Since ancient times, chaos breeds demons. As soon as disorder arises, all manner of ghosts and monsters emerge from their nests, prowling around in the darkness, ready to bite off a big chunk whenever they find an opportunity. Now even an old shark like Ding Yanping who had been submerged in the water had surfaced—was Chang’an still a place fit for humans? Buddhist sect, Daoist sect, what exactly are you trying to do? It’s just paying some taxes—is it really that unbearable? You occupy vast tracts of land—will paying a bit of tax kill you?
Then again, from the moment you appeared, you’ve claimed to transcend the three realms and exist outside the five elements. Leaving home to become monks—you’ve already left home, so what does the state have to do with you? Li Er just wants thirty percent. Just give it to him and be done with it. Shouldn’t monks and Daoists spend their days on vegetables and turnips? If they feasted on meat and fish every day, everyone in the world would want to become monks.
At the end of the day, it’s all about being unable to part with wealth. Yuan Tiangang’s little Daoist temple was so luxurious it was outrageous—his Daoist robes were embroidered with gold thread. The monks were equally extravagant. Temples were built as large as possible, Buddha statues carved as tall as possible, with gold plating as thick as possible. What was it all for? What—you’re dissatisfied when asked for money to build roads, construct fortifications, dig irrigation channels, and build a few palaces for the Emperor? Now look—someone will always die. Even wanting to stop, they can’t. What else could be watered by blood except flowers of hatred?
Ding Yanping couldn’t be found. Even Dan Ying couldn’t find him. He had only seen the mark the old fellow left on the Chang’an city gate—a mark summoning him. He had to go see.
When it grew completely dark, Dan Ying still hadn’t returned. All the guests at home had left. Seeing that Yun Ye was very unhappy, Xinyue told the guests that her husband had a fever and was now sweating it out alone in his room, unable to see anyone. Though it was impolite, no one blamed him. Yun Ye gave Zhangsun Chong a note telling him to get home immediately, close his doors, and not appear on Chang’an’s streets.
Upon seeing the note, Zhangsun Chong immediately wrote five identical messages and distributed them to Cheng Chumo and the others. They insisted on finishing their wine, got on their carriages, and hurried home.
Ding Yanping’s name was too frightening. Cheng Yaojin, Zhangsun Wuji, Qin Qiong, and Yuchi Gong were all quite familiar with this old fellow. Luo Shixin had fought him and ended up becoming Liu Heita’s prisoner, ultimately losing his life. Qin Qiong had said that Luo Shixin’s martial skills were the best among all their old brothers. So when Cheng Chumo saw this note, he tucked his tail tightly, immediately rolled home, and wouldn’t casually go out even if beaten to death.
Yun Ye anxiously waited for Dan Ying in the garden. This fellow still hadn’t returned. Wu She watched the anxious Yun Ye and comforted him, saying: “Little Ying’s skills are formidable. Even this old man has no confidence in being able to stop him. Rest assured, he’ll come back.”
Sun Simiao picked up his horsetail whisk to dust off fallen leaves on the table and asked Yun Ye: “On what basis do you say this old Daoist would be Ding Yanping’s target? This old Daoist has never had any disputes with anyone in his life. Why would he kill this old Daoist?”
He was very dissatisfied that Yun Ye had forcibly dragged him back to the Yun residence today. These past days he had been writing medical case notes about syphilis. Suddenly coming to the Yun family with nothing to do made him somewhat irritable.
“Ding Yanping is no longer a general. Now he’s an assassin. According to Dan Ying, someone paid a high price to invite him here. If I had invited him, I would stir this chaotic situation even more chaotic. Killing you would be the best approach.”
“The Daoist sect would go mad. The Buddhist sect couldn’t explain themselves even with a thousand mouths. His Majesty would also be furious, and the monks would be finished. Of course, eliminating Xuanzang on his journey could achieve the same effect, except it would be the Daoists who’d be finished.”
“This storm arose suspiciously. I thought His Majesty did it, but after seeing His Majesty that day, it didn’t feel like his doing. Now he’s watching the excitement, preparing to clean up the mess in the end.”
Wu She said with a smile: “Look, there’s always someone who benefits. Whoever benefits the most in the end is most likely the instigator. Not many people are willing to do things that harm others without benefiting themselves.”
Having just finished this sentence, Wu She stood up, his eyes fixed on the top of the wall. Dan Ying was sprawled on the wall saying to Yun Ye: “You’d better find the antidote, or I’m finished.” Having said this sentence, he tumbled headfirst down from the wall.
Yun Ye caught Dan Ying and quickly returned to the house, examining his body. Finally, at the bend of his leg, he discovered a wound. The blood was blackened—undoubtedly, he had been poisoned by that rice shovel head snake thing.
The suction tube had been prepared long ago. Sun Simiao quickly made a cross-shaped cut on the wound with a small knife. Dark blood immediately flowed out. Yun Ye pressed the bamboo suction tube firmly on the wound and slowly pulled the inner core. After pulling for a while, he would stop to see if the blood had regained its bright color. Only after extracting two tubes of blood did it become normal. Yun Ye took the prepared soapy water and carefully cleaned the wound, trying not to leave any toxin residue.
Sun Simiao’s antidote medicine was already prepared. He pressed a finger on Dan Ying’s jaw and poured a bowl of ice-cold medicinal juice down his throat. Yun Ye helplessly watched Sun Simiao fuss over Dan Ying. There was no choice—he didn’t have serum and could only count on Sun Simiao.
After the treatment was complete, Sun Simiao placed his hand on Dan Ying’s pulse point and felt it, then said to Yun Ye: “It’s not serious anymore. Although there’s still some residual poison that hasn’t been cleared, his life is saved. This old man’s Seven Flower Powder is an excellent medicine for treating snake venom. Who would have thought it almost failed this time? What potent snake venom—this was meant to kill Little Ying.”
Hearing Dan Ying breathing evenly, unlike the rapid breathing from before, Yun Ye finally felt relieved. He covered Dan Ying with a blanket and went outside himself. Unable to find Wu She, Old Zhuang on the roof said to Yun Ye: “My Lord, Wu She chased after him and even took a crossbow.”
Yun Ye nodded. It seemed Ding Yanping had pursued Dan Ying all the way to the Yun family home. Not having seen Dan Ying die with his own eyes, he probably wasn’t reassured. As a result, Wu She discovered him. Now it was unknown which of the two old fellows was more formidable.
Just as he was about to return inside, Wu She walked in from outside the garden. The crossbow in his hand no longer had any bolts.
“What a formidable character. While running and leaping, he could still listen to the wind and identify objects. He dodged all three crossbow bolts.” Wu She placed the crossbow on the table and added: “In this old man’s view, this Ding Yanping seems to be coming for you. He’s very familiar with the surroundings of your Yun family—even more familiar than this old man. I actually lost track of him.”
Yun Ye’s nose was about to go crooked with anger. You don’t kill the high and mighty Li Er, you don’t kill the refined and cultured Fang Xuanling, you don’t kill the legendary military god Li Jing—why must you seek out a small-time hustler like me? I just want to peacefully earn my keep and haven’t dared block anyone’s path.
Hearing Dan Ying’s coughing from inside the room, he quickly went in and saw Dan Ying half-reclining while Sun Simiao fed him licorice water. Seeing Yun Ye enter, he said with difficulty: “It’s confirmed—the target is you, not someone else’s money lure. This old fellow has gone mad, wanting to live forever. He heard you have a map to the White Jade Capital and insisted I seize it. I knew that thing was useless to you and that you’d give it to me if I asked, but the old fellow didn’t believe me. He said I was deceiving him and suddenly turned on me. We fought for a while, then I got hit by a flying locust stone and quickly fled back here to find you to save my life.”
Yun Ye pulled out that jade tablet from his bosom and said to Dan Ying: “Tomorrow we’ll hang this thing on the main gate and let that old bastard take it. Can’t afford to provoke him. Since he likes looking for the White Jade Capital, let him go die. Who cares about him?”
Wu She laughed like an owl. After laughing, he said to Yun Ye: “Useless. He won’t believe it. He’ll only think it’s your trap. Even if you delivered it to his hands, he wouldn’t believe you. Moreover, you’ve seen the map. For a ruthless and merciless hero like him, he won’t rest until he eliminates you and monopolizes the White Jade Capital.”
Seeing Dan Ying also nodding, Yun Ye’s scalp tingled as he said shrilly to Dan Ying: “Didn’t you say your master was very kind? That he treated you like his own son? How has he become a demon now?”
“That’s right—when I was small, he really did raise me as his own son. But later he fell in love with a young girl and had a son. After that, I became worse than a dog.” Dan Ying’s smile was extremely bitter.
Having witnessed countless such tragedies, Yun Ye nodded. The two stupidest types of people in this world are old men who fall in love with young girls and old women who fall in love with young men. Before such strange emotions, no matter how wise the old man or old woman was before, after falling in love they become unreasonable, submissively allowing themselves to be driven at will.
Ding Yanping had essentially gone mad with obsession. Originally thinking the old fellow had taken someone’s money to create chaos in the capital, it turned out that after all this time he was worried that being too old, he couldn’t accompany his young delicate wife for many more years. So he racked his brains looking for the art of immortality. Accidentally hearing about the White Jade Capital, he pounced over like a madman. But who had spread this information?
Wu She was right. Now even giving him the jade pendant, he wouldn’t believe it. In his view, before the temptation of immortality, even threatening with his entire family’s lives wouldn’t make someone hand over such a treasure. As for hanging it on the main gate—that was purely a big joke. Trying to fool an idiot?
He wanted Dan Ying to steal it for him and had already imagined the arduous process, perhaps even Dan Ying losing his life. But hearing Dan Ying say, “If Master wants it, I’ll just go ask for it for you”—upon hearing this sentence, Ding Yanping immediately thought Dan Ying had long betrayed him and they were conspiring together to harm him. So the ruthless old fellow immediately struck to kill. Unlucky Dan Ying nearly lost his life. If Ding Yanping could see Dan Ying’s tearful face now, he would know how wronged he was.
This period had been full of troubles! Qiu Ran Ke, He Tianshang, and now adding Ding Yanping—these bastards were all targeting him. Home was no longer safe. Li Huairen said Qiu Ran Ke had already sought him out. Zhangsun Chong said He Tianshang actually had an imperial command arrow. Now Ding Yanping had come looking for trouble. Very good—conflicts always have a moment of eruption. He didn’t believe there was no way to resolve this.
But thinking of the old and young in his household, Yun Ye’s legs went weak. This wouldn’t do—the whole family should move into the imperial palace. He didn’t know if Li Er would agree. If that didn’t work, they could stay with the Crown Prince until he solved the problem, then bring them back.