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Cast aside thousands of shackles and the normal order of life, could this burning affection in desperate circ.u.mstances move his iron heart? ____
Dust and noise were everywhere. The afterheat of the Ziliujin fire in the western suburbs continued to rise, people were dripping sweat. In the distance, the screeching noise of Eagle Armors taking off could be heard. The anti-air net had not completely failed, but the Western army could no longer wait, using countless Eagle Armors of themselves to test it out.
This Western Army was dragged around by Gu Yun for more than a month, then was blocked by the Nine Gates City Defense and anti-air net. Every day’s consumption had become enormous, and with each day of futile effort, it had also damaged the patience of the Westerners who came from far away for this expedition which had been planned for more than ten years.
Chang Geng seized Liao Ran and said quickly, “Listen to me, the spy cannot be a servant in the palace. We have checked the people around Li Feng more than once. The former dynasty fell due to flattering subjects, our court had never let eunuchs run rampant with power. The Emperor would never make an absurd decision as to leave the Jinghua Garden affairs to a eunuch or an important minister in the court.”
“…Not to mention, the news of Han Qi’s departure from the palace made people panic. Everyone all said that the Emperor wanted to flee, but Li Feng had calmly silenced them until Han Qi was about to return. Only then did he reveal the news to me personally, even if he intentionally wanted to pa.s.s the throne to me.”
The monk looked at him in bewilderment.
Chang Geng muttered, “My brother who does not believe in military generals in peacetime, does not trust in civil ministers in wartime? Who could it be? Who else could there be?”
Liao Ran’s unconscious movement of moving the Buddha beads in his hands suddenly stopped, he trembled. For a moment, the monk’s complexion was as unsightly as a dead man.
Chang Geng’s heavy eyes turned to him: “Hu Guo Temple is in the western suburbs.”
At that moment, a stray bullet landed next to the two men. Chang Geng and Liao Ran were overthrown by the shockwaves altogether. Chang Geng staggered and could barely remain standing, but the Buddha beads on the monk’s neck had burst open.
Old wooden beads scattered everywhere in the muddy red dust.
Chang Geng picked up Liao Ran’s collar and dragged the monk to a stand. “Get up, go, if the kill turned out to be a mistake, I will take the blame!”
Liao Ran shook his head instinctively. He thought that as he had practiced Buddhism for many years, he had already seen through the sorrow and joy of this world. Only at this moment, when the latter days of the Law* met with the devil, did he realize that the four great emptiness** was only an illusion of self-righteousness.
*末法 (mò fǎ), the age of degeneration of Buddha’s Law, believed to be the current age in human history, which in this context, in the present timeline of the story
**四大皆空, everything is empty, a central teaching of Buddhism
Chang Geng pushed Liao Ran forward and met the pale-faced monk’s frightened eyes: “I’m not afraid of karma. I’m going to handle this. Master, don’t stop me, and don’t blame me either.”
When he was innocent, he had already suffered all menacing karma in this world. Purgatory or the mortal realm, nothing could frighten him anymore.
Chang Geng: “I’ll borrow some people from my yifu.”
Liao Ran stood still, he saw the young Royal Highness make a special gesture towards him. He kicked back his thumb and made a slightly pressing down movement. The wide sleeves of the Prince’s clothes flew in the air. The silver line on the sleeves flashed like a silver dragon shimmering on the river.
If the world was at peace, we would enjoy fishing, farming, reading and traveling this vast land.
After a long moment of trembling, Liao Ran put his hands together and made a salute to Chang Geng:
If the age of prosperity was on the verge of collapsing, the abyss near at hand, we will face it, even in thousands of death.
This teaching was called Lin Yuan.
Chang Geng let out a low laugh: “Fake monk.”
Then he turned around and ran towards the gate.
Suddenly, Liao Ran’s tears came down like rain.
Without knowing suffering, one would not believe in G.o.ds and Buddha.
*A reminder that Lin Yuan, the name of their group, means ‘Approaching Abyss’
Gu Yun had gathered all the meager firepower left of the whole capital together in one place, smashing down the city with all their might. Heavy Armors were on standby at the entrance.
For the first time, Chang Geng saw Gu Yun abandoning the Light Suit and putting on the Heavy Armor. His face with no trace of blood seemed to be cast in the hue of black iron by the Heavy Armor.
Hearing the guards report that Yan Bei w.a.n.g had come, Gu Yun turned around, his expression was even worse than when the arrow was pulled out from his body. He stepped forward and grabbed Chang Geng’s arm through the steel armor. “Why did you come back?”
“What’s the situation?” Chang Geng asked, “The Westerners are impatient. What are you planning to do?”
Gu Yun did not answer, only dragged him down the city wall. His answer laid within the silence — What else is there? Only defend to death.
“It’s no coincidence what happened to Commander Han, there must be a traitor next to Li Feng,” Chang Geng said.
“Yifu, give me a group of soldiers, I will go solve the hidden dangers in the city, otherwise, then when they join efforts from both inside and out, the breakdown of the city is only a matter of time…”
“Chang Geng,” Gu Yun completely retracted the regular expression always dyed with a hint of playfulness:
“Your Highness, I will order a group of soldiers to escort you away, you must take good care of yourself on the way, do not come back here again.”
Even without the enemies’ joint effort, it may only be a matter of time before the city broke down.
Chang Geng lifted his eyebrows, his intuition told him that the ‘departure’ Gu Yun meant was not only to send him to the city.
Just then, a loud noise came from behind them, heavy artillery of the foreigners smashed onto the city wall. For hundreds of years, the entrance of the city as steady as metal was shaking. The mottled outer wall shattered miserably, revealing the inner foundation and interlocking gears cast by black iron inside, like a face with its skin being peeled off, revealing the horrid flesh inside.
A corpse of a Black Eagle with his head detached fell next to them. Gu Yun took advantage of his Heavy Armor to protect Chang Geng closely in his arms. The collapsed boulders fell behind him. The broken rubbles splashed continuously onto the surface of the iron armor, the sound ringing nonstop.
They were so close, their breaths almost intertwined. Since Chang Geng had deliberately avoided suspicion, such intimate moments seemed to have never happened again.
Gu Yun’s breath was too hot. He wondered if he had a fever, but his eyes were sharp and clear.
“What did the Emperor say to you when he was here?” Gu Yun said quickly in his ear, “Do as he wished, go!”
When Li Feng came over, Gu Yun was still unconscious. They did not even talk face to face.
This pair of ruler and subject, under the false image of peace and harmony for many years, constantly speculating about each other, suspicious, cautious of each other — yet at the very last moment, they both knew what the other was thinking.
Chang Geng’s pupil shrank, he suddenly pulled down Gu Yun’s neck wearing Heavy Armor, bravely kissing the other’s dried and cracked lips.
It was the first time he was able to taste Gu Yun when both sides were conscious. It was too hot, as if it would spontaneously ignite everything, a terrible scent of blood lingered.
Chang Geng’s heart was beating fast enough to tear apart, but it was not because of the false pretense of sweetness always spoken of in romantic tales.
His heart seemed to be ablaze with a ferocious wildfire that could destroy the earth and heaven, locked inside his mortal body, almost ready to burst out of this flesh, sweeping across the scene of a fallen country in the present, and in the future.
This moment seemed to be as long as a hundred generations, yet it seemed even shorter than a blink of an eye.
Gu Yun forcibly pulled him off from himself. The strength of the Heavy Armor was something that could not be resisted by a human.
However, he did not get angry with Chang Geng, nor did he throw Chang Geng aside regardless of reasons.
He only loosened his iron hand almost gently and put Chang Geng down, two steps apart from him.
Cast aside thousands of shackles and the normal order of life, could this burning affection in desperate circ.u.mstances move his iron heart?
If he was ready to die on this wall, then would the last person whom he held lips to lips with in this life make him feel that behind him was not a vast emptiness when stepping on the path to h.e.l.l?
Would this be a consolation?
Or…would it only make him laugh?
At that moment, perhaps no one could get a glimpse of hint on Gu Yun’s handsome face.
Chang Geng looked at him and said, “Zi Xi, I still want to go cut off the path of the spy in the city, I won’t be able to stay here to accompany you. If something happened to you today…”
When he said this, he seemed to have laughed, shaking his head, feeling that the words ‘I will never live alone’ were too weak. It would be laughed at by Gu Yun, but it was not at all false words. Would one tell him to live alone with the Bone of Impurity for the rest of his life?
He did not hate himself to that extent.
Gu Yun took a deep breath and shouted, “Old Tan!”
Tan Hong Fei surged down from the sky.
Gu Yun: “Order a group of Light Cavalry guards to escort His Highness!”
When he finished, he turned and headed directly towards the city wall without turning back.
The rockets on the baihong bow rose to the sky in full speed and collided brutally with the incoming Eagle Armors. This was the last batch of rockets sent by the Ling Shu Inst.i.tute.
The enemy troops used human flesh as a ladder, dead bodies as bridges. One followed after another without care.
A Western Eagle armor used the blown up body of his companions as a cover, brazenly crossed the baihong firewall, suddenly hurling an explosive into the city, colliding on the Qi Yuan tower.
The Western Eagle armor was immediately hit by a Black Eagle. The iron wing on the side of the Black Eagle was already broken, thick smoke being emitted. There was no sword or blade on the Black Eagle’s body, thus he locked the enemy’s shoulder in a dead grasp, both fell from the air together.
Without hitting the ground, the overloaded golden box had burst, the short spark swallowed both the Black Eagle and the Western Eagle.
Perished together.
The ‘Zhai Xing Platform’ of the Qi Yuan tower rocked twice then collapsed suddenly. At this time, only ruins and debris could be seen in the Grand View of Yunmeng.
The capital with centuries of flourish, with the red wall and gold tiles of eternal dreams, together with broken liuli, fell to the ground, …turning to ash.
The Golden Hall was in a mess, Zhu Little Feet stumbled under Li Feng’s legs, crying: “Your Majesty, the Nine Gates will be destroyed soon, Your Majesty must escape! This servant has ordered my adopted sons to prepare the carriage and casual clothes outside the North Gate. There are 130 guards left inside, they will escort Your Majesty to break through the encirclement with their lives.”
Li Feng kicked him down with one foot: “Dog servant daring to decide things on your own, go! Bring me the Shang Fang sword!”
When w.a.n.g Guo heard these words, he also bowed down together: “Your Majesty please think twice, as long as Your Majesty is safe and sound, the nation will have a place to lean on, the future has not tasted…”
An inner guard held the Shang Fang sword in front of Li Feng. Li Feng drew it, piercing through w.a.n.g Guo’s official hat.
Li Feng strode out of the hall.
Zhu Little Feet crawled after the Emperor. The six departments and nine branches resembling a herd of sheep in confusion seemed to have found their leader. They could not help but follow Li Feng one after another. On the other side of the Northern Gate, Zhu Little Feet’s pair of prost.i.tute sons impatiently called out to him.
Zhu Little Feet shouted:, “How dare you!”
After all, he was still a trusted servant of the Emperor. As a few guards hesitated, the two men took this opportunity to rush in. Just then, the head monk of Hu Guo Temple also arrived, a group of people who appeared to be fighting monks followed behind him, walking to Li Feng.
Li Feng’s expression seemed to ease up, but before he could greet Master Liao Chi, one of Zhu Little Feet’s son suddenly raised his head. His submissive face was filled with murderous intent. He followed after Zhu Little Feet, just five steps away from Emperor Long An, then opened his mouth and spat out an arrow.
No one could have predicted this scene, everyone was momentarily shocked.
In the blink of an eye, Zhu Little Feet shouted, his plump body rolled over and hit Li Feng hard from behind to prevent a fatal blow. Li Feng staggered a step and almost fell onto Liao Chi. He turned back in anger and looked around, Zhu Little Feet had his eyes wide open, as if he still could not believe that his obedient and filial son would turn into an a.s.sa.s.sin, his body twitched like a wooden puppet, his breathing stopped before he could make a sound.
Li Feng held his breath. At that moment, he could hear a Buddha’s prayer, but before the Emperor had time to mourn, he felt an icy cold hand on his neck. Master Liao Chi’s hand hidden inside his sleeve was donning an iron gauntlet, the monstrous hand which could easily crush stones grabbed the Emperor’s fragile neck. Shang Fang sword fell to the ground in a clattering sound.
All the officials and guards were shocked. Jiang Chong, a weak scholar with no power, did not know where he could find this much courage. He stepped up and asked, “Head monk, have you gone mad?”
Liao Chi unmasked his usual sorrowful expression and laughed, “Amitabha, this monk is not mad. Master Jiang, back then, Emperor Wu was a man eager for wars, sharpening his black iron sword using the neighboring countries, you were probably not born yet.”
Jiang Chong: “What…”
After that, a ‘combat monk’ took a step forward and said a sentence that Jiang Chong could not understand. Then, several Heavy Armors came out from all directions and stood behind the group of monks.
“Dong Ying people!” exclaimed the nearby ministers.
Liao Chi laughed and said, “That year, Emperor Wu implemented Rong Jin Law, sixteen people of my family died by the hands of the black crows, only I was left, depending on your country. By the light of amnesty given to the world when Old Marquis Gu and the First Princess were married, only then did I regain my freedom. I have since severed ties with the common world, befriended Buddha’s teaching, diligently trained for forty-six years, this day had finally arrived.”
Li Feng’s throat was being strangled, his voice breaking up: “You… you are the descendant of those d.a.m.n thieves smuggling Ziliujin deserving a thousand death that year!”
“Thieves.” He repeated without amus.e.m.e.nt, “Isn’t it? It’s all because of Ziliujin — the Emperor’s mouth is hard, your heart is also hard, I don’t know if your bones are the same. Please move on to the Red Kite, following this monk for a trip.
Li Feng: “I…”
“The Emperor believes in Buddha’s way,” Liao Chi said: “It’s no different than believing in this monk.”
After that, he pushed Li Feng directly onto a Red Kite and ordered people to hang the Dragon flag on the Royal carriage on the kite’s tail.
“Cut off the rope and let the Red Kite take off,” he said foolishly. “When the news comes out, the Emperor said he was going to flee the city by Kite!”
Jiang Chong: “Courageous thief!”
Liao Chi laughed aloud, “Anyone who wanted to be a sacrificed p.a.w.n can come up!”
Just then, a roar suddenly came from a short distance away.
Liao Chi was stunned. He turned around, he didn’t know since when Liao Ran had been standing on the ruins of the Zhai Xing Platform.
The mute monk’s throat was no good ever since he was small. Even with all his effort, he could only let out an ‘Ah’ sound. Many people who have seen the master have never heard him make a noise. He seemed to always resemble a fresh breeze, face filled with compa.s.sion.
He was an abandoned baby picked up by the previous head monk and raised by brother Liao Chi since young. Although his ambition was unlike a monk, sneaking out of the temple at the age of eleven or twelve, traveling across the pugilist world, and later even entered Lin Yuan Pavilion, the feelings of his juvenile years gradually paled but always lingered.
Liao Ran signed to him, “Brother, repent and the sh.o.r.e is at hand.”
He gazed at his younger brother he had brought up with a fascinated and complicated look. For a moment, even he could not help the arousing of old affection. He seemed slightly dazed, murmuring, “The river has already dried up. Where could the…”
The word ‘sh.o.r.e’ had not yet been said, a short arrow the size of a palm suddenly emerged from an extremely tricky angle while Liao Chi was distracted, decisively piercing his throat with one shot.
The crowd shouted in unison, only to see a Black Eagle flying close to the ground. Chang Geng was on the Eagle’s back, the string of the medium-sized bow in his hands still trembling greatly. Tan Hong Fei was holding a Wind Slasher, sweeping his metal arms, each of them blocking the violent attack of two combat monks.
Jiang Chong shouted, “What are you standing there for, protect the Emperor!”
The guards of the palace immediately charged forward, a group of Black Cavalry rode out of the alley. Li Feng pushed Liao Chi away, the corpse of the monk rolled down from the Kite.
Liao Ran knelt down in the ruins.
A vast nation, a large world, east and west across the sea, north and south boundless…
Could not let go of a shrine far away from this mortal realm.
The Dong Ying monks and the guards clashed with each other, the Heavy Armor brought by Liao Chi shot an explosive into the sky, Tan Hong Fei directly flew down, Chang Geng landed on one knee with agility. The two men separated, bricks and rubbles flew in the air.
Chang Geng’s eyes met Li Feng’s for a moment, taking off the baihong bow from behind, he leaned back to gain strength, pulled the iron string to the extreme, bending in the shape of the full moon——
A sharp noise rang out, the arrow precisely struck the golden box of the Heavy Armor.
He then withdrew quickly. The golden box exploded instantly, the heat wave shook the Kite into incessant tremors.
Li Feng reached for the balcony of the Red Kite: “Tan Hong Fei, drive this thing, send me to the city gate!”
Tan Hong Fei was surprised, after a moment of hesitance, he sent inquiring eyes over towards Chang Geng. Chang Geng’s gaze slightly lowered, signaling his acquiescence.
The Red Kite carrying the Emperor moved towards the city gate, more than one hundred imperial guards and hundred of officials marched along. On the path from the Qi Yuan tower to the gate, refugees and local people who fled to the capital continuously rushed out from both sides, gathering together like rivers pouring into the vast sea.
At this time, the city gate finally could no longer be sustained. The anti-air net had quieted. The rockets had been used to the bottom.
Gu Yun shouted an order for people to open the city gate.
The Black Iron Camp’s Heavy Armors that had been in waiting for a long time surged out of the gate. Gu Yun made a gesture with his hand towards the wounded soldiers on the city wall.
The city gate slowly closed behind the Heavy Armors’ formation.
Gu Yun pulled down his iron protective mask, all the Heavy Armors behind him followed his action.