The Heirloom Seal of the Realm

Murong Fu arranged for Qin Zheng and Duan Yu to stay at Canhe Manor. After that, with A'Zhu and A'Bi for company, the two of them began to get familiar with the island. As they walked, Qin Zheng suddenly drew a geomantic compass from his robes. His feet traced the Seven Stars Steps as he chanted: "Seek the dragon vein, read the compass, and watch the hills that coil; Each coil of hill is another guarded pass. If the gate is fastened with a thousand locks, Princes and nobles must dwell in this place." When he finished, his gaze locked onto a hill. "Miss A'Zhu, there ought to be an ownerless grave over there, shouldn't there?" A'Zhu looked at him in fright. "That is the grave of our old master, Murong Bo. It is not ownerless. Don't you dare get any crooked ideas!" Qin Zheng shook his head. "No. There is definitely an ownerless grave over there. If you don't believe me, you are quite welcome to come with me and see." As he spoke, he led A'Zhu and the others up the slope. Sure enough, they saw Murong Bo's grave. But Qin Zheng did not stop there. He crossed the slope and came to an earthen mound buried under weeds. They raised their eyes and looked. A broken tombstone stood slanted in the soil. It was unmistakably a solitary grave. A'Zhu said, somewhat surprised, "There really is a grave!" With a thoroughly expert air, Qin Zheng picked up a clod of earth, crushed it between his fingers, and sniffed it. "By the look of it, this ought to be a commoner's tomb from the end of the Tang. I expect there is nothing good inside. Let us go back." A'Bi gave Qin Zheng a thoughtful look, found an excuse, and went to Murong Fu's study. In the study, Murong Fu was discussing Qin Zheng with Deng Baichuan and the others. Deng Baichuan's brows were tightly knit. "Young Master, this Qin Zheng's infamy in the jianghu is hardly any better than that of the Four Great Evils. If we keep him here, it will harm the name of our Murong family." Bao Butong rocked his head. "Not so, not so. Qin Zheng has tens of thousands of mounted bandits under him. If we can take him into our own service, then the Young Master's great cause may be accomplished!" Murong Fu nodded. "Third Brother Bao is right. Qin Zheng's power is immense. Used well, he is a help. Even if we cannot win him over, we must stay on good terms with him. "Still, one must never be without a mind to guard against others. Feng Bo'e, your lightness skill is good. Keep a quiet watch on him, and see whether he has truly come to help us." A'Bi stepped in. She had taken in every word, and she said, "Young Master, I may know what he came to Canhe Manor to do." Murong Fu said, "Oh? Speak, then. What is his aim?" A'Bi said, "Qin Zheng used a geomantic compass to find a solitary grave, and said it was a commoner's tomb from the end of the Tang. "My martial uncle, the master craftsman Feng A'san, is a master of earthworks, timber, and mechanisms. Of carpentry and hidden triggers, there is nothing at which he does not excel, and he has studied tombs deeply as well. I also learned a smattering under him. "From what I observed, that tomb is by no means a commoner's tomb. I suspect Qin Zheng came specially for it." "A grave..." Murong Fu pondered a while, then said, "If it can draw Qin Zheng here in person to rob a tomb, the identity of its master must be out of the ordinary. Eldest Brother Deng, go and stall Qin Zheng. I will take A'Bi and the others to that grave and see for ourselves." Deng Baichuan answered, went out, and set off to look for Qin Zheng. Led by A'Bi, Murong Fu and the others came before the grave and began to dig with iron spades. Before long a coffin was exposed. They opened it. The bones inside had already rotted away, leaving only the gold, silver, and jewels buried with the dead. Besides those, there was a bundle wrapped in yellow cloth. Murong Fu opened the bundle, and his pupils shrank before he could help it. A jade seal appeared before them all. Above it, five chi dragons coiled and wove through one another in three-dimensional openwork, the patterns dense and intricate. On the face of the seal, eight characters were carved in bird-and-insect seal script: Received the Mandate of Heaven; long life and eternal prosperity! "The Heirloom Seal of the Realm?!" Murong Fu cried out despite himself. It was as if his whole body had been struck by lightning. Bao Butong said in delight, "One corner of this seal is chipped and mended with gold, exactly as the ancient texts record! The Mandate of Heaven rests with the Young Master. The day the restoration of the kingdom succeeds is not far off!" Murong Fu came back to himself from the shock. Doubt knitted his brow. "How could the Heirloom Seal of the Realm be buried here?" A'Bi's sharp eyes caught the writing on the yellow cloth. "Young Master, look. There is writing on the silk!" Murong Fu spread the yellow cloth in his hands. Sure enough, it was covered with dense, tiny characters. He read them carefully through, and in an instant he understood. "So that was it. Back then, the Later Tang emperor Li Congke pretended to set himself ablaze together with his whole family and the Heirloom Seal of the Realm. After the fire, everyone searched the ruins, and there was no trace of the seal. "In truth, he had Crown Prince Li Chongmei escape with the seal. The master of this grave is Crown Prince Li Chongmei! "No wonder Qin Zheng came to Canhe Manor to rob a tomb. He came for this Heirloom Seal of the Realm!" Only then did Bao Butong remember Qin Zheng. His eyes shifted. "Young Master, as I see it, we had best fill this grave back in at once, lest Qin Zheng discover that the seal has fallen into our hands." Murong Fu smiled. "Third Brother Bao is careful after all. I do not fear Qin Zheng, but I also have no wish to fall out with him in the open. When the time comes, if he cannot find the seal and asks about it, we need only pretend not to know." Bao Butong gave a low chuckle. Then everyone worked together to fill the grave back in. Afterward A'Bi scattered a layer of the old soil, laid weeds over it, and little by little restored it to its former appearance. Deep in the still of night, Duan Yu saw that Qin Zheng had not yet gone to sleep. He glanced at him and asked, "Hero Qin, when are you going to rob the tomb?" Qin Zheng said in surprise, "Who told you I was going to rob a tomb?" Duan Yu said, brimming with confidence, "In the daytime, the way you looked at that grave was like looking at a pretty girl. "And you even brought a geomantic compass and a shovel. You must have come for that grave!" A smile full of meaning appeared on Qin Zheng's face. "You are rather clever. A pity you guessed wrong. I did not come to rob a tomb. I came to give Murong Fu a gift. "What is buried in that grave is the gift I am giving him." "Huh?" Duan Yu was utterly at sea, unable to get his mind around it. "What do you mean? Why is it I don't quite follow?" Qin Zheng asked in return, "Do you know how to make someone take a fake for a real treasure?" Duan Yu thought for a moment. "Make the fake as real as one can?" Qin Zheng smiled. "That is the most basic part. If you want someone to believe it true, the best way is to let him think he found that treasure by his own ability." "Three years ago, I secretly sent people to build a fake tomb on this little island and bury something in it. There is a master of tomb robbing in A'Bi's sect. In the daytime, that person was bound to have seen that the tomb was no commoner's tomb. "Once they dig up what I placed in the coffin, they will naturally believe it is real." Duan Yu stared, dumbstruck with astonishment. "It can be done like that? Hero Qin, what did you put in the coffin?" "The Heirloom Seal of the First Emperor of Qin." "?!" Duan Yu's thoughts were thrown into disorder. Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, he said, "The Heirloom Seal of the Realm has always been the symbol of legitimate rule under heaven. Now that the seal has appeared in the world, it is bound to cause a sensation throughout the realm. I fear even the courts of the various states will be unable to resist stepping in. Hero Qin, this time you have truly made a grand stroke! "I am a little curious. How exactly did Young Master Murong offend you, that you would aim at him like this?" Qin Zheng opened his bundle and began assembling the shovel, speaking as he worked. "For the restoration of the kingdom, the Murong family has secretly stirred up strife among many states, thrown the martial world of the Central Plains into disorder, and done no small number of things of that sort. "To begin with, no one was barring their great cause of restoring the kingdom. They might have usurped a throne, or raised a righteous army and simply got on with it. But all they do are sordid things too shameful to be set in the open. They are just like a shit-stirring stick. The very sight of them is sickening. "The Murong Xianbei, the State Preceptor of Tubo, the Western Xia First Rank Hall—all of them think the jianghu of our Central Plains is weak and easily bullied... "Since that is so, I will play a big game with them!" By then the shovel in his hands was fully assembled. He stood, ready to go out. Duan Yu glanced at the sharp black shovel in his hand and asked in puzzlement, "Hasn't your aim already been achieved? Why are you still going to rob a tomb?" Qin Zheng said, "If you put on a play, play it all the way through. That way it looks more real. Sleep first. No need to wait for me to come back."