Shi Zhixuan stared at Xu Ziling without blinking at all, his expression was full of energy, as if he had become another person, no longer the Shi Zhixuan who could not extricate himself from the abyss of regret and remorse, pain and contradiction. He spoke indifferently, “I’m glad for my decision to pass on the Bu Si Yin Fa to Ziling, otherwise, I might still hope to have the luck to try to destroy you, while also destroy Qingxuan, and even destroy myself. When I knew that I was still defeated by Lu Miaozi’s Duke Yang’s Treasure-house, I suddenly thought of the heaven’s net has wide meshes, but nothing escapes it, about the cycle of cause and effect [karma] between heaven and earth, and that divine retribution [Buddhism concept] is without the slightest discrepancy. Ziling should know that Lu Miaozi was Xiuxin’s friend of the forgotten years.”
And then he lightly patted the dragon chair’s armrest, and caressed it gently, his pair of eyes shot pondering and reminiscing expression, as if he was perfectly contented, he said, “Since I followed Shizun to study his skill, I have always dreamed of getting a taste of sitting on this dragon chair, and I strived hard to go this direction. However, just when victory seemed to be within reach, the people from our humble school did not enter the palace via the secret passage as agreed. Just now watching Ziling enter the secret passage, I suddenly felt every hope turns to dust, everything is empty. All my, Shi Zhixuan’s wild fantasy, pursuits, in the end, what do I get? What is it for? Ay! What is the reason for this? Even if I really ascended to the throne, it wouldn’t be more than this.” His eyes glanced up and down the empty and vast, magnificent and huge palace hall.
Xu Ziling could not find any words to comfort him, so he listened silently.
Shi Zhixuan looked at him, a hint of smile brimming with pain and desolation floated out of the corners of his mouth, as if he was talking about something that had nothing to do with him, he continued tranquilly, “The rivers and mountains of this age produced talented people, starting from tonight, the world will no longer be Song Que, Ning Daoqi, Li Yuan, or even my, Shi Zhixuan’s world, but Ziling, Kou Zhong and Li Shimin’s world. It’s finished! Ziling, go! Tell Qingxuan that the day after tomorrow, Shi Zhixuan will definitely come in front of her Niang’s spirit to burn incense and offer sacrifice. All the struggles and vendettas in the world will no longer have anything to do with me, Shi Zhixuan.”
Yuwen Shang and You Chuhong stood side by side under the white jade steps outside the bedroom palace, staring with wooden expression at Li Yuanji, leading Wei Gonggong, Qin Wutong, Qiu Tianjue, and fifty-two personal guards, striding forward with head high coming to their presence, and standing on the plaza.
Insufferably arrogant, Li Yuanji laughed aloud and said, “Just by seeing Yuwen Lao and You Lao safe in here, Yuanji knew that two gentleman and lady live up to Fuhuang’s trust, making the traitors and the wicked to be executed and giving up their heads.”
Yuwen Shang spoke indifferently, “There is something that Ol’ Yuwen don’t understand. Tonight, the situation is unusual, Huangshang issued an order, unless he personally grant approval, no one is allowed to enter the Taiji Gong without permission, however, Qi WangDianxia [His Royal Highness] has charged through all the way to here, I wonder what is your explanation? How would Wei Gonggong answer Huangshang?”
Wei Gonggong moved half a step forward, coming to Li Yuanji’s left side, still acting humble and deferential, he said, “Precisely due to the unusual situation tonight that Huangshang commanded Xiaoren to grant Qi Wang the Tiger Tally, to give him total authority over all defensive matters of the palace city. And now Qi Wang is being summoned to see the holy self, Xiaoren is just the messenger coming and going for Huangshang.”
You Chuhong knew that it was time, Li Xiaogong must have completed the besieging operation, with a weird ‘Hey, hey!’ mischievous laughter, she said, “This is really strange, Huangshang has just summoned Laoshen [lit. old body/old-self] and Yuwen Fazhu, two persons, saying that he lost the tiger tally, and even told us to immediately capture the thief, and kill him without pardon. Turns out that the little thieves were Qi Wang and Wei Gonggong.”
Immediately Li Yuanji and Wei Gonggong’s countenance changed.
Thirty Flying Cloud Guards and twenty Dark Armored elite soldiers, with crossbow in their hands, swiftly gushed out from the open main gate like a tide, and formed kneeling, half-squatting, and standing tall, three rows, with the tip of the arrows pointing toward Li Yuanji and his group.
At the same time, on both the left and right sides, personal guards appeared on top of the walls, none did not hold arrows and strong crossbows, blocking the escape path. At the rear entrance were Li Xiaogong and more than a hundred imperial guards, while on the side, acting as the auxiliary disposition of troops were Yuchi Jingde, Zhangsun Wuji, Duan Zhixuan, Hou Xibai, Chu Junming, husband and wife, Dugu Feng, father and son [sic, I am thinking it should be father and daughter, but maybe in Chinese it’s generic], and Yuwen Shiji.
In an instant, the situation changed, Li Yuanji and others were trapped in heavy siege, all around torches were burning bright, the blazing fire obliterated the darkness before dawn, making the besieged had nowhere to hide even more.
While Li Yuanji and the others were overwhelmed with shock and with great alarm, Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan came closer to Li Shimin’s left and right, upright and unafraid, they stepped out of the main gate, passed the archers, and came to the edge of the steps, looking down at Li Yuanji, whose pair of eyes emitted alarmed and angered expression.
Wei Gonggong hung his head down and lowered his gaze, his demeanor returned to cool-headed, calm and collected. Qin Wutong, Qiu Tianjue and a group of Li Yuanji’s personal guards were already so frightened that their faces were devoid of any color of the blood.
Li Shimin met Li Yuanji’s bitter resentment gaze, shaking his head he said with a sigh, “Yuanji, in order to seize the throne, you did not hesitate to show the wolf into the house, using despicable means to murder [a superior/a parent] and harm Fuhuang, not any better than a beast; do you know your guilt?”
Li Yuanji reached backhandedly to take the lance from a personal guard, he spoke in fury, “Pei [spit in contempt]! It’s not your place to control me! As long as I can charge my way out of here, I can guarantee that none of you will be left with your dead body intact. Speaking of collusion with outsiders, how much better are you to me? I will stake everything against you!”
Wei Gonggong pulled Li Yuanji back to stop him, he said, “Let’s talk about a business deal first. The method that Huangshang has been hit with, in the world, only me, Wei Lianxiang, one person who can neutralize it. Otherwise, when the dawn appears, Huangshang will return to the netherworld. If Qin Wang don’t want to suffer the bad reputation of being unfilial, leave us a way to survive, we can order Xue Wanche to hand over the tiger tally, in order to avoid the rivers of blood tragic situation in the Taiji Palace.”
Li Shimin and the others secretly cried, ‘Formidable!’. Even in such a disadvantageous position, Wei Gonggong still possessed the assurance and composure to negotiate conditions with them. But they immediately understood, Wei Gonggong and Bai Qing’er deliberately left Li Yuan’s life, if they succeeded in controlling the imperial guards as planned, wouldn’t Li Yuan still be the fish meat in their hands? But even if they failed, Li Yuan would still die [jiabeng, death of king/emperor], they would succeed in throwing the City of Chang’an into the great chaos of the aftermath of losing its master.
Kou Zhong’s gaze fell on the face of a personal guard within the group of subordinates behind Li Yuanji, he laughed and said, “Qing’er Xiaojie really thinks your his granny’s Chanu Da Fa [great method of beautiful girl] can pose difficulty to me, Kou Zhong? Don’t forget that in my other identity as the ugly divine doctor, I specialize in treating all kinds of difficult and miscellaneous diseases.”
You Chuhong, who, together with Yuwen Shang, has already stepped back up the stairs, laughed and said, “That fact, Laoshen can bear witness.”
Disguised as Li Yuanji’s personal guard, Bai Qing’er was so angry that her pretty face turned deathly pale, she spoke ferociously, “Of course you all really want Huangshang to die.”
Li Shimin shouted loudly, “Abandon your weapons and surrender, you will live.”
Ba Fenghan continued, “Except for Qi Wang Li Yuanji.”
Li Yuanji shook the lance in his hand, he said, “Let’s fight!”
Wei Gonggong stopped Li Yuanji for the second time, he spoke heavily, “Qin Wang think thrice!”
Li Shimin spoke unhurriedly, “Wei Gonggong, you know that you have no bargaining chip to haggle over the price with this king? First of all, I don’t believe that Yuanji has the tiger tally with him, and secondly, Fuhuang has been saved by Shaoshuai and Ziling’s joint effort.”
Wei Gonggong coldly said, “Although you see no difference, the garrison outside Yanjia Gong has fallen into our control. As long as Ol’ Wei release fireworks and rockets, Xue Wanche will deploy the troops to attack Yanjia Gong, I am sure Qin Wang will not want to see such a scene!”
‘Qiang! Qiang!’
Two folding bows opened in Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan’s hands at the same time, using speed so fast that it was not visible by the naked eye, the arrows were aimed at Wei Gonggong.
Kou Zhong smiled and said, “Wei Lianxiang, ha! Wei Lianxiang. Turns out Wei Gonggong loves to have tender, protective feelings for the fairer sex [play on words, from an idiom lianxiang (same characters as Wei Lianxiang) xiyu, lit. pity the fragrance and cherish the jade], only too bad that tonight Wei Gonggong keeps missing good opportunities, and now you miss another opportunity. Fenghan Xiong is in charge of shooting down the fireworks and rocket, and Xiaodi is in charge of shooting the people. Let’s see whose hands and feet are a bit cleaner and quicker.”
Wei Gonggong‘s gaze turned sharp, he stared at Kou Zhong’s hand holding the bow.
Ba Fenghan laughed and said, “Or let me shoot the people, you, LaoGe shoot the fireworks and rockets; how about that?”
Even with Wei Gonggong‘s deeply-hidden-without-being-exposed character, he still could not stop his countenance to change slightly. To deal with the arrow shot by either one of Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan’s bows was already not an easy matter, much less two arrows.
On the platform above the steps, below on the plaza, the crow and peacock made no sound, there were only the sound of breathing rising and falling, and the crackling noise of the burning torches mixed together. The atmosphere was heavy and tense to the extreme point.
A burst of tender laughter, which Kou Zhong knew so well that it was almost close and dear to him, came down from the edge of the top of the bedroom palace, followed by a sweet and moving voice, brimming with unbounded tenderness, saying, “Oh, my Shaoshuai langjun [my husband and master (archaic)]! What if the fireworks rocket is released by Wan’er? The outer garrison troops have heavily surrounded Yanjia Gong, as long as they see the rocket signal and know that Huangshang is in trouble, everyone will dash on bravely with no thought of personal safety to storm in. Your insignificant two thousand men, how long can you hold out? Wan’er really want to know.”
Wanwan!
Kou Zhong sighed inwardly, he said, “At least we can hold out until we kill people that we want to kill, right? My Wan Meiren’er.” He was fully aware that Wanwan was still hiding inside the Yanjia Dian. It was due to him being unable to get enough time to put her in order one step ahead that it resulted in the present deadlock situation.
Wanwan, barefooted, like a clump of white cloud, slowly descended from above, and landed in front of Li Yuanji and Wei Gonggong. With a sweet smile across her face, she looked at Kou Zhong. The enemy and us, both sides were at a loss, only Kou Zhong, Ba Fenghan and Hou Xibai knew that she had mastered the Tianmo Da Fa, so she had the full confidence to block Kouzhong and Ba Fenghan’s divine arrows, but they still could not completely see through her intention, because at the top of the palace hall, advancing she could attack, retreating she could defend, naturally it would be better than confronting the arrow formation head-on.
Wanwan laughed sweetly and said, “Oh, Kou Zhong! This time Nujia admit defeat and bow my heads to you. Just consider it for Ziling’s sake. If you are willing to be magnanimous and let the three of us have a way out, we can let you send your men to escort us back to the Yin Mansion and stay there until you let us leave the city. If you are worried, you could heavily surround the Yin Mansion. All renjia [I] want is a promise from you. Shaoshuai’s one word has always worth nine sacred tripods [idiom: words of enormous weight], definitely you won’t eat your words; am I right?”
Upon self-introspection, Kou Zhong knew that he could not harden his heart to shoot arrows at her. Smiling bitterly, he said, “The person doing the talking here is Qin Wang, not me.”
Li Shimin said, “Shaoshuai‘s words are my, Li Shimin’s words.”
Acting coquettishly, Wanwan said, “Don’t you-push-me, I-yield. This matter does not need to be pushed around [orig. push three, push four]!”
Finally Li Yuanji could not hold back; erupting in anger, he said angrily, “The one doing the talking here is me, not you.”
Wanwan turned her head around to look at Li Yuanji, she spoke indifferently, “Not now!”
Lightning fast, her slender hand slapped backward. Li Yuanji had never thought that she would suddenly deal him a deadly blow, it was too late to use the lance. When he was about to raise his palm to protect his chest, a wisp of finger wind stabbed the vital point under his flank. By the time Li Yuanji realized suddenly that it was Wei Gonggong who suddenly attacked him in secret, Wanwan’s slap hit him on the chest.
A burst of fracturing bones was heard, Li Yuanji’s seven apertures [of the human head: two eyes, two ears, two nostrils and one mouth] spurting out blood, he died on the spot. However, after coming in contact with the palm, the dead body did not fall down, as if Wanwan’s jade palm was brimming with sucking magnetic force.
Everyone present, the enemy and us, both sides, every person’s breathing seemed to stop, as they stared blankly at what was happening. No one moved even half a finger, as if they were on the stage, playing a silent mute show.
As if nothing had happened, Wanwan withdrew her killer slender hand, she spoke indifferently, “Who else dares not to abandon his weapon and surrender, asking Qin Wang to be pardoned of the mortal crime?”
‘Bang!’
Li Yuanji fell backwards, his body, facing up, lay on the ground, his spear fell sideways, producing a ‘Dang!’ noise.
No one knew who started it, but Qiu Tianjue and the others, one after another abandoned their weapons and surrendered; they all kneeled down on the ground, leaving only Wanwan, Wei Gonggong and Bai Qing’er, three persons standing on the scene.
Li Shimin stared blankly at his brother’s corpse, his pair of eyes emitting a grieved, complicated expression.
Tranquil, Wanwan said, “Wei Shibo [martial (older) uncle] is the only person who can stop the bloodshed in the palace. Xue Wanche is a smart man. As long as Qin Wang allows him to render meritorious service in place of his crimes, Li Jiancheng is not enough of a concern.”
Kou Zhong looked at Li Shimin, the latter was still staring blankly at Li Yuanji’s dead body, he spoke woodenly, “I leave everything to Shaoshuai to make the decision.”
Turning to Wanwan, Kou Zhong said with a sigh, “It seems like I will never be able to fight you. Ay! Whatever Dajie [big sister] said, we’ll do it that way! Xiaodi no longer have any objection.”
Turning to Wei Gonggong, he said, “There are some things that I would like to ask Wei Gonggong’s guidance in private.”
Li Jing took the written order issued by Li Xiaogong addressed to Cheng Mo, he said, “Since it has both Huangshang‘s dragon tally embossed marking, plus Hejian Wang’s signature and secret marking, how could Cheng Mo not obey the order and act accordingly?”
Pang Yu stepped forward to take the warrant, he said, “I will go immediately to deal with it.”
Finished speaking, he mounted the warhorse that one of his men brought for him, and galloped towards the south gate of the Yeting Palace.
Li Jing said, “As for Liu Hongji, I will personally see him and let him know the current situation clearly. I really didn’t expect things to develop like this.”
Xu Ziling looked up at the night sky above the big plaza in front of the Heavenly Policy Palace Hall, the first light of dawn appeared in the eastern sky, the remnant of the stars was about to disappear, he said, “I want to rush back to Yanjia Dian immediately.”
Li Jing advised, “The Taiji Palace is still calm, it can be inferred that Qin Wang and Xiao Zhong have taken control of the overall situation, it would be better for Ziling to stay here, quietly waiting for the news.”
Qin Shubao and Cheng Yaojin nodded in agreement.
Suddenly an intense urge to see Shi Qingxuan welled up in Xu Ziling’s heart, he said, “Very well, I’ll steal a bit of time to go to Yu He An and bring Qingxuan to Yeting Palace.”
Kou Zhong took Wei Gonggong aside, he spoke heavily, “Where are Bi Xuan and the others hiding?”
Wei Gonggong replied indifferently, “This does not seem to be included in the conditions we negotiated just now, right?”
Kou Zhong smiled and said, “In the business deal just now, it seems that Lin Shihong’s troops outside the city were not included either.”
Laughing coldly, Wei Gonggong said, “Shaoshuai’s name is indeed not in vain. Bi Xuan’s diplomatic group have left Chang’an.”
Stunned, Kou Zhong blurted out, “What?”
Shrugging his shoulders, Wei Gonggong said, “What good will it do for me to lie to you? But I don’t want to watch Lin Shihong’s men to be completely wiped out either.”
Kou Zhong felt confused. Knitting his brows, he asked, “Did Ke Dazhi leave with the group?”
Wei Gonggong spoke indifferently, “It seems like Shaoshuai have not guaranteed to let the people go?”
Kou Zhong spoke in displeasure, “If it were Wan Meiren, she wouldn’t say such nonsense. What if I let Lin Shihong’s men retreat safely? Do you think he still has a way to conduct himself? It would be best if you tell Lin Shihong to be a bit more sensitive, to surrender sooner rather than later, maybe the future Great Tang’s Son of Heaven can still bestow him an official position and part-time job, so that the next half of his lifetime will be glorious.”
Wei Gonggong spoke coldly, “No need to trouble Shaoshuai on Shihong’s behalf, Ke Dazhi and his original clan’s three hundred Tujue warriors are still the main force in the Changlin army.”
Kou Zhong felt a great headache, he had no choice but to put his troubles aside for the time being. He asked, “How is Gonggong going to deal with Xue Wanche?”
Wei Gonggong said, “Shaoshuai, no need to worry, I will go to him and lay out the pros and cons thoroughly. He is a smart man, he would know what to choose.”
Kou Zhong shook his head, he said, “That is not appropriate at all. Gonggong only need to issue an order on Huangshang’s behalf to summon him to Yanjia Dian immediately, let him think that Yuanji has successfully controlled everything, so that Lao Xue will not suspect anything, he will come in and surrender obediently.”
Wei Gonggong could not argue with him. Smiling wryly, he said, “Everything will be according to Shaoshuai’s instruction.”
When Xu Ziling arrived at the cottage where Shi Qingxuan was staying inside the Yu He An, the sky has brightened, the thin clouds in the sky forecasted a fine day.
He intuitively felt that Shi Qingxuan was not inside the house, in the birdsong and fragrant flowers garden, he could not see her beautiful image either, yet he still could not help pushing the door and entering in. Through the hanging curtains that divided the house into the front hall and the bedroom in the back, he could see that the bed was neatly made, but the beautiful woman’s [jiaren – fine person] trace was nowhere to be seen.
Just as he was going to find Chang Shan Ni to inquire, a warning sign suddenly appeared in his heart, Xu Ziling flashed to the side of the wide-open door, a man’s voice sounded from outside the house, “Liexia is asking to see Qingxuan Dajia.”
Xu Ziling was greatly astonished, how could this kid come to look for Qingxuan?
Smiling widely, Liexia spoke outside the house, “This ignorant one knows that Qingxuan’s ai lang [loving youth, boyfriend] has no time to accompany her, therefore, I took the initiative to offer my service to fill Qingxuan Dajia’s emptiness and loneliness. If you are unwilling to grant the audience, this ignorant one will have no choice but to enter and meet in person.”
Xu Ziling came to realize, ‘Despicable!’ he cried inwardly. A small bomblet entered through the door and exploded into a cloud of red smoke in the air of the small hall, which quickly spread and permeated the entire house.
Despicable people, despicable means.
Xu Ziling secretly cried, ‘Lucky!’ He wondered if Song JinGang’s soul and spirit in heaven secretly protect him and told him that with the demons and gods at work [idiom: unexplained event crying out for a supernatural explanation, or simply curious coincidence] he encountered this matter, otherwise, caught off guard, Qingxuan might have fallen into his path.
The people that Liexia hated, Shi Zhixuan was at the top of the list, and he, Xu Ziling was next. If he could harm Qingxuan, it would be one move, two gains, making both he and Shi Zhixuan to be so much in pain as to not want to live [idiom], and Liexia had been watching for an accurate timing, thinking that Shi Zhixuan and he, Xu Ziling were busy with the battle in the Tang Palace, they were unable to spare time, hence he chose this moment to make his move.
Liexia outside uttered, “Huh?” and said, “Qingxuan Dajie is not thinking that by holding up your breath you can stop the poisonous mist from invading? This kind of precious poisonous mist secretly passed down within our Da Ming Jiao can invade your, Dajia’s delicate and smooth skin, to make a chaste woman [virgin or widow who does not remarry] to become lascivious woman, so that you and I both can enjoy unprecedented pleasure. Just consider it a first-time meeting gift from this ignorant one to Dajia. Ha!”
Waiting with stored-up momentum, Xu Ziling sent out both palms together, shouted an incantation, and made his move with all his strength toward Liexia flying inside the door, showing no mercy.
‘Bang! Bang! Bang!’
The sound of clashing qi power lingered on faintly, under the influence of the incantation, already Liexia’s soul flew away and scattered, he struggled hard to block Xu Ziling’s Inner Binding Hand Image and Outer Binding Hand Image’s first round of toppling the mountains and overturning the seas repeated secret attack, which was more than he could attend to. While he was parrying to the left and clumsily moving to the right, Xu Ziling’s leg flew from below, hitting his lower abdomen.
Coming in contact with the leg, Liexia flew and rolled out of the door. When he bounced back, his hair was disheveled, his seven apertures were overflowing with blood, he looked like the devil, without the least bit of the dashing calmness he had before.
Xu Ziling slowly stepped down the threshold. With his hands behind his back, he spoke unhurriedly, “Persisting in evil brings about self-destruction [idiom]. Liexia, today you are strung through and filled with evil, Song Xiong’s soul and spirit in heaven should rest in peace.”
Liexia’s eyeballs rolled around wildly, he spoke sternly, “Xu Ziling!”
Xu Ziling smiled and said, “You are surprised that I am not injured? This time it could be considered that I join hands with Xie Wang to put you in order. Just now, I flashed, leaped and soared, what I used was Xie Wang’s Huan Mo Shenfa, only the rest was my real skill. It’s really a pity, if you completely corrected your former misdeeds, if you, after Da Ming Zun Jiao the clouds dispersed, the smoke vanished – left Da Ming Zun Jiao as you said, how could you fall into this plight today? Go! I hope Lie Xiong’s quest for light [Ming, brightness] made you obtain the light. After death you can comprehend the difference between light and darkness, the distinction between good and evil.”
The vigor in Liexia’s pair of eyes gradually faded, he suddenly fell backwards, and breathed his last.
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