Chapter 264 — We Shall Take Your Head
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 4 of 5
" Emperor Yanfeng's face turned ashen, and he said sourly, "The Jade-Faced Poison King?
" He was emperor; the Empress Dowager was his own mother; yet the Jade-Faced Poison King had murky, unseemly entanglements with the Empress Dowager.
Before the alchemist's true face was exposed he had been called the Jade-Faced Young Lord, with lovers the world over—even certain Daoist nuns and abbesses famed throughout the jianghu had dealings with him that could not be plainly told. Emperor Yanfeng knew of this, of course, but could not well speak of it. He had, in fact, once ordered the Jade-Faced Poison King assassinated, to be rid of the Empress Dowager's paramour. That the alchemist was driven to hide in the Desolate Ruins was in part his doing. To go and see the Jade-Faced Poison King—a thousand times he was unwilling.
"Dear minister Shen, I will not go to the Desolate Ruins. The rebellious son is about to take the throne and ruin my two hundred years of reform; I cannot let that foundation be destroyed in a single day. " Emperor Yanfeng said in a low voice, "We go to the capital!
" Shen Mu's heart gave a slight shudder; he shot him a glance.
"Your Majesty is certain you wish to go to the capital? " Emperor Yanfeng nodded.
"The capital is where the dragon veins gather.
My Ling family's Nine Dragons Emperor Art advances twice as fast when cultivated there; perhaps I can use the qi of the nine dragons to recast my divine treasury.
The lifeblood that the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping and I poured out must not be wasted! Once I return to the capital, I can depose the rebellious son! " Shen Mu pondered a moment, then smiled. "Forgive me.
" With that he produced a butcher's knife, took the emperor's crown from his head, and stripped off his yellow robe. Emperor Yanfeng's face changed greatly.
"Dear minister Shen, what are you doing?
" Shen Mu pressed down his head; the butcher's knife hissed, and in a moment Emperor Yanfeng's crown was bare, not a single hair left. Shen Mu then took several sticks of incense, lit them, and pressed them to Emperor Yanfeng's scalp.
Emperor Yanfeng cried out in pain; his scalp sizzled and crackled, and several ordination scars were left upon it. Shen Mu looked him over and smiled. "Sadhu.
We still need a set of black robes and straw sandals, and a string of prayer beads. And the beard must be shaved as well. " With that he laid the emperor down and shaved his beard clean away.
Emperor Yanfeng was furious, but could not resist. In a moment he was clean and fresh, dressed by Shen Mu as a great monk in a yellow robe; the emperor of old, awe-inspiring without anger, had vanished. Shen Mu then took up a painter's brush, mixed ink, and painted and daubed upon Emperor Yanfeng's face.
Emperor Yanfeng would have resisted, but Shen Mu sealed him outright, so that he could only stand there stiff as a board and let himself be handled. When Shen Mu had finished painting, he fetched a mirror and set it before him, smiling. "Does Your Majesty still know himself?
" Emperor Yanfeng looked at the man in the mirror and saw a middle-aged monk, a knife scar running from his left eye down across the bridge of his nose and over his right cheek to below his right ear—a fierce, malignant-looking sick monk, giving one the sense that in idle hours he chanted sutras and told his beads, and in wicked hours he killed men and burned houses. Shen Mu took down the knife sheath and slung it on Emperor Yanfeng's back.
Emperor Yanfeng gave a stifled groan and was pressed flat to the ground, unable to move, crying, "My bones—my bones will be crushed! Take it off, I cannot breathe. . .