Scourge Messenger

Chapter 123 Farewell
Inside Minghe Pavilion, the pharmacist Moke sat on the steps, drinking alone, one cup after another, as if he had suddenly aged a lot.

"Lord, Lord, someone from the palace has arrived!" The steward rushed in to announce. He saw the apothecary Moke sitting haggardly in the empty banquet hall and asked, "Should we send them away?"

"No need."

Before long, the pharmacist Moke regained his energetic appearance. Upon entering the reception room, he found it was a familiar eunuch and greeted him with a smile, "Eunuch Li, what brings you here so late at night? Is it His Majesty's decree?"

“You flatter me, Duke,” Eunuch Li quickly replied. “It is not an imperial decree, but the announcement from the Divine Marquis’s Mansion just now startled the Empress Dowager, and the Emperor is also terrified. He hopes that you, Duke, can enter the palace to reassure the people.”

"Oh?" The pharmacist Moke stroked his beard.

Eunuch Li leaned closer to him and said in a low voice, "The young emperor has become increasingly timid lately. He was startled awake by the announcement from the Divine Marquis's Mansion and thought that thieves would come to kill him. We hope you can enter the palace to protect him."

The pharmacist Moke found it both funny and absurd, because his daughter really was a thief.

"Nothing unusual lately?"

"No, the young emperor continues to study and practice martial arts as always."

He nodded, went out and found Feng Qian, the chief secretary of the Duke of Jin's mansion, and asked him. After confirming that there was nothing unusual in the palace, he agreed to go into the palace with Eunuch Li. Even so, he still had a team of guards accompanying him into the palace.

"Brother!"

As soon as Bhaisajyaguru entered the palace, the young emperor Bhaisajyaguru took the initiative to greet him in the front hall, treating him with the respect due to an elder brother. Although there was a great age difference, Bhaisajyaguru and the emperor were indeed brothers of the same clan. Bhaisajyaguru accepted the greeting with composure and, after returning the greeting, asked, "This old minister has arrived late to save Your Majesty. Your Majesty's coming to greet me is truly an honor for this old minister."

"Brother, please come with me to Hanren Hall." The emperor said as he walked, "The Empress Dowager is old. After being awakened by the announcement from the Divine Marquis's Mansion, she first scolded the palace servants and then kept drinking. She is unpredictable and has tried to persuade her many times in the past, but to no avail. I have summoned you tonight in the hope that you can persuade the Empress Dowager."

The pharmacist Moke initially declined, saying, "This is a matter of the royal family, and it is not appropriate for an old minister to interfere."

“My brother is a member of the Great Zhou royal family. How can the affairs of the royal family be unrelated to my brother?” As he spoke, the emperor took out the “Wine Proclamation” from his bosom and handed it to the physician Moke. “If you ask who in the world can recite the “Wine Proclamation” to advise the Empress Dowager, it is none other than my brother.”

The physician Moke stroked his beard and smiled as he accepted the "Wine Proclamation," quite satisfied with the emperor's attitude.

Inside Hanren Hall, the Empress Dowager had already sat behind the curtain upon hearing the news of the Duke of Jin's arrival. The palace staff had also cleaned the palace, but when the Medicine Master Moke entered, he still smelled a whiff of alcohol. He no longer doubted the Emperor's request, and naturally, he did not need guards to pay his respects to the Empress Dowager. So the Medicine Master Moke went in alone, where a cushion had already been prepared.

As the Medicine Master Moke sat reading the "Wine Proclamation," the emperor attended him respectfully from the side, his expression serene. But as the Medicine Master Moke continued reading, the emperor's face gradually became expressionless, the palace lanterns illuminating his half-lit, half-shadowed face.

"Your Majesty, the Duke of Yan, the Duke of Wu, and the Duke of Tang are already waiting outside."

The physician Moke was taken aback. Three of the Six Pillars of State had arrived? He immediately stopped reading the "Wine Proclamation" and asked, "Your Majesty—"

With a clanging sound, the ground where the Medicine Master Moke sat transformed into a trapdoor that opened. He was about to fall in, but as a third-rank messenger with plenty of tokens, the Medicine Master Moke slammed his fist into the ground, managing to escape the trap!

"Go down."

The curtain was suddenly lifted, but inside was not the Empress Dowager, but a middle-aged man with an unusual appearance. He was none other than the last of the Six Pillars of State, Duke Chu Luoyan of Wei!

With a push, he created a wall of air above the Pharmacist Moke. Although it had no offensive power, it killed the Pharmacist Moke's last chance to escape and forced him into the trap!
Boom!
The trap was only four zhang deep, and with the defensive tokens, the Medicine Master Moke was naturally unharmed. However, as he fell, he heard the sound of many bottles and jars breaking, and when he touched the soil, he immediately felt a lot of viscous liquid. The narrow trap was also filled with a pungent smell—oil!

"Empress Dowager, you have seen it for yourself! This shameless traitor dares to plot against an old minister!" Medicine Master Moke shouted sternly, "If the ancestor Changqiu finds out, even if you are the emperor, you will only face death! Empress Dowager, it is not too late to stop this villain!"

The other dukes and marquises who entered the palace were also shocked. They had only been summoned to the palace by the emperor and had no idea that such a thing would happen.

Seeing the once arrogant Duke of Jin fall into the trap, and the emperor standing silently before it, they all realized that a great upheaval was about to occur in the Zhou Kingdom that night. "Ancestor Changqiu is dead," the emperor said calmly.

The pharmacist Moke was stunned.

“Just yesterday, news came from the Crane Realm that Ancestor Changqiu passed away there, and the realm is once again filled with countless demons.” Duke Chu Luoyan of Wei walked behind the emperor and said to the medicine master Moke in the trap, “And you are the traitor.”

The Yaoshi family has two Foundation Establishment cultivators. The reason why Yaoshi Moke was able to depose and install emperors and control the court for many years was because he gained the trust of Yaoshi Changqiu, the Foundation Establishment messenger. As long as Yaoshi Changqiu did not fall, no one would dare to touch him, let alone murder Zhao Yuanbao—it should be noted that Zhao Yuanbao's ancestors were also Foundation Establishment cultivators, with profound foundations.

As for the other Foundation Establishment cultivator in the Pharmacist family, she was a distant niece of Emperor Taizu of Zhou a hundred years ago. She had little blood relation to the current imperial family and did not care about the disputes in the court.

At this moment, the palace servants presented two items to the dukes: gloves soaked in black oil and an unlit torch and candle.

They immediately understood the emperor's meaning. Duke Yu Jin of Yan took the lead in putting on black oil gloves, first lighting his palms with a candle, and then lighting the torch with the spontaneous combustion fire—this extra step turned the torch into a fire that could burn others and break the law.

"Duke Yu Jin of Yan is willing to punish the wicked villain for the Great Zhou!"

"Duke Helan Shangle of Wu is willing to kill the wicked villain for the Great Zhou!"

"Duke Li Fu of Tang is willing to slay the wicked villain for the Great Zhou!"

"Duke Chu Luoyan of Wei is willing to kill the wicked villain for the Great Zhou!"

Apart from Zhao Yuanbao, who was murdered, and the medicine master Moke, who was trapped, all six pillars of the state have expressed their opinions. They hold high their blazing torches and await the emperor's command.

The emperor summoned palace servants, and amidst the complex gazes of the crowd, he dipped his fist into black oil, lit it with a candle, and then used his fist to light a torch.

Even as his flesh and blood burned fiercely in the flames, there was no trace of pain, hatred, or joy on his face. It was as if he had been preparing for this day for far too long, and all his emotions had been exhausted in this long process, leaving only perseverance and determination.

"I wish to work with you all to revive the Great Zhou Dynasty," said Bhaisajyaguru. "Let Bhaisajyaguru Maha be our sacrifice!"

"Offer sacrifice to the Medicine Buddha Mokha!"

Five torches fell simultaneously, and no matter how much the Medicine Master Moke struggled, what was meant to burn still caught fire.

Thick smoke billowed from the trap, and the temperature was so high that no one outside dared to approach. But inside, the Pharmacist Moke laughed loudly: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty! Not only did you not conceal the death of Ancestor Changqiu, but you also took the opportunity to kill old ministers. How absurd! The foundation of the Pharmacist family does not lie with me, nor with you, but with the foundation building! If you and I joined forces, we might still have a chance to suppress them. Now that I am dead, and you have not gained the ancestor's approval, how can you suppress this group of treacherous wolves? It is not me who will destroy the foundation of the Pharmacist family, but you!"

"But I haven't lost yet, I still have hope, I still..."

The voice of the Medicine Master Moke was like a curse emanating from purgatory, echoing endlessly within the hall.

Once the flames were silent, the emperor ordered, "Send word to seal off the Duke of Jin's mansion, arrest the remaining members of the Medicine Master Moke's faction: Medicine Master Xun, Medicine Master Shen, Feng Qian, Yu Yi, and..."

"The daughter of Medicine Master Mokha, Medicine Master's Wish."

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(End of this chapter)