Young Master Bai — Chapter 25
Chapter 25: Who Doesn’t Have a Throne to Inherit…
Bai Chen also wanted to see what tricks the first person to come knocking would have. He ordered Chenzui to find an inn and secure a room, while he himself followed Li Wuming southward with the old official, arriving at a temple on the outskirts of the city.
The temple was nestled in a small grove, quite serene. The moss on the stone bricks hinted at its age, yet the roof tiles, walls, doors, and windows bore obvious signs of recent renovation, as though someone tended to it often. Inside, there was only one golden statue clad in armor, wrapped in red silk with a fierce expression. Even the fresh flowers and fruits offered before it could not dispel the killing aura. Bai Chen glanced at the fierce deity statue, then at Li Wuming, and finally read the three characters on the plaque above the entrance with some doubt: “General’s Temple?”
Indeed, this temple enshrined the Li Dynasty’s Stabilizing General — the one the common folk imagined as Li Jiuzhou, though he bore no resemblance to Li Wuming. Li Wuming clearly knew this place; upon seeing the statue, he fell silent. Tang Huaiyu quickly spoke up:
“Six hundred years ago, the Zhao clan of Western Liang fell into a succession war. Eight princes rose in rebellion, and the entire realm was aflame with war [this is the previously mentioned Chang'an Uprising]. In the third year of the Eight Princes’ Rebellion, the Liang Prince retreated, attempting to escape from Jiangdu to the sea. He conscripted all the able-bodied men of the city to cover his retreat, while the Cheng Prince pursued him here, determined to take his head and end the threat.
With the Liang Prince forcing them to the battlefield from the front, and the Cheng Prince besieging the city day and night from behind, the people of the city faced certain death whether advancing or retreating. In their despair, it was only the General who stood up. He took the Liang Prince hostage, forced him to sink his own ship and defend the city, then led the militia to repel Cheng Prince’s thirty thousand troops. He declared his brother the dynasty-founding emperor, marched back from Jiangdu to Chang’an, and established the current Li Dynasty. Without the General, not a single soul would have survived in Jiangdu. The people of Jiangdu had never forgotten such a grace and had built this temple to honor him. Even today, the incense burning has not ceased.”
Li Wuming could never forget those years of life-and-death slaughter. Looking at this six-hundred-year-old relic, he couldn’t help but touch his bandaged right hand, sighing half in nostalgia, half in weariness: “Back then, the whole world was at war. I had just turned sixteen when I killed countless people. Without realizing it, so much time has passed…” [if sixteen seems too young to you — there have been cases of similarly aged generals in the Chinese history.]
Seeing this, Tang Huaiyu knew there was hope. No matter how suited the Great Snow Mountain was for self-cultivation, a man’s innate bloodlust never truly disappears — it only lacks a spark to reignite his ambition to reclaim the Central Plains and rule the world.
And now, he took out a scroll of the imperial edict and respectfully presented that spark with both hands: “The Li dynasty rose from Jiangdu. Now the Divine Wordless Book has also appeared in Jiangdu — this is destiny. His Majesty has said, as long as the General is willing to return to court, he will abdicate and honor his ancestor as Emperor. The Divine Wordless Book will also be entrusted entirely to the General, in hopes of breaking free from the shackles of the Heaven’s Way Alliance and restoring the court’s prestige. This old minister implores General Li once again to return and take charge. The fate of the Li dynasty rests on your decision.”
These words did surprise Li Wuming a bit. He accepted the edict and saw it was indeed a decree of succession. He chuckled lightly at Bai Chen: “Our Li family has produced another ruthless one — to turn the tables, he’s even willing to give me the throne.”
“His Majesty’s sincerity is as clear as the sun and moon.”
Tang Huaiyu was an old fox who had rolled in the arena of power for decades. He never naively thought he could win over the Sword Immortal lineage through past bonds. After all, Li Wuming had been in seclusion for years, and his sudden appearance in Jiangdu could only be because of the uproar over the Divine Wordless Book. But with the Hidden Wisdom Sect’s upright style, they would never hand over the treasure to others; even if the Great Snow Mountain exhausted all its strength, it wouldn’t get even a corner of the book from the Hidden Wisdom Sect.
Therefore, within just two hours of Li Wuming wandering idly, he managed to procure an imperial decree of abdication written by the Emperor himself — offering not just the throne but also a rightful chance to contend with the Unknown Truth Sect for the Divine Wordless Book.
Such courage and cunning even earned Bai Chen’s silent admiration: the man had a sharp eye indeed.
Li Wuming had come to resolve Bai Chen’s yao power problem, and the Divine Wordless Book was essential for that. Yet after playing with the imperial edict for a while, he tossed it back, neither refusing nor accepting. He only said softly to Bai Chen: “There’s nothing worth seeing in this temple. Let’s go out and continue our walk.”
This attitude was at least better than outright rejection. Seeing this, Tang Huaiyu was even pleased and bowed deeply from afar behind them, calling out loudly: “The prefectural office is in the west of the city. This old minister holds the decree in hand and awaits the General’s arrival at any time!”
Li Wuming really did just leave, pulling Bai Chen to continue strolling the streets, buying local pastries, enjoying the scenery and a boat ride — as if he hadn’t given the imperial decree a second thought. Not until he pulled his Dao companion to sit down before an opera stage, seemingly intent on hearing a few more plays, did Bai Chen finally lose patience and ask: “So what exactly do you intend to do now?”
The Nine-tailed White Fox had never beaten the Sword Immortal in patience. Seeing the confusion in his eyes, Li Wuming actually smiled: “This is a good chance to obtain the Divine Wordless Book. You’re eager to restore your yao power — why not goad me to seize the throne? Isn’t it the fox yao’s favorite trick — seducing a man into giving you his all?”
This counter-question stunned Bai Chen. Though he knew deep down this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, after much hesitation, he still couldn’t bear to push this man in front of him back into the bloody struggle for power. He almost wanted to ask his fox ancestors: when a man has given you everything from his heart, how ruthless must you be to destroy the country he built with his blood, to topple the dynasty he forged? Perhaps he really was the most foolish fox yao under Heaven. Other foxes toyed with people’s hearts in their palms, but he, having gained nothing yet, had already given himself away.
The Nine-tailed White Fox cursed himself inwardly for being useless and could only turn his head away proudly: “No reason. I just don’t want to.”
The little fox coveted the fat piece of meat but was afraid of biting the man. This tangled feeling made Li Wuming chuckle again: “Oh, you — your cruelty and heartlessness are far inferior to the Yao King, and your imperial scheming is even worse than my eldest brother’s.”
“Li Wuming!”
Bai Chen was naturally annoyed at these words, but before he could bare his claws, the man had already taken his hand and added gently: “That’s why I like being with you.”
It was just an ordinary sentence, yet Bai Chen felt his restless heart leap again, as though it wanted to jump into this man’s arms and never come back no matter how he cooked it. He swore he had never seen a fox spirit easier to coax than himself. He cursed himself for being spineless, yet his voice softened on its own: “You’re pretending. I don’t believe you didn’t see that old man’s ulterior motives.”
“What motives?”
Still feigning ignorance! Bai Chen could only roll his eyes at him and expose the truth himself: “He said the incense in the General’s Temple has burned uninterrupted for six hundred years, yet the path there was muddy and overgrown with weeds — clearly never maintained. Only the interior bore signs of renovation. Obviously, no one worshiped there until your master drew his sword, and then someone hastily refurbished it just to show you.”
The fox’s innate wariness of its surroundings allowed it to notice every flaw. Even the Nine-tailed White Fox retained this habit, always scanning the surroundings before feeling at ease.
Li Wuming laughed at that: “That old man could never have guessed that I’d brought along a little fox who’s even better at deceiving people than he is.”
“Keep pretending. I don’t believe a Sword Immortal who walks the Emotionless path would be moved by such tricks.”
A man who went to war at sixteen would certainly not be swayed by sentiment. Only now did Li Wuming admit he had never felt even a hint of emotion: “I’m not as sharp as you. I just happened to visit Jiangdu a century ago. Back then, the place was desolate and cold, and the people used it as a morgue rather than letting it go to waste. There’s even a bite mark on the golden statue’s leg — a souvenir from a wandering corpse.”
He said this while cracking sunflower seeds and listening to the opera, appearing very casual, as though it were just a joke. Yet thinking of how that deity statue was once a testament to his dominance over the entire realm brought a touch of sadness.
Looking at this man who seemed to have no weaknesses, Bai Chen could only ask softly: “Since you knew, why not expose it?”
“An old man so invested in his performance — how could I bear to interrupt?”
Li Wuming still wore that air of treating a legendary tale as nothing more than a jest. He then placed a piece of rice candy in Bai Chen’s palm and said leisurely: “Besides, you little fox, like my eldest brother, love using the world as your chessboard. The court is also a handy piece — take it and play with it.”
There was much room to maneuver with that imperial edict. If used well, it could even serve as a breakthrough for the yao clan to enter the human world. Li Wuming’s words entrusted it all to Bai Chen to use as he wished. Bai Chen never expected a man would offer himself up to be used like this, and for a moment, he almost couldn’t believe it: “Are you serious?”
“Let me think. My eldest brother was the first emperor. This one is the eighth generation — nephews, grand-nephews… he’s about my great-great-great-grandson [grandson here implies a descendent in general, not necessarily a direct line]. The kid’s got some ambition. Since you’re my Dao companion, you can teach him what human treachery really means.”
The great changes in the world’s balance of power sounded like mere family chatter in Li Wuming’s mouth. Leisurely, he cracked a walnut and fed it to Bai Chen before lowering his eyes to hide the seriousness in them, saying with a joking tone that carried genuine sentiment: “Little fox, as long as you truly see me as family, then what’s mine is yours.”
~ Chapter End ~
Comments
Post a Comment