Chapter 879

Where there are people, there are rumors.

Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province—the heart of the world and the new imperial capital of the Great Nation—was no exception.

If anything, it was one of the worst places for them.

Wherever you went in Hangzhou, you found people repeating rumors they’d heard from someone else as if they were facts, spittle flying as they talked.

They discussed the beauty of a high official’s new concubine—the sort of official said to be powerful enough to knock a bird from the sky. They grew furious over the story that he’d squeezed the people dry to buy her expensive jewelry. And when they heard the Embroidered Uniform Guard had begun investigating, they raised their cups again and again.

“Times like this, there’s no one more dependable than the Embroidered Uniform Guard. He may have committed crimes against his own family to take the throne, but at least he knows how to get things done…”

“Shh. Shut that reckless mouth of yours. Didn’t you say one of that old official’s sons was in the Embroidered Uniform Guard?”

“I did.”

“And he still got caught? Even with connections in the Guard?”

“Oh, that one. Apparently, he was dismissed not long ago.”

“Really? Why?”

“Don’t know. Maybe he was on some secret assignment. He disappeared about a month ago, then came back a few days ago with his face all swollen.”

“Swollen?”

“Yeah. Looks like he got a real beating for something he did wrong.”

The story drifted away as quickly as it had come.

Poets and scholars seeking inspiration among scenic landmarks. Idlers who’d traveled a thousand li¹ to visit Hangzhou, the city of pleasure.

Poor scholars quietly sipping cheap strong liquor over a plate of dumplings, and wealthy merchants patting their bulging bellies.

Hangzhou was full of all kinds of people, and they talked freely about what they’d seen and heard.

“I’ve finally seen West Lake. I could die right now without a single regret. If I had my way, I’d stay in Hangzhou for another year.”

“You’ve still got more than a month before you have to go home. What’s the rush? Let’s take our time looking around, then visit the Zhoushan Archipelago before we leave.”

“The Zhoushan Archipelago? Are you thinking of going to Mount Putuo?”

“That’s right. I don’t believe in Buddha, but if a famous mountain like that is nearby, I might as well visit while I’m here.”

“But I heard the nuns there are practically martial artists…”

“If you mean the Buddhist nuns at Putuo Temple, there’s no need to worry. They disappeared more than ten years ago, when the imperial capital moved here and Hangzhou’s martial artists were driven out.”

The poets and scholars who’d come to see Hangzhou’s famous sights were in fairly high spirits. The merchants seated nearby, on the other hand, kept pouring down liquor with sour expressions.

“Things are looking bad in Sichuan these days. Prices are swinging so wildly they’re impossible to predict. I’ve taken quite a hit.”

“Then is that rumor true? That foreign forces are about to pour in from Qinghai? They say even the Kunlun Sect, based in Qinghai, is on the brink.”

“Foreign forces? They’re nothing but lawless thugs from the martial world—fanatics thoroughly bewitched by demons, at that. They’ve given themselves a fancy new name, but they’ll still get smashed by the Central Plains sects, just like the Demonic Cult did in the past. The Imperial Guards won’t even need to get involved this time.”

“You’ve been in Hangzhou too long these past few years. You don’t know the first thing about what’s happening in the world.”

“Oh? Have you heard something?”

“A martial artist I’ve known for a long time is with the Murim Alliance now… He says this is far worse than when the Demonic Cult invaded.”

“What? That bad?”

“Just look at what happened in Sichuan a few months ago. Nearly ten thousand troops gathered and fought a bloody battle. At that scale, you can hardly call it an internal dispute within the martial world. It’s practically a war between small nations.”

“……!”

“And that’s not all. Nothing’s been confirmed yet, but there are signs of some kind of movement in Yunnan, too.”

“Yunnan? You don’t mean those Nanman barbarians?”

“That’s right. They say the Nanman Beast Palace is mobilizing all its forces and marching north into the Central Plains. If the rumor’s true, they may have already reached Sichuan or Guangxi.”

“Hah. The fanatics weren’t enough, and now the barbarians are eyeing the Central Plains too?”

“No, it’s the complete opposite. They’re joining the Murim Alliance to fight Dark Heaven. But something about it is strange.”

“If that’s true, shouldn’t we be glad? What’s strange about it?”

“Well… I heard those barbarians are fanatics too.”

“What?”

“Apparently they spend all day spouting weird nonsense about how fighting Dark Heaven is a holy war, and how the Earth Mother Goddess watches over them.”

“What kind of fucking nonsense is that?”

“How should I know? I only heard it through my connections, several people down the line. Anyway, it’s clear something much bigger is happening than anyone thinks.”

The continent was vast. But merchants, whose line of work forced them to keep their ears open, heard all kinds of information through all kinds of channels.

Whether a rumor was true or not, it was worth remembering. Someday, it might make them a fortune.

Just as the inn had grown noisy with conversation and clinking cups, someone tossed out a slurred remark.

“Oh, have you heard? They say His Highness, Prince Shangshan, is staying in the imperial palace.”

“……!”

“……!”

In an instant, the air that had been warm with drink went cold.

Silence fell over the inn. Every gaze turned toward the same place.

“Huh?”

Startled by all the eyes suddenly fixed on him, the thoroughly drunk middle-aged man stammered.

“W-Why is everyone looking at me?”

Then a few people in the now-quiet inn spoke up.

“What did you just say?”

“His Highness, Prince Shangshan, is staying in the imperial palace? Not in Shanxi Province, his fief?”

“Are you sure about what you just said?”

Disaster always came from liquor and loose tongues.

As the questions came flying at him, the middle-aged man realized something was wrong. He sobered up all at once.

“I-I don’t know if it’s true. I only heard it somewhere. It’s probably just a rumor.”

“Even if it’s a rumor, tell us. Everything you know.”

“No, no. I must’ve said something foolish because I’m drunk. I need to leave now, so please let me through…”

His flushed face had long since turned pale.

Though he managed to stagger to his feet, he couldn’t take a single step. Something dropped from above and stopped him in his tracks.

Thud.

It landed right in front of his feet with a solid thump. The leather cord around its opening came loose, spilling the contents.

Clatter.

Silver nyang spilled from the money pouch, glinting in the dim light.

At a glance, there were more than thirty.

As people gaped at the enormous sum, a quiet voice reached their ears.

“That was quite an interesting story.”

Everyone turned again. No—looked up.

On the second floor, a young scholar sat alone at a table, watching the middle-aged man.

“Fifty silver nyang. I’d say that’s enough for the story. What do you think?”

“……!”

The middle-aged man’s eyelid twitched.

He was stunned by the sum of fifty silver nyang—and by the young scholar who’d tossed it down so casually.

Enough?

It was more than enough. Far more.

Fifty silver nyang.

As a day laborer on Hangzhou’s canals, he’d never even dreamed of touching so much money. Just looking at it made his heart pound.

But the possible consequences of the words he’d tossed out so carelessly weighed on him as heavily as that pouch.

“W-Who are you, sir? You look like you come from a good family. Did I say something I shouldn’t have…?”

“There’s no need to worry. I’m simply curious.”

Fifty silver nyang just to satisfy his curiosity?

That was ridiculous.

Even a rich young master wouldn’t throw away that kind of money for no reason.

The young scholar’s answer made the middle-aged man even more uneasy, but he couldn’t let a chance to change his life slip away.

Even this vast imperial capital, the center of the world, had its share of poor people. For one of them, fifty silver nyang meant a whole new life.

Clatter.

Having made up his mind, he hurriedly gathered the spilled silver and stuffed it back into the pouch before anyone could steal it. He swallowed, then spoke to the young scholar.

“Near dawn, I was hanging around a gambling den when I heard the story. They said several hundred members of the Embroidered Uniform Guard had entered through the North Gate a few days ago. Even for the imperial capital, the guards along the main road and the atmosphere were unusual that day.”

“Go on.”

“A few sharp-eyed fellows thought something was off, so they risked a scolding and snuck a look. Would you believe it? Those terrifying guards had surrounded a single carriage so tightly you could barely see it.”

“A carriage?”

“Yes. Not particularly grand, not especially small, either. The sort of thing you’d use to transport goods.”

“And His Highness, Prince Shangshan, was inside?”

“They said they saw him with their own eyes. A boy’s face appeared at the window—he looked extraordinary at a glance. They said he was definitely the Prince Shangshan everyone’s heard about…”

“That alone doesn’t seem like enough.”

“Pardon?”

The young scholar cut him off and continued.

“It’s been more than ten years since His Highness, Prince Shangshan, left the capital. He was very young even then, and even now he isn’t fifteen. How could someone who spends his nights hanging around a gambling den recognize His Highness’s face?”

“I-I suppose he guessed after seeing hundreds of guards make such a fuss.”

“Perhaps. But there must have been another reason for that guess. I’ve already paid you well. Tell me everything you saw and heard, without leaving anything out.”

The inn had been bustling with noise only moments ago. Now it was as quiet as a grave.

That was what Prince Shangshan meant to ordinary people.

Noble, yet pitiable.

An unfortunate member of the imperial family, exiled in all but name to far-off Shanxi Province after losing his entire family to an older brother who’d defied the bonds of kinship.

And now they said His Highness, Prince Shangshan, had returned to the capital.

After more than ten years—and secretly, surrounded by the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Under the weight of all those questioning looks, the middle-aged man hunched his shoulders and struggled to speak.

“At first, I thought the same thing as you, Young Master. How could it be true? How could the likes of him recognize His Highness, Prince Shangshan? Why would someone who’d spent more than ten years in the provinces suddenly come to the capital? That sort of thing. But…”

“But?”

“When I heard the rest, it sounded pretty convincing.”

The middle-aged man paused to catch his breath. Then, in a silence so deep not even breathing could be heard, he continued.

“That fellow jumped up and said, ‘The Emperor—no, His Majesty the Emperor—is expecting an heir. Of course his younger brother, His Highness Prince Shangshan, would come. He was surely invited to the celebration that’s about to be held.’”

“……!”

“……!”

For an instant, an invisible shockwave swept through the inn.

Sharp intakes of breath broke the silence, and the dim lamplight fell on people frozen in place.

The young scholar’s face had gone rigid, too.

“An… heir?”

“Yes. He didn’t know whether it was the Empress or one of the concubines, but he said she was definitely pregnant.”

The young scholar’s gaze darkened.

Some of the more than a hundred customers in the inn reacted the same way.

The ones biting their lips to hide their shock were poets, scholars, and merchants. Unlike the middle-aged man and a few other simpletons, they understood exactly what those words might mean.

If all of that is true…

The thought alone frightened them.

A new heir for an Emperor who’d long had none. And the return of Prince Shangshan, the only direct member of the imperial family to survive the bloodshed more than a decade ago.

What could that possibly mean?

A purge…!

A silent scream rang in their heads. Their backs were already slick with cold sweat as they sensed the danger.

They should have left long ago.

Whether the rumor was true or not, this was a story they should never have heard.

At that moment, they felt as if they were standing at the edge of a thousand-zhang² cliff, one misstep from a fall they could never climb back from.

The middle-aged man, meanwhile, was happily counting his silver. He and a few others hadn’t grasped the danger at all.

“So His Majesty is finally expecting an heir. What a blessing for the whole country.”

“What blessing? The child will inherit the blood of a man who broke the bonds of kinship to take the throne—”

“Please, just shut your mouth. Do you have three or four lives to spare? Do you want to get me killed too? If someone reports us, we’re all finished.”

“If you’re so afraid of people overhearing, go hide at home. People have always cursed the ruler where he can’t hear them. The Embroidered Uniform Guard aren’t ghosts. What are the chances we’ll run into them? Honestly.”

“But what will happen to His Highness, Prince Shangshan?”

“What would a nobody like me know? I just hope he stays in the capital from now on. He suffered such terrible things as a child. Who knows what that’s done to him? It’s about time he could live somewhere in peace.”

Stories always grew in the telling, and people believed what they wanted to believe.

The incredible rumor the middle-aged man had passed on had already become, in the minds of the crowd, a fact backed by solid evidence. A few of those who’d sensed the danger from the start forced their trembling legs to carry them across the noisy inn.

Some meant to escape before they were caught in a fire they couldn’t survive.

Others meant to confirm the information and use it.

But when they reached the entrance, they realized they’d stepped into a mire they could no longer escape.

“Where are you all hurrying off to?”

At the low voice, a dozen or so shadows blocking the old doorway stepped forward together.

Step.

For a moment, it was as if the world had stopped.

Those hurrying to leave saw ten men with bamboo hats pulled low—and golden armor flashing beneath their wind-cloaks.

“The Embroidered Uniform Guard…!”

The words escaped someone’s lips like a scream, and the inn froze.

Then the young scholar, who’d been sitting silently in thought, spoke.

“That was a truly interesting story. Well worth fifty silver nyang.”

The middle-aged man, clutching the pouch full of silver, stared blankly.

“Young Master, what on earth is going on…?”

“I’m no young master. But I still want to hear more of your story.”

“Y-Young Master! You can’t do this! You can’t…!”

The young scholar paid no attention to his shouts.

The young scholar—no, the hundred-household officer of the Embroidered Uniform Guard—addressed his subordinates at the entrance in a mild voice.

“What are you waiting for? Arrest every one of them.”

“Loyalty!”

With a sharp salute, ten golden figures raced in every direction.

Every one of them was a master whose martial arts had reached Supreme First Rate or Peak.

Shouts and tearful pleas burst out across the inn. An instant later, the screams of those trying to flee or fight back drowned them out.

Bang! Crash!

Amid the crashes ringing through the inn, the Embroidered Uniform Guard captain leaped from the second-floor railing and landed lightly on the ground. He patted the trembling middle-aged man on the shoulder.

“Now, it’s noisy here. Let’s go somewhere else and talk. You can tell me what else you know, who fed you that bullshit, and who else has heard it.”

He didn’t bother to tell the man what would pay for his story this time.

It wouldn’t be silver. But it would shine just as brightly—and be far sharper.

After hearing the report, the Emperor remained silent for a long time, even after the messenger withdrew. Only when one other person remained did he finally speak.

“What do you think?”

From between the dense strings of pearls and the silks drifting around them, someone answered.

“Someone must have spread the rumor deliberately.”

“Who?”

“Isn’t it obvious? The East Depot, Jin Taekyung—the Blazing Flame Divine Dragon—or… both.”

“They’ve joined forces?”

“That’s the only possibility for now.”

“I’m beginning to regret it. Perhaps I shouldn’t have listened to you and let Jin Taekyung into the imperial palace.”

The Emperor clicked his tongue and murmured, almost to himself.

“Did the person who sent you to me foresee this, too?”

Someone beyond the silks answered.

“That person is greater and wiser than anyone I know. But Jin Taekyung is unpredictable. He cannot be easily judged.”

Without realizing it, the Emperor nodded.

Jin Taekyung’s audacity was impossible to fathom. So were his martial prowess and his convictions.

Whatever their respective positions, the Jin Taekyung he’d seen the day before had been enough to make even the Emperor let out an incredulous laugh.

“We’d better rein him in before he jeopardizes the great undertaking. And what of the target?”

“It won’t be easy. Not at present.”

“Of course. If it were easy, he wouldn’t have been a thorn in our side for more than ten years. But the Great Nation cannot be set right until he’s gone. You must see it done.”

Rustle.

In place of an answer, a faint breeze stirred the silks.

The Emperor realized that the person who’d been there only moments ago had vanished. He gave a bitter smile and muttered,

“The rumor’s already out. There’s no point trying to hide it now. We’ll have to make it true.”

It was the moment that heralded a grand celebration of the birth of a new heir to inherit the Great Nation.