Chapter Fifty-Four: Half a Year…
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Year 17 of the Yonghe Era, March 7th, overcast.
“My name is Xu Boqing. I can no longer recall how many days I’ve spent in the Cining Palace, or rather… I have grown accustomed to life here…”
“Today, Chief Steward Huang departed. Upon hearing the news, the Empress Dowager wept until her eyes were swollen. The Yonghe Emperor intended to grant him a lavish burial, but I persuaded the Empress Dowager to refuse; for Chief Steward Huang left behind no children, no family—not even a distant relative. Grand honors would mean nothing without mourners.”
“With the Empress Dowager’s consent, I buried the Chief Steward in a corner of the hill behind Cining Palace, so he might be remembered.”
……
Year 17 of the Yonghe Era, March 8th, clear.
“Wearing mourning and keeping vigil…”
“Perhaps it is because those involved cannot see clearly; only now do I understand—Chief Steward Huang must have known he was gravely wounded, his end near, so he never intended to survive…”
“After he learned of my unique constitution, he deliberately provoked me with harsh words, compelling me to absorb his internal strength. He did not seek to live, but to bequeath his power to me…”
……
Year 17 of the Yonghe Era, March 9th, clear.
“Wearing mourning and keeping vigil.”
“I have pondered much… so very much…”
……
Year 17 of the Yonghe Era, March 10th, clear.
“Wearing mourning and keeping vigil.”
……
Year 17 of the Yonghe Era, March 11th, clear.
“Wearing mourning and keeping vigil.”
“The Yonghe Emperor sent messengers with a decree: I am to assume the post of Chief Steward of Cining Palace. A new gilded python robe, a new imperial medal—I have formally inherited Chief Steward Huang’s mantle.”
……
Year 17 of the Yonghe Era, March 12th, clear.
“Wearing mourning and keeping vigil.”
“I often comfort the Empress Dowager, saying Chief Steward Huang passed at eighty-five, a venerable age—a cause for celebration;”
“But I often wonder: ordinary folk have but a few decades to live. Will I too have such a day?”
“When that day comes, will I face it calmly?”
……
Year 17 of the Yonghe Era, March 13th, clear.
“Wearing mourning and keeping vigil.”
“Messengers from the Eastern Bureau brought word—they have discovered the identities of the assassins…”
“Hui Kong from Boruo Temple, Jie Honghua of the Chongxu Sect, Xiang Shao of the Five Venoms Cult, Lu Zhouyang of Sword-Casting Manor, Deng Jian of the Fierce Tiger Gate…”
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“All of them are leaders of major factions in the martial world…”
“The Yonghe Emperor’s intentions remain unclear; he does not seem eager to pursue vengeance. But I believe this is merely the calm before the storm, for he is not a forgiving ruler.”
……
Year 17 of the Yonghe Era, March 14th, clear.
“Wearing mourning and keeping vigil.”
“Rumors spread today: the Yonghe Emperor has recalled the Grand General Xuanwu from his post outside the capital, and plans to establish a Western Bureau alongside the Eastern Bureau…”
……
Late March, Grand General Xuanwu returns to the capital…
Early April, the Crown Prince is discovered to have ties with martial artists, and is stripped of his title by the Yonghe Emperor, confined to the Eastern Palace. Empress Zhang is distraught, weeping daily…
Soon after, the heads of the Crown Prince’s advisers rolled…
Late April, the Western Bureau is formed in secret, its ranks drawn primarily from the military, the Embroidered Guards, and the Eastern Bureau’s elite, reporting directly to the Yonghe Emperor.
Early May, local officials clash with monks while collecting taxes at Boruo Temple, and afterward disappear without a trace…
News reaches the palace, inciting outrage among the ministers, who jointly petition to send troops to punish the lawless, as an example to others…
The Yonghe Emperor, furious, grants permission.
Grand General Xuanwu leads elite forces out of the capital…
Early June, hundreds of martial monks at Boruo Temple are killed or wounded, and Abbot Hui Kong is grievously injured and captured; Boruo Temple is annihilated.
Mid-June, Grand General Xuanwu returns with over a hundred martial monks and dozens of carts of books and treasures from Boruo Temple…
The books and treasures are confiscated, the monks thrown into the Imperial Prison, awaiting execution after the autumn trial…
Not long after, bandits in Jiangnan secretly unite, slay officers, seize grain stores, raise their banners in rebellion—many join them, and within half a month they have taken more than twenty towns and cities.
News reaches the capital, enraging the Yonghe Emperor, who sends Grand General Xuanwu to Jiangnan to suppress the uprising…
Meanwhile, in the Imperial Prison.
Warden Hu, shaken, stands outside a special cell deep within the dungeon. Beside him lies the lifeless body of a prison guard, his corpse unmarked—he was slain by nothing more than a mouthful of spit from the old monk imprisoned within…
And the prisoner…
Is none other than the abbot of Boruo Temple, Hui Kong.
The old monk’s tendons in hands and feet have been severed, his shoulder blades pierced with iron hooks, and he hangs, bound by thick chains, pitiful to behold.
As the only innate master in the prison, a death-row convict personally delivered by Grand General Xuanwu, he receives special attention from Warden Hu.
Just now, a guard tried to approach him to check his breathing, only to be met with a mouthful of spit from the old monk.
Dead…
Warden Hu is both terrified and furious: terrified by the prowess of an innate master, who even with ruined limbs can kill with a single spit; furious, for the victim was his subordinate.
Now, with the general dispatched to Jiangnan, the guards once responsible for watching the old monk have been reassigned…
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Yet the moment they left, this incident occurred—how could Warden Hu show his face now?
Especially with other guards watching nearby.
If he fails to handle this properly, his authority in the prison will be undermined!
“What a bald monk of the innate realm.”
Warden Hu growled through clenched teeth, then summoned several guards of the acquired realm, barking, “Pull out the old man’s tongue. I want to see if, without it, he can spit again!”
……
The guards exchanged glances, their Adam’s apples bobbing; none dared reply.
Though they too possessed the acquired realm, the corpse of their colleague had not yet grown cold—who would dare pull out the tongue of an innate master?
“What’s the matter?”
Warden Hu, seeing their hesitation, guessed their thoughts and scolded, “Usually you boast about smashing stones and breaking monuments with ease. Now you quail before a monk?”
One guard replied with a wry face, “But…sir…this is different.”
Another protested, “Sir, we’ve never dealt with an innate master before, no experience.”
“Heh…”
From within the cell, Hui Kong scoffed, “My tongue is right here. Why don’t you try pulling it out?”
He knew Boruo Temple had become history, and himself a prisoner awaiting the executioner’s axe on some auspicious day…
But with the military’s elite gone, he cared not if, before dying, he dragged a few more imperial hounds to the grave with him!
Warden Hu and the guards all looked grim, sensing the old monk’s open disdain and threat.
To be warden and guards, yet belittled by a prisoner!
One guard seemed to recall something, his eyes brightening as he whispered in Warden Hu’s ear, “Sir, how long has it been since Eunuch Xu last visited?”
“Eunuch Xu…”
Warden Hu paused, then understood.
Eunuch Xu of Cining Palace was famed in the prison for his benevolence, frequently visiting to practice the ‘Transforming Power Method’ on prisoners.
Any who passed through his hands—no matter how deep their internal strength or robust their external skills—would inevitably become ordinary men.
Not only did this make prison management easier, but Warden Hu earned no less than ten thousand taels of silver in that half-year, and the guards enjoyed a prosperous season.
Yet after the New Year, Eunuch Xu ceased coming—rumor had it Cining Palace had suffered misfortune, which he lamented for some time…
Now, with a death-row innate master…
Warden Hu’s gaze sharpened; he patted the guard’s shoulder and said, “I will write a letter myself. You go to the palace and pass word to a junior eunuch, have him deliver it to Eunuch Xu.”
“Heh, understood…”
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