City of Karmic Luck

Though winter was bitter, the county yamen was bustling with excitement. A massive cauldron had been propped up in the yamen courtyard, boiling steaming horse meat. More than half the county's population had turned out, grinning cheerfully as they waited for the new emperor to ascend the throne, declare a general amnesty, and treat them all to broth and meat. Inside the main hall of the yamen, Wei Youcai was flushed with vitality, looking as though he had grown a year younger. Surrounded by his two sworn brothers and eight farmers, he strode into the hall and came before the grand seat. Wei Youcai smoothed out his altered dragon-robe kasaya and casually rolled up both sleeves. Only then did he feel comfortable. He stepped up to the high seat and slowly lowered his backside into it. Once seated, Wei Youcai wiggled this way and shifted that way, testing the entire seat with his buttocks. Looking thoughtful, he said, "This chair isn't hot, nor is it cold, and it doesn't give you any strange jitters... Has it lost its master?" Bald Lao Liu chimed in, "In the contest for the realm, the virtuous—er, the wealthy one claims it! Eldest Brother, today it is only right that you take the throne. What should our dynastic title be? Fugui-er?" Lao Ba snapped, "Is that a dynastic title? It's not even a reign era! Sixth Brother, stop using your brain—you can't use what you don't have! Quit your blabbering. Eldest Brother is already on the throne, hurry up and pay homage! Do you still remember what the books said? I taught you last night." "I remember!" With that, the two knelt in worship and cried, "Long live our Emperor—" With a sudden whoosh, Wei Youcai bounced straight out of the dragon throne and dodged to the side, proving himself a remarkably agile fat man. Lao Liu and Lao Ba were somewhat bewildered, unable to understand what had happened. Wei Youcai glanced at the dragon throne and sighed. "My backside doesn't match this chair. It pricked me. Looks like the old wicker chair is still the most comfortable after all. Alright, the dragon throne has been sat in. General amnesty—let's eat meat!" At the mention of eating meat, peasants across the entire town cheered and leaped for joy. The peasants weren't stupid. Playing along with you all for half the day was entirely for that sip of meat broth, wasn't it? At this time, horse meat was in abundance, making the broth rich and savory, with visible shreds of meat floating throughout. With a bowl of hot broth down their bellies, many farmers who had been starving for as long as they could remember wept aloud on the spot. And with that, Wei Youcai grew another year younger. Lao Ba still felt somewhat unwilling. "Eldest Brother, you really won't sit in it?" "I won't." "Fine then, I'll chop it up for firewood! If Eldest Brother won't sit in it, nobody else gets to either!" "No need. Just leave it there. Whoever likes it can sit in it!" *** Outside Baocheng County, a massive rebel army appeared, surrounding the county town so tightly not a drop of water could leak through. At the same time, an elite force of tens of thousands circled behind the town, blocking the direction of any imperial reinforcements. Lu Jiande was bundled in thick sable furs, his face pale. Gazing at the wide-open city gates, he hesitated for a moment before stepping through first. The townspeople inside were all brimming with joy and radiant with health, tidying the streets and repairing houses. The lingering aroma of meat permeated the town, residual fragrance remaining in the pots and bowls of every household. Some commoners glanced at Lu Jiande; others went about their chores as if nothing were amiss; still others spat a thick glob of phlegm onto the ground. One of Lu Jiande's generals could not stomach the insult. Striding forward, he cleaved the spitting man in two with a single slash! Warm blood splattered across the ground and showered over the dharma idol general. A dozen or so nearby commoners saw this, and every single one of them spat a glob of phlegm! Enraged, the dharma idol brigand hacked down seven or eight people in rapid succession. Every one of them watched him in utter silence, their eyes filled with nothing but hatred, without the slightest trace of fear. When he struck down the tenth, the dharma idol brigand's hand suddenly went limp. He turned around and called out, "Big Brother..." He did not realize that his own face was paler than Lu Jiande's. Lu Jiande finally spoke: "Don't touch anything here for now. We'll talk later." Moments later, he stepped into the county yamen and saw the main hall arranged like an imperial court, along with the so-called dragon throne painted in yellow lacquer atop the dais. The imperial court setup was cruder than a traveling troupe's stage, and the floor was splattered with greasy broth stains. Without lanterns or torches, the hall felt exceptionally gloomy and cold, save for the dragon throne faintly gleaming with light. When Lu Jiande focused his gaze again, the glow was gone. It was just an ordinary magistrate's chair. In the attempt to carve two dragon heads onto the armrests, the fine wood had actually been ruined. Lu Jiande walked up to the dragon throne. For reasons unknown, an urge suddenly welled up within him to sit in it. And so, under the bewildered gazes of his generals, he sat down and shifted his body. The chair was slightly warm, as if someone had just been sitting in it. Lu Jiande felt his heart racing, and cold sweat broke out in waves with each breath. Suddenly catching sight of several commoners poking their heads in at the yamen entrance, he immediately ordered his subordinates to drag them forward. Glancing over them, Lu Jiande could tell at once that these were ordinary farmers. He asked, "Who was here over the past few days? Where are they?" A middle-aged farmer said, "Our benefactor is a master, kind-hearted. He ate the same food as us and taught us a lot of principles. Too bad we're stupid folk and couldn't learn that much; we only remembered a few lines. But 'if one hears the Dao in the morning, one can die in the evening without regret'—oh, that means if you understand the Great Dao in the morning, even if you die that night, there are no regrets." Lu Jiande frowned slightly. A farmer? Yet looking at the man's appearance—whether the calluses on his palms or the chapped frostbite cracks on the back of his hands—everything indicated that he was indeed the most ordinary of peasants. As he pondered, another general with a scar across his face was seized by a surge of savagery. Swiping down with a claw-like strike, he smashed the farmer into a puddle of black blood! Wiping the blood from his hand onto his lapel, the scarred general said, "Big Brother, a bunch of clodhoppers daring to play the fool here are just courting death! Dying by my hand shatters their souls into dust—they can't even dream of reincarnation, let alone pull off any tricks! Since they're courting death, I'll butcher the whole city and see what else they can do!" The general whose hand had gone limp earlier hurriedly said, "Wait! There's something wicked about this town!" The scarred general sneered, "You balls-less piece of trash! What the immortals want is an empty land! Along our march, the ones we directly slaughtered already number in the tens of millions, not counting those bound to starve before the summer harvest. We've weathered such grand undertakings, and now killing a few people turns your face white with terror? Utterly useless—you wouldn't even catch a hot bite of shit. Get lost and don't get in the way of our brothers' immortality!" Hearing the word "immortality," Lu Jiande finally made up his mind and said, "This game blends the false and the true; it's rather intriguing. A pity I haven't met the one who laid out the board. Heh, he wants to play chess, but I refuse to enter his game. "Pass the order: slaughter the city." *** By afternoon, the rebel army had withdrawn, leaving behind a ghost city. Atop the walls, crows gathered in flocks, wheeling incessantly in the air. Along the main road outside the city, a youth suddenly approached. Covering ten li in a single stride, he reached the outskirts of Baocheng County in just a few steps. Seeing the pervasive black miasma lingering over the town, his expression changed drastically. Taking a step into midair, he looked down into the city. Corpses littered every street and alley, every single one of them with eyes wide open, staring fixedly at him. The youth's face changed again. His terrifying divine sense swept over the entire city, only for him to realize that the townspeople had long been completely dead. It was merely that before dying, every person's eyes happened to be looking in this direction, and he happened to have walked right into that line of sight. Judging by the marks in the city, it had evidently been massacred by the rebels. He had witnessed such scenes countless times, yet for reasons he could not fathom, an unsettling dread gripped his heart. A purplish-black light surged in the youth's eyes, his pupils resembling two bottomless abysses as he gazed into the city once more. He saw aggrieved souls wandering everywhere, clearly stricken by age-blight spells that doomed them never to reincarnate. Yet although these aggrieved spirits bore a measure of pain, they harbored no hatred or resentment. Instead, many were filled with joy, quietly awaiting the moment they would dissolve into nothingness. Within some of the spirits, there even floated a speck of azure light. The youth's complexion gradually turned ashen, looking uglier by the second. The people of this entire city had been fed and clothed, their intellect awakened and taught to read. Their wishes had been fulfilled, their minds untroubled, and they looked upon death as returning home. Attaining any single one of these conditions could generate mortal luck. Now, the people of this remote little county possessed every single one. Without even thinking, it was obvious that karmic luck had undeniably blossomed among them. If that were all, it might be tolerated, but quite a few people in the town had actually attained enlightenment in universal truths, establishing a connection with the Heavenly Dao! The youth did not know what grand truth of heaven and earth they had grasped, and he was even genuinely curious: what principle could be understood so easily that even simple peasants could comprehend it? At this moment, the youth was both shocked and furious. A city of karmic luck—his subordinates had actually slaughtered it! This cup of lethal poison had been drunk down to the dregs by himself, without wasting a single drop. The youth suddenly let out a muffled groan, and two streams of clear mucus trickled from his nose. At this moment, he finally understood that his side was not omnipotent. Someone could watch no longer and had begun to strike back. *** In Qingming, the Sixth Princess skipped up to Wei Yuan holding an official dispatch and set it down. Wei Yuan said, "I told you to pick out the important dispatches every day. Why did you only bring one today?" "I just thought this one looked pleasing to the eye." Intrigued, Wei Yuan took the document, opened it, and read it carefully. The dispatch introduced a brand-new primary Dao Foundation, which likewise came with an accompanying dharma idol. However, an extraordinary Dao Foundation Grand Ceremony needed to be held within ten days, and Wei Yuan had to preside over it in person to promote it with all his might. Wei Yuan glanced at the almanac on his desk. It was currently the beginning of the third month. He read further about the new Dao Foundation and its accompanying dharma idol. The new dharma idol was named: All Life Burgeons.