Shadows of the Imperial Palace, The Eunuchs (6)
"Th-this way, if you please."
A kind word earns a kind word in return. After exchanging greetings with Jin Myeong, Man Deok's manner of speech had changed so completely from the day before that the eunuchs of the Imperial Stables Directorate stopped what they were doing and turned to look, baffled.
"What's gotten into him? He used to shudder at the mere sight of those Directorate of Ceremonial brats."
"Right? Mentorship registration is still a long way off."
The young eunuchs of the Imperial Stables Directorate muttered among themselves. The novice eunuchs had only been in the palace for three days. Their training would run for three full months, and Under Name mentorship only began in the latter half of that period — or after it concluded. There was no reason for Man Deok to be fawning over them, or showing this kind of goodwill.
What's more, the mere sight of Directorate of Ceremonial eunuchs used to send him into a rant: that they sucked the air out of a room, that they were bad luck, that their manners were no bigger than a mouse's balls. Man Deok, who never had anything but barbed words for them. Among all the Grand Directors of the Directorate of Ceremonial, the only ones he never tore into were Zheng He, the Grand Director himself, and Yi Gwak, the Senior Superintendent Overseer who was as straight as a bamboo stave even by eunuch standards. Those two, and those two alone.
A short while later, the Imperial Stables Directorate eunuchs who had been scattered across the paddock heard the news and came flocking.
"What? Those brats who got their manners castrated along with everything else?"
"Is that actually true? Next they'll tell me the sun sets in the west."
"The sun does set in the west, you know."
"Ah, right. Listen, you gelding, when a person talks, just go with the flow, would you? Anyway, let's go see!"
That was more or less the reaction of the eunuchs who came crowding in. They had been told a story they simply could not believe. And when they arrived on the scene, they nearly fell over in shock.
"Whoa — it's real?"
"I know, it actually is!"
Two young eunuchs who had just arrived craned their necks and gasped at the spectacle unfolding before them. The reason the Imperial Stables Directorate eunuchs had all come running was none other than Jin Myeong and Jeong Go.
"Director Man! The work of the Imperial Stables Directorate is no ordinary craft. Wouldn't you say so, Go?"
"Indeed, elder brother. I never imagined that looking after mere beasts could be so intricate."
"Ohohong! In all my years, I've never seen eunuchs pick up the work this fast — never! Geniuses! Absolute geniuses!"
Good heavens. Good earth. Good everything under the sun. The Directorate of Ceremonial's novice eunuchs, who were supposed to amble about, take a look, and wander off — instead they had rolled up their sleeves and were sweating like laborers. Sure enough, the eunuchs who had arrived first were staring, transfixed, as if they had spotted some rare creature. This had never happened. Not once.
Granted, the eunuchs who carried the imperial palanquins and parasols also belonged to the Directorate of Ceremonial — but by and large, Directorate of Ceremonial eunuchs were men who lived as far from hard labor as one could get. So long as they weren't complete idiots and could remember to breathe, they would rise to Supervisor, even to Junior Director. From their novice days onward, their arrogance was beyond description. Even the Jeonbu leading the novice eunuchs had no need to join the work — and had been told not to. They would have been instructed to simply watch, lest the other directorates pick up bad habits.
And yet here they were, working through the stench of horse dung, mud caked on their clothes. And grinning while they did it.
"Did those two take a hit of opium or something before they came?"
"Right? They don't look right in the head to me either. Gotta be on something."
"Kids this young... I know we eunuchs have a reputation as addicts, but they've already gotten a taste for it?"
Some of the eunuchs had even begun to question Jin Myeong and Jeong Go's sanity. And then something happened that put the capstone on an already astonishing scene.
"Beans generate more heat than hay, so they make a horse piss more. Feed them nothing but beans in summer and they'll dehydrate in no time. Better to mix the feed properly. Isn't that right, Director Man?"
"Aigoo! Eunuch Jang! How do you know all that? Did you raise horses before you entered the palace? You all heard that, didn't you? These two novices are no ordinary pair!"
What Jin Myeong had said to Jeong Go was the unvarnished truth. At that, Man Deok and the rest of the Imperial Stables Directorate eunuchs had no choice but to admit it: Jin Myeong and Jeong Go were nothing like the Directorate of Ceremonial eunuchs they had known.
"A real specimen just walked in. A genuine article!"
Jin Myeong and Jeong Go's attitude wasn't performance or pretense. It was genuine. They asked questions, they laughed, they sweated. Sweat does not lie.
"Those are the kind of fellows who ought to wear a Grand Director's cap. Not those thieves!"
The beads of sweat clustered on Jin Myeong and Jeong Go's faces, the filth caked on both their hands — the eunuchs of the Imperial Stables Directorate accepted them.
"Jang, was it? The novice? I'm—"
"You! You already introduced yourself, now move! I'm—"
"Novice Jeong! I'm from Shandong—"
Once the dam of goodwill broke, it became a flood. The Imperial Stables Directorate eunuchs crowding around Jin Myeong and Jeong Go were all so busy introducing themselves they could barely think. Hemmed in by dozens of eunuchs, Jin Myeong smacked his lips, a little embarrassed.
Well. It's been a long time, so I just did it for old times' sake.
Before his regression, when he had first entered the palace, Jin Myeong had belonged to the Imperial Stables Directorate. Nearly thirty years later, seeing this place again, meeting these people again — of course it stirred something in him. That was all the sentiment he had acted on. The Imperial Stables Directorate eunuchs, however, had clearly misunderstood him — and misunderstood him thoroughly.
"I've never seen a Directorate of Ceremonial gelding this humble and hardworking. At last, a man who could actually lead the Twenty-Four Directorates — fairly, impartially!"
"The tall one is better than you Cheongsa lot! Hey, Cheongsa! You see that? A novice who just entered the palace is doing that, and you lot—"
Just like that. For Jin Myeong, who had entered the palace with the sole purpose of getting into the imperial secret treasury in the Forbidden City and swallowing an elixir of extreme yin, it was nothing short of mortifying.
These geldings have got me completely, utterly wr—
Just then, as Jin Myeong waved off the eunuchs crowding him, something unusual caught his eye.
...Who is that? Who was he?
The smile faded from Jin Myeong's lips. His eyes narrowed. A eunuch who looked a little younger than Man Deok. Forearms that looked uncommonly rugged for a eunuch, veins standing out. And more than anything—
A martial artist?
His temples bulged. And his movements — neither slow nor hurried, a relentlessly regular pace. Breathing so quiet and measured it was inaudible. His chest, as if to prove it, did not rise or fall. More astonishing still: as he hauled heavy hay bales and dung-carrying frames, his footsteps...
That's a master. A real master.
Jin Myeong tensed. Of course, Supervisors of the fifth rank and above practiced the Sunflower Manual — but there was no way he wouldn't recognize a eunuch of that standing. This wasn't some random office. This was the Imperial Stables Directorate, where he himself had served before his regression. Besides, anyone at Supervisor rank or above was an administrator, which meant they would never be doing this kind of manual labor.
Who the hell is he? I should go over and act like I know him—
Just as Jin Myeong, having spotted this unexpected figure, started to approach, someone came looking for him.
"Where is Jang Jinmyeong, novice of the Directorate of Ceremonial! The morning observation duty is over. The Senior Superintendent Overseer summons you — return to the Directorate at once!"
It was the Jeonbu who had been leading them.
Senior Superintendent Overseer? Who? Not Yun Bong? These little bastards dragged a Grand Director into this? I'll have to take another look at that man later.
Jin Myeong, who had been heading toward the unexpected figure, had no choice but to turn back. He didn't know which Senior Superintendent Overseer had summoned him, but there was a chance it was that man — so he needed to hurry.
"Let's go, Go."
"Yes, elder brother."
The Jeonbu escorting them was the sort of man who would have calculated the time it took to reach the Imperial Stables Directorate, meet them, and return.
Meanwhile, the mysterious figure who had stolen a sidelong glance at Jin Myeong's retreating back as he left the paddock returned to his work as if nothing had happened.
That young one... a master who doesn't match his age.
"You summoned me, Grand Director! Jang Jinmyeong, novice of the Directorate of Ceremonial."
"So you're Jang Jinmyeong."
Yi Gwak, the Senior Superintendent Overseer. It had been a long time since Jin Myeong had seen that prickly face. There was one Grand Director and currently four Brush-Holding Grand Eunuchs, which made Yi Gwak — the senior-most of the Senior Superintendent Overseers — sixth in the eunuch hierarchy. A Peak Realm - Late Stage master who had fully mastered the counterfeit Sunflower Manual. He had had his manhood cut off, true, but in temperament he was a scholar as straight as a bamboo stave.
When Jin Myeong had first entered the palace in his previous life, Yi Gwak had been one of the Grand Directors he respected — a man of rare lack of greed, even among eunuchs. Yi Gwak disliked eunuchs involving themselves directly in state affairs, and his loyalty belonged solely to the Zhu family. And yet, even as he kept to himself, he would thoroughly dress down any lower-ranking eunuch who meddled in politics. But when it came to protecting their eunuch brethren, he was fiercely, almost frighteningly devoted. In short, he was an oddity among eunuchs — a man whose tune you never quite knew how to dance to.
"You've trained in martial arts?"
Yi Gwak asked. So Jeong Go had heard right last night. Wang Zhen... those bastards still hadn't learned their lesson.
I can't even kill them. What a headache.
In the imperial palace of this era, who held the power of life and death over the ten thousand eunuchs? Only two men. The Yongle Emperor, and Zheng He, Grand Director of the Directorate of Ceremonial. Next year the Superintendent of the Eastern Depot would be added to that list, but for now — save for those two, neither the Empress nor any Prince of the Blood could execute a palace eunuch on a whim. Of course, there were cases where the Emperor delegated that authority to certain members of the imperial family. Under the Hongwu Emperor and his grandson, the Jianwen Emperor, a eunuch's life had been worth less than a fly's. After the Yongle Emperor took the throne, everything changed. The Yongle Emperor had appointed Zheng He — a man he had favored since his days as the Prince of Yan — as Grand Director of the Directorate of Ceremonial, recruited eunuchs in great numbers, and expanded the Twenty-Four Directorates.
Anyway. Of all people, it had to be Yi Gwak. This man was no ordinary stickler. That sharp-witted bastard Wang Zhen had clearly found some way to drag Yi Gwak into this.
"That is so, Gonggong!"
Jin Myeong admitted it without hesitation. He admitted it — and a problem arose immediately. Yi Gwak moved.
"Is that so? Then let's see..."
The words had barely left his mouth when Jin Myeong looked at him. Yi Gwak's form seemed to blur, and in the next instant he was right in front of him. A flash of silver light erupted — a world apart from what Wang Zhen's gang had shown the night before. With Wang Zhen's lot, the moment they struck you could hear everything: sleeves flapping, palms splitting the air, the rush of displaced wind. All manner of noise. Yi Gwak's strike was different. Nothing but a few faint afterimages, thin as threads of silk in flight. Not a sound.
Silent as falling silk. Afterimages thin as thread. Claw energy without a whisper of sound.
That meant the Sun Moon Blood Light Claw Technique at five stars or higher. That, he could not take lightly. He immediately unleashed his true qi and drew forth the Bright Sky Hand.
In a split second, the Dual-Body True Qi that had lain dormant in his dantian surged through his entire body like a rising dragon, accelerating his physical movements without limit.
His body, primed like an arrow nocked on a drawn bowstring, locked into the opening form. Dozens of hands bloomed into existence, tracking every trajectory of the onrushing claws.
At around five stars, the Sun Moon Blood Light Claw Technique carried only blade energy — no, this was a claw art, so only claw energy wreathed it.
Tak-tak! Tak! KWAANG!
Yi Gwak and Jin Myeong exchanged dozens of blows in the blink of an eye, and the Bright Sky Hand blocked every last path of the Sun Moon Blood Light Claw Technique as it came hooking down like a grappling iron. Following the Jianghu maxim that one should conceal seventy percent of one's true ability, he acted as if he were straining by the end.
"Hoh!"
His attack intercepted, Yi Gwak let out a short sound of admiration and withdrew. As if the exchange of blows had never happened, he was sitting in the seat he had originally occupied. Fast. As expected — counterfeit or not, the Sunflower Manual was still the Sunflower Manual. Speed like that was no common thing.
"So you blocked five stars, did you?"
Yi Gwak asked, as if the result were unexpected but not particularly surprising. Jin Myeong's true realm was Initial Peak Realm — the stage at which one had only just become capable of forming weapon energy.
"Mere parlor tricks, Grand Director. I only managed it because you held back."
He could not reveal his full ability. If he were in Yi Gwak's position, a novice eunuch who was a martial artist at Peak Realm would raise questions not only about his reasons for entering the palace, but about his martial arts themselves. It could even be a groundbreaking discovery: the discovery of a martial art, other than the counterfeit Sunflower Manual, by which a eunuch could reach Peak Realm. Which meant that if another attack came, he would have to take it at an appropriate level.
"Parlor tricks... blocking a five-star Sun Moon Blood Light Claw Technique is hardly a parlor trick."
Yi Gwak murmured, looking down at both hands with an unhurried expression. He seemed to be tidying nails that had been lightly scraped in the collision. He isn't coming in again right away? That means he wants an explanation. In that case, Jin Myeong had the measure of him. He knew how to get past this man.
He was the one who had said it, but it made him genuinely nauseous. He was going to throw up at this rate.
Meanwhile, Zhao Gou, who had been watching the situation, sent a telepathic message to Yun Bong.
Yun Bong's mind was spinning. He had steeled himself after Zhao Gou's report, but seeing it in person left him somewhat conflicted. How would Yi Gwak, that rigid principled man, react... when Yun Bong himself had other thoughts on the matter.
Yun Bong's teeth clenched at the idle, cunning maneuvering of Wang Zhen's gang, but with Yi Gwak present, there was nothing he could do for now. Off to one side, Wang Zhen was watching Yun Bong with a sly smile.
Heh. Yun Bong, I figured you alone wouldn't be enough, so I brought the stubborn old man along.
Wang Zhen was certain Jin Myeong had been driven into a corner, and he silently cheered. A principled man like Yi Gwak would never let a novice with obvious ulterior motives walk free. It was only a matter of time before that lunatic who didn't know his place was strapped to the rack.
And then—
Yi Gwak, who had been watching Jin Myeong with a meaningful gaze, suddenly burst into a great, rolling laugh. Yun Bong and Wang Zhen's gang, bewildered by this, were then startled out of their wits by what Yi Gwak said next—