Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 129 - For the Emperor (3)
Chapter 129 – For the Emperor (3)
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Translated by Heavenly Cat
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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The Nine Nether Asura Sword. The Nine Nether Asura Sword unleashed not with Primordial Mixed Qi but with pure demonic qi released an immensely uncanny aura.
“What in the…!”
The eunuch’s eyes bulged. I had no intention of yielding the initiative to him.
The tyrannical force of the Nine Nether Asura Sword crashed down upon the eunuch. But the eunuch was no weakling either. He immediately flung his body up and planted his feet against the ceiling, dodging my sword that way.
“You bastard!”
The eunuch, clinging to the ceiling, bent his knees and shot down toward me. His sword-tip drove at my brow. I instantly twisted my head aside.
It was such a powerful thrust that I could feel the hair at my temple lift. I raised my elbow and struck the eunuch aside. The eunuch was flung upward and braced himself against the ceiling again.
“Hup!”
The eunuch thrust at me once again. Though he was clearly thrusting only a single sword, the blade seemed to lengthen and create at least nine afterimages.
Diving at me from a right angle, it felt as though a rain of swords was being driven into me. That was not something I could avoid merely by tilting my head. I immediately retreated backward.
The ground where I had been standing was torn to shreds by the sword. The floor was gouged all over like a field after harvest.
The eunuch truly was a master. There was not a single wasted movement in his posture, and he was swift.
Perhaps because that place had been removed, his body was all the more supple and soft. And perhaps to bring out that advantage, his sword path too was soft.
But the eunuch had met the wrong opponent. When it came to softness, there was no martial art in the world that could match Wudang. If the core principle of the eunuch’s art was yielding softness, then I was already a master in that very principle. That was true even though I was currently wielding a tyrannical sword.
The eunuch’s sword was countered in full. I knew exactly how a graceful sword would move.
My Nine Nether Asura Sword had no hesitation. It struck down and split apart. In one sense, it was a simple sword path, but the eunuch was left only scrambling backward in helplessness.
“Damn you!”
The eunuch bit his lip, but the battle was already decided. The blade I brought down with one hand after leaping cut straight through his shoulder.
“Aaaah!”
The eunuch’s delicate arm fell and rolled across the floor. As blood poured out in a rush, the eunuch’s face instantly went pale.
“Stop!”
It was Prince Xian who halted our fight. The eunuch was already no longer capable of battle.
I still had no intention of lowering my sword. With demonic qi ruling my body, I certainly felt excited. They said those who used demonic qi lost their minds quickly, and now I felt I understood why. I would need to exercise restraint in using it.
“Your Highness tried to kill me. Must I be the one to stop simply because you say stop?”
“That is not what I mean.”
Prince Xian’s expression was hard.
“You, are you a lackey of the Demonic Cult?”
“Me?”
“Don’t even think of feigning innocence. What you used was unquestionably demonic qi. It is demonic qi unlike any I have ever seen, but demonic qi all the same.”
“I could ask Your Highness the same. Are you a lackey of the Demonic Cult?”
Prince Xian flinched. I stretched out my hand and released demonic qi. Prince Xian’s demonic qi was drawn out, pulled along by mine. Since my demonic qi was the progenitor of demonic qi, that was only natural.
“…What is this?”
For Prince Xian, it must have been an entirely new experience. The demonic qi he himself controlled was being drawn out against his will.
“Then I suppose not a lackey, but rather one of the true lineage of the Demonic Cult.”
Prince Xian glared at me with his eyes wide. I tilted my head slightly.
If Prince Xian had truly been a lackey of the Demonic Cult, there would have been no reason for him to fear me and regard me as an enemy. Rather, like the Mara Blood Buddha, he should have worshiped me.
I drew my demonic qi back and spoke to Prince Xian.
“I am not a lackey of the Demonic Cult. I merely happened to learn demonic qi.”
“You think that explanation will suffice?”
“Didn’t Your Highness also learn demonic qi?”
“Yes. I learned it. But I am no lackey of the Demonic Cult.”
“So because we both learned demonic qi, Your Highness is not a lackey but I am?”
“This will require a somewhat deeper discussion. Superintendent.”
Prince Xian called to the eunuch, whose face had gone pale from having his arm severed. He had staunched the blood by sealing acupoints, but he clearly needed treatment quickly.
“Go outside and have your arm treated. I need to speak with this man.”
“How can I leave Your Highness alone with a lawless creature like this?”
“Since you could not stop him, any such words are meaningless. Stand outside.”
At Prince Xian’s icy tone, the eunuch picked up his severed arm and stepped out.
“Sit.”
“I thank Your Highness for your thoughtfulness.”
“You do mock me rather openly.”
Whether Prince Xian snorted or not, I sat down. The people were the same as before, but the situation was entirely different. The room was thick with the smell of blood and the spatters left by the eunuch. The atmosphere had grown much more murderous.
“First, I want to say this. Everything discussed here is, naturally, top secret.”
“I agree. And that includes the fact that I have learned demonic qi.”
“Good. I will instruct the Superintendent to keep his mouth shut as well.”
Thus we reached a prior agreement. This was the promise of a princely lord, no less. At the very least, there should be no danger of the fact that I had learned demonic qi spreading from here.
“Then let us settle this first. Are you truly not a lackey of the Demonic Cult?”
“If anything, I dislike the Demonic Cult. I am no lackey of theirs.”
In my previous life, I died because of the Demonic Cult. There was no way I could like them. Even if I had not died because of them, there would have been no one in the Central Plains who liked the Demonic Cult.
“The difficulty is that your words are hard to believe.”
“It is simple. If I truly were a lackey of the Demonic Cult, why would I care at all that the Taiji Wisdom Sword was being sold on the open market? The very fact that I sincerely wanted to protect the Taiji Wisdom Sword is enough in itself to prove that I am not a lackey of the Demonic Cult.”
“Now that you put it that way, it is true.”
“Then it is my turn to ask. Why is Your Highness not a lackey of the Demonic Cult?”
“This demonic qi was something I learned within the imperial palace. And even then I learned it under immense supervision. Because there was always the possibility that one might go mad while cultivating demonic qi.”
“The imperial palace taught demonic qi?”
I frowned. It was an explanation I found impossible to understand. Prince Xian continued:
“Yes. The reason we cultivate demonic qi is to sense demonic qi more accurately, and also to make natural contact with, and approach, any remnants of the Demonic Cult that may remain.”
“May I understand that as meaning infiltration of Demonic Cult organizations?”
“Exactly. That way one becomes a double agent. The Demonic Cult thinks I am their spy, but in truth I am an imperial spy watching the Demonic Cult. That is the purpose for which I was raised.”
“Raised for it.”
Learning demonic qi itself carried enormous risk. Yet to say he had been raised for that. It was quite a tragic thing.
I started to speak, then hesitated. But I thought that if there were ever a time to speak this frankly, it would be now.
“Then if that’s the case, is the rebellion Your Highness is preparing also part of such work?”
“…What?”
Prince Xian was visibly taken aback.
“H, how did you know that?”
“There are ways to know.”
“I cannot understand it. That is something only my closest people know, and even then it concerns the distant future.”
“Please don’t trouble your closest men unnecessarily. I simply have my own way of knowing.”
“Hoh.”
Prince Xian sighed. Even so, there was no way he would not trouble his closest men. Inwardly, I offered my sincere apologies to those retainers who were about to fall under suspicion for no reason.
“Very well. However you learned of it, what I am planning is a false rebellion.”
“Then this is a matter of beating the grass to startle the snake. You will stage a rebellion, flush out the real rebels, and wipe them out in one stroke?”
“Exactly. On top of that, we also intend to spread the banner of the Demonic Cult’s revival quietly through the jianghu. There are still many remnants of the Demonic Cult left in the Central Plains.”
“I see.”
Today, I had seen the hidden face of history. The fact that Prince Xian had cultivated demonic qi for the imperial palace, and the fact that the rebellion I knew of had been a false rebellion.
Come to think of it, that rebellion had indeed been crushed too quickly. Even so, I had never dreamed it would turn out to be a rebellion staged in collusion with the imperial palace.
Still, one unresolved question remained.
“Then why did you identify and purge the censors of the Embroidered Uniform Guard?”
“The Embroidered Uniform Guard? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Hm.”
I took the kill register I had found in the room of the Mara Blood Buddha from my robes and handed it to Prince Xian. Prince Xian’s eyes narrowed.
“So the Superintendent was doing such things behind my back.”
“Then again, the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot keep each other under close watch.”
“Well, in any case, this isn’t really my concern. The Embroidered Uniform Guard has likely killed quite a lot of Eastern Depot eunuchs too.”
“That is true enough.”
I nodded. From Prince Xian’s perspective, what mattered was preparing the rebellion. It did not matter in the slightest whether those assisting him were the Embroidered Uniform Guard or the Eastern Depot.
“Then does Yeo Hong-won, who manages Your Highness’s private treasury funds, still not know that the rebellion itself is staged?”
“…Just how much do you know? At this point it’s frightening.”
“There are ways to know.”
“That man doesn’t know. But he was the one who eagerly stepped forward to manage my private treasury funds, so his quality is not good. He will likely be dealt with once the rebellion is suppressed.”
“I see.”
That also explained why the nine clans of the Heaven’s Gift Merchant Company had not been exterminated. I had thought they were spared because of the retired merchant king’s name, but since it was a staged rebellion from the start, exterminating all nine clans had never been necessary. Yeo Hong-won would merely lose his head for reaching greedily beyond his station. It felt as though the fog that had long drifted around in my mind was finally clearing away.
“Then is the spreading of the martial arts of the famous orthodox sects also connected to that rebellion?”
“To some extent. There will certainly be moths from the jianghu who side with the rebellion. And if among them there are those who have learned famous orthodox sect arts that do not suit their station, then that will serve as justification to bring the jianghu under control.”
“Is this the Emperor’s thinking?”
“No, this is my thinking. Everything in my life exists for the glory of His Majesty the Emperor.”
Then again, people of the imperial palace did not like the jianghu much. The Northern Pacification Commissioner of the Embroidered Uniform Guard had been the same, and so was the Eastern Depot, and so were the officials.
Even so, to hear that there had been attempts to control the jianghu so directly gave me chills.
“As someone with one foot in the commercial world and one foot in the martial world, I express very grave concern over that.”
“That is a presumptuous statement. I did not ask for your opinion.”
“Then at the very least, I will take back only the Taiji Wisdom Sword. Would that not be enough as the price of Your Highness’s life?”
“Are you openly threatening me like this?”
“Your Highness tried to kill me first, so I see no reason not to.”
Prince Xian laughed loudly and raised both hands.
“Very well. Since you spared even the Superintendent, there is not much I can do up to that point.”
“Thank you for your understanding.”
“Still, remarkable. How did you come to cultivate demonic qi? Since you value Wudang that much, it doesn’t seem likely you learned it willingly.”
“That is true. There were circumstances.”
“In any case, you hate the Demonic Cult?”
“That’s right.”
Prince Xian nodded as though satisfied.
“Your demonic qi was different from mine. It was something above what I possess.”
“That is probably true.”
“Then may I ask something of you?”
“What is it?”
“I gathered together a number of lackeys of the Demonic Cult and heterodox men. They’re the ones harming the peace of Gansu. I brought them together planning to deal with them, but they grew too large for me to handle easily.”
I blinked for a moment. I felt I could roughly guess whom he meant.
“Would that happen to be the Mara Blood Buddha and those under him?”
“Oh, yes. So you knew of them.”
“Ah. They’re all dead already.”
“Hm?”
This time, Prince Xian was the one blinking. For an instant, he seemed unable to understand what I had said.
“I killed them all.”
I shrugged. Prince Xian stared blankly at me for a moment, then burst into laughter.
“Heh heh…”
From what I could see, Prince Xian was no dark tyrant. He knew how to pay attention even to the marketplace conditions of Gansu, and above all, his loyalty to the Emperor was immense.
This was the moment when many of my preconceptions about Prince Xian were being rewritten.
“Then since I have granted Your Highness’s request, may I ask one thing in return?”
“Does it work that way?”
“Of course. In any case, didn’t I solve a major headache for Your Highness?”
Prince Xian made a troubled face. I smiled.