TA-ST-1 Unfailing Recitation

Ah... yes, yes...!

This is...

The 'fate' of Great Yan.

Yo. Still working?

Madame Oni—I mean, Hoshiguma Sir...

Last Mid-Autumn Festival, Downtown was flooded with people watching the festival lanterns. Patrol didn't have enough hands to keep everyone off the roads; it almost got hairy out there.

The Commissioner was fuming over it...

Oho. Probably shouldn't have done that.

The whole squad got punished for it. Double patrol hours for the month.

The Commissioner even told us to be extra careful now, since Chief Wei has been out of town.

Sure. Better safe than sorry.

Well, good work, boys. I did just happen to bring in some chow, so share it amongst yourselves.

We can't possibly take all this...

C'mon, listen to your stomach growling. Have a bite.

Wait, what was that—

It came out of nowhere. What kind of thunderclap was that?

Wait, am I seeing things?

Over there, in the sky... what is that?

Boatman, slow us down. Look over there, do you see something on the river?

A beckbeast? But how is it on the river, and it's carrying... a goblet?

Just a mirage. What's so special about that, don't you get those in Kou-wu City?

(...Break.)

Huh, what's with the sudden rain...? Where'd the beckbeast go?

*sigh*...

Autumn rain this year... may well freeze my bones.

Reporting in! Report—

The Feranmut... has reached the final sentry post!

Red alert! Repeat, all units on maximum alert!

Wo kao...

That thing doesn't look like a 'creature' at all... that's a damned mountain...!

Excuse me, sir.

The Grand Commandant is sick abed, and will not see anyone, so please—

...Ah!

Is the Grand Commandant in?

Y-Yes!

Bring me to him.

*cough* *cough*... *cough* *cough* *cough*...

...In my fevered dreams, it was as if I'd seen the late...

I had thought... you were the late emperor, here to take me away.

I know you often think of the late emperor...

But I fear anxiety has addled your brain, if you're thinking about your end already.

Your Imperial Majesty... you honor me with your presence...

Forgive this servant... I've failed to rise for even a salutation...

How have you deteriorated so greatly, in the few days since our last meeting?

Are you taking your medicine?

I beg Your Majesty's understanding...

This consumption is a stubborn, chronic illness... The abnormal weather this Mid-Autumn struck with a cold...

I fear this wizened shell may not make it through the winter...

You are a trusted servant of Great Yan and should not sell yourself short.

How could the same man, who once kept countless foreign foes halted at our gates, dread a mere cold?

Be at ease, and convalesce. I await your swift recovery, and for you to share my burdens and aid the nation once you are well.

*cough* *cough*... This addled servant... is in truth, ill-suited to the task.

Great Yan today is rich with talent. Your Imperial Majesty decides all matters, great and small, so why seek counsel from this withered servant...?

...I see.

So the Grand Commandant is unsatisfied with my arbitrary actions, and wishes to return home due to his illness.

I... This humble servant would never dare...

In the last two weeks, ministers across the bureaucracy and all throughout the land have stacked petitions urging war high on my desk.

Every one is passionate, and a few I would venture to call desperate.

So for the Grand Commandant to claim illness at this hour, is this to compel me to...?

*cough* *cough*... Your Majesty is indeed aware...

All Yanese share a view on this age-old problem...

Your Majesty may not believe me, but ought to have faith in this...

'The will of the people'.

...

I'll be willing to try any other possible solution, as long as we can avoid spilling the blood of our troops too readily.

I had thought you would know best my mind on the matter.

Your Majesty is well-versed in our history... *cough*—surely you must know...?

Across the many times the blood that ought be shed... when was it ever avoidable...?

One ought to act swiftly when necessary. Indecisive efforts for want of perfection will only lead to more bloodshed.

I had thought... Your Majesty understood this long ago...

...

It has been more than two weeks since the great offender entered the Tomb of Sui, but his fate remains unknown.

All Great Yan is in an uproar, not only due to the five Feranmuts, but the presence of foreign foes as well...

Leave him in the Tomb for even one more day, and the danger to Great Yan will increase tenfold.

This is not my opinion alone...

Even if I could temporarily suppress public sentiments for Your Majesty's sake... it would be no true solution...

So, how do you want to go about it?

I cannot ask Your Majesty to rescind an imperial edict...

I can only make an earnest request... to set a day.

...A final deadline until which Great Yan must hold.

...

Whether or not blood should have ever been shed will be determined thousands of years from now by historians and common folk alike.

But for now, I am afraid neither the Grand Commandant, nor I, will get to make that determination.

Is it Great Yan that cannot hold, or the collective lust for glory?

...Your Imperial Majesty...

But your request is not without merit.

I recall, it was the day after the full moon when he went in...

The next day of the full moon it is.

If the man fails to achieve anything in the Tomb of Sui, then we will proceed as the Grand Commandant proposes.

Your Imperial Majesty... is wise and just...

Let it be so.

A cold is no grave illness, Grand Commandant, but convalescence is still important.

I hear Danyan's snow pears are a great expectorant. I'll send for some.

Finish the pears before you rest for the night, and your illness should be cured in the morning.

I will hold court early tomorrow. Do not be late.

Are we... outside?

Those Feranmut proxies... have quite the mystical prowess.

Is the Placation finally complete?

Perhaps...

No... just how many times have we tried? Is that complete?

How long have we spent in the Garden of Grotesqueries?

Based on the dates on the Tianshi Bureau's terminal... it's been more than two weeks since we entered the Garden.

More than half a month? Why do I feel as if we've spent even longer than that...?

We don't know if anything's happened in the Tomb of Sui since we've been here...

Zuo, you asked 'how many times'...?

I'm getting the sense this isn't our first time standing on this spot.

Concluding the Placation, taking the jade rule, leaving the Garden, and going back to town... I feel like we've done it all multiple times, and also...

Sometimes it's Mr. Yi who greets us, while other times the weiqi player blocks our path.

Sometimes the bestial Hou turns into a butterfly and gravely injures the bestial Sui... but other times we fall into a geist trap and get chased out of the Garden for no apparent reason.

And this hunch isn't a recent realization?

It was a faint feeling at first, but it was only just now that I suddenly realized we seem to have been repeating our Garden visits.

If that is the case, maybe the Placation is finally complete?

...I certainly hope that's the case.

Right, who has the token? It seems Mr. Yi hands the rule to a different person each time we complete the rite...

I don't have it.

Neither do I.

Then—

What...?

Auntie Lin, Yun... Have we seen this before?

Yo, so you made it out alive. Pretty tough, huh?

Zushi!

Zu... Zushi.

Why are you calling me that when you're not even a Tianshi disciple, kiddo?

Um, how should I address you then...?

Who cares about titles? Your qinggong's good and you move quick, so just get to wherever you need to be.

Where do I need to be...?

What should a Candleholder do after getting the token from the Garden?

Return to the Sui Regulator and submit the jade rule along with a report.

Then begone! No more dawdling!

But the jade rule—

A token's a token. Maybe there's a reason you didn't get the jade rule this time, but just hurry back to the Sui Regulator already. Or are you scared that proxy's gonna report you for theft?

Qianbei, there's something I'd like to ask about Baizao—

Just be quick. Who's the Candleholder here, you or me?

Won't you know the answer once you see the city yourself anyway?

Act your age. I'm sure you know how to adapt to a situation, don't you?

...Yes.

I'll go with Zuo Le.

You stay.

Zushi...?

Baizao doesn't have much use for a judiciary at the moment, so it'd be a pointless trip for you. You'll be more useful here.

Same goes for the Yun kid. Neither of you is a member of Sui Regulator, so stay. You'll make less trouble for all of us.

Old... Qianbei, there's something I want to ask...

Where is the young lady who claimed to be of the Shanhaizhong, the one you took away before we entered the Tomb?

Oh? I didn't think a dimwit like you would concern yourself with that lass.

I just remembered, she mentioned there was something from the Garden that could keep Yan and the bestial Sui from coming to blows.

You granted us permission to enter the Garden, but you didn't examine the token Zuo Le had at all.

Does that mean... you believe she spoke the truth?

How intriguing... Smarty pants like you are so different from the martial types.

Of course, I believe you have your reasons for sending him alone, but I'm worried Zuo Le might come to harm if the token is truly important.

Hmph, to speak of safety... no one's truly safe right now.

If that kid really has what it takes to be a Candleholder, now's the time to show it.

...

What's wrong? I rarely ever see you so down.

I just worry they might not manage to deliver that token.

Those who know what the token truly is can only stand and watch, while those helping us don't even know where it should go.

That Old Tianshi has already done us a grand favor. The rest is up to the family's fate.

I didn't think those youths would get involved in this, and I'm not sure whether to be relieved or worried.

Many have come to this garden over the past century.

But this group of youngsters was the first to retrieve that glimmer of hope from our memories left behind and bring it back to this realm.

No matter what, we must believe that their fates are somewhat linked to ours.

You speak sense, sir.

Well, myriad sights abound in the land, but encounters are still up to fate.

You could buy a ticket early, do your research, memorize the map, stand outside the garden until it opens... but then a storm comes, and you see nothing at all.

Or you could enter through a random side gate and roam around aimlessly, but as long as you have a goal in mind, you might be pleasantly surprised by what you find.

Visitors come with interest, but it always wanes with time... It's not proper to force this enthusiasm to endure.

So let's just relax and wait here, and protect this garden...

This beautiful place is honestly quite difficult to abandon.

What a bother. I'm getting a sore throat repeating the same argument over and over.

We're back to square one, no? Thousands of years we've debated, and it seems nothing's getting through that thick head of yours.

You're the stubborn one. Whatever scholarly talents you have are negated by your expertise in nonsensical argumentation.

The truth is simple—there is no order without rules. To live in this realm, one must be able to tell right from wrong.

If it really is as you say, for everyone to blur boundaries and confuse right and wrong, what sort of chaos will befall this realm?

Preposterous... Your insistence on adherence to rules is nothing more than locking yourself in a prison of your own making.

Let me ask you then. To build a room, a house, a city, a moat—there are rules to follow, yes.

But when we measure merits and errors made in history, or the hearts of the masses—what rules or metrics are we to abide by?

Of course, rules are made to fit the situation, and for mortal benefit.

When have I ever said rules should be set for the sake of having them?

Where... are we?

...And who are you?

Fine, fine... then let me ask you this.

You say we must have rules, but then who should set them in the first place?

The virtuous, of course—only they can convince the masses, and rules can only stand when accepted by all.

Don't you see the problem with that?

We have to first find virtuous people to set rules, but what deems one virtuous? Doesn't it mean we have to lay down some rules to find these people?

Ju, the ten thousand years of your life have been a waste, if you can't even decide if the fowlbeast or egg came first.

Hah! You're just unreasonably putting the cart before the burdenbeast to suit your fallacy.

We already have rules called 'righteousness'. You think they just appeared from thin air?

What...?

What are you talking about...?

Oh, look. This one's about to wake up too.

Awake? Or dreaming?

Do you even have to ask? Just look at her, all lost. Obviously, she's dreaming.

Awake in a dream, yet not truly woken. The girl is suffering from a headache over the dilemma she faces.

If you're stubborn and refuse to see sense, you'll surely run up against barriers, both physical and mental.

You're right about that... her knowing and doing don't match. She's contradicting herself—wants non-action, yet also wants to act.

Now, she seeks a tangible form of 'justice', and even wants to pocket it and take it away. I think she's far more obsessed than that good-for-nothing disciple of mine.

Yes, how could she enjoy such a delusional dream if she weren't the most obsessed person walking this realm?

No need to be so harsh, Ju. Plenty of people out there climb trees to catch fins or strike ice to make fire. What can we even do?

But you're right about one thing...

Is this girl an obsessed one, or what...?

Who—

What's the matter with you?

Nothing...

Did you not hear any of that?

You're so weird. You've been staring into blank space for a while now.

Did those geists give you a concussion? Don't suppose there's anything I can do about that.

Thanks. I'm not quite—

I just feel like...

I've been here before...