Volume Two: The Mortal Realm - Chapter 134: Monarchs and Buttons

"Life is the most beautiful thing in this world."

Sword Nine looked silently at the young man who spoke of a love for life yet carried a deathly resolve in his eyes as he smiled toward Yangjing.

Since life is the most beautiful thing in the world, why are you not afraid of death?

"Have you truly thought this through? The law of the jungle and an era of fierce contention are the rules and grand momentum of this world," Sword Nine said coldly, looking at him.

"I told you I haven't fully thought it through. There are many things for which I cannot find an absolute right or wrong."

Ye Mingke looked toward the corpses buried in the wind and snow beneath the city wall, and slowly spoke.

"For instance, I do not know whether the law of the jungle can truly never be reversed."

His gaze slowly shifted toward the refugees huddled by the city walls with numb expressions, shielding themselves against the bitter cold.

"For instance, I do not know whether it is meaningful for me to still strive for something when a person has already given up on everything."

His gaze lowered slightly to look at his own gently raised hand.

"For instance, can a person sacrifice their life for a matter that has no stake or benefit to themselves?"

Finally, he raised his eyes to look at the towering ramparts of the Vermilion Bird Gate, where the monarch's grand procession and the array of civil and military officials had already been arranged. The Ascension Platform was the domain of immortals; thus, although the sovereign of Great Xia was the ruler of Great Xia, he was not qualified to ascend the platform and could only hold the sacrificial ceremony from the high vantage point of the Vermilion Bird Gate's watchtower.

He smiled faintly and said.

"For instance, I want to kill the monarch who is about to arrive on that watchtower, yet does he deserve to die?"

"What on earth are you trying to do? Surely you know that the monarch has long been a puppet of the Ministry of Guardians. What purpose would killing him serve?"

Sword Nine lowered his voice, looking at the young man whose smile was calm and bright yet concealed madness in the depths of his eyes. His expression was urgent and uncomprehending.

...

"Clearly this is a state ceremony, yet I, the sovereign of Great Xia, cannot preside over the sacrifices and am forced to go to the city gate to perform the rites like a gate-guarding dog."

"Those wretches are growing more and more outrageous."

The sovereign of Great Xia spread his arms, donning the bright yellow, noble dragon robe under the ministration of the eunuchs, and placing upon his head the imperial crown from which hung delicate strings of pearls.

Thinking of today's ceremony, a flash of displeasure crossed his eyes, yet his face remained stern, upright, and composed, showing not the slightest trace of dissatisfaction or change.

At that moment, a white-robed cultivator carrying a sword walked lazily into the hall from the outside, followed closely by a group of attendants moving in lockstep.

Upon seeing the figure of the white-robed cultivator, the sovereign of Great Xia unconsciously gave a slight shudder beneath his outstretched arms.

"Xia Yin, why are you so slow? Hurry up. Do not make this immortal wait." The white-robed cultivator in casual attire walked straight up to the sovereign of Great Xia, who was still dressing, frowning and speaking in a displeased tone.

"I ask the Upper Immortal Chongming for your indulgence. Please wait just a moment longer."

Xia Yin, the sovereign of Great Xia, had long eyebrows that slightly twitched and trembled at the corners, while his tone remained as level and respectful as he could possibly make it.

The hands of the eunuchs fastening the buttons of the dragon robe began to tremble as well. Suppressing their fear, they hurried to dress the monarch, yet in their panic, they fastened one button incorrectly, and there was no time to smooth out the creases at the edges.

The personal eunuch scrambled in a fluster, wanting to untie the buttons and do them over for the monarch.

Noticing that the cultivator's frown was growing deeper, Xia Yin suppressed his anger with a dark face and waved his hand forcefully to dismiss them.

The white-robed cultivator carrying the sword saw that Xia Yin had put on the dragon robe, turned around, and walked out of the hall by himself.

The sovereign of Great Xia straightened the imperial crown on his head with his own hands. Wearing a noble dragon robe with a misaligned button—somewhat awkward and comical—he followed behind the cultivator and walked outside.

The moment he stepped out of the palace gates, he was enveloped by the shadow of the colossal, towering Ascension Platform that reached the heavens from behind the imperial palace. The setting sun, like blazing fire, cast a very long shadow from the Ascension Platform, completely blanketing this magnificent palace.

Xia Yin did not notice the shadow of the Ascension Platform, nor did he dare to raise his head to look at it. He merely kept his gaze level, maintaining a majestic and steady demeanor as he followed the white-robed cultivator's figure forward.

Because he was wearing a dragon robe with a misaligned button, and having never worn such awkward clothing in all his life, Xia Yin felt thoroughly uncomfortable all over as he walked. He turned his head slightly to look around, discovering that everyone in the places he and the immortal reached was prostrating themselves with lowered heads, not daring to look directly. Yet he still felt as though they were all secretly glancing at that unbuttoned piece of clothing.

They were all mocking his majesty and nobility.

Those unruly commoners and petty thieves—anyone who laid eyes on his unsightly appearance today deserved to have their eyes gouged out and to be put to death!

Xia Yin felt his tensed, stern face growing somewhat warm. He dared not look at the court ladies and eunuchs any longer and instinctively wanted to quicken his pace, yet he did not dare walk too close to the immortal in front of him.

Fortunately, after stepping out of the palace gates, two luxurious sedan chairs—one white and one yellow—were parked waiting. After the immortal boarded his sedan chair, Xia Yin also sat upon the golden imperial sedan.

The four sides of the sedan chair were draped with layer upon layer of hazy gauze curtains, blocking most of the gazes directed at him. Only then did Xia Yin's tense nerves slightly relax, and he felt a bit more at ease.

The luxurious sedan chair was lifted by twenty-four men, carrying him from the imperial palace to the Vermilion Bird Gate, a journey that would traverse half of Yangjing.

Being able to leave the palace gates was a rare opportunity for him, the nominal sovereign of Great Xia. He sat upright within the sedan, casting his gaze slightly toward the main street the sedan was passing through, expecting to see some rare scenes of prosperity and bustle. To his surprise, the streets were desolate and cold this time, and the occasional ordinary citizens on the street scattered in panic like birds and beasts caught in a storm upon seeing the sedan chair.

Having derived no amusement from the sight, Xia Yin frowned slightly, feeling a touch of displeasure toward these commoners.

Is this how you treat your monarch?

Fortunately, not long after walking on, an old man in tattered clothes by the roadside caught sight of his sedan chair. With some excitement, the old man tried to approach the sedan, shouting incoherently at the top of his lungs, "Long live the Emperor, long live, long live our Emperor!" Disregarding the obstruction of the imperial guards, he raised his hands high, intending to perform a grand prostration.

"There are still loyal and sensible subjects after all!" Xia Yin, turning his head to witness this scene, felt a trace of joy flash through his heart.

However, just as the tattered-clad old man raised his hands to the highest point and was about to lower them, two daggers suddenly materialized in his hands. Following the downward motion, he drove them with lightning speed deep into the necks of the two imperial guards blocking his path, sending a massive spray of blood flying into the air.

"Great Xia has fallen, and the bitter winter is coming!"

Then, that emaciated old man, with an expression as ferocious as an enraged Vajra, let out a hoarse, roaring cry and lunged toward Xia Yin's sedan chair, the cold-glinting daggers pointing straight at Xia Yin.

Impacted by the sudden bloodshed and killing intent, Xia Yin instinctively leaned back toward the other side of the sedan, causing it to rock violently.

Yet he was clearly overreacting.

Before the old man could come within several yards of the sedan chair, he was surrounded by other converging armored soldiers. Countless long spears and swords struck together, and the old man quickly fell to the ground covered in blood and died.

"These unruly commoners, just like those white-robed vicious dogs, all want to harm me!" Xia Yin thought resentfully, realizing that he had lost his composure somewhat out of fear.

He then remembered that an immortal had casually mentioned to him the previous night that rebellious partisans might launch an attack tomorrow. At the time, he hadn't taken it to heart. Although those white-robed vicious dogs had terrible attitudes, with them around, he truly didn't need to worry about this empire; he could continue being the sovereign of Great Xia without a single care.

Yet today's turmoil was still more numerous than he had expected.

That old man turned out not to be the only one. Xia Yin could not understand how so many rebellious partisans intent on assassinating him had suddenly emerged on the previously deserted streets.

There was a young man in plain clothes drinking tea at a roadside teahouse. After finishing his tea, he resolutely drew his sword and calmly walked to his death, charging into the imperial guards who were interspersed with immortal cultivators.

There was also a girl selling wild flowers by the roadside. As she walked past his sedan and guards with lowered head and mincing steps covering her flower basket, a large number of imperial guards and several lower-cultivation immortals abruptly fainted.

Afterward, a shirtless giant standing twelve feet tall leaped onto a nearby rooftop and lifted a tremendously heavy boulder, hurling it toward his sedan.

That was the closest he had ever come to death, but a flash of a flying sword from the front of the procession struck the boulder through the gauze curtains of the sedan, splitting it directly in half mid-air, and the fragments crashed heavily onto the street.

Without pausing, that sword light surged through the sky and, with a sharp hiss, lopped off the head of the giant, sending blood spurting half a yard high.

As the journey continued, several waves of suicide-squad-like rebels lunged at the sedan, but none could breach that sword light perpetually patrolling the air and the imperial guards mixed with immortal cultivators.

Xia Yin, sitting rigidly upright inside the sedan to maintain his imperial grace and dignity, witnessed one bloody scene after another. At that moment, alongside his uncontrollable fear, he felt a sliver of gratitude and reliance toward those immortals whom he secretly cursed in his heart as white-robed vicious dogs.

Just as he hated them for stripping him of his governing power, yet when he realized he could remain free from state affairs while preserving his realm forever—whenever he imagined actually having to face the endless complexity of national governance—he also felt a degree of aversion and resistance.

Fortunately, as the sedan approached the Vermilion Bird Gate, the assassinations along the street gradually thinned out and vanished.

Those rebellious partisans must have realized the majesty and irresistibility of his might.

Xia Yin thought with a hint of complacency as he majestically stepped out of the luxurious sedan parked beneath the watchtower.

As he walked out of the sedan and was escorted toward the steps of the watchtower, he suddenly thought once more of the misaligned button on his clothes.

His mood instantly choked up and grew gloomy once again.

Fortunately, apart from that white-robed vicious dog who still wore a lazy expression, everyone else who laid eyes upon him prostrated themselves on the ground in welcome, not daring to look him in the eye.

He forced himself to forget that button which lacked majesty and dignity, climbed the steps step by step, and beheld the sea of fiery red afterglow cascading across the wilderness.

That red was so fervent, resembling the blood he had just witnessed earlier.

Unconsciously, he glanced once more at the white-robed vicious dog walking not far ahead of him, and only upon seeing him did he feel somewhat reassured.

He finally ascended to the summit of that towering watchtower, overlooking the boundless earth and wilderness below against the backdrop of the evening sky filled with red clouds, alongside his subjects who were like ants down on the plains.

A strong wind swept majestically across the expansive wilderness. Right at the twilight juncture between light and dark, carrying a refreshing coolness, he raised his head proudly.

On the distant Ascension Platform, thirty-six consecutive strikes of the bell rang out, proclaiming the imminent commencement of the Grand Sacrificial Ceremony to the Heavens.

A master of ceremonies wearing purple official robes walked to the edge of the watchtower's battlements, facing the wilderness and the heavens.

"The monarch arrives."

"Kneel—"

Supported by the sound-amplification array, the sharp, drawn-out ritual chant of the master of ceremonies echoed far and wide from the watchtower into both the outer and inner city.

Standing on the watchtower, Xia Yin, the sovereign of Great Xia, could clearly see the dense mass of refugees outside the city, resembling wild grass, bending their bodies down one by one to pay homage and kowtow, like autumn grass falling before the wind.

Facing the cool yet brisk breeze, Xia Yin half-closed his eyes with a sense of comfort, enjoying this moment of looking down from above while being worshipped by ten thousand people. His heart swelled with joy, and he felt somewhat lightheaded.

Yet suddenly, he felt a place near the shadows close to the watchtower that made him somewhat uncomfortable. He concentrated his gaze and saw two young men who were not kowtowing along with the masses, alongside a little girl in white.

Among them, the pale youth even slowly raised his head, tracing his gaze to meet Xia Yin's with a calm expression, his eyes filled with a dim and obscure compassion.