Chapter Forty-One: No Weakness
“To where?” Qian Mu looked in shock at Eldest Miss Shang.
“The Thousand Gravestones Mountain has a thousand graves. Since you do not hesitate to turn the energies your teacher left you into a more effective tool to get revenge, naturally the more corpses you raise, the stronger you are. Even if these corpses can only possess power of a realm six, they are dead, and they “will not fear death” when fighting.” Eldest Miss Shang caressed her energy sea as she adjusted the energy in her body. She did not answer and said, “When the corpses you raise reach a certain number, they will not just be able to fight some powerful cultivators, they have the ability to fight against powerful armies. Think of the Qi Dynasty, however many preserved grandmaster corpses are there?”
Qian Mu was shocked. His breathing stopped. “Past Saint Hall?”
Miss Shang’s voice was as gentle as usual, slow and unhurried. “Do you dare to come with me and dig them up?”
Qian Mu looked at her for a long time and could not help but say, “You are not the same as the lonely ghost of the Fish Market they speak of.”
The Past Saint Hall was not an ordinary temple, but an imperial tomb, the tomb of the first emperor of the Qi Dynasty. This hall was enshrined with the statues of the emperor and the great officials who helped found the country. It recorded their deeds. And below this hall, it was their tomb.
These existences were called “sages” and “saints” in the history books of the Qi. No matter if they had died on the battlefield or of old age when governing the country later on, or of sickness, they had been buried together with the great emperor using special methods.
There were thirty-six great sages, and seventy-two saints, and there were some lower ranked sages and saints. In the history books, they corresponded to the stars in the sky. Even the common children had heard their stories, and in the place where the sages and saints once lived, studied and cultivated, there were halls built to honor them.
Back in the thousand mountain dust formation Ye Xiao created, Ding Ning had talked to him about controlling many corpses to form an army. That way, even if they encountered an army like Bai Qi’s God Killing Army, they could win. In the formation, Qian Mu had controlled multiple corpses, but his ambitions were not great enough. He had not connected this to a place like the Past Saint Hall.
Was this just digging up an imperial tomb?
However many cultivators and families in the Qi Dynasty were related to those saints and sages?
What would the people of the Qi Dynasty think?
In the rumors, Miss Shang struggled to survive in the Changling Fish Market, like a lonely ghost in a temple, not even daring to see the sunlight. But now, Qian Mu knew what power was contained in her soft voice.
“Who does not want to have a place to settle down, no struggle, no troubles. If not forced to the edge, who will jump the wall?”
Miss Shang looked at Qian Mu, her voice tinged with misery. “The last daughter of the Shang Family is weak. Even though my entire family was killed, I did not dare to even talk of revenge, just wanting to live my life out in the Fish Market. But Changling cannot even tolerate the Fish Market. Even asking for aid from my sect brother ended up with me having a Soul Setting Nail thrust through my energy sea. My life became something used to threaten the Ba Mountain Sword Field. Now, the Qi Emperor does not distinguish between enemy and friend, and has committed betrayal. So what if we dig up his family’s grave? I am Qin. I have gotten some of the cultivation methods of the Qi. Even if I am cursed at and pursued by you Qi people, I do not care. But you, you are Yan Ying’s disciple. It is up to you whether you come with me.”
Qian Mu calmed down at such a soft and miserable voice.
“My teacher gave even his life for the Qi. But what did he do?” He calmly whispered, “I think that if his ancestor knew what he did today, if he could jump out of his coffin, he would slap the emperor. Dig up the Past Saint Hall to teach him a lesson, and have the Qi people think about this.”
**
“Why does Zheng Xiu not like Hu Hai, and favor Fu Su? Because Fu Su is truly her and Wang Jingmeng’s child?”
“It is impossible for Fu Su to be of Wang Jingmeng’s blood. In my view, she does not like Hu Hai very much, one because Hu Hai is a bit stupid. When young, he heard some stories of the Ba Mountain Sword Field, and stated his dislike for Ba Mountain Sword Field, without any respect. Perhaps he thought childishly, his curses towards the former enemies of her and Yuanwu would win him her affection, but he does not understand her complex emotions. The other reason should be that Hu Hai may not be what she needs. She only needs a son like Hu Hai. An imperial son that she birthed that does not need to naturally not be liked by her after being born. Also, Fu Su looks more like her. Many people think that he looks like Wang Jingmeng. Hu Hai looks more like Yuanwu.”
“So you mean that, inside, she likes Wang Jingmeng slightly more, and Hu Hai came from a certain time that she did not want to be bedded?”
“No one can understand the love and hate of someone like her. As to the bedding, that is my guess.”
“I feel that for a powerful grandmaster, the pleasure of the flesh cannot compare to the mine. Who gets who, it is like conquering… People like them, they have their needs in bed, and no one can say who conquered who, but having a child for someone is different.”
In Changling, a man with a thick bandage on his face talked to the healer who was taking the bandage off, speaking of things which cannot be said in Changling.
This man was Zhao Gao. He originally wore the yellow robes of Jiaodong, and had been the envoy from Jiaodong Commandery closest to Zheng Xiu.
The physician was Han Yuchun, a famed physician from the former Han Dynasty. He had the name of being a Jade-faced Ghost Hand. But time was the best knife. His hair had turned white, especially after the Han Dynasty was destroyed. During the first years he had been enslaved as a hard laborer in the Qin Dynasty, his sight had been damaged, and several of his teeth had fallen out due to the coarse food. So his face was more aged than people of his age, and wrinkles had appeared long ago on the corners of his eyes and his forehead.
Zhao Gao and Han Yuchen were talking deep down below the clinic. The setup of the basement was the same as the one where Shen Xuan had imprisoned Hu Hai. They were both from Shen Xuan’s hand.
It had been a long time since he had disappeared from the world, Zhao Gao had undergone many bone cutting and face changing operations in this lightless place.
When the thick bandages covering his face were taken off, two identical faces appeared in the dark room. The same white and gray hair, the same face, and even the wrinkles and the missing teeth were the same. Zhao Gao’s face and even figure had changed to become the exact same as Han Yuchun.
Han Yuchun looked emotionally at Zhao Gao. He seemed to be looking at a mirror. Cutting bone, connecting bone, changing height and grinding away some of the corners of the bones which were not similar caused pain that ordinary people could not endure. Such pain would accompany this person their entire life. But the man in front of him easily tolerated it. This was the greatest work of his life.
“Now, even the skin color is the same. I have treated the scar for you. When you get to the ground, and walk under the sunlight for several days, the medicine energy will naturally dissipate.”
Han Yuchun looked at Zhao Gao and said seriously and emotionally, “If there is one flaw, it is your cultivation.”
Zhao Gao laughed. He nodded, and then there was a strange soft sound from his energy sea.
In the next moment, his body started to release energy. Such a release was very violent. It was not quickly using vital energy like one did usually, completely destroying one’s cultivation.
Han Yuchun’s eyes filled with shock. “You are destroying your cultivation?”
Zhao Gao pressed his lips together and then recovered his calm. He laughed. “Since revenge does not need cultivation, then the only weakness does not have to exist.”
Han Yuchun took a deep breath and said after a moment of silence, “Now, there has to be a few more days to avoid exposing that you are a cultivator. Also, in these past few days, I have told you all I know. You should know how to use medicine to help yourself better.”
Zhao Gao nodded. He bowed deeply in thanks to this physician.
Han Yuchun’s expression turned solemn. He returned the bow seriously, and then bit the medicine pill that had been embedded in his teeth all this time. His face quickly turned black. Black blood flowed from his nose. He died without pain, and his body slowly turned to black water.
In his and Zhao Gao’s plan, there was one last weakness, himself.
Starting today, he disappeared.
Zhao Gao was him. There was no other weakness. Time seemed to freeze in this room. He bowed for a long time without standing up.
