In the plainly furnished study, candlelight illuminated everything brightly.
Gilded objects glimmered faintly in the light.
The King of Black Rooster Kingdom, bearded and clad in a black robe, paced back and forth at the center, flinging a memorial viciously to the floor.
The ministers lined up on either side glanced furtively at the memorial tossed to the ground. Except for the general kneeling before the King of Black Rooster Kingdom, all wore indifferent expressions, as if they were used to such scenes.
After several laps, the King of Black Rooster Kingdom slammed his fist down on the dragon desk.
With a loud bang, everyone in the study snapped to attention. The general kneeling on the floor cautiously raised his head to look up.
The king clenched his fists, eyes shut tight, breathing heavily, silent for a long time.
The entire study was silent.
After a long while, the king relaxed his clenched fists, barely suppressing his emotions, and asked quietly, "Tell me, how should we handle this?"
At his question, the ministers in the study immediately perked up, exchanging glances, but still no one spoke.
The general kneeling on the ground looked up and, seeing the king staring at him, hurriedly said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, the rebels must be suppressed."
How many troops do you need?
F-Five thousand." The general extended five fingers.
How long will it take?
T-Three months.
The king stared at the general and asked softly, "Are you sure?"
The general hesitated and said, "If Your Majesty could extend it to half a year, that would be even better."
The king stepped forward, now standing beside the general.
The general shrank back in fear.
Bending down, the king grabbed the general's collar, pulled him closer, and glared, asking word by word, "If I give you a year, can you do it?"
At this, the general was rendered completely speechless and could only turn his face aside, lowering his head in silence.
The civil ministers present also lowered their heads, doing their utmost to avoid attention.
The study was so quiet that only the crackling of candle flames could be heard.
After a long while, the king released the general and sighed softly, "You may all leave."
The assembled ministers quickly raised their heads to look at him.
The king repeated, "All of you, leave."
"But, Your Majesty, about this matter..."
The king looked around at everyone and asked quietly, "Can any of you solve this?"
Everyone remained silent.
"If you can't solve it, then get out!" he roared.
At his furious shout, the ministers quickly knelt and bid farewell, scrambling out of the study in a panic.
In an instant, the vast study was left with only the king.
Turning around, he swept the pile of memorials from his desk onto the floor, braced himself against the desk with one hand, covered his face with the other, and sighed, unable to recover for a long time.
His fist was clenched tightly, a stray lock of hair falling across his brow.
Outside the window, Marshal Silver, transformed into a moth, watched quietly.
The king before him was General Curtain.
Though his build, appearance, and even his voice had changed dramatically—almost as if he were a different person—Marshal Silver could still recognize him by his aura: the king before him was General Curtain.
But how had Curtain become the king of Black Rooster Kingdom?
Moreover, before coming here, he already knew the king of Black Rooster Kingdom had done many outrageous things. Could it be that all of these were actually Curtain's doing?
After a brief hesitation, the moth that was Marshal Silver fluttered its wings and entered the study, transforming into human form and quietly taking a step toward Curtain.
His shoe soles made a soft, shuffling sound as they touched the floor.
Curtain spun around suddenly, instantly stunned.
Bathed in the dim red glow of the firelight, the two men gazed quietly at each other.
"You are... Marshal?" Curtain widened his eyes in disbelief. Then, he rubbed his eyes vigorously, as if unable to accept what he saw.
Marshal Silver did not answer, simply watching him in silence.
"Are you really the Marshal? No... Impossible, I've searched for so many years... How could the Marshal be here?" Curtain slapped his head several times in disbelief.
Marshal Silver still did not reply, continuing to watch him quietly.
After a long moment, Curtain finally calmed down a little.
He stared blankly at Marshal Silver, blinking, and asked in a low voice, "Are you... are you really the Marshal?"
"It's me." Marshal Silver lifted his head slowly and said, "Why are you here, and how did you become the king of Black Rooster Kingdom?"
Curtain was at first overjoyed, but then seemed to suddenly remember something. His head drooped as he stood there, lost and at a loss.
He had fled to the mortal realm in anger to search for Marshal Silver, but now that he had truly found him, he felt nothing but shame.
He never dreamed he would meet Marshal Silver again in such dire straits.
There was no joy in him at all—only shame remained.
After standing for a long time, Curtain drew a deep breath, shook his head forcefully, and said, "It's a long story... At first, I only came here to escape the pursuit of Heaven, but then..."
He gestured helplessly with his hands, but could not continue, letting out a long sigh instead. It was as if all his strength had left him, and he slumped to the ground, smiling bitterly in resignation.
Outside the door, a midnight patrol soldier passed by slowly with a torch, its light shining through the window lattice.
The entire palace was under martial law—a scene never before seen in Black Rooster Kingdom, through generations of kings.
Marshal Silver walked step by step to the window, glanced outside, and asked softly, "They say you've issued many strange decrees. Is it true?"
Curtain nodded numbly.
"Why did you issue those decrees?"
Curtain closed his eyes, sniffed hard twice, and said, "Because... because they chose me as king. I wanted—I wanted to make this country better."
Resting his hand on the window lattice, watching every movement outside, Marshal Silver asked quietly, "Tell me exactly what happened."
Curtain swallowed dryly, stared at the empty ground, pursed his lips, and said, "At first... this country was struck by disaster. I was just passing by and helped them out. So they made me chancellor... I hadn't planned to be an official, but I thought, rather than idle away in the mountains, why not do something real?"
[Irrelevant website prompt; skipped.]
"And then?"
"Then I became chancellor. You know, I descended privately to the mortal world, so I still had my cultivation. With that, nothing could be hidden from me, so I performed well as chancellor. Later, they made me king."
"So you accepted?"
Curtain nodded slightly, then after a while, sighed through clenched teeth: "I took it seriously. Though I was king, I had no concubines; my daily meals were no different from the common folk. I never used sedan chairs or carriages, didn't build palaces, much less tombs. I abolished many rituals, kept everything simple. If there were border troubles, I handled them myself—always using magic discreetly, never waging costly wars. I cut taxes, punished corrupt officials... Was I wrong?"
He gazed blankly at Marshal Silver.
Marshal Silver looked back, walked step by step to his side, crouched down, and touched Curtain's plain black robe, sighing softly, "Tell me about your policies."
"Policies..." Curtain rubbed his face hard with both hands, then spoke in a daze, "Disasters... relief... but no matter how you try to help, some people still die. Even with boundless power, you can't be everywhere at once. After one disaster I asked myself: Why does famine always mean mass starvation?"
"Why?"
"Because there's no surplus grain. The people live on the edge, with no reserves. Even if I cut taxes, they still have no surplus. So when disaster strikes, they starve."
"So you targeted the big landowners?"
"Yes." Curtain spread his hands, replying, "There was enough land, enough grain. If I could 'cut a piece of flesh' from some and give it to others, wouldn't that solve things? Ten mu per household is more than enough to support a family, right? Marshal, do you think I did the right thing?"
Curtain lifted his head, gazing at Marshal Silver.
Marshal Silver did not answer, only watched him quietly.
The plan sounded good, but the outcome... lay plainly before them.
"But things weren't solved. The people I 'cut flesh' from rebelled. Of course, I suppressed the early ones, but then usury became rampant—since they couldn't collect rent, they charged high interest. Naturally, I banned that too. After that... well, problems kept coming, like a snowball rolling bigger and bigger."
Curtain ran his hand through his disheveled hair, shaking his head helplessly: "I'm most afraid of uprisings now, they're terrifying. They're everywhere, and one person can never solve them all. I can't act openly, or Heaven would send troops. The more I try to stamp out the fires, the worse they get... Every problem, I tried to solve, but things only got more chaotic. No matter what decree I issued, it would be twisted in the end. They take my salary, but really don't listen to me... Five hundred peasants rebelled, I sent ten thousand troops, it took half a year, and in the end the rebel band grew to eight thousand... They just told me... Forget it, I can't go on. I really don't understand how such good policies could turn into this. I don't get it—what did I do wrong?"
Curtain clutched his head, on the verge of tears but unable to cry.
His voice gradually became a mutter: "I really want to run away... but I can't. I wanted to build a fair and prosperous kingdom, but this is what I've made... Marshal, you always have a way, I've always admired you most—help me, please, help me... Together, here, we could create a country more just than Heaven. A clear court, no persecution, everything clean and pure. Wouldn't that be good?"
Marshal Silver tried to stand, but Curtain grabbed his hand.
They froze for a moment—Marshal Silver looking down at Curtain, Curtain gazing up at him, and for a time, both were motionless.
After a long while, Marshal Silver said softly, "I can't help you with this... But I think there's someone who can, though you may not wish to meet him."