“As for my mother…” the monk laughed, “She was the Empress at the time. She was in power and ruled tens of thousands of people. Even though she dismissed all handsome males for my father, she also wouldn’t become a true family with my father and me.”
Hearing this, Ye Mu couldn’t help but feel bad for the Silent monk’s father. Simultaneously, while the Silent Master’s internal force was being transferred to her, she also could feel the sadness and suffering within him.
Unfortunately, I didn’t understand the situation as a child… I didn’t know why my father was still a monk even though he already had a child. I couldn’t comprehend why he was so infatuated with her… He liked my mother to the point that he would willingly abandon Buddha’s teaching and use the temple as a fast and convenient place to help my mother find out important news and information. He put in all his effort into helping her… yet day after day, he condemned himself… and when I was ten years old, my father finally lost it…”
His voice was frigid, as his eyes reflected with the image of his father’s hysterical face.
“My father could tolerate it anymore and lost his mind due to the pain and suffering of self condemnation. He then came up with the absurd thought and wished for my mother to abandon everything to be with him.”
“After he came up with this idea, his whole mentality was very different. He was no longer gloomy as he thought of all possible futures. However, as expected, my mother refused him. She couldn’t even consider the idea of it. She even thought that my father was crazy…”
When the monk said this, his voice already sounded a lot older. He chuckled bitterly, his smile held a sneer in it.
“How my mother saw it, she would lose her supreme power and my father would lose his highly esteemed status as a senior monk. She felt it was silly of them to flee their status. She didn’t even consider the idea; she simply refused. At that time, I was hiding in another room and overheard them quarreling. When I looked through a window, I saw how my mother rejected my father in an instant. My father was in a daze and I saw how the light in his eyes dissipated. I could even feel his heart’s brilliance fade in that moment.
“You could easily guess what happened next: after my mother rejected him, he lost all hope and his health started to decline significantly. Yet, he still loved my mother dearly. So even if she refused, he didn’t make a big deal of the matter whatsoever. She thought he needed time to regain his senses, so she didn’t visit him for a very long time period…”
“Unexpectedly one day, as my father looked forward to seeing my mother, he overheard a visitor say that mother started to indulge in her circle of boy toys again. He laughed abruptly before vomiting blood incessantly the next second. The blood spilled even landed on me. I felt right then, I wouldn’t be able to listen to my father anymore and couldn’t love my own mother the same.”
The Silent Master’s voice gradually weakened. As his vitality poured into Ye Mu, she could do nothing but passively accept it.
“In the end my father passed away. By his will, I inherited Tianshou Temple. As ridiculous as it was I blamed her for his death in my heart. Nevertheless, when I heard the news that Mo Linyuan had returned, my first reaction was concern for my mother. When you were delivered into my hands, I had ill intent flashing through my mind as I read you scriptures. Which ultimately caused your evil tendencies to awaken further. In truth, If I had not done so, you would have resembled your father’s situation: you would simply have out of control emotions and incapable to control temperament, but would still remain sane and nothing irreparable.”
“Now is my chance to correct this mistake. My internal force is the most honest and pure in its core. Adding on my life vitality, it ought to completely change the composition of the devil arts within you. From now on you will possess 100 years of pure internal force. In the future, regardless of whatever type of martial arts you want to learn you will be able to learn it all. Furthermore, you will become the world’s strongest individual. Does that please you…?”
…Regardless whether it pleased her or not, in this moment, the Silent Master was truly happy for her.
Ye Mu bursted into tears. She could feel the original tangled mess of internal force within her already starting to reconstruct itself. As the monk continued to pass on all of his internal strength, it became apparent he became more and more feeble.
She tried to stifle her sobs as she replied,
“Truthfully, you didn’t have to do this for me. I really don’t want you to die.”
The Silent Master nodded as he held a soft smile. In the darkness, the pupil of his eyes was still as clear as if it was bathed and cleaned.
“I know you don’t want me to die… You may practice martial arts, but you’ve never taken the initiative to kill someone. You truthfully do not want to kill anyone at all. If you had to murder anyone, it was because you had no other option. Yet once you have killed someone, you would deeply regret it afterwards…”
His old voice held peace and tranquility,
“Then let me be the last and final person to die by your devil’s art.”
Ye Mu bursted into tears again.
The Silent monk felt he was running out of time. He looked like a deteriorating hundred years old man. Very soon, he will ultimately give his last bit of vitality to Ye Mu, terminating his life.
“Could you share with me, why is it that you are obviously suffering yet you won’t remove the devil arts from yourself?”
Ye Mu cried as she replied,
“Ok, I’ll tell you…”
In the end, she rapidly told him about Ye Li. How she served him since she was small, until Ye Li passed away and passed on his skills before he died in front of her. She choked with emotions, “I could feel that my father passed on his martial arts to protect me. He said that he never had anything good that happened in his life with the exception of me. I was the only good thing in his life. That was why he gave me his evil arts. I cannot let go of this skill, even if it is sinister in nature.”
“So that’s why… before I heard you share a little bit about it but I never knew that was the reason. Your father sounds like a good guy… His gift… is also very considerate. Previously, it was me who destroyed everything he gave you… But now, I will make his gift even better than before… giving it back to you…”
The monk’s head suddenly landed on Ye Mu’s back with an inaudible thud.
“…Do you… know… what my actual name is…?”
Ye Mu shook her head, “I do not know…”
“My name is Min Wenjun… Merely because when I was born, my father covered my mouth and muffled my cries… Due to the fact that my mother gave birth to me in secret… even then my father had a premonition about my future of never ending silence… Therefore he gave me my religious name to be the Silent Master…”
Right then, besides weeping, Ye Mu didn’t know what else to say.
He laughed abruptly, his voice was unpleasantly coarse, “You’ve said so many times before… I am very good looking… I must look very unsightly right now… When you cremate me, could you make sure not to look at me…?”
“… There’s also my lantern… and my cloth… please incinerate them with me… That day was one of my happiest memories for me… The one day I was not a monk… You’ve said before the one good thing you father did was save you… Then for me in this life… I have only done this one bad thing… the thing which harmed you… then… are we… still friends…?”
His voice had gone completely silent near the end. His entire upper body collapsed onto Ye Mu’s figure. Although she already regained her ability to move, at that moment she remained frozen.
“…still friends… We will always still be friends!”
Tragically, however, the Silent Monk was already deaf to her words. But Ye Mu was certain that his heart already knew the answer to his question.
Once Ye Mu exited the chamber, she carried him in her arms. The man was now a withered, dried-up corpse with his shriveled hand dangling in the air; it was an unsettling appearance. The others wanted to take a peek at his face, but it had already been covered with a cloth by Ye Mu. Evidently, everyone knew who he was based on the prisoner outfit he wore.
Mo Linyuan saw how rational Ye Mu was and was deeply relieved. However, glancing at the monk’s body cradled in her arms along with her swollen eyes, clearly puffy from crying… he could have already guessed what happened.
Consequently, Mo Linyuan didn’t say anything in the end. He didn’t stop her… Letting Ye Mu personally start a fire… Letting Ye Mu place the Silent Master next to the lantern and blue cloth on top… In the end, Ye Mu didn’t remove the cloth from his face. She didn’t glance at his face even once.
Although the monk thought he was ugly now, Ye Mu would never forget when she first saw him: his pure appearance, his sharp brows, and his clear pupils that held a certain glamor that left all who witnessed him stunned by his beauty.
The fire grew high, reaching towards the sky. Within the court palace, she incinerated the body in front of everyone.
People of ancient times preferred to bury the dead. On the contrary, Ye Mu felt that cremation would permit the soul and spirit to travel more rapidly to the afterlife.
After the Silent Monk’s death, Mo Linyuan accompanied Ye Mu to find Zhao Yiqin.
At that time, Zhao Yiqin was in a bad mood. She had been imprisoned by the emperor under the charge of causing an uprising in court. And when the Silent Master was taken away she became even more anxious.
That’s why when she saw Ye Mu, her first words were, “Where’s the Silent Master? What did you do to him?!”
Ye Mu was the only one that entered. Her eyes were swollen red but she had calmed down significantly.
“He’s dead.”
With her one phrase, Zhao Yiqin collapsed instantly!
Her first instinct was to pull her hair out, but instead, she grabbed angrily onto a supportive railing as she glared at Ye Mu.
“It was you wasn’t it?! You killed him! You hate him for hurting you, so you killed him!”
“That’s correct.” Ye Mu was watching her from outside the doors of the prison, “He died for that reason. His death… had nothing to do with you…”
Zhao Yiqin instantly understood the underpinnings of Ye Mu’s words. Her eyes brimmed with incessant remorseful tears, while her voice cracked as she stumbled over her words,
“It was me…I’ve killed him… Jun’er… Jun’er!”
She knew the unrest in his heart. For all these years, she never took the initiative to reassure him. She knew that he didn’t want to be a monk since he was a child. Yet to preserve her own status, she never explicitly said anything to allow him otherwise. She was unwilling to let him leave her side and become a commoner, so she tied him to the Tianshou temple…
It was her… she killed him!
Ye Mu could see how she was slowly losing her mind. Pursing her lips, she said bluntly,
“The Silent Master shouldn’t have died, but he did. I would say he probably wanted to use his death in exchange for your life…”
This was just something Ye Mu thought up on the spot. The Silent monk was a smart guy, how could he have not known that Ye Mu never actually blamed him? But he still died… What’s more, he died in such a way where on one end, he did the best for Ye Mu, and on the other end, he also hoped she understood his desire to let Zhao Yiqin live…
This was all due to the sole fact that the Silent Monk knew that, in this situation, the only one who could save Zhao Yiqin was Ye Mu.
Ye Mu often felt how history played out was truly fascinating. When she used to read about it, she didn’t quite comprehend everything… such as, why is it that Zhao Yiqin was never executed in the end..?
But now, she knew the reason why…
“I will beg His Majesty for mercy to send you to the ancestral temple. This was the last thing your son has done for you. So please behave yourself from now on.”
Ye Mu could hear Zhao Yiqin weep even more mournfully, and she let out a light sigh.
In truth, Zhao Yiqin lived a fairly happy life. Not only did she get to enjoy the power of her title, but she also had two men who loved her so much they’d die for her… Wouldn’t that still be considered somewhat lucky?
Zhao Yiqin seemed to have realized this too. But with how lucky she was then, it made her suffering that much worse now.
She vaguely remembered all those years ago, when Wen Ji would grab her hand and say to her longingly,
“Let’s leave this place and go into hiding. What do you think of going to Guiyin Mountain? You don’t have to kill anyone anymore, and I don’t have to lie anymore… Let’s live the rest of our lives in peace. Besides, you wouldn’t want our child to have to be a monk for the rest of his life, right…?”
Zhao Yiqin cannot deny that, at that time, she considered it for a heartbeat, because she saw the brilliant shine of Wen Ji’s eyes. In that moment, she even fantasized with him the vibrant future he painted.
However, she ruthlessly refused, because she was the Empress Dowager… because of the countless people she had already killed to achieve the position. Even her own husband had been killed by her with poison… With what she had done, how could she possibly go back to being an ordinary commoner?
Her heart ached when she witnessed how the light in Wen Ji’s eyes vanished instantly… but her face was even more resolute. She had thought if she gave even an inch to others, they would become greedy for more.
Now thinking back, she realized how truly selfish she was back then. She not only wanted to keep Wen Ji’s unconditional love but also maintain the power and privileges of her position, as she obtained all the honors and glory of the world.
It was just as she did to her one and only son… she knew the desire within his heart, yet she kept him chained by her side. She never even considered the idea of helping him realize his dream nor giving him his freedom.
Yet both of them died for her without a second thought. Zhao Yiqin now realized she had lost the most precious thing the Heavens had gifted her, in order to feed her obsession and greed for more power. Now, it was regrettably too late.
Just like in the book, Zhao Yiqin was sent to the temple. Ye Mu watched her depart from afar. She noticed that although Zhao Yiqin was only in the jail cell for only ten days, her hair was completely white. She looked neither sad nor happy. She simply looked like a person who lost her soul.
Ye Mu wondered… What was Zhao Yiqin’s biggest regret?
Could it be not fleeing with the monk Wen Ji? Not agreeing to the Silent Master’s wishes? Not agreeing to live a normal life in seclusion? …Or is it something else…?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once Zhao Yiqin was gone, the Mo country’s power fell completely in the hands of Mo Linyuan. The court returned to normal and the rumors were cleared.
Since his return in the past few years, he had finally succeeded in acquiring the power to rule tens and thousands of people.
One day, as Mo Linyuan was attending court, Ye Mu brought all of the City Boundary Maps together. She realized that the last piece missing was also the most crucial piece of the map.
She tapped her digit as she mumbled to herself,
“Where exactly is the last piece of the City Boundary Map…?”
As this mystery remained, two years time passed…