One person’s death in exchange for a hundred lives.
Tianji Temple stood in the southern part of Liangjing City. Following the central avenue south from outside Shenwu Gate to the South Moat, then proceeding less than a li along the riverbank to the right, one would see a towering ceremonial archway. Beyond it lay the temple’s mountain gate.
Fengming Emperor revered both Buddhism and Daoism. Among the ten great temples jointly worshipped by the officials and people of Liangjing, collectively known as the “Ten Temples of the Capital,” Tianji Temple was the largest. It bordered the moat to the south and backed onto the famous hundred-acre apricot grove to the west. Since its construction, a full century had passed.
Fengming Emperor was especially fond of this ancient temple, and many of the imperial consorts were equally enamored of the apricot forest beside it.
Thus, when Fengming Emperor ascended the throne and proclaimed a new reign era, he ordered that Tianji Temple receive the highest sacrificial honors.
From then on, the temple continued to expand, and its incense offerings flourished more with each passing year.
Yet the more prosperous the incense offerings became, the harder it was to guard against fire.
Imperial ceremonies aside, accidents among civilian worshippers were unavoidable. Over the past decade, parts of Tianji Temple had occasionally burned. Both the Bell Tower and Drum Tower had suffered fire damage. Last year, lightning struck the rear hall during a summer storm and burned it to ashes. Even now, it had not yet been rebuilt.
Officials from the Censorate and various supervisory offices jointly submitted memorials requesting that Fengming Emperor issue a self-reproach edict.
The Emperor flew into a rage.
He ordered the death of the Director of the Imperial Observatory and commanded Zhang Yao to investigate the responsible officials.
Pure officials were rare in officialdom. Once someone seriously began searching for crimes, everyone had blemishes of one sort or another. Crying and wailing, they were thrown into the Imperial Prison. Zhang Yao’s blade rose and fell, and he ended up killing nearly half the Imperial Observatory.
When their bodies were carried out of the prison, he attended every funeral procession.
At the time, he had genuinely hoped to find some kind of stimulation in those deaths—something that could make him feel guilt, or fear.
Yet prison uniforms, blood, and corpses never stirred even the slightest pain in his heart.
Later, he deliberately went to face the families who came to claim the bodies.
Among them, young children cried until their faces were drenched with tears. Their cries were piercing and miserable.
Li Hanzhou feared those children might suffer if Zhang Yao became annoyed, so he hurriedly drove them far away.
What he never realized was that what his Commander wanted at that moment was a torrent of curses.
Or even a knife plunged straight into his heart.
Now, standing once again before Tianji Temple’s archway, Zhang Yao looked up.
Beyond the mountain gate, everything had already become a sea of fire.
The double-eaved roof of the Main Hall was almost completely swallowed by flames.
The sky glowed crimson from the firelight, while thick black smoke covered more than half of the South Moat.
Seeing that Zhang Yao remained silent, Li Hanzhou dismounted with the other mounted guards and moved closer to inspect the scene.
After only a few steps, however, the blast of heat forced them backward.
Outside the mountain gate, the fire brigades from Liangjing’s fire stations were desperately rescuing monks trapped inside.
But they were not regular soldiers. Their numbers were limited.
Saving people was already difficult enough.
How could they possibly spare effort to contain a fire that was growing fiercer by the moment under the relentless wind?
The smell of blood mixed with the stench of burning flesh and rushed straight into their noses.
Burn victims lay scattered outside the gate.
It was impossible to tell which were alive and which were already dead.
“Too tragic.”
Li Hanzhou sighed before the archway.
The words had barely left his mouth when Li Shun, the commander of the fire brigade, staggered out through the mountain gate dragging a monk’s corpse behind him.
“Commander… Commander Zhang…”
His entire body was covered in soot and ash.
His clothes had been burned so badly that their original color could no longer be seen.
When he looked up and saw Zhang Yao and the men of the Northern Pacification Bureau, it was as if he had seen both gods and the King of Hell at once.
He hurriedly dropped the corpse and stumbled to Zhang Yao’s horse.
“Commander Zhang! Tianji Temple has burned into this state. We… we’re finished! Commander Zhang, I beg for death! I, Li Shun, beg for death right now!”
The moment he finished speaking, he broke into a violent coughing fit.
The other firefighters also collapsed to their knees in despair.
Behind them, flames soared toward the heavens.
Clothed in rags, faces blackened with ash, they knelt among the wounded and the dead.
The scene looked like a living hell.
From atop his horse, Zhang Yao lowered his gaze toward Li Shun.
“It’s too early to talk about whether you’ll live or die. Where did the fire start?”
Li Shun’s leg had been crushed by a fallen beam.
His body was covered in burns.
After coughing, he gasped desperately for air.
Every sentence was a struggle.
“The rear… Guanyin Hall…”
Zhang Yao continued.
“When was the first open flame spotted?”
Li Shun coughed repeatedly.
“At you hour… a quarter past you hour… We saw the first glow from the watchtower…”
Li Hanzhou asked from the side, “What about casualties inside the temple?”
The moment he heard the question, Li Shun collapsed onto the ground.
Wiping his face, he burst into tears.
“Tonight’s wind is from the northwest. The meditation quarters behind Guanyin Hall may not have burned yet, but… the Main Hall is burning too fiercely. Right now, not a single entrance can reach Guanyin Hall…”
“The casualties inside…”
“Enough.”
Zhang Yao cut him off.
“You don’t need to continue.”
“How many men do you still have?”
Li Shun looked back at the remnants of his force and cried out in anguish.
“More than sixty firefighters. To save the Main Hall, ten of them have already… died inside. Commander Zhang, the Main Hall… can’t be saved. It truly can’t be saved!”
Zhang Yao turned to Li Hanzhou.
“Have someone treat his injuries. Until the Five-City Military Command arrives, I’ll take charge of the fire scene. Lead the men around the back and start cutting down the apricot grove. Under no circumstances can the forest catch fire.”
“Yes, sir.”
The wind rose again.
The flames consuming the Main Hall resembled a giant demon chained by the feet, baring its claws as it lunged toward the mountain gate.
The heat scorched human faces.
Even the horses beneath them grew restless, neighing continuously.
Zhang Yao tightened the reins of Tougulong and lifted his head toward the roof of the Main Hall.
Li Shun was right.
The Main Hall of Tianji Temple stood nearly twelve zhang high.
No amount of water thrown by human hands could reach it.
At this point, the fire brigade’s equipment was useless.
Even if the Five-City Military Command arrived, they would likely do nothing more than stand beside him and wait for the Main Hall to burn itself out.
Whether anyone would still be alive in Guanyin Hall and the meditation quarters afterward, Zhang Yao did not know.
Nor did he particularly care.
Tianji Temple enjoyed the highest sacrificial honors.
If it were burned to the ground in a single night, and no arsonist could be found, then both officials and commoners would inevitably begin talking about Heaven’s displeasure and divine omens.
If Fengming Emperor decided to suppress public opinion by assigning blame for the disaster, then from the firefighters to the Five-City Military Command, lives would have to be sacrificed to satisfy the investigation.
Zhang Yao was sick of killing people.
Just as he had asked Li Hanzhou while kneeling in the courtyard:
“Who set the fire?”
Now he only wanted to help the Ministry of Justice identify a culprit.
Let the Ministry pursue accountability.
Let the Ministry kill.
One person’s death in exchange for a hundred lives.
The instant that thought arose, Zhang Yao swung himself off his horse, tossed the reins to Li Hanzhou, and walked alone toward the mountain gate.
Li Hanzhou was issuing orders for the mounted guards to circle north around the temple wall and begin cutting the forest.
When he turned around and saw Zhang Yao already passing beneath the archway, he hurriedly shouted:
“Commander!”
Without turning back, Zhang Yao replied,
“The Five-City Military Command should be here soon. Once they arrive, every mounted guard from the Northern Pacification Bureau is to obey their orders.”
“Then where are you going, Commander?”
“I’m going to Guanyin Hall.”
Li Shun, still sitting on the ground, shouted after him.
“You can’t go! The Main Hall is burning like this—you can’t get through! The roof could collapse at any moment!”
Zhang Yao ignored him.
The burning wind cut against his skin like red-hot blades.
Standing before the mountain gate, he tried to assess the fire.
Yet no matter how sharp his eyes were, all he could see was a chaotic sea of crimson.
He did not believe in Buddha.
He never worshipped Buddha.
In fact, he had never even visited Tianji Temple before.
Whether forcing his way through the hall under such conditions would kill him, he could not say.
Zhang Yao wanted to die.
But he owned so many carefully chosen coffins and so many exquisitely crafted burial garments.
To pair all those years of collected funerary treasures with a charred corpse would be an outrageous waste.
Just as he hesitated, someone suddenly called out from behind him.
“Zhang Yao—!”
He turned around.
At the dark end of the street, a large contingent had arrived.
The soldiers of the Five-City Military Command had finally reached the scene.
Among them stood Yu Lin.
She wore plain hemp clothing, her hands bound, standing alone beneath the horse of Commander Wang Chong.
Damn it.
What had Zhang Min been doing?
How had she allowed Yu Lin to come here?
For the first time, Zhang Yao felt the urge to curse his sister.
Yet before he could speak, he heard Yu Lin shout:
“Save me—!”
The cry came against the roaring wind.
Her frail body looked as though it might snap in half.
The effort tore her voice raw.
“Save me—I can help you—!”
Zhang Yao had no intention of responding.
He knew Yu Lin was intelligent.
But she was covered in injuries.
Her leg was crippled.
There was no way she could help him.
Coldly, he turned away and prepared to continue searching for a path through the fire.
Then another shout came from behind him.
“One person’s death in exchange for a hundred lives—!”
Zhang Yao froze.
His heart nearly skipped a beat.
He turned back again and saw Yu Lin desperately struggling against her restraints as she shouted:
“One person takes the blame so a hundred people escape blame! Zhang Yao! Save me, and I’ll help you!”
Now that was truly troublesome.
Everyone at the fire scene was consumed by the disaster itself.
The flames could not be extinguished.
The trapped people could not be saved.
All were focused on their own fates, with no attention left for anything else.
But this former female judicial official had seen what he saw.
Beyond the fire, she saw all the lives that hung in the balance.
For a fleeting moment, Zhang Yao found himself wondering:
If life could offer such an encounter, why insist on dying?
Wang Chong had no idea what the two of them were talking about.
Faced with the disaster before him, he was already frantic.
How could he tolerate Yu Lin’s shouting?
Without hesitation, he lashed her with a whip.
“Crack!”
“Breaking curfew is already a serious crime. Yu Lin, His Majesty spared your life through imperial grace. Stop rushing toward death.”
The whip struck her hard across the shoulder.
She endured it.
After catching her breath, she barely managed to speak.
“I’m not… seeking death. I can help…”
Wang Chong cursed.
“What are you now? Do you still think you’re the Vice Minister of Justice? Men, drag her away and throw her into the prison!”
Ignoring everything else, Yu Lin dropped to her knees and grabbed Wang Chong’s leg.
“I am now the servant of the Commander of the Northern Pacification Bureau. If I broke curfew, then my master’s household also bears responsibility for failing to restrain me. If you’re arresting me, arrest Zhang Yao too!”
Wang Shaolian had been right.
Yu Lin was truly difficult to deal with.
Annoyed by her grip, Wang Chong glanced toward Zhang Yao.
“Let her come over.”
Zhang Yao’s voice rang out.
Wang Chong immediately cursed.
“Your Northern Pacification Bureau shouldn’t even be here! And you still have time to fool around with your servant girl?”
Zhang Yao replied coldly,
“I don’t have time to waste on nonsense. Wang Chong, you know better than I do that the Main Hall can’t be saved anymore. Once Guanyin Hall and the meditation quarters burn down, once everyone inside is dead, if the arsonist isn’t caught, then your failure to patrol the city won’t need me to investigate. Your end won’t be any better than these firefighters’.”
Wang Chong froze.
Taking advantage of his distraction, Yu Lin yanked the lead rope from his hand and ran toward Zhang Yao.
As she ran, she looked up at the roof of the Main Hall.
The fire rode the wind like ghosts ascending to heaven.
The roof had already been completely devoured by flames.
Before coming here, Yu Lin had never imagined Tianji Temple would burn this badly.
She no longer had the luxury of searching for the stone she had entrusted to Liu Yinglian.
Ignoring the pain in her recently reset ankle, she staggered to Zhang Yao’s side.
“Help me untie the rope.”
Drawing his saber, Zhang Yao sliced through her bindings in one stroke.
Yu Lin quickly threw away the remaining rope and looked up into the wind.
“Tonight’s wind is from the northwest. The front halls are already lost. But if the wind doesn’t change, then the area behind Guanyin Hall shouldn’t burn completely before dawn…”
Zhang Yao cut her off.
“I’m not going in to save the people inside.”
“I know.”
Yu Lin looked at him.
“One person’s death in exchange for a hundred lives, right?”