Chapter 32: The Chosen One

Page (1/3)

Since Yun Zheng was unwilling to risk the soldiers’ lives by pressing farther inward, they could only consider other ways of leaving.

Ye Xifang parted her lips slightly, her voice clear as silver bells. “We can find a secluded place where we will not be disturbed. At most seven days, or as few as five, should be enough to deduce the layout of the underground palace.”

It was indeed a practical solution. No matter how ingeniously constructed, the underground palace was still man-made. Given the intellect of those present, if they had sufficient time, there was a good chance they could reconstruct its design through deduction.

But therein lay the problem: Yun Zheng and the others had no time to squander.

The rank of assistant general was neither especially high nor especially low. More importantly, Yun Zheng was far too young, and that had allowed him to enter the actual decision-making circle of the Great Ming’s southwestern theater, where he was being groomed as its future successor.

Thus, if Yun Zheng were to disappear for five days or longer, the military opportunities lost would be impossible to measure in gold.

“There is another way,” Yun Zheng said. “We capture Chen Yuchong. He must have the map of the underground palace on him.”

To be honest, Yun Zheng was reluctant to use this method. The map was of immense importance, and he strongly suspected that Chen Yuchong’s copy might have been tampered with.

That was why, although he had sent An Miaotong to pursue and kill Chen Yuchong, he had still led his troops into the main hall, hoping to unravel the mystery of the underground palace himself.

At this, Ye Xi could not help showing concern. “Sister An went after Chen Yuchong. By rights, she should have returned by now.”

“Two possibilities,” Yun Zheng said. “First, Chen Yuchong has some other means of escape. But to get away from Deputy Commander An, that method would have to be extraordinary.”

“Second, the mastermind behind all this laid an ambush of assassins within the underground palace, waiting for an opportunity. Those assassins then came to Chen Yuchong’s aid.”

Yun Zheng did not speculate about whether Chen Yuchong had stumbled upon some miraculous opportunity. After all, even martial-arts novels had abandoned such hackneyed plots before he crossed into this world.

Nor was Yun Zheng worried that any assassins who might exist could seriously harm An Miaotong. Quite apart from her formidable skills, he had sent Yun San and Yun Si—the two most capable retainers in his household—to reinforce her, just in case.

Yet precisely because the pursuit party was so powerful, Yun Zheng was astonished that Chen Yuchong had still neither been captured nor killed.

As he was pondering this, An Miaotong, Yun San, Yun Si, and Yun Shiyi entered the ruins. Yun Shiyi carried the bones of Huo Kuangyan, the Fire Tumu.

Page (1/3)

Page (2/3)

…

“Huo Kuangyan was shot dead. Yun Shisan’s remains were completely destroyed.”

“Chen Yuchong vanished without warning. We searched the entire vicinity, but could not find him.”

Yun Zheng considered this for a moment before saying, “As for Chen Yuchong’s disappearance, we can first rule out the possibility that the mastermind has gained complete control of Great Wilderness City and can manipulate its spatial forces without restraint. If such a peerless prodigy existed in the Great Ming’s southwest, he would have risen above the rest during the eight years of war and left everyone else eclipsed.”

Ye Xi said, “Then the most likely explanation is that some monster resembling the Elephant King—sealed, yet capable of partially breaking free—carried Chen Yuchong away. As for its purpose, it was probably to make Chen Yuchong help it break through the seal.”

“Moreover, we must consider an extreme possibility: the place where that sealed being resides may never have been damaged by the Western Xi rebels. It may be capable of influencing the underground palace’s spatial forces through its own strength. In other words, once our opponent is freed, we will face an enemy even more powerful than the Elephant King.”

Shui Rouqin, the Water Tumu, said, “If that is so, finding Chen Yuchong will be extremely difficult.”

The Tusi of Yongshun put on an earnest show of offering Yun Zheng advice. “Fortunately, if Chen Yuchong wishes to release that hidden monster, he will surely need some time. Why not choose the most direct method and reverse-engineer the structure of the underground palace? If everyone contributes what they know, we should be able to escape before the monster is released.”

The group decided to return to the main hall where they had previously sealed the Luchuan Elephant King and make camp there. They would discuss their next move while allowing the troops to rest. Once an exceedingly dangerous place, the hall had become the safest refuge they could hope for in the short term now that the Luchuan Elephant King was dead.

Besides, after a full day of upheaval—from the contest of wits at the Tusi residence to the successive battles in Great Wilderness City—everyone was more or less exhausted.

The night passed without incident.

Early the following morning, Daoist Li approached Yun Zheng with delighted excitement and boasted, “Yesterday, I used my compass to calculate that something unusual is happening in a certain part of the underground palace. It is very likely the formation’s core!”

Yun Zheng was overjoyed and personally led the group to investigate the area Daoist Li had indicated.

He did not know that, in the darkness, a pair of eyes filled with venomous hatred was watching his every move.

“I originally intended to lure An Miaotong into this place, where the power of space is exceptionally concentrated, and repay her for the arrow wound she gave me last time. Who could have imagined that Lord Yun would actually lead the way himself and willingly walk into danger? In that case, I shall simply leave Lord Yun’s life here.”

“Yun Zheng—the young man wearing the official robes of the Ming dynasty?” In Chen Yuchong’s mind, the fragment of Duan Zhengyan’s soul asked him.

Page (2/3)

Page (3/3)

“Reporting to you, Ancestor, that is indeed the man,” Chen Yuchong replied. “He is the foremost general of the Great Ming’s southwestern theater, a disciple of Zhu Xieyuan, the Governor of Guizhou, and he attained the rank of assistant general at the age of only twenty-two. I had no intention of making an enemy of him, but this time he brazenly attacked me to help his old lover, Miss Ye…”

Since this was a conversation conducted entirely through spiritual consciousness, there was no need for either of them to make a sound.

“Ye Xi—the granddaughter of Ye Xiaotian, the so-called Heavenly King Ye,” Duan Zhengyan said. “And the failure of that genius grand mage from Bozhou, Yang Yinglong, which you told me about, was also closely connected to the activities of this ‘Heavenly King Ye.’”

“Indeed,” Chen Yuchong said. “Had Ye Xiaotian not infiltrated Yang Yinglong’s faction and worked from within, coordinating with the imperial court from the outside, Yang Yinglong’s plan might well have stood a fair chance of success.”

“I see.” Duan Zhengyan paused. “I suddenly remember a legend my knowledgeable sworn elder brother told me when I still possessed a physical body.”

“He said that, in the Eastern Lands as well as foreign countries, there had appeared certain mysterious figures who rose like meteors. They often possessed inconceivable ideas and designs, as though they had come from another world. Some people called such individuals ‘the Newborn.’”

“If such a person acts in accordance with Heaven’s will, he becomes a ‘Chosen One,’ and all who oppose him will be swept away like withered branches before a storm. Otherwise, he becomes a ‘Defier of Fate.’ Yet even with a perilous road ahead, he may still rely on his own great fortune to contend with Heaven’s decree.”

“From your description of this so-called ‘Heavenly King Ye,’ I gather that shortly after Zhangzhou’s Moon Harbor was opened, he introduced the Western Lands’ glass throughout the southwest, invented the method of coating glass with silver, and even created something called matches to replace fire-strikers. Though their distribution was limited, he still made a considerable profit.”

Chen Yuchong was startled. “Ancestor, are you saying that Ye Xi’s grandfather was one of these so-called ‘Newborn’?”

“So what if he was?” Duan Zhengyan said. “The storms he raised were truly insignificant, far inferior to those stirred up by my two sworn brothers in my era. As for Yun Zheng—is there anything unusual about him?”

“Although he has worked hard to promote the crops brought by the Spaniards from the West Indies, the Westerners have been in contact with the Great Ming for more than a century. Nor have I heard of him creating anything that surpasses his age.”

Chen Yuchong thought about it. Yun Zheng truly did not seem particularly remarkable. After all, he himself was also striving to spread the tobacco brought by the Spaniards.

Page (3/3)