Sage of the Underground Prison is the 494th chapter of the Kingdom manga, written and illustrated by Yasuhisa Hara.
Summary
Sai Taku’s funeral
Shou Bun Kun and Shi Shi watch over the huge gathering of mourners for Sai Taku's funeral. They talk about how this is of the scale of a national funeral, but also that this fits the accomplishments of the great Sai Taku.
Suddenly, Shou Bun Kun tells Shi Shi, that even if he is a “distasteful fellow”, he is more experienced as a bureaucrat than Shou Bun Kun himself. And even asks Shi Shi if he would consider himself as the foremost expert in legalism in all of Qin. Mister Shi says that he would like to be it, but Ri Shi is even better than him.
Kanyou - Visit to secret underground prison
Shou Bun Kun arrives in a carriage and orders the guards to stay outside. He then visits Ri Shi of the four pillars, who claims to be just a mere legalist by now. They talk about law and what it is.
Then Shou Bun Kun explains how the |king wants to rule the conquered China with the rule of law. And admits, that he finds impossible to imagine something like that. Ri Shi, who was surprised that the King is thinking like this, says that he can think a world like this. But even he admits that it is not easy, even for him to get a clear picture.
Characters
Qin
- Royal Palace
- Ei Sei Faction
- Ei Sei (Flashback)
- Shou Bun Kun (Flashback)/story)
- Shi Shi (Flashback)
- Shou Hei Kun (Mentioned)
- Sai Taku (Mentioned)
- Unnamed guards
- Unnamed officials (Flashback)
- Ryo Fui Faction
- Ei Sei Faction
- Kanyou
- Unnamed officials (Flashback)
- Unnamed citizens (Flashback)
- Unidentified guests and states representatives (Flashback)
Qi
- Royal Palace
- Ou Ken indirect (Mentioned)
High Points
- Sai Taku had managed to forge an alliance with Yan just before his death.
- Ri Shi lost all his titles and possessions, after they lost to the king's faction.
- Ri Shi explains why ruling China with law will be difficult.
- A fight between legalism and Confucianism will erupt.
- Shou Bun Kun asks Ri Shi to join Ei Sei's dream for unification.
Trivia
- Shou Bun Kun still does not trust Shi Shi despite them being close allies for years now.
- Ri Shi mentions Confucianism for the first time in the series.