BPIFC -Volume 1 – Chapter 51 Brothers

Yang Xiao narrowed his eyes and listened quietly. After pondering for a while, he finally spoke:

“I know about this matter. The XXX Resort—some Malaysian boss invested over ten billion yuan into it. After the accidents started, he used his connections to find Yang Jun and me. But both of us were busy at the time. I was occupied with the Ghost Market affair and had no time to deal with such side matters…”

At this point, something seemed to occur to him. After thinking for a moment, he continued:

“I just remembered something, though it hasn’t been verified… Lu Ruji of the Southern Song Dynasty was exiled to southern Guangdong and eventually died there—the Lu Ruji of the Hehuan Sect. Da Sheng, you’ve never heard of him?”

Sun Desheng laughed.

“Old Yang, you’re asking the wrong guy. Do you think I have to know everything? I’ve only lived a few decades. Why should I know some Lu Ruji? I can’t even keep up with my work at the Bureau, and I still have to help those little dwarfs from America’s Dark Night. Where would I find the time to worry about some guy named Lu? Besides, whenever I need to know something, I just call you people. You’re my living encyclopedias.”

Smiling bitterly, Yang Xiao began introducing Lu Ruji to Sun Desheng and Che Qianzi.

During the reign of Emperor Guangzong Zhao Dun of the Southern Song, Lu Ruji, a disciple of the Hehuan Sect and Deputy Military Commissioner, recommended Li Fengniang, the daughter of Military Commissioner Li Dao, to Zhao Dun, who was then Prince Gong.

Li Fengniang later became Zhao Dun’s consort and eventually Empress Ciyi.

Emperor Guangzong was frail and unable to govern personally, so power gradually fell into Li Fengniang’s hands. In gratitude for Lu Ruji’s recommendation, she bestowed upon him the title of Scholar of the Guanwen Hall—a position usually held concurrently by the prime minister.

Everyone in court believed Lu Ruji would become the next prime minister, and some had already begun calling him “Prime Minister Lu.”

However, the incumbent prime minister, Zhao Ruyu, was a ruthless man. Seeing Lu Ruji as a threat, he struck first. He spread rumors that Lu Ruji and Empress Ciyi had an improper relationship, akin to the affair between Lü Buwei and Zhao Ji.

Through a series of carefully orchestrated schemes, the rumors eventually reached Emperor Guangzong’s ears.

At the time, Li Fengniang had already seized control of state affairs, and Guangzong was famously afraid of his wife. Unable to punish the Empress, he vented his anger on Lu Ruji instead. He used political mistakes as an excuse to imprison him, and the officials conducting the investigation, sensing the emperor’s intentions, even blamed him for the failed war against the Jin Dynasty.

Had it not been for the Song Dynasty’s tradition of not executing scholar-officials, Lu Ruji would have been subjected to death by dismemberment.

In the end, he was merely exiled to southern Guangdong. Historical records stop there, and what became of him afterward remains unknown.

After Yang Xiao finished, Sun Desheng blinked and asked:

“So, did Lu Ruji really have an affair with Emperor Guangzong’s wife? And after Guangzong came Emperor Ningzong, right? Don’t tell me Ningzong was actually Lu Ruji’s son?”

Yang Xiao sighed helplessly.

“I knew nothing decent would come out of your mouth.”

Then he continued:

“That’s what the official histories say. Now let me tell you what they don’t say…”

“Lu Ruji was the second son of Lu Tianyi, the True Master and leader of the Hehuan Sect. Since childhood, he learned the sect’s arts under his father.

Later, he demonstrated the Art of Concealing Heaven before Military Commissioner Li Dao, using it to hide three thousand armored soldiers and successfully ambush Deputy Commissioner He Huaili, who intended to defect to the Jin Dynasty.

From then on, Li Dao valued him highly, and Lu Ruji rose steadily through the ranks until he became Deputy Military Commissioner.”

He paused briefly.

“Lu Ruji had always been close to the Li family and could enter their inner residence without formal announcement. So the rumors regarding him and Li Fengniang weren’t entirely groundless. It is said that the seductive techniques Li Fengniang later used to control Emperor Guangzong were learned from Lu Ruji.”

“Later, before becoming Scholar of the Guanwen Hall, Lu Ruji served for three years as Governor of Lin’an and Chief Inspector of Bandit Suppression.

At that time, a demon thief named He Feng used sorcery to rob and murder people, violating women and even raping and murdering Princess Anzheng, Emperor Guangzong’s own younger sister.

In the end, Lu Ruji gathered his fellow disciples from the Hehuan Sect and laid a trap for He Feng, luring him into the Lin’an government office.

According to legend, they used a formation to summon a fire dragon that burned He Feng alive. It was because of this achievement that Lu Ruji received the title of Scholar of the Guanwen Hall.”

Che Qianzi couldn’t help asking:

“So this Lu Ruji was pretty capable. Then why did he still end up exiled? Why didn’t he just fight the emperor?”

Yang Xiao was far more patient with the young man than with Sun Desheng.

“No matter how capable a person is, he can’t overthrow an entire dynasty by himself.”

After a pause, he continued:

“And Emperor Guangzong had another purpose. While exiling Lu Ruji, he also declared the Hehuan Sect a heretical cult and ordered local governments to arrest its followers. He even invited the Celestial Master Zhang to reside in Lin’an.

So after Lu Ruji fell, the Hehuan Sect declined as well.

It briefly revived during the early Ming Dynasty, but after becoming implicated in the Hu Weiyong treason case, Zhu Yuanzhang once again branded it a heretical sect.”

Throughout Yang Xiao’s narration, Sun Desheng listened with narrowed eyes.

Only after Yang Xiao finished did he speak:

“So you’re saying the ancient tomb beneath the resort belongs to Lu Ruji? After all these centuries, he’s still angry and has come out to vent?”

Yang Xiao didn’t answer directly.

After a moment, he said:

“Before joining the Bureau, I encountered a similar case.

At the time, I was just a police officer. In a neighboring city, a clinic was being expanded into a hospital. During excavation, they unearthed an ancient tomb.

The occupant was Lu Zheng, leader of the Hehuan Sect during the Northern Song.”

“The discovery caused quite a stir, and several archaeological teams came for a joint investigation.

But on the second day after they moved in, accidents began occurring—very similar to what’s happening at the resort.

Those involved in excavating the tomb started dying unnatural deaths one after another. One man went mad and ran into traffic, getting hit by a car. Another jumped off a building. Four people died in total.”

“When I heard about it, I rushed there overnight.

In the end, I discovered that the tomb chamber contained a formation designed specifically to punish grave robbers.

To put it simply:

Anyone who disturbed a Hehuan Sect tomb was doomed to die horribly.”

“At the time, I was studying puppet techniques, and Master Lu’s corpse was perfect material. Unfortunately, despite all my efforts, I couldn’t break the formation.

Just when I was at my wit’s end, Qiu Bulao, then the director of the Bureau’s Second Division, arrived.”

Yang Xiao chuckled.

“He used a dirty trick. He simply blew up the entire tomb with explosives. That destroyed the formation, though nothing inside survived. Such a pity about Master Lu’s corpse. It would’ve made a wonderful puppet… Ah…”

Sun Desheng finally understood.

Smiling, he took out his phone and made a call.

“It’s me. Need a favor.

I heard the XXX Resort in your area has become quite famous recently. Help me investigate the first archaeologist who died of a heart attack. I want the notes he left behind about the tomb…

What? Of course I want all of them. There should be photographs too. Send them to my phone later.

And don’t ask questions you shouldn’t. I’d hate to scare you into wetting the bed at night. Hahaha…”

After he hung up, Che Qianzi asked:

“Fatty, I didn’t know you had friends in Guangdong. I thought Shen La was your only friend.”

“Shen La isn’t my friend.”

Sun Desheng interrupted him immediately.

After a brief pause, he grinned and said:

“He’s your second brother—my brother.

Brother, you’ll understand someday.

I have friends all over the world.

But brothers?

Only two.

“You and La Zi.”

Then he looked toward Yang Xiao and added with a laugh:

“Old Yang, don’t be jealous. You and Big Yang are like my uncles. I’ve always respected and cared for you two like elders.”