Chapter 159

The tables have turned in an instant. The great swordsman Namgungsin’s skills were unparalleled. At the same time, his own imperial troops were also outstanding.
Their individual prowess had surpassed that of the Aguidan, and they were overwhelming the Aguidan in numbers as they executed the most famous sword technique of the Southern Palace, the Great Changing Swordless Sword Technique.
At the same time, the bundles of blue thunderbolts and the mighty energy emanating from the tip of Nangong Yue’s sword were explosive. It was unbelievable to see the power of a man who was over eighty years old.
Song Linzheng had the power to move seven hundred monkfish, but not the leadership skills to do so. Leadership is one of the most important skills and abilities of a commander.
And there is only one man who has it.
The one man in my line of sight was indecisive.
Decision is a difficult thing to make. Especially when it involves the lives and deaths of people you’ve shared your life with.
“Brother.”
“……Namgung.”
I knew it, so I opened my mouth to Huang Tianhou.
“Don’t think about anything right now, just…….”
I turn around and stare at a spot. There was a reason why Huang Tianhou had to move and make a decision. It was Princess Zhu Yingyoung.
“I’m only thinking about you. You have a purpose here, a reason for being here. The very existence of the princess is the reason you have to make a decision.”
“……Princess.”
“Emperor or no emperor, Hongqian or no Hongqian. After all, you’ve made it this far with loyalty to the imperial family as your cornerstone.”
So live solely for the princess.
That’s what I said. I assured him that with the loss of Aguidan, he could not have a clearer impetus to live his life.
At my words, Huang Tianhou turned to look at Princess Zhu.
“……That’s right.”
And he was right. His pupils, gray with the division of the Aguidan and the betrayal of a trusted subordinate, began to regain their color.
“You’re right, Namgung, this time you’ve led me to…….”
“You realized that too late.”
It wasn’t a rebuke; it was simply a courtesy I extended to Huang Tianhou.
To me, Huang Tianhou was my father in a previous life. He was the only one in my previous life who looked at me with colorful eyes. No matter how many mistakes he made, no matter how many times he wronged me, I could understand.
“Why do you forgive me?”
Even if he hates me for taking all of the attention and heart of the Princess of Silk.
I have received grace. Therefore, even if he broke his duty to me and abandoned my trust, I could understand if he chose the path that led to Kangxi for the sake of the princess.
“Because in a previous life, you saved me.”
It’s the best he could have chosen, and he knows the benefits of it are not for him.
“Not like some fat……. No, you didn’t ask the right question earlier.”
“What do you mean?”
“How you learned the truth about the Huang family, the secret about Song Linzheng. Don’t say you learned it through the Huang family. I have my own channels of information.”
“Is that what you want to know, too?”
“Yes, I am. I am curious. You see, I’m supposed to be suspicious of everything now.”
Brilliant. The question still hasn’t been answered. He probably won’t move until his doubts are resolved.
Make excuses.
I’ll make excuses.
Just as I’m thinking about it,
“It’s me, Mr. Huang.”
The words came from an unexpected place. It was a princess.
“Princess.”
Zhu Youngyoung interrupted me and Huang Tianhou.
“I’ve been talking to Mr. Ban Confucius.”
“You mean the princess?”
To Huang Tianhao’s astonished eyes, Princess Zhu nodded.
“What, don’t you believe me, that a human being who grew up as a plant in a greenhouse like me is an idiot who knows nothing?”
“That’s not what I meant…….”
“In order for the Emperor and the Hongjian to enjoy each other’s power, they made fools of many people and made sacrifices so that they wouldn’t lose any of their own. It’s a matter that shouldn’t be understood, shouldn’t be acknowledged. In my frustration, I mentioned it to Grand Duke Nan Gongban. It’s not like he didn’t know about it, and I’m sure that even he, who has eyes and ears, was vaguely aware of it, but he just dismissed it as a lie, and dismissed it as a lie.”
Huang Tianhou pauses. His eyes bore into mine as if to ask if it was true, and with all due respect to my brother, I couldn’t think of a better answer.
“That’s right, the princess mentioned it to me.”
“Ouch, if it’s false…….”
“Uncle Huang.”
Princess Zhu Yingyoung opens her mouth. She looks up and sees the divided Aguidan and the imperial army, swords drawn fiercely between them.
“Capture him alive right now and bring him before my eyes. There would be no greater shame than to capture the author of this treason, at least not by our hands.”
“I take the name of …….”
He made his decision at the word of the princess. His expression is as resolute as his decision. After bowing his head to Princess Zhu, Huang Tianhou slowly raised his body,
Heaven and earth are distinguished. What is noble and noble? What is humble and base? What is noble makes you humble. What is humble is noble. The eternal scriptures of heaven and earth are the universal meaning of ancient and modern times.
The relationship between heaven and earth is as clear-cut as the relationship between heaven and earth; the heavenly is high and precious, and the earthly is low and lowly; the noble serves the lowly, and the lowly serves the noble, and this is the universal rule between heaven and earth, and it is the rule of the ages.
Huang Tianhou did not stop there.
That’s why Heaven has a physical body, and those who issue orders are also ministers. Those who regulate the yuan, Chen Shan, and those who shut down evil will also do their best to achieve perfect governance. (That’s why Heaven has a physical body, and those who issue orders are also ministers. Those who adjust the vitality and Chen Shan are good at shutting down the evil will also do their best to work together to achieve perfect governance when encountering).”
For this reason, the tianzhi is the one who gives orders by practicing the principles of the original law, and the vassal is the one who helps the king to do good and prevents evil. When kings and subjects meet, they should each fulfill their duties to the utmost and honor each other to make the best government.
This is called the Dongmeng Precepts and the Loyalty to the Lord, and I have come to realize one thing from those words.
Huang Tianhu is here and now.
He is speaking as Princess Zhu Yingyong, not Emperor T’ai Muzei Zhu Yueyi.
That he is not following the Heavenly Emperor Tae Muzei and Lord Yeo Il, but Princess Zhu Yingyong.
And his conclusions and decisions convinced the three hundred or so Aggies who followed him.
Matching Huang Tianhu’s stride, their steps are unified and their movements are directed as one. The fierce spear blades glowed even brighter as they moved forward.
Without disrupting the Great Spearless Sword Formation, they begin to drive the seven hundred or so monkeys across the vast expanse of land.
In a flowing, natural motion, the momentum shifts to this side, and the aura from Huang Tianhu’s entire body spreads out in all directions like wings.
There was one person who could instantly control the atmosphere here, and his name was Huang Tianhou.
I turned around and moved the Xinxing toward the one person who was hiding his body like a snail shell in response to the rapidly changing atmosphere.
Tap, tap, tap!
Stepping on the shoulder of one of the Aggies, I leapt into the air, spraying my sword without missing a beat.
The Agudan’s spears pointed at me in the face of the cluster of ki, but it was no use. I deftly deflected the blades with my sword face, then flicked my waist and dodged them with a deformed upper body movement. At the same time, I slithered through the thin air with the suppleness of a snake.
“Oh, no, wait!”
Song Linzheng’s panicked voice could be heard.
“I’ve been thinking about the Monkfish Sect without the Netherworld Lake.”
She slashed at the black cloth in one swift motion.
“You call me father, but you are not a Zhongyuan. Now that you’ve been rejected by the Zhongyuan, and your position in the imperial family has been reduced to a lowly one, I want you to take this golden cord, and I’ll take your place as vice-captain. This will be the first time in history that a Zhongyuan will be the deputy leader of the Aguidan, an independent organization that not even the Emperor can control.”
Fuqiao!
Something fluttered in the air where the sword had swept, followed by a scream.
“Off, off, off!”
Song Linzheng’s left arm, extending from his shoulder blade, leaped into the air like a powerful carp leaping out of the water.
At the same time, he used the centrifugal force of his rotating body to force the sword rod into the screaming creature’s mouth.
Quadrup!
It shattered all the teeth in his mouth,
a bone-chilling sound burst out in all directions. The sound of his teeth crunching in his mouth was unpleasant to my ears.
“A dog that bites its master should be muzzled. Isn’t that right, Song Linzheng?”
With the mercilessness of twenty-eight teeth crushed together, he turned to face me with dilated pupils. Saliva dripped from the corners of his mouth, and I could only stare at the gums that came with it as I pulled out the ebony hilt and pushed it away.
Then, in the freezing air, I scanned the monkfish troupe around me. They had seen countless horrors in their lifetime of battle, but they had never seen a man killed in such a ruthless fashion.
“Come to your senses now. Recognize now who your leader is.”
Flash!
The trembling of the spear tip stops, and the sound of the oud echoes in the monkfish’s minds. The tongue-twister, the confounder of the Order, is gone. To the divided monkfish,
“I do not wish to harm you. Lower your spears.”
Huang Tianhou’s cry is heard, his voice resounding with history. A man with the strength to overwhelm seven hundred Aggies with three hundred men.
“Center yourself now and follow me. Everything is due to my lack, to my immorality, so follow me all the days of your life, pointing fingers at me, cursing and spitting at me.”
He realizes that he has sinned and asks the divided Agudan to join him once again. The spear points of the seven hundred Agudans slowly fall away from him as he bears the punishment for their sins alone.
“Trust me,” he says, ”and follow me, lest you become scarecrows.”