Nightfall

While the folk customs of the Great Tang Empire were wild and fierce, the city of Chang’an was a friendly place. As the capital, with innumerable imperial courts, ministries, government offices, and military camps scattered within it, where high officials and noble lords resided, daily public security was naturally very good.

In addition to several corpses that resulted from dueling events, very few cases of abnormal deaths occurred in the city of Chang’an. Of course, that was not counting the slaughter that was acquiesced by His Majesty in the night at Spring Breeze Pavilion.

So, after the homicide case had occurred on the lakeside of Southern City, the Chang’an Local Government suddenly became nervous in the early morning. The newly-appointed Judicial Military Supervisor dared not to go out and stayed in the autopsy room with his coroners. The leaders on duty traveled around the marketplace, drenched in sweat and accompanied by hundreds of local government runners. The prefectural magistrate, Shangguan Yangyu, who had just gotten up, looked extremely bad.

“Your Eminence, the villain must be adept at murder. No clue has been found during the investigation around the place where the homicide case occurred. Only a piece of clothing was found in a side alley on Vermilion Bird Avenue, which was estimated to be left behind by the villain.”

The criminal official responsible for the investigating and arresting work respectfully handed the dilapidated-looking coat and a piece of cloth strip over and said, “It was not our fault to fail to catch the villain, even the Yulin Royal Guards could not find him.”

Shangguan Yangyu took the ragged coat, looking at it against the sunlight that was penetrating from the outside. His triangular eyes shrunk almost like two soybeans, but he could not decipher anything. He said in a hoarse voice, “Let the old bird in our department investigate the clothes. If no clues can be found, the needlework should be paid attention to.”

“This piece of clothing is made by Lanxiu workshop. We have already asked someone to inquire previously. The ready-made clothes of this size were made a few years ago and the number of pieces sold are unknown. This piece is clearly old, so… ” The subordinate looked up at the His Eminence’s facial expression, then said cautiously, “We are unable to investigate further, neither the needlework nor the cloth.”

Shangguan Yangyu gently stroked the sparse beard on his jaw without any expression on his face, and said indifferently, “The imperial court pays us officials to handle affairs, should we stop investigating due to difficulties?”

The subordinate walked up to him after a moment of hesitation, and said in a low voice, “Your Eminence, the coat that was left by the villain had innumerable openings hacked into it by sword blades, but no bloodstains were found. There are only two possibilities, according to my judgment.”

“Speak,” said Shangguan Yangyu angrily as he could not endure his sluggish temperament.

“The first one is that the villain might wear very expensive soft armor next to his skin. However, judging by where the clothes were split, especially where a few of the splits are, even the best soft armor in the empire couldn’t protect him.”

The subordinate looked at him again and said in a lower voice, “Then there is only the second possibility… The villain is a powerful man at the peak state of Martial Arts. Ordinary weapons can only cut into his coat instead of penetrating his primordial layer, which is for protecting himself. As a result, he didn’t bleed.”

Hearing the words “a powerful man at the peak state of Martial Arts”, Shangguan Yangyu’s finger fondling his beard abruptly stiffened. His sight became cold as he was looking at his subordinate… A powerful man in Martial Arts, who could resist the flying sword from a Sword Master only by relying on Primordial Qi for protecting himself, must be vigorous. Few such powerful men could be found in the entire empire.

“Nonsense!” Shangguan Yangyu said in a fearful voice, staring at the eyes of his subordinate coldly. “The only powerful men at the peak state of Martial Arts in the Great Tang are the four senior generals, who are safeguarding the borders on orders of the former emperor. They are not in Chang’an. Even if they are situated in the city of Chang’an presently, do you suppose that the dignified senior generals would commit a homicide?”

The subordinate bowed repeatedly, expressing that was not what he had meant.

“Can it be a powerful man at the peak state of Martial Arts from a foreign country… That’s less likely.”

Shangguan Yangyu said with a somber countenance, “The imperial court will closely monitor men like this once they enter the city of Chang’an. If they dare to show any sign of disturbance, don’t they fear that the Nation Master can directly suppress them?”

” If all of these things are not possible, then what is possible? ” The subordinate complained bitterly to himself, looking at His Eminence with a gaze full of expectancy, hoping that His Eminence could show him the way to follow.

“The homicide case by the lakeside should firstly be filed according to the regular procedures, then you should investigate the case diligently and strive for solving the case quickly,”

Shangguan Yangyu slowly said. Obviously, he meant that the stress should be put on trying. Even if you could not solve the case quickly, nobody would mind provided that no one in the imperial court cared.

Looking at the subordinates backing down following the order, Shangguan Yangyu shook his head and took out his handkerchief from his sleeve, wiping off the sweat on his face. His rosacea and reddish nose suddenly turned a bit more red.

Hearing that the true murderer was probably a powerful man at the peak state of Martial Arts, the desire to retreat came upon the newly appointed prefectural magistrate of Chang’an City as he knew the case was very troublesome.

As a senior official of the Great Tang Empire, although Shangguan Yangyu had a despicable temperament, he was not such a coward to escape from shouldering this task. But it was clear to him that if the homicide case involved many countries and people, then it would not be solved merely by the Chang’an Local Government alone. If other government offices did not take on the job, it meant that somebody in the imperial court did not want to kick up a fuss.

“His Majesty’s graciousness is infinite.”

He saluted northward, bowing with his hands folded in front, full of a grateful look on his ugly face. “His Majesty promoted me to the prefectural magistrate of Chang’an City from a Judicial Military Supervisor and granted me so much and supported me, how dare I cause trouble?”

…

…

There was an old tower built with yellow bricks in Southern City, and the tower body was utterly damaged with green vines intertwined. The tower seemed as if were about to collapse at any moment. However, the old tower was still standing between the small temples—a witness to the vicissitude of the local scenery—peacefully, silently, and wordlessly.

Every spring, innumerable wild geese returned from the south that would fly over the city of Chang’an before summer in Xunyang Lake of the Gushan Commandery. They then circled for many days around the old tower with intermittent warbles, when the shadows of wild geese seemingly blocked out the sun, forming a splendid sight.

No one knew why these wild geese, which flew high and lodged by the waterside, would appear in the busy city of Chang’an and be so interested in the old tower, but they had gotten accustomed to it over time. In recent years, the scene of numerous wild geese fluttering in the air became another wonderful piece of scenery that citizens in Chang’an appreciated, hence it became known as “Wanyan Tower” (10,000 Geese Tower).

Now, a monk lived in the top of Wanyan Tower, accompanied by a green lamp and a Buddhist statue in a niche, and Scriptures, pens, and ink on the desk. He seldom went down from the tower, nor met with the women in the back garden that respected and believed in Buddhism.

The monk called himself Huang Yang, and he was the younger brother of the emperor of the Tang dynasty.

Today he encountered a guest as honorable as himself.

Li Qingshan, the Nation Master of the Great Tang, said as he was looking at the Buddhist monk transcribing Sutras at the desk, “Last night, the Vermilion Bird woke up.”

Monk Huang Yang, answered placidly without raising his head, “The sacred item left by the Sage from previous generations has its true meaning in its every movement. How can we ordinary people besieged in the mortal world understand it? Why on earth do you bother yourself?”