The tallest building in the Night Watchmen’s yamen was the Haoqi Tower in the central courtyard. It had a pointed roof with layered eaves, offering a panoramic view in all directions.
The lower four floors had corridors, while the fifth and sixth-floor corridors served as observation decks overlooking the entire Night Watchmen’s compound.
The great eunuch known in the jianghu as “Wei Qingyi” resided in this tower.
On the seventh-floor tea room, a man in cyan robes reclined on a soft couch, holding a book.
His cyan robe was embroidered with intricate cloud patterns, exquisitely crafted. His black hair was tied with a jade hairpin, with frost-white at the temples. His face was fair and beardless, with deep eyes that held the vicissitudes of time.
Wei Yuan was a man of both distinguished appearance and demeanor, refined and handsome, deep and reserved.
Two other men were in the tea room. Accompanying Wei Yuan in drinking tea and reading was a serious man with rigid features, showing no emotion.
The other had a delicate air and beautiful features, with phoenix eyes and willow-leaf eyebrows, thin red lips. At first glance, one might suspect he was a woman dressed as a man.
The delicate man stood in the observation pavilion, basking in the warm sunlight, one hand resting on the hilt of the sword at his waist. He said:
“The sun is bright, and the sky is cloudless. Isn’t enjoying the view here more interesting than hiding indoors reading books?”
Wei Yuan put down his book and smiled, “There are fewer and fewer books worth reading. I recently heard that the Imperial Astronomy Bureau has a new blue book recording the essence of all things in the world. I’m quite curious about it.”
“Yang Yan, in about ten days it will be His Majesty’s ancestral worship day. Notify everyone to increase patrols in the inner city and reduce commerce there.”
The man with the rigid face grunted in acknowledgment.
The delicate man exhaled, “Adoptive Father, are you not going to contest for the position of Vice Minister of Revenue and place your person there?”
“This is a necessary concession,” Wei Qingyi said, his gaze turning to the tea room entrance as a blue-robed clerk entered with a lowered head.
“Lord Wei, these are the aptitude test results and household registration for the new Bronze Gong. Please review them.”
The clerk handed over a stack of documents.
Wei Yuan opened the household registration and glanced at it. The new Bronze Gong was named Xu Qi An, originally a constable from Langle County. His father and uncle both had military backgrounds.
This information was both important and unimportant.
Important because of the Night Watchmen’s special status, requiring at least three generations of unblemished family history. Xu Qi An was a native of the Great Feng capital, born and raised there.
So Xu Qi An’s identity was qualified.
Unimportant because every Night Watchman had a similarly clean background.
Below the registration was the result of the “intelligence” test. Wei Yuan glanced at it, a smile curling his lips. “Qianrou, how many breaths did it take you to answer when you took the test?”
The delicate, beautiful man raised his chin slightly upon hearing this. “Fifteen breaths. Yang Yan took nineteen.”
“This new Bronze Gong took twelve breaths.”
Twelve breaths… The delicate man raised an eyebrow, evaluating proudly, “Not bad.”
The rigid-faced man showed no expression, saying, “Given his ability to quickly solve the tax silver case, this level of intelligence is not surprising.”
Wei Yuan smiled, his gaze fixed on the subsequent notes. He added, “The clerk holding the box was stunned for about five breaths.”
“Impossible.” The delicate man suddenly turned and walked into the tea room.
Yang Yan frowned.
This meant the thinking time was only seven breaths. What an incredibly sharp mind.
Yang Yan stood up and cupped his hands, “Adoptive Father, let me have this man.”
“He’s under your name, working with Silver Gong Li Yuchun,” Wei Yuan put down his teacup and looked at the delicate man. “You’ve met him before, that day at the Imperial Astronomy Bureau.”
Imperial Astronomy Bureau… The delicate man pondered for a few seconds, then sneered, “Ah, that presumptuous youngster.”
Hearing that the new Bronze Gong was under Li Yuchun, Yang Yan nodded with satisfaction.
Each Gold Gong managed seven Silver Gongs, and Li Yuchun was under his command.
“Adoptive Father, how about his combat strength?” Yang Yan asked.
“Peak of Body Tempering, no need for testing,” Wei Yuan smiled. “This person was recommended by the Crown Princess. I see him as quick-witted and capable, so I specially approved his joining the Night Watchmen.”
The Crown Princess?!
Yang Yan and the delicate man exchanged a glance. Wei Yuan hadn’t told them this information.
Wei Yuan continued to review the results of the “Heart Questioning” test. Gradually, his gentle expression became serious, his deep gaze sharp.
Yang Yan straightened his back, looking towards the paper.
The delicate man casually walked to Wei Qingyi’s side and peeked at the paper, immediately laughing, “He’s even more arrogant than me. Adoptive Father, how will you deal with him?”
His laughter carried a hint of schadenfreude.
Wei Yuan pulled out the bottom sheet of paper, which bore ugly handwriting:
“You eat your salary, the fat and marrow of the people.
The common people are easily oppressed, but Heaven is not easily deceived.”
Wei Qingyi’s pupils suddenly froze, staring at the two lines for a long time without speaking.
“The common people are easily oppressed, but Heaven is not easily deceived…” Yang Yan repeated this sentence.
The delicate man’s eyes flickered slightly, recovering from momentary shock. His focus was opposite to the expressionless Yang Yan:
“You eat your salary, the fat, and marrow of the people… Heh, so this little constable thinks he’s eating the people’s fat and marrow, not the imperial family’s.”
Yang Yan thought for a moment and asked, “What does the Adoptive Father think?”
Wei Yuan asked in return, “What do you think?”
Yang Yan carefully said, “Eat the lord’s food, bear the lord’s worries.”
Implying that he didn’t agree with that sentence.
Wei Yuan nodded, “When the day comes that this little Bronze Gong rises to Gold Gong, you can debate with him yourself.”
The delicate man raised an eyebrow, “Adoptive Father thinks that youngster can become a Gold Gong in the future?”
“As long as he’s a warrior, there’s no problem,” Wei Yuan smiled gently. “The three teachings each have their rules. Mages are burdened by worldly fortunes, as are shamans. In this world, only warriors are the purest.”
“Although I despise warriors who break laws with their strength, I must admit that the more unyielding the warrior, the more fiercely they progress.”
“With no reverence or fear in their hearts, they dare to turn the world upside down.”
Saying this, Wei Yuan took out a new inkstone from under the table, poured in cinnabar and clear water, ground it into red ink, and dipped his brush.
He wrote “First Class” on the household registration.
“The unyielding become warriors, those who care for the world become heroes. The greatest heroes serve the country and the people.”
First Class!
Since the establishment of the Night Watchmen, those who received this evaluation could be counted on one hand.
…
In a certain secret room.
Li Yuchun pointed at the wooden tub and said, “Take off all your clothes and sit in it.”
Finally, I’m going to enter the Qi Refining realm… Xu Qi An suppressed his inner excitement and glanced at the pungent-smelling tub filled with dark green liquid.
This stuff was called Marrow Cleansing Liquid, and just this one tub cost about 150 taels of silver.
He quickly took off his clothes, pants, and shoes, and sat naked in the tub.
Li Yuchun asked, “You haven’t lost your virginity, right?”
Xu Qi An nodded, “My second uncle is a Centurion in the Imperial Blade Guard. He told me about this. Before the Qi Refining realm, one can’t lose virginity.”
He leaned back comfortably in the tub and asked, “Boss, you’re at the Spirit Refining realm?”
Li Yuchun grunted in affirmation.
“Then after Spirit Refining is Bronze Skin Iron Bones, right?”
Li Yuchun grunted again.
Xu Qi An smiled and said, “That name doesn’t sound good. Why not call it the Vajra realm?”
Bronze Skin Iron Bones sounds too lowbrow, making us warriors seem like uncultured bumpkins.
“The third rank in Buddhism is called Vajra,” Li Yuchun explained.
I see! Xu Qi An nodded and carefully asked, “Boss, among the many cultivation systems in the world, which is the strongest?”
Li Yuchun answered without hesitation, “The Taoists say they are the strongest.”
“What about the other systems?”
“All other systems believe they are the strongest.”
“Oh… I understand.”
“However, all systems in the world have one consensus, which is that warriors are the crudest and least presentable.”
“… I know a bit about this. It’s because warriors only have brute strength but no mystical abilities.”
Still not flashy enough.
“That’s just on the surface. There’s a bigger secret inside, related to the upper limits of cultivation systems.”
Xu Qi An straightened his back and probed, “Boss, can you tell me about it?”