Alhazard, Are You Insane? (5)
A few days after hearing the joyous news that 'Magic Nullification' had finally been completed after years of patience, the Khan Emperor awoke from his sleep one night. His keen senses, honed since childhood through the martial arts passed down in his family, had detected something amiss.
Even within the imperial palace, where security around the Emperor's private chambers was at its strictest, he could sense someone approaching the door. During his nomadic days on the steppe, such occurrences had been commonplace. Thinking it had been a long time since he'd felt this sensation after unifying the East and settling into palace life, Batur Qan addressed the person waiting outside.
"What is it?"
"Your Majesty. I came to report that something unusual seems to be happening at the Grand Sage's laboratory."
The Grand Sage had become one of the Emperor's most crucial retainers. Batur Qan had specifically ordered that any issues regarding the man's safety—second only to his own—be reported immediately.
"Is he not simply conducting one of his usual experiments?"
"At first, we thought so as well. But the energy emanating from within the laboratory is far from ordinary. It seems certain that something has gone wrong inside."
Given how seriously the guard spoke, the Emperor concluded that a real problem might have arisen. He had no choice but to permit the imperial guards to enter the laboratory. He knew the Grand Sage despised having his research interrupted without cause, but this was unavoidable. With the Western conquest so close at hand, nothing could be allowed to happen to him.
The technique the Grand Sage had recently perfected—nullifying and repelling Western magic—was not something just anyone could use. Neither martial arts, nor Taoist arts, nor magic, it was something the Emperor had never seen before. Mastering it properly seemed to require considerable skill. He had already selected the most talented members of the imperial guard to learn it, and the Grand Sage was scheduled to begin instructing them in a few days. For this to happen now, of all times...
The Emperor instinctively felt that something grave had occurred. Rising from his bed, he dressed lightly and headed straight for the Grand Sage's laboratory.
Upon arrival, he found that an ominous energy was indeed pouring out from within, just as the guards had described. It was so potent that it made his stomach churn slightly.
"How long has this energy been emanating?"
"About one ke (thirty minutes)."
Deciding he could delay no longer, the Emperor issued his command.
"Open the door and investigate inside."
At his order, the imperial guards who had been standing by formed a protective formation around him and swiftly opened the laboratory door, stepping inside.
The laboratory had been built on a wide, leveled plain near the palace for research purposes. Normally, it was large enough to house palace archer Blood Jiangshi, but now it stood completely empty.
"What is the meaning of this? Where has my army gone?"
"There are no traces of them having left the premises."
How could that be? There had been ten thousand of them. Ten thousand Jiangshi had vanished without a trace? From the marks left on the ground, it appeared the Blood Jiangshi had not exited the laboratory but had moved only within its confines. Yet the truly strange part was that the traces suggested they had all entered the laboratory building itself.
The laboratory had been constructed to accommodate only the Grand Sage and his seven Yin-Yang Five Elements Jiangshi. How could ten thousand Jiangshi possibly fit inside such a small structure?
The imperial guards seemed to share the Emperor's bewilderment. Several of them rushed across the plain toward the laboratory building to investigate. Just then, the main door opened, and someone emerged from within.
It was a Blood Jiangshi of considerable build for an Easterner. Dressed in a Taoist robe and wearing a crown, he looked every bit the part of a Taoist master. His extraordinary presence made the guards hesitate to approach. They placed their hands on the hilts of their curved swords and took a step back.
"Jang Seok-gong..."
Batur Qan recognized the Blood Jiangshi before him—or rather, he recognized the man he had once been.
Jang Seok-gong. He had been the sect leader of the Wudang Sect, a prestigious Taoist martial school, and the greatest martial artist of his era. After Batur Qan unified the steppe tribes and led his army into the Central Plains, Jang Seok-gong had raised a volunteer army to resist him to the very end. Even after all his comrades fell, he alone had stood against the Khan's forces. His blood-soaked figure, dominating the battlefield, had left such a deep impression that even the Emperor remembered his name. Among the countless people Batur Qan had met in his life, Jang Seok-gong was the only one who could truly be called the strongest through pure martial prowess alone.
Impressed by his final stand, the Emperor had buried Jang Seok-gong's body deep in the steppe according to Eastern custom, alongside the other volunteers, preserving it as intact as possible. Later, when the Grand Sage requested corpses of those born with extreme yin or yang energy, the Emperor immediately thought of him. It was common knowledge throughout the Central Plains that Jang Seok-gong possessed the Extreme Yang Physique. When they exhumed the grave, his body had remained remarkably well-preserved—whether due to his innate constitution or his profound martial achievements, none could say. Thus, his corpse had been delivered to the Grand Sage and transformed into a Blood Jiangshi.
"Jang Seok-gong... Everyone who saw you thought of him."
Surprisingly, the Blood Jiangshi opened his mouth and spoke. Neither the Emperor nor his guards had ever witnessed a Blood Jiangshi speak before, and they were visibly startled.
Paying them no mind, he took a letter from his robes and began to read.
"Hear me, Batur Qan. You are a butcher who has slaughtered countless people and invaded nations without cause, driven only by selfish desire. Twice you failed to realize your absurd dream of conquering the West, yet somehow you kindle your ambition once more. Therefore, I have taken extraordinary measures to sever that ambition. The ten thousand Blood Jiangshi and 'Magic Nullification' are wasted on one such as you. I shall take them for myself.
A wise ruler does not fall prey to the words of treacherous retainers. Look at yourself now. Can you truly call yourself a benevolent sovereign? Cease sacrificing the innocent for your vain dreams. Should you march westward again with your army, you will face not only me but ten thousand Blood Jiangshi. As you once wrote in your threatening letters before invading other nations—if you wish to fight until one of us is completely destroyed, I will not refuse.
— Alhazard, the Grand Sage, the Archmage, the Savior of the West."
The Blood Jiangshi's voice carried weight as he read. Yet strangely, Batur Qan thought he detected a mocking undertone beneath that powerful tone.
"...Hah! You deceived me thoroughly. Grand Sage... No—Alhazard!"
Realizing he had been tricked, the Emperor flew into a rage. His fury naturally turned toward the only Blood Jiangshi remaining before him.
"I shall tear you into ten thousand pieces and feed you to the beasts of the steppe!"
The wrath of the Eastern Emperor was truly terrifying. Yet the Blood Jiangshi accepted the killing intent with indifference and even responded in kind.
"Why do you think I remained here alone?"
Now that he mentioned it, it was true. With ten thousand Blood Jiangshi having vanished without a trace, why had this one stayed behind? The Emperor's mind, clouded by rage, instantly grew cold. A trap? Having been deceived by Alhazard so many times before, he immediately circulated his inner energy and expanded his senses to scan the surroundings. Nothing seemed amiss. Only he, his guards, and the soon-to-die Blood Jiangshi were present near the laboratory.
"There is a saying that the mind follows the body. Becoming a Blood Jiangshi proved it true. Every time you visited this place, murderous intent would rise in my chest. At first, the intensity felt novel and fascinating, but now I have been consumed by it."
With those words, the Blood Jiangshi burned Alhazard's letter using Samadhi True Fire.
"You said you would tear me into ten thousand pieces? I agree."
The Blood Jiangshi—Jang Seok-gong—assumed a stance. It was the Wudang Sect's ultimate technique, the Ten-Stage Brocade, which he had trained in the longest during his lifetime.
"Today, let us fight until one of us is completely destroyed, Batur Qan!"