"Mr. Xu, you wouldn’t want..."
"Your son to be born posthumously, never even seeing his father’s face, would you?"
Late at night, when all was still, Judge Tian approached the iron bars separating their prison cells. Seeing Xu Xing seated cross-legged, cultivating his Internal Power, Judge Tian raised an eyebrow slightly and spoke these words.
Upon hearing this, Xu Xing opened his eyes and scrutinized Judge Tian. He did not immediately reply.
When Judge Tian had first been imprisoned, Xu Xing hadn’t noticed anything unusual about him. However, when Xu Xing shared his meat ration, he had paid close attention to Judge Tian’s hands and his manner of eating. That was when Xu Xing began to suspect Judge Tian’s true identity. A scholar’s hands differed greatly from an ordinary person’s due to the calluses formed from constantly holding a writing brush. Judge Tian had such calluses, but he also possessed others not typical of a scholar. Furthermore, civil officials generally ate with refined manners. Yet, Judge Tian ate slowly and without any decorum. Being hungry and abandoning etiquette was one thing, but eating slowly while disregarding all manners was another, and rather suspect.
Of course, this alone wasn’t enough for Xu Xing to be certain of Judge Tian’s identity. His suspicions had mainly solidified today when, after Xu Xing’s act of righteousness, Judge Tian had begun to glance at him frequently.
"Mr. Xu..." Judge Tian added, "with your great talents, do you really intend to stay in the Sky Prison and await your death?"
The words fell, and Xu Xing’s tense expression flickered with emotion.
Indeed! he thought. The King of Sorrow was right; scholars always harbor grand ambitions.
Seeing this, a flicker of joy lit up in Judge Tian’s heart. He quickly said, "Our Siming Mountain Stronghold is in dire need of talents like you, Mr. Xu. The King of Sorrow has said that if you agree to join us, your position will be second only to his, on par with the King of Might and the Heavenly Kun King."
Given his own status, Judge Tian was not in a position to keep Xu Xing in suspense. His task was to clearly lay out the pros and cons to entice Xu Xing into joining the Siming Mountain Stronghold. The final choice was Xu Xing’s to make. If Xu Xing agreed, their stronghold would spare no expense to rescue him. If he refused, they would quietly withdraw and seek another suitable candidate for military strategist. Otherwise, if they risked their lives to save Xu Xing from the Sky Prison only to rescue someone whose loyalties lay elsewhere, wouldn’t the Siming Mountain Stronghold suffer a grievous loss for no gain?
"I am but an unknown minor figure; my reputation doesn’t extend beyond Shenjing. How did you come to know of me?" Xu Xing raised an eyebrow, turning the tables. "And go to such lengths to get *yourself* sent in here?"
He was no naive youth to be easily fooled by tall tales. He needed to ascertain the truth before making his next move.
"Your rebellious poem, Mr. Xu!" Judge Tian replied hurriedly. "Your rebellious poem has spread throughout the entire Siming Mountain Stronghold..."
"Absurd!" Xu Xing snorted disdainfully. "That poem is no rebellious verse. You unlettered folk mistake its meaning? Besides, I wrote that poem only five days ago. Even if sent by carrier pigeon, it couldn’t have reached Siming Mountain by now."
Siming Mountain was in Jiangnan West Road, thousands of miles from Shenjing. Five days was insufficient for the poem to arrive. Therefore, Judge Tian was deliberately trying to deceive him. This claim that everyone in Siming Mountain knew his rebellious poem was clearly a fabrication. If he were to believe it, Judge Tian would undoubtedly look down on him.
"You are right, Mr. Xu." Judge Tian gave an embarrassed smile. "I lied to earn merit and deserve punishment," he admitted, then continued his persuasion: "To tell you the truth, the King of Sorrow sent the Heavenly Kun King to Shenjing for two purposes. One was to gather intelligence on Shenjing, and the other was to invite a talented scholar to our stronghold to serve as military strategist. Shenjing is a land of treasures and talents, where elites congregate. The Heavenly Kun King chanced upon your poetry and thus dispatched me, disguised as a convicted official, to infiltrate the Sky Prison."
These words held far more sincerity than his previous statements.
Just as I expected, Xu Xing thought. What Judge Tian said earlier was merely a test.
"How did you manage to impersonate a convicted official and infiltrate the Sky Prison?" Xu Xing asked, deflecting the main issue of joining their ranks and instead shifting the conversation to Judge Tian’s methods of infiltration.
Intent on winning Xu Xing over, Judge Tian answered truthfully, "It wasn’t difficult. The realm is in chaos. Before coming to Shenjing, we ambushed and killed the official soldiers escorting the real Judge Tian to the capital, obtaining his official warrants and identification papers. Then, with Gui Yishou’s help in disguising me, I easily slipped into the Sky Prison. When one is becoming an official, identities are carefully scrutinized. But... when one is becoming a *convicted* official, who bothers to check thoroughly?" he chuckled.
Xu Xing nodded in sudden understanding. Indeed, impersonating a convicted official was far easier than impersonating an official taking up a new post. There were historical precedents, such as Qian Bing during the Qianlong Period of the Qing Dynasty, who had impersonated an official who bought his rank, deceiving superiors and provincial officials alike. He was only exposed when he tried his deception on the Qiantang County Magistrate. As for incoming convicts, who would waste time meticulously checking them?
It seems the Heavenly Kun King of Siming Mountain found me because of the [Righteous Thief] Fate, Xu Xing mused. The [Righteous Thief] Fate had brought him Great Fortune. With Great Fortune on his side, everything else would naturally fall into place.
"Mr. Xu, if you are willing to join us on the mountain..." Judge Tian patted his chest, assuring him, "rescuing you will be a simple matter. Once in the stronghold, you’ll eat well and drink heartily. Isn’t that better than this wretched life as an official? Besides, the current Emperor lacks judgment, sentencing you to death." He urged Xu Xing to make up his mind and rebel.
"Join you..." Xu Xing feigned hesitation.
If I were to state outright that I’ve long wanted to rebel, the people of Siming Mountain would likely be more alarmed than pleased. After all, who would want to partner with someone disloyal and unrighteous? The ancient concepts of loyalty and righteousness were extremely contradictory. They expected him to be loyal to Emperor Chongming, yet also to join a rebellion against him. Therefore, even though he had already decided in his heart to accept Judge Tian’s offer, maintaining an appearance of reluctance was still necessary.
"Sir," Xu Xing began, "you may not know this, but General Chang in the next cell once commanded troops in Liaodong. He is a Fifth-Rank Dingyuan General, imprisoned in the Sky Prison by His Majesty over a trivial matter. We have a very close bond. If you rescue only me and leave him, I would rather die here in the Sky Prison. I would never leave without him!" Xu Xing gritted his teeth, his fists clenched.
Rebels certainly cannot build their cause on ’loyalty’ to the Emperor. To unite everyone, if ’loyalty’ is not an option, then ’righteousness’ is the only principle to rally around. His demand to the Siming Mountain Stronghold perfectly touched upon this principle of ’righteousness.’ Using righteousness to mask his inherent disloyalty to the crown!
Judge Tian’s face once again showed admiration. "Mr. Xu, you are truly admirable!" he said, cupping his hands. "I will find a way to inform the Heavenly King of this immediately..."