Chapter 698: Legal Order and Might

Chapter 698: The Might of Legal Order

"Why don't you kill me?"

In a dim room, Yang Baize sat cross-legged in the corner, his hair disheveled, his robes filthy, his left arm severed at the shoulder, his remaining right hand gripping a massive war hammer of the Weiwu soldiers, pressed against his thigh.

His gaze and the barrel of his gun were fixed on the nearby man binding his own wounds—Shang Lu.

Covered in knife wounds and bullet holes, a frightful sight, Shang Lu paid it little mind, casually tearing a strip of his robe to wrap the injury and calling it done.

Only the blood dripping from his nose refused to stop, like a faucet that wouldn't shut, draining the color from his face.

"Why should I kill you?"

Shang Lu wiped the blood from his face irritably, without looking up.

"Didn't you hear what those Honghu were shouting? Shang Shanggu has already defected to the Zhu family."

"You believe the Honghu's words? When did you become so naïve?"

"The Honghu's words cannot be trusted, but your expression plainly tells me this is no lie. Besides, you should have long known Shang Shanggu would act this way."

Yang Baize pressed his back hard against the wall, straining to keep his feeble body from sliding down.

"I always thought ingratitude and betrayal were the usual tactics of the Confucian Order, never imagining the Legal Order would stoop so low as well."

Faced with Yang Baize's sneer, Shang Lu remained silent, merely wiping the blood from his nose with his sleeve.

Yang Baize raised his gun and tapped his own forehead: "You could still take my head for merit now; if you dawdle any longer, it might not even be worth anything."

"Now the Yellow Liang of the entire Zhejiang Prefecture has been severed by the Eastern Imperial Palace; no one knows what's happening outside. And—"

Shang Lu spoke slowly: "He is he, I am I. The Legal Order is not limited to one Shang family, nor is every member of the Shang family like Shang Shanggu."

"So you're claiming innocence then?"

Yang Baize shook his head, a bitter laugh escaping him, his eyes full of undisguised mockery.

"But there's one thing I truly cannot fathom: what gives Shang Shanggu the notion he could assassinate the Prime Minister Zhang? Even if he succeeded, would such an act not violate your so-called legal justice? Would the very genes of the Legal Order not collapse?"

Yang Baize's tone turned mocking: "Or perhaps you've always regarded him as a treacherous minister who brings ruin to the state, and all your previous submission was merely feigning weakness, secretly wishing to see him dead as soon as possible?"

"Yang Baize, you may insult me, but you cannot insult the Legal Order."

Shang Lu snapped his head up, his icy gaze locking onto Yang Baize's face.

"Insult? I don't just want to insult you—I wish to slaughter the entire Legal Order!"

Yang Baize's eyes flashed crimson, a low growl rising from his throat: "If it weren't for your Legal Order aiding from the sidelines, how could Lord Li have had no chance to flee, slain by that old dog Zhu Pingxu in the magistrate's office?!"

The anger on Shang Lu's face choked, his trembling pupils unable to meet Yang Baize's eyes, and he looked away glumly.

"All the Orders rise while imperial authority wanes; the Legal Order ought to have been utterly exterminated by the Confucian aristocracy, replaced by the Six Arts rites. It was only the Prime Minister, defying opposition, who shielded you, even ceding a tenth of the Yellow Liang authority, granting the Legal Order the power to forge the Yellow Liang Legal Realm and preserve a sliver of chance for a comeback."

"The Zhu monarch is a mad, lunatic tyrant, secretly commanding the Honghu to slaughter the city—this should have been the Legal Order's duty to stand at the forefront, sacrificing life to halt the ruin of rivers and mountains, the collapse of the world. Yet the result? You turned your blades against him. Shang Lu, is this the law you follow, the justice you uphold?"

Within the narrow, dark chamber, Yang Baize's hysterical questioning echoed.

Only after the echo faded did a hoarse voice slowly speak.

"Yang Baize, I ask you: for whom should the law stand?"

Yang Baize blurted: "Of course, for the myriad common folk!"

"And how many is 'myriad'? A thousand? Ten thousand? Neither. Let me tell you, it is a number so vast it breeds despair."

Shang Lu bowed his head, gazing at the notched legal ruler in his hand, riddled with gaps, and said calmly: "Today, by your own sense of justice, you cut off another's path to profit; tomorrow he may, resentful, quarrel with someone and kill in vengeance. The one he slays could be a family's pillar, their starving children left to wander the streets, surviving by extortion."

"To bully the weak with strength is unjust; to extort the strong using weakness is equally wrong. Your myriad common folk may be countless, but unjust acts number far more than ten times that. How many of the Legal Order remain today? Even with the Yellow Liang Legal Realm, how could we possibly uphold justice for everyone?"

Yang Baize scoffed: "If it cannot be done, does that mean we may simply not do it?"

"Certainly we must. Yet in this empire, people have forgotten the law for ages; now everyone regards the law of the jungle as creed. If the Legal Order itself cannot grow strong, how can we correct this warped world?"

"Absurd! If people's hearts do not change, how can the Legal Order ever become strong?"

Shang Lu's visage darkened: "Thus law and power can never be separated from the start."

"The law ought to be the very embodiment of authority, yet now it must cling to other powers merely to survive—truly ironic!"

"Law is supreme, but the Legal Order that enforces it is not. Since the Yizong Emperor established the hierarchy, law has gradually been incarnated as the Legal Order, and from that point begun its decline."

"To substitute human nature for law—the Zhu family truly plays a masterful game of calculation!"

Yang Baize snorted coldly: "So this is your excuse for stabbing the Prime Minister in the back?"

"It is no excuse; it is reality."

Shang Lu said: "Prime Minister Zhang has shown favor to the Legal Order, but what if he loses? Then the entire Legal Order will surely face annihilation."

Yang Baize rebutted: "Then only you of the Legal Order would die, not the law in people's hearts! Frankly, you merely cling to life, fearing death—why heap upon yourself so many excuses?"

"When has the Legal Order ever feared death?"

Shang Lu's expression grew grave as he shook his head: "We merely can no longer stand by while the law withers, for we do not know how long this lawless state will persist—ten years, or fifty? We cannot wait."

Yang Baize's face curled with scorn: "Then what makes you think Zhu Yiyi will grant you a chance to rise, to bind his own hands and feet?"

"He promised it."

Shang Lu's reply was barely audible, yet to Yang Baize's ears it rang like a thunderclap: "A promise? Hahahaha!"

Yang Bai's eyes widened suddenly, he laughed furiously: "Shang Lu, does your law even contain the word 'promise'?"

"The weak have no choice, only gambling."

Yang Baize stared hard at the man before him, face full of weary resignation, grinding his teeth, each word deliberate.

"The Great Ming Legal Order—truly not worth dying for!"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than Shang Lu's figure erupted, the legal ruler he brandished not swung at Yang Baize but thrust straight at the shut door!

Bang!

The door was violently burst open from outside, a gun barrel just poked in before being cleaved in half by the descending legal ruler.

Shang Lu lunged outward, blade rising and falling, cutting down every pursuing Honghu.

Pat!

Blood still dripped from his nose; Shang Lu raised a hand, smearing the fresh scarlet over the dried stains, layer upon layer, draining the color from his face further.

Suddenly, a sharp crack like shattering glass rang in Shang Lu's ear; instantly his vision twisted and warped, light and darkness flickering.

When his sight cleared, there was no corpse of a Honghu before him, only a splintered door kicked apart, lying at his feet.

"These vile rats"

Shang Lu clenched his jaws, eyes fixed on a figure striding leisurely into the courtyard. On the figure's forehead gleamed a striking golden mask—Shang Lu recognized the garb instantly; the visitor was Zhao Yin, one of the Nine Lords of the Eastern Imperial Palace.

Or rather, it was another Yellow Liang specter that had usurped its place.

"The criminal Zhao Yin, guilty of rebellion, mass slaughter, and dream‑theft—his crimes combined warrant the death penalty!"

Shang Lu passed judgment without hesitation, loudly declaring Zhao Yin's offenses as he launched himself forward.

The Zhao Yin who had just entered seemed subdued by the force of law, frozen in place, making no move as the legal ruler hurtled toward his head.

But just as the strike was about to land, Shang Lu's heart gave an inexplicable jolt, and the thrusting legal ruler veered off by an inch of its own accord.

Clang!

The ruler scraped against the golden mask, sending a spray of blinding sparks.

"It seems the item is indeed on you, Shang Lu—you can't escape, not even the Yellow Millet Legal Realm can protect you."

A faint laugh echoed from beneath the mask, and Zhao Yin's body vanished like a wisp of dream.

Still a dream!

Shang Lu's pupils contracted sharply; finally breaking free from the dream, he realized he was still in the room.

And the legal ruler that had been thrust at Zhao Yin now pressed against Yang Bai Ze's ear, driven deep into the wall!

A hair's breadth more, and Yang Bai Ze would have died by his own hand.

"It's not me saying this—you're supposed to be a legal order; how can you be led around by the nose by the Yin-Yang Order?"

Yang Bai Ze wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his thumb, his face full of resignation.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Outside, metal shrieked suddenly, unleashing a torrential hail of bullets; bricks and stones were as soft as tofu, offering no resistance whatsoever.

Shang Lu dropped low, kneeling, and shoved Yang Bai Ze to the ground, his arched back bearing the collapsing roof.

Thud!

In the nick of time, amid the rising clouds of dust and smoke, a pair of murderous eyes blazed forth!

Shang Lu leapt, bursting through the dust, charging against the rain of bullets into the crowd.

The black legal ruler flung up torrents of crimson blood, mingling with the deafening gunfire.

This flock of swans that had come following the scent were no ordinary thugs; not only were they superbly equipped, but each bore a rank of order. Even faced with such a bloody scene, they showed no fear, drawing short blades from their waists and swarming from all sides, intending to encircle Shang Lu.

"Guilty ones, surrender!"

Shang Lu's eyes flashed with sudden, stern authority as he bellowed in a low voice.

An invisible deterrence rippled out; the arms wielding knives around him froze mid-swing, suspended in the air, their feral faces locked in a grimace as they thrust forward.

Pfft!

The ruler swept forth a jet of black light; the blade's dull thud as it entered flesh and the crisp snap of breaking bone merged into a single sound.

The black robes, darkened to a deep red by blood, billowed in the wind as Shang Lu surged toward the last swan; the ruler followed his arm, cleaving a deep gash in the opponent's chest, nearly splitting the torso open.

Clang!

From beneath the flesh flashed a gleam of cold metal before Shang Lu's eyes!

"The Soldier's Order."

Shang Lu couldn't help but furrow his brow; with a flick of his wrist, the ruler darted like a dragon, aiming to slip through the gaps in the enemy's mechanical bones and pierce his body.

Bang!

A flash of cold light lunged at his face; at the critical moment, Shang Lu twisted his body, but his shoulder still caught a slash, drawing a line of blood.

The pain in his body was secondary; this blow felt as if it had sliced into his mind, plunging his vision into darkness as he was flung backward.

"Guilty ones."

"I am not a subject of your Great Ming; even this body is merely forged steel. Your laws are useless against me."

Her soft, lilting voice cut through Shang Lu's roar; the woman, her features blooming with allure, pressed her lips together in a smile.

Sword light erupted, stabbing bloody holes into the retreating, disheveled Shang Lu.

His limbs growing icy, he sucked in a breath and swung the ruler in a desperate counterstrike, only to be kicked in the chest by the woman, sent flying to land beside Yang Bai Ze.

"He is the Divine Tush of the Eastern Emperor's Palace—run, quickly!"

Shang Lu gritted his teeth, flipping over; before he could fully rise, his body lurched forward, one knee slamming into the scattered brick and tile fragments, blood pouring from his whole body.

"You're no match for anyone else; I'm just a low-ranking Confucian order—how could I run?"

Yang Bai Ze retorted testily, gripping the loaded Wei Wu Zu with his teeth, pushing himself up with one hand.

"To be frank, why are your legal order's blades so soft? Do you only bully the powerless common folk?"

Yang Bai Ze drew his pistol, held it in hand, and looked down at Shang Lu with a teasing tone.

"Hand over your authority, and you still have a chance to live."

The Divine Tush strolled leisurely amid the scattered corpses, crimson droplets trickling slowly from the tip of his sword.

"Bullshit!"

Shang Lu spat out a mouthful of blood, not knowing whom he was cursing.

Suddenly, a smirk curled at the corner of his mouth: "Still, your goading tactic isn't much; even I, a legal order, can see through it—you're still far from the mark."

"Your scheming is no different—so shallow you can see through it at a glance. You can't even swallow your pride; how do you expect to revive the legal order?"

"I've said it before—I'm not Shang Si Gu."

Shang Lu leaned on the ruler, its surface riddled with cracks, and staggered to his feet: "Legal order's hegemony—who must we bow to? If I had the chance, the first I'd kill would be that Ming emperor, Zhu Yiyan!"

"Hahaha! Exactly—that's what a legal order ought to say. Before the law, are there any distinctions of worth in human life?!"

Yang Bai Ze burst into laughter, a murderous gleam flashing between his brows as he suddenly raised his gun, aiming at the impassive Divine Tush.

"Since neither of us intends to leave, let's blow this thing to hell!"

Bang!

The gunshot, together with the Divine Tush's body, exploded into a shower of fragments.

Yang Bai Ze stared in disbelief at the smoking barrel in his hand; beside him, Shang Lu wore the same stunned expression.

Shang Lu swallowed, murmuring: "Are you really Yang Bai Ze, or the Chief Minister Zhang?"

"I, the young master, have ridden a thousand leagues to rescue you, and yet someone among you wants to call me father?"

Zhang Shiyuan staggered into view, shouldering a weapon resembling the Duoyan Wei artillery.

"Isn't that a bit too much, damn it?"