Chapter 87: Waiting for the Death Servant
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“Blast Pills”
Li Zisheng knew that Taoism had reached its height in the Great Tang, with countless Taoist schools rising throughout the empire. The chief reason was that the ruler of the Great Tang, His Majesty Emperor Xuanzong, was himself a disciple of the Maoshan School.
Thus, when Ling'er mentioned the Maoshan School in her very first sentence, Li Zisheng was startled. He had not expected it. The influence of the Maoshan School within Taoism was vast, after all, for it had been touched by imperial favor.
The Maoshan School had been recorded in grand and striking detail throughout the history of the Tang dynasty. It was unquestionably the orthodox tradition.
Yet Ling'er's words clearly contained contempt for the barbarian forces. If Li Zisheng remembered correctly, there were quite a few Hu people among the Maoshan disciples as well. But when Ling'er spoke of them, he detected not the slightest trace of disdain. On the contrary, she seemed deeply respectful. Though her reaction was not as intense as that of the Celestial Secrets Institute, the sincerity of her regard was still unmistakable.
Ling'er's attitude was truly difficult to fathom.
“The Blast Pills have already been fully arranged throughout Yuecheng. Once those barbarians arrive, everything will be ready. Before then, however, some preparations are necessary.
“First, we must locate the Yishan Stone Inscription. It is of extraordinary importance and will be the key to everything that follows. We cannot afford the slightest mistake. For this, we need your help, Zisheng. Your letter clearly indicates that you have seen the Yishan Stone Inscription before.
“Deng Qing may not possess many other talents, but he is fairly skilled at locating objects and tracking people. The other matter is to discover where Deng Qing’s headquarters are located. The power behind Deng Qing is extremely mysterious. Even the Intelligence Hall of my Three-Tastes Residence has been unable to uncover any information about it.”
If that was truly the case, then the force behind Deng Qing might already have surpassed anything he had imagined.
Li Zisheng thought this to himself.
“Zisheng, the Heavenly Fortune Sacrifice is the key to deciphering the Yishan Stone Inscription. For your own sake, I hope you can uncover the meaning behind the Heavenly Fortune Sacrifice as soon as possible. If you do, you will not only gain the protection of our Three-Tastes Residence, but may even have the opportunity to enter the imperial court of the Great Tang and rise to great prominence.”
Ling'er's expression now appeared utterly sincere, and her voice had softened considerably, as though she truly wished to cooperate with him.
“When will the barbarian chiefs arrive?”
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Li Zisheng naturally did not believe the promises Ling'er had made.
“At midnight the day after tomorrow, the barbarian chiefs will gather at Lingzhou Academy. As for where they are now, even our Three-Tastes Residence has no idea. Deng Qing’s forces have been plotting this for a long time, and the identities of those barbarian chiefs are unknown. We learned that they would assemble at midnight the day after tomorrow only after sacrificing four undercover agents.
“As for whether the information is reliable, you need not worry. Our Three-Tastes Residence has never conducted a losing transaction.”
Li Zisheng had no doubts on that point. If the information were unreliable, Ling'er would never have spoken with such certainty.
“Then when will the Blast Pills be detonated?”
The question came from Li Zisheng’s lips without a second thought. To him, it was perfectly ordinary.
But to Ling'er, it carried an entirely different meaning.
“Zisheng, how do you know that the Blast Pills have to be detonated? Have you seen them before?”
Ling'er’s face filled with astonishment, and an inexplicable light flickered in her eyes.
Li Zisheng was startled as well. He had forgotten that gunpowder had only recently begun to emerge in the Great Tang. Not to mention ordinary people, even the powerful and noble knew very little about it. After all, the stuff was exceedingly difficult to control. The slightest mistake could cost a person his life.
He had gone too far by speaking of detonation. How could an ordinary person know that gunpowder had to be detonated? By using those words, he had revealed that he had seen it before—not merely seen it, but perhaps even handled it directly. That was highly unusual.
“I’ve seen it before.”
Li Zisheng spoke with startling bluntness and directly admitted that he had encountered it in the past. Faced with such frankness, Ling'er was briefly speechless. Indeed, if he had never seen the Blast Pills before, how could he know that they had to be detonated in order to work?
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What she did not know was where Li Zisheng had seen them.
As for Li Zisheng’s identity, she could claim to understand it thoroughly. The moment he had stepped onto the second floor of the Three-Tastes Residence in Yuecheng, she had already investigated him in detail. She had once believed that although Li Zisheng was a descendant of Li Si several generations removed, he was ultimately nothing more than an ordinary commoner without anything remarkable about him.
But after dealing with him, she realized that his abilities and learning far exceeded her imagination.
“Zisheng, whether you have seen or merely heard of the Blast Pills, our Three-Tastes Residence has spent an enormous amount on this operation. If it fails to produce results, I will suffer severe punishment. I hope you understand that.
“You will likely also face difficulties from some of the old traditionalists within the Three-Tastes Residence. The note you delivered last time caused quite a disturbance among us. Some of those old fools even believe that you possess extraordinary talent but are impossible to control, and they wanted to kill you to eliminate any future trouble.
“Fortunately, they are only a minority, so you need not worry. But judging by the situation now, they were indeed right. You truly possess exceptional talent, far beyond ordinary people—and you are not easy to control.”
Ling’er’s words sounded half playful and half serious.
But Li Zisheng understood that this was the first truly sincere thing she had ever said to him. As for whether Ling'er herself agreed that he should be killed, he knew with certainty that she did not. This was not groundless confidence on his part. It was because of the change in her attitude after he admitted that he had seen the Blast Pills.
The Blast Pills were no ordinary objects. Even the greatest powers could scarcely glimpse their full nature, and only at a tremendous cost. The fact that Li Zisheng had seen them meant that he possessed knowledge unknown even to those great forces.
However, if he told Ling'er that he had not only seen them but could manufacture them himself, she would probably agree at once that he should be killed. In the Great Tang, such a thing was a weapon of state. It was not something ordinary people were permitted—or able—to possess. Whoever held it could only meet one end: death.
“Since you have seen the Blast Pills, I will stop beating around the bush. Detonating them requires a death-servant, and that is what I am waiting for now.
“This death-servant belongs to Deng Qing’s forces and possesses a secret. The moment he hands that secret over to me will be the moment he dies.”
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