“With your current status, why not directly inquire at their doorstep?” Daoist Jinlian asked, puzzled.
“Earl Pingyuan is a hereditary noble after all. Without evidence, I can’t resort to violence. Besides, a normal investigation would be too restrictive. To get answers, methods both overt and covert must complement each other,” Xu Qi An casually explained. “The Dao sect is undoubtedly the leader in the realm of Yuanshen. You should be able to make him ‘cooperate’ obediently and reveal all the information he can, right?”
“…You seem quite experienced. This doesn’t match your previous life experiences,” Daoist Jinlian remarked, nodding slightly in affirmation.
“Some cars look new but have frighteningly high mileage,” Xu Qi An said seriously.
“What do you mean by that?” Daoist Jinlian frowned.
“I mean you only see my surface, but a person’s life is always more colorful than the words in a dossier,” Xu Qi An shrugged.
“That makes sense.” Daoist Jinlian didn’t pursue the topic further and said, “Open your mind, I’ll enter your sea of consciousness.”
“Are you projecting your Yuanshen again?” Xu Qi An asked cautiously.
“Hehe, my body is injured, greatly reducing my power, but my Yinshen is unharmed. This can better utilize my abilities.
“There’s a curfew in the inner city, I can’t openly go out with you. I can hide from ordinary Bronze Gongs, but if a Gold Gong sees us, it won’t be good for either of us. Moreover, Beijing is full of hidden dangers, threats may not only come from the Watchmen.”
That’s true, but wanting to shape my Yuanshen into your form is going too far… Besides, we’re not that close yet… Xu Qi An frowned in difficulty.
Although he trusted Daoist Jinlian to some extent, it wasn’t enough to allow her Yuanshen to invade his sea of consciousness freely.
Moreover, he couldn’t guarantee that Daoist Jinlian wouldn’t glimpse some of his secrets, like memories from his previous life, or the round, snow-white buttocks of Courtesian Fuxiang.
Daoist Jinlian shook her head, “Then what should we do?”
At this moment, a shrill cat cry came from the roof. Xu Qi An immediately smiled and pointed up, “My apologies, Daoist.”
“…”
…
Changing into the Watchman’s uniform, Xu Qi An openly left the small courtyard. Along the way, he encountered Imperial Blade Guards who, seeing his uniform, didn’t even bother to question him, only wondering why this Watchman had a black cat perched on his shoulder.
Only when meeting fellow Watchmen would Xu Qi An be stopped, but just by showing his gold token and saying he was investigating under imperial orders, all problems were resolved.
Xu Qi An didn’t hurry deliberately, but with his current speed, it only took an hour to reach the vicinity of Earl Pingyuan’s mansion.
Looking around to ensure no one was nearby, he found a secluded corner and tore a page from the “magic book” which recorded a concealment method.
“Hiss…”
The qi ignited the paper, and an invisible force enveloped Xu Qi An and the black cat.
The Confucian school’s “words become law”… The black cat’s orange eyes watched this scene, and Daoist Jinlian suddenly recalled many details.
No wonder Number Three wanted to portray himself as a student of Cloud Deer Academy. It wasn’t just because his cousin was a student there; he seemed to have a great connection with the academy.
Otherwise, how could he possess books with inscribed spells?
Daoist Jinlian immediately ruled out the possibility of his cousin gifting this, firstly because ordinary students couldn’t receive such favor from great Confucian scholars.
Secondly, for a student, how could they easily give away such a treasure? They probably wouldn’t even dare to use it themselves.
…The scholars of Cloud Deer Academy have always looked down on martial artists, so why would they gift him such a treasure? While pondering this question, Daoist Jinlian saw Xu Qi An pull a cloak from the ground book fragment and cover himself with it.
Why are you so proficient at this… The black cat shook its head.
“Before we act, I remembered two trivial matters I’d like to ask Daoist about,” Xu Qi An, his face hidden under the cloak, suddenly spoke.
“Speak!” The black cat vibrated the air, speaking human words.
“Do spirit dragons only favor royal family members?”
“Theoretically, yes.”
“Theoretically?”
“Spirit dragons like to eat purple qi, not that they like royal family members,” the black cat explained.
…Xu Qi An nodded thoughtfully: “There’s one more thing. Today when I went to the imperial city to investigate, I heard that the spirit dragon went berserk for no reason. Even all the guards together couldn’t subdue it, and it almost injured Princess Lin’an.”
The black cat was silent for a long time.
“Daoist?”
The black cat looked around vigilantly and transmitted Daoist Jinlian’s grave voice: “The sealed object under Sangbo has entered the city…”
“How can you tell?”
“Spirit dragons naturally possess the art of observing qi, and it’s incomparable to ordinary qigong. They can sense things that ordinary people can’t.”
No wonder Chu Caiwei’s qi observation technique couldn’t see anything unusual, her skills are insufficient… Is this why the spirit dragon wanted to kowtow to me? I could see the strange luck on me… Does this mean the Supervisor can see it too?
Xu Qi An was shocked by this conjecture.
The sealed object from Sangbo has entered the city… The spirit dragon sensed the threat, so it went berserk, desperately trying to escape the imperial city… Tomorrow, I’ll find a way to leak this information to Wei Yuan.
Ending the conversation, Xu Qi An crept along the walls of several courtyards, reaching the back wall of Earl Pingyuan’s mansion, and leaped over it.
After landing, he cautiously looked around, confirming that the sound of his clothes fluttering hadn’t disturbed any experts in the mansion.
Earl Pingyuan’s mansion was vast. According to living habits, the master usually resided in the largest courtyard to the east.
Using the concealment spell, Xu Qi An avoided several patrolling guards and arrived at the largest courtyard to the east.
Just as he entered the courtyard, his ears twitched. He heard loud, unrestrained moans and a man’s heavy breathing.
…What terrible timing, Xu Qi An cursed inwardly, but couldn’t help quickening his pace.
He crept to the window, concentrated qi on his fingertip, and poked a hole in the resilient window paper. Through the small hole, he peered inside.
The hole directly faced the main bedroom, and the activities of the two people on the bed fell clearly into Xu Qi An’s view. But because of the thin bed curtains, he could only see the brocade quilt rising and falling, and hear the woman’s wanton cries.
“Pop…”
At this moment, a slight sound came from above his head – the sound of a cat’s claws piercing the window paper.
Xu Qi An looked up and saw the black cat standing on its hind legs on top of his head, its front paws against the window, face pressed against the hole, watching intently.
Daoist, you’re into this too… Xu Qi An’s mouth twitched twice.
“That should be Earl Pingyuan’s eldest son. Let’s rush in directly,” Xu Qi An suggested.
“Let’s wait until they finish. That’s when a man is most relaxed,” Daoist Jinlian rejected Xu Qi An’s suggestion.
No, Daoist, you’ll regret it. You don’t know how terrifying martial artists can be, after all, we are strong in that area… Xu Qi An complained inwardly.
Two incense sticks’ time passed…
Daoist Jinlian looked down at Xu Qi An: “Alright, I admit you were right.”
The woman’s voice went from hoarse to pleading pitifully and finally seemed to faint. After a long while, the man finally let out a deep roar, finishing the act.
Tsk tsk, that’s nothing special. I remember my first time with Fuxiang, I lasted until midnight… Xu Qi An thought quite pleasantly, about to circle to the front door to sneak into the room and subdue the target with swift action.
But at this moment, Xu Qi An suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. Goosebumps rose, and it felt as if blood-colored thorns were piercing his flesh from behind.
An inexplicable fear filled his mind.
“Something is coming…” Daoist Jinlian’s voice was unprecedentedly heavy.
Just as she finished speaking, Xu Qi An heard guards shouting in the distance: “Who dares to trespass into Earl Pingyuan’s mansion… Ah…”
Midway through the sentence, it turned into a scream.
Immediately after, waves of exploding qi spread out, and screams rose and fell, quickly falling into silence.
The eldest son of Earl Pingyuan, who had already entered the sage time, heard the commotion. He quickly jumped out of bed without even having time to put on clothes, grabbed the sword hanging on the wall, and rushed out of the room with a grim expression.
A figure wrapped in a black robe appeared in the courtyard. His face was hidden under a hood, and the aura he emitted made Xu Qi An’s legs tremble, wanting only to flee.
The black cat arched its back, its fur standing on end, its pupils rapidly contracting. Its abnormal state also represented Daoist Jinlian’s current emotions to some extent.
“Who are you?” Earl Pingyuan’s eldest son spoke with a trembling voice.
His legs, his arms, his facial muscles… were uncontrollably shaking and convulsing.
“A debt collector.” A hoarse voice came from under the hood. The black-robed man raised his head, revealing a pale face with quite handsome features.
He had a pair of dark eyes, the pupils seeming to occupy the entire eye socket, with no white visible.
Xu Qi An didn’t recognize him but memorized his appearance, guessing at his identity.
“It’s you, it’s you…” Earl Pingyuan’s eldest son screamed, utterly terrified: “You’re already dead, I saw you die with my own eyes…”
“I died, but I crawled back out of hell.” The black-robed man’s voice was hoarse. He raised his right hand, a hand that seemed to come from the devil, blood-red all over, with bulging blue veins. The moment Xu Qi An saw this hand, the fear in his heart exploded.
Whoosh… A vortex of qi swelled in the blood-red palm, sucking the eldest son of Earl Pingyuan into it.
“Help, help… Someone, anyone…”
The eldest son of Earl Pingyuan kicked his legs wildly. Suddenly, his flesh shriveled, instantly turning him into a desiccated corpse.
A person who was alive just a moment ago had lost his life in an instant.
Desiccated corpse?! It was as if lightning had struck Xu Qi An’s mind.
The black-robed man gave a sinister laugh, venting his anger by manipulating his qi. Bang… the desiccated corpse exploded into powder.
After killing, the black-robed man turned his head, his cold gaze looking towards Xu Qi An’s hiding place.
He opened his palm towards the bottom of the window. Whoosh… the rolling vortex appeared again.
Damn… Xu Qi An’s feet were rooted to the ground, his body leaning back, being drawn closer and closer to the other’s palm, closer to the abyss-like life-devouring palm.
Xu Qi An reached into his bosom, took out the strength pills given by Chu Caiwei, forcefully crushed the porcelain bottle, and stuffed all the pills into his mouth.
Then, he pressed his hand on the hilt of the black-gold long saber, settling all his emotions.
Clang!
In the night, a flash of dark gold blade light, ding, a string of dazzling sparks splashed from the blood-red arm.
The tiger’s mouth of Xu Qi An’s right hand split open, and the muscles of his right arm holding the blade convulsed.
This is an enemy I can’t cut down with one slash… and facing such an enemy, the secret manual’s sword intent doesn’t suggest striking again, but fleeing.
“Run!”
The black cat vibrated the air, speaking human words, while simultaneously leaping up, pouncing towards the black-robed man.
Amidst the qi fluctuations, the black cat’s body disintegrated in mid-air, and Daoist Jinlian’s Yuanshen manifested, crashing toward the black-robed man.
Daoist, take care… Xu Qi An didn’t look back, taking the opportunity to break free from the vortex’s pull. In a few steps, he leaped onto the roof ridge and over the wall, escaping.