Every man in the Hall of Cultivated Heart looked to the Xuan Emperor.
The Xuan Emperor’s brows drew together slightly, and he fixed his eyes on Immortal Master Qiu. “You are certain?”
Immortal Master Qiu said quickly, “This small immortal stakes the head on his own shoulders on it.”
The Xuan Emperor was silent for a long time.
To be told to kill Ning Chen — he could not bring himself to it.
The crown prince seemed to settle something in himself. He stepped forward and bent. “For the sake of my Father Emperor’s health, let your child be the villain of it.”
Every heart in the hall sank. The crown prince means to kill Ning Chen.
The Ninth Princess said, puzzled, “Immortal Master. You say Ning Chen is borrowing life from my Father Emperor… then send him away. Send him far away, and doesn’t that settle it? Why does he have to be killed?”
Immortal Master Qiu said, “Princess. The evil has taken shape already. It can only be broken by cutting the grass and pulling the root with it.”
“His Majesty’s health is worth more than anything else.”
The crown prince nodded and said, “Father Emperor. Let your child go and do it.”
The Xuan Emperor’s face showed nothing and his lips were pressed tight, and it was a while before he spoke, slowly. “Let this emperor think about it.”
Immortal Master Qiu bent and said, “Your Majesty. For the present this man only touches Your Majesty’s health. In time he will touch the fortunes of the state as well.”
A slight change went over the Xuan Emperor’s face, and there was a struggle in his eyes.
And just then Nie Liang’s voice came from outside the hall. “Reporting to Your Majesty. Lord Geng and Ning the Silver Coat beg an audience.”
Immortal Master Qiu’s fingers started counting all at once, fast, and words came muttering over them, and then he said in a hurried voice:
“Your Majesty. This small immortal has just worked the reckoning on his fingers. The man who carries the evil is outside the hall.”
A chill went through them all.
So the man who carries the evil is Ning Chen and no mistake.
The Xuan Emperor thought for a moment. “Let them in.”
The doors opened, and Geng Jing and Ning Chen came in.
“Your subject Geng Jing, presenting himself to Your Majesty.”
“Your subject Ning Chen, presenting himself to Your Majesty. May His Majesty’s health be strong — ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten thousand times ten thousand years!”
The corner of the Xuan Emperor’s mouth came up a little.
He never knew why. Every time he saw Ning Chen, something in him eased for no reason he could name.
“Get up.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
Geng Jing and Ning Chen got to their feet.
The Xuan Emperor looked at Ning Chen.
Ning Chen was looking at the Xuan Emperor too.
What he saw was the white face on him, and the breath gone shallow in him.
“Your Majesty. Are you any better? Lord Geng told me you had worked yourself past your strength and fainted… Your subject has been worried half to death.”
The Xuan Emperor laughed softly. “This emperor is well.”
“Your Majesty, your subject thinks you should get out and walk about. Shut up day after day inside these deep palace walls, a man is bound to feel closed in… Work and rest have to balance. That’s what keeps the body right.”
The Xuan Emperor smiled. “Ning Chen. This man beside you is Immortal Master Qiu.”
Ning Chen turned his head and looked at Immortal Master Qiu… What is this one supposed to be? Why does he look like a fake holy man?
“Good day, Immortal Master.”
Immortal Master Qiu answered with a cold sound in his nose.
Ning Chen frowned slightly. This man has no manners at all. Full of himself, too.
The Xuan Emperor said slowly, “Ning Chen… this emperor has a question for you. Suppose your life were to be spent to buy his health back. Would you be willing?”
“Eh?”
Ning Chen was thrown. What is that supposed to mean?
Is His Majesty testing my loyalty?
Shk!!!
Ning Chen drew the saber then and there and laid it against his own neck.
“When does Your Majesty want your subject dead? Now, or in a while?”
The move struck everyone in the hall dumb!
Good God. Not so much as a moment’s hesitation in him.
Ning Chen is loyal to the bone. Can a man like this really be the one who carries the evil?
Feeling moved hard in the Xuan Emperor’s eyes, and he said quickly, “Put the blade down, put it down. Don’t hurt yourself.”
Ning Chen said oh and put the saber away.
“Your Majesty. When you need your subject to die, just say the word… I can die any time.”
The Xuan Emperor looked at Ning Chen, comforted all through.
“Ning Chen. Immortal Master Qiu says you are the man who carries the evil… that this emperor’s fainting, and the strange business last night, all of it comes from you.”
Holy shit!!!
Something jumped in Ning Chen.
He turned his head and looked at Immortal Master Qiu… I’ve never laid eyes on this little shit. There’s no quarrel between us. Why is he trying to finish me?
“Immortal Master Qiu. Is there bad blood between us?”
Immortal Master Qiu shook his head. “No quarrel between us.”
“Then why are you trying to finish me?”
“This small immortal has never wished harm on any man… Everything he has done, he has done with His Majesty’s health in mind.”
Ning Chen narrowed his eyes slightly. “Then what gives you the right to say I’m the man who carries the evil?”
“This small immortal cast the reckoning at the cost of years of his own immortal life… It is what heaven has shown him.”
Ning Chen smiled coldly. “You dress yourself up like a fake holy man and you still have the face to call me evil… Did heaven happen to show you that you’re going to die badly?”
The crown prince said heavily, “Ning Chen. You will not be disrespectful to the Immortal Master… My Father Emperor woke because of the Immortal Master’s elixir.”
Something jumped in Ning Chen. His Majesty is actually taking those pills?
So this Immortal Master Qiu is the man who refines them for him.
Ning Chen fixed his eyes on Immortal Master Qiu and said, smiling coldly, “Good, good, good… So you want to finish me. Fine. Then I’ll play along with you.”
Ning Chen turned, bent and bowed. “Your Majesty. Your fainting, and the strange business last night, are not any evil thing at work… It is somebody playing at gods and ghosts, and doing it on purpose.”
“This immortal master has already told His Majesty as much. It is indeed a man’s doing… and the one who called the evil down is you, the man who carries it.”
Immortal Master Qiu finished, and looked to the Xuan Emperor, and bent. “For the sake of Your Majesty’s health, this small immortal begs Your Majesty to put this man to death at once.”
The Xuan Emperor frowned and said nothing.
Ning Chen said, “Your Majesty. The bats striking the door, the coughing out of the grass — the truth is they are cheap tricks, all of them.”
He had not worked it out before. The moment he learned what Immortal Master Qiu was, he understood the whole of it.
The Xuan Emperor asked, “Meaning what?”
“Your Majesty. The bats striking the door, the coughing out of the grass, are not any evil thing at work… There is a man behind them, working them.”
The crown prince looked doubtful. “A man working them? Commander Nie went through that grass carefully last night. There was nobody there.”
Ning Chen smiled. “That’s because the thing coughing was never a man.”
That left them all thoroughly confused.
“Not a man. Then it was a ghost.”
The Ninth Princess said it with some fear in her.
“Silly girl. When a man dies he goes out like a lamp. There are no ghosts in this world. There are only people playing at gods and ghosts.”
Ning Chen said it without thinking.
The Ninth Princess’s pretty face darkened. “What did you just call me?”
“Ah… Princess… that’s right, Princess is exactly what I called you.”
The Xuan Emperor waved a hand. “Ning Chen. The business at hand… You said it was not a man and not a ghost either. Then what was it?”
“If Your Majesty will permit it, your subject will clear it up for Your Majesty.”
The Xuan Emperor nodded. “Permitted.”
Ning Chen went out of the hall and spent a while muttering back and forth with Nie Liang.
The Xuan Emperor watched him come back and asked, curious, “What were you saying to Nie Liang just now?”
“Your subject only asked Commander Nie to help him find a few things… If Your Majesty will wait a moment, the answer is coming.”
A little while later Nie Liang came back.
“Young Master Ning. The things you wanted are ready.”
“My thanks, Commander Nie. May I trouble you to open the doors of the hall.”
Nie Liang looked to the Xuan Emperor.
“Do as Ning Chen says.”
“Yes!”
Ning Chen looked to the Xuan Emperor and smiled. “Your Majesty. Would you come to the doorway.”
Eunuch Quan could not hold it in. “Young Master Ning. Can’t you simply say whatever it is? His Majesty has only just woken, and he is unwell.”
“It’s nothing. Help this emperor over.”
The Xuan Emperor said it mildly.
(End of Chapter 104)