Tong Gaolu, originally named Tong Dai, had been the second son of a concubine of Tong Junjian, the Rong Kingdom's Left Court Gentleman. In Yuanjing, the Rong Kingdom's capital, his family had counted among the official households. Though he could not inherit the family estate, he had never wanted for food or clothing.
But the good times did not last.
Before long.
Tong Junjian's crimes came to light: factional collusion, killing for sport, illicit sales of public land, leaking court secrets, corruption, and deliberately letting offenders escape. With punishment imposed for all his offenses, he was soon imprisoned and beheaded. The authorities confiscated the Tong Household's property and implicated his family as well. Men and women alike were driven from the estate and exiled to the border to fight the people of Cinnabar Millet.
In an instant, the Tong Household in Yuanjing had plunged from a lofty tower to the bottom of a ravine.
Yet only thirteen years later, when the Cinnabar Millet Kingdom once again attacked the border passes, Tong Gaolu-the lowly concubine's son once called Tong Dai-suddenly rose to prominence, astonishing everyone.
Leading a force made up of live-in sons-in-law, convicts, and slaves, he marched fifty li through the night and ambushed Cinnabar Millet's vanguard. He personally slew three of the Cinnabar Millet Kingdom's vanguard generals in battle and reclaimed Wild Goose Pass.
News of the feat instantly made Tong Gaolu famous across several kingdoms.
He then rallied the scattered troops under his name as a martial Grandmaster. After two years of bitter fighting, he finally drove Cinnabar Millet's forces back to the boundary markers, where they could not advance another inch and had no choice but to give up.
From then on, Tong Gaolu became ever harder to restrain.
Step by step, he entered the heart of government and established his own offices and seat of power. By now, nearly half the Rong Kingdom's powerful elite were under his wing. His old associates and disciples formed cliques for private gain, while military and civil affairs alike lay in his grasp. Even the emperor could not keep him in check.
By all appearances, the throne was about to be usurped...
"Tong Gaolu was originally nothing but a lowly groom at the border, whipped by his master day and night. Barring some unexpected turn, he would not have lived long. But I heard from Tong Yi that, out of pity, Tong Gaolu gave a bowl of muddy water to an old beggar who had fainted in the blazing sun. From that moment on, his fate and fortune changed."
In the quiet chamber within the mountain, Tu Shan Ge sighed again and again, his face clouded with worry.
"It seems that beggar was a master living in seclusion. I just don't know what potent medicine or spirit pill he gave Tong Gaolu to let a mere groom suddenly attain embryonic breathing."
Chen Heng lightly tapped the table with a bent finger and said:
"This sounds rather like a story from a mortal tale book. It seems those great cultivators are even more whimsical than I imagined."
"It wasn't any potent medicine."
Tu Shan Ge's expression turned rather odd.
"After the old beggar woke, he clung to Tong Gaolu and pestered him endlessly, claiming Tong Gaolu had knocked him down and demanding silver in compensation. Otherwise, he threatened to drag him before the authorities... Though Tong Gaolu was a groom then, he had a violent temper and started fighting him right there in the street. But not only was he no match for the beggar's strength, the old man spat in his face and slapped him once on each cheek."
Chen Heng's tapping finger stopped.
"When Tong Gaolu returned to the fodder room that night, he was so furious and resentful that he drifted into a daze and passed out from rage. When he woke, he felt that his strength had suddenly increased enormously, and his skin was as tough as metal. Clearly, he had attained embryonic breathing and been remade in flesh and bone."
Tu Shan Ge glanced at Chen Heng and continued:
"He had read plenty of tale books too, so he knew he had stumbled upon a chance at immortality. Overjoyed, he first punched the master who had always oppressed him into a mass of mangled flesh, then raped and murdered all the women of the household. Only then did he search the city for the old beggar from the day before, begging him to bestow cultivation methods."
"But the old beggar disliked his unstable character. He had originally intended to take him as a disciple, but now refused. Unable to endure Tong Gaolu's relentless pleading, however, he gave him a tael of broken silver and told him to buy a few cooked chickens and tender geese at the market, to serve as an offering for formally becoming his disciple..."
At this point, Chen Heng had yet to react.
Despite the worry that had filled his face earlier, Tu Shan Ge could no longer keep himself from laughing.
"Tong Gaolu took the silver, but as soon as he reached the market, he saw a beautiful woman beckoning to him from a brothel."
"He was a man consumed by lust, and after so many years of repression as a groom, how could he resist? He immediately gave the silver to the brothel's pimp. Just as he was holding the beautiful woman and about to have his way with her, she transformed into the old beggar. Ignoring Tong Gaolu's tearful pleas, the beggar tossed him a Heaven and Earth Bag, then stepped onto a cloud and departed..."
"If I'm not mistaken."
Chen Heng suddenly spoke. "That old beggar must have been from the Five Radiances Sect, right?"
"I haven't told you that yet, sir. How did you know?"
"That boy was wildly arrogant and boasted that he could call on the Five Radiances Sect as his backing. Putting the two together, I would guess the old beggar was a senior of the Five Radiances Sect, out roaming the mortal world for amusement."
Chen Heng shook his head.
"The Five Radiances Sect has a Primordial Spirit True Person living in this world. To think Tong Gaolu failed so utterly to treasure his chance, losing the gateway to the Great Dao over a little lust. That I did not expect... With a disposition like that, he should not be difficult to deal with."
"What backing? Tong Gaolu's actions completely extinguished the old beggar's desire to support him. Why would the Five Radiances Sect concern itself with a mortal?"
Tu Shan Ge sighed and shook his head. "Only after repeatedly interrogating that boy did I learn that, although the Five Radiances Sect has never paid the Tong Household any attention, the Heaven and Earth Bag the old beggar left contained tens of thousands of talisman coins and three mid-grade talisman artifacts. That is the most troubling part..."
The talisman coins hardly needed mentioning.
Mid-grade talisman artifacts were formidable instruments of slaughter. Take Chen Heng's Thunderfire Thunderclap Bead: Deng Zhongzhi and he had both been at embryonic breathing, yet once the Thunderfire Thunderclap Bead came out, Deng Zhongzhi could do nothing but await death.
Qi refining was different from embryonic breathing, of course. Battles at this level depended not only on talisman artifacts, but even more on qi cultivation arts, Daoist techniques, and the like.
Still, having a few suitable high-grade talisman artifacts at one's side was an advantage, even if they could not decide the outcome outright.
"What is Tong Gaolu's cultivation level?"
"The seventh layer of qi refining."
"The seventh layer?" Chen Heng considered this in silence, then suddenly smiled. "Doesn't he have five brothers? Tell me about them."
Tu Shan Ge froze for a moment, but answered honestly.
Embryonic breathing was not so easily attained. Even though Tong Gaolu had once stumbled upon a chance at immortality and reached the realm that martial artists called "martial Grandmaster," he could not make all his brothers ascend to heaven along with him.
Of the five, only Tong Jizhen, the most skilled in military strategy and warfare, had reached the third layer of qi refining, while Tong Feng had attained embryonic breathing. The other three were merely mediocre men who had never crossed the threshold of cultivation.
Hearing this, Chen Heng nodded, his confidence growing.
"Sir, Tong Gaolu has three mid-grade talisman artifacts at his disposal. What should we do?"
"Better to cripple one finger than injure all ten. We will first eliminate Tong Jizhen, who is at the third layer of qi refining. That should serve as a pledge of allegiance," Chen Heng said calmly.
"A pledge of allegiance?"
"What do you think the Rong Kingdom relied on to establish itself? And though the imperial family has declined, why has the throne still not been usurped?"
Chen Heng smiled. "Those who follow the Dao find many allies; those who stray from it find few. Plucking chestnuts from the fire may be dangerous, but the rewards are far from small..."
Tu Shan Ge first frowned, then understood and laughed heartily as well.
Not long afterward.
A Cloud-Piercing Flying Boat shot into the sky from Blazing Mountain as a streak of crimson light, heading straight for Yuanjing in the Rong Kingdom.
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