Chapter 2189: Decision of Life and Death
It turned out that this white-clad man was none other than the incarnation of the Jing River Dragon King.
Zu An calmed himself down and pretended to be ignorant. He asked, “Who are you? Why are you asking this emperor for help?”
The Jing River Dragon King hurriedly replied, “Your majesty is a real dragon, while this one is nothing more than an evil dragon. Because I went against the heavens, your majesty’s capable subject Wei Zheng was ordered to carry out my execution. I came here to ask for help. Please help me, your majesty!”
Zu An remained expressionless. He reflexively wanted to refuse and not get affected by this karma.
After all, this matter had absolutely nothing to do with him. The bet was something the Jing River Dragon King insisted on having with Yuan Shoucheng, and it was Wei Zheng who was going to kill him. The Tang Emperor had decided to save him out of good intentions, and yet because he failed, this Dragon King didn’t try to get revenge on Yuan Shoucheng or Wei Zheng, and instead hounded him endlessly. Did good people really deserve to be mistreated like this?
Words of rejection were about to reach his lips when he noticed the ferocity in the Jing River Dragon King’s eyes. He looked around and saw that he was already outside the palace without any guards. He was as weak as an ordinary person. If he ended up offending the Dragon King, the other party could just decide to drag him down with him. At that point, it would be really too late for tears.
As such, he quickly produced a smile and said, “Since Wei Zheng is the one who is carrying out the execution, this emperor can save you. Please feel at ease and go.”
The Jing River Dragon King was already at the end of his rope; he had thought that if the other party didn’t agree, he would just drag the emperor down with him, but he hadn’t expected agreement! He immediately felt as if he had come back from death’s door. He quickly kowtowed in grat.i.tude. “Thank you, your majesty!”
When he saw the Dragon King leave in high spirits, Zu An didn’t dare to continue wandering on his own outside the palace. Otherwise, once he lost the protection of the palace’s natural blessing and encountered some scoundrels, then things would become tricky.
...
Shortly after he woke up, the time came for the morning court session. With the help of his concubine, Zu An quickly got dressed and left the throne room.
He had already enjoyed a high position for many years and was already long accustomed to how things in the Imperial Palace were. That was why there were no mistakes in his behavior during the morning court session. But he didn’t dare to act carelessly at all, and tried to not miss a single detail.
No one knew what this kind of time fragment trial was really testing. He could only try to do things as perfectly as possible. He even suspected that there could be some eccentrics who would immediately notice if he acted strangely at all. They would then accuse him of being an evil spirit to have him killed.
After all, this world looked like a dynasty of ordinary people, but in reality, the subjects had the ability to slay dragons. There were those who could see through the mysteries of heaven among the common people as well. Who knew what kinds of big shots were hiding in the court?
Soon after, the court greetings ended and everyone separated into their respective positions. Zu An looked around. The memories belonging to this body allowed him to recognize these high officials. Among the civil officials were Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhai, Xu Shiji, Xu Jingzhong, w.a.n.g Gui, and others. The military officials included Ma Sanbao, Duan Zhixian, Yan Kaishan, Cheng Yaojin, Liu Hongji, Hu Jingde, Qin Shubao, and more. They were all individuals with awe-inspiring bearing.
However, he didn’t see the most senior minister, Wei Zheng.
Zu An thought to himself for a bit before saying seriously, “This emperor had a strange dream last night. In that dream, someone paid me a visit and stated that he was the Jing River Dragon King and he violated the laws of heaven, and that high minister Wei Zheng has been ordered by another to execute him. He asked to be saved, and this emperor has already agreed. I do not see Wei Zheng today. Why is that?”
Since he was the emperor, he had to use this position’s advantages.
There were many capable people here, so perhaps they would able to come up with a possible solution.
Xu Shiji stepped forward and answered, “The dream is correct. We must order Wei Zheng to enter the court, and your majesty cannot let him leave. After today pa.s.ses, the dragon in your dreams will be saved.”
The other subjects all voiced their agreement, but Zu An frowned. He naturally knew that doing so wouldn’t save the Dragon King, but he couldn"t think of anything better either. That was why he decided to bring Wei Zheng in for questioning first.
The imperial messenger quickly left, carrying a decree to bring Wei Zheng to the court session.
Shortly after, Wei Zheng rushed over in a hurry. When he met Zu An, he hurriedly kowtowed and cried out, “This official begs for forgiveness!”
Zu An was a bit alarmed when he saw how fl.u.s.tered he was. This Wei Zheng was someone who could directly receive the decree of the Celestial Court, someone whose primordial spirit could leave his body and kill the Jing River Dragon King, and yet he was so respectful toward an ordinary person like the emperor. Could this be the might of a human emperor with the natural blessing of heaven?
...
He quickly dismissed the court session and had Wei Zheng stay behind by himself. The two of them met at an auxiliary palace hall.
Zu An didn’t immediately ask about the execution of the Dragon King, because if he brought it up and they reached an impa.s.se, there would be no leeway left for anyone to maneuver. Instead, he indirectly asked about Wei Zheng’s background. After all, anyone who could be appointed as the executioner of a Dragon King definitely couldn"t be a n.o.body.
Unfortunately, Zu An didn’t have any cultivation right now and was completely unable to tell what kind of cultivation Wei Zheng had.
When he heard the emperor ask him abut cultivation, Wei Zheng said with a serious voice, “Your highness is the ruler of a country, and should be concerned with the peace and stability of the empire. Your respected self should not bother with things related to those mountain hermits who seek immortality. Those who seek immortality frequently become incapable rulers.”
There was a dignified air when he spoke. Zu An could even sense a bit of fear from the body he was currently in. Still, he found it a bit laughable. Li Shimin, an emperor who had conquered the world, actually feared a civil official like this! No wonder there had been so many stories in history related to subjects who dared to speak frankly before the emperor.
In order to prevent drawing suspicion, Zu An didn’t continue to ask about it and discussed the country’s policies instead. He was the human and fiend races" regent and was knowledgeable about various matters, so there were no mistakes in his behavior here.
Time unwittingly pa.s.sed, and soon, it was close to afternoon. Zu An ordered for a chessboard to be brought over and said, “This emperor wishes to have a match with my worthy official.”
Concubine Yuan Ji brought over the chess game and set up the table. Wei Zheng was grateful for the honor, and so a game began. Little by little, the game developed.
For better or for worse, Zu An had played against Hei Baizi a few times. How could the chess ability of a cultivator compare to that of an ordinary person? The two of them went back and forth. For a time, they were equally matched.
Zu An played the game while continuing to think about the situation. According to the storyline, Wei Zheng would quickly fall asleep, and then his primordial spirit would leave his body to execute the Jing River Dragon King. As long as he prevented the other side from sleeping, there was no way he could kill the Jing River Dragon King while being awake, right? Everything was going smoothly...
But it was going too smoothly!
For some reason, Zu An felt a mysterious sense of danger, as if he was at the crossroads of life and death.
Why do I have this feeling?
Zu An couldn"t figure it out either. He hadn’t revealed any mistakes when he held the court session with civil and military officials, which was likely the first checkpoint. Then, he had stalled Wei Zheng to save the Jing River Dragon King, which was likely the second checkpoint. Everything seemed to make sense so far. As long as he stalled Wei Zheng and didn’t let him fall asleep, missing today’s deadline, the Dragon King situation would be concluded. Whether or not the Dragon King died after that wouldn’t have anything to do with him.
But why did he feel such a strong sense of unease? Even his fine hairs were standing on end. Zu An knew that this was his intuition after wandering on the brink of life and death all this time. This world could temporarily seal off his various abilities, but not this kind of intuition.
Just then, Wei Zheng yawned and naturally began to lie down on the table with a thunderous snore.
Zu An was about to reach out, but while his hand still hung in midair, he ultimately didn"t lower it again. He finally understood where the problem lay.
Because he had been the Jing River Dragon King, he"d reflexively been seeing things from the other party’s viewpoint. He had been focused on how to help the Dragon King make it through this situation. That way of thinking had made him hear out the Dragon King’s plea, and he reflexively wanted to stop Wei Zheng to save the Dragon King.
Even so, he was now the Tang Emperor Li Shimin! His interests weren"t the same as the Dragon King’s.
If the original plotline developed, not only would Li Shimin fail to save the Dragon King, the dead Jing River Dragon King would report him to the king of h.e.l.l. Then, he would be brought to the underworld. However, there was a hidden detail, which was that Li Shimin was already close to the end of his life. But because of the friendly relations between the underworld judge and both Li Shimin and Wei Zheng, the judge would secretly add twenty years to his life! As such, if he stopped Wei Zheng from killing the Dragon King, there would be no additional underworld trip, which would skip the addition to his lifespan. Then, he would quickly die of old age, and the trip to the underworld would be a true death.
No wonder he felt a mysterious sense of danger!
This trial really was too dishonest. The last trial was designed to mislead his decisions in this trial. It seemed like a simple scenario, but it was easy to end up in a completely hopeless situation.
Zu An thus pretended that nothing was wrong and let Wei Zheng sleep. Wei Zheng"s primordial spirit then left and killed the Jing River Dragon King.
Shortly after, Wei Zheng woke up. He fell to his feet and said, “This subject deserves to die! This subject deserves to die! Just now, this subject fell asleep for some unknown reason. I hope your majesty will pardon this official for his crimes!”
Zu An smiled. “What crimes are there? Please rise. Let’s clear away the previous game and start a new one.”
Wei Zheng thanked him for his grace and picked up a chess piece.
Just then, however, there was a big fuss outside. Shortly after, Qin Shubao and Xu Maogong carried a b.l.o.o.d.y dragon head inside while clicking their tongue in wonder. The object had suddenly fallen from the clouds, and these two had entered to report on the event.
When he saw the sinister dragon head stare right at him as if it carried endless grudges, Zu An’s heart rate suddenly sped up. He felt a sense of alarm and unease. He couldn"t help but frown. Even though Li Shimin had conquered the world through mountains of daggers and seas of flame, it was still a bit inferior to the plights cultivators faced. He was actually scared so badly by a dragon head!
Zu An gave Wei Zheng a look. Wei Zheng immediately bowed and begged for forgiveness, and readily admitted that he had killed the dragon in his dream. In response, Zu An asked Wei Zheng how he had such ability.
After some hesitation, Wei Zheng explained, “I wouldn’t dare to hide things from your majesty. This subject’s natural disposition is upright and outspoken. I have already been selected by the Celestial Court to serve at the Goodness Appreciation Ministry under the Ministry of Inferno. I record all of the good deeds done by souls when they were alive. I am now just waiting for my life to end, in order to accept that post.”
“There was actually something like that!” Zu An was now truly amazed. He had heard the White and Black Guards of Impermanence mention that the Ministry of Inferno contained the Goodness Appreciation and Evil Punishment ministries. He had never expected the one in charge of the Goodness Appreciation Ministry to actually be Wei Zheng!
Wei Zheng seemed to be worried that the emperor was too interested in this matter and suddenly said, “Your highness is the true dragon son of heaven, who bears the blessing of the human emperor. As long as you earnestly love the people, there is no need to pay too much attention to supernatural things. You will naturally be under the care of the world.”
Zu An laughed heartily and said, “With such a good teacher as a friend, as well as my official, what need is there to worry about in my Great Tang Dynasty?”
He could tell that even though Wei Zheng’s voice was strict, he still carried goodwill. He definitely had to cling well to this supporter.
As they chatted, he feigned nonchalance as he asked, “Has the high official heard of a divination master named Yuan Shoucheng by Eternal Peace’s west main street? I heard that he is supremely clever, and that all of his divinations will surely succeed.”