Seeking Truth with a Sword-Chapter 590 - 532: Cause and Effect
"Once I reached Chang’an, there were many more opportunities. I sold the furs from the village and made my first pot of gold. I then bought saws, axes, shovels, hoes, oxen, carts, meat, vegetables, and so forth to take back to further exploit the resources of Black Mountain, such as lumber, gems, ivory, and so on.
"Ivory is a good commodity. The permafrost of Black Mountain concealed many ’fossils’ of already extinct mammoths. Their tusks, buried in the earth for so long and infused with minerals, presented a kaleidoscope of colors on their surface. The size of the ivory, along with the type, depth, and pattern of the colors, all affected the actual price.
"The one-person-tall blue ivory decoration displayed in the grand hall of Minister of the Left Pei Su of Yu Country’s home was one I led a team to dig up and sell in Chang’an. That single transaction earned me thirty thousand strings of coins."
Lu Yunan’s tone turned lighter. "However, like the world we come from, Chang’an City is full of powerful gentry skilled in scheming and despoiling. Thanks to my foreknowledge, I knew who to trust and who not to, which temple to turn to when faced with problems, and which dock to worship at.
"Manager Jin truly is a good person. He helped me several times when my business was just starting out. Through his connections, I met Princess Le’an, Li Nanlei, who is also Prince Zhao’s daughter, becoming the ’white glove’ for Prince Zhao Mansion.
"With the protection of Prince Zhao Mansion, I had the courage to expand my business. Leveraging my knowledge from my past life, I marketed wooden thermal water bottles made from the dark wood of the Northern Territory to Chang’an.
"Once introduced, this product sold like wildfire, generating an annual revenue of millions of strings of coins. Out of this sum, my trading house took only a small portion. But even that bit of money was enough to fill the pots and bowls of all the tribespeople, allowing us to build roads and bridges in the mountains, clear fields and farms, and no longer worry about food. We also used a bit of the money to bribe the Turkic nobles to turn a blind eye during their autumn raids.
"Oh, I heard Manager Jin has been diagnosed with cancer? What a pity..."
Lu Yunan shook her head sentimentally. She, relying on her foreknowledge, had accumulated wealth on par with the gentry of Chang’an and was especially well-informed about the darker side of the city.
"You’re asking about Jiao Cheng?" she continued. "Heh, city rumors say that Jiao Cheng stays alive thanks to a book of dirt on various officials, which clearly isn’t right. If Jiao Cheng really had no backing, he would have been assassinated by some peeved noble’s Cultivator a long time ago. His boss is Xue San, the Steward of Xue Mansion."
"Xue Mansion?" Li Ang said in surprise. "It couldn’t be..."
"That’s right. It’s Minister of the Secretariat Xue Ji." Lu Yunan smirked. "In a sense, Jin Wusuan, I, and Jiao Cheng are all the same kind of people. Jin Wusuan and I are ’white gloves,’ responsible for collecting and managing money for those above us, while Jiao Cheng does the dirty, unseen work. I suspect that Xue Ji uses Jiao Cheng to secretly control the court officials. No, ’control’ might be too strong a word. It should be ’manipulate.’"
Li Ang scratched his cheek upon hearing this. He hadn’t expected that Jiao Cheng’s superior would be Minister of the Secretariat Xue Ji. "With Xue Ji’s official status, he wouldn’t need to consolidate his position in such a risky manner."
Lu Yunan smiled faintly. "That’s true. Xue Ji doesn’t need it himself, but others do. For example, Empress Xue. For example, the Crown Prince. The dirt Jiao Cheng collects on officials can be released through the Imperial Censors when needed. This stirs the court’s situation, thereby indirectly protecting the Crown Prince. The entire process might not even require the Crown Prince to be aware of it."
So, it turned out that Jiao Cheng was the Empress’s pawn. Li Ang felt an ironic twist in his heart as he gained a new understanding of the situation at that time. The reason Jiao Cheng initially wanted to explore the Sword Immortal Tomb was probably because he was instructed by the people above him to search for treasures within the tomb, to strengthen the Crown Prince’s forces. Of course, there was also the possibility that Jiao Cheng himself was confused about the situation, unaware of his status as the Crown Prince’s pawn, attempting to use the treasures from the Sword Immortal Tomb to escape his fate as a sacrificial piece.
"Jin Wusuan and Jiao Cheng are both pawns of the Empress, while I rely on Prince Zhao Mansion," Lu Yunan said. "There’s something you might not know. When you first came to Chang’an to participate in the Academic Palace’s entrance exam, Academic Palace Director Xi Yangyu publicly stated you had no Spiritual Vein Talent and asked you to give up the exam. That was at the instigation of Princess Le’an, Li Nanlei."
"Hmm?" Li Ang was momentarily stunned; he really hadn’t known about this. He recalled the name that he hadn’t heard in a long while. "Why? Is it because I glanced at her one extra time at the Chang’an Inn?"
"It’s possible. Although she did me a great favor, I have to say, she truly is a very typical spoiled and willful young lady." Lu Yunan curled her lip. "Of course, there’s another possibility. Your recommender is Cheng Juxiu, who is close to He Siping, and He Siping is one of the Crown Prince’s men. And she, well, she’s smitten with Prince Guang, Li Shan. So, she saw you as a threat to Li Shan."
Li Ang stared, dumbfounded. "Huh? Talk about an innocent disaster."
"Your current status is already influential enough to affect the future of the throne. As it turns out, she guessed right," Lu Yunan said. "Mm... She’s my benefactor, and I’m disclosing this to you in the hopes that you will, for my sake, not pursue this matter with her in the future."
"No worries," Li Ang replied. "In a sense, had she not instructed Xi Yangyu to inform me ahead of time about my inability to cultivate, I might have entered the final exam unaware, unable to pass the test."
Misfortune can be a blessing, and blessings can hide misfortune. Li Nanlei’s affection for Li Shan had led her to instruct Xi Yangyu to announce the verdict that my Skull-interrupted Sword trigram indicated an inability to cultivate. While I was at home contemplating strategies, Jiao Cheng, a pawn of the Empress, abducted me to the Sword Immortal Tomb. There, I obtained Mo Si and eventually passed the final exam at the Academic Palace. Now that Li Shan has become my friend and Li Leqing has exchanged sachets with me, I can only marvel at the strange fate.
From talking about past lives to this current one, unknowingly, the rain outside the tent had quietly stopped. Lu Yunan yawned and gradually fell asleep.
After she awoke and took over the watch, Li Ang too slept peacefully. In the presence of the girl who was likewise lonely and probably understood him the most in this world, Li Ang had dropped his usual facade, let go of his vigilance and defenses, and plunged into deep slumber.
When he next opened his eyes, Li Ang didn’t see the familiar tent or Lu Yunan.
He found himself in a vast and desolate plain, with sparse wild grass swaying in the wind. Ahead stood figures, all with their backs to him, staring uniformly at the distant, darkened sky.
"The sky is about to fall..." a tall figure in a Monk’s kasaya slowly spoke in Sanskrit, their voice imbued with unparalleled sorrow and compassion.
"The sky is about to fall," a figure in green clothes, holding a Longsword, stroked his beard, his voice calm and indifferent.
"The sky is about to fall!" a figure dressed in the extravagant attire of Taihao Mountain fell to his knees with excitement in his voice, prostrating himself.
The figures ahead were all repeating the same line, each with a different tone. Li Ang felt a chill run down his spine and couldn’t help but want to retreat backward, out of the crowd.
SNAP!
A hand, like an iron clamp, seized Li Ang.
He turned his head sharply and saw it was the Mountain Master.
"The sky is about to fall." The Mountain Master looked expressionless, staring straight at Li Ang, with two streams of bloody tears flowing from his eyes.
