Wedge

  Wedge

  On the fourth day of the first month of the 20th year of Emperor Yang of Sui, it started snowing from the previous night. At first, it was just a light dusting that could easily fall into people's collars, but by the morning of the fourth, it had turned into big, fluffy flakes. In just half a day, the streets and rooftops were covered in a thick layer of white snow.

  The capital of the Great Sui Empire, Daxing City, was built in the second year of Kaihuang under the supervision of Yuwen Kai on the site of Longshouyuan. The atmosphere is magnificent. About two miles away from the imperial city, there is a small temple with sparse incense and few visitors at ordinary times. On this snowy day, it seems even more deserted. In a room in the backyard, an old nun who was dying held a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes in her arms and muttered to herself.

  This old nun can't see much of her age, her eyebrows are all white, with a kind and benevolent gaze, the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes are like the annual rings of a big tree, announcing that she has experienced too many years of hardship.

  An old nun who lived alone here was actually holding a baby in her arms, which looked very strange. The baby was only three or five months old and had clear eyebrows and eyes like a porcelain doll, making people feel pity and love for it.

  "Little guy, you're so well-behaved and adorable, whose child are you? Which couple is so heartless to abandon you at the gate of this small temple on a snowy day? Ha ha... The couple who abandoned you must be idiots. Your facial features are so good, although you'll surely experience many hardships and tribulations in your early years, after the age of 15, you'll become rich and prosperous, and it's impossible to stop it."

  The old nun closed her eyes and muttered to herself, holding a bowl of rice porridge in her hand, feeding the child little by little.

  "Let me think, how many people with a face like yours have I seen in my life? Let me count... Ah... After counting and calculating, there's only one person surnamed Yang who can compare to you. However, he had thin luck and his prosperity didn't last more than two generations. But this little guy is different, looking at him, he'll have at least 260 years of glory and honor."

  She coughed a few times, and the old nun's expression turned gloomy: "It's just a pity that my life will be cut off today. You've fallen into my hands at this very moment. If I die, who will take care of you?"

  "If I let you die with me, it would be too great a sin. In the next life, even if I were to be reborn in the animal realm, I fear it would be difficult to atone for this sin. Alright, alright, although handing you over to him is fraught with danger, it's still better than dying. But that man has a rough and untamed personality, and having him raise a child still in diapers would indeed be a challenge for him... Hehe..."

  The old nun fed the last mouthful of rice porridge into the baby's mouth, and after eating his fill, he lay quietly with a pair of eyes that seemed to be talking, looking at the old nun. Suddenly, he giggled and smiled, his adorable appearance making people want to kiss his chubby cheeks.

  The nun was really too old, she struggled to pick up the baby and walked step by step towards the outside. Before reaching the door, her body staggered and almost fell, rushed forward a few steps and leaned against the door panting heavily. She looked down at the baby in her arms, her eyes were gentle and full of love.

  "The deadline is approaching, and no human power can stop it. However, I don't care, I will risk my life to see you off. That Yang guy has a stinky Taoist priest by his side who is very powerful and must have already calculated my lifespan. If I don't send you off today, if you fall into that Yang's hands, you'll only end up being beaten to death. That Yang is extremely wealthy but narrow-minded, with that stinky Taoist priest by his side, he will not leave any way out for you."

  Just as Lao Ni and the baby were talking, a team of people came out of the imperial palace, surrounding a horse-drawn carriage rushing hastily towards the small temple. Hundreds of iron-clad cavalrymen guarded the front and back of the carriage, with uniform crimson horses matched with the knights' cold and gloomy long spears, exuding an unspeakable majesty and solemnity.

  Next to the carriage, a Taoist priest in his forties rode alongside on a tall horse. Despite the freezing weather, he wore only a thin robe and was able to withstand the cold wind and snow. He had a handsome appearance, with three long whiskers and held a feather duster in his arms, looking elegant and refined as he sat on the horse. If one looked closely, they would discover that the big snowflakes seemed to be unable to get close to his body, automatically avoiding him within a foot of his person.

  Compared with a lone iron-clad knight covered in snow, this person naturally stood out.

  His name was Zhang Tianyi, and he was the Heavenly Master of the Dragon Tiger Mountain Heavenly Master Mansion in this generation. His Taoist skills were profound, with unpredictable divine powers. Later, he was summoned by Emperor Wen of Sui to enter the imperial palace and was conferred the honorable position of Guardian of the Country Dharma Master.

  The only person in the current Sui Dynasty who can make the Guardian Monk follow him on one side is Yang Jian, the Emperor of Today, Emperor Wen of Sui.

  "Master Tian, you were right!"

  A low, husky voice came from inside the sedan chair, and although it was slightly hoarse, it sounded extremely majestic. Just by listening to him speak, one could tell that this person must be someone with great authority.

  Zhang Tian Shi slightly inclined his body on horseback and said, "Your Majesty, originally the wonderful true Dharma Master used great magical powers to deceive the heavenly phenomenon, and I couldn't see through it. It's just that I don't know why her magical powers suddenly dissipated an incense stick ago. I saw that the heavenly phenomenon was unusual, and calculated that in another hour it would be exactly the limit of the wonderful true Dharma Master's life, absolutely without error."

  "In that case, I must hurry and try to see the Master one last time. The Master has great kindness towards me, if it wasn't for her being present on that day, I'm afraid I would have been thrown to death as soon as I was born. Later, she took me away from home and we parted ways for over a decade, teaching me literacy, reading, military tactics, and battle arrays. Without her, there wouldn't be my empire today. I've always wanted to repay the Master with great wealth and honor, but unfortunately, she only wants to accompany the ancient Buddha in quiet contemplation. If I couldn't see the Master off on her final journey, my heart would truly be uneasy."

  "Your Majesty can rest assured, there is still some time left, it won't be late."

  Emperor Yang of Sui nodded and then fell silent.

  Zhang Tian Shi thought for a moment and still stretched out his hand from his sleeve, pinched the law seal back and forth, calculated it again, and was convinced that he had not made an incorrect judgment. Only then did he feel at ease. But he didn't know why, in his heart, there was a faint sense of unease, always feeling that something outside the rules of heaven and earth had been forcibly inserted, that person or thing came with such strength, even from so far away, it made him uneasy.

  Wasn't it that the wonderful true monk obtained some treasure before his death?

  Zhang Tian Shi secretly speculated.

  Just as he was thinking, a black shadow suddenly swooped down from the rooftop in the distance like a large eagle. The man came with an unusual speed, and before the iron-armored cavalrymen in front could raise their sharp long spears, he had already spun around in mid-air and landed on the sedan chair, stepping on the head of one of the cavalrymen.

  "Haha, Ox Nose, where are you going to cause trouble again?"

  When the man fell, everyone saw that he was a nine-foot-tall strongman! With broad shoulders and narrow hips, tiger back and wolf waist, wearing a thick long gown with an ermine collar, standing in front of everyone with a smile. A group of guards immediately waved their weapons and rushed up to surround him, the cold long spears aimed at the big man like a forest.

  This man's physique was extremely robust, standing in the crowd like a crane among chickens. The soldiers present were all carefully selected veterans of a hundred battles, each one being exceptionally skilled, but compared to this man, they seemed like children who hadn't grown up yet. Although there were many cavalrymen, none of them had as much presence as he did alone. What's more, the soldier whose head was stepped on couldn't help but wonder, how could such a giant have just walked over his head and yet it felt like someone had only lightly patted him?

  Zhang Tian Shi looked at the big man with a mustache and sighed: "Zhang Zhong Jian, why are you meddling again?"

  ……

  In the fourth year of Renshou in the Great Sui dynasty, June, the dying Emperor Yang Jian of Sui, who founded the country, held his second son Yang Guang's hand and said word by word: "That child is surnamed Li! Remember, remember! It's better to kill wrongly than to let him go!"

  Yang Guang nodded heavily: "Your Majesty can rest assured, I remember that the child's surname is Li. It's better to kill the wrong one than to let him go!"

  PS: The preface is written in a more fantasy style, just to arouse your desire. As for the nun and Tian Shi mentioned, don't take it too seriously. The nun has some basis, but Zhang Tian Shi is indeed a bit dog-blooded, but it's added as a foil to highlight the mystery of Lao Ni Gu. The Tian Shi Fu was established in the Song Dynasty, and Longhu Mountain at that time couldn't even be considered a national-level tourist scenic spot. The things mentioned in the preface are actually just paving the way for the main plot of the book, you can focus on the last paragraph, which is the main conflict.