Chapter 536: Legend!

The fifth Divine General under heaven, the Divine Might Great General Yuwen Lie, personally escorted them.

The bearer of the Bai Hu Dharma Aspect of the Nine Heavens, a contemporary figure who looked down on all, the very pinnacle—every one of those who blocked the path ahead, no matter how many, was swept aside by a single Bai Hu heavy spear, without a single word of nonsense, slaughtering open a grand and upright great road.

How many elite experts of the great noble houses of the Central Province line had died at Yuwen Lie's hands was beyond counting.

And according to Yuwen Lie's words, for these nameless sorts to die at his hands was something they could be proud of in this life, and they should die without grievance or regret.

Prince Ji Yanzhong knew that Ji Ning'er was safe, and his heart finally eased considerably, yet his expression was also complex.

He was silent for a long, long stretch of the road, not knowing what he was thinking.

And before Yuwen Lie set out.

He Ruo Qinhu finally let out a soft sigh; this experienced, seasoned, and ruthless Divine General fell silent and said nothing more. Jiang Wanxiang dismissed the assembled crowd, the common folk were all released, and the various noble houses and officials each returned to their own homes.

Blazing flames surged, about to burn this Ninefold Treasure Pagoda to ashes.

As if about to tear the heavens apart, dyeing the vast ten-thousand-li sky crimson.

Jiang Wanxiang watched the surging flames atop the Ninefold Treasure Pagoda, and suddenly chuckled softly. There was weariness in his heart, yet his tone carried congratulation as he said: "Your Majesty, you may set your mind at ease and rest a little now. The many matters that follow are for us to handle."

"So many duties, the burden of eight hundred years—you may set it down now."

Jiang Wanxiang's arm trembled, his right hand placed over his left, the sleeves of his ink-blue robe bearing hidden Dark Dragon patterns hanging down. Facing the surging flames and the Chixiao Sword, he performed a grand salute, white hair as white as snow, the monarch's golden crown upon his head, and only said:

"Your old subject, Jiang Wanxiang."

"Sees Your Majesty off!"

His voice was aged, yet hard as iron. When he raised his eyes, the faint trace of lament and absent-mindedness that had appeared in his gaze because of the Scarlet Emperor's resolve was ultimately driven away by an even greater determination.

"Go well!"

"Rest your spirit, and dream no dreams!"

Jiang Wanxiang bowed deeply, then slowly rose.

"This old subject shall not…"

His voice paused for a moment, then carried a composure of one who had already seen the ending and the road ahead as he laughed: "This lonely king will likely come to seek you very soon, ha ha."

Jiang Wanxiang laughed to himself a few times, sensing within his body two utterly different sensations—strength and frailty—and walked away slowly. Yuwen Lie had gone to pursue and cut down Prince Ji Yanzhong and Ji Ning'er, while the seasoned He Ruo Qinhu was responsible for suppressing the situation at present.

Jiang Wanxiang, meanwhile, went alone to the Academy.

The vast sky stretched on, and beneath the eaves the wind chimes trembled, giving out a series of light sounds.

In days past, the Academy had been bustling and lively—young people discussing their ambitions and great aspirations with one another, while the elders watched with smiles in their eyes at the new fires of these young days. Now it was desolate and still, carrying a hollow, cold emptiness of people gone and the place emptied out.

When people leave, the tea grows cold.

Before the ancient Confucian path, Gongyang Su Wang sat calmly and at ease.

The Fire Qilin crouched beside him.

Within the entire Academy, the once-renowned six Palace Masters of the Academy had all ascended above the Nine Heavens, each having stepped out upon the path of their own choosing as peerless talents; now only Su Wang remained here alone.

Jiang Wanxiang approached with unhurried steps and laughed openly: "Su Wang, what fine leisure you have."

"Fine deeds you've done."

Gongyang Su Wang said calmly: "It is merely a scholar reading, doing things, and drinking tea."

Jiang Wanxiang swept his sleeve aside and sat down with composure, taking the seat opposite this Gongyang Su Wang. He looked at the chessboard laid out on the table, picked up a chess piece, and placed it casually. Su Wang neither agreed nor disagreed, and likewise went to play chess with Jiang Wanxiang.

The two said nothing at the start, only quietly placing their pieces. Only the low murmur of the wind and the clear clicking of the chessboard could be heard, until a full game had been played, at which point Jiang Wanxiang finally spoke, with a touch of lament, saying:

"The great affairs of the world, in all their turmoil and clamor—it has been a long time since I had such leisure and refined pleasure, sitting here at ease, chatting idly and discussing the Dao, drinking tea and playing chess."

"When I was young, I always felt there were endless things to do. Back then I thought there would always be time later, always another chance, so I never hurried to play chess or amuse myself. And so it was pushed off again and again, until in the end there was none left."

Gongyang Su Wang said evenly: "The Domineering Dao that Emperor Ying sought, with something held fast in his heart, naturally could not allow leisure."

Jiang Wanxiang smiled: "If there is nothing held fast in the heart, what is the point of living?"

"Su Wang, you who come from the Gongyang school—how is it that you've also begun speaking in the manner of the Buddhist school?"

Gongyang Su Wang placed a piece and said:

"Among the six Palace Masters of the Academy, there was much deliberation. The great Dao is one, yet it is merely a single 'self.' Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism, when they reach their end, share points of convergence. What is called self-cultivation is nothing more than choosing one's own path from amidst this boundless great Dao."

Jiang Wanxiang placed a piece and said with a faint smile: "Then how does one cultivate the Domineering Dao?"

Gongyang Su Wang said: "When Emperor Ying met the Scarlet Emperor, what Dao was that?"

The two answered questions with questions, and also posed questions in return.

Jiang Wanxiang thought for a long while, then answered: "The Scarlet Emperor, Ji Zichang—I once looked down on him, because he truly had not then shown the bearing or the means to warrant a higher regard. Yet in the end, I respected him, and beyond that respect, I envied him."

Gongyang Su Wang raised an eyebrow and said: "You envied him being forced to death?"

Jiang Wanxiang said calmly: "You know it, sir—I never intended to force him to death."

"What the Scarlet Emperor had longed for before was to find his own destination, to seek a place of purity and stillness beneath a peaceful age, to cast off the shackles that eight hundred years of the Scarlet Emperor line's glory had placed upon him, to cast off the expectations of his kin, his officials, his people, and all under heaven."

"I gave it to him."

"Only in the end, he did something that even I marveled at."

"If Ji Zichang had been but a mediocre man, he could have had a life of wealth and peace, with leisure and peaceful days after bearing this heavy burden for several decades. But it is a pity—Ji Zichang was no mediocre man."

Jiang Wanxiang thought of that figure departing slowly within the flames and said: "To be able to bear such a duty, to follow one's own heart, and to make one's own choice."

"He was like an emperor at last."

"But Su Wang, with your Wu Gong, before matters came to a head, it was not impossible to take the Scarlet Emperor away—why did you not go?"

Su Wang was silent for a long while, then answered: "I could not disgrace him."

"Even less could I let the great aspiration he once pursued become a laughingstock buried in the past."

Su Wang played his chess piece, and his own qi subtly clashed, collided, and tangled with Jiang Wanxiang's aura, causing the vast and distant sky above the Academy to stretch on. Su Wang held a white piece and said: "Before coming here, I once found a way to inquire of the Purple Yang True Person."

"The Purple Yang True Person produced a letter that the Daoist Sect had left for us before departing. I opened that letter and saw only a single character: Revolution."

Jiang Wanxiang said: "Revolution, the forty-ninth of the sixty-four hexagrams."

Su Wang said: "Yes. Only at that time, I did not yet understand the meaning of that hexagram. It is only now that I have come to understand—Revolution."

"To reform the old, one must first, establish the new."

"Otherwise, in the end it only treats the symptoms, not the root, and cannot endure."

Gongyang Su Wang's voice paused, as if once again seeing that blazing figure walking toward his own path and end — the Red Emperor — and then looking at the white-haired Jiang Wanxiang before him, his vitality nearly spent to the limit, and he sighed:

"'Reform' — only on this day did I truly understand it."

"What a brilliant, dazzling character, and yet how blood-soaked a word it is."

Jiang Wanxiang said with a smile: "Well said. To reform the old and establish the new — how could it be without bloodshed?"

"A toast is in order!"

"To wish for success without hardship and twists, without paying the greatest effort, to have everything go smoothly — in the end, that is only fantasy."

The aged monarch placed a piece, his bearing utterly composed. Gongyang Su Wang looked at the man before him — magnanimous, possessed of his own Dao — and finally asked: "Then, Emperor Ying has come here to seize a title. Why?"

Jiang Wanxiang said: "To reform the old and establish the new."

His fingers jutted with bone, his veins like a trail of decay, marked with a deep blue-green path, as he picked up a black chess piece. He pointed at his own chest and said: "As you said, Master, my life is no longer long."

"Perhaps only within these few days."

"Chen Fubi's death was like a sharp blade thrust straight into my chest."

"It pierced deeply, and the pain was extreme."

"After that, the years of bitter warfare across the realm — my life was like a candle flame in the rain. In this life of mine, I rose from humble origins, a son born of a concubine, climbed to the throne, campaigned in all directions, and finally achieved this realm divided in two. One might call it satisfying, yet still I was not content."

"When all is said and done, I am simply unwilling to accept it."

Gongyang Su Wang said: "Unwilling to accept."

Jiang Wanxiang narrowed his eyes and said: "Yes."

Gongyang Su Wang placed the next piece and said: "Because of victory or defeat?"

Jiang Wanxiang said lightly: "Because I cannot give my all in one final battle before I die."

"Because I would die before this world sees the dawn!"

"How could I be willing to accept that?"

"Therefore, I have come to this place, seeking only that the Mandate of Heaven enter my body, to gain the chance for one last battle. The things I must do are not yet finished, so I cannot die."

A ripple of shock flashed through Gongyang Su Wang's eyes: "The Red Emperor used the Mandate of Heaven as fire, burning away eight hundred years of great momentum and righteousness. What remained — scorching fire-poison, sediment of filth — is called the Mandate of Heaven, yet it is mingled with the desires of all living beings, and the final resolve of desperation."

"That is poison. If you seek to master such a thing, you will die in unspeakable agony, without a grave to bury your bones."

Jiang Wanxiang said calmly: "Scholars, after all, do not understand the heart of a bold hero."

"Things have come to this pass — how could I set my own life in my heart?"

Jiang Wanxiang placed a piece softly and said: "The old era belongs to the old, but the old is often what people long for, is it not, Su Wang? You and I are both people left behind by that past age."

"The young have their dreams, but the old have their own persistence. Having watched things for a lifetime, having done things for a lifetime — to have it all broken off and abandoned with a few careless words, then all that we have done in our lives would be rather laughable."

"Are we a joke?"

"Of course not."

"'Old and outdated' — that is the contemptuous name the young give to us."

"'Disrespect' — that is the disdain we hold for the young."

"In the end, it must come down to a final contest of victory and death before the verdict can be sealed in the annals of history. This world has been in turmoil for over three hundred years — that is far, far too long."

"And now, the final hour has come. The battle that ends three hundred years of chaotic strife — that was the dream of my youth. Now that I am old and near death, I can finally see it."

"I will seize it!"

Gongyang Su Wang looked at Jiang Wanxiang before him.

Gaunt, skeletal, on the verge of death — even the robes that once fit his frame now hung loose and empty, swaying slightly, like a dragon about to wither away. The candlelight on the desk flickered, casting shifting shadows of light and dark across his face.

Like a sword, resolute and sharp, cleaving forward.

"Then let me show you, Master."

"No matter how despicable, no matter how ugly it is to prolong my life for this battle, I will keep walking forward. What Emperor Ji Zichang did was only to sever the eight-hundred-year Red Emperor. What I wish to do is different."

Jiang Wanxiang placed his final piece, smiling like an aged dragon, and said softly:

"Then let this old era have one battle against the so-called young."

"The earth has been covered by rotting branches and trees. Only a thorough wildfire, burning all of it away, can let new grass and trees grow upon the earth once more — that is spring."

"Eight hundred years of accumulated weight is too heavy. Without the most thorough suffering, one cannot achieve a true hegemony."

"Without a bone-deep transformation, there will be no true peace."

Gongyang Su Wang realized what the monarch before him intended to do.

Jiang Wanxiang said: "Gongyang Su Wang, you say that among the academies of the Confucian school, each palace master has his own pursuit, and also studies the doctrines of other schools. Then, Master, have you studied the annals of history?"

"Do you know of the many reforms undertaken by successive courts during their periods of revival?"

"Do you know why they could not be completed? Do you know why the reforms of those great scholars and renowned gentlemen — men whose learning reached Heaven and man, whose talent spanned Heaven and earth, and who pitied all living beings — though they struck at the very heart of the matter, still could not succeed?"

Gongyang Su Wang looked at the monarch before him: "Like a sword."

"A blade pointed at oneself — that is exceedingly difficult."

Jiang Wanxiang said: "Yes. And also because they themselves, being within 【the system】, were lofty and privileged. To reform the old and establish the new is like a man taking up a sharp blade, yet turning it upon himself — how could it succeed?"

"Duke Wenzheng, Duke Banshan — how many great scholars' so-called reforms, so-called changes, the moment they touched even slightly upon pain, were halted. When all is said and done, it was always for this very reason."

"If reform of the old is not thorough, then it is no reform at all."

Jiang Wanxiang picked up a chess piece and murmured:

"Scholars are good for nothing — scholars, scholars…"

"Too soft, and not firm or ruthless enough."

"Only savage, absolute force can accomplish absolute 'reform.' Only by crushing all that exists utterly can this world briefly be restored to clarity, awaiting the next great age of contention."

"And now, that opportunity has come."

Gongyang Su Wang looked at Jiang Wanxiang and glimpsed the tide within this emperor's chest.

Jiang Wanxiang set down his chess piece, rose, and laughed: "Do you still remember when we were sixteen or seventeen? Master, of course, you are much older than me in years—when you were sixteen or seventeen, when I was sixteen or seventeen, we were both young then."

"We looked at the world, and we felt that our elders and the older generation were utterly rotten, that they could not understand the great aspirations of people like us, that they were merely puppets carved out by this era and the world, without any spirit of their own."

"We were different."

"We had dreams."

"Now, I am the one of the older generation. Life is only so many days—the things that should be done must be done; otherwise, if even the dreams of youth rot away, it will be too late altogether."

"After this battle, I shall decide victory and defeat with Qin Wang."

"If he wins, there is nothing more to say."

"If we win…"

Jiang Wanxiang's voice paused, was silent for a long while, then a faint smile appeared:

"I too shall die, I suppose."

Gongyang Su Wang sighed, and the Fire Qilin seemed to understand.

All living beings yearn to keep on living.

There are no exceptions—only that some people weigh other things more heavily.

Jiang Wanxiang held a chess piece between his fingers, was quiet for a long while, then a father's smile appeared as he looked at Gongyang Su Wang and asked: "Master, what do you make of my son Jiang Gao?"

Gongyang Su Wang spoke concisely:

"A gentle and mellow Young Master; in days of peace, he would be a benevolent and virtuous ruler."

Jiang Wanxiang laughed heartily: "He is still young."

"If I win, then please, Master, watch the peace he shall carve out!"

"The older generation will, in the end, burn out like a flame. I shall raise the fire of an era; I shall sweep along all the forces of the old world, sweep along every noble house, the remaining great scholars, and all those rotting things entrenched in their places, and go to war with Qin Wang."

"Let it be I who bears the shadow and the distortion of these eight hundred years of the world upon my back."

"And fight Li Guanyi to my heart's content. Win or lose, those rotten things will, in this great battle, be hewn apart by the keen edge that is Qin Wang—only the final outcome depends on whether that blade's edge will snap."

Gongyang Su Wang said: "The Emperor's spirit is grand indeed, but to borrow Qin Wang's edge to accomplish your own hegemony—are you not afraid of being consumed in return?"

Jiang Wanxiang said: "Consumed in return? So what?"

Jiang Wanxiang spoke out his choice, unhurried and composed:

"Borrow Qin Wang to sweep the world clean."

"If I succeed, then I die, and Qin Wang dies too. The old noble houses, the noble bloodlines, all those rotten things shall be buried together with Qin Wang and me. I shall go down below, drink and gamble with Qin Wang, and leave behind for the people of this world and for Gao'er a vast and mighty realm."

"If my plan fails, then I die, and the old world, the noble bloodlines, all those rotten things shall be buried with me. Qin Wang lives, thoroughly trampling the surging chaos of these troubled times and the eight-hundred-year shadow-realm, leaving behind a dynasty with the most legitimate claim to the throne."

"Whether the blade's edge snaps or not, whether I win or die, it will surely be one."

"A world of unbridled grandeur."

Gongyang Su Wang fell silent.

Jiang Wanxiang said: "Your reading of the histories is still not enough."

Gongyang Su Wang said: "Please, Your Majesty, speak plainly."

Jiang Wanxiang smiled: "If I say, the histories are nothing more than a single sentence."

"What sentence?"

"Only with blade and sword shall peace be forged!"

"Gentle whispers cannot change the world, Master."

"Only savage, direct, thorough battlefields can grind away the settled filth and reshape the very bones of peace. This time, let me carry this old era into this great dream."

"Whether I succeed or not, my dream will be realized. So, seen from here, I already stand on unassailable ground. I can already see the day of peace in the future; all I need to do is step onto that battlefield and complete this great dream."

"There is nothing better in this world than such a thing."

"Will Heaven also favor me?"

Gongyang Su Wang held a chess piece between his fingers, and for some reason could not bring himself to place it.

After a few moves, Jiang Wanxiang looked at the position on the board and said: "Master, you have lost this game. When we were young, you told me that playing chess is like the great currents of the world—one must keep one's heart steady. It seems you could not keep steady."

"Hahahaha."

"I too am a true man."

He rose, turned, and walked forward with unhurried steps, his white hair hanging down, and said lightly: "I too shall reach the end of my path by ugly, by-any-means-necessary methods. When that day comes, upon the annals of a thousand autumns, I shall await the judgment posterity gives me."

"Parting today, there will be no time we meet again. So please, Master, in days to come, go see that day of peace in the world. When I was young, I saw you beneath the academy too; back then you and I drank and chatted idly."

"I played ten games of chess with you, and lost every one of them badly."

"You said my wish was nothing but a dream."

"Heh…"

Jiang Wanxiang laughed. He glanced sidelong at Gongyang Su Wang. He said he was going to die, but at this moment he was still grand and broad; facing this Confucian Su Wang, hailed as the foremost beneath the legends, he merely carried some regret, some weariness, and a kind of cool indifference as he said:

"In the end, just a Confucian scholar."

"How could he understand the path of hegemony of a Central Plains emperor?"

Gongyang Su Wang was overawed by the emperor's spirit—but after Jiang Wanxiang had gone.

The Fire Qilin suddenly cried out: "That fellow, just now when you weren't paying attention, quietly swapped out the chess pieces."

Gongyang Su Wang was startled, looked again, and indeed saw that the board had been tampered with.

And so that grand emperor's bearing was shattered in an instant.

The vividness of his younger days returned once more.

Mischievous, spirited, bold and open, cunning.

The Su Wang wanted to laugh, but could not. That aged, hoary dragon was still the same bastard-born youth of those years—the one who slept soundly beneath the great tree, wore straw sandals, and spoke of the world and the future—a wretched chess player.

It was still him, yet no longer him.

Gongyang Su Wang sat there, murmuring, "The world…"

……………

Yuwen Lie had gone far away, while the seasoned, vicious, and ruthless He Ruo Qinhu was personally present here, executing Jiang Wanxiang's stratagem. Jiang Wanxiang issued an order, a declaration of war, intending to campaign against the Central Plains noble houses, summoning the families of civil and military officials to join in the punitive expedition against Qin Wang Li Guanyi.

The officials were afraid; the noble houses made excuses.

This was only to be expected.

This was the method they were most adept at—cleverly twisting themselves within the rules to gain profit, to slip through loopholes—except this time, the one they faced was a monarch of vast ambition yet on death's door, a ruler who would stop at nothing.

And a military god-general who had campaigned across the realm for forty-seven years, long since grown accustomed to good and evil, purely indifferent.

One was a maker of rules.

One was a breaker of rules.

Jiang Wanxiang therefore issued an imperial decree, inviting those opposing noble houses and aristocrats to come to the appointment. On that day, naturally there were those who came, indignant and unwilling, publicly denouncing Jiang Wanxiang before the crowd; others used the occasion of drinking to express their own wishes; still others said they were willing to help, but claimed they were only an ordinary family, poor at home, without manpower.

The myriad phenomena of the world, the countless variations of the human heart.

Enough to fill a thousand pages, countless passages of brilliant prose.

The historians of the Academy used four characters to record the outcome of this affair.

【Slain by the Emperor.】

The history books record that the monarch of the State of Ying committed violent slaughter in the Central Plains.

In the span of mere days, over one thousand seven hundred nobles, great clans, famed ministers, and eminent scholars were killed by him. Beneath the blade, the various noble houses and hundred clans all became the vanguard, willing to join the punitive campaign. Ying Emperor Jiang Wanxiang relocated the noble houses and aristocrats into the State of Ying.

The long wind stretched vast and boundless; Jiang Wanxiang walked alone through the Red Emperor's palace.

Under the perception and gaze of Gongyang Su Wang and Fire Qilin, who were far away within the Academy, he unhurriedly reached out his hand and grasped the lingering fortune of the Red Emperor—the things left behind by Emperor Ji Zichang, the things left behind by the Red Emperor's lineage.

What had once been brilliant and resplendent, now rotted to the core, was almost visibly twisted fortune coiling around Jiang Wanxiang's arm, then spreading upward; beneath the flesh, black traces flowed swiftly.

Jiang Wanxiang's aura surged; Jiang Wanxiang's heartbeat grew ever stronger.

The aged Fire Qilin and Gongyang Su Wang both sensed it—Jiang Wanxiang, who beneath the impact of eight hundred years of twisted fortune, had taken that step.

Heaven and Earth trembled for it.

An aura of pure force and elevation, stepping directly into the realm of the martial legend.

Yet in Gongyang Su Wang's perception, it carried with it a certain desolation.

Gongyang Su Wang said softly, "The human world is like this—always saying that living long is a blessing."

"Yet it isn't necessarily so."

"Living long, and all old friends become like autumn leaves, beaten away by the rain and wind…"

The old Fire Qilin said, "Is this truly the martial legend?"

Gongyang Su Wang said softly, "It can be counted as opening a path of its own, yet it is not the martial legend; but neither will it be an ordinary Grandmaster. This momentum is like fire—the blazing fortune of eight hundred years traced back to its source, and what remains is borne upon Jiang Wanxiang's back."

"What he seeks is one final battle."

"At any cost."

"To die for the greater cause, to endure for the greater wish…"

Gongyang Su Wang drank, and said softly:

"Yet in these mere few days."

"Ji Zichang and Jiang Wanxiang, both are dead."

Jiang Wanxiang turned; the smile of the Ying Emperor was unhurried. He felt the twisted vitality, the hearts and desires of generations past trying to corrode him, yet he suppressed them with ease.

The Ying Emperor said, "The heroes of the world slay one another."

"The mighty champions of the world all perish."

"Li Guanyi, I, shall be your opponent!"

"Let us take the fire in our hearts and, for this realm, continue another eight hundred years of gallant spirit!"

?? Begging for monthly tickets, friends~