Chapter Ninety-Eight: Ignorance Is Truly Terrifying, Part Two

In antiquity, the punishment of implicating nine generations of kin meant that when one man committed a capital offense, his family members were made to bear criminal responsibility with him. This was known simply as being “implicated,” and to be so implicated meant that a single death sentence was expanded into a shared death sentence for the whole clan.

This monstrous penalty, utterly against human nature yet designed to uproot every last shoot, erase the power of vengeance, and run counter to the very principle of merciful sentencing that ancient rulers themselves loved to praise, endured for ages in China without ever truly fading.

The nine generations referred to were: four paternal branches, three maternal branches, and two affinal branches.

The four paternal branches meant implicating four generations of the father’s line: the great-grandfather’s generation, the great-great-grandfather’s generation, the grandfather’s generation, and the father’s generation, along with the families of paternal aunts, sisters, and daughters.

The three maternal branches meant implicating four generations of the mother’s line: the great-grandmother’s generation, the great-great-grandmother’s generation, the grandmother’s generation, and the mother’s generation, along with the families of maternal grandfathers and maternal uncles.

The two affinal branches meant implicating four generations of the wife’s family: the wife’s great-grandmother’s generation, great-great-grandmother’s generation, grandmother’s generation, and mother’s generation, along with the husband’s in-laws.

“Now heads will roll. The fate of your nine generations lies in your single thought. If you confess honestly, I can report it to the court and seek leniency. If you resist and force my hand, I’m sure the prisons of the Northern Bureau of the Brocade Guards have plenty of ways to pry open your mouth. Ah, yes—you may not know what office the Northern Bureau is, but surely you know who the Brocade Guards are.” Yang Xin’s voice was cold and vicious.

At the mention of the Northern Bureau, the prison, and the Brocade Guards—names that could frighten a child into silence—the so-called Magistrate Zhang was so terrified that he lost control of his bowels and bladder on the spot. His face went ashen, and he asked in a trembling voice, “Who exactly are you?!”

“You ask who I am?!” Yang Xin thundered, his voice shaking everyone present so hard their hearts seemed to leap. An air of upright authority, vast as heaven and earth, as enduring as justice itself, burst forth from his body.

At that moment, a beam of sunlight fell upon Yang Xin, cloaking him in a layer of golden radiance. Behind him, the others stood with swords in hand, the scabbards reflecting the sun so brightly that they too seemed faintly gilded.

Suddenly, a fierce realization flashed through Magistrate Zhang’s mind like lightning. The official surnamed Zhang cried at the top of his lungs, “A secret inspection in disguise! You are an imperial envoy!”

“This humble commoner Zhang Laosan kowtows before Your Majesty! Long live the Emperor! Ten thousand years! Ten thousand times ten thousand years!” Zhang Laosan began frantically smashing his head against the ground toward Yang Xin.

“Sir, p-please...” Liu Zhengfeng asked cautiously, “are you really the imperial envoy?”

“Hahahaha! Hahahahaha!” Yang Xin threw his head back and laughed until he was nearly out of breath. Pointing at Liu Zhengfeng, he said between laughs, “You call yourselves cultured and yet know absolutely nothing! Ignorance is truly terrifying. Since the founding of this dynasty, there has never been any sacred imperial sword of authority, and there never will be one. At most, there is the Emperor’s Sword.

“If there truly were a secret inspection in disguise, that would be the duty of the Brocade Guards from the Northern Bureau. What imperial envoy? What sacred imperial sword? Is it supposed to strike down foolish sovereigns above and treacherous ministers below? You lot have watched too many plays. If you have the time, read a few books!” Yang Xin laughed aloud.

The people present were all deeply embarrassed. Just moments before, nearly everyone had believed Yang Xin to be an imperial envoy, and yet now it turned out that... it had all been false.

Even Yue Buqun was blushing furiously. He called himself the Gentleman Sword; a gentleman ought to be educated. And yet even he had nearly believed Yang Xin was an imperial envoy. How disgraceful.

A sudden thirst for knowledge welled up in everyone present.

Liu Zhengfeng let out a long sigh, realizing that his first approach would not work for the time being. He quickly bowed and said, “Please save my whole family’s lives, Martial Uncle!”

For once, Liu Zhengfeng became clever.

He was not some naive innocent. He knew Yang Xin must have his reasons for doing this, but whatever those reasons might be, they were surely better than being saddled with the charge of colluding with the demonic cult and then seeing his entire household slaughtered. At that point, Liu Zhengfeng was cornered beyond retreat, so he might as well ask for help directly.

“The Five Great Sword Schools are branches of the same root. If Master Liu is in danger, how could my Mount Hua School stand by and do nothing?” Yang Xin said hurriedly. Whatever the case, the high moral ground had to be secured first. Then he added, “Zuo Lengchan has gone too far this time. Even if you want to unite the schools and kill one chicken to frighten the monkeys, you can’t use such cruel methods. If there’s anything, say it openly and we can discuss it like civilized men...”

“Zuo Lengchan wants to wipe out my Liu Zhengfeng family. Since he has no mercy, I need not show him any either. From this day on, I sever all ties with the Mount Song School. Henceforth, Liu Zhengfeng will place himself under the command of Mount Hua.” Liu Zhengfeng beat his chest and declared without hesitation. When it came to his own life and death, when it came to choosing sides, he was strikingly decisive.

“We are all one family here; there’s no need for such distance. Saving Master Liu’s family is actually no hard task. One might even say it’s as easy as lifting a hand.” Yang Xin said with great confidence. With a wave of his hand, four bright red Blood Bodhi fruit appeared on the table.

“Qu Yang, Liu Zhengfeng, Mi Weiyi, Xiang Daxian—eat them. First, let’s raise your inner strength a little.”

Without another word, the four each took one fruit and swallowed it at once. As soon as the Blood Bodhi entered their bellies, they felt a powerful surge of inner energy rise from their dantian. They hurriedly sat cross-legged to regulate their breathing and draw in that vast, surging force.

After a long while, the four, now much stronger, rose to their feet and bowed respectfully once more to Yang Xin and Yue Buqun.

“The key to breaking this deadlock is neither you, Liu Zhengfeng, nor Qu Yang. It lies with Mi Weiyi and Xiang Daxian. To put it bluntly, looking at Mount Heng right now, the strongest among you are Mi Weiyi and Xiang Daxian. Would Master Liu agree?” Yang Xin asked calmly.

The Evil-Repelling Sword Manual itself was a fast-track demonic art. In the original story, Lin Pingzhi had practiced it for barely more than ten days and was already able to contend with Yu Canghai and the Northern Desert Camel, Mu Gaofeng. Had Lin Pingzhi possessed more experience of the martial world, he could have easily killed the allied forces of Yu Canghai and Mu Gaofeng and withdrawn unscathed.

The power and corruption of the Evil-Repelling Sword Manual were plain to see. And now Yang Xin had forcibly boosted Mi Weiyi and Xiang Daxian’s inner strength with the Blood Bodhi, compensating for their weaknesses. At this point, apart from being slightly less seasoned than those old foxes of the martial world, the two had already reached the threshold of the second tier of masters.

Right then, Mi Weiyi and Xiang Daxian were both making coy, maidenly gestures with their hands to their chests. The increase in inner power had made them vastly stronger, so how could they not be delighted? But two grown men striking such dainty poses as if they were delicate young women only made the men present feel as though they had swallowed a fly.

If Yang Xin had not already said that the key to breaking the situation lay with those two renegades, Liu Zhengfeng would likely have cleaned house on the spot.

Come to think of it, whether the Evil-Repelling Sword Manual or the Sunflower Manual, the end point of such sinister arts seemed to be the flourishing of all things and the transformation of man into heaven and earth. But what exactly did that mean? Could it be that, once cultivated to the extreme, one truly became a woman? Hmm... should I forcibly raise Mi Weiyi and Xiang Daxian’s strength again? Yang Xin thought to himself.