508 Unearthed (1/2)

Shangguan Ru had never thought of building an army.

She stayed in the Land of Fragrance with complicated feelings. She felt self-pity about her homelessness, but she still harboured some vague hope. Since she was here, she hoped to do something for the people, no matter what.

She had never seen herself as the ruler of the Land of Fragrance. She felt it was like a child that someone had entrusted her to take care of at the last minute. It required dedicated care, but it had to be returned eventually.

At first, her work was simple. She set an example by leading the noble women and slaves to work together and invited the female slaves to take turns joining in the family gatherings. This approach was different from that of the Dragon King's -- she hoped to break the barriers between the slaves and nobility.

Early on, things went smoothly. The Land of Fragrance even transformed into the picture of peace, like a paradise. Very soon, she understood that this scene was unrealistic, and, as if by an undercurrent, most of her efforts were destroyed.

The greatest resistance that Shangguan Ru met was not from the noble women -- their status was not that high -- but from the aristocrats.

There were about a hundred aristocrats. They were too old to be enlisted into the army. Their numbers were not high, but they had great influence. They were also the most stubborn. They governed the women of their own houses and secretly gave orders to the slaves. The slaves who had interacted with the nobility were all punished. They were sent to kneel for a long time at the altar in the suburbs.

Shangguan Ru learned from the new scars on some of the female slaves that she could take stronger measures. The Dragon King's remaining army in the Land of Fragrance was small, but there were still a few hundred of them left. It was still the biggest force within the country and could easily defeat the stubborn aristocrats.

However, those old men were not afraid of death. Sometimes, they had even volunteered to take punishments. Moreover, many women, nobles and slaves were fiercely loyal to their old masters. No matter how badly they had been treated, they would never betray their masters.

Governing the Land of Fragrance was a random job at first, but now it seemed complicated.

Shangguan Ru had a headache.

Just then, a few women who were in charge of planting flowers discovered a ”treasure”.

In order to get rid of Old Man Mu, the Dragon King had set fire to the last Flower Soul Forest in the deserted Royal Palace. This left the earth there black and scorched. Some people found it a shame and planted all kinds of flowers in the ground, according to the country's traditions. They no longer created a maze, but let the plants grow freely.

Planting flowers did not require digging deep holes, so not many of the flower girls had discovered the treasures buried underground. However, these treasures were truly extraordinary and expanded slowly day by day. At first, they just looked different from the surrounding ground. On the second day, they had grown half a foot high. And on the third day, they had already risen a foot above the ground, like a small tomb.

The flower girls were afraid at first, but soon their fear gave way to reverence as they thought this was some kind of Flower God deity. They knelt down and attentively cared for the flowers, watering them day and night, clearing the blackened soil on the surface, and waiting for an extraordinary Flower God deity to grow out of the ground.

The drum kits grew day by day, but no seeds ever germinated.

When Shangguan Ru heard about this strange incident, she decided to check it out for herself. She glanced at it once and ordered the digging to start. She was completely focused, and she would not relent.

There was a giant ”seed” inside the earthen bag. It was covered with a shiny, metallic exterior -- a huge surprise to many of the local women who had rarely seen metal.

”The Flower God's seed is a gift from the Gods to the Master,” the flower girls said, insisting on calling Shangguan Ru ”Master”.

”This is a man, not a deity,” Shangguan Ru said. She knew what they were really digging up.

Old Man Mu's body, however, was not found. After two weeks, he miraculously appeared out of the ground as a seed. The ”seed” was huge but still small, compared to the size of a human.

Very soon, the truth was revealed. One of the flower girls turned the ”seed” over carefully with her spade. The outer shell was only half of the seed, and the remaining was Old Man Mu, clothed in rags and dying.

Old Man Mu was a highly skilled kung fu master. However, he was still very careful and wore an impenetrable soft armor. When he was captured, no one dared to talk to him. The 30-centimeters-long soft armour did not fit a regular-sized man, and so he was allowed to keep it and wore it all the time.

The Flower Soul Forest had been set on fire. Old Man Mu could not protect himself from above and could only sink deeper and deeper, seven feet into the ground. He leaned on his soft armour and used both hands to dig a hole in the ground. Using his Internal Strength, he shook the loose earth and buried himself before the great fire came. Using turtle breath, he controlled his breathing, but he did not have the strength to come back out of the ground.

After the fire, all traces of him had disappeared. Later rescue groups had not come to this area for their digs, nor had they dug so deeply.

Old Man Mu was buried alive.

Being able to live underground for over two weeks and then slowly rise up from under the earth made people revere him like a deity.

Shangguan Ru faced a difficult choice again. She did not want to kill anyone. The last time, Old Man Mu was ”burned to death” because he fell for her trap. She did not want to kill him again, but letting this old devil get away scot-free was unimaginable.

She ordered her men to send Old Man Mu into an underground prison, where nobles held disobedient slaves. There were only three iron prisons in the Land of Fragrance.

Food and water were placed before Old Man Mu, and he was left alone to die.

That was all Shangguan Ru could do. She did not even know whether she, herself, wanted him dead or alive.

Old Man Mu proved how tenacious he was yet again. After three days, he faintly said, ”I'm hungry...”

The food had already been taken away.