Chapter 23: A Rare Commodity Worth Hoarding

My face flushed faintly, and I lowered my head instinctively. It soon occurred to me why the rumors Wu Zetian had created could have survived to the present day. She was the only woman ever to become emperor, living secluded within the imperial palace, and her authority was impossible to fathom. To every civil and military official, she seemed shrouded in mystery.

Yet Wu Zetian was still a woman—a woman with the full range of human passions and desires. It was inevitable that people would secretly speculate about her love life. No one found it strange when an emperor had three palaces and six courts; at most, they felt envious, because for a man such things were nothing unusual.

But what would an empress’s harem be like?

Surely this was a subject that required no deliberate encouragement from Wu Zetian. The entire court, from the highest officials to the lowliest, and indeed the people throughout the realm, would have discussed it with endless relish.

In truth, Wu Zetian had spoken of her method of preserving her youth in very veiled terms. I was well versed in the Five Arts of Daoism, so of course I understood that what she called the art of preserving her appearance was actually the art of the bedchamber.

Also known as the art of gathering and replenishing, the art of the bedchamber was a Daoist method of cultivation. Men and women gathered yin to replenish yang, or gathered yang to replenish yin, thereby achieving balance between the two within their bodies.

Wu Zetian’s method of preserving her youth involved gathering yang to replenish yin. Through the pleasures of love, she drew a man’s vital yang essence into herself, nourishing her own body so that her youth would endure and she would remain ageless.

Even Peng Zu, revered as the patriarch of the art of health preservation, had once written:

“When man and woman unite, it is like Heaven and Earth giving birth to one another. Heaven and Earth possess the way of union, and thus have no limit to their existence. When people lose the way of union, they gradually move toward an early death. To avoid the gradual harm brought by excess and to master the art of yin and yang is the path to immortality…”

Wu Zetian saw that I had remained silent for a long while and smiled dismissively.

“Yan Hui, your speech and bearing possess a distinct air of antiquity. It is clear that you have read many ancient books. Tell me, how do those books record the rumors about me?”

I pressed my lips together. After struggling for a long time, I flushed and stammered,

“They say you corrupted the imperial harem, ordered beautiful young men to be selected as attendants, chose large numbers of male favorites, and allowed yourself to indulge in the pleasures of the bedchamber while gathering yang to replenish yin, preserving your youth and remaining forever beautiful.”

“That rumor is precisely what allowed me to sit high upon the dragon throne without too much embellishment, without having to worry about how the civil and military officials below would discuss my unchanging appearance,” Wu Zetian said amiably. “But male favorites are no different from palace maids. I could conceal the truth for only a time. Besides, after more than fifty years, even if people believed that I gathered yang to replenish yin, my unaltered appearance would eventually arouse suspicion. That was why I had no choice but to relinquish the throne under the pretense of illness and death.”

Suddenly, something occurred to me. I spoke in realization.

“I understand now. I once visited the Qianling Mausoleum to study its feng shui, and I discovered that its layout was entirely unlike that of the other imperial tombs. It had not been arranged according to feng shui at all. The main purpose of building Qianling was to prevent grave robbers, because you could not let anyone know that Wu Zetian was not actually buried there!”

Wu Zetian nodded calmly and said softly,

“That is why I erected the Wordless Stele at Qianling. The merits and faults of my life should have been written by me, yet for a person still living, it is difficult to pass judgment on a life that has not reached its end. So I erected the Wordless Stele for myself. In truth, I have always wanted to know how I would judge my life upon the day I was finally buried beneath the earth.

“There was another reason as well. I wanted to see whether anyone could understand why I had raised that stele. A thousand years have passed, and people have offered every kind of explanation, each sounding plausible in its own way. Unfortunately, not one of them truly understood. Yan Hui, for that alone, you may be regarded as the greatest person of the past thousand years.”

I gave a foolish little laugh and shook my head.

“How could I have imagined such an extraordinary answer? If all these things had not happened, if I had not connected everything from beginning to end, and if I had not read both your physiognomies, I would never have believed it, even if someone had beaten me to death.”

“When you first came to the north of the Pavilion of Lasting Fragrance, the things you said while reading my face truly startled me,” Shangguan Wan’er said with a radiant smile. “Qiunuo told me that you were well versed in the occult and skilled in reading fate and destiny. At the time, I was genuinely afraid that you might calculate who I really was.”

Her smile was warm and familiar. For a moment, she seemed to have become the Aunt Qing I knew so well. I found it difficult to connect this woman, so accomplished in tea and cooking and so gentle and unassuming, with the Shangguan Wan’er of history, famed for weighing the affairs of the world and wielding power with ruthless decisiveness.

“Actually, when I read your face on your birthday, I was already rather astonished. You possessed the image of Fuxi, the sovereign of the world. For an instant, I considered the possibility that you and Wu Zetian might be the same person, but the thought vanished almost immediately. At the time, I thought the idea was utterly absurd.” I scratched my head as I spoke.

Wu Zetian nodded gently and smiled.

“For all these years, this secret has been trapped within Wan’er’s heart and mine. Neither of us could speak of it, nor did we dare. Now that it has finally been revealed, my heart feels much lighter.”

I lifted my teacup, then slowly set it down again. After pondering deeply for a long while, I asked in a composed voice,

“Your appearance has never changed? You and Aunt Qing are both like this. What exactly happened? What allowed you to remain forever young?”

“The Nine Heavens Hidden Dragon Formula.”

The moment Wu Zetian finished speaking, my teacup stopped at my lips. I stared at her in astonishment.

“You… you comprehended the Nine Heavens Hidden Dragon Formula?”

“I wish I had truly comprehended it.” Wu Zetian shook her head with a bitter smile. “Back then, Emperor Taizong, Li Shimin, ordered Li Chunfeng of the Directorate of Astronomy and Yuan Tiangang, the Fire-Mountain Commissioner, to calculate the fate of the realm through numerology. Li Chunfeng used diagrams and calculations, while Yuan Tiangang interpreted the trigrams. The two methods echoed one another. The diagrams began with the first image, in which red and white rings alternated, and from the Tang dynasty onward they foretold the history that was yet to come.”

“I know that. In the end, Yuan Tiangang pushed Li Chunfeng’s back with both hands, signaling him to stop revealing the secrets of Heaven. That was why it came to be called the Pushback Prophecy!”

Wu Zetian nodded, her thoughts sinking into memory. Slowly, she continued,

“At that time, I was still one of Taizong’s lesser consorts. One day, Li Chunfeng requested an audience. He brought with him a painting bearing a written prophecy. He told me that the prophecy hinted at the rise of a female emperor, while the words ‘neither civil nor martial’ implied that the woman who would rule bore the surname Wu.

“At that point in the story, Wu Zetian slowly rose and walked to the window. Gazing into the distance, she continued,

“These were words of the utmost treason. They could have cost me my life, and my entire clan would have been implicated as well. Yet I was not afraid in the least. Do you remember my telling you that someone had once read my face?”

“I remember. You told me on your birthday.”

“That person was Yuan Tiangang. I had known him since I was very young. After reading my features, he told me exactly what you did. So when Li Chunfeng told me that I would one day become the ruler of the world, I was not afraid. His words merely confirmed Yuan Tiangang’s prophecy.”

Wu Zetian paused for a moment before continuing.

“I saw that the painting Li Chunfeng had given me was marked as the third image. That meant there were still other events to come. So I ordered Li Chunfeng to hand over the remaining prophecies, promising that if I ever ascended the throne, I would treat him generously.”

“Was that why Li Chunfeng presented the Pushback Prophecy to you?”

Wu Zetian shook her head and sighed.

“There was no Pushback Prophecy at all!”

“What?”

I was well versed in the occult, and the Pushback Prophecy was regarded as a divine book among such works. Hearing her say this, I nearly leapt out of my chair.

“There was no Pushback Prophecy? Then what were Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng actually deriving before Emperor Taizong?”

“Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng traveled among the people and happened upon two unparalleled treasures. One of them was the Nine Heavens Hidden Dragon Formula. But the two men understood only the most superficial aspects of it—less than one or two parts in ten. From the book, they calculated that I would one day become ruler of the world.”

Wu Zetian turned back and spoke with calm indifference.

“Taizong happened to learn that they had obtained such a wondrous book, so he ordered them to make their calculations. Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng did not dare reveal the secrets of Heaven. They also understood that Heaven’s will could not be defied. They therefore did not disclose anything about me. The two simply put on a performance before Taizong.”

I lowered my head and thought it over. Gradually, I began to understand. If the Pushback Prophecy had truly been able to predict the future, Taizong would have eliminated Wu Zetian long ago. Emperor Taizong of Tang had been a great ruler who ushered in the Prosperity of Zhenguan. Had he known what would happen in the future, he would certainly have devoted himself to strengthening the Tang realm, and the golden age might have continued for much longer. The entire course of history might have been altered by his hand.

Hearing this, I felt somewhat disappointed. I had never imagined that the Pushback Prophecy, which I had always regarded as a divine book, did not exist at all.

“Then… what happened afterward?”

“Li Chunfeng was shrewd in worldly affairs and possessed extraordinary insight. He understood the principle that a rare treasure is valuable precisely because it is rare. Since my becoming emperor was the不可违背的 will of Heaven, he simply went with the tide and told me everything about the Nine Heavens Hidden Dragon Formula. He knew perfectly well that once I ascended the throne, I would never permit anyone to possess a book capable of threatening the foundations of the empire. Whoever held the book would draw disaster upon himself.”

“So Li Chunfeng presented the Nine Heavens Hidden Dragon Formula to you?”

“No. Thinking back now, I would rather I had never known that such a book existed.” Wu Zetian closed her eyes and sighed, her voice low. “The book was not in Li Chunfeng’s hands. It was in Yuan Tiangang’s.”

I waited anxiously for Wu Zetian to finish the story.

“That very night, I summoned Yuan Tiangang to the palace. I promised that if I became emperor, he would certainly be appointed Imperial Preceptor, and I ordered him to surrender the Nine Heavens Hidden Dragon Formula.

“Yuan Tiangang was upright and incorruptible, loyal and fearless. He dared to remonstrate with me directly, insisting that the Nine Heavens Hidden Dragon Formula was no auspicious object. He said that I would one day ascend the imperial throne, and that if such a book fell into the hands of an emperor, it would bring storms of blood and leave the living world in ruin.”

A trace of admiration and respect flickered in Wu Zetian’s eyes.

“But at the time, I was too obsessed with power to heed his warning. I ordered Wan’er to seize his entire family—his wife, children, and all the elders—and use them as hostages. With no other choice and under unbearable pressure, Yuan Tiangang was forced to hand over the Nine Heavens Hidden Dragon Formula.”