610. Illuminate all under Heaven

Baiji swiftly rolled over, trotted on her cheerful little short legs to Mu Nanzhi’s feet, lifted her head, and stared expectantly at her.

Mu Nanzhi bent down and picked her up, and Baiji turned to look at Xu Qi’an, speaking in a sweet voice:

“Has Mistress left? Did you two finalise your deal?”

“She was very satisfied with the deal and especially praised your wit,” Xu Qi’an replied.

Baiji’s face immediately lit up, as if a child in kindergarten had just been awarded a little red flower, both proud and delighted, but trying hard to hide it.

Xu Qi’an coaxed, “So, from now on, you’ll have to listen to me in all matters, understand? What bad intentions could I possibly have? Everything is for the good of your fox clan.”

Baiji made a sound of assent.

She felt closer to Xu Qi’an.

“Did Mistress say anything else?” She looked at Xu Qi’an with her dark, shiny eyes, hoping to hear that Mistress had spoken of her with care.

Mu Nanzhi pouted and snorted, then said,

“Your mistress wants to give you to him as a child bride.”

“What’s a child bride?” Baiji didn’t understand.

“It means, when you’re still young, he raises you, and after you grow up, you’ll work hard for him, serve him in bed, which means sleeping with him, and then give birth to little fox cubs for him.”

Mu Nanzhi explained the meaning of “child bride” in detail.

With such a straightforward explanation, Baiji immediately understood. She looked Xu Qi’an up and down, her expression seemingly a bit displeased.

Fuck, i’ve been shunned… Xu Qi’an pretended not to notice the look on the little fox cub’s face.

Cubs really can’t appreciate the charm of this Silver Gong…

While they spoke, Li Lingsu returned first, landing in the courtyard on his flying sabre.

“How goes it?”

Xu Qi’an asked.

“She really was seriously ill. Originally, it was just a flu; with medicine early on, she would have recovered quickly. But that old man chose to pray to the temple god…”

Li Lingsu shook his head.

“His wife drank the amulet water for several days, and her condition worsened. She may only have two days left at most. Fortunately, though she is weak, her organs haven’t failed. I gave her a cold-expelling pill and a qi-replenishing pill, so her condition is suppressed.

“With proper rest and nourishment, she should be fully recovered within ten days.”

Earlier, Xu Qi’an had given them a silver ingot, so there was no need to worry about the couple’s livelihood.

Li Lingsu then said,

“Just now, while looking around the county town, I heard something: Shengyi County’s magistrate lured the poor with the promise of free porridge, then killed them. He used their heads, pretending they were refugees, to claim merit from the court, and used ‘rampant refugees’ as a pretext to request relief funds.

“That’s why there are so few beggars in Shengyi County. Peasants from villages who can’t survive don’t even dare enter town.”

Refugees, or people without household registration, often became such because of crime or to escape taxes, fleeing far from their homes to wander around.

Without land to farm, these people usually turned to dishonest work, such as crime or human trafficking.

Or they performed menial labour.

In peaceful times, refugees were not a large group and nothing to worry about.

But come famile, the peasants wouldn’t be able to support themselves off the land, so they would become refugees. Currently, the Great Feng’s situation was extremely serious; the more well-off regions still managed, but in the poor backwaters the civil unrest was terrifying.

That was why Emperor Yongxing was forced to encourage donations, the situation really was disastrous.

Going through so much to see off your father, just to face a once-in-a-century “cold disaster”, on top of the mess left by the late emperor…

Xu Qi’an’s expression darkened. “I understand.”

He gave the Holy Son a look and said, mildly, “Are you hinting that I’m just offering a drop in the ocean by saving one person, and will actually change nothing?”

Li Lingsu, of course, would not admit as much, giving a laugh, “Just a reminder, just a reminder…”

After a pause, the Holy Son sighed, “The Great Feng’s situation is already dire, and it will only grow worse. If it’s not improved in time and the disaster is allowed to continue, uprisings everywhere will happen sooner or later.”

In history, this was called a peasant rebellion… Xu Qi’an thought more deeply. If the disaster could not be effectively relieved and Xu Pingfeng called for action, he feared many forces of the jianghu would join in.

They would think overthrowing the corrupt court was their only way out, just as all the warmonarchs rose at the end of Great Zhou.

At that moment, Miao Youfang walked in from outside the courtyard, carrying a bamboo basket. The three people and one fox, with their sharp noses, already caught the pungent scent of blood.

Clang!

Miao Youfang passed through the courtyard, set the basket down in front of everyone, placed his hands on his hips, and laughed,

“Task complete!”

Xu Qi’an craned his neck for a look, the basket was full of human heads, their eyes bulging, faces frozen with terror.

“Seven heads?”

He frowned. There had only been four thugs in the yard at that time.

Miao Youfang gave an “oh”, then said, “I killed the county magistrate, the county deputy, and the county constable as well.”

The temple fell silent. Li Lingsu gaped. “Why did you kill the county magistrate and his deputy?”

“You just don’t get it.”

Miao Youfang put on the “old jianghu veteran” air, crossed his arms, and smirked,

“For this mother and son to oppress the people so brazenly, rape good women, and still be ignored by the government, there must be someone backing them. After interrogating the lackeys, sure enough, they were in cahoots with the magistrate and deputy.

“And when I investigated further, wouldn’t you know it, the constable was rotten too, up to every evil. So I stormed the county offices and wiped them all out.”

That was speedy work… Li Lingsu and Xu Qi’an exchanged glances, speechless.

Xu Qi’an pressed his fingers to his brow and said, “Fine, just leave the heads here and let it be. Consider it a warning for the constabulary clerks.”

He then took out the Earth Book fragment and briefly updated Huaiqing.

【ONE: We understand.】

Only then did Xu Qi’an relax, Miao Youfang had wiped out the county office’s leadership, so panic was bound to ensue. Best to report to Huaiqing quickly, so she could notify the court.

The court could then send a new magistrate promptly to restore order.

The group returned to Shengyi County, found an inn, and settled in. In the room, Xu Qi’an summoned the Stupa tower and asked its spirit to remove the divine mirror’s seal.

“This thing can illuminate all under heaven. What a useful item, truly the ace tool for intelligence warfare!”

Xu Qi’an repeatedly examined the Divine Hun Tian Mirror in his hand, singing its praises.

Mu Nanzhi, lying by the water vat stirring the water, looked back and said,

“The nine-coloured lotus root is nearly ripe.”

Xu Qi’an held half of the “Huntian Divine Mirror”, walked to the edge of the water vat, and peered closely. In the shallow silt, the nine-coloured lotus root had grown from a small section at first to the length of an adult’s arm.

“Isn’t it already ripe?” Xu Qi’an said.

“Not yet, it just needs another ten days.” The reincarnation of the Flower Goddess declared with absolute confidence.

She lifted her chin a little proudly and said, “There is only one supreme spiritual treasure of this quality in the entire world, never a second. If it weren’t for my spiritual essence nurturing it, hmph!”

Her bright eyes fixed on Xu Qi’an, as if waiting for his praise and flattery.

“Wonderful!”

Xu Qi’an pinched his chin and lifted her face slightly.

Smack!

Mu Nanzhi slapped his hand away, spitting angrily and shamefacedly, “Keep your hands to yourself.”

With her proud and aloof nature, she could not tolerate being teased like that.

It will mature after ten days, then it will be time to go to the Wulin Alliance… Xu Qi’an walked to the bed and looked out towards the southeast.

Jianzhou lay to the southeast of Jiangzhou.

Back then, while the founding ancestor of the Wulin Alliance was in seclusion, he had risked a great deal to split off some of his power to help him deal with Xu Pingfeng.

Xu Qi’an only knew that he had encountered trouble advancing to the second rank, caught in a dilemma with no way forward or back.

Given those circumstances, if he was to fight a second rank expert, it could very well break the balance that the old man was struggling to maintain.

No, very likely that balance has already been broken, and he’s now sliding into the abyss…

But since the Wulin Alliance had not sent any message to the capital to demand that I fulfil my promise, it shows that things are not yet too serious…

A power like the Wulin Alliance, an old leader at the peak of the third rank, must be brought into the camp.

Oh right, Jianzhou has Wanhua Tower, and it’s full of beauties there. With the Holy Son’s nature as a womaniser, he must have some sweetheart among them. Haha, there’ll be a good show to watch…

I can even stir things up, saying Li Lingsu likes new and tires of the old. Considering the relationships between the Wulin Alliance’s factions and Wanhua Tower…

Xu Qi’an suddenly felt a bit impatient.

Holding the mirror, he walked to the desk, and his primordial spirit turned into “tentacles” and probed into the Huntian Divine Mirror.

On the bronze mirror’s surface, once again the single eyelidless eye bulged out, staring coldly at Xu Qi’an.

“What should I call you?”

Xu Qi’an projected friendly intent.

“Long live the Monarch of the Wanyao Kingdom!”

The mirror spirit responded in kind.

“Let’s introduce ourselves. I am the dashing and beloved Silver Gong Xu of the Great Feng.”

Xu Qi’an tried to communicate.

“Buddhists deserve to die, may the bald donkeys suffer a thousand cuts!”

The mirror spirit said.

…There’s no way to communicate at all! Xu Qi’an scratched his head, finding this troublesome.

He thought for a moment and said, “I am your father.”

The bronze mirror shuddered violently, the eyelidless eye became more profound and lively, as if sizing Xu Qi’an up.

At the same time, a majestic thought flooded Xu Qi’an’s mind:

“Lowly human brat, are you blaspheming this god?”

You’re lucid? Xu Qi’an was both startled and delighted, and responded mentally:

“I am an ally of the Wanyao Kingdom.”

“Silver-tongued trickster!” the mirror spirit snorted, “The Wanyao Kingdom has long since perished.”

“In the old days, the monarch left behind a daughter. She is now the leader of the kingdom’s remaining forces…”

Xu Qi’an patiently recounted his connection to the Wanyao Kingdom.

“You lowly human brat, don’t think to deceive me. You running dog of Buddhism, you deserve a bad end.”

The spirit was not buying any of it.

When the Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox descended, it had been sealed by the Tower Spirit and thus had no awareness of the old monarch’s daughter appearing.

The Stupa Tower is a turncoat… Xu Qi’an pondered, then said,

“In any case, you’ve fallen into my hands. Why don’t we work together? Serve me, and I’ll nourish you.”

“Very tempting, but I refuse!”

The mirror spirit was quite unyielding, sneering coldly:

“I am sworn at odds with Buddhism. Even if I turn to dust, get thrown out, abandoned, and sealed away, I will never accept even a morsel of your incense!”

Overly intransigent, I respect you for being a tough guy… Xu Qi’an decided to compromise with the mad artifact.

It would also be inappropriate to let Baiji summon the princess of the Wanyao Kingdom again, too disrespectful towards his seniors.

“Fine, I won’t force you. In a month, I’ll hand you over to the princess of the Wanyao Kingdom. In the meantime, you can nourish yourself in the Dragon Qi.”

Xu Qi’an said.

“What dogshit Dragon Qi, I don’t accept your favour.”

The spirit stood firm.

Can’t be bothered with you… Xu Qi’an took out an Earth Book fragment and threw it in.

The Huntian Divine Mirror touched the Earth Book fragment, the jade-surfaced mirror rippled and swallowed it up.

Xu Qi’an used his primordial spirit to “carry” the Huntian Divine Mirror and placed it into the lifelike golden dragon.

“I do not accept your favour, Buddhist running dog!”

The mirror spirit’s curses were cut off as soon as it entered the Dragon Qi.

A warm, majestic power enveloped it, nourishing its consciousness, as if it lay cradled in the arms of the monarch of the Wanyao Kingdom.

“Ah~”

Unable to help itself, the mirror moaned, “This is heavenly, what is this… why does it feel so good?”

This nourishment was worth countless times more than incense, even soothing the confusion and pain caused by its fragmentary consciousness.

Given enough time, I might even repair my damaged consciousness and return to my prime… The mirror spirit could not help but think so.

It became excited at once.

As soon as the Taiping Sabre sensed another treasure coming to compete for the Dragon Qi, it immediately conveyed an aggrieved emotion, hoping its master would drive the interloper away.

Don’t worry, you’re my real son, that one’s only adopted… Xu Qi’an comforted it thus.

“Seems you like Dragon Qi very much. So, can we work together now?” Xu Qi’an smiled.

The mirror spirit played dead and gave no response.

It did not want to submit, but it did want to bathe in the Dragon Qi.

Xu Qi’an gave a snort and used his primordial spirit to pull it back out.

“Put me back! Put me back now!”

The mirror panicked at once.

Xu Qi’an gazed expressionlessly at the eye bulging from the mirror’s surface.

“Fine, fine…”

After more than ten seconds of stalemate, the mirror finally gave in. “I can be used by you.”

The ‘True Fragrance Law’ is truly the hardest law of all, someone owes a Nobel Prize for this… Xu Qi’an smiled.

“A pleasure working with you.”

He could barely wait. “Now, I want to see your power.”

Illuminate all under heaven!

610. Illuminate all under Heaven

Page Comments