Having Seen Through the Emptiness of the Buddha's Form, I Reentered the Imperial Palace in a Single Day

"Impossible! How could monks who had mastered true fire still be novice acolytes at Imperial Awakening Temple? Who are you, really?"

Zhao Zhen took a step back, stopping right in front of the White Jade Maitreya.

He stared at the true fire before Zhu Yuanzhang, which had mercilessly swallowed his own flames. Suspicion flickered in his eyes, and his voice was full of disbelief.

In that brief moment, he could tell his opponent had expended at least ten years of his life.

"I am Zhao Zhen, Left Chancellor of the Taoist Registry under the Prince of Zhou. And who might you be?"

"Imperial Awakening Temple. Zhu Chongba."

As he spoke, Zhu Yuanzhang stepped forward.

"Mountain-Shrinking Fist!"

Power like a mountain gathered in his fist.

The force pressed down on Zhao with an intensity he had never felt before.

His hair stood on end. It was as if Zhu Yuanzhang's fist would crush him to dust the next moment. He hurriedly formed a hand seal and cried out,

"White Lotus Pure Fire, burn away all corruption!"

"Bright King Manifestation, restore the light!"

As Zhao Zhen chanted, the White Jade Maitreya behind him suddenly blazed with radiant light that shone upon all things.

The golden-red Dingguang Demon-Subduing True Fire abruptly turned white.

Its power increased several times over.

"Hm? You've got a cheat too?"

Zhu Yuanzhang furrowed his brow slightly. He'd been careless.

But... it still wasn't enough!

No one understood the Dingguang Demon-Subduing True Technique better than he did!

Zhao Zhen watched as the Dingguang Demon-Subduing True Fire continued bearing down on him alongside Zhu Yuanzhang's fist.

Terror seized him.

Was this novice acolyte, who seemed to have sprung from a crack in a rock, really willing to throw his life away?

In just two exchanges, his opponent had already expended at least twenty years of his life!

The golden-red flames seemed to tear through everything in the world. They radiated warmth and scorching heat, a brilliant light that seemed ready to illuminate every corner of the world's darkness.

Zhao Zhen gritted his teeth.

The Corpse Incense Offering in the candlestick was nearly exhausted.

The backlash had begun. He could already feel the fierce ghost bound to the candlestick starting to drain his yang energy.

No! If this went on, he would die!

He had to gamble with his life too!

Only by killing his opponent as soon as possible, refining the Corpse Incense Tribute, and stabilizing the fierce ghost would he have a chance to survive.

"You forced me into this... Zhu Chongba."

Zhao Zhen glared viciously at the novice acolyte from Imperial Awakening Temple, who was punching through the white flames toward him.

"The Green Sun has passed! The Red Sun draws near! The White Sun shall rise!"

A wisp of white qi left Zhao Zhen's body and entered the White Jade Maitreya behind him.

The ancient Buddha's smiling, flower-pinching image grew ever more majestic and solemn.

Five years! Ten years! Twenty years!

But why?!

Zhao Zhen, now old and feeble, stared in disbelief at Zhu Yuanzhang, who seemed completely unaffected and remained as young as ever.

"Why... you..."

"You're wondering why I'm completely unaffected, right?"

Zhu Yuanzhang's fist slammed into Zhao Zhen's face.

But Zhao Zhen, whose hair had turned completely white, could barely walk, let alone block the blow.

Splurt!

Zhao Zhen's head burst open beneath Zhu Yuanzhang's fist like an overripe tomato, spraying gore everywhere.

"That's because... I've got a cheat."

Zhu Yuanzhang watched Zhao Zhen's corpse slowly crumple to the ground, a look of unwillingness on its face.

He sighed, looking at the three piles of ash that had once been Yuanhui and the other two monks, and at the Imperial Awakening Temple monks who had been turned into dried corpses on the Lotus Platform. Then he spoke softly.

From Zhao Zhen's corpse, he retrieved two tokens.

One was a fragrant-wood token belonging to Gao Bin, the abbot of Imperial Awakening Temple.

The other was a white jade token made of the same material as the Maitreya before him. A large "Buddha" was carved on the front, and the back bore the words, "Zhao Zhen, Left Chancellor under Master Peng."

"Yuan Prefecture," "Prince of Zhou," "Master Peng"... Had something major happened this year?

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the white jade Buddha before him.

There was a secret here.

Zhu Yuanzhang narrowed his eyes.

The white jade Maitreya had endured two bursts of Dingguang Demon-Subduing True Fire without the slightest damage.

"Mountain-Shrinking Fist,"

Zhu Yuanzhang murmured.

A layer of dark blue keratin appeared over his hands.

He reached out and gently stroked the white jade Buddha before him.

Click.

The white jade Buddha abruptly flipped over and struck the Lotus Platform beside it, where the flesh-and-blood Dharmakaya had been placed.

Behind it was a dark, ancient passage.

There was no plaque at its entrance, only a couplet.

"Learn the literary ways of the Former Han; let your poetry reach the height of the High Tang."

"Attend at my side, and I shall know your loyalty."

It was in the same style as the couplet at the Scripture Depository, as though both had been written by the same author.

It was probably no coincidence.

A strong smell of rust drifted from the passage.

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and peered inside.

Scratches covered the walls, and dried blood had congealed into black scabs.

Pale bones lay scattered across the ground, most of them missing their leg bones.

It was easy to imagine how much pain and despair these people had suffered before they died.

[You have discovered a Secret History]

[Secret History: Mystery of the Dragon Vein (unlockable after clearing Yinglong Temple)]

[Having seen through the emptiness of the Buddha's form, I reentered the imperial palace in a single day.

The branches were cut away, yet the roots remained; at dawn, which rooster would prove the cock of the walk?]

"Hm?"

A ball of true fire appeared at his fingertip. He pointed forcefully ahead, and the flames shot deep into the passage, lighting the oil lamps along its sides.

Five paces from Zhu Yuanzhang, at the passage entrance, there was a bend.

A green table stood at the bend.

On it lay a thick stack of letters and an unfolded map.

The letters had clearly been written recently and had not yet been sent. Zhu Yuanzhang noticed that the red wax on some of them was still wet.

The map marked with red dots showed Henan-Jiangbei Province. It didn't feel like paper to Zhu Yuanzhang, but rather some kind of special leather.

He tucked it into his robe.

He looked down the passage as it continued past the bend, descending so far that he could barely see its end.

Zhu Yuanzhang had no intention of exploring it.

The reason was simple.

If the Secret History [Mystery of the Dragon Vein] could only be unlocked after he cleared Imperial Awakening Temple, then its difficulty was probably far beyond anything he could imagine.

In a Secret History, Zhu Yuanzhang could take whatever risks he wanted.

But in reality, he only had one life.

Zhu Yuanzhang had no intention of taking that risk.

"We were fellow disciples, after all. I'll set you all free."

Back in the Zen Courtyard, Zhu Yuanzhang pressed his palms together and bowed to the Imperial Awakening Temple monks, who had been made into dried corpses on the surrounding Lotus Platforms.

Then true fire surged forth, reducing the Lotus Platforms and their sacred images to ash.

As the ashes of the burning corpses flew out of the cave on the cold wind, Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to glimpse one restrained figure after another passing before him, each wearing a grateful smile.

"Does this world really have souls?"

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't know the answer.

But he knew that, in this cruel world, he was lucky to have another choice besides simply becoming part of it.

If he could, he hoped to change the world, just as he had in history.

First, he would start by opening the letters.

After reading them, Zhu Yuanzhang still had little idea what was happening at Imperial Awakening Temple.

At least, though, he now knew Zhao Zhen's background.

"So it really is the White Lotus Sect—and the Incense Army, whose influence would reach furthest into later generations."

Zhu Yuanzhang sighed.

He casually burned the letters Zhao Zhen had written to "Buddha Lord Peng Yingyu" and "Prince of Zhou Zhou Ziwang" after secretly infiltrating Imperial Awakening Temple.

After all, according to the original timeline and the contents of the letters, the Incense Army led by Peng Yingyu and Zhou Ziwang, which had risen up against the Yuan in Yuan Prefecture that January, had already been defeated by the Great Yuan court. Its remnants were now fleeing from Jiangxi toward Huaixi.

He already knew what the letters said. Keeping them would be useless, and would only bring trouble from either the Red Turban Army or the Great Yuan.

And according to the letters...

Wait. Fleeing toward Huaixi... Wasn't that the direction of Imperial Awakening Temple?