Within the hall, darkness hung thick and deep. The few surviving candle flames illuminated only a meager square of space in the corners. Along the boundary between light and shadow, corpses lay tangled together, some facing up, some facedown, faint and indistinct. A few distorted, hideous grimaces were dimly discernible, alongside several faces frozen in broad, blissful smiles—plainly individuals who had perished in the throes of lust, struck down abruptly before their ascent to ultimate ecstasy had ended.
Li Zhi walked silently to Princess Wancheng's side, dragged her from the chair, and pushed her onto the floor nearby. With that single motion, rotten flesh sloughed off her body in a shower, leaving only bare skeletons of her arms and calves.
Li Zhi sat down upon the chair. The seat felt slick and sticky, whether with putrid fluids or corpse grease he could not tell. Li Zhi showed not the slightest aversion; he merely sat there, lost in thought.
At this stage, many things had become clear. The Academy's scheme had originally been quite solid: first arranging for him to marry Princess Wancheng of the Tang dynasty, then secretly impregnating her. When the Martial Ancestor's contingency was triggered, they would use the remnant page of the Sage's manuscript to forcibly transfer karma and swap Li Zhi with Princess Wancheng.
Princess Wancheng possessed pure imperial blood of Great Tang, purer even than that of the reigning Emperor Zhaoning. When the Martial Ancestor's sword fell upon her head, its power was automatically halved. The remaining half was absorbed by the fetus in her womb, onto which Li Zhi's karma had been grafted.
To carry out an act bordering on switching heaven and sun before the Martial Ancestor's true spirit, only a treasure of the caliber of a remnant page written by a Sage's own hand could invoke the power to trim and weigh praise and blame in the annals, relying on a Sage's divine status to deceive the Martial Ancestor's true spirit.
Originally, after Li Zhi shattered the Martial Ancestor's restriction and survived the backlash, he was supposed to meet the Martial Ancestor's true spirit as the next shared sovereign of the realm to complete the succession and receive the Martial Ancestor's legacy. By then, Li Zhi's prestige would inevitably have reached its zenith, and the majority of the great families among the Seven Clans and Thirteen Prominent Families would have naturally flocked to his banner.
Though Southern Qi was powerful, it had ultimately received ennoblement from Tang. If they did not rebel, their towering mansion would collapse, leaving them as mere ruins in the foundation of the new dynasty. If they did rebel, it would lack legitimacy and righteousness, tarnishing their moral prestige, far inferior to Li Zhi commanding universal acclaim.
Thus, under normal circumstances, even a force as strong as Southern Qi could only bow its head and revere Li Zhi as the shared sovereign. After all, Li Zhi remained of the direct Qi Li lineage and possessed the right to vie for the throne of Southern Qi; however one looked at it, he was one of their own.
All of this had been arranged without a seam, yet fatal accidents had struck one after another.
When the Martial Ancestor was supposed to meet the future shared sovereign of the realm, he had failed to appear, yet he arrived during the backlash. And when they finally met the Martial Ancestor's true spirit, Li Zhi's ancient fortune of the Human Sovereign was exposed—and judging by the Martial Ancestor's words, this ancient fortune had been stolen!
Had Duke Yansheng and Master Gu not sacrificed two sacred treasures of the Sages, Li Zhi would have become a pair of rotting corpses alongside Princess Wancheng long ago. But because of this, any legacy the Martial Ancestor might have left was severed from Li Zhi forever.
As for Princess Wancheng turning into a rotting corpse, that was hardly difficult to understand. When the Martial Ancestor killed someone, he naturally left no loophole for altering karma to achieve resurrection; hence, that sword strike directly traced back into the past. So long as another almighty expert could not trace back as far into the past as the Martial Ancestor, that person was doomed beyond doubt.
The only thing Li Zhi could not fathom was who had delivered the ancient fortune of the Human Sovereign to him in the first place, and where it had gone now.
Li Zhi sat in silence, suddenly struck by an overwhelming loneliness. Southern Qi could not be relied upon, the Academy could not be relied upon, and the Mandate of Heaven had abandoned him altogether. In that moment, he profoundly understood what it meant to be truly alone—a solitary lord with none at his side.
The gloom of the sky deepened, then turned light again.
Li Zhi stepped out of the Hall of Mental Cultivation. Behind him, raging flames suddenly engulfed the great hall! Supervising eunuchs and guards from nearby rushed over, only to see Li Zhi walking out from the inferno.
"Let it burn!" Li Zhi commanded flatly, walking toward his bedchamber. The surrounding supervising eunuchs and palace maids caught wafts of heavy corpse stench, yet none dared utter a word.
Returning to his bedchamber, he changed into plain robes and went to the state prison, arriving outside the innermost cell. Inside was chained a man, sitting facing the wall.
"Open the door," Li Zhi said.
The jailer hurriedly said, "Milord, your person is of ten thousand gold—"
Before he could finish, Li Zhi flicked a strand of sword qi, lopping off his head! The remaining jailers were frightened out of their wits, dropping to their knees to kowtow.
"I do not wish to hear anyone question my orders. Now, open the door."
The jailers opened the cell door. Li Zhi walked inside and stood behind the prisoner.
The prisoner turned around—revealing Sun Chao'en. He said, "For Lord Li to come in person, have you come to bring me my last meal?"
Li Zhi came straight to the point. "I hope Master Sun will assist me."
Sun Chao'en looked somewhat surprised and asked, "You still dare employ me?"
"Why wouldn't I dare?"
Sun Chao'en pondered for a moment, then asked, "Assist you with what?"
"First, carve out an independent domain; then, contend for the realm."
Sun Chao'en gave a dry chuckle and asked, "Contend for the realm... what do you possess now?"
"Nothing at all," Li Zhi admitted frankly.
"What of veteran generals and seasoned soldiers?"
"Of veteran generals, half remain—fewer than ten men, all of above-average ability. As for seasoned soldiers, sixty thousand."
Sun Chao'en nodded and said, "Then why should I help you? Wouldn't it be far better for me to go to Qingming and assist Wei Yuan?"
"If Wei Yuan seeks supreme status, he must be the future Lord of the Three Realms. Foisting the mantle of Human Sovereign upon him—wouldn't that just shorten his lifespan?"
Sun Chao'en asked again, "Did Wei Yuan agree to this?"
Li Zhi confessed, "No, nor do I intend to ask him. I must first carve out an independent domain; if I cannot even take this first step, whether he agrees or not is meaningless. Besides, throughout history, Human Sovereigns have arisen through individual capability and sweeping tides; there has never been a precedent of one being propped up by someone else's charity."
Sun Chao'en asked further, "And what can I gain?"
Li Zhi hesitated briefly, then said, "The manuscripts of the classics by the Four Sages preserved in the Academy—I can take you to examine all of them. Some among them were handwritten by the Four Sages themselves, through which their true insights at the time can be perceived. Brother Sun takes pleasure in scholarship; surely this is something you desire. Secondly, Brother Sun can serve as a remonstrating minister to correct my conduct. If I act improperly, Brother Sun may stop me in time. At present, several hundred million people live under my rule. If Brother Sun is willing to enter my service, it will be a blessing for those common folk."
"One last question. The Academy could handle all of this as well. Wouldn't dispatching a few capable disciples to you suffice?"
Li Zhi said in a deep voice, "At present, I am merely a chess piece of the Academy. Every resource the Academy invested in me is expected to yield a return. By the same token, disciples sent to my side cannot truly share one heart and mind with me. When minds are divided, one might prevail in a fleeting contest, but it is far from enough to contend for the realm."
Sun Chao'en said, "It seems Lord Li has met with setbacks?"
"Indeed. I have only some of my old core followers left. As for territory, I have a fair bit—the three commanderies of Zhenshan Fief and nineteen commanderies of the State of Ji. However, those nineteen commanderies are virtually scorched earth, yielding no tax revenue; having them is tantamount to having nothing."
Sun Chao'en nodded and said slowly, "To shore up a mansion on the verge of collapse, to rescue the common people from hanging upside down. It sounds quite interesting. Since Lord Li dares employ me, Sun, I am willing to give it a try. But let me say this up front: those whose paths diverge cannot make plans together. If our ways align, I stay; if they diverge, I leave."
Li Zhi was overjoyed and bowed deeply, touching the ground, then said, "As it should be! Men! Unlock Master Sun's shackles!"
With a loud clang, what answered him was the heavy slamming shut of the cell door and the click of a lock, trapping both Li Zhi and Sun Chao'en inside.
Li Zhi narrowed his eyes, staring at the several jailers, and said coldly, "The few of you are bold indeed!"
The leading jailer offered a fawning smile and said, "Lord Li, please take no offense. Truth be told, someone paid a staggering price to buy your life. You are a great man of broad magnanimity, so please grant this humble one his path to riches!"
With a wave of his hand, the jailers quickly set up formations on the ground, their auras suddenly surging—every single one was in the Dharma Idol realm!
What they brought out were prepared killing array formation plates, laying them directly onto the ground. As the array flared to life, a wailing wind arose; even with Li Zhi's cultivation, he felt his soul wavering, his physical body barely able to tether it.
Waves of poisonous fog rose immediately after, rapidly permeating the entire dungeon. The disguised jailers dared not linger in the slightest; they swiftly retreated to the surface and vanished into the night.
When accepting the assignment, the client had instructed them very clearly: the State of Ji's state prison could hold a Scenery Command cultivator, and each of these formation plates was capable of refining a Dharma Idol. When several arrays were triggered simultaneously, their combined power multiplied; thus, Li Zhi, merely at the peak of the Dharma Idol realm, and Sun Chao'en, whose cultivation was mediocre, were certain to die.
Not long after the assassins departed, a roar shook the state prison. The ground caved in, blasted into a massive crater! Li Zhi and Sun Chao'en crawled out of the crater, covered in dust and grime.
Li Zhi looked up at the night sky and suddenly burst into roaring laughter!
Chapter 1368