Chapter 39 (1/2)

Translator: Atlas Studios

Editor: Atlas Studios

After he looked at Wang Guan, who was sitting in the seat of honor in the Hall of Great Strength, he said softly, “During the 13th year of the Jiajing Reign, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, Wang Kuang, went back to his post after mourning his mother for three years and returned to Nanjing. However, rumor has it that there was a wealthy merchant called Wang Guan in Nanjing.

“Wang Guan came from a very wealthy family. Gold and jade were in glorious splendor in the house, and there were many wives and concubines and thousands of child servants. The family was also on close terms with high-ranking officials.

“According to the rumors on the streets, Wang Guan had been famous for marrying wives and keeping dozens of young ladies as concubines. He would hold a banquet every night for these concubines to spend the night with the guests.

“Once his concubines got pregnant, Wang Guan ordered them to have an abortion. He then carried the dead baby that had yet to be formed into a hidden room in the house.”

Li Ang pushed his glasses up and said faintly, “That room was an alchemy room.”

“Alchemy?” Xing Hechou, who could only feel goosebumps all over, roared softly. “You mean…”

“That’s right. The Records of Submitted Evidence of the Dynasty states that Wang Guan managed to refine a dead baby into a Longevity Elixir thanks to the guidance of a sorcerer called Red Belly and peddled the elixir out.”

Li Ang said, “Apart from aborting the babies of the concubines, Wang Guan also ordered people to purchase dead premature babies from the streets. He even went as far as to bribe midwives who induced abortions and purchase dead babies from them.

“After collecting the pieces of evidence, the furious Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice went around the Shuntian Prefecture to bring Wang Guan to justice, planning to behead him.

“Nobody expected that just when Wang Guan’s charges were determined and the commoners were satisfied, the influential officials in the city of Nanjing would hurry over to the Vice Minister’s residence and plead for leniency on behalf of Wang Guan.

“Besides being on close terms with Wang Guan, these noble high-ranking officials pleaded leniency on Wang Guan’s behalf despite conclusive pieces of evidence instead of severing ties with him. This could only be because these influential officials had purchased the Longevity Elixirs, which had been refined from dead babies, from Wang Guan.

“The Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, Wang Kuang, was upright and never stooped to flattery. Since he also had the support of the public opinion, he resisted the pressure and ordered Wang Guan, who was all kinds of evil and had caused discontentment among the people, to be executed. As a result, the people rejoiced and spread the word.

“Did things end there? No. Wang Kuang, who had been praised by the people, tried to continue digging this up without regard for his life and uncovered the person protecting Wang Guan.

“Naturally, the resistance was unprecedented. Not only did this resistance originate from the dense network of influential officials, but it also originated from the power of a higher level.

“The 11th Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houcong, was behind it.

“Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houcong was known as the Emperor of Daoism and was keen on immortal cultivation. For the sake of longevity, he invited a lot of alchemists and Daoists into the palace to refine elixirs for him.

“In order to brave the wind and dew like an immortal, Zhu Houcong ordered the palace servants to collect the dew from the hardy banana leaves in the imperial garden during the wee hours so he could ingest them. As a result, the palace servants fell ill from exhaustion and some of them even died. When Zhu Houcong heard what the alchemists had said, he followed the ‘red lead method’. He collected the menstrual blood of the palace servants and took it along with the medicinal powder.

“In order to make the palace servants have a heavier flow of menstrual blood, Zhu Houcong forced them to take a medicine that could promote that, which harmed their bodies or caused them to die from excessive blood loss.

“During the 21st year of the Jiajing Reign, the palace servants, who couldn’t tolerate Zhu Houcong’s harm anymore, teamed up and used a yellow silk cloth to strangle him while he was sound asleep. They even used their hairpins to stab Zhu Houcong. This incident is called the Palace Plot.

“The Palace Plot of the 21st year of the Jiajing Reign failed. We are in the dimension of the 13th year of the Jiajing Reign. This is before the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice ordered Wang Guan to be executed and destroyed the production line of the Longevity Elixir refined from babies in his residence.

“Why could Wang Guan, who was clearly a mandrill, control the Spirit-Gathering Array that was passed down from the Daoists?”

“Why could Grand Master Dao Zhi, who had committed so many evil deeds, easily escape and hide from the Nanjing execution ground that had capable Daoists?”

“How come Grand Master Dao Zhi could only change his name to Wang Guan to easily make a comeback?”

“That’s because there was someone above this mandrill who used the babies to refine the Longevity Elixirs. Since the high-ranking officials were involved, Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houcong also had to be involved. Due to Zhu Houcong’s protection and secret support, Wang Guan had become wealthy, run amuck, and even studied the orthodox inheritance of the Daoists.”

After these layers of truth were unraveled, Li Ang said with a sigh, “Unfortunately, I understood this too late.”

Then, he looked at the woman called Hong Niang, who was screaming in horror in the Hall of Great Strength while struggling to break free from Wang Guan’s embrace and staggering to leave.

“Don’t go.”

Wang Guan smiled slightly and reached out to grab her.

An unidentified demonic wind blew in from outside the temple and rolled up the sedan chair’s curtain outside.