Unreliable geezer!
Emperor Yuan Sheng cursed in his mind. Hero Shen Zhou was several hundred years old. Legend has it that he once fought side by side with the founding emperor and that they were very close, sharing a bond that couldn't be broken. And that was how the Moun Daluo on that mountain range became a sect of justice.
In terms of seniority, Emperor Yuan Sheng could address him as an ancestor, so how would he dare show disrespect? Helpless, he then turned back to the Shaolin abbot and leader of Wudang.
Priest Shen Fa replied: "While this is a major matter, you do not have to feel offended by my grand disciple, your majesty, as the six dragons referred to here are not the emperors of past generations."
"What?! What makes you say so?!" The young emperor was enraged and he anxiously asked: "Alright, I am listening. What do you mean by that?"
If Yan Shisan wasn't by the emperor's side holding him back, he probably would've lost control of his anger.
What do you mean? I had enough with your grand disciple saying "the six dragons will seal the nation", and now you dare ridicule the emperors of past generations as not being dragons before my presence? Are you people from Wudang insane?!
Priest Shen Fa leisurely explained: "I am not saying that the previous emperors were not true dragons. What I am saying is that the six dragons in the prophecy are not the emperors of the past generations. If this makes you feel better, I could also word it as: most of those six dragons are not true dragons."
"Six dragons aren't real dragons, real dragons aren't the six dragons?! What on Earth are you trying to say?!" The emperor's anger was about to reach its limit. He forcefully controlled himself and asked: "You are not trying to fool me to save your grand disciple, are you?"
"Amitabha." Abbot Kong Xu said his Buddhist phrase. Hearing it calmed one down, so the emperor calmed down a fair bit. He then looked over to see Abbott Kong Xu with his hands pressed together. Abbott Kong Xu then said: "Please calm down, your majesty. This was a conclusion the three of us came to. It is not the thought of sect leader Shen Fa alone. While the six dragons, are dragons, they are not emperors."
The emperor's eyebrows twitched. Something else came to mind, and he suddenly started to feel a little afraid. He said: "Please tell it to me straight."
"Other than the true dragon, the emperor, there are other dragons in this world. For example… the true dragon's offspring."
"Dragons!" The emperor's mighty face turned white as a sheet, indicating that Abbot Kong Xu spoke his mind: "Are you saying… that my brothers… Are you saying that I have brothers that are still alive?!"
Emperor Yuan Sheng was the previous emperor's youngest son. Emperor Yuan Sheng had three elder brothers. Two of them passed away when they fought for the throne when he was still young. The whereabouts of his third brother were unknown. Because Emperor Yuan Sheng was young back then, he only had positive feelings towards his brothers, knew very little of their deeds and cared very little. So when the abbot mentioned dragons, that was what he thought of.
However, Abbot Kong Xu shook his head and replied: "Your three brothers have already passed away, and the number does not match the prophecy. The dragons I speak of are not the children of the previous emperor, but the current true dragon, yours, your majesty."
Emperor Yuan Sheng frowned and asked: "My sons?"
Abbot Kong Xu and Priest Shen Fa nodded together: "That is correct!"
At that point in time, the red, orange, yellow and red prince had just turned one month old and were still infants. It was true that they were princes and that they were connected to the fate of the nation. However, those wet-behind-the-ear kids were still clueless children. They still couldn't speak even. So the emperor didn't connect the prophecy to them.
"That's impossible." The emperor chuckled: "You jest, abbot. My sons have only turned one month old. You three have seen them. How could they possibly influence the fate of the nation?"
This initially wasn't about the fate of the nation. What the emperor was most angry about was how Lai Jingzhen insulted the previous emperors while he was an important individual, and thus his decision to invite the three experts to clear his name.
The emperor considered the seven words "the six dragons will seal the nation" nonsense. He never thought about what to do if they were true.
"Abbot, priest, Hero Ming, you three are the greatest masters at this time. I know that the three of you came for Priest Lai's matter. I shall release him, so with regards to these words……"
The emperor left his last sentence unfinished.
However, Priest Shen Fa said: "I did come here for my grand disciple, that is correct. However, since this concerns my grand disciple's life, this is not satisfactory."
"Wh-… what do you mean by that?" The emperor truly didn't understand what he was persisting for. It was as if that nonsense was important. "What do you say, abbot?"
"Those seven words do indeed concern the fate of the nation, and the six dragons mentioned are indeed your sons."
The emperor couldn't believe what he heard. He sternly emphasised himself as he spoke: "Abbot Kong Xu, Priest Shen Fa, do you not feel that you are going overboard?!"
Abbot Kong Xu looked straight at the emperor and calmly asked: "Monks do not speak nonsense. How would I dare?"
Abbott Kong Xu had kind eyes, and a benevolent aura, so he was more trustworthy than Priest Shen Fa and Hero Shen Zhou to the young man.
The emperor couldn't help but whisper: If the six dragons in the prophecy truly refer to…… no, there's no way. They haven't been born for long. It's impossible.
The abbot looked at the young emperor doubtfully and asked: "Your majesty, would you happen to still remember what I said I did these past few days?"
"You said you were busy examining the shape of the country." The emperor seemed to suddenly realise something and quickly asked: "Could it be that what you were looking at were my four sons……?"
"Amitabha. Please forgive my rudeness, your majesty." Abbott Kong Xu pressed his palms together and continued: "That is correct. The four princes are talented individuals who have great potential and are destined to become outstanding dragons among the people. But unfortunately… while the four princes are still young, they have enmity towards each other that cannot be overlooked. If they grow up together, their enmity will grow, and they will detest each other….."
"And what's the problem with them detesting each other?"
"In a commoner's home, if brothers were to hate each other, they would just avoid interacting each other in the worst case scenario. However, in the family of royalty, if the princes were to hate each other, it would escalate into a wild battle that would involve the fate of the nation."
"Wild battle……" The emperor was on the fence. He somewhat believed him, and somewhat didn't. Something suddenly came to mind: "But the prophecy says that there are six dragons which will seal the nation. I have four sons, so how are there six dragons?"
"Your majesty." Priest Shen Fa suddenly said: "You are destined to have seven sons. The six dragons in the prophecy are six of the princes. As grand disciple Lai is still young and has yet to reach higher levels of cultivation, he could only deduce so much and could not decipher the implicit meaning of the words."
Emperor Yuan Sheng said to himself: You said that your cultivation level is about the same as his. So how are you able to solve the mystery of the words?
Priest Shen Fa seemed to be able to read the emperor's thoughts. He smiled and said: "My cultivation is mediocre, and I too could not decipher the mystery behind the words. I was only able to decipher it thanks to the help of these two."
Abbot Kong Xu smiled and said: "You need not thank me, Priest Shen Fa. I only know how to read appearances and shapes. I do not have the ability to read the will of the heavens. Your majesty, the mystery was solved all thanks to Senior Ming."
"Hero Ming?"
The emperor turned to look at the who-knows-how-many hundred years old geezer. His eyebrows were white and almost long enough to reach the floor. He looked blocky, had large hands and feet, and his wide frame made him look like an upright man, causing one to shiver with fear.
Hero Shen Zhou's name became famous in the pugilistic world in the last century. While his name was well known, he had not shown himself in the martial world in recent decades. Nobody knows how profound his martial arts skills are or how sensational the deeds he's done were. The people who saw him thirty to forty years ago had already passed away. Lots of his feats had become myths. His existence was a legend in itself, as opposed to being a living person. As such, the emperor didn't trust him too much.
Priest Shen Fa read the emperor's mind. He chuckled and said: "Perhaps you have not heard of Senior Ming's legends due to your young age, your majesty. But Mount Daluo has the number one character in the world right now. He is Senior Ming's private disciple. You must have heard of him, your majesty."
The emperor blurted: "The one who currently leads Mount Daluo, the one they call Ming Huayu in the pugilistic world?"
Shen Fa: "Yes, yes. Have you heard of him, your majesty?"
"Of course I have."
The emperor originally wanted to invite Ming Huayu along with the three, but who would've known that he was his shifu. Like others who respected him, the emperor said: "I met him by chance last year in Suzhou, and we listened to music in the same teahouse."
"Oh?" Shen Fa chuckled and asked: "Was your impression of him positive, your majesty?"
"I didn't pay attention." The emperor shook his head and continued: "He had eight beauties by his side, my head spun when I saw the sight. Had Shisan not told me after the fact, I wouldn't have known."
"Mmm… cough, cough." Leader Shen Fa coughed twice awkwardly and continued: "Leader Ming is the only disciple Hero Ming accepted in eighty years. He is now one of the great heroes of the North. Such a disciple speaks volume of his shifu."
The emperor looked at Hero Shen Zhou and looked at him. He was still on the fence about trusting him completely: "What opinion do you have of the prophecy, Hero Ming?"
Before the emperor's voice tapered off, Hero Shen Zhou suddenly widened his eyes. His eyes contained a bright like, like a crystal jade. If you were to look closely, you could virtually see the reflection of light. Yan Shisan standing to the side reacted greatly surprised too. Hero Shen Zhou's name had been famous in the pugilistic world for centuries like a myth. And indeed, his internal strength cultivation was incredible!
Without catching him mould qi and lighten his body, Leader Shen Fa's wooden sword by his waist got snatched away with the wide wave of his arm like an eagle spreading its wrings.
Hero Shen Zhou turned around and drew his sword on the white wall. The speed of his sword draw was like the wind and deep etches were left on the wall.
In less than a second, he engraved:
Does thou know?
The roar of the dragons brought the support of the gods down below the clouds.
The moon shook at the cry of the phoenix.
One fool banned nine states.
The devil ruined the dynasty of five generations.
Does thou know?!
He finished with that. Hero Shen Zhou's burly body then looked like it got swept up by a tornado, right up to the small skylight of the royal divine office.
The skylight was very small and could probably only fit one person through. Standing on the ground and looking up, one could usually only see the moon and nothing else through it. Hero Shen Zhou used an unknown method to leap away as he seemingly went through the skylight like deity.
The emperor quickly shouted: "Hero Ming, please stay! I was wrong to blame you! Please come back!"
But in the end, he couldn't keep Hero Shen Zhou who left like the wind.
The emperor's gaze was fixed on the white wall where the poem "Does thou know?" was just carved on like a fog that came down. But he heard the voices of the abbot and priest: "Hero Ming has already left the solution. The solution to the problem lies therein. Your majesty, if you can comprehend it, the nation shall be blessed." When the emperor turned to look at the two, they had already vanished into thin air as well.
The emperor was lost. He asked Yan Shisan: "Th-They left?"
"The two great masters just left via the main door."
"Th-The main door?"
The martial world says that Shaolin, Wudang and Mount Daluo are the top sects among the sects of justice. The three sects could match the seven white champion princes. The seven white champion princes were the strongest fighting force in the pugilistic world that the young emperor had seen, but he never expected the top of the top three sects would be so incredible. Where else in the world would you find such masters?
Had Yan Shisan not stood by his side respectfully, he would've thought it was all a dream.
"The six dragons will seal the nation…… Does thou know, does thou know……?"
The seven word prophecy and the three words "does thou know" left a deep impression on the emperor.