State Building
Catching me trembling and pallor, Emperor Yuansheng clarified, “Fret not, Earl Ming. I will not retract a reward I have given you. Howbeit, due to a myriad of reasons, I shall provide other rewards once we return to the capital.”
I nodded with my lips curled, trying to resist laughing. Dissatisfaction? About what? Didn’t you hear the part about receiving the benefits while two other people worked on my behalf? In other words, I was getting paid to do nothing. I’d steal a free lunch faster than you could blink, never mind complain about it. Why curl my lips and go pale? Man, had I not put on the act, how else would I earn more rewards once I returned to the capital? While my title sounded horrible, I had no complaints about the benefits.
Once I smiled, Emperor Yuansheng continued, “Because I insisted on personally conferring you your promotion, I have been receiving increasingly pressing letters from the capital to return. I need to hurry back now that you have returned to us. I have several arrangements I need to notify you about.”
“Your Majesty, you might as well just be honest and say that you have to return due to your long absence.”
Emperor Yuansheng huffed his beard. “It’s my fault now?! You were the one who refused to wake up! Do you know how worried I am every time I receive documents from the capital?!”
I didn’t tell you to wait for me…
“First, I know you are well-versed in medical topics. Heavenly Swordsman and Martial Paragon are still unresponsive, so I need you to take a look at them.”
“It is your subject’s duty. They are elders of the martial world. As a junior, it is only right for your subject to help them.” Having been conferred an official title, I had to change the way I referred to myself.
“Next, you concealing your identity as Mount Daluo’s senior disciple has given me a lot of trouble, and I haven’t had time to analyse the intricacies. Li Dynasty was established on military might. Our founding father conquered the pugilistic world with his sword. As both of us hail from martial arts backgrounds, let us do away with the formalities of monarchs and vassals in conversation.
“Among the three biggest sects, Wudang has always led Daoism. Shaolin, as the most authentic school of martial arts, is the foundation of the orthodox sects. I have always respected Abbott Kongxu, so I respect his wish to not involve him in affairs outside of the temple. Still, Shaolin Temple will come to our support if we ever need them. In contrast, Mount Daluo has kept to themselves and barely dipped into the pugilistic world for years. Not once have we managed to contact anyone from Mount Daluo.
“Back then, Yan Shisan could find your shifu. Ever since he was forced to step down, we haven’t heard anything on your shifu. The fact that our founding father conferred Hero Shenzhou the title of “Invincible” goes to show that Mount Daluo and the imperial court are friends. How did we become so distant? This is not something I like to see.”
In other words, let’s shake hands, which was the desire of many members of Mount Daluo.
To say Mount Daluo didn’t involve itself in any mortal-world affairs would be erroneous. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be one of the three most influential orthodox sects. Our branch disciples were sporadically released from the mountain to maintain our reputation. The need to occasionally mend or maintain reputation held true for all three sects. In order to ensure we wouldn’t go extinct, we had to stay active in the world’s affairs. Without maintaining our presence, Shifu never would’ve been able to take in Second, Sixth and so forth.
Ever since Shifu took over as patriarch, though, our sect’s reputation tended to swing between two extremes. When our reputation was in a good spot, we could summon pretty much anyone. When our reputation stunk, on the other hand, the same people would come knocking – armed.
Since our reputation wasn’t doing hot this generation, my shiniangs wanted me to take a page out of Mount Hua’s playbook – find a Prince who could back us and turn to the imperial court for help at crucial junctures. Problem was, I wasn’t the ideal candidate for the job as I planned to retire from the pugilistic world in a few more years.
Emperor Yuansheng, hand on his beard, glanced me, looked away, glanced back, looked away and glanced back. In other words, “Why haven’t you grabbed my leg and pleaded to establish an alliance between our factions yet?” The man even furtively shifted his left leg forward to prompt him.
I’m not grabbing no man’s leg!
I sneaked a quick glance over to Lian Zhuiyue. He stepped forward and conveyed, “Your Majesty, this one’s senior brother has not been back to Mount Daluo in a long time. Therefore, he is not familiar with the situation at home. In addition, he is not in condition to converse with you.”
Now that’s the walking billboard I adopted for you! I told you I’m a genius!
“H-huh? His condition? He looks fantastic to me.”
Lian Zhuiyue pointed to me. “Not at all, Your Majesty. He is plagued with injuries. His destiny is a disaster. His brain has a hole. His belly has a…”
What’s in my belly, huh?! What?! I dare you to keep going!”
“Hence, he is not in any condition to talk to you. Please allow this one and his second brother to speak to you in regards to Mount Daluo and the imperial court’s relationship.”
“All right.” Emperor Yuansheng left us with some instructions, then made his way to the neighbouring palace to continue the conversation with Hong Jiu and Lian Zhuiyue.
His Majesty wanted to recruit Mount Daluo members into his employment in various fields, such as a martial arts coach. Mount Daluo’s disciplines weren’t easy to learn to begin with (I never came near mastery of any of them), so the fruits of a practitioner’s labour would take years to harvest. Nonetheless, it was an opportunity for Mount Daluo to obtain support. My three shiniangs would upvote the proposition with both hands. After all, my shifu, being the show off he was, spent money as if it grew on trees.
Everyone left behind went off to do their own thing subsequent to His Majesty’s departure. It was unlikely for anyone to go for entertainment because His Majesty did say he was planning to return to the capital. That’s why I decided to go hold a meeting with Liu Shan Men’s team – with my jugs of radish, of course.
Young Shiyi approached me with her hands behind a back and an upward curve on her lips. “Congratulations, Earl Ming.”
“Now I know why you were willing to be a general. You knew I was going to be a nominal lord of the city, so you took the reins over the military pre-emptively.”
“Aren’t I also a general without a following? Despite having the prerogative to raise an army and station one, all the soldiers are Beussent’s followers. You and I are on equal footing.”
I checked left, then right. “I haven’t seen Abels. How is he doing?”
“Save for Shiba, he healed the fastest. He was able to walk on his own three days after you went to sleep. Seven days later, he was close to fully recovered. Evil Eminence Scripture combined with Sea Deer Hunter really is magical.”
It wasn’t surprising. Abels’ discipline made it a challenge to inflict damage on him, while Sea Deer Hunter had the ability to suppress his injuries. Being able to mobilise clogged blood and meridians would expedite his healing time.
“Where is he? Why’s he not here?”
“He has even more on his plate than you do nowadays.” Young Shiyi pointed northwest. “A-Lan and he have gone to Morcher’s erstwhile capital – Xiuyu. Subsequent to announcing Morcher’s restoration, the leaders of tribes that still reside on Morcher’s former soil have rallied around to voice support. Erstwhile retainers of Morcher have also come out to show their support. It’s only been twenty years since Morcher’s demise; they still miss their former home.
“Although His Majesty promised to help them restore Morcher, there are still no consolidated specifics as of yet. Restoring a state is no small task. Even though he wields plenty of power, you can’t restore a state with words alone. The two of them are trying to brush up on how Morcher is sustaining itself, where the people are distributed, who is still around to return as retainers and the whole gig. They don’t have time to waste here.
“The two of them are people with integrity. They credit you with making this all possible and ordered people to post artwork of you all over the city. They decreed you are to be treated with the same honour as a sovereign. The appreciation of Morcher’s citizens is no joke.”
I just knew people couldn’t go so far to lick a new city lord’s boots. That explains the crazy behaviours.
The problem with their show of gratitude was that it put me in a tight spot. Nieyao was situated between three states in addition to several areas under nobody’s jurisdiction that Morcher used to govern. That being the case, wouldn’t our borders have to recede for A-Lan? Nieyao was the Central Plain’s territory. Wouldn’t that make me an unsupported city lord deep in another state?! Name one other city lord who suffers as much as me. You can’t! Nonetheless, His Majesty must have his own agendas if he was going to help Morcher make a comeback.
“I heard the majority of other states are against allowing Morcher to rebuild. Haven’t they tried to stop its resurgence?”
Young Shiyi took a seat and then tapped her shoulders – a signal for me to give her a shoulder massage. “Hehe. Of course they won’t acquiesce. How can those sovereigns who sent assassins out for A-Lan permit her return? You think they’re not afraid of revenge? Not long after A-Lan declared Morcher’s restoration, assassins visited her again. Not even the Sacred Beasts can hold a candle to Abels, let alone some petty assassins.
“Since that didn’t bode well, they went straight to His Majesty to debate. They sent more and more envoys with each attempt, disputing the Central Plain’s imperial court’s involvement in Nanjiang’s affairs. Education really does make fools more dangerous.”
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