Green Dragon Totem Chapter 18 Part2

The indescribable tenseness in the atmosphere finally slackened somewhat at this point, and everyone seemed to have let down a heavy burden, their shoulders abruptly loosening.

"Come back, Commander Xie." Yuwen Hu strode forward: "The affair of Sword-Forging Manor has ended, the Snow Lotus may…"

His footsteps abruptly stopped, as Xie Yun raised a hand to pluck down that Snow Lotus, and at the same time with his back to everyone his body once again stretched, and the bones of his legs, waist, spine, and shoulders lengthened, and the knuckles of all ten fingers gave cracking sounds as they returned to their sockets, and then the tall and straight rear view of the Imperial Guard Commander reappeared before everyone.

"What about the Snow Lotus?" Xie Yun coldly said.

A sort of ominous premonition suddenly arose in Yuwen Hu's heart: "Don't mess around, Xie Yun. The Exalted One has already decreed, ordering you to return to Chang'an immediately for an imperial audience and to continue your duty, and to hand over everyone in Sword-Forging Manor and the arrangements for the Crown Prince's antidote to me to handle…"

"Yet the one who got the antidote in the end is me, is it not?"

Yuwen Hu choked under Xie Yun's cold and teasing gaze, following which he said: "Then what do you want to do?"

The atmosphere changed once these words were spoken, and the soldiers nervously clutched the handles of their sabres. Shan Chao's eyebrow also jumped, looking at Yuwen Hu and then looking at Xie Yun, and subconsciously leant half a step, vaguely pointing the tip of the Seven Stars Longyuan sword to block Yuwen Hu's forward path.

Yet Xie Yun did not reply, lifting from his own shoulders the pink dress that the Young Madam had worn in life, which he had hurriedly draped over just now, and in pa.s.sing laid it over the corpse of Fu Wenjie at his feet.

"I intend nothing," Xie Yun lazily said, his intonation unexpectedly light and malicious: "You thought too much again, General Yuwen. Those who think too much are more likely to have an early death."

He turned around and pa.s.sed through everyone, picking up the Tai-E sword which had just been placed in a corner, and nonchalantly walked out of the secret chamber's door. As Yuwen Hu gave a meaningful glance to his personal soldiers to hurriedly follow, he just spotted Xie Yun clutching the Snow Lotus in one hand and carrying the Tai-E sword in the other, taking the initiative to walk through the underground tunnel.

"Great General…" one personal soldier whispered.

Yuwen Hu made a gesture for silence with one hand, hinting to look at the end of the crowd.

—Shan Chao was currently at the end looking back at the coffin and corpse in the underground chamber, and then turning around to stride after the crowd. The handsome face of the black-robed monk was profoundly melancholic and solemn, with the Seven Stars Longyuan on his back, currently s.h.i.+ning out through its wrapping of rags a vague green light.

A haze flitted across Yuwen Hu's eyes.

n.o.body knew where this monk had learnt from, or where did he come from. Although he seemed hostile to Xie Yun, yet Xie Yun's att.i.tude to him was rather deserving of rumination.

Furthermore this tunnel was narrow and did not allow pa.s.sage side-by-side, and thus with these two people occupying both front and back, if they were to press in if a fight broke out…

For the entire trip to the surface n.o.body made a sound, and after exiting the hidden door, the cold air of dawn attacked head-on, causing everyone's spirit to be roused immediately.

Only then did Yuwen Hu realise how mistaken his prudent and careful att.i.tude in the underground tunnel was.

The Sword-Forging Manor villa's surroundings were crowded with men and horses like an iron bucket, already entirely surrounded. With the entrance of the underground tunnel they exited from as the centre, the left and right sides were entirely different: one side was the five hundred soldiers of the Great Cavalry General manor, and the other side was neatly armed with horse and bow, swords drawn and bows bent, astonis.h.i.+ngly the Imperial Guards sent out from the capital!

Yuwen Hu could not bear it anymore, and raised a cold laugh: "—Commander Xie has a good trick up his sleeve, you have my admiration!"

Xie Yun dully said: "There are many areas for you to admire me, afterwards there is no harm in carefully learning."

"Commander!"

Ma Xin led people to climb out of the crowd, dismounting his horse to greet with clasped hands, and from a subordinate behind him took an elaborate lock-box of red sandalwood. Xie Yun put the Snow Lotus still stained with blood yet to dry into the box, and asked in pa.s.sing: "The Mysterious Demon School?"

"The one surnamed Jing has retreated, we followed your orders and did not stop them. Yet searching and taking inventory of Sword-Forging Manor's warehouse and others took some time, thus we were unable to promptly protect you, may Commander please forgive me!"

Ma Xin could actually speak without the slightest scruple in front of everyone's faces, that for a while the expressions on the faces of Shan Chao, Yuwen Hu and so on were extremely strange.

"Mm," Xie Yun was unconcerned, "Confiscate the light and portable valuables, leave the bulky ones."

Ma Xin asked again: "The Chen family of Jiangnan and the prestigious sects caught wind of this, and sent people to receive their own disciples, how does Commander plan to deal with them?"

—when he asked this, ten-odd disciples including Chen Haiping and Zhou Yu were currently detained by the Imperial Guards, waiting distantly outside the courtyard.

After the fierce battle with the Mysterious Demon School, these Jianghu rookies who were usually splendid leaders of their generation were in rather a sorry state, to the point that some were unable to stand and could only sit on the ground. Upon hearing Ma Xin's questioning, these group of people each had their own expression, and it was unable to tell if there was any consciously indignant or courting death.

Xie Yun said with a smile: "Release them, leave them be, in any case they have no use."

The Imperial City Guards have now completely taken over leaders.h.i.+p of the Sword-Forging Manor, so the entire situation was neat and tidy, with the issuance and implementation of orders methodically arranged, obviously leaving no other matters.

Yuwen Hu looked back towards his own troops, and gritted his teeth as he cupped his fists in salute: "Looks like Commander Xie was long prepared, I shall not bother you further… the Exalted One is still waiting in the Palace for me to report back, Commander Xie, all the causes and effects of today, we shall speak of them again in the imperial study."

—this was now obviously a threat.

Xie Yun glanced at Yuwen Hu, and everyone thought that he would say something.

Yet immediately afterwards, he turned his head, and indifferently said to Ma Xin: "Right, get someone to level the underground tunnel. The bodies of the Sword-Forging Manor's Young Master and his wife are all inside, no need to dig separately, treat it as a joint interment."

"……" Yuwen Hu's face immediately turned ashen, and stormed off in a huff without looking back.

An Imperial Guard led over a heroic and spirited steed of snow-white, without even a hair out of place, and Xie Yun mounted the horse, and looked down from his perch towards the nearby ruins which were already completely collapsed.

Merely a day ago, this was the back mountain villa of the Sword-Forging Manor hidden in the serene depths with elegant scenery, and yet who would know that this place would be ruined in the span of a single night, their imposing fame, all gone in the blink of an eye.

Xie Yun took back his gaze, and said: "Let's go."

Well-trained soldiers immediately mounted their horses, and at this time a voice abruptly sounded: "Wait!"

Everyone looked back one after another, to see Shan Chao still standing there, his gaze fixed on Xie Yun, only speaking slowly after a long time: "You.. you don't intend to say anything?"

Xie Yun asked: "What?"

Shan Chao abruptly realised that this scene at this moment was ridiculous beyond belief, so ridiculous that it seemed almost funny, yet he could not laugh at all.

"…you don't want to kill me now?" He only managed to squeeze out one question after a long while.

Xie Yun studied him up and down, and asked: "Why would I kill you, is there any value in killing you?"

Were it not for he himself being an implicated party, perhaps Shan Chao could not help but give a word of praise to this exquisite reply—yet no one in the surroundings laughed, to the point that n.o.body in the surroundings had any expression, with only a horse's occasional snort, or pacing of a hoof, apart from this it was completely silent.

Finally Shan Chao opened his mouth with difficulty:

"Since all of this was arranged beforehand, why did you want to get me involved?"

"Why did you conceal your ident.i.ty, why did you let me into Sword-Forging Manor, why did you put in so much effort to let me personally see, and personally experience everything that happened here?"

Xie Yun looked down at Shan Chao from his mount, and a threat of what seemed like interest arose in his eyes.

"Do you remember what I said to you, back on that night in the middle of Zhongzheng Street?"

"….."

"In this world there is nothing which is easily gained, and without a position above others and supreme power, it is impossible for those who withdraw from worldly affairs to demand answers from the mortal world—furthermore as far as I am concerned you are a weakling, with little power and influence, a life akin to an ant. Even Fu Wenjie knew that he needed to stake everything in order to take revenge, yet you only knelt before me to beg for a so-called answer."

Xie Yun leant down slightly, smiling at Shan Chao: "I don't talk to weaklings, the current you in my eyes is weaker than Fu Wenjie, even weaker than Yuwen Hu."

"….." Shan Chao slowly clenched his jaw.

"Leave a horse for him." Xie Yun instructed Ma Xin in pa.s.sing: "The heavens and earth are vast, leave him—let us go."

The Imperial Guards urged their horses away, galloping past Shan Chao, quickly descending the mountain amidst the sound of galloping.

Such a big back mountain villa in the blink of an eye had not a soul in sight, only leaving dust amidst the ruins slowly falling to the ground. The light of dawn pa.s.sed through the mountain forest, s.h.i.+ning on the ruins all around, with green smoke still slowly rising from the scorched roof beams and rubble.

Shan Chao's gaze fell nearby.

There was truly a horse by the forest, glossy black like lightning with white hooves, impatiently digging the ground. Astonis.h.i.+ngly it was the same horse which he shared with Xie Yun, when he escaped from Chang'an and went down south!

—"The heavens and earth are vast, leave him…"

Xie Yun's parting words pa.s.sed by Shan Chao's ear, and from those eight words he seemed to have comprehended something, and his pupils contracted.

Across the horizon towards the direction of Chang'an, with the city walls spanning thousands of li, all around the majestic Imperial City. Surrounded by eight rivers with twelve city gates, the Daming Palace was currently bathed in the light gold glimmer of dawn, suffusing a dazzling red light that extended forever into the distance akin to the rising sun in the east.

Shan Chao leapt up and mounted the horse, gazing far into the distance.

After a while he drew a long breath, and brazenly hit his horse: "—Jia!"

A black cloud stepped on snow as fast as lightning, pa.s.sing through layer after layer of mountainous forests and winding creeks, chasing forth after the sun on the divine land1, to speed along carrying Shan Chao towards the summit of imperial power.

[VOLUME ONE END]

Translator's Notes Chapter 18: That Poor Couple

In Chapter 8's translator notes, I discussed before about the tough straits that Wanjuan faced - oppressive in-laws, a weak-willed husband, pressure to deliver a son.

Xie Yun's reasoning puts the blame on Fu Wenjie, stating that he should have stood up to his own family to defend his wife and child. From a modern perspective and after seeing the unpleasant personalities of the Fu mother and daughter, we probably agree.

According to notions of filial piety, however, Fu Wenjie was truly stuck in a bind at that time, because he could either be seen as cruel to his wife (hence the tragedy which unfolded) or unfilial - which in that time would bring a lot of social stigma. He is also a cripple, which also means that most of the real business of Sword-Forging Manor is likely left to other able-bodied disciples as well as his mother to run. There was really no way he could have sided with his wife, without tearing this extended family and its business apart and bringing shame on Sword-Forging Manor.

In hindsight, if he had done so at least one tragedy could be averted.

Also, in other notes, finally back to the Palace! Also Shan Chao… really got it all mixed up… you yourself got mixed up in this, no one was intending to pull you in at all, hahaha.

- LLS

1 ZH: 神州 - old name for China, literally 'divine province'.

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