Chapter 619

"Internal strife?"

"Yes," Pan Yun glanced at him: "Last year, the seventh shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate, Ashikaga Yoshikatsu, died. To this day, the shogunate seat remains vacant. Power now rests in the hands of several regional daimyo. Reports say there's a fight almost every few days—can't get much more chaotic than that."

As a martial artist, and a young, passionate young swordsman who only cared about gaining fame and cultivating the Dao, he couldn't even name the six ministers of his own country, let alone those of Japan.

He looked bewildered and asked: "Does Japan not have an emperor? Why only mention the shogun?"

"There is one," Pan Yun said. "He's a figurehead. You can ignore him completely. Better to think about Japan's recently deceased nine-year-old shogun, and the eight-year-old Ashikaga Yoshimasa who might become the next one."

Qu Le: …

He turned on his heel and walked away: "Go talk to someone else. I have no interest in Japan's emperor or shogun."

Pan Yun snorted.

Qu Le immediately turned back: "What about this family called Uesugi—are they powerful in Japan?"

Pan Yun: "Decent enough. I hear they're a western daimyo family with considerable influence."

Qu Le: "So it's settled—we're going to Japan to kill them?"

Pan Yun shot him a glare: "We're not just killing randomly. We need to find this man named Uesugi Hiromi, then track down and eliminate the people behind him."

"What if we can't find them?"

Pan Yun sighed: "Then we'll have to bear the sin. At that point, just look at their faces—who looks like a Japanese pirate, kill them."

Qu Le stepped back in alarm: "You—you look insane. Like a demon."

Pan Yun shoved him aside and walked ahead: "If you can't speak properly, then shut your mouth."

Qu Le hurried after her: "By the way, their country's in chaos—won't that make our entry even more dangerous?"

Pan Yun: "If we were going as merchants or tourists, yes, it'd be dangerous. But we're going to kill people. Since we ourselves harbor ill intent, the more chaos, the better."

She led them onto the deck, placed her hands on her waist, and shouted toward the cabin: "Found them—"

The people inside immediately stopped searching and came out.

Zhang Weiliang was annoyed. Even under Zhang Weiyi's watchful gaze, he said: "You caused such a commotion I nearly turned over every prisoner. My ears still ring with their screams."

The cultivation scion faced off against the martial scion. Qu Le wasn't one to back down: "I'm not a pig—why would I hide among women and children prisoners? Only a pig would go looking there."

Zhang Weiliang growled: "Who are you calling a pig?"

"Whoever answers is who I mean!"

Pan Yun: "If you're so idle, here's a task: register every woman and child on this ship. Find out their names, origins, and where they intend to go."

Zhang Weiliang and Qu Le both glared angrily at each other but dared not defy Pan Yun. They snorted at one another and stormed toward the cabin.

Zhang Weiyi exhaled in relief.

Xue Hua did too: "Thank goodness Pan Shimei beat Weiliang last year. Otherwise, this mission would've been impossible."

"What did he do to provoke Pan Yun?"

Xue Hua and Zhang Weiyi were startled by a voice behind them. They turned to meet Xue Shao's innocent gaze.

Zhang Weiyi knew little, but knew Xue Hua and Xue Shao were related. He bowed to Xue Hua: "You two talk."

Then he slipped away immediately.

Xue Hua and Xue Shao stared at each other, silent for a long while.

He knew this cousin well—he'd been the "other family's child" echoing in his ears since childhood.

Xue Taixu, Xue Zhen, and Xue Qing were cousins. Xue Zhen was Xue Xuan's father; Xue Qing was Xue Shao's grandfather.

The Xue family of Hedong was poor but renowned as a scholarly farming household.

For generations they had studied and managed their land. By Xue Zhen's time, even more family members pursued scholarship.

Xue Zhen and Xue Qing were brothers, the two best scholars in the clan. Xue Zhen passed the provincial exam and became a schoolmaster, teaching from Hedong to Hexi, then Hebei and Sichuan-Chongqing—over forty years of teaching, earning him the title "Schoolmaster Gong." He truly had students scattered across the land.

Xue Qing had worse luck: he passed the exam but died young from illness. His son, Xue Qiong, was raised by Xue Zhen, and he was also an excellent scholar.

Xue Qiong lived with his uncle Xue Zhen and was more like a son than Xue Xuan, Xue Zhen's own son. Xue Xuan was obsessed with seeking truth—he'd follow a river upstream until he found its source. So it was Xue Qiong who stayed by Xue Zhen's side.

He inherited his uncle's educational ideals and also became a schoolmaster across the land. Later, when Xue Xuan was wrongfully dismissed, Xue Qiong petitioned the Emperor and denounced Wang Zhen. He was briefly stripped of his post for months, but due to his many students and Xue Zhen's lingering connections, he was reinstated and returned to teaching.

Xue Xuan, after being dismissed, also taught in his hometown.

His grandfather often sighed that the Xue family's present status—and even their ability to draw closer to Heaven and Earth in cultivation—owed much to the contributions of Xue Zhen and Xue Qing's lineages.

The Xue family was the most tangible embodiment of Heaven's Dao: virtue荫蔽ing descendants.

But the Xue family member closest to Heaven and Earth, most beloved by the Dao, was truly Xue Shao.

Unfortunately, he refused to enter the Daoist sect. His grandfather had returned to Hedong several times but failed to persuade him.

To Xue Hua, this cousin was all too familiar. But Xue Shao clearly did not know him well.

One's gaze was complex; the other's was clear, yet slightly puzzled.

"Hua Tangxiong?"

Xue Hua snapped back to attention and said coolly: "Weiliang was provoked into causing trouble for Pan Shimei. He got beaten by her and expelled from the academy for training. Now he's very well-behaved. Don't worry—Pan Shimei's here, nothing will go wrong on this ship."

Xue Shao smiled: "I'm not worried about chaos. I'm just genuinely curious."

"I'm curious too," Xue Hua asked him: "You're already an imperial official. Why risk sailing overseas?"

Xue Shao turned to face the sea: "Great Ming has suffered Japanese pirate raids for a long time. They know us well, but we know almost nothing about Japan. The Honglu Temple's intelligence comes either from captured pirates or from Japan's annual tribute envoys."

"But the former speak unclear dialects, their regional records are incomplete, and many are impostors spouting nonsense—leading to chaotic local records and even more disordered reports to Honglu Temple, rendering them nearly useless;

as for the latter, the envoys are cunning and certainly won't truthfully describe their homeland."

Xue Shao smiled: "This is a rare chance. If I don't go, it would be a shame."

"But you're a Censor. As Censor of Jiangnan, leaving Jiangnan alone is a grave offense—you're now overseas…"

Xue Shao smiled, soothing him: "When generals are on campaign, imperial orders may be disregarded. I went to Quanzhou to investigate the Jiangnan Japanese pirate case, then sailed to islands to suppress bandits, and finally followed the trail overseas—all for official duties. The Emperor and the Censorate know this, and won't punish me."