Chapter 511: The Rebellion of Minggui

Chapter 511: The Rebellion of the Ming Ghosts

After leaving the Qinhuai River Station, Rong Lu rode southward all the way, crossing the entirety of Shanhe Ward where the Central Branch was located, and headed straight out of the city.

A torrential rain battered the mountains, the pines roaring like waves.

Nestled among the forested peaks, a thatched cottage glowed with blazing firelight, while the crisp rhythm of a hammer striking steel rang out, clear and lingering through the rain.

Rong Lu got out of the car at the foot of the mountain and ascended the stone steps.

The cottage door stood wide open. A burly old man, bare-chested, faced the cold wind as he swung his hammer by the forge, forging a blade. Each time his muscular arm descended, sparks flew in all directions.

No Mo Armor assisted him, nor did any other mechanical device aid his work. Even the smelting tools were the most primitive: a clay furnace and a hand-pulled bellows.

The old man picked up a cloth to wipe the sweat from his body, and upon hearing the words, he chuckled. “You must already know who struck the blow, don’t you? Otherwise, you wouldn’t be in such a hurry to come see me here.”

“That’s right. After all, the Great Ming Empire has hundreds of millions of people, and our Central Branch is but a drop in the ocean. If they truly became human, where would we go to control them? It’s just like now—we know there are traitors among us, yet we still struggle to tell friend from foe. When that time comes, the situation will be a thousand times more severe than it is now, and we will be even more powerless.”

“The tunnel and the mistake are two different things.”

“Are you talking about knives and guns, or about us and the Ming Ghosts?”

Rong Lu murmured softly, the news completely beyond his understanding. As a Mo Xu of the fourth rank, he was naturally well-versed in the Ming Ghosts.

With these words, the old man’s identity was plainly revealed.

“Good. He cannot die just yet.”

It was not until after the establishment of the Dream of the Yellow Millet that the Ming Ghosts finally entered the public eye as vassals of the Mo Xu.

The old man lifted the steel bar, now taking shape, before his eyes, examined it briefly, and thrust it back into the charcoal fire.

“Killing him alone is only treating the symptom, not the root. If one Wang Qi dies, another will take his place—it achieves nothing. To stop them from further exploration, we must capture all the masterminds behind the scenes in one fell swoop.”

But if they left the Ming Ghost Realm unchecked and merely arrested a few Ming Ghosts responsible for actions in the real world, it would still be futile.

Liu Xianzhou smiled faintly. “The reason I value him so much is that this Wang Qi is no ordinary man—he is a Ming Ghost.”

Of course, he knew that killing Wang Qi would not mean much, but digging out the person behind it all was no easy task.

The old man agreed without hesitation. “When Meng Xi was in charge of the Jian’ai Institute, you always did well. Now that it’s my turn to take over, I will support you with equal dedication. Rong Lu, remember this: though I am the director of the Jian’ai Institute, the one who truly wields this sharp sword is you.”

Rong Lu was clearly very familiar with the old man. He sat down on the threshold of the cottage, listening to the crisp clang behind him, gazing at the misty rain stretching across the distant mountains.

“Very well.”

“You still favor these ancient methods as always.”

“I need the authority to mobilize the Elder Council’s Direct Guard; they will serve as the main force for the purge.”

“If they do not use bodies crafted by Mo Xu artisans, but instead choose flesh and blood as their vessels, then these Ming Ghosts would only be a bunch of powerless mortals—how could they possibly be our match?”

And what about blowing up the mainframe, completely abandoning the Ming Ghost Realm, and trapping these Ming Ghosts forever within the Dream of the Yellow Millet?

That idea was even more absurd.

Thoughts like these even left Rong Lu feeling a sense of bewilderment, uncertain how to handle the present situation.

With his back to the cottage, Rong Lu detected a hint of tension in the old man’s words.

“I went to see the scene at the Qinhuai River Earth Dragon Station. Xiao Zhuo’s squad was completely wiped out—they died horribly.”

“All the methods you’ve thought of, we have considered them too.”

“Rong Lu, this play I entrust to you. Don’t mess it up.”

“In time, they could become Ru Xu, Fo Xu, Dao Xu—anyone among the Three Teachings and Nine Schools. The same origins and experiences would make them incredibly united. Before long, they could grow into a power not to be underestimated.”

“Are you saying that the current Mo Xu is wrong?”

“They’re dead?”

“Are you curious why I am so concerned with such an insignificant worm of a man?”

“I am speaking of the new and the old.”

“So they seek to escape our control through this means?”

“With the passage of time, new things will inevitably emerge in succession. But that does not mean the old ways are wrong. In fact, at critical moments, tradition often proves more reliable than novelty.”

“But what if they can break through to Xu rank and become Congxu like you and me?”

“Such trivial matters need not be reported to me. Whether it’s a permanent solution or playing along, handle it as you see fit.”

Upon hearing this, Rong Lu’s spirits lifted. He held his breath and waited intently for the old man to continue.

The old man said calmly, “When the enemy comes, we send our generals; when the flood rises, we use earth to dam it. As long as we know who the enemy is, the rest will not be difficult.”

Rong Lu forced a bitter smile.

“How could that be?”

Although they controlled the mainframe that housed the Ming Ghost Realm, that was akin to controlling the main road for the Ming Ghosts to enter and leave. The emergence of Wang Qi had already proven that these Ming Ghosts had discovered other ‘side paths’ that existed.

“What must come will come, sooner or later. It is only what we expected.”

“Pretending to know nothing would be far too fake. A proper amount of pressure will make them more grounded, and also more eager to see the final outcome.”

Clang!

A metallic shudder burst from the cottage, cutting through the roaring rain.

Liu Xianzhou’s words carried a chill far deeper than the cold rain in the mountains, causing Rong Lu’s body to tremble slightly.

“There is also a batch of newly developed equipment from the research team, used to weaken and restrain Li Jun.”

Rong Lu forcibly suppressed the shock within him, forcing his mind to keep pace with Liu Xianzhou’s words.

“I won’t ask what I shouldn’t. When I need to know, you will tell me.”

Rong Lu had never imagined that one day, the Ming Ghosts would use ‘humans’ as their vessels.

“It’s Li Jun,” Rong Lu said resolutely.

Liu Xianzhou seemed able to read Rong Lu’s thoughts; his voice was gentle. “To resolve this crisis, we cannot use force. We must use soft power.”

After a moment of silence, Rong Lu abruptly rose from the threshold before the cottage.

Nowadays, the position of the Mo Xu had already declined severely due to the “division of martial power under heaven.” If they were to abandon the Ming Ghosts as well, it would hardly be a simple matter of stagnation—it might cause the Mo Xu to collapse entirely, struck from the rolls of the Three Teachings and Nine Schools for good.

“I will go now and kill that Wang Qi person.”

“Your meaning is that the current Mo Xu is all wrong?”

“Probably not. His body was not found at the scene.”

“As long as Wang Qi cannot break the lock, cannot ascend to Xu rank, cannot become a Congxu, then these Ming Ghosts will never dare to rebel, nor will they have the power to do so. They can only continue to serve us faithfully like beasts of burden.”

The old man sighed. “That is why I say they have too many ways to wrest the Ming Ghost Realm from our hands.”

Liu Xianzhou shifted his gaze from the flames in the furnace to Rong Lu’s back.

Clang!

A spray of sparks landed on Rong Lu’s face, but his heart was already ablaze; he had no time to mind the slight sting.

“Relying on nothing external, forging all things with nothing but a pair of hands—that is what it truly means to be a Mo Xu artisan of the ancient way.”

The peculiar nature of the Bright Ghost Realm made it impossible for the Mohist Order to fully control the Bright Ghosts that dwelled within it.

But always, Bright Ghosts were born and lived within a specific Yellow Millet Dream; to enter the real world, they could only use special vessels forged by the Mohist Order as carriers.

If that were so, then what difference remained between Bright Ghosts and humans?

“Nothing is impossible. The path by which Bright Ghosts return to the world as the souls of artifacts was one we ourselves defined for them. No one ever said there is only this single path; it is no wonder that other ways exist.”

As early as the pre-Qin period, the Mohist school had already coined the term “Bright Ghost.” But the Great Ming Empire today generally believed that the “Bright Ghost” of that time was merely a conceptual doctrine, not an actual existence.

Clang!

Rong Lu swallowed hard. “Then why do you want me to go and watch Wang Qi right now? Wouldn’t that alert the enemy?”

“That ordinary man you told me to keep an eye on, the one named Wang Qi, has also appeared at Earth Dragon Station this time.”

It was none other than the deputy director of the Central Branch, who now held sway over the two powerful departments of the Office of Universal Love and the Academy of the Worthy—Liu Xianzhou.

But in the records kept within the Mohist Order, Bright Ghosts had appeared long ago, only referred to by different names in different eras, including but not limited to artifact spirits, machine souls, mountain and river deities, and so on, commonly dwelling within all kinds of divine weapons and marvelous instruments.

“Right, a Bright Ghost. To be precise, a Bright Ghost loaded into a human body.”

“Rong Lu, your thinking cannot be called wrong, but it is not comprehensive enough. Not to mention that the Bright Ghost Realm has smuggling loopholes we are unaware of. As long as they prove this method feasible, there are too many ways to make the Bright Ghost Realm slip from our control. Even if the process takes a thousand years or a hundred, as long as there is a single possibility, it would be enough to make them flock to it like ducks, reckless in their pursuit.”

“No problem.”

“As for Wang Qi, we only discovered him not long ago through certain special channels.”

“The only survivor is Qin Ge, but there is something off about him; I feel he did not tell me the truth.”

“They want to experiment and explore—let them. They can raise as many test subjects as they like. But there is one point: the final result of the experiments must not be what they want, but what we want.”

Without thinking, Rong Lu blurted out instinctively: “The Bright Ghost Realm is still in our hands! As long as we hold on to this vital point, no matter what they become, they cannot escape our grasp.”

It was simply impossible to completely suppress these Bright Ghosts who intended to rebel.

Liu Xianzhou pulled the red-hot steel bar from the furnace, quite satisfied with the degree of forging, and with his other hand picked up a hammer, striking it heavily.

Liu Xianzhou said slowly: “In simple terms, the conscious core of this person is a Bright Ghost that smuggled itself out of the Bright Ghost Realm. It is an experiment in rebellion conducted by those Bright Ghosts within the Central Branch who intend to revolt.”

Rong Lu’s attitude satisfied Liu Xianzhou greatly; it was precisely because he valued this point in the other man that, after taking over the Office of Universal Love, he had not chosen to replace him.

Rong Lu was startled and cried out: “A Bright Ghost?!”

The scene before him gave Rong Lu a sense of absurdity, as if he had returned to the Former Ming period.

Rong Lu frowned slightly, having no patience left to continue discussing these abstruse and metaphysical principles with the other man.

The old man’s voice, like heavy thunder, rang out together with the sound of forging.

“Understood!”