Li Ke was obviously still immature. You only needed to listen to the suddenly arising snoring sounds from Zhangsun Chong, Li Huairen, and the other wastrels to understand the difference between maturity and greenness. Nobles all over the world knew that monks and Daoists would definitely fight each other, and the Emperor knew it too. But monks and Daoists weren’t in the population registers, nor were their names in the government’s tax registers, so they didn’t count as the Emperor’s subjects. Therefore, Li Er didn’t care if a few monks or Daoists died.
Li Er was now very reasonable. You pay taxes to me, I provide protection to you—perfectly justified, fair to young and old alike. So when a commoner died, it was a major matter that must be investigated to the end. Whether a monk died or a Daoist died was inconsequential. Ever since Yun Ye told him about the spirit of contracts, he prided himself on being a good emperor who greatly respected contracts.
At the beginning of this grand celebration, Li Er released all the death row prisoners from jail, allowing them to reunite with their families for three days. After three days, they had to turn themselves in to receive death. King Wen of Zhou had done this and was praised as a sage ruler for ten thousand generations. After receiving the great title of Heavenly Khan, Li Er wanted to see if he too was made of sage ruler material. Over three hundred death row prisoners returned home crying, extremely grateful for this grace.
Sure enough, His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Tang was a sage ruler for ten thousand generations. Three days later, all the death row prisoners returned to prison on their own, dressed cleanly, waiting for death’s arrival. This time, subjects throughout the realm praised the Emperor’s benevolence. In his delight, Li Er waved his brush and pardoned all the death row prisoners, leaving all the civil and military officials dumbfounded.
The most bitter was the chief of the Bai Qi Si. For the Emperor’s reputation, he and his subordinates had secretly monitored those death row prisoners for three full days. The people of Guanzhong had violent temperaments. Among those who had killed people, how many were good? Not fleeing would be the strange thing. The Bai Qi Si exhausted all their efforts catching those fellows who tried to escape one by one. The most ferocious one had even run to Tongguan Pass. To catch him, one Bai Qi Si member died in battle and four were injured before they caught this fellow. Although they inevitably gave him some suffering in secret, for the Emperor’s face, they still sent him back to prison.
When that fellow heard he was actually pardoned, he laughed wildly and wanted to go to a brothel for prostitutes, completely disregarding the iron-blue faces of the Bai Qi Si people. Although this fellow died in a prostitute’s bed that very night, that was extreme joy begetting sorrow. It was said he died in an extremely romantic manner.
Yun Ye never believed death row prisoners would return on their own to stretch out their necks for execution out of gratitude for the Emperor’s grace. How could there be such an absurd thing in this world? If it were him, he would definitely run faster than that fellow who ran to Tongguan Pass.
This was a great auspicious sign. All officials must submit memorials of congratulation. Yun Ye worried all night, really wanting to draw a pig’s head to send up, but lacked the courage. He could only assign the task to Xiao Wu—he must write a flowery sycophantic essay for his master. Master needed it tomorrow and couldn’t delay.
Wei Zheng fell ill over this matter for ten days. When Yun Ye looked at him mockingly during the grand court assembly, Wei Zheng, unable to avoid it, could only cover his face with his sleeve and flee in disarray.
Now it was this kind of thing again. Li Ke hadn’t been corrupted yet and always thought that with such a large group of warriors here, they should stop the tragedy from happening and had the ability to stop it.
“In the place called Nanzhao, there’s a strange phenomenon. Some tribes there most enjoy putting five types of poisonous creatures in one basin to raise. The result of raising them is that only one type remains in the basin. Then they gather this group of victorious poisonous creatures with other victorious poisonous creatures to make five types again and continue putting them in one basin to raise. After who knows how many rounds of such slaughter, what remains must be the most terrifying of all poisonous creatures. At this time, the master raising the poisonous creatures will use his own heart’s blood to feed this poisonous creature. It’s said this can achieve spiritual communication with the poisonous creature. Finally, they suffocate this poisonous creature alive, dry it out and grind it into powder, and it becomes gu poison, which can harm people with unfailing success.”
“Ye Zi, I also know these legends! I even know the story of the golden silkworm gu sweeping the house. Do you want to hear it?” Li Ke’s interest in conversation greatly increased, and he couldn’t help but ask Yun Ye.
“Since you want to talk, then shut up and sleep. Who wants to hear you tell ghost stories? As long as you don’t think about those places on fire, think about whatever you want.”
“You’re bullying people! Telling a broken story without beginning or end, just when you’ve aroused people’s desire to talk, you want to sleep. No—you must listen to me finish the story.”
“Get lost, stay away from me. A grown man constantly saying ‘people this, people that’—it makes me get goosebumps all over. A man should be manly, not become effeminate. Don’t come near me.”
The helpless Li Ke had no choice but to burrow back into his blanket, staring blankly at the big moon in the sky. The bird flocks had flown past for a while now. The distant sounds of shouting and killing gradually subsided until the burning bonfires were extinguished. The Qinling Mountains once again returned to their original appearance.
When the sky was fully bright, Yun Ye announced they’d go home today. While unable to hide their joy, the wastrels also complained that this Qinling trip hadn’t been enjoyable enough. Cheng Chumo wanted to say a few words but closed his mouth. On this Qinling expedition, the wastrels had already performed well enough.
While waiting for breakfast, the wastrels all gathered together discussing in low voices what had happened last night. Just because they themselves lay in their blankets sleeping didn’t mean their household warriors didn’t go. Pooling together the information they’d obtained vividly depicted what exactly had happened last night.
“So you’re saying last night the one attacked was Jinge Temple? The elder of Jinge Temple even came to my house to pray for blessings for my grandmother. He could be considered an accomplished high monk. The household warriors said many died and were injured—I don’t know if the elder was among them. If so, that’s truly too regrettable. The attackers were Daoists. The household warriors heard epithets like ‘mixed-hair’ and ‘bald donkey,’ which means they’ve finally torn off their faces, developing from verbal disputes to real blade-to-blade confrontation. However, this isn’t our business. We’d better go home. Ye Zi, during this time I’d better stay at my family’s Yushan villa. When I have nothing to do, going to listen to the teachers lecture wouldn’t be bad. I just don’t know if Professor Li Gang still personally gives lectures?” Zhangsun Chong obviously had other matters he was unwilling to discuss. After roughly analyzing last night’s firefight for everyone, he diverted the topic and started talking about the Yushan villa.
They were all from wealthy families. Even those who didn’t have villas at Yushan said they’d find acquaintances to borrow from. In short, the wastrels had had enough of the wilderness life and were preparing to enjoy a refined villa vacation life.
One couldn’t ride horses in the Qinling Mountains. Everyone’s horses had been left at Hungry Wolf Islet, entrusted to the registrar of Lantian County for safekeeping. After returning, they’d settle accounts with him for horse feed and such expenses. The registrar would definitely not be flexible about this at all.
Chai Lingwu lay in his sedan chair, boredly opening his mouth and looking around everywhere. The autumn mountain scenery was gorgeous with purple and crimson colors—quite worth seeing. Staying in Chang’an City year-round was indeed rather boring.
When he watched a lone wild goose separated from its flock fly to the horizon, he suddenly straightened his body, jumped down from the sedan chair, grabbed Yun Ye’s hand, and kept saying “Ah-ba, ah-ba” non-stop. Looking in the direction his finger pointed, Yun Ye’s tears immediately rolled down. Ahead at the mountainside position, Sun Simiao stood in tattered clothes, leaning on a wooden staff, smiling as he looked at them.
The crowd immediately went crazy. With a cheer, they surged over. Cheng Chumo arrived first. From ten zhang away, he kowtowed his head down. Zhangsun Chong, Li Huairen, Yuchi the Big Fool, including Li Ke, all unhesitatingly bowed down. At this time, before Sun Simiao there were no young masters or princes—only a group of young juniors.
Yun Ye held Sun Simiao’s hand and said: “How did you get through these days? Is your body still well?”
Sun Simiao smiled as he helped the wastrels up one by one, patting this one on the back of the head, scolding that one with a few words. Finally, he thanked them for their deep affection. Unable to restrain themselves, the youths cheered again.
Yun Ye saw the five medicine people behind Sun Simiao. Each one’s hair and beard were indistinguishable, like wild grass, but their spirits were all good. They carried bamboo baskets filled with medicinal herbs.
“These five have decided to follow me in refining medicine from now on. Go move their families to Yushan. This time, this old Daoist wronged them. They’re all good men.”
Having found Sun Simiao, morale naturally surged. Zhangsun Chong’s previously somewhat gloomy face now became cheerful. Sun Simiao simply didn’t want to see monks and Daoists hacking and killing each other, which was why he came down from the mountain. The success of cowpox had added countless halos to Sun Simiao. Now if you said he wasn’t an immortal, no one would believe you.
They insisted on inviting Sun Simiao onto the sedan chair. The wastrels took turns carrying Old Sun as they walked. Chai Lingwu, who had the upset stomach, attended at the side, constantly telling Old Sun how hard these people had worked. However, at the end he always said that even if they died of exhaustion it would be worth it. This trip into the mountains was perhaps the most arduous journey of his life since childhood. Finding Master Sun—such a great achievement—made this youth somewhat incoherent with excitement.
Old Sun grabbed his hand and felt his pulse, pulled out a pill from his bosom, and had Chai Lingwu swallow it. Don’t drink water—just swallow it dry. For treating diarrhea, it had miraculous effects.
When passing Jinge Temple, seeing the scorched ruins, Sun Simiao let out a long sigh but didn’t stop. The way those monks looked at him was so hateful—this made Old Sun’s heart immediately grow much heavier.
All along the way, it wasn’t just temples that had been burned down—there were also many Daoist temples. Those Daoists with nowhere to go, upon seeing Sun Simiao, all wailed and cried, pointing toward the temple direction to accuse the monks of how cruel they were, requesting Immortal Sun to save the Daoist temples, to save the increasingly decadent Daoist sect.
Facing them, Sun Simiao still said nothing. He asked Yun Ye for the best wound medicine to bandage them, went himself to the main gate to wash the smashed plaques, and with the wastrels’ help returned all the deity statues to their positions one by one. He himself meditated alone in the great hall for two hours. His external appearance hadn’t changed—he was just much more mentally exhausted, frequently going entire days without saying a word. The rice porridge Yun Ye brought him—he only drank half a small bowl. He had no appetite. Even immortals had endless troubles.