Chapter 1884: The Imperial Court Plots, Conspiracy Emerges (First of Three, Request Subscription)

"People today are truly insane!"

"Yeah, day after day you kill me, I kill you. In our little corner alone, so many have died!"

As he traveled, Lin Pingzhi found the situation worse than he had imagined.

After walking only ten li, he saw dozens of battlefields.

Some died together in mutual destruction, swords still locked in place.

Some left behind a single corpse, others left severed hands and feet…

In short, bloodshed never ceased along the way.

Even peasants in the fields sensed something was amiss, whispering to each other, discussing these events.

"If this keeps up, it won't just be the martial artists who suffer."

The martial artists had gone mad with killing.

Could the common folk still escape unscathed?

As a martial artist himself, he understood all too well.

Most martial artists were roughnecks, with no high moral standards.

It was common for someone to draw their sword and cut down another just because they disliked their look. "Qiqi San"

Now, these people had cultivated the Bixie Sword Art; their strength had risen, their tempers grown more erratic, and killing would come even more easily to them.

"Come on, Master Liu is going to challenge Abbot Fang Zheng of Shaolin for the title of Number One Under Heaven!"

"Number One Under Heaven? Shouldn't that be Sword Saint Lin?"

"Hmph, you don't understand. The Bixie Sword Art has spread across the land—Sword Saint Lin is probably already dead. Otherwise, this was his sword manual; how could it have gotten out?"

"That's true. But why didn't whoever got the manual just train it themselves, instead of letting it spread everywhere?"

"Though this sword art is powerful, its first step isn't easy. The one who obtained the manual probably dared not train it, yet couldn't bring himself to destroy it—so he released it to the world."

"That doesn't make sense."

"Then what do you think happened? Do you think Sword Saint Lin isn't dead, and he released the manual just to watch the chaos?"

Lin Pingzhi trailed closely behind the throng of martial artists heading toward Shaolin.

For seven straight days, more and more martial artists gathered, and martial feuds multiplied.

In those seven days alone, he witnessed hundreds of martial feuds, with over a thousand dead.

Meanwhile.

The imperial court of Great Ming had also learned of the turmoil in the martial world.

In the Golden Hall, Emperor Zhu Houzhao flew into a rage.

"A single Wu Gong manual has thrown the realm into chaos—and they call it a brilliant scheme?"

Where did the Sunflower Manual come from?

Of course, from the court.

After the Great Ming overthrew the Yuan, the Sunflower Manual came into its hands, becoming a secret imperial martial art locked away in the palace.

Fast to enter, low talent requirement, high ceiling.

This Wu Gong was far too important to the dynasty.

If they were willing to be ruthless, Great Ming could quickly train thousands—even tens of thousands—of powerful warriors, enough to sweep the land clean.

Of course, that was merely a fantasy.

Great Ming had never intended to train so many Eunuchs to help guard the realm.

No other reason—just fear.

The power of Eunuchs came from the imperial family.

Theoretically, everything Eunuchs had belonged to the imperial family; they ought to be the imperial family's dogs, utterly loyal.

An army of Eunuchs should have been the backbone of Great Ming.

But throughout history, Eunuchs had repeatedly seized power and murdered emperors.

The Son of Heaven is made by the strongest with the mightiest army.

Once Eunuchs grew too powerful, forming large-scale armies, whether Great Ming would still be ruled by the Zhu family would be very uncertain.

For rulers, rule comes first.