Chapter 596: Unexpected Finding

One after another the three men leaped onto the big tree overlooking the small two-storied building at the Yin Mansion’s rear courtyard, and looked in the direction of the main building within the mansion. The lanterns in the main hall were brightly lit, they could faintly hear the sound of woodwind and string, traditional musical instruments.

Kou Zhong laughed and said, “Yin Zuwen certainly have music and song every night, he enjoys the flourishing riches and honor of the secular world very much. I hope he can forget his roots, and then the whole world will be at peace.”

Xu Ziling said, “In the pursuit of power and wealth, there will be no end, it will only lead to coveting Sichuan once Gansu has been seized [idiom: insatiable desire]. All holy school people have the holy school’s life-long mission to unify the world.”

Hou Xibai sighed and said, “I am afraid I am the only exception. I do not have the slightest interest in power and position [or politics], wealth and official post. If you want me to be the emperor, it will be the same as having me tortured.”

Kou Zhong cheerfully said, “If you are not that kind of person, we would not have gone exploring the imperial palace, to tour the Tang palace under the moonlit night together tonight.”

Hou Xibai said, “Just now I went around to inquire the inside situation of the imperial palace. It is reported that starting approximately half a year ago, Li Yuan unceasingly invites renowned experts, martial art masters like Ouyang Xiyi to leave the mountain [of a hermit: to come out of obscurity to a government job] and come to Chang’an and take residence here. These powerful Qianbei Dajia [great expert], none is not able to withstand the test of time, they are the founding-the-school-establishing-the-sect figures. As for which martial art masters, please forgive Xiaodi for being unable to investigate even half a name.”

Smiling wryly, Xu Ziling said, “You can put all the blame on my Yue Shan, for making him feel your Shi Shi’s threat. I dare say that he recruiting martial art masters with enough power is in order to withstand your Shi Shi. Therefore, it is extremely possible that tonight we might meet unexpected disaster.”

Kou Zhong responded cheerfully, “Without danger, where will the delight coming from? Life and death are ruled by fate, riches and honor are from Heaven, I, Kou Zhong, believe in fate more and more. Since it is foreordained by fate, whether it is disaster or good fortune, neither can be avoided, so why do we have so much misgivings?”

Hou Xibai agreed, he said, “Shaoshuai is right. We might as well have a free hand and go all out to steal the ‘Han Lin Qing Yuan Tu’ back, and then we’ll leave behind the ‘Duan Ming’ Cao San’s swallow mark.”

Kou Zhong reached out and put his hand on his shoulder, he grinned and said, “Xiao Hou’s thought seems to put us two to one!”

Xu Ziling spoke in displeasure, “What good would stealing the ‘Han Lin Qing Yuan Tu’ bring us?”

Hou Xibai shot a ‘please help me’ look at Kou Zhong, which Kou Zhong responded by a ‘don’t you worry’ look. Leaning closer, he focused his voice into a thread and pierced it through to Xu Ziling’s ear, “Currently Old Shi is restless in his room. Only under one circumstance will he return to Wu Lou Si’s meditation room and disguise himself as Da De Shengseng, which is when the whole city is out to hunt the Duan Ming Cao San, because that is the time where it is not suitable for Old Shi to be roaming outside, especially when the search is concentrated around the Yue Ma Bridge’s Wu Lou Si. Old Shi definitely will not let anybody to discover that the meditation room is empty. Therefore, if during this critical moment Yi Lao is notifying Li Yuan that Old Shi is the Da De Shengseng, then Li Yuan’s target will be shifted to this formidable opponent, which is ten million times more important than Cao San, while we will be at the other exit waiting for Old Shi, this big fish. Therefore, the ‘Han Lin Qing Yuan Tu’ simply must be stolen, because only by doing this we will be able to provoke Li Yuan to fly into a terrible rage, but also to make Old Shi like a fish entering the net. But the timing of the theft must be carefully considered. How about we investigate the situation clearly first?”

Smiling wryly, Xu Ziling said, “Even when we were little I could never out-speak you, hence the reason most of the time the responsibility of asking for steamed buns fell into me. Very well! I have no more objection on your preposterous argument, which apparently right but is actually wrong.”

Greatly astonished, Hou Xibai said, “What preposterous argument did Shaoshuai say just now? So far, the efficacy is actually magical.”

Kou Zhong smiled and said, “What he and I were talking about is actually the profound theory and mysterious reasoning of destiny. Ling Shao is a person with perception; due to the deeply felt enlightenment and touched emotion, he had no choice but to change his original thought in order to accomplish Hou Gongzi’s dream.”

Greatly delighted, Hou Xibai said, “Please don’t think that I have absurd greedy thought, it’s just that I hope that this exceptional work of art will be in the possession of the person most qualified to own it; that’s all!”

Laughing involuntarily, Xu Ziling said, “You guys, one is a muddled-egg, the other is a silly kid; with lone momentum and meager strength, how could I fight you? Huh? Someone’s coming!”

They saw three men walking along the gravel path between the forest tree inside the park, chatting and joking happily, strolling toward the small building.

Kou Zhong and the others focused their eyes to look. Their first reaction was to narrow their eyes and close their pores in order to avoid the opposite side detecting their presence.

The one in the middle was dignified and formidable. Although currently he was wearing civilian clothes, he still carried the heroic and imposing emperor’s bearing and might. Unexpectedly it was the master of the Great Tang imperial court, the Li Clan’s Li Yuan.

On his left, the man was about of the same height as him, with eagle eyes and hook nose, the hair on his temples grizzled, his appearance bold and powerful, on the surface his age appeared to be around forty, but Kou Zhong and the others dared to say that this man’s age could not be below Li Yuan; he was at least more than sixty years old.

Both Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong felt that they had seen this man somewhere before, but they could not remember who he was.

The last person slightly fell half a step back; it looked like he realized that his status was not high enough to walk side by side with the other two. Surprisingly, it was Yin Zuwen.

Li Yuan laughed and said, “Tonight is really brilliant, Yin Guo Yue [lit. state father-in-law] arranged it so well that I have nothing to say: top quality beautiful women, top quality dancing.”

The old man with hook nose smiled and said, “The more brilliant point was that they [feminine] did not know that Xiandi [worthy little brother] is the Great Tang Emperor Li Yuan. Using power, we can only obtain their body, but we would never be like just now, allowing Xiandi to obtain that Meiren’er’s admiration, which evolved from her true heart.”

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The two men looked face to face and roared in laughter, while Yin Zuwen accompanied them laughing from behind.

The three men on the tree understood immediately. Li Yuan was accustomed to being the emperor, hence he wanted to satisfy his ‘not the emperor’ craving, he slipped away from the secret tunnel, disguising himself in plain clothes, using his other identity, and asking Yin Zuwen to arrange some entertainment for him. Since Li Yuan was a womanizer, naturally the program did not deviate far from female charms. The question was that good or bad, Yin Zuwen was Li Yuan’s father-in-law; asking Yin Zuwen to provide women for his son-in-law seemed to be inexcusable. However, when they thought about Li Yuan’s status as the emperor, it was not surprising for Yin Zuwen to flatter and curry favor with him.

In his heart, suddenly Xu Ziling felt something was not quite right, he seemed to capture a certain crucial point, but momentarily he was unable to grasp anything specific.

As for this hook-nosed old man, he must be someone who had profound friendship with Li Yuan, so that even now that Li Yuan rose in nobility to became an emperor, the man was still on an equal footing with him, calling each other Xiong and Di [older and younger brother, respectively], even addressing each other directly by name. It was thus clear that he was both his playmate and bodyguard. Affirming his identity, status, and martial art skill were all extremely important, but they could not figure out who he was; perhaps he was one of the martial art masters of the older generation that Li Yuan invited to deal with Shi Zhixuan.

Li Yuan, three men, arrived at the small building and stopped in front of the steps. Li Yuan nodded and said, “Only encounters with precious experience will bring true delight; merely watching a beauty’s manner when she gets angry and swearing cannot be bought for one thousand in gold. Tomorrow night I will have to entertain Flying Horse Ranch’s Shang Xiuxun, how about the day after tomorrow we have some more fun? Or perhaps we go someplace else?”

Yin Zuwen hastily replied, “Everything can be arranged according to Huangshang’s decision, Huangshang, please bestow your instruction, Chenxia [official/subject] will make appropriate arrangement.”

The hook-nosed old man knitted his brows and said, “For the time being, Xiandi’s movements should be limited inside Yin Guo Yue’s mansion. Wait until we eliminate Shi Zhixuan, at that time, you can go anywhere you like.”

Smiling bitterly, Li Yuan said, “Your, LaoGe’s words, how could Li Yuan dare not to follow?”

Yin Zuwen changed his tone to a more flattering manner, he said, “Fa Zhu [clan master] is giving thought to Huangshang’s safety! Furthermore, you are giving thought to the common people of the world.”

Li Yuan sighed emotionally, he said, “Ay! Becoming the emperor is really not easy.”

Yin Zuwen climbed up the steps and pushed the door open.

Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling, three men you looked at me I gazed at you, they finally knew which divine figure the hook-nosed old man was, and why he dared to exercise control over Li Yuan’s activities.

The four surnames of the most illustrious school and clan of Wulin were the Li Clan, Dugu Clan, Yuwen Clan, and Song Clan. The first three Clans were the big clans of the north [of the Yellow River], who had vowed loyalty and devotion to the imperial court of the successive generations for a long time. Therefore, although these three Clans continuously fought for power and position, they were still linked in countless ways with each other, in impermanence separation and reunion.

In the struggle after the collapse of the Great Sui, one after another the Dugu Clan and the Yuwen Clan fell from power. The remnants of these two Clans, relying on their relationship, came to seek shelter under Li Yuan’s wings. The person before their eyes was precisely the Clan Master of the Yuwen Clan, Yuwen Shang.

In term of martial art skill, among the four great school and clans, surely the ‘Heavenly Saber’ Song Que firmly occupied the chief position, followed by Yuwen Huaji’s uncle [father’s elder brother] Yuwen Shang; he was outstanding, even above Li Yuan. Although Dugu Feng shared the same seat, but his martial art skill was not at the top among the Dugu Clan people. The number one martial art master of the Dugu Clan was You Chuhong.

With Yuwen Shang, this level of martial art master as his bodyguard, although Li Yuan could slip out to play around without any worries, but he did not know that Yin Zuwen was a demonic school people.

Yuwen Shang laughed and said, “Although demonic way disciples praise Shi Zhixuan to the skies, saying how formidable he is, I still have some reservations. It would be best if he comes to charge into the forbidden park, You Lao and I will definitely make him able to come but unable to leave. If we knew where he is, that would be even better!”

Li Yuan spoke cheerfully, “Good thing that you, LaoGe reminded me, I invited You Lao to personally protect Zhang Guifei [imperial consort]. On the basis of her nearly a hundred years of experience, she suffering harm under people’s hands will definitely not happen again.”

Hearing that, the three looked at each other, crying ‘Bad!’ inwardly. The most likely place to hide the ‘Han Ling Qing Yuan Tu’ was Zhang Jieyu’s fragrant chamber. If it was under You Chuhong’s guard, how were they going to make their move?

Yuwen Shang said, “She, the Senior has been recovered completely from her old illness, her martial art skill went up a notch even more, perhaps she even surpasses the ‘Tian Dao’ Song Que and become the number one among our four great clans. With her inside the palace, Xiandi can feel reassured.”

Li Yuan sighed and said, “It’s a pity Mo Shenyi is wandering far away; a strange man with strange actions, truly admirable. This man not only possess outstanding medical skill, himself is a very interesting person.”

Yuwen Shang laughed and said, “I hope he will be back sooner! It’s time for us to return to the Palace!”

After Yin Zuwen left, Kou Zhong blew a mouthful of air slowly said, “I regret it very much!”

Puzzled, Hou Xibai asked, “Regret what?”

Xu Ziling laughed and said, “He regrets curing You Lao Pozi’s [old woman] asthma.”

Kou Zhong dejectedly said, “This is called reaping what one has sown, doing good thing to get bad retribution. His Niang’s! One Yuwen Shang is enough to give us headache, now there is also You Lao Pozi. If something bad happens, it won’t be easy for us to get out.”

Xu Ziling said with a sneer, “Didn’t you just say to submit to the will of heaven and have a free hand to act? Now it seems like you don’t believe in fate at all.”

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Kou Zhong said with a wry smile, “Because fate seems to be warning us, to let us know that at the place where we want to play, You Lao Pozi is waiting respectfully for our good-selves. Hou Gongzi, what do you think?”

Hou Xibai sighed and said, “What do you want me to say? Although I love paintings as much as I love my life, but in the end I cannot ask you to accompany me throwing away my life.”

Shrugging his shoulders, Xu Ziling said, “I don’t have any thought. Don’t look at me like that, I really don’t have any thought, I’ll leave it completely up to you, Kou Shaoshuai to decide.”

Kou Zhong was still gazing intently at him, a hint of smile escaped out of the corner of his mouth, he said, “It’s time to put on the mask! The attractiveness of the imperial palace should be a lot greater than You Lao Pozi’s threat, am I right?”

※ ※ ※

Kou Zhong pushed open the bed inside the room at the ground floor of the small building. Using enough power in their eyes, the three were able to see the faint seam of the square lid of the tunnel entrance, which was flush with the floor. Because the floor was tiled with square slabs of stone, if they did not pay attention, it would be difficult to see, it would appear just like another square floor slab.

With the air of an expert, Kou Zhong stopped Hou Xibai from using his palm strength to suck the floor up, he said, “Previously, we could not hear the slightest noise of the tunnel being opened, so clearly the design of the entrance is ingenious. If we don’t know the method to open it, it is extremely possible that we will trigger the alarm system, so that when we emerge from the other end, the imperial bodyguards in the entire palace might be waiting for us to drop by.”

Xu Ziling did not have enough confidence in Kou Zhong’s knowledge in mechanism, he frowned and said, “You made it sound so dangerous; how are you going to do it?”

Kou Zhong said, “My way is to have a clear view first and then solve the difficult problem. Come! I need Ling Shao’s support.”

Without saying anything further, Xu Ziling pressed his palm on Kou Zhong’s back.

Hou Xibai watched curiously from the side; he spoke in astonishment, “I am now starting to believe the rumor circulating in Jianghu.”

Kou Zhong dropped down on one knee, his pair of palms was pressed into the stone slab. “What rumor?” he asked, “What does it have to do with what we are doing now?”

Hou Xibai replied, “The rumor says that if Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling join hands, even the three grandmasters would also have to stand aside.”

Blurted out laughing, Xu Ziling said, “They certainly have never seen our sorry state when we go through the danger of death and come out alive under Bi Xuan and your honorable master’s hands, and that time we even had Ba Fenghan with us.”

Hou Xibai said, “That’s why I always thought it was busybodies’ exaggerated remarks, until tonight I see the amazing technique you are using true qi together, thinking that if this method could be developed one step further, who in the world would be able to withstand the strike from this kind of cooperation?”

Both Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were shaken, the former’s pair of palms even left the surface of the stone cover.

Stunned, Hou Xibai said, “How come your reaction was this intense?”

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling exchanged glances, they both realized that Hou Xibai’s remark had awakened them from the dream; previously, they had many times relied on mutual use of their true qi to deal with enemies who were more brilliant than they were, even relied on this method to fight Funantuo with all their might while their internal injury had not recovered yet. However, it was all an effort to meet a contingency when they were facing death; they had never really researched how to, from this foundation – develop a set of technique to be used in fighting together. This time, while their schemes were drained their strength exhausted in dealing with Shi Zhixuan, this was perhaps a feasible method to break Shi Zhixuan’s ultimate-since-the-dawn-of-time Bu Si Yin Fa.

But naturally it was not appropriate to discuss this matter in front of Hou Xibai.

Changing the subject, Kou Zhong said, “Xiaodi’s guess is indeed not wrong. If we attempted to suck this stone slab using internal energy, the stone lid raises one cun, it will immediately pull and trigger the alarm bell. The designer is clearly an expert in mechanism, his understanding of human psyche is very accurate.”

Hou Xibai was eager to get the treasured painting, he forgot what they were talking about earlier. He said, “In that case, will it work if we push it in a certain direction?”

Kou Zhong replied, “If we push inside, it might be absolutely still, because it is locked rigid by an iron latch as big as a baby’s arm on one side.”

Disappointed, Hou Xibai said, “Won’t that mean we call it a day tonight? Looking at the entrance, sighing in despair.”

Sitting on the floor, Kou Zhong laughed and said, “If I am not a friend enough, perhaps I might mislead you by saying we do not have this ability. But we all are brothers; tonight, I simply must help you into the palace, no matter what, to let you go into Zhang Meiren’s room to steal fragrance and pilfer jade [idiom: secret illicit sex].”

Astonished, Hou Xibai said, “This mechanism can only be opened from the inside, what can you do?”

Kou Zhong moved forward and pressed his pair of palms on the surface of the lid again. When Xu Ziling pressed his palms onto his back, Kou Zhong, remaining calm and unruffled in the midst of chaos, said, “This is called striking the ox across the mountain; while the strength of the internal power is important, the more important factor is the level of mastery on the mechanism knowledge. Either one lacking, it won’t work. His Niang’s! Look at my unrivalled-under-the-heavens Ge Gai Qi Guan Da Fa [great method of opening the lock across (separated by) the lid]. Open!”

From under the lid came the sound of the latch moving.

Hearing that, Hou Xibai was dumbstruck. He sighed and said, “No wonder you guys are able to move unhindered across the world, no one can do anything to you.”

Successfully accomplishing their task, Xu Ziling laughed and said, “You honor us with your compliments too much! It ought to be: running away across the world, surviving with difficulty.”

Kou Zhong reached out to press one side of the lid, hard. The stone lid tilted downward, revealing stone stairs seven or eight steps deep.

Greatly delighted, Hou Xibai said, “Success! Even if we tell Li Yuan that we enter the palace via the tunnel, he will never believe it, because this is practically impossible. Yet you guys seem to be accomplishing it effortlessly, as easy as blowing off dust.”

Kou Zhong smiled and said, “All right! Entering the palace looks promising, but let’s talk about conditions first.”

Staring blankly, Hou Xibai asked, “Talk about what conditions?”

Sitting down by Kou Zhong’s side, Xu Ziling laughed and said, “The condition is that we must not steal that thing tonight, we can’t alarm anybody. If we are unfortunate and are found out, we definitely cannot leave from his secret tunnel even more.”

Hou Xibai squatted on one knee, he spoke in bewilderment, “If we are not stealing the painting, then why are we going into the palace?”

Kou Zhong reached out and wrap his arm around Hou Xibai’s shoulders, he said, “The painting must be stolen, but it must be carried out another lucky day. We are going in tonight is to scout the path, to figure out the imperial palace’s open sentries and hidden guards, the way inside and the route outside.”

Shaking his head, Hou Xibai said, “I still don’t understand. This is called the night is long the dreams are many; supposing we found the treasured painting, if we come again next time, the treasured painting might be hidden in a different place. Unless we cannot find it tonight, then naturally we’ll have to come back another day.”

And then he knitted his brows and said, “You seem to be hiding something from me; I wonder if you still consider me as an outsider?”

Kou Zhong opened his hood; smiling wryly, he said, “Ling Shao! Help me here; Hou Gongzi misunderstood us!”

Xu Ziling spoke frankly, “We are indeed hiding something from you, because we don’t want to put you in a difficult situation; we want to quietly eliminate that disaster of having you killed on our behalf.”

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Shaken, Hou Xibai sat down. “Is it related to Shi Shi?” he asked.

“Precisely so,” Kou Zhong replied, “As long as you do what we told you, not only you can get the ‘Han Lin Qing Yuan Tu’, it is also extremely possible to break your honorable master’s Bu Si Yin Fa, so that you can happily continue looking at the famous painting and hanging around with beautiful women from all sides.”

Hou Xibai muttered to himself irresolutely for half a day. “Very well!” he spoke heavily, “I trust you. Ay! I really cannot take the initiative to strike Shi Shi. But if he wants to kill me, naturally I will fight him to the end.”

Xu Ziling said, “The problem is that until this moment, your honorable master has not made any move against you, hence you ought to listen to me.”

Kou Zhong put on his hood again and leaped down the stone steps. Lighting up a fire stick, he laughed and said, “You see how well the ventilation of the underground tunnel is?”

Following his lead, the two put the couch back to its original position, and then stepped down the stone steps, closed the stone lid above them and reengaged the lock properly.

Under the illumination of the fire stick, they could see that the long and narrow underground tunnel, which was high enough to let a seven-chi man to pass through comfortably, extended to the east, which was the direction to the imperial city.

Xu Ziling said, “In this direction, the exit at the other end of the underground tunnel must be in the imperial city and not in the imperial palace.”

Kou Zhong spoke with confidence, “This great master of mechanism and civil engineering dare to say that there must be a turning point in this tunnel somewhere. The final exit must be in the inner park of the imperial palace; furthermore, it can’t be too far away from the Great Tang Emperor’s personal chamber. Therefore, when we go out to play, we can avoid rough hands and rough feet. Ha! Come on!”

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