Chapter Thirty-One: The Earth Dragon Turns
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After the Elephant King’s main body was destroyed, the elephant soldiers it had summoned collapsed along with it.
The hall underwent another drastic transformation. The space, which had moments before been filled with the acrid stench of blood and an air of despair, was swiftly flooded with dazzling golden light. Wherever that light passed, the blood that had wound across the floor like rivers, the shocking dark red stains on the walls, and the corpses scattered everywhere all turned into vapor or dust and vanished.
The golden radiance flashed and disappeared, leaving behind only dry walls and floor tiles, along with the broken weapons lying haphazardly across the ground.
The Chief of Yongshun came to once more. He had no idea exactly what had happened, though he had heard a rough account of it. An odd thought arose in his mind: Had I somehow stumbled into an extraordinary victory simply by lying here?
Following the principle that one should ask the wise whenever anything was unclear, the Chief of Wusa asked curiously, “Why did even these bones disappear? Were they not physical remains? Besides, the Western Shu rebels only entered this underground palace within the past few years. They could not have weathered away so quickly.”
As the intellectual among the three, the Chief of Wumeng swiftly reached a conclusion. “It must be that after the Elephant King was slain, the hall’s purifying function, which had been suppressed by the half-sealed Elephant King, was restored as well. These Western Shu rebels were evidently judged to have harbored ill intentions while alive, so the golden light reduced them directly to ashes.”
At those words, the Chief of Yongshun, who had only just awakened, turned pale.
Shui Rouqin began considering another question. “The Elephant King was sealed here clearly to suppress the national fortune of the Lu Chuan Kingdom. But now that it has been killed, could this mean that Lu Chuan may rise again?”
After pledging allegiance to Yun Zheng, Shui Rouqin had also learned to view the affairs of the southwest from the perspective of the Great Ming.
Yun Zheng smiled. “True national fortune cannot be suppressed. Replacing native chieftains with centrally appointed officials was not only the inevitable course of history, but also the will of the people. That is the true national fortune—only it belongs to the Great Ming and to China.”
“After the native chieftain system was replaced, the local people who had been oppressed like slaves by the chieftains gained the status of registered commoners and received farmland of their own. What governed their conduct was no longer the arbitrary household law of the chieftain’s family, but the solemn law of the realm!”
Just as young people who had experienced urbanization in his former life would never yearn for the traditional rural way of life, the local people who had entered feudal society through these reforms would likewise never long for the slave society of the past—apart from the chieftains, who had resembled slave owners.
Ye Xi agreed with Yun Zheng. “Lord Mu Ying has actively promoted farming, revived commerce, and established schools in Yunnan. I imagine that in the heart of the Prince of Mu, he too believed that the will of the people was the true mandate of Heaven.”
Daoist Li, standing nearby, suddenly joined in. “No wonder I have always felt that the earth veins here were unstable. It turns out that when the Prince of Mu built Great Wilderness City, he never intended for this underground palace to endure for long. Perhaps in another century or two, Great Wilderness City will be completely buried, becoming a fragment of history beyond all verification.”
A Yun family retainer suddenly reported a major discovery. “Reporting to Your Excellency the General, we have found an exit ahead. It appears to lead to an even deeper underground palace.”
It turned out that the exit had previously been blocked by the blood river and the corpses. Once the Elephant King had been successfully slain, both had vanished without a trace, allowing the exit to appear before everyone’s eyes.
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Yun Zheng said decisively, “If we wish to leave this underground city, we must decipher the deeper palace. Follow me!”
Including the newly attached local soldiers, all the troops answered in unison.
Their successive victories had caused even those unfamiliar with Yun Zheng to develop a blind confidence in him.
Over the past seven years, this process had occurred countless times.
After leaving the main hall, they found themselves facing a devastated expanse of land.
“This was an earth dragon turning—an earthquake. And it happened within the past few decades.” Daoist Li quickly reached a conclusion.
At that moment, someone noticed more abnormalities.
“Look! There are so many bones here. They all died horribly. Every one of them was smashed by enormous stones until their bodies were dismembered.”
The group began discussing the matter among themselves.
“Did some of the Western Shu rebels break through the blockade imposed by the Elephant King of Lu Chuan? Or did they come here from somewhere else?”
“I doubt these people were Western Shu rebels at all. Their clothing has completely rotted away, and the weapons in their hands are entirely rusted. They must have entered this underground palace at least several decades ago.”
“I understand now. It was Yang Yinglong! That wolf with the heart of a wild beast had ambitions beyond his station. During his separatist rule in Bozhou, he must already have begun plotting to seize this underground palace!”
“It should indeed have been Yang Yinglong. The Western Shu rebels had only just arrived and could not have reached this deep. But the Yang family may well have known of the underground palace ever since Great Wilderness City was built. By Yang Yinglong’s time, they had been developing it for generations, so it is entirely possible that they reached this point.”
“There are bones in many places around here. Yang Yinglong certainly spared no expense. What a pity that all he accomplished was to send those men needlessly to their deaths.”
“Yang Yinglong must have sent people to explore this underground palace before launching his rebellion. They triggered some kind of restriction, causing the entire army to perish in an ‘earth dragon turning.’”
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Yun Zheng looked at his subordinates, pleased to see them freely voicing their opinions.
The wisdom of his officers and soldiers was the solid foundation that enabled him to advance steadily through this chaotic age. At the same time, he hoped that these old comrades would each display their strengths and fulfill their potential, so that they could soon stand on their own.
“Since there was an earth dragon turning ahead, let us go back,” Yun Zheng said.
Although he was highly confident that he could decipher the restriction, Yun Zheng did not wish to gamble with the lives of his soldiers.
Entering the main hall to challenge the Elephant King had also involved an element of risk, but Yun Zheng had not yet played all his trump cards. He had enough means to cope with further unforeseen circumstances.
But an earth dragon turning—the force of Heaven and Earth itself—was something no hidden trump card could withstand.
There was something few people knew: this young assistant general, who appeared fearless of death, always charged forward on the battlefield, frequently used small forces to overcome greater ones in tactics, and had often placed heavy bets in matters of strategy, in truth treasured the lives of the soldiers under his command.
Ordinarily, anyone who had endured the human tragedy of the siege of Guiyang and spent years amid the most perilous slaughter of a chaotic age would undergo a profound change in temperament.
Some would witness too much cruelty and treachery, allowing their souls to be devoured by endless darkness until they gradually lost themselves in chaos and indulgence.
In common parlance: they would become people who lived only for amusement.
Others would grow cold and heartless, turning a blind eye to the suffering and injustice of the world and becoming selfish egoists concerned only with their own interests.
And some would embrace lofty convictions in the hope of changing the world, ultimately becoming great reformers.
Yun Zheng did not know whether he would eventually become the third kind of person. But he knew that, deep within his heart, his wish was to lead everyone toward a path of survival.
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