The Emperor Reigns Them All

Chapter 215 Take Out Hearts, Change Hearts

“That guy Li Ye and I have a grudge. This time, he and I join forces to attack Tongguan. Will he cause me trouble because of the grudge?” Li Keyong asked Monk Huiming nearby. He was riding on the horse with hundreds of his trusted soldiers. Looking at the Pinglu Army’s barracks far away, he looked worried.

Monk Huiming said without expression, “Prince An has ever beaten you in Huangli County, so can you forget this grudge?”

When he recalled the past, Li Keyong was angry. As Monk Huiming spoke out the matter directly, he was so embarrassed that he wished he could dig a hole and hide in it. However, this was what Huiming’s character was, so it was impossible for him to beat around the bush. He described it euphemistically as a “monk should not lie”. But, in Li Keyong’s view, it had nothing to do with telling a truth or a lie. Obviously, it was because he had no scruples.

However, Huiming had saved his life before, so Li Keyong was thankful to him and forgave his remark. Besides, Huiming was from the Juexiao Temple, which was the leader of Buddhism in the north. It was said that there were masters who were in the Kong Kim Realm in the temple. The Kong Kim Realm of Buddhism was similar to the Spiritual Master Realm of the Taoist sect.

Huiming said that two such masters followed them to fight to the south this time. Li Keyong heard that the Taoist sect of Zhongnan Mountain gave their full support to Huang Chao. He was afraid that he would be beheaded by their masters in the Spiritual Master Realm when he fought on the battlefield, so he had to rely on Huiming and his fellows.

Gnashing his teeth, Li Keyong said, “No!”

Huiming said without looking at him, “Since you can’t, then I think neither can Prince An.”

Li Keyong said, “What should I do?”

Huiming said calmly, “With Wang Duo on your side, you don’t need to be afraid.”

Li Keyong asked, “Will Li Ye be afraid of Wang Duo?”

Huiming answered, “I don’t know if Prince An will be afraid of Wang Duo, but I know that Wang Duo will handle matters impartially.”

Li Keyong wasn’t convinced. “I’ve heard that Wang Duo could master the military power because of Prince An’s recommendation. What’s more, they are old friends, so Wang Duo will be partial to Li Ye.”

Huiming said, “Because Wang Duo believes in Buddhism.”

Li Keyong was stunned for a while. “Wang Duo believes in Buddhism?”

Huiming said, “He didn’t believe in Buddhism before, but he does now.”

His words were not clear, having no rhyme or reason. Li Keyong couldn’t understand what he meant at all. He was about to ask something again, but he suddenly shut up because he saw Monk Huiming’s murderous gaze.

Could a monk have a murderous gaze? Of course he could. Li Keyong witnessed Huiming kill people more than once. In previous years, Li Keyong was stationed at the border pass. When the grassland cavalry violated the border, Monk Huiming killed some of them, and his killing method was extremely cruel. The grassland cavalrymen who had been killed by him were all dead without a complete body because all of them lost their hearts!

When Huiming killed a person, he took out the other party’s heart with one hand.

When Li Keyong saw Huiming kill people, he had only been in his teens. He had never forgotten that scene.

On the grass slope, Huiming, wearing a white monk’s robe, looked pious and solemn, and he had a sacred air. But he was grasping a beating heart in his hand, and blood kept dripping from his hand. A grassland cavalryman, whose features were distorted by fear, fell at his feet with his mouth open.

Although the scene was bloody, that alone was not enough to make Li Keyong vividly remember it. However, when he rode his horse up the grass slope, he suddenly found that many bodies lay on the other side of it. Blood stained the ground. Everyone looked terrified with his mouth and eyes wide open. There was a bloody hole in each of their chests. All of those hundreds of people lost their hearts!

Li Keyong had never forgotten the scene of Huiming grasping a heart because he had witnessed a brutal scene of hell.

However, when Li Keyong asked him the reason that he killed people using such a method, Monk Huiming saluted with one hand, looked sacred, and said in a calm tone, “When a person’s heart has gone bad, why he needs it anymore?”

At that moment, Li Keyong thought Huiming was like a saint from heaven who purified the world.

If the scene weren’t so bloody and cruel, Li Keyong would have knelt at the feet of Huiming.

“This is a monk of a demon,” Li Keyong said in his heart and didn’t continue to ask the reason why Wang Duo would believe in Buddhism. Maybe in Huiming’s view, Wang Duo’s heart had also gone bad, so he needed to replace his heart with a Buddha’s heart. Huiming always said that the Vajra got angry because he was going to subdue demons and monsters. Li Keyong didn’t believe it anyway, but he believed that if Huiming really wanted to fight against him, he might dare to kill him.

This white-faced monk had a beautiful appearance. It was difficult for even the most beautiful women in the world to compare to him. He looked clean, pure, and sacred, and at ordinary times, he was calm. He looked harmless, but in fact, that was only because he didn’t turn into the so-called angry Vajra.

But even if Huiming turned into the angry Vajra who subdued demons and monsters and killed people without blinking an eye, he would still be clean, pure, sacred, and calm. And that was very scary.

“If Huiming wants Wang Duo to believe in Buddhism, Wang Duo has to believe in it.” Li Keyong felt a chill on his back. When Huiming spoke, he could always convince others. What he said was always reasonable and no one could argue with him.

Li Keyong thought that after Wang Duo was demoted and left Chang’an, maybe Huiming went to meet him, and then he believed in Buddhism. If that was true, it meant that Huiming had expected that Wang Duo would be of great use to him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have arranged for Wang Duo to believe in Buddhism in advance. But when all these things hadn’t happened yet, how could Huiming know it in advance?

Huiming once said that there was a Buddha’s eye in Buddhism that could tell the past, the present, and the future.

Li Keyong didn’t believe it before, but now, he suddenly felt that maybe he could believe it a little.

If so, even Li Ye couldn’t have detected anything wrong.

The outer gate of the army barracks was in sight. Li Keyong saw the generals, who were ready to meet them at the outer gate, but he didn’t see Li Ye. He wasn’t surprised because Li Ye, as the Grand Prince of the empire, was naturally unlikely to meet him personally. Li Ye gave Li Keyong enough respect, for he asked his generals to go out to meet him.

Besides those generals, Li Keyong also saw a person standing in the middle of the crowd and a few steps in front. Obviously, he was the leader.

Wang Duo.

Li Keyong’s gaze became serious.

In front of the outer gate, Li Keyong dismounted and met with everyone.

Stepping forward, Wang Duo smiled and said with folded hands, “Commissioner Li, we have been waiting for you to come for a long time. We’re relieved to see that you’ve finally arrived.”

Li Keyong was appointed as the Yanmen commissioner, so Wang Duo called him commissioner.

“I’m too ashamed to bear your warm reception and hospitality.” Li Keyong hurriedly saluted back. Then he met with other generals. There were the generals of the Pinglu Army and Wang Duo’s generals among them. Zhou Ji was there, but Yang Fuguang was not.

After everyone met with each other, Wang Duo exchanged greetings with Li Keyong, and then invited him to enter the army barracks. “Prince An has been waiting for you for a long time. Commissioner Li, please come with me.”

“I’ll trouble you to lead the way.”

Li Keyong followed Wang Duo to enter the army barracks. All the way, Wang Duo showed great concern for Li Keyong. Of course, he inquired about the situation of the army, and at the same time, he shared the latest battle situation with Li Keyong. The army barracks with over a hundred thousand people was very big. The outer gate was far away from the main camp, so the two people talked a lot.

Li Keyong’s heart gradually sank, not because Wang Duo was abnormal, but because he was too normal. There was no flaw in his manners, his speech, or the degree of intimacy toward Li Keyong. Li Keyong glanced at Huiming, but the latter looked steadily forward and remained calm.

Li Keyong knew that Huiming had never done anything uncertain and that he had never failed. Since he said that Wang Duo believed in Buddhism, then he had already controlled Wang Duo. The more normal Wang Duo’s behavior was, the more unfathomable Huiming’s means appeared to be.

“Juexiao Temple...” Li Keyong suddenly felt that he might underestimate the leader of Buddhism in the north.

Before entering the main camp, Li Keyong took off his knife according to the military law and handed it to the soldiers guarding outside the camp. When a general met the commander-in-chief, he had to take off his arms. But for the cultivators, the hidden magic treasures were not included.

After entering the camp, Li Keyong looked around. It was very spacious inside and it could accommodate hundreds of people. Dozens of steps in front, a young general in shining armor was sitting behind a high table. That was Li Ye.

On both sides of the camp, there were no other people aside from several advisors and generals who were sitting behind the tables.

When Li Keyong entered the camp, Li Ye stood up and smiled to show his welcome. Li Keyong was relieved. It was good news that Li Ye didn’t put on airs, or the atmosphere would be stiff and both parties would be unhappy.

Li Keyong saluted after entering the camp. “Your Highness Prince An!”

“General Li, you don’t have to be so courteous. Please have a seat.”

Li Ye didn’t go down to support him, nor did he pretend to be kind. He just stood behind the table with elegant manners. Li Keyong didn’t think it inappropriate, but thought it good. If Li Ye really pretended to be kind to him, he wouldn’t be used to it. In the final analysis, he was a general, so he wasn’t used to the civil officials’ way of courtesy.

After they sat down, they talked about the recent situation as usual. Because the war situation was quite tense, Li Ye didn’t chat with them for a long time and then he led them to discuss the war against Tongguan.

The reason that Li Keyong led the troops to go to the south was to fight on the battlefield. Only when he made achievements could he get promoted so that he could realize his ambitions in the future. According to his temper, he was certainly eager to fight against Tongguan.

Although it was easier to defend than to attack Tongguan, Li Keyong was confident in his troops’ fighting ability. Moreover, it was difficult to attack Tongguan, so if he could capture it, he would make a great achievement.

For Li Ye and Li Keyong, there were only three great achievements for the battle against Huang Chao.

Firstly, conquer Tongguan and occupy Huazhou.

Secondly, recapture Chang’an and welcome the emperor back to the capital.

Thirdly, defeat the rebels and kill Huang Chao.

Huang Chao started the uprising all over the country seven years prior. He occupied Chang’an and forced Li Yan to retreat to Sichuan. The military exploit of killing Huang Chao was enough for a person to gain a royal title. If Li Keyong was able to achieve this exploit, at least he would be granted a title of duke.

If Li Ye was able to achieve this exploit, he would, at the least, be appointed as the Top General of Six Army and Imperial Guards and the Minister of Department of State Affairs. In other words, if Li Ye returned to Chang’an afterward, his achievements would be higher than Li Xian’s, and he certainly would become the ruling Prime Minister. The Pinglu Army would even take the place of the Regal Guards, so Li Ye would take charge of the capital.

If Li Ye continued to garrison Pinglu, he would have the right to take action on his own or even fight without asking for permission if there was a war or a rebellion of the vassal state. In that case, Li Ye would be the most powerful feudal prince in the world. Although the term “the second emperor” wasn’t good, it would be probably the only title that could properly describe his power by that time.