Hope of Escaping the Heavenly Prison (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

Hope of Escaping the Imperial Prison (Please Keep Reading)

"Lord Xu, you wouldn't want..."

"To leave your son as a posthumous child, never even seeing what he looks like when he is born, would you?"

Late at night, when all was still, Magistrate Tian walked to the iron bars separating their adjacent cells. Seeing Xu Xing seated cross-legged in meditation, circulating his inner energy, Magistrate Tian's brows lifted slightly as he spoke those words.

At that—

Xu Xing opened his eyes and studied Magistrate Tian.

He did not rush to speak.

When Magistrate Tian had first entered the prison, Xu Xing had not noticed anything unusual about him. Yet when he had shared his meat with Magistrate Tian, he noticed Magistrate Tian's hands, as well as the way he ate...

Thus, he began to harbor some doubts about Magistrate Tian's identity.

A scholar's hands differed greatly from an ordinary person's. After holding a brush year after year, calluses would form on them.

Magistrate Tian had those calluses, but he also had more calluses of another kind than most people.

Secondly, civil officials generally ate with refined elegance.

Yet when Magistrate Tian ate, first, he was slow; second, he had no manners whatsoever...

When one was hungry, abandoning table etiquette was nothing unusual.

But eating slowly while still disregarding one's manners—that was suspicious.

Of course, this alone was not enough for Xu Xing to determine that Magistrate Tian's identity was questionable. More importantly, after Xu Xing had performed his righteous deed today, Magistrate Tian's gaze had repeatedly drifted toward him...

"Lord Xu..."

"You possess the talent to span heaven and earth. Are you truly willing to remain in the imperial prison and wait for death?"

Magistrate Tian continued.

As his words fell—

The tension in Xu Xing's face eased slightly, and he seemed somewhat moved.

"Just as I thought!"

"Mourning Heaven King was right. Scholars are all men of great ambition."

Seeing this, Magistrate Tian was suddenly overjoyed. He spoke rapidly, "Our Four Bright Mountain Stronghold lacks gifted men like Lord Xu. So long as Lord Xu nods and is willing to join Four Bright Mountain, Mourning Heaven King has said that from this day forward, Lord Xu's status will be second only to his own, equal to Might King and Earth King."

Given his status, he was not qualified to play coy.

His task was to lay out the stakes and lure Xu Xing into joining Four Bright Mountain Stronghold.

The actual choice was for Xu Xing himself to make...

If he agreed, Four Bright Mountain would pay a tremendous price to rescue Xu Xing. If he refused, Four Bright Mountain would lower its banners and seek another suitable talent to serve as military strategist.

Otherwise, after fighting tooth and nail to rescue Xu Xing from the imperial prison—

They might only save a man whose body was in Cao's camp while his heart remained with Han.

Would that not leave Four Bright Mountain Stronghold losing more than it gained?

"Xu Xing is but an unknown nobody, with no reputation beyond Divine Capital. How did you learn of me?"

"And go to such trouble to send yourself in here?"

Xu Xing raised a brow, turning the tables on him.

He was no greenhorn who would casually believe another person's nonsense.

He needed to sound out the truth before making his next move.

"Lord Xu's rebel poem!"

"Lord Xu's rebel poem has already spread throughout Four Bright Mountain Stronghold..."

Magistrate Tian hurriedly replied.

"What a joke!"

"That poem was no rebel poem. You people understand neither literature nor ink, yet you took it for a rebel poem? Besides, when I wrote that poem, it was only five days ago. Even by carrier pigeon, it could not have reached Four Bright Mountain in that time..."

Xu Xing snorted coldly, his voice full of disdain.

Four Bright Mountain lay in West Jiangnan Circuit, thousands of li from Divine Capital.

In five days, the rebel poem could never have reached Four Bright Mountain.

Therefore, Magistrate Tian was deliberately trying to deceive him.

The claim that everyone in Four Bright Mountain knew of his rebel poem was nothing but words meant to fool him.

If he truly believed it, Magistrate Tian would surely think less of him.

"Lord Xu is right."

"I deliberately lied in order to earn merit. I deserve punishment."

Magistrate Tian gave an embarrassed smile and continued persuading him. "Then I'll speak plainly. Earth King was sent to Divine Capital by Mourning Heaven King. One purpose was to gather intelligence on Divine Capital; the other was to invite a talented scholar to our stronghold to serve as military strategist..."

"Divine Capital is a land of celestial treasures and earthly splendor, where all the finest talents gather..."

"Earth King happened upon poems composed by Lord Xu, and so sent this lowly one to impersonate a convicted official and infiltrate the Heavenly Prison."

These words of his carried far more sincerity than what he had said before.

Sure enough, just as Xu Xing had expected, Magistrate Tian's earlier words had merely been a test.

"How did you impersonate a convicted official and infiltrate the Heavenly Prison?"

Avoiding the important and dwelling on the trivial, Xu Xing did not mention joining the stronghold. Instead, he shifted the subject to the method Magistrate Tian had used to enter the Heavenly Prison.

Magistrate Tian also intended to win Xu Xing over, so he answered truthfully, "There was nothing difficult about it. The realm is in turmoil these days. Before coming to Divine Capital, we killed the officers escorting Magistrate Tian to the capital and obtained Magistrate Tian's imperial credentials and appointment papers... Then Ghost Hand altered my appearance for me, and I easily slipped into the Heavenly Prison."

"When becoming an official, someone will carefully verify your identity."

"But... when becoming a convicted official, who would bother checking seriously?"

He grinned mischievously.

Xu Xing suddenly understood and nodded.

Impersonating a convicted official was indeed far easier than impersonating an official taking up a post.

It was not as though there had never been cases in ancient times of people impersonating officials taking office. For instance, during the Qianlong era of the Qing dynasty, there was a man named Qian Bing who impersonated a purchased official's post, deceiving those above and below him. Officials across the provinces never discovered that he was a fraud.

It was only when he tried to swindle the magistrate of Qiantang County that he was exposed.

But a convicted official... who had the leisure to inspect a convicted official being thrown into prison?

"Looks like..."

"Earth King of Four Bright Mountain Stronghold seeking me out may be the effect of the [Righteous Thief] destiny."

Xu Xing mused inwardly.

The [Righteous Thief] destiny had won him the favor of great fortune.

With great fortune on his side, all of this had fallen into place as naturally as water flowing into a channel.

"Lord Xu, so long as you are willing to join us in the mountains..."

"Getting Lord Xu out will be an easy matter."

After saying this, Magistrate Tian patted his chest and guaranteed it to Xu Xing.

"At the stronghold, you'll eat the finest food and drink the strongest liquor."

"Isn't that better than being this damned bird of an official?"

"Besides, the present emperor has eyes but cannot see. He sentenced you to death, my lord."

He urged Xu Xing to make up his mind and rebel.

"Join you..."

A hesitant look appeared on Xu Xing's face.

If he bluntly declared that he had wanted to rebel long ago, Four Bright Mountain Stronghold might not greet him with delight, but with fear. No one wanted to share a cooking pot with someone disloyal and unrighteous...

Loyalty and righteousness in ancient times were deeply contradictory.

They wanted him to be loyal to the Chongming Emperor, yet also wanted him to go into the mountains and rebel...

Therefore, even though he had already decided deep down to accept Magistrate Tian's proposal, this performance of reluctant restraint was still necessary.

"You may not know this..."

"General Chang in the cell next to mine once led troops in battle in Liaodong. He is a fifth-rank General Who Pacifies the Distant Lands, and was thrown into the Heavenly Prison by His Majesty over some trivial matter. I share a deep friendship with him.

"If only I am rescued, Xu Xing would rather die in the Heavenly Prison."

"Than ever leave!"

Xu Xing clenched his teeth and balled his fists.

Rebels certainly could not make an issue of "loyalty" when rising in revolt. But if they wished to unite those above and below, and could not speak of "loyalty," then they could only rely on the word "righteousness."

The demand he had made of Four Bright Mountain struck directly at that word: "righteousness."

He would use "righteousness" to conceal his disloyalty!

"Lord Xu is truly admirable!"

"This lowly one will immediately find a way to notify the King... and relay this matter..."

A look of admiration appeared on Magistrate Tian's face once more as he cupped his hands.

This came a little later than usual—sorry.