The Man and the Minister

Just as Xue Min and Mo Yan were fighting, Yang Xuanye was also blocked on his way hundreds of miles behind.

It was an old man in hemp robes with white hair and beard, his aura calm and still as water. He stood with his hands behind his back in the Great Void, calmly watching him.

Yang Xuanye sighed deeply:

"Senior Zhao, you are about to attain enlightenment, why interfere and ruin your own path to the Great Dao?"

Upon hearing this, the old man in hemp clothing smiled slightly:

"If I don't come, my conscience will be troubled."

He paused, looked at Yang Xuanye, and slowly said:

"In my early years, I offended powerful figures by doing many good deeds and almost died a violent death. It was only because a million people around the Nanzhao Royal City knelt outside the city for a long time that the king took pity on me and saved me. That's how I came to be where I am today. So today, I have no choice but to take action."

Yang Xuanye remained silent for a moment, then said in a deep voice:

"Senior Zhao should know that the King tacitly approves of many things."

The old man slowly shook his head:

"I do not serve the king, but the people of Nanzhao."

"I initially thought it was just a game played by the True Lord, but now I understand that this is a ploy to sacrifice the lives of hundreds of millions of people in Nanzhao for the selfish desires of these powerful figures. I cannot turn a blind eye. Even if the King himself is in my presence, I will risk my life to ask him this question..."

He took a deep breath, bowed respectfully towards the direction of the Nanzhao Royal City, and said, word by word:

"The king is revered and worshipped by millions of people in Nanzhao, yet he treats their lives like worthless weeds. How can he face the hopes of this vast land and its people?"

After the words were spoken, there was Great Void in the void.

Only from the distant, Subterranean Water, could one faintly hear a sobbing sound, like weeping and lamenting.

Upon hearing this, Yang Xuanye's expression became complicated. After a long silence, he finally whispered:

"Senior Zhao, I am not unaware of what you have said. However... you must understand that I am an official appointed by the imperial court, receiving the emperor's salary and obligated to be loyal to him. There are some things I have seen but cannot speak of; some things I have heard but cannot respond to."

Zhao Shouzhi slowly turned around, his gaze sharp and intense, staring directly at Yang Xuanye:

"So the prefect just turns a blind eye? Whether it's people from the imperial court or the Mysterious Gate, as long as they don't tear down your office, you pretend to be deaf and dumb, living the life of a complacent, unassuming official?"

Yang Xuanye's face paled, but he remained silent.

Seeing that he remained silent, Zhao Shouzhi softened his tone and sighed:

"Prefect, I know you're in a difficult position. You're not one of those corrupt officials; you care about the people. That's precisely why I'm standing here today, saying these things to you. If you were truly such a depraved person, why would I waste my breath? I would have just taken action."

Upon hearing this, Yang Xuanye gave a wry smile:

"So, senior, you've come to give me a way out?"

Zhao Shouzhi nodded:

"That's right, you're like a grasshopper in autumn now, you won't be able to hop around for many more days, do you know that yourself?"

Yang Xuanye silent.

He certainly knew.

He knows it better than anyone else.

He would never forget those days, not even in his dying breath.

More than ten years after the late emperor's death, no one in the court paid any attention to Nanzhao, and he, as the prefect, sat in this remote place for more than a decade.

Life was simple and frugal, but peaceful.

He originally thought that this would be how he would spend the rest of his life, and that he would have done his duty to the late emperor.

But starting ten years ago, a group of adults descended upon the northern Longchuan region.

His subsequent memorials to the capital, Qingzhou, and Kunming disappeared without a trace, receiving only a cold reply, "Just wait and see."

Yang Xuanye is no fool.

He felt a sense of impending doom, yet he couldn't see through the underlying strategy.

During that time, he often couldn't calm down. When he closed his eyes, he would have hallucinations of the sky collapsing and the earth splitting apart. He felt like a wild beast trapped in a cage, surrounded by walls on all sides, but unable to find a way out.

It wasn't until Su Yao broke through to the Purple Mansion and emerged from seclusion that someone approached him privately.

The man only said three words: "Proclaiming Earth Shi" (宣土事).

Yang Xuanye as if he had fallen into an ice cave.

I see.

I see!

The Five Virtues Change Positions, Proclaiming Earth should flourish.

Nanzhao was the place where Proclaiming Earth was destined for calamity. How could Yang Xuanye, a prefect from a humble background, have managed to sit comfortably in this prosperous land for over a decade? Was it his political achievements? His talent?

Neither.

He was the scapegoat, fattened up and waiting to be slaughtered, a pawn whose fate was predetermined in this grand game.

Once the Proclaiming Earth incident occurs and accountability is investigated, he, as the prefect, will be the first person to be sent out to pay with his life.

He wanted to leave.

He really wanted to leave.

During that period, he spent almost every day packing his things, planning how to quietly resign from his official post and find a place where no one knew him to live out the rest of his life.

But every time the night is quiet, he always thinks of the late emperor.

He recalled the solemnity with which the late emperor straightened his clothes, and the late emperor's words, "Yang Qing, I believe in you."

He hesitated again.

And so it dragged on, day after day.

It's been delayed until today.

It dragged on until there was no way to retreat.

Seeing that he remained silent, Zhao Shouzhi continued:

"Although you come from a peasant family and have no background, and although you are exceptionally talented, you are nothing more than a scapegoat planted here. Now that the Proclaiming Earth affair is about to begin, if you don't get out of here, you will only become the scapegoat. The prefect has served in Nanzhao for many years and should know better than me that the people of Nanzhao have never wanted any grand strategy or national fortune; they just want to survive. But now, who has given them a way to survive?"

Yang Xuanye lowered his eyes and remained silent for a long time.

Zhao Shouzhi thought he was hesitating, so he took another step forward and spoke in a more forceful tone:

"Prefect! Do you really want to wait until a knife is at your throat before you believe me?"

Yang Xuanye suddenly smiled.

The laughter was extremely soft, as if squeezed from the back of the throat, carrying an indescribable mockery, whether self-mockery or laughter at others' inability to see through it.

He slowly raised his head, his eyes now unusually bright, and his voice was deep:

"Senior Zhao, I know all of this."

Zhao Shouzhi was taken aback.

Yang Xuanye continued:

"I was made a scapegoat for Proclaiming Earth's affair. I knew about it long ago, ever since Su Yao left the pass."

He turned his head and looked in the direction of Jiankang, his gaze deep, as if he had traveled through more than a decade to see the throne that had been vacant for far too long.

"Senior, do you know how I came to be the prefect?"

Zhao Shouzhi didn't reply, he just looked at him.

Yang Xuanye's lips curved slightly, revealing a very faint smile, a smile devoid of any joy, only endless desolation:

"When the late emperor was alive, I was just a poor scholar with no connections or powerful backing. I barely passed the imperial examinations. Not a single official in the court gave me a second glance. Only the late emperor chose me from among thousands of people. He personally summoned me to the palace and said to me, 'Minister Yang, you are a scholar. You must understand that being an official is not for the private benefit of one's own family or clan, but to do something truly meaningful for the people of the world and for this vast land.'"

He paused, his voice trembling slightly:

The late emperor said he trusted me.

Silence reigned all around.

Zhao Shouzhi opened his mouth, but said nothing.

Yang Xuanye took a deep breath and slowly said:

"From that day on, I swore that I would be loyal to the late emperor for the rest of my life. While he was alive, I devoted myself to his cause; now that he is gone, I will safeguard the Nanzhao for him, and even if I am the only one left, I will preserve the achievements he left behind."

He suddenly laughed, but the laughter was full of bitterness:

"So, I want to leave, but I can't. It's not that they won't let me leave, it's that I can't take that step myself. My life is no longer my own."

He slowly straightened up, tidied his clothes, and his gaze was as calm as a stagnant pool.

"Senior Zhao, I have no right to stop you from asking a question on behalf of the people. But if you want me to leave today, I have no choice but to fight you."

Zhao Shouzhi looked at him, remained silent for a long time, and finally sighed:

"I thought you couldn't see through it all, but it turns out you do, yet you refuse to leave. What a loyal subject of the late emperor!"

He raised his hand, and his aura suddenly surged:

"Then let me see just how capable the man chosen by the late emperor really is!"

As he finished speaking, countless lights from thousands of homes and the figures of countless ordinary people appeared and gathered around him.

Then, the sounds of farmers' proverbs filled the air, rising and falling in waves.

Yang Xuanye smiled upon seeing this:

"Today I will learn from the elders' wisdom on ' Gather a Trillion People ' and ' Mulberry and Hemp Proverb '."

As he finished speaking, the phantom images of jade tablets and bronze jue tablets appeared in his hand, and the phantom images of ancient classics and books appeared behind him like mountains, suppressing the world.

It was precisely because of the divine Divine Ability of the minister of Human Dao that he "Wield the Jade Tablet and Bronze Gnomon" and "Uphold the Established Codes"!