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Wishing for Li Xiaogong to betray Li Yuan would be more difficult than difficult, however, when the situation developed to a certain point, Li Xiaogong, who was deeply moved, would still be able to play a positive role.

Bypassing the main building, he set foot on the winding corridor leading to the Ling Yan Pavilion, the pond [sic. Probably should be ‘pavilion’ (ting)] in the middle of the lake was now just straight ahead. Under the starry sky, Fu Cailin sits inside the pavilion (ting), irresolute like a deity. The vast white stone platform gleamed under the starry night, the waves in the surrounding lake glittered with its reflection. On both sides of the lake, the buildings had all the lights extinguished, so that they merged into the pitch-black forest. In the pavilion, a single stove of agarwood was lit on the stone table close to Fu Cailin, the fragrance was thick.

Kou Zhong’s heart and spirit entered the heaven, earth and man fused into one, forgetting the saber – realm. In his heart, there was no victory, no defeat, no joy, no fear. Tomorrow’s upcoming battle concerning the world was also thrown away into infinity, it did not occupy a slightest bit of position inside the lake of his heart.

His gait was steady and powerful. Each step was of the same length, of identical weight. It naturally produced some kind of an extraordinary rhythm and cadence accompanying him along the bridge traversing the heart of the lake, straight toward Fu Cailin, one of the three great grandmasters of martial arts study in the world, sitting peacefully in the pavilion.

Fu Cailin’s pair of eyes was staring at him without blinking at all. The world-famous Yi Jian [abundant sword] lay flat on the table without a scabbard. Its length was four chi and five cun, and its width was two cun. The body of the sword was gleaming in dark green light, the handle and hand guard were covered in spiral shell decorative design, the shape was elegant and quaint.

Kou Zhong suddenly knelt down, ‘Dong! Dong! Dong!’ He knocked his head three times in succession; lying prostrate, he said, “Shigong above, Niang’s kindness, I, Kou Zhong will never forget. Even if Shigong wholeheartedly wants to kill me, Kou Zhong will never dare to blame Shigong.”

Fu Cailin was silent for a moment, and then he spoke softly, “Get up!”

Kou Zhong sprang up off the ground, his gaze was cast toward Fu Cailin, who was sitting high on the pavilion.

Fu Cailin raised his head to look up at the night sky, his pair of eyes emitted deep sorrow, he said, “I was over eighty years old when I started accepting Junchuo, this disciple. Who could have thought that Nature played with people? Ay! Come here!”

His gaze returning to Kou Zhong’s face, he spoke indifferently and calmly, “How did Shaoshuai know that I was going to kill you?”

Smiling ruefully, Kou Zhong said, “Could it be that Shigong is calling me here to chat with you to relieve boredom? Or perhaps to pass on the essence of the Yi Jian Technique skill? Merely from Shigong calling me Shaoshuai instead of Xiao Zhong, I know that you, Shigong has made up your mind, Xiaozi [this kid] has no choice but to risk my life to accompany Shigong.”

Fu Cailin was puzzled, he asked, “Toward Suwen, you can vehemently state your views, analyze the pros and cons, and move him. How come facing me, you are acting like you resign yourself to accept misfortunes as decreed by fate?”

Kou Zhong said, “What I want to say, Ge Dashuai should have already reported to Shigong on my behalf. I was afraid that Shigong would be impatient, hence I did not dare to repeat it.”

Fu Cailin smiled and said, “That makes sense! But you still haven’t answered my question directly, how do you know I’m going to kill you? Perhaps I would change my mind due to the message that Suwen passed on?”

Kou Zhong spoke with serious expression, “It was purely a saber wielder’s instinct, since I saw Shigong sitting alone in the pavilion, Xiaozi knew that this battle is hard to avoid, I don’t know how to explain it.”

Fu Cailin nodded and said, “You are right! No wonder Bi Xuan could not do anything to you. I heard that you once received the ‘Heavenly Saber’ Song Que’s personal instruction. The Heavenly Saber’s name, I, Fu Cailin, have heard for a long time, I am hoping to have a peek into the Heavenly Saber secret from Shaoshuai’s saber technique.”

Revealing a brilliant smile, Kou Zhong said, “I hope Xiaozi will not disappoint Shigong. Xiaozi is even so bold as to ask Shigong to indicate clearly and with certainty your conditions. Supposing Xiaozi can pass the test, Shigong will let me go. If I suffer defeat, I will let Shigong punish me, for example, abolishing my martial arts or things like that, this way it will be a bit more delightful for both Shigong and me.”

Laughing involuntarily, Fu Cailin said, “No wonder Junyu said you are a demon horse, while Junqiang scolded you as crafty, and Xiufang’s comment was full of stratagems. For Junchuo’s sake, as long as you can force me to leave the seat within a hundred moves, tomorrow I am going back to my home country immediately, no longer care about your affairs.”

Kou Zhong laughed aloud, he suddenly moved forward to climb the steps, went straight to the other side of the stone table, sat down peacefully, and spoke cheerfully, “The sword is like chess abundant, this table just happens to be a chessboard.”

Not only Fu Cailin did not take offense, but his pair of eyes could not conceal his astonishment; he nodded and said, “Intelligence is indeed extraordinary, merely this move, immediately it makes victory or defeat hard to fathom. If there were spectators, they would have thought that because Shaoshuai is proud, you did not want to take advantage of me, but the truth is just the opposite.”

Kou Zhong cast his gaze toward the Yi Jian lying on the table, he sighed and said, “Because you, the Senior is my Shigong, and since Ziling and I learned about the Yi Jian technique, three characters from Niang, we never stopped studying and digging deeper into this, I don’t know if it can be considered a small success, but at least we can think of every possibility of the Yi Jian technique. With Shigong‘s peerless swordsmanship, there is no difference between sitting still and moving and leaping, there is no difference in big and small, far and near either, right? Shigong, please bestow your instructions.”

Fu Cailin closed his pair of eyes, his countenance immediately became incomparably unsightly, he spoke softly, “All the days of my life, all along I have been striving to and ponder about some secret things that is unfathomable and unknown; I have a faint feeling that this thing exists in a certain secret place of the mind and emotion and thinking. At a certain instant, I could sense its existence, and it is precisely the meaning of life, which can break the depressing situation of mediocrity and the routine in my life. And while I am pondering about it, I am able to climb out of the quagmire of hatred, vicious evil and the struggle for power and profit, and I clearly saw all kinds of ugly and meaningless stupidity that existed in the human world; I saw how it constituted the dark side of mankind and how it destroyed the joy of life. Shaoshuai understand what I mean?”

Kou Zhong exhaled a mouthful of air, he said, “Not only do I understand, I am also very touched to hear it. What Shigong is looking for is the key to unlock the mysterious treasure-trove within the human body.”

Fu Cailin opened his mouth abruptly, but immediately reverted back to his quaint and peculiar intimidating appearance. Fixing his gaze at him, he said, “Not only Fu Cailin does not like conflict, I detest war. However, under the threat of vanquished nation, perishing clan, I have no choice but to fight back. If you and Junchuo did not have any relationship at all, I could let you go out of pity, but because your life and martial arts come from Junchuo’s favor [orig. charity out of pity], on the contrary, I have to personally eliminate you, simply because you came from me, naturally I have to bear the responsibility.”

Kou Zhong started to understand Fu Cailin. Among the three great grandmasters, Ning Daoqi was quiet and letting things take their own course [Daoist doctrine of inaction], modest and self-guarded; Bi Xuan carried Tujue people’s tough and violent style, and cold-hearted; Fu Cailin was driven by passion, all his life he was seeking for the most beautiful thing.

Smiling wryly, he said, “Since you, Shigong have been looking for something beautiful, when dealing with me why can’t you think in this direction? Could it be that you don’t believe that I, Kou Zhong really have the sincerity to resolve the enmity between ethnic groups?”

Fu Cailin spoke indifferently, “Suwen is willing to accept your peace proposal, simply because he believes firmly that Shaoshuai is a man who, once speaks, will definitely see through it. Besides, he is considering his own interests, and determined that reconciliation with you will bring the greatest benefit to him, he believes that eventually you will become the hegemon of Central Earth. I completely agree with his way of thinking, only the focus is different. I am thinking of the long-term interests of the entire nation, and anticipating the horror of the powerful empire that you are going to establish with your own hands. All mortals will die, and then what? For us, only if the Central Earth is all split up and in pieces like the situation before the Yang’s Sui dynasty reappears will we have a peaceful and happy life. Yang Guang is the best example. Once the Central Earth is strong, that will be the time when the countries outside the Central Earth will suffer calamity. And now is my, Fu Cailin’s only chance to build a lasting peace for our country.”

Kou Zhong’s throat tightened and tasted bitter, he said, “In that case, Shigong is definitely going to kill me.”

Fu Cailin smiled and said, “Exactly!”

The Yi Jian on the table suddenly jumped up and landed in Fu Cailin’s hands. At the same time, Kou Zhong raised the Moon in the Well, including its scabbard horizontally in front of his chest, one hand grabbed the scabbard, the other hand grabbed the saber hilt, he slowly drew the saber.

The two men’s eyes met, only separated by the round stone table with a diameter of eight chi, not even the slightest qi power violent blow was to be felt.

The Duke Yang’s Treasure-house, circular stone room.

Xu Ziling took Ba Fenghan and Hou Xibai to sit down at the round table in the center of the stone room, while Ma Chang went to the treasure room to check. After entering the treasure-house, they searched carefully until they were sure that there was no enemy hiding in any corner of the treasure-house, only then did they gather here. Eight lanterns on the wall were burning brightly.

Ba Fenghan carefully reviewed the map of the treasure house complete with diagrams and annotation on the table, he smiled and said, “Ziling is acting like you have a card up your sleeves, what exactly is the medicine you are selling in your gourd?”

Xu Ziling said, “Let’s wait for Ma Chang and then we’ll talk.”

Hou Xibai spoke anxiously, “If Lin Shihong decided to enter the treasure-house at this moment, wouldn’t it mean we all will run into each other head-on? It does not have the slightest bit of benefit either for them or for us. At the very least, Ziling does not sustain any injury will be exposed.”

Xu Ziling cheerfully said, “Right now not a soul in sight in the treasure-house, which proves that my thoughts are correct. We are afraid of running into Lin Shihong, why would Lin Shihong be not afraid of running into us? Therefore, until it is absolutely necessary, Lin Shihong definitely would not enter this treasure-house. Secondly, there is an alarm system in the treasure-house, it will let us know if there is any intruder from the outside.”

This moment Ma Chang came back and sat down, he said, “Three chests have been opened, but the weapons inside the chests have not been moved, hence the rocks below should not have been discovered.”

The three men breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.

Ma Chang explained further, “I glued a piece of hair on the seam of the chest, on the side where the eyes cannot see, if the lid is opened, the hair would be broken. Since only three boxes had broken hair, I knew that the other side had lifted the lids of these three boxes.”

Ba Fenghan nodding his head in praise, he said, “Ma Da Jiangjun’s thought is so thorough that people can only cry out, ‘Super!’”

Ma Chang said modestly, “Thank you, Ba Ye for your praise.”

Clearly in a good mood, Ba Fenghan laughed and said to Xu Ziling, “It’s time to unravel the mystery!”

Xu Ziling said, “The Duke Yang’s Treasure-house was designed personally by Lu Dashi. With Lu Dashi’s precise thinking, the design of the treasure house must be perfect, it could handle any unexpected situation. Let’s imagine the following scenario: supposing Yang Su’s mutiny failed and he had to use the treasure house to escape Chang’an, in that kind of situation, the three secret paths inside the city that lead to the treasure house would definitely be exposed, the pursuing troops would follow, and thus he would still be unable to escape. Lu Dashi definitely had a way to meet a contingency to deal with this situation.”

The three men’s eyes could not help falling toward the terrain map on the table. Ba Fenghan agreed, he said, “Ziling’s speculation is reasonable and fair; altogether, there are three tunnels inside the city, the secret tunnel of the Xi Ji Yuan’s well can be ignored, because this tunnel is full of toxic marsh gas. The other two tunnels are the secret tunnel of Yong’an Canal and the secret tunnel of the Sha Mansion. If we could seal these two secret tunnels with some kind of mechanism, only the secret tunnel going out of the city remains, then Yang Su could escape safely. Ha! Where is the mechanism that seals the secret tunnels in the city? Shall we invite Lei Dage to come over here?”

Originally Xu Ziling was thinking of Kou Zhong who was dealing with Shigong, but he was not worried. In fact, he had more confidence in Kou Zhong than anyone else; he smiled and said, “The disciple receiving Lu Dashi’s handed-down techniques in mechanism is Kou Zhong, but even if you invite him to come, it will be useless. Looking at the design of the mechanism of the entire treasure house, it is entirely based on the psychological warfare technique, so the same will be true of this escape mechanism, the design should be the one most easy for us to overlook.”

Hou Xibai spoke in delight, “Looks to me Ziling already hold the pearl of wisdom in his hand.”

Xu Ziling reached out and lightly stroked the stone table, he said, “Pull this table up, it will immediately become a rotating wheel to operate the mechanism, turning it to the left will open the Sheng Sheli’s hiding place.”

Ba Fenghan’s spirit greatly aroused, he said, “Then maybe turning to the right is the mechanism that closes the secret passage in the city.”

Xu Ziling said, “Should be continuing turning to the left, otherwise if someone turns it to the right first, wouldn’t the passage be closed? This is the essence of the psychological warfare. For us, mediocre people, being able to open the treasure cave of Sheng Sheli, we would have been greatly delighted early on, how could we think about another mechanism if we continue turning the table?”

Ma Chang sighed and said, “This is called the real calculation-exhausted mechanism.”

Hou Xibai said, “Why haven’t you made your move yet?”

Xu Ziling said, “We must think clearly about the consequences first, the situation after the three secret passages in the city are closed. Maybe after they are closed, we cannot restore them to the original state, and then we can only leave via the secret passage leading to the outside of the city. Coming back to the city will take some effort, we might be detected by people at every turn, which will bring trouble to ourselves.”

Ba Fenghan said, “The secret passage in the city should be able to be restored to the original state. If Lu Dashi hasn’t tested it, how would he know whether the mechanism work?”

Xu Ziling said, “It’s hard to say. If Lu Dashi deliberately made the secret passage cannot be reopened, that would be his own way. With his proud character, he would definitely not let other people to give advice to his mechanism, hence it is also very likely that the secret passage leading out of the city will also be closed after a period of time, and then the marsh gas will enter the storehouse. With his supernatural genius, the impossible becomes possible.”

Hou Xibai nodded and said, “It makes sense. Now that I have listened to you, I can’t help but admire Lu Dashi. How can there be such an outstanding talent in the world?”

Ma Chang said, “For us, closing the secret storehouse will only be beneficial without any harm. At least we could throw the foot of the enemy’s disposition of troops in great chaos. It will show clearly even more that we do not have troops in ambush outside the city. Wan Yaonu will be shocked, she won’t be able to tell what deceitful trick we are playing.”

Hou Xibai said, “While the secret passage is not closed yet, let me sneak out first to say hello to Liu Hongji. With him responding to us, returning to the city should not be a problem.”

“Hold on!” Xu Ziling said, “Let’s make sure first that our guess is not incorrect.”

Operating it with both hands, the stone table rose up for two cun and then stopped.

Ba Fenghan laughed and said, “This is a very exciting and fun! Come on!”

The table turned to the left, generating the sound of moving mechanism.

The floor next to the table sank again, revealing a hole without the Demonic Emperor’s Relics.

Xu Ziling continued to turn the stone table to the left, the table indeed continued to rotate, but suddenly stopped. He spoke happily, “Success! I feel another mechanism.”

The crowd cheered in unison, like a group of big kids who have not lost their innocence.

Xu Ziling said, “We can only guess, but frankly, I am so nervous, because the consequences may not be as expected, and then it would be terrible. We really can’t afford to make any mistakes tonight.”

Hou Xibai said, “Should I go to Liu Hongji now? Give me half a sichen, that should do it.”

Ba Fenghan spoke heavily, “Will Shi Zhixuan betray us?”

Shaking his head, Xu Ziling said, “He shouldn’t!” But then his countenance changed drastically, apparently he remembered another problem.

Unable to make any sense of the matter Hou Xibai said, “Fighting openly and maneuver covertly is really not my original character. Why did Lao Ba suddenly mention Shi Shi who has nothing to do with the wind, the horse and the ox? Whether he betrays us or not, what does it have to do with the treasure house?”

His countenance grave, Ba Fenghan said, “From the Duke Yang’s Treasure-house’s secret passages, I am thinking about the tunnel from the Yin mansion to enter the palace. Shi Zhixuan is the only person who knows that we have been in and out of the secret tunnel, if he discloses this information to Yin Zuwen and Wanwan, before dawn tomorrow, we won’t be able to sneak into the palace via the secret passage. In other words, we won’t be able to control Li Yuan, we won’t be able to control the imperial palace and imperial city even more. If the imperial guards and Tang Jian’s army attack from both inside and outside, it will definitely be a total defeat of the army for us.”

Ma Chang opened his mouth, but he was unable to say half a sentence.

Hou Xibai breathed a sigh of relief, he laughed and said, “Shi Shi must hate to harm Ziling … oh!” And then he looked at Xu Ziling, and said in shock, “Could this be the real reason why Wanwan heartlessly inflict serious damage on you, which is to prevent you from participating in tomorrow’s operation?”

Smiling wryly, Ba Fenghan said, “Precisely because Shi Zhixuan has leaked the secret of the secret passage into the palace and he is afraid that Ziling would lose his life because of it that he passed on the Bu Si Yin Fa to Ziling. This was in agreement-without-prior-consultation with Wanwan, both wanted to protect Ziling’s life.”

Grabbing his forehead, Hou Xibai said, “Hearing that, I have a headache.”

Ma Chang said, “If Hou Gongzi’s Shizun meets with Wan Yaonu, wouldn’t she know that Xu Ye is not injured?”

Xu Ziling said, “This aspect, I am not worried instead, because since she attacked when I was not prepared, even with Bu Si Yin Fa, I would not be able to withstand the Tianmo Da Fa attack, plus Wanwan would never disclose this mater to Shi Zhixuan. I still think Wanwan’s purpose was not only to weaken Kou Zhong’s fighting power, but also to use me to curb Kou Zhong, and not to protect my life at all. And she even guessed that we would use the secret passage to enter the palace. Hold the feudal overlord and you control his vassals. Therefore, if we still continue the operation following the plan, we would definitely nurse a grievance at the Yin Mansion, and would walk right into the trap.”

Ba Fenghan spoke heavily, “Wanwan’s intelligence is not inferior to any of us. Not only will she attack us head-on at the Yin Mansion, but she will use the secret passage to follow our example by seizing Li Yuan, and topple the Li Family’s world in one fell swoop.”

Ma Chang said, “If Shi Zhixuan participates in this operation, even with two more persons, You Pozi [old woman] and Yuwen Shang, I’m afraid they won’t be able to stop him.”

Shaking his head, Xu Ziling said, “Shi Zhixuan will not leave Qingxuan half a step.”

Ba Fenghan said, “In that case, we have to try to understand the mechanism even more. After closing the three secret passages in the city, we will go out of the city via the remaining secret passage, to look for Lin Shihong who should be hiding near the exit of the secret passage, and slaughter him. Once the main problem is solved, all troubles are solved. As for how to sneak back into the city, it should not be difficult for us. There is not much time, we must carry it out immediately, otherwise if we let Lin Shihong to lead his men in at this moment, we will miss the fortunate timing.”

Xu Ziling heaved a sigh, he nodded and said, “If Lin Shihong and his men want to enter the Yin Mansion unhurriedly, they might enter the storehouse at any moment. All right! I hope Lu Dashi’s soul and spirit in heaven will bless us.”

The hand grabbing the edge of the table suddenly twisted it to the left, the entire stone room immediately vibrated. The sound of the mechanism was coming up from under their feet, there was even a muffled sound of the rumbling water from the underground.

Not half a day later, it seemed like the rumbling sound of the falling boulders was entering everybody’s ears from all directions.

Xu Ziling and Ba Fenghan’s countenance changed at the same time, they cried out, ‘Not good!’