Chapter 19: The Heavenly Palace Treasury of Great Song

Gao Taotao, the Grand Empress Dowager, had held power for many years, participating in state affairs since the time of Emperor Yingzong.

Thus, she viewed matters through the lens of advantage and harm, never acting on impulse, nor easily giving answers.

That is, if one bluntly inquired about the Three Treasuries, even a close confidant, she would never reveal the truth, for the harm outweighed the benefit.

Emperor Renzong issued an edict, Emperor Yingzong carried it out—they destroyed the three secret treasuries that Emperor Taizong had treasured. Such matters could never be made public, let alone recorded in history.

For such an act—one side laboriously building, the other utterly destroying—must imply right and wrong: either Emperor Taizong was wrong, or Emperor Renzong and Yingzong were.

If Emperor Taizong was not wrong, then Emperor Renzong and Yingzong were disloyal and unfilial.

If Emperor Renzong and Yingzong were not wrong, then Emperor Taizong was cruel and tyrannical—why else would he set up a poison treasury in the palace? Why build a weapons treasury?

So directly asking, Gao Taotao would never answer, nor even acknowledge the existence of the Three Treasuries.

Zhao Ti had long anticipated this, so he gently guided the conversation, using Emperor Shenzong’s dream as a pretext, unfolding the tale bit by bit, then letting Li Xian reveal the truth of the Three Treasuries.

Yet even this, Gao Taotao would only admit the existence of the Three Treasuries; if the contents had not been fully destroyed, she would not disclose it, for there was no necessity—only unnecessary complications.

So Zhao Ti proceeded to speak of Li Xian’s assassination attempt: look, the Grand Empress Dowager of Western Xia was a martial master who, for her nation, infiltrated a vast army camp at night, assassinated its commander, and escaped unscathed—this struck a sharp chord with Gao Taotao.

He then subtly implied that supreme martial skill could sometimes sway the course of war, even affect a nation’s rise or fall.

After all, the opportunity for “decapitation” existed.

As the saying goes: shoot the rider first, capture the king first!

Zhu You assassinated King Liao of Wu; Yao Li assassinated Qingji; Nie Zheng assassinated Jia Lei; Cao Mo seized Duke Huan of Qi; Jing Ke assassinated the King of Qin.

Even if it was mere luck, it could still succeed—and one success was enough, with consequences of extreme severity.

Any slightest possibility of such an act was a matter of state security, admitting no negligence or slackness.

And to guard against it, one must first possess supreme martial skill.

Dali had the Heavenly Dragon Temple; the former Southern Tang had the Mountain-Sea Pavilion; Western Xia surely had one too; and in its early days, Emperor Taizu of Great Song was himself a formidable martial master.

As for Emperor Taizong, during the Yongxi Northern Campaign, had he not possessed profound martial skill, how could he have fled nearly three hundred li in a single night, evading multiple elite Liao cavalry detachments, relying only on the broken donkey cart summoned by Huyan Zan and his personal eunuchs? That seems impossible.

There may be hidden masters in the court now, but within the imperial family, there are likely none of great martial prowess.

Zhao Ti recounted all this without directly stating his point, letting Gao Taotao think for herself, judge for herself: if the weapons treasury’s scrolls had not been fully destroyed, should she reveal them? Should she retrieve them?

As he had expected, the Three Treasuries had not been entirely destroyed. When Li Xian first mentioned it, Zhao Ti had already suspected they could not have been wiped clean—especially the weapons.

“Great Empress Dowager…” Zhao Ti gazed at Gao Taotao.

“The poison treasury is truly gone,” Gao Taotao said.

Zhao Ti nodded. Emperor Renzong’s nature—such a poison treasury must have tormented him his entire life; he would never have spared it.

“The weapons treasury was to be taken to the Western Hills for melting. As the carts had just left the imperial palace, Emperor Renzong suddenly sent a secret edict: halt the melting. Store them at the Western Hills’ Flying Cannon Camp, and never bring them back into the palace.”

Zhao Ti listened intently.

“As for the martial treasury… burned on the spot—not a single scrap remained!”

“Ah?” Zhao Ti froze. Hadn’t she just said the other two treasuries, besides the poison treasury, had not been fully destroyed? Now she claimed it was all burned?

Gao Taotao paused, then continued: “The scrolls in the martial treasury were indeed all burned—but…”

“But what?” Zhao Ti asked, eyes questioning.

Gao Taotao studied him, then smiled: “Eighth Brother, are you so concerned?”

Zhao Ti thought: if I don’t show this concern, you’ll dismiss it as trivial and never speak freely—you’ll keep weighing, forcing me to strain further with words.

“Great Empress Dowager, your grandson naturally cares,” Zhao Ti said with earnest sincerity. “I love martial arts, worry for my safety abroad, and ponder how Li Xian’s assassination has affected state affairs—how could I not care?”

Gao Taotao nodded approvingly: “Good. Since you care, I may as well tell you: the scrolls of the martial treasury were indeed all burned—but during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong, there was once a transcription and extraction.”

“During Emperor Zhenzong’s reign?” Zhao Ti blinked. How did this now involve Zhenzong?

Emperor Zhenzong favored literature, not martial arts—he wrote poems urging study: “Within books lie golden houses; within books lie beautiful maidens.” Why would he ever think to copy martial secrets?

“Eighth Brother, you know of the Heavenly Palace Treasury, don’t you?” Gao Taotao said slowly.

The Heavenly Palace Treasury? Zhao Ti nodded—he naturally knew this book.

Great Song compiled three Daoist canons: the Precious Texts Comprehensive Record, the Heavenly Palace Treasury, and the Ten Thousand Longevity Daoist Canon.

During Zhenzong’s reign, they compiled the Precious Texts Comprehensive Record and the Heavenly Palace Treasury.

During Huizong’s reign, they compiled the Ten Thousand Longevity Daoist Canon—the Daoist Canon—led by Huang Shang.

At the time, the Precious Texts Comprehensive Record was incomplete. In the fifth year of Dazhong Xiangfu, Emperor Zhenzong ordered Zhang Junfang to collect Daoist texts from temples across the land, and with Daoist priests, to organize them according to the Three Caves’ structure and the Four Divisions’ catalog, comparing variants and reconciling differences, incorporating the original Precious Texts Comprehensive Record into one complete canon.

This canon was named the Heavenly Palace Treasury, also called the Great Song Heavenly Palace Treasury, totaling four thousand five hundred and sixty-five scrolls.

Later, during wars and chaos, this set was lost; later generations never saw its full form, only glimpses preserved in the Yunji Qiqian’s selected excerpts.

“When Zhenzong compiled the Heavenly Palace Treasury, Zhang Junfang reported that an old pavilion of the former Southern Tang held ancient single-copy texts, and mentioned the Mountain-Sea Pavilion. Zhenzong ordered him to search the secret treasuries, and he retrieved two or three scrolls, transcribing them into the appendices of the Heavenly Palace Treasury, under the ‘Gong’ section.”

“Two or three scrolls…” Zhao Ti felt mixed joy and worry: joy that complete secret manuals still existed, worry that he did not know if the Yin Finger Technique was among them.

The secret treasury’s scrolls were numerous, not all Daoist in origin. Since Zhang Junfang mentioned the Mountain-Sea Pavilion, he would have sought its texts first—so the Yin Finger Technique had a chance of being extracted.

Li Xian said the Southern Tang’s Yin Finger Technique rivaled the Heavenly Dragon Temple’s Yang Finger Technique—he deeply agreed.

The Mountain-Sea Pavilion’s three most powerful martial arts were the Yin Finger Technique, the Mountain Scripture, and the Infinite Sea Treasure Scroll. He had never heard of the other two, did not know what they were—but he knew the power of the Yin Finger Technique.

And the Yin Finger Technique was like a backdoor Trojan in the Kuihuabaodian —capable of concealing strength and suppressing ferocity, allowing one to practice the scripture without castration. This was an extraordinary thing.

Zhao Ti even suspected that Cheng Kun in the late Yuan’s Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber era had not practiced the complete version; over time, martial arts decayed and were lost.

“Great Empress Dowager, the appendices of the Heavenly Palace Treasury…”

“The original copy of the Heavenly Palace Treasury contains the appendices—it differs from the circulated sub-copies. These appendices have been stored within the palace for over a hundred years, seen by few.”

“Great Empress Dowager, where is the original copy now?” Zhao Ti asked urgently. The plot had reached its climax; the atmosphere was set. He might as well boldly ask.

“Right here with me,” Gao Taotao said, smiling at Zhao Ti.