Chapter 45: Hatred Verging on Madness, a Grand and Towering Sight!
At the foot of Rooster Crow Mountain.
A procession rode forth in great numbers, horses galloping at full speed as they raced along the road.
At the head of the group, everyone wore official robes emblazoned with the three-legged golden crow—the Martial Extremity Palace of Chu Province.
High above in the sky, a dove with brilliantly colored wings swooped down, landing perfectly upon one man’s shoulder.
Zhao Can reined in his horse and untied the sealed message bound to the dove’s leg.
He unfolded it and read, and in an instant his pupils contracted sharply, his face twisting into something monstrous, pain and hatred warring together in his eyes.
“Gu! Lin!”
Zhao Can let out a hysterical roar of fury, wrenching his horse’s head around and charging back the way they’d come like a man possessed.
His colleagues from the Martial Extremity Palace looked on, utterly bewildered.
The Centurion, clad in a snow-white golden crow robe, quickly rode after him and asked, puzzled:
“What’s happened? Why this loss of composure?”
Zhao Can’s heart felt as though it were bleeding, his eyes bloodshot, the hand gripping his reins trembling violently.
The Centurion rode his horse ahead to block the path, watching his subordinate with deep concern.
Hatred boiling over within him, Zhao Can spoke, each word deliberate and heavy:
“Gu Lin has murdered my father. I’ll tear him apart with my bare hands. I’ll make the entire Gu family pay with their lives to accompany him!”
With that, he spurred his horse forward, throwing all caution aside.
Upon hearing this, the Centurion’s brows furrowed deeply, dark as spilled ink.
His fellow colleagues from the Martial Extremity Palace looked on in shock.
They all knew of Gu Lin, of course. This very journey had been for the Chuwei Prefecture Selection Trial, where Gu Lin, the prefecture’s top scorer, had brutally killed Zhao Can’s younger brother Zhao Yao right there on the arena stage—and now, somehow, he had gone on to murder Zhao Can’s father as well.
A brother’s death and a father’s death combined into a single hatred—search the heavens above and the underworld below, and one would never find a grudge deeper than this. It was no wonder Zhao Can had lost his mind entirely.
“Still standing there? Stop him!” the Centurion barked out the order.
His colleagues from the Martial Extremity Palace snapped back to their senses.
Moments later, the group surrounded Zhao Can, every face etched with sympathy.
Zhao Can’s eyes had gone red-rimmed, and he glared fixedly at the Centurion, shouting hoarsely:
“Lord Zhou! My father lies dead in the most wretched manner, and you expect me to simply stand by unmoved? What kind of son would that make me! I will kill that beast with my own two hands!”
Centurion Zhou first offered him words of comfort, then spoke in a low, steady voice:
“Calm yourself first. Killing Gu Lin outright would indeed be simple enough for you, but privately murdering a member of the Eastern Temple? Not even ten lives across your entire extended family would be enough to atone for that.”
Zhao Can stared at him fixedly, his eyes nearly splitting apart with rage.
“Lord Zhou! That beast murdered my father! Strangled him to death with his bare hands, right there in front of everyone!”
The gathered members of the Martial Extremity Palace fell silent.
Everyone capable of joining a Sacred Ground was, without exception, an intelligent person.
Zhao Can’s father had been an official of Chu Province, a deputy magistrate holding genuine authority at the rank of eighth grade proper.
And the Eastern Temple and Heavenly Mystery Guard both held the authority to act first and report later against any official ranked below seventh grade.
Was the top scorer of Chuwei Prefecture’s younger generation truly some kind of fool?
Clearly not. Gu Lin had used the modest authority in his hands to work entirely through legitimate channels, formally investigating and prosecuting Zhao Can’s father.
Centurion Zhou spoke gently:
“Come back with me to the Martial Extremity Palace in Chu Province first. We’ll pay a visit to the Dao Discipline Office. If it turns out that madman acted out of personal vendetta and indiscriminate killing, I’ll personally apply pressure to have his Xiezhi robe stripped from him—and once that happens, he’ll be nothing but meat on the chopping block, yours to deal with however you please.”
The moment these words fell, the members of the Martial Extremity Palace exchanged uneasy glances.
What they truly feared was that the evidence would prove airtight.
If that were the case, then Gu Lin would simply be fulfilling his duty, purging corruption from the ranks of officials—and who would dare hold that against him?
It had to be said, this young man Gu Lin possessed a reckless, fearless arrogance, utterly disregarding everyone around him.
Did he truly believe that claiming first place in some minor prefecture’s trial meant he could act however he pleased without consequence?
What an absurd joke!
Everyone gathered here had risen through their own exceptional talent. Every one of them had fought their way through blood and struggle in their own selection trials. But once they arrived at the Sacred Grounds in Chu Province, they all had to gradually come to terms with their own mediocrity in comparison. Some, even with heroic bearing and outstanding gifts, still treated others with gentle humility; some, even possessing talent that outshone the world, still worked diligently to build connections and alliances. A warrior who’d risen from some minor prefectural backwater truly had no idea how vast the heavens and how deep the earth truly were!
A dazzling, radiant genius? Within the Sacred Grounds, he was nothing more than the most ordinary of pawns!
Off to the side, Zhao Can remained consumed by anguish, his face still twisted with grief, offering no response to Centurion Zhou for a long while.
Centurion Zhou stepped closer and offered a solemn word of counsel:
“Zhao Can, you and the legitimate daughter of the Sima Family’s fourth branch share a mutual affection, and your wedding is set for the end of this year. Your future stretches out before you, brilliant and promising—don’t destroy it with your own hands. However weak Gu Lin may seem to you, he is still a member of the Eastern Temple. Unless you can find solid evidence of wrongdoing against the Gu family, if you move against them, the Eastern Temple will seize upon the excuse to strike back, using it to humiliate the entire Martial Extremity Palace out of spite.”
The gathered members all nodded in agreement. On the surface, the relations between the four Sacred Grounds remained sharply competitive; beneath the surface, they were as incompatible as fire and water, each one hoping desperately for the others’ downfall.
Most importantly of all, Zhao Can’s future was already exceptionally bright. He had already risen to Squad Leader within the Martial Extremity Palace, his robes embroidered with three heads and three legs upon the golden crow, and he stood to marry the legitimate daughter of the Sima Family’s fourth branch besides.
The Sima Family ranked among the sixth tier of noble houses in Chu Province, with dozens of Sacred Ground members within its ranks. Through marriage alliances and similar strategies, its influence had grown ever more powerful, and with the Sima Family’s backing, Zhao Can’s future prospects were nothing short of adding fuel to an already blazing fire.
Should Zhao Can lose all reason to his fury and truly seek private revenge, everything he’d built would be destroyed in an instant.
Gu Lin was no mere Blade-Bearer.
He was a member of the Eastern Temple who had risen to prominence through the Dynasty’s own Selection Trial.
To kill him privately would be an outright insult to the Eastern Temple itself, and there was no possibility the Eastern Temple would simply let such a thing pass.
However arrogant and domineering Gu Lin might seem, he had killed Zhao Can’s younger brother strictly within the rules of the arena, and he had killed Zhao Can’s father through entirely lawful means, well within the bounds of his own legitimate authority.
Centurion Zhou spoke in a solemn tone:
“Return to the Martial Extremity Palace with us for now. The Palace will keep a close watch on this madman at all times, and the moment an opportunity presents itself, we will see to it that he meets his end.”
Tears welled up in Zhao Can’s eyes, and he clenched his fist and drove it down into the earth with all his strength, a hatred so overwhelming it sent dirt and debris flying up into the sky all around him.
“AAAH!”
He kept swinging his fists over and over, his hatred accumulating to something almost tangible, his ragged screams echoing out between heaven and earth.
He hated himself—he should have sent someone to crush that insignificant ant the very moment word had come of little Yao’s death, back when that beast had still been nothing more than a seed contestant from Shiyang.
He hated his own helplessness, hated that he couldn’t cast aside his own bright future to immediately tear the entire Gu family apart with his own hands in vengeance for his father and brother!!
The members of the Martial Extremity Palace said nothing more, simply allowing him to vent his grief and rage.
***
After nearly twenty days of arduous travel, Gu Lin’s procession crossed mountain after mountain, and at last arrived at Chu City, the provincial capital of Chu Province.
This was a magnificent, bustling metropolis home to over a million people. The imperial highway, stretching ten miles outside the city, was paved entirely in bluestone slabs, and both within and beyond the city walls, the streets teemed with lively activity.
Travelers and wandering swordsmen, the moment they caught sight of this young man clad in black Xiezhi robes, bowed deeply and cupped their fists in respectful greeting, addressing him reverently as Lord.
The procession entered the city and made straight for Luoxia Mountain within.
Along the way, through conversations with his Blade-Bearers, Gu Lin gained a general understanding of the four Sacred Grounds of Chu Province.
Nearly an hour later, Gu Lin arrived at the inner city of Luoxia.
At that moment, Yan Shouxu, Wei Xuan, and the other Blade-Bearer looked up in awe, their mouths falling open, their faces filled with stunned disbelief.
As far as the eye could see, an unbroken expanse of palace halls rose across the mountains in all four directions, towering and magnificent, solemn and imposing, mist drifting through the peaks as the evening glow suffused the air.
Yan Shouxu pointed toward the swirling mist and cried out in astonishment:
“So this is the legendary Sacred Ground!”
That mist was all spiritual energy!
One of the Blade-Bearers let out a light laugh:
“This is only the Blade-Bearer Bureau. The Sacred Ground itself lies even further up.”
Upon hearing this, Yan Shouxu’s face flushed with embarrassment, his heart filled with even greater shock.
The Blade-Bearer turned to Gu Lin respectfully and explained:
“Lord Gu, Luoxia City is where the families of the Sacred Grounds’ Blade-Bearers reside. All the major provincial government offices of Chu Province are located here in Luoxia City as well, including several noble clans, top-tier sects, and top-tier merchant guilds……”
Gu Lin listened and nodded along.
Without question, the inner city of Luoxia stood as the true heart of power for all of Chu Province, while the Sacred Grounds atop Luoxia Mountain claimed the very best of Chu Province’s resources, occupying the land richest in spiritual energy above all else.
This, then, was the Sacred Ground that the entire world dreamed of reaching!
“Let’s head to the Eastern Temple to check in first.” Gu Lin reined in his horse and rode swiftly toward Luoxia Mountain.
The others followed close behind.
From the foot of the mountain stretched a broad, level road paved in granite, lined on both sides with all manner of rare and ancient trees. A steady stream of Blade-Bearers passed by along the way, robes of lotus-seed, flying-fish, elk-deer, and black-magpie all catching the eye in turn.
Yan Shouxu suddenly felt a sharp pang of inadequacy well up within him, a deep sense of inferiority washing over him. Every Blade-Bearer passing by carried themselves with heroic bearing and imposing presence, each one a rare talent chosen from among ten thousand.
Wei Xuan and Lin Yan’er felt much the same, though their spirits remained far better. They said with a smile:
“We never had the strength to make it into the Blade-Bearer Bureau on our own merit to begin with. It was entirely thanks to Lord Gu’s generosity that we’re here at all—we owe him our fullest loyalty from here on out.”
Yan Shouxu nodded firmly in agreement.
In that moment, he fully accepted his own mediocrity at last. Back in Shiyang County, he might have counted as a golden fish among ordinary ones, but here, everyone shone with golden brilliance of their own, and by comparison, he felt himself fading into dull, colorless shadow.
The only path left to him was to hold fast to Lord Gu and stake everything on a brilliant future by his side!
The procession made its way to the mountain’s midpoint, where the roads leading toward the sprawling palace halls branched off in every direction.
“The eastern direction is where our Eastern Temple’s Blade-Bearer Bureau lies,” one of the Blade-Bearers announced respectfully.
Gu Lin nodded:
“You three, go check in there.”
Yan Shouxu and the other two cupped their fists in respectful salute and headed toward the bureau, hearts brimming with excitement.
Gu Lin continued onward, higher up the mountain.
After roughly fifteen minutes of walking, he finally reached the summit of Luoxia Mountain, and only now did he catch his first full glimpse of the Sacred Grounds in their entirety.
Within his field of vision stood nearly a thousand ancient, magnificent halls, several towering structures rising with their eaves piercing straight into the clouds above. Most striking of all were the four sacred emblems perched atop the highest towers.
To the east stood the statue of a Xiezhi, fierce and snarling.
To the west stood a Qilin, gazing down upon the world below.
The south held the most striking sight of all—as though a great, snow-white lotus flower had fallen from the heavens themselves, slowly unfurling amid the setting sun.
And to the north stood the statue of a blazing three-legged golden crow, its form melding seamlessly with the boundless evening glow spread across the sky.
Was “magnificent and awe-inspiring” even enough to describe such a sight?
Gu Lin, ever composed and steady of mind, felt his own spirits soar in that moment.
Stranger still, the entire scene seemed to form one vast chessboard, divided cleanly into four equal quarters, each distinct and orderly, everything in its proper place.
Standing atop the summit, his entire body felt refreshed through and through, his mind clear and unclouded.
No wonder this place held the richest concentration of spiritual energy in all of Chu Province.
No wonder the conditions to join a Sacred Ground were so demanding—only by enduring such trials and hardships could one ever hope to taste such an abundant harvest.
Gu Lin steadied his thoughts and made his way toward the eastern quarter.
After roughly a hundred paces, a magnificent, golden plaque came into view, upon which four bold characters were inscribed in flowing, dragon-like calligraphy: “Eastern Temple.”
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