Xu Qi An?
If last time the Spirit Dragon’s sudden emotional outburst had Huaiqing and Xu Qi An nearby, this time, Xu Qi An wasn’t in the vicinity.
The Spirit Dragon’s frenzy had another reason, but despite so many guards being unable to subdue it, it became docile in front of Xu Qi An.
This doubt flashed through Wei Yuan’s mind but was quickly dismissed.
He had investigated Xu Qi An’s background; his record was clean and unremarkable. Forcibly connecting him to the Spirit Dragon seemed a bit far-fetched.
The Spirit Dragon’s sudden calmness could be explained as “having vented its emotions” or “not wanting to harm Princess Lin’an.”
The Emperor probably thought the same.
The ruler and his subject walked slowly towards the palace, without taking a palanquin. Emperor Yuanjing suddenly said, “The Marquis of Zhen Bei hasn’t returned to the capital for some years, has he?”
Wei Yuan’s eyes flashed, and he smiled, “It has been quite a few years.”
Emperor Yuanjing nodded, “After next spring, summon him back. I miss him too.”
…
Xu Qi An drove the carriage along the spacious streets of the inner city, with two rows of armored soldiers before and after the carriage.
Wei Yuan sat inside the carriage.
“Lord Wei, what’s the deal with that Spirit Dragon? Keeping such a dangerous beast in the imperial city, aren’t they afraid it might harm someone?” Xu Qi An probed.
Wei Yuan’s gentle voice came from inside the carriage, “The Spirit Dragon has always been docile. As long as non-royal members don’t touch it, they won’t be attacked.”
“Are there no exceptions?” Xu Qi An asked casually, trying hard to keep his tone steady.
After a moment, Wei Yuan said slowly, “There are no exceptions.”
…Xu Qi An fell silent.
After a while of silence, Xu Qi An spoke again, “Lord Wei, I’ve uncovered some things that make the case even more perplexing. This humble official is unsure how to proceed.”
“Speak.”
“This humble official visited the Azure Dragon Temple today and learned of a secret. There was a monk named Henghui who, over a year ago, fell in love with a female worshipper who often visited the temple. He then stole a magical artifact from the temple that could conceal one’s aura, and they eloped together,” Xu Qi An said.
“That female worshipper was the long-missing Princess of Pingyang.”
Wei Yuan’s deep voice came from the carriage, “Why didn’t you report this earlier?”
Because I wanted to go to the Elder Princess first to show off… no, to gain favor… Xu Qi An felt a bit embarrassed and made an excuse:
“Without clear evidence of its usefulness, I didn’t dare mislead Lord Wei. It was only after meeting the Elder Princess that I realized Princess Pingyang’s elopement might involve a struggle between the nobility and civil officials.
“This humble official isn’t yet certain if Princess Pingyang, Monk Henghui, and the Sangbo case are related. Although the Jinwu Guard’s centurion Zhou Chixiong carried an aura-concealing artifact, he had already fled the capital. Whether it’s the same artifact from the Azure Dragon Temple, who knows?”
Wei Yuan didn’t reply to this.
The carriage entered the Night Watchmen’s office. Xu Qi An took down the small wooden ladder to welcome Wei Yuan.
Wei Yuan, with his hands tucked into his sleeves, looked at him expressionlessly and said, “Follow me to Haoqi Tower.”
Is he going to reprimand me? Xu Qi An helplessly followed. The two entered Haoqi Tower one after another. Wei Yuan instructed Xu Qi An to brew tea while he stood in the observation hall looking at the scenery.
Time ticked by until Xu Qi An called out, saying the tea was ready.
It was just boiling water and steeping tea leaves, a simple process.
Wei Yuan walked to the table, glanced at it, and shook his head, “The first cup should be discarded, not drunk directly. It’s too bitter and masks the tea’s sweetness.”
Are you teaching me how to do things?
“This humble official is a crude person, without experience…” Xu Qi An thought of Uncle Da’s arrogant expression in his mind, but his face showed Stephen Chow’s lowly smile.
Click… Wei Yuan took out a brocade box from his sleeve and smiled, “Open it and take a look.”
Xu Qi An obeyed and opened the box. Inside was a pill the size of a longan fruit, orange and transparent. A rich medicinal fragrance wafted into his nostrils.
“This is a golden pill bestowed by His Majesty. It can strengthen one’s physique and increase qi. The Imperial Preceptor spent several months refining it and only managed to produce one batch. It’s priceless,” Wei Yuan closed the box and tapped it with his finger. “It’s yours now.”
Xu Qi An was incredulous.
“This thing is of no use to me, and it doesn’t have much effect on high-rank martial artists. After much consideration, you’re currently the one who needs to improve your cultivation the most,” Wei Yuan smiled.
“Since I said I would nurture you, naturally, I wouldn’t speak without purpose.”
“Thank you, Lord Wei!” The joy and gratitude on Xu Qi An’s face were genuine. He was filled with emotion and a profound realization flashed through his mind:
If you flatter to the end, you’ll have everything.
“After you absorb the golden pill, your qi should be able to fill your middle dantian. By then, you’ll need to start visualization early to enhance your primordial spirit. This way, your cultivation progress will be at least one-third faster than martial artists at the same level,” Wei Yuan said.
This is the benefit of backing a large organization and relying on a powerful patron. If I were an independent cultivator, I’d probably be stuck in the Qi Condensation realm like Second Uncle… Xu Qi An was grateful that he had made the most correct choice that day.
When he discovered Number Nine and Number Six playing Werewolf, he didn’t risk trying it out but went straight to Wei Yuan and was completely honest.
Without that experience, he wouldn’t have gained Wei Yuan’s recognition and trust so quickly.
Without Wei Yuan’s trust, even if he was appreciated, he would probably have to accumulate merits miserably, rather than having golden pills given to him so casually now.
“Lord Wei, the next rank after the Spirit Refinement realm is Copper Skin and Iron Bones. How should one cultivate this?” Xu Qi An asked earnestly.
“When you reach the peak of the Spirit Refinement realm, your blood essence and primordial spirit will achieve fusion. At this time, your physique will undergo a transformative change. During the transformation period, use clubs to beat every part of your body, like a blacksmith forging iron, to remove impurities and refine steel.”
Beat every part of the body? What about my little brother? That’s not the kind of pressure it should endure at this age… Won’t it end up being completely ruined… Xu Qi An’s mind was full of doubts and concerns, but he didn’t dare to voice such crude thoughts in front of Wei Yuan.
“That’s the ancient method,” Wei Yuan added with a smile. “Times have changed. Now, martial artists use medicinal baths for body refinement.”
Xu Qi An breathed a sigh of relief and continued to ask, “When this humble official was researching, I found that the description of the fifth-rank Force Condensation is roughly: ‘Giving life to every part of the body, making them as controllable as one’s arms, yet independently transcendent.'”
This description is nonsense. The body is a whole entity and already has life. How can there be such a thing as “giving life to every part”?
Unless they were to have independent thoughts, but that’s impossible. Although men have two heads, they only have one brain. Even the other head doesn’t deserve to have a brain, let alone other body parts.
If other body parts had thoughts, fingers would say: I’ve climbed to the peak and fallen into valleys. The mouth would say, I’m meant for eating, yet some people insist on using me to flatter. The little brother would say, I’ve entered the tiger’s lair, gone in and out seven times, fighting bloody battles. I’ve also accidentally fallen into the tiger’s mouth and escaped spitting blood.
As he thought about it, Xu Qi An found it both absurd and amusing.
Wei Yuan observed him, noticing the subtle changes in his expression, and shook his head, saying, “The specific cultivation methods can wait until you reach that level. Knowing too much now will only lead to overthinking and unnecessary worries.
“Alright, take the pill here. I want to see if this golden pill can help you fill your middle dantian. Not everyone experiences this effect. I judged based on your aptitude, but whether it works or not, we’ll have to see.”
Wei Yuan held some expectations.
Xu Qi An nodded and opened the brocade box to take the golden pill.
He chewed the pill forcefully, swallowing it. A few seconds later, his stomach began to heat up, as if a fire had been lit.
The flames scorched his stomach, slightly exceeding its tolerance limit.
Not daring to be careless, Xu Qi An sat cross-legged to breathe and circulate his qi, guiding the heat to circulate within his body.
Whoosh whoosh…
Powerful, prolonged breaths, like the exhalations of a giant beast, echoed in the spacious tea room.
Wei Yuan narrowed his eyes, quietly observing Xu Qi An.
An hour later, Xu Qi An felt the heat in his stomach subside, and qi filled his entire body. He felt better than ever before.
Now, even if the opponent has a bronze gong artifact for protection, I can still kill a Spirit Refinement realm silver gong with one slash… Xu Qi An was delighted with his transformation.
“Not bad. You are indeed a rare martial arts prodigy,” Wei Yuan praised.
He stood up and took out a thin booklet and a scroll he had prepared earlier from the bookshelf, handing them to Xu Qi An. “The booklet records the methods for visualization. Learn from it. This scroll is what you need to visualize.”
Xu Qi An unrolled the scroll. It depicted a giant figure with its head touching the sky and feet on the ground. Its expression, muscle texture, and every detail were vividly portrayed.
But what was most striking was the defiant aura of striking the nine heavens above and trampling the nine abysses below, as if nothing in the world could intimidate it.
“The visualized divine image will affect a martial artist’s mental state. This spirit is imprinted in the painting by the artist. I chose for a long time and felt this divine image was most suitable for you,” Wei Yuan didn’t forget to impart knowledge to him.
Xu Qi An treasured the booklet and scroll, and tentatively asked, “Lord Wei, can I visualize together with someone else? Um, he’s my second uncle.”
He felt that in front of Wei Yuan, it was best to be honest and not play tricks because it was impossible to deceive the incredibly intelligent eunuch.
“You only need to return the scroll after three months. What you do with it during that time, or who you give it to, I don’t care,” Wei Yuan said, then reminded him:
“Any divine image scroll is priceless. If it’s damaged, your salary for the rest of your life will be gone.”
Suddenly, Xu Qi An felt the scroll burning in his hands.
Thump thump thump… Footsteps came from the stairway, and Nangong Qianrou entered with a gloomy face. Her gaze lingered on the visualization scroll in Xu Qi An’s hand, and then she leaned down to Wei Yuan’s ear and whispered something.
“I see,” Wei Yuan exhaled, expressionless. “He hinted at it during our chess game. Our emperor can tolerate corrupt officials, but he can’t tolerate even the slightest challenge to his authority.”
Three of his spies planted in the palace had been removed.
Xu Qi An kept his head down, pretending not to have heard.
Wei Yuan smiled, “Wait a bit longer. The gold and silk bestowed by His Majesty will arrive soon.”
At dusk, palace servants delivered the gold and silk bestowed by Emperor Yuanjing. One thousand taels of gold, weighing about sixty jin, was packed in a large chest.
Five hundred bolts of silk, each bolt four zhang long, filled two entire carts.
It was close to the end of the workday, and the night watchmen in the office hadn’t left yet. They watched in amazement as the palace servants pulled the carts into the office.
Xu Qi An, upon receiving the report, came out happily to welcome them. After the handover, the palace servants left with the empty carts.
Xu Qi An called Song Tingfeng and others to help load the gold and silk onto the carts borrowed from the office.
“Ning Yan, you’ve struck it rich, huh?” Song Tingfeng was both delighted and envious, patting Xu Qi An’s shoulder forcefully.
“I don’t care, you’re treating us to the training house next month.”
Xu Qi An glanced at Lü Qing and angrily said, “Nonsense, I don’t even go to brothels.”
Then, he opened the chest, took out four gold ingots, and gave them to Li Yuchun, Min Shan, and Yang Feng, saying, “Take these and distribute them among the brothers.”
He then tossed one ingot to Lü Qing, smiling, “Captain Lü, don’t refuse.”
Lü Qing nodded.
Martial artists are indeed straightforward! Xu Qi An smiled.
“Thank you, Lord Xu,” the twelve bronze gongs and six prefectural runners cheered ecstatically.
The watching night watchmen in the distance were envious, wishing they could join Xu Qi An’s team. One gold ingot looked to be about five taels, which would be exchanged for forty taels of silver. Casually giving away one hundred and sixty taels, which superior was this generous?
“These rewards are…” Li Yuchun asked.
“I saved Princess Lin’an in the imperial city, and His Majesty bestowed these. Um, the details aren’t convenient to discuss,” Xu Qi An answered.
Is it not a reward for progress on the Sangbo case?
Everyone was stunned, suddenly feeling the silver burning in their hands, undeserving. They had thought it was His Majesty’s delight at the progress of the Sangbo case that led to Xu Qi An’s reward.
Xu Qi An waved his hand, “You’ve all worked hard these past few days. This official never mistreats his colleagues.”
Lü Qing smiled, sweeping her gaze over the prefectural runners behind her and the bronze gongs, noticing subtle changes in their expressions.
She smiled happily.
Xu Qi An looked around and asked, “Where’s Miss Caiwei?”
“She must have returned to the Bureau of Astronomy.”
No, she must be enjoying herself in some tavern again… Xu Qi An thought to himself.
After work, the bronze gongs escorted the rewarded items to the Xu residence.
Xu Qi An, riding on horseback, thought that with this gold, even if he left the capital in the future, his family would have enough money, to completely make up for the losses from the tax silver case.
Aunt could happily buy jewelry and new clothes again, Ling Yin could often eat at Guiyue Tower, and Ling Yue’s dowry… well, Ling Yue was still young, no need to rush into marriage.
When the Second Young Master enters officialdom in the future, he won’t lack money to build relationships. The second Uncle, that poor fellow, could also avoid having to contribute all his money to the family and could visit the training house more often.
Aunt probably hasn’t seen so much silk in her entire life… Ah, my hands are a bit itchy. When I get home, should I slap her face with silk or with gold… Xu Qi An was in high spirits.