Chapter 120: The Shaman’s Deception

"If there are any matters to report, speak now; otherwise, the court is dismissed!"

Pang De’s sharp voice rang out. According to custom, this was Li Shimin’s routine closing remark, much like asking a familiar face on the street if they had eaten yet. The officials had already begun packing their things, preparing to leave the court to attend to their duties.

"This humble official has a petition!" A voice broke the long-standing unspoken routine of the court.

Everyone looked toward the sound, staring straight at the burly Li Junxian. Embarrassed, Li Junxian stepped aside, revealing Mo Dun standing behind him.

"That reckless youth!"

Many officials frowned slightly, but remembering that this was Mo Dun’s first time at court and that he was unaware of the unwritten rules, they said nothing.

"Oh?"

Li Shimin looked at Mo Dun with surprise. Though his intuition told him this kid was bound to cause trouble, it was the rule for officials to submit petitions, so he could not very well refuse.

"Minister Mo! What urgent matter do you have to report? Present your memorial!" Li Shimin prepared to suppress the matter for now; otherwise, if he wasn't careful, this boy might drop another bombshell.

"A memorial?" Mo Dun was momentarily stunned. This was his first time at court; how could he have such a thing?

The officials, seeing Mo Dun’s awkward predicament, couldn't help but snicker. Li Shimin’s face darkened immediately. Could it be that this fellow had no memorial at all?

"Mo Dun, you call for an audience without a petition, intentionally disrupting the order of the court. Relying on your merits to act so presumptuously—this is complete lawlessness!" Seeing Mo Dun hit a snag, Censor Wang was the first to jump out.

"Mo Dun, do you think the imperial court is a child's game? If you dare to spout nonsense again, be careful—you might find your backside feeling the sting of the rod once more." Li Shimin kept a stern face, trying to intimidate him, though anyone could hear the underlying tone of affection.

"The young Mohist is truly blessed!"

Many officials were secretly startled. To be personally shielded by Li Shimin showed just how high Mo Dun stood in the Emperor's heart.

"Replying to Your Majesty! This humble official truly has a matter to report. Because I lack a memorial, and because this matter is difficult to explain clearly, I have organized a stage play to perform it for Your Majesty personally," Mo Dun said with a look of grievance.

"A stage play?" Li Shimin asked, puzzled.

Mo Dun gestured and explained until he had finally made it clear to Li Shimin what a stage play was.

"Oh!"

Li Shimin suddenly understood. It was just acting out a story, wasn't it?

In this era, aside from the Emperor's life in the harem, entertainment was pitifully limited. Mo Dun’s words immediately piqued Li Shimin’s interest.

"Besides this, I need a few helpers. They are waiting outside the palace," Mo Dun added.

"Granted!" Li Shimin maintained an official air, though the excitement in his eyes was impossible to hide.

Outside the Taiji Hall!

A stage was quickly erected, set with an incense table featuring candles, burning incense, and yellow paper—everything required was present. Many officials frowned, but remembering the Mohist youth’s usual miraculous performances, they did not speak up to stop him.

Censor Wang was overjoyed. The more absurd Mo Dun appeared, the more leverage he would have. Thinking of this, he became spirited, focused entirely on picking out Mo Dun's errors.

"The Shaman’s Deception!"

A youth held up a sign, the five large characters letting the officials know Mo Dun’s intent.

"Qin Huaiyu!"

Qin Qiong’s eyes widened as he stared in disbelief at the youth holding the sign, then involuntarily cast his gaze toward Cheng Yaojin and Yuchi Jingde. It was clear that where his own son was, the other two families’ sons were not far behind.

Cheng Yaojin and Yuchi Gong looked helpless. Their sons had just returned, only to get mixed up with the Mohist youth again. However, none of the three opposed their association with Mo Dun; after all, even if following him meant getting into big trouble, it was better than being a dissolute dandy out walking dogs and chasing birds.

"Act One: Slaying the Ghost and Seeing Blood!"

Qin Huaiyu flipped the sign to reveal another line of text.

"Master, my younger brother is ill. Please, Master, perform a ritual to save him!"

Sure enough, Cheng Chumo appeared on stage, supporting Yuchi Baolin, who was putting on a comically exaggerated performance.

"Your brother is possessed by a vengeful spirit. Once I perform my ritual to exorcise the ghost, your brother will recover without needing medicine." With his hair disheveled, Mo Dun played the part of a shaman, his youthful face trying hard to look like an immortal sage.

The officials felt a chill, their expressions turning serious. Witchcraft! Thinking back to the previous sign, they finally understood: Mo Dun intended to expose these sorcerous tricks.

In truth, such things were not merely common among the folk; many court officials were superstitious as well. "Slaying the ghost and seeing blood" was a common tactic used by folk sorcerers.

Mo Dun held a peach-wood sword, chanting and dancing wildly. He took a piece of yellow paper, dipped the sword in water, and slashed at the paper. Suddenly, streaks of bright red blood appeared on the paper, as if a vengeful spirit had truly been slain.

"Ah!"

The officials gasped, staring in disbelief at the doll stained with red blood. Only Li Shimin and Fang Xuanling remained calm; they already knew the answer from Mo Dun.

Mo Dun waved his hand, igniting the candle on the incense table from a distance, which made the officials jump again.

"The vengeful spirit within you has been slain by me. Drink this cup of talisman water, and all your illnesses will vanish," Mo Dun coaxed.

On stage, Yuchi Baolin immediately offered gold without hesitation, drank the water mixed with talisman ash, and promptly collapsed to the ground, dead.

"Bold shaman! How dare you use turmeric and alkali water to play god, endangering lives! Seize him!"

Fang Jun, acting as a constable, entered the stage, exposed Mo Dun’s tricks, and hauled him off to prison.

Fang Xuanling looked speechlessly at his foolish son; he hadn't expected him to be in on this too.

Mo Dun and the others’ acting was exaggerated, and naturally, the officials didn't believe Mo Dun possessed actual supernatural powers. But putting themselves in the situation, if it were truly an immortal-looking shaman, would they not have been just like Yuchi Baolin, drinking that bowl of ash water?

Cold sweat began to trickle down the officials' backs.

Next came summoning immortals and Buddhas, making characters appear in tea, writing with rice gruel, and miraculous healing—one common sorcerer’s trick after another was dismantled by Fang Jun.

With every trick debunked, the officials’ expressions grew gloomier. Li Shimin and Fang Xuanling looked as dark as water. When Mo Dun had mentioned this before, it was only a rough summary, nowhere near as detailed or intuitive as today. Especially seeing Yuchi Baolin "dying" over and over, no one could laugh; instead, their hearts turned cold. If they hadn't known the truth, even they would have been convinced, let alone the common people.

One could only imagine how many people had lost their lives over the years due to delayed medical treatment while sorcerers ran rampant.

Censor Wang’s face was pale and immensely embarrassed. At this moment, he had no desire to cause trouble for Mo Dun. He himself was a firm believer in these supernatural tales and had invited sorcerers and Taoists to perform rituals at his home—using the exact same methods Mo Dun had just performed, some even less sophisticated.

Did that not mean he hadn't just been scammed, but scammed by a second-rate swindler?

"Washing Hands in Boiling Oil!"

When Qin Huaiyu held up the sign again, the crowd was in an uproar.

The fear of being boiled in oil was deeply ingrained, whether from historical records or legends of the eighteen layers of hell; it chilled everyone to the bone.

However, everything before them shattered their psychological bottom line. A large cauldron was set up with a roaring fire beneath it, the oil inside roiling.

Mo Dun reached out both hands and washed them in the boiling oil with a look of comfort. The impact was truly shocking; even Yuchi Baolin, who had been lying on the ground "dead," couldn't help but sit up, staring blankly at Mo Dun’s performance.

Mo Dun saw the sensational effect and felt secretly proud. If the oil hadn't been so difficult to clean off, he might have chosen the even more shocking "taking a bath in boiling oil."

"This is impossible!" Wei Zheng’s face was pale, his voice trembling.

Everyone knew the Mohist youth was debunking a shaman's tricks, but the roaring fire and the roiling oil were things they had seen with their own eyes.

"What exactly is going on?" Before Fang Jun could come out to explain, Li Shimin rushed to Mo Dun’s side. He could remain calm regarding the talisman paper, but seeing Mo Dun pull off a trick from the eighteen layers of hell—the boiling oil—he could no longer stay composed.

Qin Qiong ignored the oily mess and repeatedly grabbed Mo Dun’s hands to inspect them; there was not a single injury.

"Ouch!"

Cheng Yaojin, bold as ever, tried to imitate Mo Dun and put his hand into the oil, but as soon as he touched it, he yelped in pain.

Mo Dun quickly extinguished the fire under the pot and ordered the officials to stay back.

Mo Dun hadn't forgotten about Fang Jun, who had become part of the background scenery. He called him over to reveal the secret of the boiling oil to Li Shimin and the officials.

"The top is oil, the bottom is vinegar." The officials had not expected it to be so simple.

"Oil is lighter; once mixed with water, it floats on top and is invisible. This trick is very simple. Many oil mills use this method to mix water into the oil to cheat customers," Mo Dun explained the principle.

"Furthermore, the boiling point of vinegar is very low. Once the fire burns beneath the pot, the vinegar boils. From the outside, it looks like the oil is rolling, but in reality, it isn't hot at all." Mo Dun tested the temperature with his hand and signaled for Cheng Yaojin to try again.

"Eh! It really isn't hot!" Cheng Yaojin exclaimed.

Looking at the roiling oil, the temperature inside was actually quite moderate.

"Then why, when I touched it earlier, was it so scalding?" Cheng Yaojin asked, confused.

"That was because this nephew deliberately delayed for a while. The vinegar in the pot had already boiled away, and the temperature of the oil had risen, which is why Uncle Cheng felt it was hot."

The officials finally understood.

"These shaman’s methods are truly despicable. They can destroy evidence silently, making them impossible to guard against," Cheng Yaojin said indignantly.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, this humble official was ordered to dismantle the methods used by sorcerers. Today, I specifically report to Your Majesty, and await your instructions," Mo Dun bowed solemnly to Li Shimin.

Li Shimin looked at Mo Dun with appreciation. Although this little "catfish" was usually a handful, he was very forthright when it came to getting things done and even knew how to let Li Shimin take the credit.

"The Emperor is wise!" the officials chorused.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the common people are often ignorant and illiterate, and many areas are deeply harmed by superstition. The poison is hard to clear. If we could use this form to educate them, I believe the effect would be excellent," Fang Xuanling immediately saw the superiority of the stage play—it was intuitive and clear. The more ignorant and illiterate the people were, the more deeply they believed in superstition. If this method were used, they would surely achieve twice the result with half the effort.

"Good! Minister Fang, begin working on this immediately. Mo Dun, cooperate fully with Minister Fang. This time, we must root out the wind of superstition among the people!" Li Shimin commanded firmly.

"Yes!" Fang Xuanling and Mo Dun acknowledged the order.

Mo Dun’s first time at court ended perfectly.