In the inn, Miao Youfang let out a satisfied, painful sigh.
Since following Xu Qi’an, nominally his boss, in reality his teacher, had been helping him gather medicinal herbs for tempering his body.
He had also taught him a unique qi-guiding technique to assist in advancing.
Every day, he soaked in a medicinal bath, endured excruciating, burning pain, and silently guided his qi. At last, he crossed the threshold and advanced to the sixth rank, Bronze Skin and Iron Bones.
He stood up in the wooden tub and looked at himself. His bronze-coloured skin shimmered with a faint divine light.
His strength and five senses had improved tremendously, his vitality was more vigorous, but what delighted martial artists most was this body, impervious to blades and spears.
There was a saying in the jianghu: a sixth-rank magistrate, a fifth-rank prefect, a fourth-rank marquis.
Using official ranks as analogies for martial artists’ grades, a sixth rank could lord over a county, even the authorities dared not provoke him.
A fifth rank could show off his might in a whole prefecture.
A fourth rank was akin to a marquis, able to dominate a region.
Of course, this saying only applied to the jianghu, not the court.
Miao Youfang lowered his head, and saw that amidst the wild weeds, that “salted fish” of his was shimmering with divine radiance, as if it were a peerless divine spear.
In delight, he exclaimed:
“Goodness, just as I thought.
“From now on, this long spear of mine will sweep all before me. The girls will be crying for their mothers… Hey, Brother Li, you’re envious, aren’t you? You must be, right?
“Only a martial artist can deal with a fellow martial artist.”
Li Lingsu glanced at him and said coolly:
“No matter how hard an embroidery needle is, it’s still an embroidery needle, isn’t it?
“Oh, you just want to hurt the ladies a little bit more.”
Miao Youfang was furious and straightened his back. “Care to compare?”
Li Lingsu crossed his legs arrogantly and sneered, “Mine is only for beauties to see, I won’t stoop to the likes of an embroidery needle.”
At that moment, Xu Qi’an pushed open the door, gave them a glance, and said expressionlessly:
“Tidy up, we’re leaving Jiangzhou City.”
These two idiots… Xu Qi’an muttered inwardly, turning and leaving.
He was not in a good mood, he had not expected that as the provincial capital, Jiangzhou City would only have scattered Dragon Qi hosts.
…
Yuzhou.
Xiangzhou, Jingzhou, and Yuzhou bordered the Yan Kingdom. Following a principle of proximity, Nalan Tianlu chose to “reap” the Dragon Qi hosts of these three prefectures first.
It was undoubtedly the right decision. After some time gathering, they found eight Dragon Qi hosts in Xiangzhou and two in Yuzhou.
At the highest restaurant in the city, in a private suite of the Tian grade.
Dongfang Wanrong wore a peach-pink, low-cut dress, exposing her fair chest. Sitting sideways on the soft couch, she sipped her tea.
The door opened, and Dongfang Wanqing, whose looks matched her sister’s but who had a far colder air, stepped in, took the tea her sister passed her, and said:
“I’ve caught a spy. To be precise, he actively sought me out.”
Dongfang Wanrong raised her exquisite brows in surprise:
“A spy from the Great Feng?”
Dongfang Wanqing shook her head. “He claims to be from the Tianjigong.”
Tianjigong… Dongfang Wanrong frowned slightly, finding the name unfamiliar.
Just then, an old, gentle voice sounded in her mind: “Let him come in.”
While relaying her master’s order, Dongfang Wanrong queried mentally:
“Teacher, do you know of the Tianjigong?”
After a few seconds, Nalan Tianlu finally replied:
“An intelligence organisation established by a second rank Arcanist. Their people are spread throughout all the Central Plains, and even further in Jiuzhou. During the battle of Shanhai Pass, this group played a crucial role.
“Wei Yuan suffered a great deal back then.”
Dongfang Wanrong was even more perplexed. “A second rank Arcanist, yet standing against the Great Feng?”
In her mind, Arcanists were synonymous with Sitianjian, which belonged to the court of the Great Feng.
Nalan Tianlu sighed:
“The battle at Shanhai Pass was, in essence, the outbreak of mounting conflicts between the various forces of Jiuzhou. But if not for two people fanning the flames behind the scenes, the battle might not have erupted for another decade or more.
“And of those two, one was the leader of the Heaven Gu tribe, and the other was this second rank Arcanist.”
That second rank Arcanist and the Heaven Gu tribe worked together to instigate the Battle of Shanhai Pass? It was the first time Dongfang Wanrong had heard of the war’s hidden story. Amazed and baffled, she asked:
“Why did that second rank Arcanist do that?”
Nalan Tianlu said slowly, “Naturally to replace the Jianzheng, to advance to the first rank.”
Replace the Jianzheng… Dongfang Wanrong realised:
“No wonder you wish to meet the spy. That second rank Arcanist could be a potential ally.”
Nalan Tianlu snorted:
“A temporary ally, nothing more. He’s an extremely dangerous man. I was confined in the stupa tower for twenty years. On reemerging, he had already plunged the Great Feng into chaos.
“The greatest beneficiaries of the Battle of Shanhai Pass were, apart from the Buddhists, him and the Heaven Gu elder. Even though the Great Feng won, it had half its national fortune stolen from it. Though if it were just this, then the situation would not be so bad as it is now.
“But that man plotted for twenty years, had the Zhenbei King and Wei Yuan removed one after another. The Zhenbei King could be ignored, but once Wei Yuan died, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.”
Nalan Tianlu suddenly fell silent, and Dongfang Wanrong looked towards the door.
Creak… the door opened again, and Dongfang Wanqing led in a mysterious, cloaked, hooded man.
“Greetings, Palace Masters. I am ‘Wind,’ a secret agent of the Tianjigong, responsible for Yuzhou.”
A deliberately hoarse man’s voice came from within the hood. “Allow me to introduce: the Tianjigong is…”
Dongfang Wanrong cut him off coldly: “Get to the point.”
Agent “Wind” was silent for two seconds, then chuckled. “It seems the Grand Palace Master already knows our background.”
He reached into his chest, pulled out a letter, and respectfully offered it with both hands.
Dongfang Wanrong beckoned, and the envelope floated into her hand, which she unfolded and read.
A few seconds later, she set the letter down on the table and smiled.
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
Agent “Wind” saluted:
“Great Palace Master is wise. The Young Master also said: if you encounter Xu Qi’an, avoid him if possible and wait for an opportunity.
“Heh, Dragon Qi attracts Dragon Qi. As we gather more, all parties will inevitably clash. Then, we can conspire for greater things together.”
He paused, then said:
“Next, there is a piece of intelligence to share with the two Palace Masters.
“Of the nine most crucial Dragon Qi, Xu Qi’an already has three. They were in Leizhou, Xiangzhou Province of Zhangzhou, and the wandering hero Miao Youfang in Qingzhou.
“None of the nine crucial Dragon Qi hosts are in Yongzhou.
“It is now known that Yuuzhou holds one, while Yunzhou does not. Out of the thirteen provinces of the Great Feng, only Jiangzhou; the three northeastern provinces of Xiang, Jing, and Yu; Jianzou; Chuzhou, and the capital’s territory remain. The last five Dragon Qi are distributed among these six provinces.”
In the Great Feng’s official administrative divisions, the capital was considered its own province.
“There is none in Xiangzhou!”
Dongfang Wanrong shook her head.
Agent “Wind” said, “Then at least one, perhaps even two, are in Jingzhou and Yuzhou, unless Sun Xuanji of the Sitianjian intercepted them first.”
“I understand,” Dongfang Wanrong said.
Agent “Wind” nodded and continued:
“After the Palace Masters complete the sweep of the three northeastern provinces, the remaining ones will be Jiangzhou, Jianzou and Chuzhou. Xu Qi’an and ourselves are likely to come into conflict in one of these three.
“Is there a Master of Wisdom of the Church nearby?”
His tone was a gentle hint; without beyond-mortal abilities, one could not participate at this level.
Dongfang Wanrong smiled sweetly, “No need to concern yourself.”
…
Yuuzhou.
Xu Yuanshuang stretched out her arm, letting a carrier pigeon land on it. She drew a small piece of paper from the bamboo tube tied to its claw.
After reading it closely, a smile appeared on her clear, delicate face. She turned and said:
“The Azure Dragon Seven Constellations have captured the Dragon Qi host in Yuuzhou. It was not easy, and they almost let him escape a few times.
“But being prepared, with the help of Tianjigong agents and the power of the Azure Dragon Seven Constellations, all went well despite the danger.”
This was one of the nine most crucial strands Dragon Qi.
Liu Hongmian and the others gave a sigh of relief; Ji Xuan smiled. “Next, we should get in touch with the two Vajras.”
…
In Qingzhou, close to Yunzhou, Jingxin and Jingyuan had walked hundreds of miles on foot. Finally, on the border of Qingzhou, in a ruined old temple in a certain county, they met with Vajra Du’nan and Vajra Dufan.
The Vajras wore cloaks and hoods to conceal their dark-golden skin.
“Master! Senior Uncle!”
“Senior Uncles!”
Jingxin and Jingyuan bowed with palms pressed together.
Jingxin recounted in detail what had happened after they were captured:
“Xu Qi’an kept his promise and released us.”
By this point, even as a Zen Master, he could no longer refer to that man as Buddha Son.
Resentful thoughts filled his heart.
“Three years…”
Vajra Dufan sighed, “Thankfully the Asura King’s son has returned to his place.”
Even the Buddhists could not afford to lose a second rank Arhat.
Jingxin and Jingyuan were overjoyed.
Jingyuan asked, “Master, Senior Uncle, what are you doing here?”
Vajra Du’nan said slowly, “An incarnation of Vaidurya Bodhisattva is in Qianlong City in Yunzhou. There may be orders soon. The two of us are waiting here for the messenger.”
Jingxin asked, puzzled, “Why not enter the city?”
Vajra Dufan said in his muffled voice, “The Jianzheng is watching Yunzhou.”
Jingxin and Jingyuan looked at each other in alarm.
…
Ten days later, Jiangzhou City.
After many twists and turns, Xu Qi’an’s footprints had covered all of Jiangzhou, and he was back again in this main city.
He had already rounded up all of the Dragon Qi hosts in Jiangzhou, yet he still had not found a host of one of the nine Dragon Qi.
If the Dragon Qi host in Jiangzhou is a wandering swordsman, then they have probably already travelled elsewhere, just like Miao Youfang.
Xu Qi’an led the little mare, and together with Miao Youfang and Li Lingsu, walked towards the porridge shed set up outside the city.
There, a long queue had formed. The poor and vagrants in shabby clothing, holding broken bowls and bamboo tubes, waited to receive the porridge.
The city guards maintained order roughly, and often scolded or beat the crowded poor.
The methods were harsh, but they did keep the situation under control.
Those hungry and freezing poor people still wore numb and painful expressions on their faces, but there was a light in their eyes when they looked at the porridge shed.
To be honest, Emperor Yongxing’s disaster relief measures this time had made Xu Qi’an see him in a new light.
The Great Feng had come to this point, and most of the local officials everywhere only paid lip service to the rules. When a dynasty decayed to a certain extent, it could not be changed by the emperor alone, nor even by the high lords of the capital.
The difficulty of carrying out policies had always been the greatest headache throughout history.
According to Huaiqing, Emperor Yongxing had acted on Xu Erlang’s advice, dispatching all the censors from the capital to oversee the provinces, granting the inspector generals the right of “execute first, report later”.
Each inspector general had, at his side, a white-robed arcanist serving as a supervisor.
As everyone knew, white-robed arcanists were famously proud and wealthy, which greatly reduced the chance of collusion and corruption.
However, as low-ranked arcanists were rather weak, and fearing the envoy might succumb to temptation, embezzle and then murder to silence them, the court had added a strict rule:
If the arcanist died, the envoy would be executed.
Furthermore, the court encouraged local governments to supervise and report on each other between neighbouring counties and counties.
If a report was verified, the informant would be promoted by one rank, and the reported official, depending on the seriousness of the offence, would be dismissed or executed.
There were many other policies to prevent embezzlement of disaster relief supplies, such as the famous “if the chopstick floats heads will roll” and so on.
As for how to deal with people pretending to be refugees to fraudulently claim relief grain, the shrewd Prime Minister Wang had come up with this solution:
Seventy percent rice, twenty percent bran, and ten percent sand.1
These measures still could not fully root out corruption, but had a strong deterring effect.
Li Lingsu, gazing at the porridge shed, smiled and said, “Although compared to the disasters in various parts of the Central Plains, what the court had done may seem limited in effectiveness, at least it had given the people hope.”
Unusually, Miao Youfang did not retort, but instead gazed softly at the scene.
The group entered the city, planning to rest for the night, with their next destination being Jianzhou.
…
That night.
Xu Qi’an moved the candle from the round table to the desk, unfurled his own calligraphy paper in the inn, picked up his brush, and wrote:
“Xiang, Jing, Yu, Jian, Chu.”
Mu Nanzhi walked over, holding the little white fox, and peeked over. “Where are all these places?”
“Aren’t you always flipping through the ‘Geography of the Great Feng’?” Xu Qi’an countered.
“I forget everything as soon as I’ve read it, who could remember?” Mu Nanzhi retorted, pouting.
A poor student… Xu Qi’an silently complained.
If this woman had lived in his era, she probably would have had only two paths:
First, marry into wealth as a rich lady by virtue of her extraordinary beauty.
Second, enter the entertainment industry and become a queen of B-movies who could never really become popular.
Why could she not become popular? Because the reincarnation of the Flower Goddess obviously was not someone who could endure hardship.
Xu Qi’an really had no wants of her her. Apart from being overbearingly proud, at her core, she was kind and, at critical junctures, understood the situation, never holding him back.
A woman willing to wander the jianghu with you was, in Xu Qi’an’s eyes, the rarest and most precious quality.
“The remaining six Dragon Qi are basically in these places.”
Xu Qi’an stroked his chin and analysed for her, “But we can’t judge if the Church of the Warlock God, the Buddhist Sect, or Qianlong City have already taken the prize in advance.”
Mu Nanzhi nodded solemnly, her face serious, like a good student listening intently.
“If they managed to obtain one of the nine Dragon Qi, they would immediately return to their stronghold. That would be the most troublesome situation.”
She asked nervously, “Then what should we do?”
“There’s no solution,” Xu Qi’an shook his head. “My bottom line is that, at worst, we lose two of the most important Dragon Qi. I can try to make up the difference by collecting enough fragmented Dragon Qi.”
Mu Nanzhi immediately furrowed her brow. “Then how can we possibly beat them to it?”
Xu Qi’an smiled:
“No rush. I carry half the nation’s fortune. My chance of encountering Dragon Qi is higher than theirs. If I haven’t encountered it, neither have they. At most, they’ll run into one or two.
“I have a feeling Jianzhou will have one of the nine Dragon Qi hosts.”
Just then, he sensed something in his heart and took out his voice transmission conch.
“I’m…”
Sun Xuanji’s voice had just sounded when Xu Qi’an immediately interrupted:
“At the Laifu Inn in Jiangzhou City, third floor to the east, third room.”
A long silence fell on the other end.
Xu Qi’an patiently waited for two hours. At last, a clear light rose from the bedside, weaving together to form a young man in white robes, average height, and unremarkable features.
“Senior Brother Sun, what is it?”
He spoke as he respectfully handed over paper and brush.
If it could be written, he would never let Senior Brother Sun waste his words.
Sun Xuanji resignedly took up the brush and wrote:
“Dragon Qi intelligence summary!”
After a pause, he added, “I’ve discovered something strange.”
………..
i.e. deliberately reducing the quality of food to deter corrupt officials embezzling it for themselves—basically adding sawdust to bread. ↩
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