
said to the people that they didn't have to either. We don't even have to mention what
happened to those who submitted an opposition against him!"
As Shen Qiao listened to his words, his expression had darkened greatly. His heart
nearly skipped a beat from astonishment.
Yuwen Yong had died?
The soldier, upon seeing the great change in Shen Qiao's expression, believed that he
was unable to accept this news, and said so as to comfort him: "The former Emperor
was never fond of Buddhist or Daoist teachings. However, now that His Majesty has
ascended the throne, he has relaxed the restrictions once placed upon Buddhism and
Daoism.
He even renewed Buddhism's position as the state religion. Daozhang, you
should be able to walk freely throughout Chang'an city. There is no need to fear that
you will be pulled away and interrogated."
Shen Qiao smiled bitterly. Is this what they call good fortune found in miserable
circumstances?
"Then why is it that His Majesty refuses to observe the mourning period for his father?"
The moment that he said this, both soldiers had completely tensed. They glanced
about left and right and, once they noticed no one was paying any heed to their words,
said in a low voice: "How could we possibly know something like that?! Daozhang, it
would be better if you didn't ask so many questions!"
Shen Qiao asked once more: "In that case, do you know of the current status of the
Prince of Qi, Yuwen Xian¹?"
They were some of the lowest rank of soldiers; the last known whereabouts of the
Prince of Qi was indeed something that they would not be involved with knowing.
As a result, Shen Qiao no longer had anything to ask. He thanked the two men and
finished his tea. Once more, he watched as the soldiers prepared for their journey to
take away the wives and families of the officials who had opposed the Emperor, and
bid them farewell. He then undid the reins of his horse that he had tied to a nearby
fence, mounted it, and headed directly towards Chang'an.
The moment he reached the city of Chang'an, Shen Qiao no longer felt as though the
city had changed as significantly as he had before. It was still quite lively, still filled with
people moving about, coming and going in endless streams. It was still much more
prosperous than that of the capitals of other provinces.
However, the only difference
was that there were more government officials in the city streets, especially in those
that lead up to the palace. Some were doing inspections of the area, while others were
escorting convicts. Men and women made up the convicted people; as well as young
and old. It was just the same as when he had been just outside the city. Fear and
anxiety filled their faces, seeming completely out of place with that of the lively city.
Shen Qiao stopped to look around.
The sound of children crying amidst the troops of
soldiers was unbearable for him. However, he understood very well that, even if he
were able to save them, regardless of whether or not the crimes these families had
been accused of was justified in any way, he had no means of helping them settle
down elsewhere. In the end, there was a high chance that it would cause them to face
even more serious punishments.
***
1 Recall that this is the general that Yan Wushi supported a long time ago over the useless crown prince
(Yuwen Yong's son) to be Yuwen Yong's successor.