Chapter 248: The Universe’s Like A Stage

Just when Yan Liqiang and Liang Yijie were resting in the servant quarter outside the palace, Sun Bingchen had already entered the palace. Guided by a eunuch from the palace, they went through countless doors and corridors before they arrived at a secluded royal study inside the palace.

“Please wait for a moment, Lord Sun. His Majesty is inside and has instructed that there’s no need to report if you have come. You may go straight in!”

“Thank you, Eunuch Xue!”

“You are most welcome!” The eunuch who led Lord Sun here smiled until his eyes were squinched. “We all work for His Majesty. Your humble servant understands that Lord Sun who is always on the road has it a lot tougher than me!”

Sun Bingchen nodded, then pushed open the door to the royal study and went in. Eunuch Xue shut the royal study’s door behind Sun Bingchen.

“Lord Sun is having anin audience with His Majesty! Please refrain from coming within fifty meters of the royal study! Those who violate the rule will be beheaded…!” Eunuch Xue shouted so loudly outside that his sharp voice could be heard from the inside. He then walked away from the door.

Dressed in his dragon robe, a man with a delicate and handsome face sat behind a table. On the table was a pile of memorials. As soon as he saw Sun Bingchen push the door open, he instantly stood up behind the table and looked at Sun Bingchen excitedly.

“Greetings, Your Majesty…” Sun Bingchen bowed deeply to the Emperor of the Great Han Empire.

“Lord Sun, forego the formalities!” The Emperor immediately came out from behind the table and went in front of Sun Bingchen. Taking a good look at Sun Bingchen from head to toe, he suppressed his emotions and asked with a slightly quivering voice, “That person… have you found him…?”

“Your Majesty is the ruler of an empire. The universe is in your chest – the rising sun and moon are in your grasp.[1] You should always maintain your composure!” Sun Bingchen was rather composed.

“We already knew that Lord Sun was back since yesterday. I tossed and turned all night, finding it difficult to fall asleep. If I wasn’t concerned about people talking or attracting too much attention, I would have summoned Lord Sun to the palace last night…!” The Emperor of the Great Han Empire lifted his head and let out a long sigh, worries etched on his face. “Lord Sun’s journey to the northwestern region is what has been on my mind lately. That day, Lord Su sacrificed ten years of his lifespan to peer into the secrets of Heaven. The words he left for I were: ‘Over ten thousand miles of rivers and mountains, not a soul is present in nine out of ten cities. The nation bathes in blood and the jade dragon shatters.’ Our hope lies in this person. The Great Han Empire is troubled by internal strife and foreign aggression — the perils of future unknown. How can I not be anxious…?”

Sun Bingchen inhaled deeply, then slowly nodded. He spoke with a solemn tone, “Your Majesty, the Heavens indeed bless the good. I, your humble servant, did not fail you… I have found that person!”

The Emperor got excited again and couldn’t restrain himself from grabbing Sun Bingchen’s hands. “Is that person in the Imperial Capital now…?”

“I, your humble servant, have already brought him to the Imperial Capital. He is right outside the palace as we speak!”

Upon hearing Sun Bingchen’s reply, the Emperor’s face flushed with delight. “Then why didn’t Lord Sun bring him into the palace to let me meet him?!”

“Your Majesty, he is only a youth and he is currently only my personal attendant who has yet to receive his official rank. How can he possibly enter the palace to have an audience with Your Majesty? If I recklessly brought him into the palace to meet you, I’m afraid it might not be a good thing for Your Majesty either!”

“Right, right, right. I am too impatient. Indeed, we must not be reckless in this matter. The lack of patience in small matters will spoil great plans…” The Emperor clenched his fist as he tried to suppress the excitement in his heart. He then quickly resumed with his questions. “What is the name of that youth? How old is he? What is his family background like?”

“The youth’s surname is Yan, and his name is Liqiang. He is fifteen years of age this year and he is the son of a blacksmith from Pingxi City in Gan Province…”

“The surname is Yan… So it was Yan…” The Emperor murmured to himself, then clapped his hands loudly. “Why didn’t I think of that?! ‘Daringly boasts to devour the heavens in two mouthfuls’… Doesn’t the character ‘Yan’ have two mouths on top of it?!” When the Emperor spoke up to this point, he turned toward Sun Bingchen in enthusiasm again. “I wonder if there’s anything else that is special about this youth?”

“He is indeed a special one. He placed first among the top three in last year’s Martial Arts County Trial. Not only that, I heard something marvelous about him as soon as I arrived in Pingxi City!”

“What was it about?”

“The locals were saying that this youth met a deity in his dreams and he received a wondrous method imparted by a deity to save drowning people. It was proven to be extremely effective and many hopeless victims who drowned were successfully revived through this wondrous method. The method spread itself in Pingxi City last year and it is said to have saved countless lives. It is indeed a great contribution…”

As soon as the Emperor heard that, his eyes were almost sparkling in disbelief. “Who would have thought of meeting a deity in a dream and receiving the teachings of a wondrous method? Just what exactly is this life-saving wondrous method? Has Minister Sun ever tested the method?”

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“That wondrous method involves performing moxibustion on the navel of a drowned victim who has stopped breathing and cannot be rescued. It grants a chance in reviving them. By the time I arrived in Gan Province, it was already winter. No one was swimming, so I didn’t encounter any drowned victims. However, I instructed my personal attendant, Yijie, to visit the rural villages in Pingxi City to investigate this matter. He found a few children who had been rescued with this method, thus proving this to be true!”

“Marvelous! Little did I expect the method to be this simple. It is indeed unheard of. If this method can be propagated throughout the empire, countless deaths from drowning among billions of my people will be significantly reduced, and the tragedies of broken families can be prevented. Just this method alone can save countless people…”

“Yes. That is why I have said that this method is a great contribution. Most importantly, after Yan Liqiang rescued someone with the said method back then, he took the initiative to impart the knowledge to his fellow villagers instead of keeping it to himself. From this, we can see how benevolent he is!”

“How did the claim about receiving teachings from a deity in his dream come about?”

“I, your humble servant, have already thoroughly investigated this. According to the physicians and eyewitnesses in Pingxi Prefecture who saw Yan Liqiang perform this method for the very first time, this statement came from Yan Liqiang himself after he rescued the victim back then…”

“Then how did Minister Sun discover him?”

“In regards to that, Your Majesty is indeed blessed by the Heavens. When I, your humble servant, went northwest, I was at a loss what to do. I was only thinking about how to take Ye Clan down. Little did I expect that the moment I arrived in Gan Province, I caught wind of a huge incident in Pingxi City. Not only that, the incident was related to the Ye Clan. Have you heard about this incident, Your Majesty?”

The Emperor nodded. “I have already seen the memorial presented by the supreme court!”

“Then Your Majesty should know that the Ye Clan’s incident in Pingxi City was exposed mainly thanks to Yan Liqiang…”

“Oh?” The Emperor immediately raised his eyebrows. “Why is it him again?”

Sun Bingchen recounted the incident and Yan Liqiang’s involvements in it again…

After hearing about Yan Liqiang’s keen eyesight which allowed him to discern the disguised Shatu man with just a single glance, then tailing him to Ye Xiao’s bawdy den before finally alerting the entire city, the Emperor couldn’t help but sing praises about his courage and astuteness.

After hearing how Sun Bingchen tested Yan Liqiang with his screen for the first time and Yan Liqiang’s performance after becoming his personal attendant, particularly during the exciting battles between them and the Blackwind Bandits, the Emperor was stunned. “What? Minister Sun, you are saying that the young Yan Liqiang is the enemy of a hundred enemies on the battlefield? The godlike arrows he released are swift like lightning bolts, and he has already attained the Third Heavenly Layer in the art of archery? Not only that, he also possesses an astonishing amount of strength which allowed him to draw his bow tirelessly, and is able to kill more than a hundred Blackwind Bandits with his bow alone until they fled in all directions? This is not the strength that a youth like him should possess…”

“Indeed. I have personally witnessed all this and many other guards in the party can testify to this too. Without Yan Liqiang, I’m afraid only less than one-third of the guards in the party would have made it back alive. Even I didn’t expect Yan Liqiang to possess such capabilities at such a tender age. It was a pity that Your Majesty didn’t get to personally witness that. If you did, you surely would believe that all I have said are complete truths. Yan Liqiang leaped off his steed and sprinted across the battlefield, boldly obliterating enemies within the radius of a thousand meters like a valiant general. I, your humble servant, may have observed countless individuals, yet I have never met anyone of this caliber!”

“How did he come to possess such skill in archery? Is he apprenticed to a master?”

“I, your humble servant, have questioned him before. He claims that he self-taught himself in the art of archery. However, I am conjecturing that he probably received teachings in archery from the deity in his dreams. He was just afraid that telling the truth would lead to criticism, so he would rather claim that it was self-taught. In the beginning, he didn’t even want to reveal his cultivation in archery. It was only when we encountered the Blackwind Bandits, when he had no choice but to expose his abilities for the sake of rescuing his comrades…”

“What a character! So Lord Su really did not lie to me…” The Emperor stood up again excitedly and began pacing around in circles inside the study room.

“Yes, of course Lord Su didn’t lie to you, Your Majesty!” Sun Bingchen sighed again. “When I, your humble servant, met Yan Liqiang, I was skeptical at first too. I just couldn’t be completely certain that he was indeed the person that Your Majesty requested for me to search for, because there are a number of gifted youths in this vast empire. However, the more time I spend with Yan Liqiang, the more I see his phenomenal qualities. If he isn’t the person Lord Su is talking about, then I am not sure who else is capable of doing all this. It’s not just Yan Liqiang, even the dog he keeps is out of the ordinary. It is extremely gifted and has done a few meritorious deeds along the way…”

Sun Bingchen then proceeded to tell the Emperor about Goldie.

“After listening to Minister Sun, I am even more curious to know what this Yan Liqiang looks like!”

“Definitely not now, Your Majesty. We still need to find the right timing!”

“Tell me how, Minister Sun.”

“Yan Liqiang is still young. Despite his meritorious performance while escorting me back to the Imperial Capital, it would be too suspicious for Your Majesty to show an interest in him and promote him upon his arrival at Imperial Capital. We can station him somewhere Your Majesty can see, so you can slowly observe and think about how to best utilize him. On the other hand, this will also allow him some room for growth. While we were traveling these few days, I noticed that the encounter between Yan Liqiang and The Banes of Heaven and Earth in Hui Province greatly affected him. He seems to have the intention to cultivate again and breakthrough. At a time like this, perhaps it will be wiser for us make use of this favorable situation and push the boat in the direction of the current…”

While listening to Sun Bingchen, the Emperor gradually unknitted his eyebrows…