Chapter 94: The Old Story of "Sunflower Manual"
Chapter 94: The Old Story of "Sunflower Manual"
"Five days ago, a fire broke out in the warehouse of the Imperial Household Department in the capital."
"Someone set the fire?"
"It happened that soldiers were inspecting the warehouse and put out the fire in time, so only half of the bookshelf was burned."
"It's just an attempt to cover up something. What did the arsonist steal?"
"Third Young Master is indeed thorough. No wonder Lord Wan thinks highly of you. Afterwards, we searched the list and found that it mainly involved... the old files of eunuchs from the previous dynasty."
In a manor outside Pingding City, four swordsmen stood in front of the gate.
This remote farm owned by the Tong family had previously been used to exile servants who had made mistakes.
Tong Yukang was under house arrest for thirty-seven days, but if he wanted, he could leave at any time, even though he didn't know any martial arts. But by doing so, the last trace of father-son relationship between him and Tong Baixiong would be severed.
The two of them sat in chairs. In front of the table was a pot of old tea that was even lower quality than the tea from the Sihai Teahouse. The guest sitting opposite them took the first sip and never picked up the teacup again, but he drank it with gusto.
Born in a wealthy family, Tong Yukang did not care about food, clothing and other expenses. What he wanted was recognition, recognition from the people of the world, recognition from Tong Baixiong, and perhaps more importantly, recognition from himself.
For the sake of this so-called recognition, he sometimes acted like a wise man who saw through everything, and sometimes acted like a completely confused fool. For the past ten years, Young Master Tong San had been living in this twisted way.
Tong Yukang put down the teacup and looked at the captain of the Jinyiwei who was originally a first-class blood shadow assassin. With the opponent's martial arts skills, the sixteen Fenglei Hall disciples in the manor could be killed silently in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.
Naturally, those people would not realize that a guest had already sneaked into the courtyard they were guarding.
"Captain Zhu, I don't know martial arts, but I can sneak into the Imperial City's Imperial Household Department and come and go freely. There are probably not many people with such skills in the entire martial arts world, right?"
Zhu Xuantong was an official appointed by the imperial court, but he was humble in front of the high-ranking officials of the Sun and Moon Sect and was often ignored.
In Pingding City, the Jinyiwei Qianhu Office was closed all year round, so many people forgot that he had been at the side of the Sun and Moon Sect for nearly ten years.
"Anyway, according to my imagination, unless he has practiced the extremely advanced Turtle Breathing Skill, Gecko Wall Climbing Skill, Spider Clinging to the Beam Skill, Bone Shrinking Skill, and Wind Hearing Skill at the same time, or... he is a Grandmaster!"
Grandmaster?
Be it the Central Plains or the four barbarians.
Be it the court or the underworld.
Regardless of good or evil, grandmasters are a handful of figures, and they determine the fate of martial arts in a generation.
There is a saying in the world that there are good and bad years.
The last years of the Song Dynasty were the two most prosperous periods in the martial arts world. There were more than ten great masters whose names were passed down to later generations, and each of them was extremely talented.
The end of the BC Yuan Dynasty could barely be considered a great year. Not counting the Western Regions and Persia, there were six great masters in the Central Plains alone.
In the martial arts world today, there are only two truly well-known grandmasters.
As for Wudang Chongxu and Jinyiwei Wanchonglou, they are still in limbo.
It can be said to be a small year.
Someone once summed it up: When a country is in misfortune, the warriors are fortunate.
Martial arts and national destiny often have a relationship of one rising while the other declines.
Zhu Xuantong said slowly: "If it is a grandmaster, Shaolin Fangzheng should be ruled out, then there is only one person."
Tong Yukang frowned, pondered for a moment and said, "There has been a rumor in the martial arts world that the Sunflower Manual that the Eastern Sect Leader practices was created by a eunuch in the palace of the previous dynasty. I wonder if it is true or not? Is there any connection between the two?"
Zhu Xuantong had done his homework when he came here. In the secret files of the Jinyiwei, Dongfang Bubai's name was only listed after the Taishi of the Oirat and the Dongying Wuyin. There were people specially responsible for collecting and collating all their information.
However, compared with the two foreign heroes, there is the least news about Dongfang Bubai.
Zhu Xuantong said: "This secret has also been circulated in the martial arts world, but it has long been distorted beyond all recognition."
"What is the previous dynasty? Some say it is the Southern Song Dynasty, some say it is the previous Yuan Dynasty, and some even speculate that it is the period of eunuchs' monopoly of power in the late Tang Dynasty."
"In fact, it is included in the Yiluansi's Dragon and Phoenix Secret Files. It was recorded by a eunuch named Zhao during the reign of Emperor Taizu of this dynasty. Otherwise, why has no one ever mastered such a peerless martial art in the past few hundred years?"
"That man is called Zhao Xu. He was born into a noble family and is well-versed in academics. He was once Mr. Qingtian's most proud disciple. Mr. Qingtian said that he has the tools to be a prime minister. If he can use them to govern the country, his achievements will not be inferior to those of the ancient wise ministers."
"Unfortunately, his family was framed by political enemies and implicated in a rebellion. He was implicated and his death sentence was commuted. He was castrated and taken into the palace as a slave."
"He thought learning literature was useless, so he turned to martial arts in the palace, and later joined the Yiluansi. During Taizu's later years, he made great contributions in suppressing martial arts sects, and was promoted to the rank of a thousand-household imperial guard."
"With the help of the secret manuals stolen from various major sects, he learned hundreds of martial arts. And because he was a disciple of Mr. Qingtian, he was well versed in yin and yang magic."
"...with all his life's learning, he created a martial art called 'Sunflower Manual'."
The Yiluansi was the predecessor of the Jinyiwei. In Taizu's later years, the crown prince was young. Emperor Taizu came from the underworld, and he was worried that after his death, those underworld heroes would rise up and overthrow the Ming Dynasty.
So he ordered the Yiluansi, who were responsible for guarding the imperial palace, to march into the sect's gate.
During that period, the entire martial arts world was silent under the setting sun.
"Later, this Sunflower Manual was passed on to Master Hongye of Putian Shaolin Temple. Yue Su and Cai Zifeng of Huashan secretly read the manual and wrote out the upper and lower volumes after returning." "The ten elders of the Sun Moon Sect came out in full force, attacked Huashan, and seized the Sunflower Manual. From then on, it became one of the two great martial arts manuals of the Sun Moon Sect."
As for the subsequent affairs of the martial arts world and the secrets of the Demon Cult, Young Master Tong San naturally knew them all very well without Zhu Xuantong's explanation.
Tong San Gongzi frowned and asked in confusion: "Why did Dongfang Sect Leader steal Zhao Xu's old files?"
Zhu Xuantong smiled and said, "I haven't finished yet."
"According to the Dragon and Phoenix Secret Files, Zhao Xu deeply hated the fact that the court at that time had reversed right and wrong, and that yin and yang were reversed. He was also ashamed of his own imperfect body, so when he created the Sunflower Manual, he deliberately left a huge harm."
“He wants future generations of practitioners to be caught in a dilemma. He wants the hypocrites, villains, and careerists of future generations to be exposed for what they really are.”
"But in his later years, he saw through the world, downplayed grudges, and created a Heart Sutra that could resolve the harm of the Sunflower Manual."
Third Master Tong understood: "The Eastern Sect Leader has a big problem with his cultivation. Does he need to find that Heart Sutra?"
Zhu Xuantong nodded and said, "Zhao Xu quietly left the palace during the battle for the throne at the end of Emperor Taizu's reign. Later, when the world was restored, some people said that he built a Taoist temple in Guanzhong, comprehended Taoism, taught his disciples, and lived in seclusion until he grew old."
It is hard to imagine that anyone else could have recorded such a secret that was separated by more than a hundred years, except for the archives of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
Speaking of Guanzhong, Young Master Tong San remembered another thing. He was stunned for a moment, then came to his senses and saw Zhu Xuantong looking at him, so he asked casually.
"Harm? What harm does the Sunflower Manual have?"
Zhu Xuantong smiled bitterly and said, "That's the problem. If I knew, I wouldn't have to take the risk to come and see you, Third Young Master.
"During the battle for the throne in Taizu's later years, the fire affected the imperial palace and many old archives were destroyed. The above is the complete content, which was recorded in the old archives of Zhao Xu in the Jikuge of the Silijian, and the Longfeng Secret Archives. The original volume of the former has been stolen, but Jinyiwei has no copy."
"Now it seems that the person who tied the bell must be the one to untie it. If we want to know the answer, we can either ask Dongfang Bubai, the only one in the world who has practiced the Sunflower Manual, or sneak into Black Wood Cliff to see if we can find any clues. At least we can know whether Dongfang Bubai is in Black Wood Cliff during this period of time."
Young Master Tong San looked out the window, where he could hear the chirping of young girls, and outside the courtyard wall, there were more than a dozen disciples of the Fenglei Hall protecting him.
He knew that Zhu Xuantong's purpose in coming here was to use his relationship with Yang Lianting to spy on the strength of Chengde Hall.
After all, among the secret spies sent to Black Wood Cliff by the Jinyiwei over the years, none survived for more than ten days, except for the third son of Tong, who had a good family background.
He poured himself a cup of tea and sneered, "In order to completely gain Yang Lianting's trust, I asked the Jinyiwei to transfer Hou Jian's family and went to the secret prison to incite him to rebellion. In my father's mind, this son teamed up with outsiders to put him to death. If I leave this place again, it means that I will sever my relationship with the Tong family."
"I have done what I should do. What about you? Didn't you brag about how powerful the Blood Shadow Assassin was? Why couldn't you deal with the guards who were present that day, allowing them to come before my father?"
Zhu Xuantong said: "Someone is protecting them. Two B-level Blood Shadow Assassins died in this battle."
"Then what do you do for a living?"
Tong Yukang suddenly became furious, picked up the teacup and smashed it hard on the other person's forehead.
Zhu Xuantong did not dodge, nor did he even use his internal strength. He raised his hand to touch the blood on his forehead and sighed.
"This matter is my responsibility."
"But there is one thing you said wrong. It's not 'you', it's us!"
He stood up slowly.
"Although you are Tong Baixiong's son, both Lord Wan and I, Zhu Xuantong, regard you as a comrade. We never intend to use you."
"We all have one wish."
"Let this damned martial arts world, whether it is the evil sect or the righteous sect, all be destroyed, and the world will truly be unified."
"Only in this way can we quell the killings and internal strife, and the imperial court can devote more energy to fighting against northern bandits and pirates, so that the Ming Dynasty can be revived and the prosperous era of Emperor Taizong, when all nations came to pay tribute, can be reproduced."
Zhu Xuantong took out a letter from his arms: "Before returning from the capital, Lord Wan met me and asked me to give this letter to you."
Tong Yukang took the letter, opened it and read it for a long time, then two lines of tears fell.
The most difficult thing in this world is to make choices.
He was silent for a long time, and finally nodded slightly.
A light breeze suddenly blows and a chill arises.
A figure roamed around the manor, killing one person with every strike of his sword.
He struck out sixteen times, and the whole manor fell silent.
Young Master Tong San walked out of the courtyard gate. Two Fenglei Hall disciples fell on both sides with their throats cut and blood all over the ground. He raised his foot and left a bloody footprint on the ground.
Zhu Xuantong sheathed his sword and looked at the back of Master Tong San with a smile on his face.
He could certainly take someone out quietly, but he didn't want it to be that simple.
(End of this chapter)