Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 243: At A Loss From A Loss

“Crack… Crack…”

The old beggar twisted his neck and waist. There bloodstains still remained on the ground, but he could talk and walk as if nothing had happened.

“Aaah…!”

“Hiiie…!”

Seeing the old beggar take a few steps towards them, several imperial guards with poor mental resilience fell back. Even the palace guards with strong martial arts skills felt their hearts pounding.

After the old beggar spoke, he lowered his head and patted his knees, as if brushing off the dust. He then looked around, only to find that most of the people who had come to watch the excitement had basically run away. However, there were a few who were hiding at the entrance of the alley in the distance, secretly peeking.

Of course, there were still some people who stood there watching calmly — naturally, this included Ji Yuan and a few of the cultivators from Yuhuai Mountain.

The old beggar glanced at the imperial and palace guards again, then bowed with cupped hands to Ji Yuan, walking towards him.

“Mr. Ji, apologies for letting you see this joke. Shall we have some tea?”

“I heard that if you are awarded the title of Heavenly Master, you will receive 1000 taels of gold. Mr. Lu has become a wealthy man today. The cost of the tea…”

“Uh… Mr. Ji, you will still have to pay for the tea. This old beggar has even been beheaded by the emperor, how can there be any reward for my crimes…”

“Hahahaha… Let’s go, let’s go, it’s my treat!”

A gentleman in a green robe and a beggar in a rags walked away, chatting and laughing. Although they were walking slowly, it seemed as if the scenery around them was getting farther away, and they disappeared from sight in the span of just a few breaths.

It wasn’t until Ji Yuan and the old beggar had disappeared for a while that some of the Imperial Guard and Palace Guards recovered from an unnatural feeling of fear.

Looking around again, there had been a few people still standing around, dressed in long or feathered robes and small cats, but how they had turned around and left. Some daring people had come over to take a look at the scene again.

The pool of blood on the ground was the same as that of an ordinary beheading, but this time, no one needed to clean up the body.

After the palace guards calmed down, they looked at each other.

“Then, that was really an immortal!?”

“How… how do we report this to His Majesty?”

“We can only tell the truth…”

The other people’s answers were a little apprehensive. What had just happened was too ludicrous to be believable. How could a person come back to life after being beheaded? It could only be explained as a god or an immortal.

But the palace guards didn’t dare think about what such a report would mean to the emperor, or what it would mean for them.

On the contrary, the imperial guards surrounding the area would most likely be fine — it might even become a topic of conversation while drinking and chatting in private.

When the Imperial Guard and the Palace Guard left Yongning Street with their own complicated feelings, more people came back to the spot to listen to the daring individuals chatting about what had just happened.

From time to time, the crowd made sounds of disbelief or amazement…

. . .

In the palace, because of the previous episode, the atmosphere in the court fell into awkwardness for a while, until the reports started up again and it gradually thawed.

Aside from some reports of situations that had occurred during the Assembly ceremonies, the rest was relegated to continuing the introductions of the group of experts to the emperor.

None of the dozen or so experts said anything out of line. It was standard for them to introduce themselves and then congratulate the emperor on his birthday.

Among this group of people, the old emperor and some of the ministers obviously had their own preferences. Experts with good appearances naturally attracted more attention, such as the monk, or the old expert with the immortal-like appearance that Ji Yuan had brought the Dragon Son and Dragon Daughter to see before.

At this moment, the focus happened to turn to the monk. An official from the Ministry of Rites, who was performing the duties in the place of Yan Chang, extended his hand to gesture to the monk.

“Your Majesty, this is Master Huitong, not from our Dazhen. He comes from the north of Tingliang Country. During the Assembly, he recited Buddhist scriptures, and the sound of the Buddha echoed around, filling the room with fragrance!”

“Oh?”

Emperor Yuan De looked at the monk with a hint of excitement on his face.

“Master, do you have any mysterious supernatural powers or Buddhist teachings?”

The monk smiled reluctantly, looked around, took a step forward, then clasped his hands together and bowed to the old emperor in a Buddhist greeting.

“Praise be to the Great Mingwang Buddha. To answer His Majesty, this little monk is just a vegetarian and a Buddhist. I have no extraordinary powers. I am only participating in the Assembly to chant sutras, and pray for blessings to ward off disasters and eliminate evil!”

In fact, this monk is almost the only expert who did not want to come to pay homage to the old emperor. What he had done during the Ninth Heaven Ten Gatherings was really just what he would do for a normal Land and Water Assembly. However, he was too serious, and thus appeared a little mysterious, so he was directly selected by the Ministry of Rites as one of the candidates to meet the emperor.

The monk’s tone was even, and his expression was calm. The old emperor narrowed his eyes and looked at him for a while, then snorted with a hint of disappointment and replied.

“Monk, if you say this, do you mean that the officials of the Ministry of Rites are deceiving me?”

Several officials of the Ministry of Rites suddenly gasped, and their scalps went numb.

The monk also looked up at the emperor in a little panic, and quickly clasped his hands together and bowed.

“Praise be to the Great Mingwang Buddha, Your Majesty is too generous. This so-called audience does not explicitly require people with great supernatural powers. Those who sincerely pray for blessings to ward off disasters at the Assembly and receive merit are given priority. I believe that the officials of the Ministry of Rites have considered this!”

“So you think you have merit?”

The emperor asked another question, then looked at the monk indifferently.

Monk Huitong clasped his hands together and bowed.

“This little monk believes that I have some.”

The atmosphere fell silent again. After a while, the emperor on the dragon throne waved his hand and asked the monk to leave. Many officials of the Ministry of Rites breathed sighs of relief.

When preparing for the audience with the emperor, many officials in charge of the ceremony, including Yan Chang, all had a good impression of this monk. Although the others didn’t seem very interested in the old beggar, Yan Chang respected him very much.

As a result, today it turned out that it was these two people who were the most trouble: one brought disaster upon Yan Chang, and the other made the whole Ministry of Rites break into a cold sweat.

Seeing the monk retreating back to the group of experts, the official from the Ministry of Rites perked up, and was about to introduce the next person, when a report came from outside the hall.

“The executioner guards, reporting back-!”

The court officials and the emperor subconsciously turned their gaze outside the palace, and Emperor Yuan De nodded at the old eunuch beside him.

“Xuan.”

“Yes, Sir!”

The old eunuch bowed back, then took a deep breath and shouted.

“The Emperor has decreed, summon the guards from the execution hall to enter the main hall~!”

After a few breaths, a total of four palace guards, armed with swords, re-entered the hall together. However, the ministers who were closer to them could see that their expressions did not look very good.

The four of them came to the center of the hall together and knelt down on one knee, facing the dragon throne.

This gesture struck some quick-witted ministers as being quite strange. Normally, envoys did not need to kneel when meeting the emperor.

“Reporting to His Majesty, we have already beheaded that old beggar in the middle of Yongning Street…”

“Well, be dismissed then!”

The emperor waved his hand in disinterest.

However, none of the four palace guards stood up. They remained kneeling.

Emperor Yuan De narrowed his eyes and looked at the four of them. Could there be any other variables?

“What? What else?”

The four guards glanced at each other, realizing that it was impossible to void it. The one to the front right grit his teeth and spoke.

“Reporting to His Majesty, I personally beheaded the old beggar, and his head rolled down and blood splattered several feet around, but…”

“But what?”

The guard looked up at the emperor, his back was sweating a little.

“Just moments later, the old beggar, whose head and body had been separated, stood up again. His head called out to his body, and finally the body picked up the head and placed it back at its original place, and he came back to life!”

“What!?”

The old emperor trembled, grabbed the golden armrests of his dragon throne, and almost stood up.

“Ah…”

“Is there such a thing…”

“This guard isn’t talking nonsense, right?”

“Does he have the guts to do that…”

……

Not only was the emperor shocked, even the court officials, who has remained quiet most of the preceding events, could not help but murmur about it. There were may who were skeptical, disbelieving, and even horrified.

Emperor Yuan De’s hands trembled slightly as they grasped the armrests of his throne. He stared at the four palace guards with wide eyes, and spoke angrily with a slightly trembling voice:

“You dare to deceive me?”

“I dare not!”

“How could I dare commit the crime of deceiving the king!”

“Your Majesty, please understand!”

The four guards turned pale and kept bowing to the emperor.

The guard who spoke before even clasped his fists and said bitterly.

“Your Majesty, we would never dare to deceive you. The Imperial Guard was with us as witnesses. Moreover, there were many onlookers at the beheading on Yongning Street. The old beggar’s body was separated and he came back to life, which frightened many in the crowd, and made them flee in panic. Your Majesty only needs to send someone to Yongning Street to ask, and you will know that even now, the pool of blood from the beheading is still there! Please understand, Your Majesty!”

Emperor Yuande’s breathing was a little rapid as he sat of the dragon throne. He pointed to the four palace guards, wanting to say something, but no words came out, even after several attempts.

After a long time, he finally asked.

“Where is he? Where did he go? Why did he not come back with you!?”

The palace guards were all tense. No matter how uneasy they were, they had no choice but to continue speaking.

It was the leading guard who spoke.

“To answer Your Majesty, after the old beggar got up, he stretched his body for a while, and then left with a man who looked like a scholar, in a long green robe…”

Emperor Yuan De couldn’t help but stand up, and spoke with a stern voice.

“You just let him go like this? Why didn’t you stop him!?”

The guard in front of the hall looked up at the terrifying emperor, closed his eyes, and continued.

“Those two men were immortals. They disappeared within a few steps. We had no way to catch up to them… Before he left, that old beggar left a message…”

“Say it…!”

The guard took a deep breath.

“The old beggar glanced at us and said that the fate of this dynasty cannot be easily influenced. He also said.. he also said that the master-disciple destiny between him and Your Majesty… is no more!”

The old emperor stood there in a daze, his mouth open, his jaw trembling slightly. His heart was filled with complex and confused emotions. It seemed as if there was some large void within him.

For some reason, when the palace guard said these words, the old emperor seemed to have a strong feeling of “truth” in his heart.

After a long time, the old emperor swayed, his legs softened, and he slumped back onto the dragon throne with a “slap…” sound.

“Your Majesty!”

The eunuch beside him was nervous and concerned. When the old emperor turned his head to look at him, his eyes had a feeling of emptiness.

The four palace guards knelt to the ground and bowed their heads. The court officials no longer spoke, and the entire hall fell into a brief silence.

“Haah…haah…haah…”

After a while, Emperor Yuan De regained his senses, as if waking from a dream. He looked again at the four palace guards who did not dare to make any movements, then turned to look at the old eunuch beside him and said in a slightly hurried voice.

“Announce the decree, announce the decree, let the Commander of the Infantry, the Capital Prefecture’s government office, the Imperial Astronomical Department, all… go, go and find him for me, bring him back! Yan Chang, where is Yan Chang?”

The old emperor’s state was somewhat frightening, so the old eunuch answered bravely and with gritted teeth.

“Your Majesty, Lord Yan is in the Heavenly Prison right now…”

“What? He’s in the Heavenly Prison? Who would lock him up? Who would dare…”

The emperor paused when he said these words, suddenly remembering what happened before. He looked even more depressed and at a loss…

T/n: I believe this is what the kids call “getting rekt”