Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 231: The Unusual Assembly

The old emperor in the imperial study in the capital was a little manic. On the one hand, he was excited when he heard news of there being a dragon, but on the other hand, he felt extremely uneasy when he heard that it had fallen.

This sense of unease was so strong, it felt like the strike of a gong and the roar of drums in his heart.

Emperor Yuan De suddenly remembered a secret record, and searched for it on his desk, his arms trembling slightly. He normally paid great attention to his appearance and dignity, but at this moment, he was completely unaware of his state.

“Swish-paf-paf… Clatter swish…”

Many of the stacked records fell out due to Emperor Yuan De’s rough flipping of pages.

Prince Jin stared blankly at his father’s actions. Of course, he saw the slight trembling in the old emperor’s hands very clearly. At this moment, his heart was full of mixed emotions, and his mood was extremely complicated.

‘Imperial Father… is really getting old…’

Even Prince Wu’s gaze seemed a little complicated at the moment, but it was soon replaced by a hint of joy, before his expression finally returned to calm.

“I found it… I found it…”

Emperor Yuan De murmured to himself. He picked up the secret memorial record with trembling hands, then carefully opened it. The person who had presented this memorial record to him was Yin Zhaoxian, the prefect of Lishun Prefecture.

Emperor Yuan De opened the memorial record and glanced through it quickly, as if looking for something. After about a dozen breaths, he finally found a line of small characters:

(I believe that the current state of affairs in Wan Province must not be tolerated. The officials deceive their superiors and subordinates, engage in corruption and plunder, take advantage of the changing times, and the people live in misery. This endangers our great country of Dazhen.)

In fact, Ji Yuan’s previous worries were not unreasonable: at that time, he had informed Yin Zhaoxian that the old emperor was preparing for the Water and Land Assembly, and he was worried that the old emperor would not have enough energy or willpower to deal with government affairs.

Emperor Yuan De was indeed furious when he heard about the current state of Wan Province, and the rumor that he had smashed his tea sets was not false. However, as time passed, the old emperor’s mentality changed. Those daring officials looted so many benefits — could these benefits somehow go directly into the pockets of the national treasury and the emperor’s private holdings? Couldn’t this also be a way for gold and silver to continue to circulate?

Even Prince Jin wasn’t aware of Emperor Yuan De’s thoughts, let alone Yin Zhaoxian in Wan Province, but it was definitely a very dangerous idea.

However, at this time when he heard about the “dragon falling in Guangdong Lake,” the old emperor suddenly regained clarity in fright.

“Hooh…”

Emperor Yuan De exhaled, looked at the ministers and princes in the imperial study, and changed the words he had originally prepared…

“As Lord Yin said, this matter of Wan Province must not be tolerated. Please pay attention to the officials in the court who have ties to Wan Province. I will take Lord Yin’s suggestion to find an excuse to invite the governor of Wan Province, Chen Yuhe, to the capital…”

As the old emperor spoke, his eyes swept over his ministers and his sons.

“I don’t care if any of you have a connection to Wan Province. I will give you a chance today: if you do your best to handle this matter, then your past actions will be forgiven. If you dare to leak this news… whether you are a court official or part of the royal family, you will be immediately executed, along with your immediate family!”

As he spoke these words, the old emperor’s voice went slightly hoarse, but the chill of his tone made the officials in the imperial study tremble slightly. Some even had sweat running down their backs, thinking in their hearts that Chen Yuhe was probably in great danger.

. . .

Of course, even as the situation in Wan Province had begun to change without the knowledge of many parties involved, preparations for the Water and Land Assembly in the Capital Prefecture were also in full swing. However, this matter was currently known only to people around the Capital Prefecture, and knowledge of the event had not yet spread.

For Emperor Yuan De, this matter was no less important than the handling of Wan Province. He even planned to send people to simultaneously investigate the incident of the falling dragon and search for extraordinary individuals in Wan Province.

Soon, the emperor announced to the world that he would be holding a Water and Land Assembly in the Capital Prefecture. Regardless of whether they practiced Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, or were secular, he invited all manner of famous scholars and experts from all around the world to come to the Capital Prefecture and participate in the Assembly, to pray for the fortune and fate of Dazhen and its emperor.

Some masters would be selected from those attending and bestowed the title of “Heavenly Master,” rewarded with a thousand taels of gold, and summoned before the Son of Heaven.¹

As soon as this imperial edict was announced, the “elite” in all prefectures and provinces of Dazhen naturally couldn’t help but feel anticipatory, all wishing to head to the capital to participate in the Assembly.

. . .

In the backyard of the prefect of Lishun Prefecture in Wan Province, more than 20 days had passed since the full-month celebration for the second son of the Yin family.

A game of chess had been laid out on the stone table in the garden. Yin Zhaoxian was dressed in a white casual robe, with Ji Yuan in a blue robe. The two sat across from each other, playing chess.

By now, Ji Yuan’s chess skills had already far surpassed Yin Zhaoxian’s, but the latter had also made progress. Both of them had greatly improved from the poor chess players they used to be.

Ji Yuan was not competitive like the Old Dragon. Of course, he would concede a game to Yin Zhaoxian as they played to keep his good friend’s spirits high, so the two of them still traded games back and forth. They had played many similar games during this period of time, hanging out and chatting over chess.

At this moment, Ji Yuan placed the black piece in his hand and took the initiative in the corner of the board, causing Yin Zhaoxian to frown and ponder.

“Master Yin seems a little absent-minded today?”

Yin Zhaoxian looked at the criss-crossing black and white pieces on the chessboard, and could almost see the final result. After hesitating for a moment, he resigned and admitted defeat.

“Ah… there is news from the capital. The emperor has finally made up his mind to take action against the officials in Wan Province. However, the imperial edict announcing the Water And Land Assembly has also been issued. It has been titled the Ninth Heaven and Ten Gatherings,² inviting all the greatest experts of the world to participate in a grand even celebrating the immortal Tao…”

Yin Zhaoxian had come into contact with true masters, so he naturally knew more about these things than many people in the court and the general public. How many people with true talent would be willing to attend this kind of solicitation?

This situation inevitably reminded Yin Zhaoxian of the absurd things that Emperor Zheng Yuan had done when he sought immortality. It would have been fine simply to seek immortality, but he did not have the attitude one should have to approach that search. He clung to power and ignored the order of the imperial court, neglecting the country; he held onto his power over the country not for the sake of the country itself, but for the sake of his elixirs. This inevitably brought a heavy burden on Dazhen.

Ji Yuan narrowed his eyes in thought for a moment, then he smiled.

“This matter is not one that you can control, Master Yin. There are officials who can admonish better in the court. Besides, isn’t Emperor Yuande still concerned about Wan Province? This is much better than what I had anticipated before. Let him hold his assembly!”

Yin Zhaoxian smiled and shook his head.

“Hey, I’m going to be very busy from now on. I am already overwhelmed with the affairs of Wan Province. I don’t have the ability to concern myself with the capital as well. However, I am afraid that those officials and ministers of the court will not be able to persuade His Majesty.”

Yin Zhaoxian was just chatting casually with Ji Yuan. Although he knew that a true master was right in front of him, he had no intention of inviting Ji Yuan to participate in any Assembly. His good friend would not be interested in this kind of thing.

However, this time, Yin Zhaoxian assumed wrongly. Ji Yuan actually was quite interested in this Water and Land Assembly. Of course, he was not greedy for the title of Heavenly Master, nor for the reward of gold and silver.

In fact, he and the Old Dragon had already discussed this Assembly in private, and even Yuhuai Mountain was preparing to move.

Was Emperor Yuan De truly blessed with great fortune? Not really, no.

The main reason for their actions was that the situation of the Eastern Cloud Continetn had started to go a little wrong. This might be a problem that had been brewing in the Eastern Cloud Continent itself for a long time. The rumors about Tianji Pavilion back then caused Dazhen, which was originally on the outskirts of the continent, to attract a lot of attention at once.

Today, Dazhen could indeed be regarded as a land of “crouching tigers and hidden dragons.”³ It was also possible that Emperor Yuan De’s Water and Land Assembly might not only attract a few swindlers, but also some evil spirits.

After all, being personally bestowed with the title of “Heavenly Master” by the Emperor of Dazhen was equivalent to obtaining legitimacy with the power of Dazhen. To put it another way, even some monsters with extremely shallow Taoism and cultivation were extremely eager obtain this title and dig into the roots of the country.

Ji Yuan was pondering this point when Yin Zhaoxian suddenly spoke again.

“Oh, by the way, the governor will be promoted and go to the capital soon, I have to prepare a gift for him.”

“Haha, then Master Yin will have to spend a lot of money. I’m afraid, the gift you can prepare with your salary will be easily squeezed out by other people’s gifts.”

“Mr. Ji, you must be joking. I am reluctant to spend money, so I’ll just write him a large piece of calligraphy!”

Yin Zhaoxian stood up after speaking.

It was true that this gift prepared by Master Yin was indeed not too shabby. It would be an exaggeration to say it was worth thousands of taels, but it would not be an exaggeration to say that it was considered priceless.

“In that case, Master Yin, please go attend to your work. I have been bothering you fo more than two months, it is time for me to leave.”

Ji Yuan also stood up, saying goodbye to his friend.

Yin Zhaoxian is not surprised. It was already excellent to be able to have Mr. Ji stay for one more month than planned.

“Mr. Ji, are you going back to Ning’an County?”

Ji Yuan smiled.

“No, I am going to check out that Water and Land Assembly in the Capital Prefecture.”⁴

. . .

Half a day later, Ji Yuan bid farewell to the rest of the inhabitants of the Yin residence, and left the government building of Lishun Prefecture. After casually strolling around the city, he departed, riding on a cloud.

Naturally, Ji Yuan would not enter his name as part of this Assembly, but he had to go early to reserve his spot.

This Assembly was destined to be unusual. Perhaps this could be considered some kind of luck for Emperor Yuan De; at least, he wouldn’t end up like Emperor Zheng Yuan, who hadn’t been able to so much as glimpse the supernatural.

1. Another title for Emperor
2. 九天 (jiǔtiān): the ninth heaven/highest of all heavens, 十 (shí): ten, 会 (huì): to have skill/gathering/group/meeting/association. Personally, I think “Ten Gatherings of the Highest Heavens” would fit better in context, but in this case I’ve decided to stay more true to the literal translation. In short, it’s either a) an Assembly of the most skilled masters for 10 days, or b) an Assembly to chose the 10 most skilled masters. Then again, it’s just a title, maybe I’m reading to much into it
3. i.e. hidden masters/talents/abilities
4. T/n: LOL JY just dropping this on YZX’s head and leaving