The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 606 Questioning the Heart
Lu Wushuang did not answer.

So Li Miao's knuckles continued to tap on the table, one tap after another, as if tapping on Lu Wushuang's heart.

After a long while, she finally let out a long breath.

"As expected, you can't hide it from the adults."

"That's right, that's how I planned it."

she said softly.

“I don’t know when you will be able to get to Kyoto. As far as I’m concerned, I can neither fight against Shintoism nor against those Heavenly Sword Saints who are loyal to the Emperor… In fact, Nanako was destined to be a pawn from the very beginning.”

“Neither the Shinto Church nor those sword saints will let her go, so… I think handing her over to those sword saints is better than letting her die meaninglessly at the hands of the Shinto Church.”

At this point, Lu Wushuang remained silent for a while. After a long pause, seeing that Li Miao was just looking at her without saying anything, she continued to speak.

“I know that those sword saints must have other plans. Knowing Tai Chi doesn’t mean anything… To them, whether the Emperor is in the hands of Shintoism or the Daesu Dynasty, there is probably no difference. They must have other ideas and methods.”

"But so what?"

"If their cooperation is genuine, then let it continue; if their cooperation is fake, then there will be an emperor for you, sir, to kill."

"This is all I can do... This is the best choice I can make."

After saying that, Lu Wushuang let out a long breath.

She had actually been avoiding this issue until Li Miao confronted it directly, forcing her to stop running away.

Rationally, she knew she had made the right choice, the one that would involve the least sacrifice and maximize Nanako's chances of survival... but her last sentence sounded weak and unconvincing.

Li Miao smiled and shook his head.

"It is indeed the best choice, but it is not the choice you wanted to make."

He touched Lu Wushuang's heart from a distance.

"Little Deer, you've developed a demon in your heart."

"If it weren't for the Gu worms that Master Ji placed on you to suppress you, you would have already gone mad from your cultivation."

Before he finished speaking, a stream of true energy shot out from Li Miao's fingertips, splitting into three streams in mid-air, and hitting Lu Wushuang's upper, middle, and lower dantian with perfect accuracy.

Lu Wushuang felt a pungent and scorching evil fire suddenly rise from her waist, instantly sweeping across the Foot Jueyin Liver Meridian, and then attacking her heart and dantian, igniting her true energy into a vast and turbulent sea of ​​fire.

"Well!"

She suddenly raised her hand to cover her chest.

That feeling vanished without a trace, as if the sensation just now was merely an illusion.

Then Li Miao spoke slowly and deliberately.

"When liver qi is stagnant, it transforms into fire, which then attacks the spleen and depletes yin and blood. This indicates that you have excessive yin and desires that cannot be fulfilled."

“I’m not saying you did anything wrong. After all, everything you did was for my benefit, and you’ve done your best.”

"but--"

Li Miao held up one finger.

"The best does not mean the most correct."

"You put Nanako in a situation where she could very well be sacrificed, without asking her if she was willing to sacrifice herself. You even deliberately hid these considerations from Ryota Miyoshi, even though he couldn't possibly oppose your decision."

"You're scared."

“You want to make a choice that works for me, but you can’t get past your own conscience, so you don’t dare to ask. You’re afraid that if they disagree, you won’t have the heart to force them to make a choice.”

"So you developed inner demons."

"He's clearly an assassin, but his character is like that of a righteous knight-errant. How did he end up hanging out with Xiao Anzi?"

Lu Wushuang's shoulders suddenly slumped.

The tension that had been building up since Li Miao left Yanli Temple has finally snapped.

She slowly walked to the table and sat down, her head bowed, stroking the hilt of the sword hidden in her sleeve. After a long while, she let out a long sigh.

"If one's mind is not in control, how can one's body be in control of one's own?"

"My lord, will you look down on me because of this? Am I really destined to never be able to keep up with you... and Master Ji?"

Li Miao smiled and picked up her teacup.

"What's the point of us being friends? One is a cold-hearted brute, the other a mad demoness, two monsters who don't recognize their own family."

Lu Wushuang suddenly looked up. "My lord, if it were you, what would you do?"

Li Miao took a sip of tea.

"me."

"I'll probably just find a place to bury Nanako and Ryota Miyoshi, and then smash the entire city of Kyoto to pieces. Let's see if that works."

Li Miao put down her teacup, rested her chin on her hand, and looked at the silent Lu Wushuang.

"Are you thinking that only I can think and act this way, and only I have the right to do so, while others are inevitably forced to make difficult choices?"

"You know, a few years ago in Nanjing, I killed a man named Zheng Anqi. He also said something similar to what I said, that it's easy for him to say when he's not in the situation... You probably think the same way, right?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Wushuang immediately stood up.

"My lord, I didn't—"

"Sit down, sit down, what's the rush?"

Li Miao raised his hand and pressed down in the air, pressing him back into his seat.

"I didn't say you were wrong."

"That's right, it's easy for me to say that when I'm not in the situation."

He tilted his head back.

"My fists are hard enough, my heart is ruthless enough, my talent is high enough, I have little conscience, and the entire Da Shuo court backs me up. So I can do whatever I want and kill whoever I want."

"but--"

Li Miao looked at Lu Wushuang and said in a deep voice.

"In this world, it is not only the strongest person who can have a clear conscience."

After saying that, he stood up, patted Lu Wushuang on the shoulder as he passed by, and walked to the forging furnace.

"All right!"

Yoshida Takeshi let out a long sigh and handed the gold seal, which had been largely cast, carved, and engraved with seal script, to Li Miao.

Li Miao took it and looked it over.

"The work is a bit rough, but it'll do."

He condensed his sharp true energy, made a few cuts on the golden seal, removed the rough parts, roughly repaired it, and then put it in his pocket.

Just then, a flurry of footsteps and hoofbeats came from outside the door, and someone shouted loudly in the Central Plains Mandarin.

"Is the Celestial Envoy, Lord Li, here?"

The sound of someone dismounting and the rustling of clothes as they bowed.

"Emperor Li, Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, is here by imperial decree of the Ming Emperor! I am Jiro Jiro, Junior Assistant of the General Staff, and have come to welcome you!"

Li Miao smiled.

"They've come at just the right time."

"gone."

Having said that, he strode outside.

Lu Wushuang quickly got up and followed, but saw Li Miao stop at the door without turning around. He just smiled and said...

"I will not kill Nanako."

"Don't worry, Little Deer."

As long as I'm here—

"No one connected to me needs to do anything against their conscience or make any difficult choices."

"It's easy for me to talk when I'm not the one suffering because I'm strong enough. You don't need to worry about whether I can handle it or not—worrying about things that don't concern you!"

Lu Wushuang suddenly felt a warm current flow through her meridians, forcefully soothing the signs of demonic possession suppressed by the Gu worms.

Plop, plop, plop.

The door was wide open, letting in the light, but it was all blocked by the tall figure, which shrouded her in shadow... Her heart began to pound, and she involuntarily clutched her chest.

(End of this chapter)