nashuaworldcup Chapter 476 Annihilation of Liang Zhenchu (Page 12)
Chapter 476 Annihilation of Liang Zhenchu (Page 12)
Last time, we talked about Li Yi coming to Jiankang Palace and telling Chen Xingguo to invite Zhu Zi to find the Imperial Seal of the State. What kind of scheme will he have this time? Let's find out together.
After Chen Xingguo left, Li Yi walked to the place where Xiao Yongming's body was buried. He put his hands together, chanted a spell, and then pointed. Xiao Yongming's soul rose from the ground, emanating a strong evil aura.
"With such a strong resentment, it's no wonder the Netherworld Envoy couldn't take His Majesty away. It seems that Chen Xingguo's drastic change in temperament was due to the influence of this malevolent energy."
"Li Yi! Are you here to arrest me?"
Li Yi shook his head and smiled, "I'm here to help His Majesty fulfill his wish, and incidentally, to send you to the Netherworld."
"You're the one who ruined me like this! How dare you say that!"
“Now that Your Majesty is dead, there’s no need for you to continue calling yourself ‘I’m the Lonely One.’ Let’s try to get closer and be more intimate.” Li Yi used his Buddhist magic to conjure a chain to bind Xiao Yongming, then smiled and said, “How about I call Your Majesty Elder Xiao from now on?”
"Release me!"
Xiao Yongming tried to break free of the iron chains, but how could a ghost who had just transformed into a vengeful spirit possibly escape Li Yi's restraints? Li Yi raised one hand in a palm-up gesture, chanting scriptures. Golden Sanskrit characters flew from his mouth, drifting towards Xiao Yongming, each word like a branding iron searing his spirit.
After reciting a passage of scripture, Xiao Yongming could no longer hold back and said, "You said you would help me fulfill my wish, is this how you help me?"
"It seems I can have a good chat with Elder Xiao now." With that, he waved his hand, and the iron chain turned into golden light and disappeared.
Xiao Yongming looked at Li Yi with a resentful expression and said coldly, "Didn't you come here to find the Imperial Seal of the State?"
"Master Xiao is indeed remarkable; he guessed it right away."
"Hmph, then find it yourself."
Li Yi pointed to the courtyard that Chen Xingguo had dug up and laughed, "Chen Xingguo has almost turned Jiankang Palace upside down, and he still couldn't find it. Why should I bother? It would be much faster to just ask Elder Xiao."
"I won't tell you!"
"Actually, I was looking for this Imperial Seal of the State because I wanted to give it to your son."
“Those three rebellious sons have arrived, but instead of bringing troops to my aid, they are hiding a hundred miles away. They even sent Chen Xingguo to force me to abdicate! How could I possibly hand over the imperial seal to them!”
"Old Master Xiao should know that there are few people in this world who can resist the temptation of that supreme position, let alone the three people who are closest to that position. Let's think about it from another perspective: even if they bring troops to help, they still cannot change the outcome of the defeat."
"I never imagined that I, Xiao Yongming, would raise three sons like this! I really want to strangle them with my own hands!"
“That’s a good idea! Why don’t we use the Imperial Seal of the State as bait to lure the three princes to come and fight over it? Then, Elder Xiao can take action himself.”
"Don't even think about tricking me into handing over the imperial seal! If you get your hands on it, you'll definitely give it to that little emperor of Northern Wei!"
"Zhu Zi will arrive soon. With his cultivation level, he will surely be able to find the Imperial Seal. He will likely hand it over to the Crown Prince, and the entire Zhu Xue faction will submit to him. Currently, the Second Prince and the Third Prince are joining forces to deal with the Crown Prince. In this way, the Crown Prince may be able to turn the tide, and the battle will continue. Once they are both exhausted, we can reap the benefits."
I will never let you succeed!
"Oh? I wonder what Elder Xiao can do in his current situation?"
"I will curse you, I will curse Yuan Jun, I will curse all of you who have ruined me!"
Li Yi nodded and smiled, "Good, good, it seems this trip was really worthwhile. Stop hiding there, have you found what you were looking for?"
With a whoosh, a precious sword flew over and pierced directly in front of Li Yi. This was the Liang King Sword, which Xiao Yongming had painstakingly obtained from the head of the Earth Sect to forge for him. It was a five-colored sword made of an alloy of gold, silver, copper, iron, and tin, with the inscription "Eternal Governance of the Four Directions" engraved on its blade in small seal script.
Xiao Yongming tensed up immediately upon seeing the sword, for it was the very place where his soul resided. He asked, "How did you find this sword?"
"Of course we've been having people watching you. Uh, that's not quite the right way to put it. Come out!"
A beautiful white fox walked out of the main hall and then transformed into human form. It was none other than the nine-tailed fox spirit Bai Ruoyi. She said, "He hid the imperial seal and this sword together. I can't touch the imperial seal, so I brought the sword to you."
"A nine-tailed fox?"
"How about it? Doesn't she look familiar? She's the one who advised you to hide the Imperial Seal in your dream. Of course, this is also part of my plan to destroy Liang."
"With the Emperor's Dragon Aura protecting me, how can the demons get close?"
"Ordinary demons certainly won't work, but the twelve divine beasts that helped Yu the Great control the floods can. This is a favor from King Yu. The nine-tailed fox is one of them. Back then, wasn't the human emperor King Zhou of Shang completely infatuated with Su Daji, who was transformed from the nine-tailed fox?"
Li Yi turned to Bai Ruoyi and asked, "Do you know why Heaven sent that fox spirit to bewitch Emperor Xin?"
Bai Ruoyi shook her head.
"Like Elder Xiao, he is a practitioner of both Confucianism and martial arts, and both have reached the transcendent realm. Most importantly, he has mastered the method of refining the human race's destiny. If left unchecked, he may very well become the first immortal human emperor. Heaven would naturally not allow such a person to exist, which is why there is the story of King Wu's conquest of King Zhou."
"I don't care about any of that. What about the Fire Spirit Pill you promised me?"
Li Yi took a gourd out of the burlap sack and tossed it to Bai Ruoyi, casually saying, "Go save your sister! Tell her not to set foot in the Nine Provinces again. If I hadn't saved her, she would definitely have been captured by the Taoist priests of the Heavenly Sect to be refined into pills." After saying that, he turned around, drew the Liang King Sword, and carried it on his shoulder.
Bai Ruoyi bowed and said goodbye, but Li Yi merely waved and didn't even turn his head. Bai Ruoyi looked slightly disappointed, then turned into a wisp of smoke and disappeared.
"Li Yi, you, a righteous cultivator, have actually colluded with the demon race!"
"Not everyone is good, and similarly, not all demons are bad. Whether human or demon, we are all living beings in this world, and there is no distinction between high and low, noble and base."
Has Elder Layman Xiao forgotten the Buddhist doctrine of equality for all beings? Indeed, you don't even care about the life and death of ordinary people; I really don't know what kind of Buddhism you practice.”
"How could I not care about the lives and deaths of the people?"
"If you truly cared about their lives, why would you order people to guard the South Gate and prevent the people from fleeing Jiankang? My battle with Luo Yan caused floods, and many sections of the waterways in Jiangnan breached their banks. Yet you neither raised funds for disaster relief nor sent anyone to appease the people. You merely exempted the affected counties from taxes, leaving the local governments to raise funds themselves to repair the dikes and provide relief to the victims."
Do you know how many government offices borrowed money from temples to repair dikes? Do you know how many disaster victims sent their children to become monks just to get a bite to eat? Do you know how many nunneries used this opportunity to lure young girls into becoming nuns, only for them to become playthings for others? You claim to be practicing the Bodhisattva path, but I ask you, which Bodhisattva would do such a thing?
"It was indeed my oversight to give Luo Yan such an important position..."
"Neglect? Elder Xiao, you're being too lenient! You promoted Luo Yan to use him to amass wealth. Every time you needed to repair palaces and temples, it was the Buddhist community that donated money and materials. Even the expenses of the guards were paid by him!"
If there weren't so many places to spend money, how could Luo Yan have ordered his subordinates to do so many heinous, despicable, and vile things? Old Master Xiao is just turning a blind eye and pretending he doesn't know! Haven't you always been confused about why you can only practice Buddhist teachings and not Buddhist martial arts?
Let me tell you, it's because Acala (the Immovable One) saw through your inherently impure heart long ago, so how could he possibly transmit the true Dharma to you! He only instructed you to practice the Dharma to awaken the true goodness and beauty within you through the Buddhist scriptures. But you've practiced and understood, yet you don't put it into practice; all these years of practice have been in vain!
Li Yi's words made Xiao Yongming feel ashamed, but his resentment began to dissipate. After being emperor for so long, fewer and fewer people told him the truth. He lost himself in one lie after another and flattery, and eventually became corrupt and degenerate.
Li Yi first used the Ksitigarbha Sutra to reduce Xiao Yongming's resentment, and now he directly pointed out the crux of his problem. Xiao Yongming, who was already well-versed in Buddhism, was naturally able to awaken to the truth. Xiao Yongming put his hands together, bowed, and asked, "I am willing to accept punishment. Please, Xiuyuan, send me to hell."
"Does Elder Layman Xiao not want to make amends for the mistakes he has made?"
"Then what should I do?"
“Just walk around with me, and Old Xiao will know what to do.”
For the next three months, Li Yi carried the Liang King's sword and led Xiao Yongming on a leisurely tour of the Southern Liang territory, showing him the real lives of the Southern Liang people—a real world that he could never have seen in his lifetime.
In recent years, Xiao Yongming has not only amassed wealth but also collected ironware from the people to forge puppet armies. Many people even had their hoes taken away, and it was not uncommon for several households to share a single iron pot.
It is important to understand that without iron tools, people's farming and daily life would be affected, and grain production would decrease accordingly. However, the court's taxes would not be reduced at all. Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that the people of Southern Liang were living in dire straits.
Xiao Yongming felt a mix of emotions upon seeing this. He asked Li Yi how the Northern Wei Dynasty had created the Mohist heavy armor army. The latter's answer was to increase the mining of copper and iron mines, use witchcraft methods to detect more mineral veins, and then have the imperial court acquire the land and carry out mining.
We have to thank Lanze and Xiaoshimei for their strong support. The Baiyue Sect sent thirty-six Gu Masters all the way to Northern Wei. If it weren't for the previous trip to Miao territory, Li Yi wouldn't have thought of this method.
After witnessing the suffering of the common people, Xiao Yongming, if not completely enlightened, could be considered to have repented and reformed. As a result, Li Yi sent him to the underworld to be punished. Later, he became one of the Ten Kings of Hell, but that's another story.
On the other hand, just as Li Yi said, Zhu Zi not only found the imperial seal, but also fully supported the crown prince, since he was the rightful heir, and Zhu Zi's choice was beyond reproach.
However, there was no sign of the chaotic situation in Southern Liang being rectified, because Chen Xingguo had the help of the Asura Hall. He would always intervene when the battle was at its most intense. No matter which side was losing, he would lend a hand and absorb the remnants of both sides' armies. Soon, he developed into a new force with an army of 50,000.
Chen Xingguo first defeated the second emperor, Xiao Zongji, who died in battle. He then killed Crown Prince Xiao Zongqing and seized the Imperial Seal. He then "obeyed the Mandate of Heaven" and became emperor, establishing the Chen Kingdom. In this process, the Shura Hall naturally played a crucial role; Zhang Hongchen even nearly lost his life trying to hold off Zhu Zi.
The triumphant Chen Xingguo intended to annihilate Xiao Zonggang in one fell swoop. Just as he was launching an attack on Yangzhou with 100,000 troops, Xiao Zonggang unexpectedly sought help from the Northern Wei. The Wei people naturally wouldn't let such an opportunity pass by. Their army crossed the river again and launched a direct attack on Chen Xingguo's main camp. Upon learning the news, Chen Xingguo immediately withdrew his troops to reinforce the city. However, under the combined attack of the Wei and Liang armies, Chen Xingguo suffered a crushing defeat and fled.
To everyone's surprise, Chen Xingguo sneaked back to Jiankang and assassinated Xiao Zonggang while he was searching for the Imperial Seal. He was then killed by the Wei generals who came after hearing the news.
After this, the Wei people installed a puppet regime, and three months later, the entire country surrendered to the Northern Wei. From then on, the Southern Liang Dynasty was completely destroyed. From Yuan Jun issuing a proclamation to conquer the Southern Liang to the final destruction of Liang, it only took eight months.
Li Yi returned to Jiankang and personally led a team to escort the Liang Kingdom's Qi Yun Ding (a magical cauldron symbolizing destiny) to Luoyang. He spent a month merging the destinies of the two kingdoms. At the same time, he carried out a comprehensive reform of the Southern Dynasty's system to consolidate his rule.
On the other hand, when the Western Chu court learned that the entire Southern Liang had surrendered to the Northern Wei, there was an uproar. The court immediately split into two factions: the pro-war faction and the pro-surrender faction, who argued in the main hall.