Kyushu · Endless Nagato

Chapter 49 False (1)
一
star sleep:

When I saw this suicide note, I should have passed away. It is a pity that I did not have your company when I came to the end of my life.You have been an excellent student over the years and a very perceptive young scholar.Although I know that you were not willing when you entered the Nagato, I always believed that you would become a truly faithful Nagato monk and become a master admired by future generations.

But I really didn't expect that these beliefs were based on a huge lie.It's not just you and me. For thousands of years, pious Nagato monks have been manipulated by others. This truth makes me dumbfounded and at a loss, and makes me feel ashamed of you.As your teacher, I feel that I have led you astray, a mistake that cannot be undone.The only thing I can do is to tell you the truth before I die.As for what choice you will make after knowing the truth, that will be up to you to decide, I just hope you don't hate me.

Let me start from the beginning.After we broke up in Nanhuai, I went to see the governor of Wanzhou.I originally thought that this trip would never return, but I didn't expect that the governor of Wanzhou didn't make things difficult for me.He agreed to see me, and listened patiently to my story, and then he said to me: "Master Zhang, you are my benefactor and someone I respect. Of course I hope I can help you. But you must know , The emperor's order, the emperor's Jinkou, does not allow us subordinates to disobey. But I may have another way to help you."

"What way?" I asked hastily, "As long as there is a way to stop this, I can pay any price!"

"Whether all of this can be stopped, and the price to be paid, I can't decide just by saying it," said the governor of Wanzhou. "It can be counted only if he speaks."

"Who is he?" I had just asked this sentence before I realized it was a redundant question.On the land of Donglu, there is only one person who can count on words, and that is the emperor himself.What the governor wanted was for me to meet the emperor.

I have to say that the governor still took care of me as best as he could.He did not violate the law in name, so he still put me in prison, but kept me in a separate prison. Not only did he not use any torture, but the food and bed were very comfortable. To be honest, the conditions were better than our penance. It's okay, I'm not used to it.But he has already done this for me, and I am too embarrassed to bother him to lower the conditions, so I can only take off the cotton mattress when I go to bed every night and continue to sleep on the plank bed.I have nothing to do in the prison, and I have no books to read. Apart from meditation, I just think about the situation outside. I don’t know what happened to Nagato, and I wonder if you can find some clues.

About a month later, one night, the door of the prison was suddenly opened, and I was involuntarily dragged out in my sleep, tied up and put on an opaque hood.At that moment, I was secretly delighted, because I knew that this must be making me meet the emperor.

I was being led up and down, or, basically, dragged.At last I judged by my feeling that I was being led into a carriage, and I could hear someone speaking to me through the curtain.I once attended a Fa conference held by the emperor, and I recognized his voice immediately.It seems that the emperor's trip this time is indeed quite secretive, and I don't know who he is guarding against.

"Untie, untie his hood, it's not necessary," said the emperor, "I remember this Master Zhang, he once attended the puja meeting I called, and he must be able to recognize my voice."

So I was untied and the headgear was untied again, and I found that I was indeed taken into a carriage, but this was not the luxurious car I had seen for the emperor, but just an ordinary car, with a faint smell smell of paint.Presumably, the emperor didn't want to see anyone except the governor of Wanzhou and a few others, so he simply wronged himself all the way.

Everyone retreated, and there were only me and the emperor in the car, separated by a black cloth curtain.I had countless doubts that I wanted to ask, but I didn't know where to start, but the emperor spoke first: "Master Zhang, you must hate me in your heart and think that I am a cruel and cruel tyrant?"

Although he couldn't see me, I shook my head subconsciously: "Your Majesty, I have seen how you have governed these years. Even if you can't praise you with the Holy Lord, at least you are definitely not a stupid and cruel person. So I just hope that all this is just a misunderstanding, maybe you know too little about Nagato, or you were instigated by others to make this mistake."

"Wrong? Is something that falls out of Nagato's body also a mistake?" the emperor said coldly.

"In the body of the head monk?" I was a little surprised, but immediately thought of the previous self-immolation incident of the eminent monk.At that moment, I somewhat understood that the emperor was really angered by the self-immolation incident, but not because of the burnt body itself, but because of the objects that fell from it.So I hurriedly asked: "Is it related to the body that was welcomed into the imperial capital?"

"From that body, a map engraved on metal fell out, so it was not destroyed by fire," said the emperor Senran, "Then I followed that map and found something. You can see .”

The curtain parted a little, and the emperor handed me some papers from below: "I believe, this is something enough to destroy your faith."

(The following part is similar to the information collected by An Xingmian, so it is omitted.)
I put down these papers, and my mind was a little confused: "What does this mean? What does the legend of destroying the world have to do with our Nagato?"

"Do you know that there is a sect called Tianzangzong in your Nagato?" the emperor asked.

"I know, and I still have contacts with them." I replied.

"Then do you know what Tianzangzong is doing?" the emperor asked again.

I don't know how to answer this question: "What do you mean? Aren't they just ordinary Nagato monks? You are so interested in Nagato, you should know roughly what a Nagato monk's daily life is like." Is it like that?"

The emperor sneered: "Should know? As a long door monk, do you know what Tianzangzong is doing behind the scenes? Let me tell you, the reason why they are named 'Tianzang' is that Because they want to build their own book collection caves like the legendary Longyuan Pavilion, but these caves are all hidden deep underground. And they have been doing this work for thousands of years, and now there are dozens of them all over Kyushu. How about a cave like this? Put it together with the things you just read to confirm each other, what can you think of?"

I froze immediately.I can't understand what the emperor wants to explain.With trembling hands, I turned over the pages just now, and read them again in the dim light.That's right, the writing on it will not change, and the truth cannot be shaken.It was only at that moment that I realized that the purpose of Nagato's existence was to cover up such a huge conspiracy.As for why someone would set up such a conspiracy and what the purpose is, I have found it difficult to think too deeply.

And I finally understood why the emperor was so angry, so decisive, and why he dealt with Nagato at any cost.This is no longer a matter of shaking his rule, it is related to the life and death of the entire Kyushu, and it seems that it is not an exaggeration for him to use any means.I have practiced for many years, and it is difficult to feel hatred towards others, but now I have a kind of understanding towards the emperor.Facing the entire world at one end of the scale, Nagato can only be regarded as an insignificant weight.

"So you arrested all the long-door monks, in fact, only for Tianzangzong, right?" I said, "But just arresting Tianzangzong will easily attract people's special attention to them. The panic would reach unimaginable proportions. So you simply closed the whole Nagato as a cover."

"Do you think I have other choices?" The emperor asked wearily, "If it were you, what choice would you make?"

I was silent.If you think about it carefully, if you put me in the situation of the emperor, I may not be able to do better than him.But at this moment, apart from shock, anger, confusion, and sadness, there is more despair in my heart.In retrospect, I have believed in Nagato since I was a child, and I have been striving for the ultimate truth and inner peace. Nagato is not only a belief, but also my life.But now, someone tells me my life is fake, how do I deal with it?
"However, all texts can be forged," I dryly tried to grab the last straw, "how can you be sure that these are all true?"

"I'll let you see the evidence," said the emperor. "Although I didn't go there in person, someone absolutely reliable has already gone to see it for me. If you want, you can also go and verify it with your own eyes."

(The following part describes how Zhang Haoge went to Qingyuling, which is the same as what An Xingmian saw, so it is omitted.)
After that, I think you almost know about it. That day in Hui'an Town, although it was only for a moment when I opened the curtain, I saw you, and I think you must have seen me.I don't need any explanation for my actions, I betrayed my fellow students and just wanted to do what I thought was right.Although Nagato focuses on the pursuit of individual cultivation, if he treats the common people as nothing, he will first lose his qualifications to be a human being.I think, apart from being a Nagato monk, I am first of all a human being, and as a human being I have to do things that make me miserable.We use pain to cultivate our whole life, trying to transcend everything in the pain and find the true meaning of life, but only in the end do we realize that pain is the essence of life, and there is no meaning without it.

Now that my mission has almost been completed, whether I can pry out the specific location of those book caves from my colleagues in Tianzangzong is no longer in my control.I've done everything I can, and it's time to leave this world.

Please don't get me wrong, I'm not ashamed of the fact that I became a traitor to Nagato, so that I can no longer live in the world without shame.I don't feel like I'm doing anything wrong.I just feel a kind of fatigue, a kind of confusion after losing everything. This kind of fatigue has wiped out the resilience and persistence I have cultivated over the years.I think, I have no ambition to wait until the day of liberation, I can only free myself.

Don't grieve for me, my student, this is the end that everyone must reach, sooner or later, it doesn't make much difference.I leave this letter to you only to explain to you all the things you don't know, so as to clear up your doubts.I don’t have anything in particular to tell or command you. You are a smart and assertive young man. No matter how Nagato’s nature changes, you are yourself after all, and it’s enough to be yourself.

As for Tang He, I don't need to waste my time talking, I believe you will take good care of her.

So farewell, my student, I can finally pass through the last long gate.

division

草字
two

Holding the suicide note in her hand, An Xingmian was speechless for a long time.For Zhang Haoge's death, he was actually mentally prepared a long time ago. As early as when Zhang Haoge left him to see the governor of Wanzhou alone, he had already expected such a day to come, but he guessed the ending, but never It is expected that the process will be like this.A long door monk will commit suicide, and a long door monk named Zhang Haoge will commit suicide, which has too much impact on him.He was panting heavily, and his body was shaking a little, Xue Huaiqing quickly reached out to support him.

"How could it end like this..." An Xingmian sighed.

Although Xue Huaiqing didn't read the letter, she could roughly guess it. She could only pat An Xingmian's shoulder lightly, hesitated for a moment, and stayed there without letting go.

"Everyone must die," she said softly, "but the living must go on living."

"I don't know..." An Xingmian put his hand on his forehead, "Do people live for their beliefs, or do they exist because of their beliefs? How should we choose?"

Xue Huaiqing was stunned, not knowing how to answer.An Xingmian's words seemed to be a bit of nonsense, but they seemed to come from the heart, making her feel the pain in this man's heart.

"After reading the suicide note, do you understand what he told you?" The bearded man's question brought the two of them back to their senses.

"It's all clear, thank you, what's your address?" An Xingmian reluctantly nodded, even though she was still heartbroken, she still tried her best to maintain etiquette. After all, the teacher's suicide note was brought by the other party.

"You don't need to know my name, it's useless anyway," said the bearded man.His voice sounded very strange, as if he had pressed a stone, he choked his throat deliberately, which was extremely unnatural.

"Why is it useless?" Xue Huaiqing was puzzled.

"I promised Mrs. Zhang that I will tell you all this, and I have fulfilled his entrustment," the bearded man said, "but I also promised the emperor that I will keep everything absolutely secret, and I should also fulfill it." His promise."

"I see," An Xingmian let out a soft breath, "You want to kill us to silence us."

"In this way, I have fulfilled the entrustment of the emperor and Mrs. Zhang at the same time, and I have explained to both of them." The bearded man sneered and clapped his hands.A door in the back hall opened, and a dozen or so warriors rushed out, surrounding the two with weapons in their hands.

Sure enough, he should go out with the corpse servant, Xue Huaiqing thought, and began to secretly accumulate poison on the palm of his hand.Although corpse dancers use corpses, they will never completely rely on corpses, and generally have some skills other than corpse dance.Xue Huaiqing learned the art of poison from her master Jiang Qinyin, and she would not be afraid even if she fought alone.

She glanced at the warriors surrounding them, and saw that these people were all wearing plain clothes and had no armor, so it would be easier to poison them.She spotted the two scimitar-wielding warriors rushing forward, and was about to throw out both hands to poison them both.But before she could make a move, the figure in front of her flickered, and then there were a few clicks, and when she looked up, the two warriors had already fallen to the ground in pain.

That was An Xingmian.Before Xue Huaiqing made a move, An Xingmian was already in trouble, and with unbelievable agility, he dodged in front of the two of them. With his first strike, he broke the right arm of the first person, and then kicked it to pieces. The second person's knee.This is still An Xingmian's best joint technique, but these two moves are not his daily routine, because joint technique is a kind of martial art, which can seriously injure and disable people on the spot if used lightly, but can just make people feel weak when used lightly. People are dislocated without sequelae.An Xingmian has always been kind-hearted, never willing to use heavy hands on others, even in such a dangerous environment as Wan Snake Lake, but now, he seems to have no scruples in his actions.

Is it because the death of the teacher deeply stimulated him, so that he couldn't help bursting out the fierceness in his heart, and used it to vent?Thinking about it, Xue Huaiqing felt a little sad.She followed An Xingmian, waved her left palm, scattered the poison, and knocked down an enemy.As a corpse dancer, she was merciless in her actions. An Xingmian, a kind-hearted guy, would not hold back, which was exactly what she wished for.

(End of this chapter)