86 Chapter 82

An arm tumbled down from the roof to the ground. The moment they caught sight of

it, they knew that it was clear that Yan Shou had lost his upper arm. He repeatedly fell

made an attempt to retreat, trying to stop the bleeding as he dea as he wore a face

hideously distorted by pain. He, too, nearly fell from the roof, naturally unable to

participate in battle again.

Baoyun and Shen Qiao exchanged a number of moves in their battles, before the man

came to the sudden realization that Shen Qiao did not use up all of his strength in

battling Yan Shou just then. Rather, the jian qi of his sword remained abundant, and

flowed without pause; Baoyun considered the advantages and disadvantages of

prolonging this battle, and believed that, even if he emerged victorious, it would be a

wretched sort of victory. Moreover, he did not have any sort of profound hatred for

Shen Qiao. Even if he were to kill him, it would not be much to his advantage.

It would

have been better to use a little over half of his strength so as to prevent Shen Qiao

from fulfilling his desire to kill Yan Shou instead of engaging with him for very long.

Right then, Xiao Se shouted: "Baoyun-zhanglao, Yan-zhanglao isn't looking good!"

Outside of having lost his arm, Yan Shou's entire body was covered in dozens of

internal and external wounds of varying sizes. At that moment, he had lost a significant

amount of blood. Even if he had closed his acupoint to stop the blood from flowing, he

would have had to circulate his inner strength and breathing. It wouldn't have reduced

the bleeding by any significant means anyway.

The more fatal thing was that the

technique Yan Shou utilized to earn his reputation as the Bloodstained Monk required

the use of the right hand that he had lost. Even if they were able to save his life, his

strength would be reduced by a significant amount with the loss of this hand.

And this,

for those who studied wugong, would be the most fatal blow.

His mind was filled with hate for Shen Qiao, and hate for Baoyun and the others who

only stood and watched. Combined with hate and anger, he could only faint away.

Baoyun, upon hearing these words, took advantage of this opportunity to escape.

"Shen Qiao! There will come a day where you will repay in full for the crime you

committed of wounding an elder of our Hehuan Sect!"

Shen Qiao responded lightly: "There isn't a better day than today, is there? Why wait

for some other time when we can settle things here now!"

Immediately after saying this, he pointed his sword in Yan Shou's direction and flew

directly towards him. Clearly he was taking advantage of the brief moment wherein the

man would be unable to strike back and kill him at once!"

Baoyun was taken aback. It seemed that he did not expect Shen Qiao to be so

persistent .At once, he rushed ahead, with one hand ready to strike him

It was right at this moment that Bai Rong flew past. With the slender fingers of her soft

white hands, she produced sky blue lotus flowers, their appearance fine and exquisite,

elegant and charming—it was too much for anyone's eyes to take in.

However, Shen Qiao's sword swept across them, and the curtain of light from his sword

split into tens of thousands of images in a split second, forcibly dispelling Baoyun and

Bai Rong's offensive maneuvers, even causing Bai Rong to strike Baoyun with one of

her hands.

"Bai Rong!" Baoyun shouted, angrily.

capital. I must ask, has something happened here? Did those subjects wrong His

Majesty in some way?"

"Oh, they certainly did," the soldier said. "His Majesty wants to rebuild the Imperial

Palace. These people's fathers and brothers, or perhaps even their husbands, were

once subjects of the Imperial Court. Every single one of them submitted a memorial to

the Emperor expressing their opposition against reconstruction, infuriating His Majesty.

They were the ones who caused this."

"Rebuild the palace?" Shen Qiao said, taken aback. "According to what this poor

Daoist knows, His Majesty is hardworking and spends very little, as though he were one

to not seek a life of comfort and pleasure."

"Daozhang, I must offer you some advice," the soldier said nervously. "Do not ever

utter these words once more when you reach the city! The former Emperor indeed did

not spend luxuriously and loved his people. But this new Emperor isn't like this at all!

The crown prince didn't even observe his father's death for even a full month. He even

said to the people that they didn't have to either. We don't even have to mention what

happened to those who submitted an opposition against him!"

As Shen Qiao listened to his words, his expression had darkened greatly. His heart

nearly skipped a beat from astonishment.

Yuwen Yong had died?

The soldier, upon seeing the great change in Shen Qiao's expression, believed that he

was unable to accept this news, and said so as to comfort him: "The former Emperor

was never fond of Buddhist or Daoist teachings. However, now that His Majesty has

ascended the throne, he has relaxed the restrictions once placed upon Buddhism and

Daoism.

He even renewed Buddhism's position as the state religion. Daozhang, you

should be able to walk freely throughout Chang'an city. There is no need to fear that

you will be pulled away and interrogated."

Shen Qiao smiled bitterly. Is this what they call good fortune found in miserable

circumstances?

"Then why is it that His Majesty refuses to observe the mourning period for his father?"

The moment that he said this, both soldiers had completely tensed. They glanced

about left and right and, once they noticed no one was paying any heed to their words,

said in a low voice: "How could we possibly know something like that?! Daozhang, it

would be better if you didn't ask so many questions!"

Shen Qiao asked once more: "In that case, do you know of the current status of the

Prince of Qi, Yuwen Xian¹?"

They were some of the lowest rank of soldiers; the last known whereabouts of the

Prince of Qi was indeed something that they would not be involved with knowing.

As a result, Shen Qiao no longer had anything to ask. He thanked the two men and

finished his tea. Once more, he watched as the soldiers prepared for their journey to

take away the wives and families of the officials who had opposed the Emperor, and

bid them farewell. He then undid the reins of his horse that he had tied to a nearby

fence, mounted it, and headed directly towards Chang'an.

The moment he reached the city of Chang'an, Shen Qiao no longer felt as though the

city had changed as significantly as he had before. It was still quite lively, still filled with

people moving about, coming and going in endless streams. It was still much more

prosperous than that of the capitals of other provinces.

However, the only difference

was that there were more government officials in the city streets, especially in those

that lead up to the palace. Some were doing inspections of the area, while others were

escorting convicts. Men and women made up the convicted people; as well as young

and old. It was just the same as when he had been just outside the city. Fear and

anxiety filled their faces, seeming completely out of place with that of the lively city.

Shen Qiao stopped to look around.

The sound of children crying amidst the troops of

soldiers was unbearable for him. However, he understood very well that, even if he

were able to save them, regardless of whether or not the crimes these families had

been accused of was justified in any way, he had no means of helping them settle

down elsewhere. In the end, there was a high chance that it would cause them to face

even more serious punishments.

***

1 Recall that this is the general that Yan Wushi supported a long time ago over the useless crown prince

(Yuwen Yong's son) to be Yuwen Yong's successor.