A Clash of Gods - Chapter 109

Chapter 109 Six Messengers of Ksitigarbha
Yang Ning was stunned. At this moment, somebody came from behind and was surprised to see Yang Ning, greeting joyfully, “Your Excellency!” He walked forward quickly and then knelt down. “Your Excellency, you are finally back. All of us are looking for you all the time.”

Yang Ning glanced at him, who was one of the attendants following him from the capital. Seeing that, those officials and soldiers looked at one another and then all knelt on the ground, saying in unison, “Your Excellency, nice to meet you!”

Yang Ning raised his hand. “All of you, get up.” Then he asked, “What happened here?”

That attendant got up and responded, “Your Excellency, we have controlled the old house and all of them have been captured. We will punish them after we find you.”

Yang Ning’s brows got relieved, and he asked, “You have captured those guys? Right, did you capture the guy who masqueraded as Qi Cheng?”

“Your Excellency, don’t worry. We have captured him.” The attendant was excited. “All of us are worried, and Governor Mao is here. I am going to report to him now.”

Yang Ning shook his head. “No need. I will go in person.” He shook the rein and went to the old house. When he was in front of the old house, as expected, he saw one soldier every few steps and at least one hundred men around. An attendant at the gate was surprised and happy to see Yang Ning. Yang Ning entered the house and noticed that the main hall was brightly lit. Some people gathered and were talking about something. Hearing the footsteps, they turned their heads. One of them shouted cheerfully, “Your Excellency, you…are back!” He walked forward in a hurry, and it was Qi Feng.

The others heard that and walked to him. A middle-aged man dressed in an official robe saluted him. “Your Excellency, I am the governor in Jiangling, Mao Wenshou. Nice to meet you.”

Yang Ning was the heir of the Marquis of Honor, but he was not an official and hadn’t inherited the title, so the governor in Jiangling didn’t need to kneel to him. Even so, the governor was respectful to him.

Yang Ning saluted him to show his respect. “Governor Mao, thanks.”

“Your Excellency, it’s great that you are safe and sound.” Mao Wenshou took a deep breath and smiled. “We are talking about if we should post notices to offer a substantial reward in order to find you, but it would reveal the news that you are in Jiangling, and it might accomplish the very opposite and cause trouble to you, so we are discussing.”

“Everybody, please sit down.” Yang Ning raised his hand. The others were officials in Jiangling and saluted Yang Ning. After telling all people to sit down, Yang Ning asked Qi Feng, “Qi Feng, Governor Mao and the others…”

Qi Feng explained at once, “Your Excellency, I went to Jingzhou City and found the old chief steward Qi Hong. Only one man was looking after him then.” He shook his head. “Not looking after him but watching him.”

“Watch him?”

“Right. The old chief steward didn’t have a stroke but was poisoned. He lay on the bed and couldn’t move a bit. He couldn’t speak because he was poisoned to be dumb.” Qi Feng sneered. “In the beginning, we were almost cheated, but when I saw the old chief steward, there was something wrong with the expression in his eyes.”

“Something wrong with the expression in his eyes?”

Qi Feng laughed. “Old birds are not to be caught with chaff. Although the chief steward couldn’t move, he reminded me with his eyes that there was something wrong. Your Excellency, you know that I am smart. Seeing the chief steward’s eyes, I understood, so I made a prompt decision and captured the guy who watched him on the spot. That guy was a coward and told us everything after being interrogated with torture. He confessed that the chief steward didn’t have a stroke, but he didn’t have the antidote.” He paused for a while and then continued, “Since the old steward didn’t have a stroke, there must be something unusual. I discussed with Governor Mao and secretly assembled soldiers and horses. After the man who was sent to Jiangxia came back, we knew that Qi Cheng had disappeared many years ago and nobody knew his whereabouts. So Qi Cheng in the old house must be suspicious.”

Yang Ning nodded. “If Qi Cheng in the old house is real, the people in Jiangxia must know that he is here, so they wouldn’t say that he disappeared.”

Qi Feng nodded in agreement. “So Governor Mao made preparations. We brought people to the old house, but to guarantee complete success, I came to the old house first and knew that you and the third lady disappeared at the same time, so I knew that there must be something amiss. So I contacted Governor Mao and surrounded the old house at night three days ago. We captured the fake Qi Cheng, and it happened that there were some followers of his here, so we captured all of them.” He hesitated and then added, “I am afraid that the people in the old house got involved in it, so I locked up all of them temporarily, regardless of age and sex.”

Yang Ning explained, “The people in the old house don’t know the truth as Qi Cheng and the others cheated and controlled them. The third lady is safe, too. Don’t worry.”

“Great, great.” Mao Wenshou was relieved. “After hearing that you and the third lady disappeared, we sent people to look for you everywhere. We questioned the fake Qi Cheng and knew that you might have gone to Xia Mountain, so we sent people to search on Xia Mountain. There are still many people on the mountain now.”

Yang Ning cupped his hands. “Thanks, everybody.” Then he asked, “Did you know something else from Qi Cheng?”

Mao Wenshou and Qi Feng looked at each other, and then Mao Wenshou replied, “I told somebody to interrogate him with torture. He just said that everything was the judge’s order, and he even said something like living forever.”

“Did he mention Ksitigarbha in the nether world?” Yang Ning asked with a frown.

“Ksitigarbha in the nether world?” Mao Wenshou was stunned and shook his head. “He didn’t mention it. Your Excellency, what is Ksitigarbha?”

“Be peaceful, endurable and unmoved like the earth. Consider quietly and deeply like a secret treasure. Have you heard of this saying?”

Mao Wenshou nodded. “It means the Buddha Ksitigarbha. It is said that Sakyamuni told Ksitigarbha to stay in the world and save all beings from suffering in the six realms of existence, hell, hungry ghost, animal, Asura, human being, and heaven, during the period from the Nirvana of Sakyamuni to the advent of Maitreya. And Ksitigarbha swore that he wouldn’t achieve Buddhahood until all the hells are empty.”

“Governor Mao, you are really learned.” Yang Ning highly praised him.

Mao Wenshou responded with a smile hurriedly, “Thanks. I just read some Buddhist scriptures occasionally, so I know a little. As far as I know, Ksitigarbha has six messengers…” He seemed to think that he showed off his knowledge, so he waved his hand while smiling. “Your Excellency, don’t laugh at me.”

Yang Ning asked seriously, “Governor Mao, we don’t know that, and I really want to know more about it. What are the six messengers as you mentioned?”

Mao Wenshou explained, “Your Excellency, Ksitigarbha’s six messengers assist Ksitigarbha in telling people in the six realms to learn virtue. One is Yama, who teaches the people in hell. One is the boy holding treasure who teaches the hungry ghosts. And the powerful messenger teaches the animals. The Kind Goddess teaches the Asura. The Treasure Goddess teaches the human being, and the last one is the Heaven Messenger, teaching the ones in heaven. These are the six messengers of Ksitigarbha.”

Yang Ning nodded slightly. “So it is.” Then he added, “The fake Qi Cheng must be subject to Zhao Yuan, and Zhao Yuan is the judge as Qi Cheng mentioned.”

Qi Feng asked in a hurry, “Your Excellency, have you seen Zhao Yuan?”

Yang Ning responded indifferently, “He has died. I have killed him in person. He claimed to be under the control of Ksitigarbha in the nether world, but Ksitigarbha is a Buddha worshiped by all people, and the Ksitigarbha he said must be a person in our world.” He asked, “Qi Feng, have you heard of any organization related to it?”

Qi Feng pondered for a while and shook his head. “I have never heard of somebody called Ksitigarbha in society.” He leaned forward and whispered, “Your Excellency, there is big news, and you probably don’t know.”

Yang Ning asked, “Big news? What big news?”

Qi Feng turned to Mao Wenshou. “Lord Mao, please tell His Excellency.”

Mao Wenshou nodded slightly and looked solemn, raising his hand to the other officials. “All of you leave now.” All people got up and said goodbye to Yang Ning. After they left, Mao Wenshou asked in a low voice, “Your Excellency, do you know that His Majesty passed away?”

“Pass away?” Yang Ning didn’t understand for a moment and asked, “What pass away? His Majesty?” He suddenly realized it and added automatically, “Do you mean that His Majesty died?”

Mao Wenshou and Qi Feng turned pale, and Yang Ning also knew that he said something improper. Mao Wenshou raised his hand to remind Yang Ning to lower his voice and stood up, walking to the door to look outside. Then he returned and stated in a low voice, “Your Excellency, I just got the news early in the morning yesterday. His Majesty had passed away.”

Yang Ning had a lot of thoughts in his brain.

The Marquis of Honor passed away, but the people in the imperial palace didn’t do anything after a long time and even hurriedly sent somebody to declare the imperial decree on the way when the Marquis of Honor was about to be buried. The marquis’ mansion had expected that the imperial palace could give them a reward as usual so that the mansion could pull through during the difficult time. After all, the pillar of the empire, the Marquis of Honor had served the country and made a lot of contributions, and the emperor wouldn’t remain unmoved.

But in fact, till now, the emperor didn’t give them a cent.

Yang Ning thought sometimes that if the emperor was so stingy, he must be decrepit and muddleheaded. The Marquis of Honor was a man of merit in the Chu State and few people could compare with him. The emperor didn’t give something for such a man’s funeral, so how could he win the hearts of the civil and military officials and all the people? Even if he had a difficult time, he should show his sincerity.

The emperor didn’t give the family of the Marquis of Honor anything to comfort them, and even before the funeral, nobody was sent from the imperial palace to pay respects to the dead, which was unusual.

The guards in the capital were transferred, and the Royal Guard Camp which was responsible for the security of the capital was transferred out of the capital, while the Black Sword Camp entered the city to guard. Moreover, the capital city was heavily guarded and everything indicated that there was something wrong in the capital.

Although Yang Ning thought something happened in the capital, he didn’t expect that it was because the emperor passed away.

Now he learned the news and all his doubts were solved. He knew that the emperor might be dying or even have died when the Black Sword Camp entered the city. The guards were transferred in order to prevent somebody in the capital from conspiring against the state when the emperor died.

Even the emperor had died, so nobody in the imperial palace had time to care about the funeral of the Marquis of Honor.

In only a few days, the pillar in the army of the empire, the Marquis of Honor, died, and the emperor passed away almost at the same time. The emperor and a general died one after another, and such a strike was deadly to the Chu State. The country would have a storm inevitably. Yang Ning even suspected that the capital might be in chaos.

“His Majesty is a wise emperor but passed away at the prime of his life…” Mao Wenshou had tears in his eyes and sighed. “What will happen in our country worries all people.”