Chapter 108 The Master is Back
June 18th
The fire dragon screamed in pain and finally broke free from the roof. It soared into the air, but before it could fly very high, flames spurted out from the place where its neck was cut.
It wailed like this and exploded above everyone's heads, breaking into pieces like a brilliant firework .
The emperor was hiding outside the Chongzheng Hall, surrounded by a group of eunuchs, and saw this scene clearly.
This was a scene that was enough to make him die. Under the shining star, the Chiwen that once carried the destiny of the Song Dynasty was resurrected, but was then killed. The assassin who sneaked into the palace did not even assassinate himself, but killed the dragon. It can be seen that his target was not even the emperor, but the destiny of the Song Dynasty.
Since he was young, Empress Dowager Zhangxian had warned him very subtly that the greatest mistake the late emperor made in his life was that he abused the Mandate of Heaven, which resulted in the wrath of God and the resentment of the people, and almost destroyed the Song Dynasty.
The Empress Dowager Zhangxian obviously knew the whole thing, but she never explained it too clearly. She was well versed in the way of politics, that is, those in high positions should never explain a thing too clearly. Therefore, the emperor did not believe in the heavenly book since he was young, and only regarded it as a political game. As for the destiny of heaven, he still believed in it. Since Dong Zhongshu, the game of heaven and man's induction has still subtly maintained the game between the monarch and his subjects.
The incident of the heavenly book created by the previous emperor did not arouse much suspicion among the people. In fact, the people have always been keen on such bizarre stories. Even if there were voices of doubt, they were quickly drowned out.
The fundamental problem is that the late emperor opened a door full of temptations but unknowns. He did temporarily suppress the opposition with this heavenly book, almost jumping out of the rules of the game between the monarch and his subjects, but it also reminded the opposition. Therefore, it is only a matter of time before potential opponents follow suit.
Sure enough, not long after the Heavenly Book, the Hat Monster appeared in the capitals of the north and south, causing panic. The new political checks and balances appeared in a terrifying and ridiculous way. The ecological niche for checks and balances on the monarchy is not vacant. You pretend to be auspicious and divine will, and he fabricates disasters and immorality. You want to brag about benevolent governance and force the new policy, and he forces you to confess your mistakes and let the new policy die in the womb.
Political opponents do not disappear out of thin air, they just upgrade their tactics. After the fierce battle among the upper class brought in supernatural powers, the whole Song Dynasty was in chaos.
Since the Emperor ascended the throne, he has always thought himself to be alert to such precedents and has never mentioned the Book of Heaven or Destiny. He knows very well that as long as he uses them, there will be a price to pay.
However, in order to promote the reform, the door opened by the previous emperor exuded an irresistible attraction . So the emperor finally decided to use supernatural power in a restrained way, and did not make a bold move like finding the heavenly book on the palace gate, but just chose to use some of the Sitianjian's explanations of astronomy.
Every time he passed by Zuo Chengtian Xiangfu Gate, he would look at the lifelike Chiwen with its head raised to the sky, and would lament that the late emperor had played too big back then and should have been more sensible.
However, the backlash still came. Even though the previous hat monster and prophecy were just forged by someone with ulterior motives. However, the ominous nemesis was obviously not something that could be forged by human power. Neither the court officials who opposed the reform nor the Liao Dynasty who were eyeing it covetously could do it.
And the picture of hell that suddenly appeared under everyone's eyes, there is no room for explanation without metaphysics. It just grew out of the white wall, with blood and fire. Even Shen Kuo, the great hero who shot off Wang Ze's head and explained the collapse of the Sheji Altar, has not yet given any non-supernatural explanation. It can be seen that conspiracy and supernatural powers can exist at the same time.
After witnessing with his own eyes that the dragon actually came back to life, the official knew that conspiracy and miracle were still intertwined. There might be a part of political conspiracy hidden in it. Otherwise, why would a mortal dragon slayer appear?
A piece of scale that was blown off by the explosion even fell in front of the Chongzheng Hall. A eunuch picked it up and brought it to the emperor. He picked it up with trembling hands, carefully observing and touching it. This is not stone. It is soft and hot, and you can clearly feel the texture of dragon scales.
The official sat down on the ground, his face as pale as death.
The dragon slayer Wang Sheng died with his eyes open. He was the closest to the fire dragon, so the power of the dragon's explosion knocked him down from the air. He was already dead when he fell to the ground, with a strange smile on his face.
Shen Kuo and Xu Chong stayed at the scene to clean up the mess, including collecting the bodies of all the dead and taking them out of the palace to the Military Headquarters. Bao Xianggong had been waiting there for a long time. He listened carefully to the two of them telling what happened in the palace from last night to this morning, and he was silent for a long time.
He knew very well that all these things would spread in the streets and alleys of Kaifeng, teahouses and taverns before noon today, and of course, they would be exaggerated. At such a time when the astronomical phenomenon enveloped the capital, people's hearts were bound to be unstable. Perhaps the instability of people's hearts was not the most important thing. The more terrible thing was, where would the frightened officials' suspicions fall?
Since the witchcraft incident of Emperor Wu of Han, every time such supernatural events occurred, the emperor would be suspicious and kill. For the time being, the most likely person to be suspected is Empress Cao.
Several bodies were placed in the morgue, but they couldn't be kept for long in the hottest days of June, so they had to be quickly autopsied. Wang Sheng's body was blown into pieces, so it was impossible to do an autopsy, so they had to be buried first.
The remaining people died in different ways, some with knife wounds and some with poison.
Lao Bao stood beside the coroner and watched the whole process until someone found a mask from the dead palace maid.
It was an extremely ferocious mask, made of copper, and clearly resembled some evil spirit.
Shen Kuo noticed the flash of fear on Xu Chong's face, as if he recognized the mask, but he didn't say it.
Bao Zheng took the mask, looked at it carefully for a while, and shook his head. It was obvious that he didn't recognize it either.
"Sir, please remember that this is the mask of Lord Di Qing." said a policeman nearby.
"Di Shuxiang? Are you sure?"
"I'm not sure, I just think it looks like it. A few years ago, I went to the Prime Minister's residence and saw this mask of Lord Di. It is said that the Prime Minister wore it when he went into battle. It was used to scare the Xixia soldiers."
"It happened several years ago, do you still remember it clearly?"
"Of course I can't remember it clearly, but I saw a crack on the left corner of the mask at that time. The people in the Prime Minister's Mansion said that it was left by the arrow shot that year. I think this mask not only looks like it, but also has this crack."
Lao Bao took it and looked at it carefully, and indeed there was a crack on his left eye.
"The mask of Di Shudeng's age? Why is it on this palace maid?"
"Sir, maybe it's the same as the prince consort's magic pen. Did they steal it?" Shen Kuo said.
"Even if I steal it, what's the use?"
Shen Kuo was unable to answer, so Bao Zheng turned to Xu Chong for advice. However, Xu Chong just froze for a moment and said nothing, seeming to be distracted.
There was nothing suspicious on the other male corpses, but they all had wolf head tattoos. However, they were not from the Maitreya Sect, but might be from the Liao State. Shen Kuo already .
Lao Bao had no conclusion and could only enter the palace wearing the mask and report the only progress to the frightened emperor.
Shen Kuo also felt that he was at a loss, as if a huge stone was pressing on his heart. He wanted to find Xu Chong to relax and have a drink, but he couldn't find Xu Chong. He was still there when he was performing the autopsy just now, but he disappeared when he turned around.
So he could only go out for a walk by himself to relieve his worries.
As expected, when they got to the streets, they found out that the strange things that happened in the palace had spread all over the streets, and the people in Kaifeng were panicking again. All kinds of rumors began to spread wildly again.
This is of course also to blame the decision made by the government at the time. After Yu Jing was burned to death, the government could have taken advantage of the situation to expose the magic and techniques of the Maitreya sect and solved the problem once and for all. However, the government felt that they could make use of this incident, so they allowed the rumor that magic defeated magic to spread, and used this to prove that the Song Dynasty still had the Tao and that there were masters to help it.
If the emperor learned any lesson from the previous emperor's forgery of the heavenly book, it was that he learned nothing in the end.
Shen Kuo thought about the strange things that had happened since the guest star appeared, and unknowingly walked to the front of Daxiangguo Temple. It was still very lively here, although there were strange phenomena and strange cases recently, and everyone said that the Song Dynasty was going to fall again. But the people in Kaifeng City were also tired, and they did not flee in large numbers. Seeing that the business of this market was not good.
When Shen Kuo looked up, he saw the familiar pig head meat sign in front of him fluttering in the wind. He was startled. Could it be that Master Huailiang was back?
He hurried to the door of the shop, but saw another thin monk sitting by the stove. Xiao Yi was there, and he saw Shen Kuo at a glance.
Xiao Yi quickly sang Fei Ni and came out to bow: "Sir, if you have time, why don't you come and sit here?"
"Oh, I saw that there was a cover here, and I thought Master Huailiang was back." He sighed and asked again: "Is there any news from Master Huailiang?"
"Where is the news? I can't write either. Even if the master misses me, he won't write to me."
"Hey..." Shen Kuo sighed, "Why did Brother Xiao Yi come back again?"
"The Daxiangguo Temple hired a new master to open the business, but no one knew how to entertain in the store, so they sent someone to find me in the countryside. My farming skills had become rusty, and I could only handle the business here, so I came back. But the business here is not as good as before. The new master's skills are not as good as Master Huailiang's." Xiao Yi said in a low voice.
"It seems that I was also overjoyed for nothing. I thought that Master Huailiang had returned and had many difficult questions to ask him. However..."
"Problem? Is it that star in the east that can be seen in the daytime that is causing the trouble?"
"Yes. It's a pity that Master is not here. I have some related cases that I want to consult with recently."
"Hey, it's just an irrelevant star outside the Milky Way. I don't know how long ago the light appeared. With your talent, you will definitely be able to decipher it."
"I hope so."
"Sir, there are guests inside again. I'll go get busy first."
"Just do your thing."
Shen Kuo went out and returned on his own, thinking how good it would be if Huai Liang was still there, and suddenly stopped. He suddenly remembered that Xiao Yi had just said that he could not read, but then he said that the guest star was nothing but an irrelevant star outside the Milky Way, and that the light appeared no matter how long ago. These words did not sound like something an illiterate person would say.
"Could it be that Xiao Yi secretly went to Tianning Temple in Hebei? But that's impossible."
He immediately returned and watched Xiao Yi busying around from a distance. He suddenly guessed that Huai Liang was most likely back, otherwise Xiao Yi would not have said what he had just said. However, he probably asked Xiao Yi not to tell him?
He did not want to interrogate Xiao Yi, but just waited from a distance. After the twilight hour, the shop was still open. Xiao Yi said goodbye to the chef first, probably to leave the city before the gates were closed, and took a bag of pork with him. Shen Kuo remembered that Xiao Yi left the city through the west gate last time, but this time he went to the north, which seemed very strange. So he followed him secretly.
Xiao Yi went out of the north gate and headed straight for the Daxiangguo Temple's courtyard outside the city. In fact, it was just a vegetable field that sent vegetables to the temple. He had climbed the nearby fire watchtower a few months ago, so he was very familiar with the terrain of the north of the city.
But Xiao Yi went straight into the broken wall of the vegetable garden. It was already dark, and I couldn't see too far, but I could see him go into the broken house in the vegetable garden, and after a while he came out and walked straight west.
Shen Kuo secretly went to the side of the shabby house and looked inside. He saw pork and a wine pot on the table, but no one was inside. He went around the back of the house and saw a tall monk shoveling soil in the vegetable garden. Judging from his figure, who else could it be but Huai Liang? He wanted to rush in and shout "Master". However, after thinking it over again and again, he stopped.
Huailiang came back from Hebei and secretly looked after the vegetable garden here, obviously not wanting to be involved in worldly affairs. Monks are outsiders, should I drag him into the sea of suffering and into the secular world?
But Huailiang had dug the pit and planted a willow sapling from the side. Then someone started to chant: I only planted you, my mortal enemy, as a young seedling, just to settle this hatred. If you grow up and become a useful person, and your enemies in your past life uproot you, it will have nothing to do with me. It was just that you did evil in your past life, and I am helping you to eliminate your karma...
When Shen Kuo heard him talking in a weird voice, he couldn't bear to stop him, so he secretly retreated. He didn't know whether what he did was right or wrong, so he could only go back to the Military Headquarters to see if Xu Chong had returned.
