A monk knelt at the city gate, turning a string of prayer beads in his hand.
The soldiers at the gate had intended to drive him away, but the monk rose before they could act.
The monk murmured, "This humble monk saw rivers of blood, saw the land torn asunder, saw a nation without a sovereign..."
An expression of sorrow for all living souls crossed his face. Then he turned and walked away.
"Has this bald bastard gone mad?"
"Who knows? Maybe eating vegetarian food and chanting prayers for too long has scrambled his brains."
"The land torn asunder? A nation without a sovereign? How dare he say such things!"
"Forget it, forget it. At a time like this, why bother? Killing him or arresting him won't do us any good. It'll only land us in trouble. Better to let him go."
The soldiers returned to their posts and paid no further attention to the muttering monk, unaware that his words were quietly coming true.
The longer Shen Yangge lay in bed, the more uncomfortable he felt. He simply got up and performed a tai chi routine in the courtyard.
He immediately felt much better. He had not seen Chu Xuanzhen in over ten days. When he asked Su Shang for news of him, Su Shang only said that he had gone to attend to something very important.
Around the fifteenth day, Shen Yangge was half asleep when he heard someone pounding on the courtyard gate. He opened his eyes and was about to go investigate when Su Shang stepped forward and blocked his way.
"Please return to your room and rest, Lord Divine Dragon. Leave this sort of thing to me."
Shen Yangge was bewildered, but he shook his head and returned to his room to lie down.