Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 239: Using Force to Suppress People

In fact, many of the surrounding imperial guards stationed around the outside of the field or standing on the four corners of the main platform were also apprehensive at the thunder and lightning in the sky, particularly since they had long weapons pointing upwards at rest.

Yan Chang and a few officials from the Imperial Astronomical Department and the Ministry of Rites also hid in some of the peripheral buildings, looking at the high platform under the thunder and lightning from a distance.

Because of his offering of the mooncake, Yan Chang seemed to be highly valued by the emperor at this point in time, so he had more say among the officials in charge of the Land and Water Assembly.

“Lord Yan, with all this thunder and lightning, I’m afraid it’s going to rain soon. What about those experts above?”

Someone asked Yan Chang a little worriedly. The latter frowned and looked towards the high platform.

“Those who have reported themselves to be simple ordinary monks and Taoists, who have come to pray and chant sutras, can go off the stage to take shelter from the rain and rest. As for those who have reported themselves to hold magical powers or be experts, a little wind and rain will naturally not be a problem for them.”

Hearing what Yan Chang said, the officials around him who were jointly responsible for this matter looked at each other, and roughly understood his intentions.

“Even the imperial guards on and around the platform will inevitably suffer together.”

“Then order all the imperial guards on the stage to retreat to the back. It would be better to get wet from the rain than to be struck by lightning.”

When Yan Chang said this, he was facing the deputy commander of the Outer Court Palace, who was also the deputy commander of the Outer Court Palace Imperial Guard. In terms of official rank, his position was actually higher than that of Yan Chang, but in matters of ritual, the Imperial Guard could only serve as assistants.

“Haha, Lord Yan is right. All my comrades have learned martial arts; with their armor, it won’t be a problem to get caught in the rain for half a day.”

As he spoke, the deputy commander sent orders out to several of the soldiers nearby, who drew their swords and began to move, marching around the platform in all four directions, then going up to deliver the order.

Then, in less time than it took to drink a cup of tea, all the imperial guards and warriors on the Assembly platform began to walk down the steps from all four sides in an orderly manner. In the end, only a few thousand experts remained on the entire Assembly platform, each continuing to perform and pray in their own way.

As time passed, the sky gradually grew darker. The storm clouds in the sky moved slowly, gradually covering the entire capital city of the Capital Prefecture.

. . .

“Crack… Boom… rumble…”

Lightning illuminated the face of Emperor Yuan De. At this moment, he looked up at the dark cloudy sky under the eaves of one of the palaces.

Today was the beginning of the Land and Water Assembly, which could also be considered the beginning of his birthday celebration. In nine days, Emperor Yuan De would select an individual to confer the title of “Heavenly Master,” then invite the new Heavenly Master to participate in his longevity banquet.

In addition to the eunuchs and guards, there were also several princes who had accompanied the emperor to look at the sky. However, there were no ministers or concubines.

“Qing’er.”

“Your son is here!”

Emperor Yuan De called out, and Prince Wu, who was beside him, immediately bowed in response.

“You can see that there is lightning and thunder on the day of the Land and Water Assembly’s convocation. Are the Heavens warning me?”¹

“This… Your son… Your son doesn’t know either!”

Wu Wen wouldn’t have dared to answer this kind of question no matter how ignorant of decorum he was. The old emperor glanced at him, and then looked at his third son, Yang Hao.

“What do you think, Hao’er?”

Prince Jin frowned and looked at his father, then at the sky.

“Boom…”

The thunder was so fierce that thousands of clouds were illuminated and the darkness was suppressed.

“Father, there is no need to worry too much. Wind, rain, lightning, and thunder are all common phenomena in this season. It would be more abnormal to have summer snow or winder thunder.”

The old emperor just looked at him, but didn’t say much. Then the turned to his other sons, all of whom seemed as though they were thinking, ‘don’t pick me.’

“Crack….crack…crack… Boom… Boom…”

Suddenly, a burst of rapid lightning struck in the east, and the dense, loud noises startled everyone, including the old emperor.

Within the span of a few breaths, the heavy rain finally began to fall with a loud clatter.

. . .

Far away on the Assembly platform in on the eastern side of the city, some evil and demonic cultivators had only just woken up from a trance at this moment.

In the center, a skinny man with a rat-like face stared blankly at a spot just ten zhang away from him. Just now, several thunderbolts had struck at the same time and hit a woman there, just now turning her into a charred corpse, still emitting black smoke.

Many of the “experts” around were so frightened that they collapsed in the rain. The platform, which had originally been filled with the noisy sounds of praying, chanting, and dancing, was now completely silent.

“This is no ordinary lightning… This is a Lightning Technique! Someone is controlling the Lightning-!”

The thin man with the rat-like face shouted in a panic.

“Someone is controlling…”

“Crack…crack…Boom… Boom…”

The man could no longer utter the second half of his sentence as six or seven lightning bolts hit him almost simultaneously, leaving him no time to react.

The most famous aspect of the Lightning Control Technique was not its power, but its almost unavoidable speed. Compared to ordinary Heavenly Lightning, the Lightning Control Technique was full of spiritual energy and true intent. Coupled with the unusual current state of these evil cultivators, its power was even more outstanding.

Some experts who were purely mortals or mortal warriors, here to fill in the numbers, were the first to start panicking. Aside from the very few who had been paralyzed by fright, most of them crawled towards the edge of the platform.

“Aaah! It’s killing people!”

“Run… someone has been struck!”

“Let’s go, money is not as important as life.”

“Don’t push, don’t push…”

More than 90% of the thousands of people were either ordinary people or people from the prefecture’s underworld, who all wished they could grow a few more legs in their haste to get down from the platform. Among them were also some practitioners who had nothing to do with Dazhen’s fate, or had no evils spirits within themselves.

“Boom…”

“Boom…”

Lightning occasionally struck, and though it didn’t hit a person every time, it still struck more than a dozen people as the group fled.

Under these circumstances, the imperial guards below the stage, intimidated by the might of the heavens, moved away from the stage and looked for places to shelter from the rain, so they did not stop these “experts,” who were supposed to stay on stage, from coming down.

Some monks who had escaped safely into the crowd felt very fortunate. Once they were far away from the Assembly platform, the oppressive feeling of fear suddenly subsided. When they looked back, they found that the entire platform seemed to be a hazy gray.

There were at least hundreds of people on the platform who didn’t escape together. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to escape, but rather many of them did not dare to act rashly, or simply could not act.

At this moment, heavy rain continued to fall from the sky. Although the rain flowed away, the Assembly platform under everyone’s feet was covered in a thin layer of shallow water, like a layer of pure glass.

Human figures and strange shadows were reflected on the water surface. Some of the ones standing on the platform looked like human beings, but their reflections in the water revealed them to be monsters.

This, however, was still not the key point: most crucially, as the rain continued to hit the glass-like mirror surface, creating ripples, the shining words below revealed their true colors.

The words carried a soft glow, like endless moonlight blooming in a mirror, or like the bright moon in the rain.

It gave off an extremely powerful aura, and the light shone like magic through the haze of rain. All the remaining hundreds of people felt as if they were being weighed down by something enormous, and could only barely stand.

“Haha… The reflection in the mirror reverses both appearances!”

Ji Yuan was sitting at a tea stall several hundred zhang away from the platform, with his back to the table, his legs crossed, and his hands on his knees. He looked at the faint light in the direction of the platform with a smile on his face and a calm expression.

Since he had mastered the Heaven Rending Sword, Ji Yuan had made great progress in his comprehension of his own inner world, and in the potential applications of his power.

He was very satisfied with this method of taking advantage of the situation. The moonlight, the Edict, the energy of humanity, and the evil spirits of the demons themselves were all indispensable to this technique. The stronger the various energies, the stronger the effect.

Ji Yuan thought, without trying to be modest, that this move was quite ingenious, even amidst the mysterious world of cultivation.

As soon as the rain fell, the entire Assembly platform became akin to a glass mirror. Hundreds of words of the Edicts displayed the essence of the Tao. Combined with the previous entanglement of the energy of humanity and the blooming light of moonlight, it had produced a “mirror-reversal” effect.

The Qi of the revealed demons and monsters onstage had been reflected, and flipped; although their bodies were standing on the platform at this very moment, their Qi had been suppressed under the platform. That was why the water waves could reflect their true bodies. It wasn’t some supernatural power inherent to the mirror itself, but rather just the manifestation of their Qi.

As long one did not have the spiritual power or supernatural force to overturn the enormous stone platform, or to see through this level of cultivation, one would be entangled in the Qi and in the heart, and would not be able to move. In addition, their spiritual foundation would also be suppressed. The more one connected emotionally, the more frightened one became, the more one would be suppressed, unable to stand up.

Of course, there might be unpredictable methods of escape that could help them break free.

“Creak… Creaak…”

A strong man, muscles bulging all over his body, grit his teeth and stood upright.

“Hooh… haah…”

With a “bang,” one of his legs bent at the knees and slammed down on the platform, his whole body trembling and struggling violently. Then the other leg also slammed down into the stone platform with a “bang.” Strangely, the surface of the water only rippled, but there were no splashes.

“Roar…”

The other old man next to him roared in the sky. His face was ferocious, and his bones made creaking sounds. With his demonic aura rising into the sky, the tried his best to take a half a step forward.

As a result, endless lightning fell.

“Crack…Crack…Boom…”

The old beggar couldn’t help but place his hands over the young beggar’s eyes, fearing that he would be blinded by the lightning.

“Tsk tsk tsk… why not just kneel down obediently?”

Of the entire scene, the two beggars were the most relaxed. Not only was their energy free, but the old beggar also had a calm state of mind that could see through the current happenings.

However, the old beggar was secretly shocked in his heart. After all, he had misjudged; he had obviously taken the decree quite seriously, but hadn’t anticipated the effects to be so unexpected.

“Roooar–“

“Aarooooar—“

Amidst the thunder in the sky, the faint and indistinct roar of a dragon could be heard, proclaiming the dragon’s excitement above the clouds.

The various soldiers and officials of Dazhen who had just hidden in various buildings looked at the high platform in horror. Even though the saw a large number of experts fleeing, they couldn’t help but gain a small understanding in their minds as they saw lightning striking the platform from time to time.

‘Is there anyone else up there? ’

The old beggar looked at the sky. Having seen so many tricks, he decided not to stay on the stage any longer. He took the little beggar’s hand and walked off the platform.

During this process, the “experts” who were unable to move one after another looked at him in surprise, pleading, or anger. There were some who begged, while many cursed him due to misunderstandings. Some even wanted to help the old beggar, but as soon as they were distracted and focused on using their spiritual energy, they were immediately pinned down on the stage and unable to move.

The little beggar had never seen such a terrifying scene of chaotic demons in his life. Looking at the reflections of some of the “experts” on the ground, they were all essentially monsters. He was so frightened that he kept shrinking beside the old beggar.

However, the little beggar was not stupid: Grandpa Lu was capable, and he had long understood that, looking at the current situation, these monsters and demons wouldn’t be able to harm anyone.

“Grandpa Lu…Are they all going to die?”

“Hey, that’s not something an old beggar like me can decide. Of course, it’s certainly not something these beings can decide, either.”

1. It’s worth noting that the Emperor (unsurprisingly) consistently uses 寡人 (guǎrén), a first person pronoun specifically for royalty and nobility. It’s kind of like the “royal We” (us/we) in English, but that would be confusing in translation so I use I/me