The three days of daytime patrols passed uneventfully. On this night, Xu Qi An, Song Tingfeng, and Zhu Guangxiao formed a team, wearing black official uniforms with short capes, bronze gongs hanging on their chests, and sabers at their waists. They walked with ease through the streets of the inner city.
As night fell, the air grew cooler, and fallen flowers frosted the ground. The capital was silent in the darkness. In the early winter season, there were no insect or bird calls, and the quietness made Xu Qi An feel as if he were in a peaceful countryside.
Occasionally, they would hear the sound of uniform footsteps and the clatter of armor plates. It was the Imperial Blade Guard on their city patrol.
After patrolling the streets for half an hour, Song Tingfeng led his two colleagues to leap onto the roof of a small building, overlooking the crisscrossing streets below.
“Patrolling the streets is the job of the Imperial Blade Guard. We’re mainly responsible for those who move across rooftops and eaves,” Song Tingfeng said, standing on the roof ridge and squinting against the night wind.
“Only go up to the roof ridges for lookout. Unless there’s a major case, don’t randomly traverse the roofs and eaves. The capital’s waters run deep, with countless experts both visible and hidden. If you recklessly move across rooftops, who knows when a sword might fly out from some corner and take you out.”
He paused, then added, “Of course, the Night Watchers will avenge you, collect your body, and distribute compensation.”
“How much is the compensation?” Xu Qi An asked.
“For a Bronze Gong, it’s three hundred taels of silver,” Song Tingfeng said. “Quite conscientious, right? Three hundred taels of silver is enough for a wife and children to live comfortably.”
However, three hundred taels of silver now could only buy five nights with the suddenly expensive Fuxiang… Xu Qi An joked, “Yeah, and then your wife remarries, another man spends your money, sleeps with your wife, and even beats your son.”
“…” Song Tingfeng stared at him silently for a moment, then squeezed out a sentence: “I suddenly feel grateful that I haven’t started a family yet.”
Zhu Guangxiao nodded silently.
…
The next day at noon, Xu Qi An, who had only slept for five hours, got up energetically.
Using a pig bristle toothbrush with some toothpowder, he squatted under the eaves to brush his teeth.
Tooth powder was the ancient version of toothpaste, made from nine traditional Chinese medicine ingredients: ginger, soapberry, Cimicifuga, Rehmannia, Eclipta prostrata, Sophora japonica, Asarum, lotus leaf, and refined salt.
In addition to these, there was an ingredient that Xu Qi An had never encountered in his previous life, called tartar-removing pills.
This directly elevated the cleaning, whitening, and breath-freshening effects of the toothpaste by several levels.
The toothpaste from his previous life was far inferior to the toothpowder of this era.
Undoubtedly, this was the work of the alchemists from the Court of Astronomical Phenomena.
The existence of alchemists made life more convenient and healthier for the common people.
They were very powerful, but the system of technicians had a shorter history and hadn’t formed a comprehensive theoretical teaching.
Xu Qi An’s chemical theory just filled in the gaps for the alchemists.
He climbed over the wall to the main residence. At this time, his aunt and sisters had already eaten lunch.
This afternoon, he needed to practice Qi cultivation and ponder on the Heaven and Earth Slash, so he wouldn’t be going to the pleasure house for food and entertainment. Xu Qi An had the kitchen reheat the leftovers and hastily satisfied his stomach.
He didn’t immediately start training, but went to the inner courtyard to play with Xu Ling’yin for a while, then chatted with his seventeen-year-old sister with the oval face, big eyes, and delicate features, discussing Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai.
“Later, I’ll write some novels for my sister to read in her boudoir,” Xu Qi An smiled.
“Are they love stories like Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai?” Xu Lingyue smiled like a flower.
“No, more exciting than those two.”
“What kind?” Hearing the word “exciting,” Xu Lingyue blushed.
“Yosuga no Sora.”
If only my writing skills were better, and I could remember more details of the novels I read in my previous life… Otherwise, I’d be making lots of money from those steamy stories by now… Xu Qi An sighed helplessly.
Passing by Xu Cijiu’s room, he heard the sound of reading aloud from inside.
“Cijiu, aren’t you at the academy?” Xu Qi An asked, standing by the window.
“I was just about to look for you, Big Brother,” Xu Cijiu took a booklet from his desk, walked to the window, and handed it to Xu Qi An:
“This is from the teacher, Mr. Mu Bai, and Mr. You Ping for you. I came back this morning when you were still asleep.”
Xu Qi An curiously opened the booklet, casually flipping through a few pages, and found the content quite strange.
Some were text, some were illustrations as if a variety of things were forcibly pieced together.
Xu Xinnian explained softly: “This book contains the supreme skills of various cultivation systems. The three great Confucian scholars have compiled the spells they’ve collected and sent them to you.”
I seem to smell a hint of sourness… Xu Qi An’s eyes lit up.
Xu Xinnian continued: “In the Confucian system, the sixth rank is called a scholar. The core of this level is ‘learning’. They can record the spells they’ve seen on paper. Big Brother, you can ignite the paper with your Qi mechanism to cast the spells recorded on it.”
The Confucian system is simply an invincible support. Xu Qi An controlled his smile, holding back his joy, and nodded: “Thank you. Please convey my message to the three great Confucian scholars. I will visit them another day to express my gratitude and discuss poetry with them.”
The so-called courtesy demands reciprocity. The three great Confucian scholars sending gifts for no reason naturally had their reasons.
Xu Xinnian gave an “Mm” and waved his hand: “Go on, Big Brother. Don’t disturb my studies. I’ll return to the academy tomorrow.”
Don’t be jealous, Cijiu. Big Brother still loves you!
Xu Qi An left happily.
…
At dusk, Xu Qi An changed into his Night Watcher uniform and hurried to the yamen.
He arrived at the yamen before the inner city gates closed, met up with Song Tingfeng and his two colleagues, and began his night shift as a working-class hero.
The night in the inner city was quite peaceful. Until late at night, the three of them only caught two petty thieves who had luckily escaped the Imperial Blade Guard’s patrol.
According to Song Tingfeng, this kind of small achievement would earn them at most five qian of silver.
Xu Qi An stood on the roof of a tavern, overlooking the capital city in the night.
Song Tingfeng chewed on some roasted beans and asked, “Ning Yan, what’s your supreme skill? What are its characteristics?”
Xu Qi An answered truthfully: “It’s very practical in combat, with strong explosive power, but it doesn’t last long… After unleashing one slash, I enter a brief period of weakness.”
There’s nothing in the world that can’t be cut with one slash. If there is, then run away… Xu Qi An initially thought the author was just joking.
He didn’t expect it to be sage advice. The essence of this supreme skill was to be a one-second real man, exhausted after one slash.
The advantage was its explosive power. Xu Qi An suspected that when mastered to a high level, it could cut down opponents above his rank.
Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao both glanced at him sideways. The former said with a smile, “Does Miss Fuxiang know about your lack of endurance?”
Xu Qi An, being cheeky, raised his sword fingers and sighed: “They’ve all developed calluses recently.”
Zhu Guangxiao didn’t understand, but Song Tingfeng was stunned for two seconds before cursing, “Damn it, you’re such a quick shot.”
After chatting for a while, when Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao weren’t paying attention, he took out the booklet gifted by the great Confucian scholars from his jade mirror and tore out a page.
The page depicted a pair of eyes flowing with clear light, corresponding to the Court of Astronomical Phenomena’s Qi-observing technique.
There were many such low-level spells in the booklet, classified as auxiliary spells and relatively less precious.
Xu Qi An wanted to try it out and familiarize himself with using the booklet.
“Hiss!”
The Qi mechanism ignited the paper, and a flash of light instantly appeared, attracting Zhu Guangxiao and Song Tingfeng’s attention.
Xu Qi An felt a pain in his eyes, and various colors appeared in his vision. The whole world seemed to have turned into a vividly colored oil painting.
White was the most abundant and densest, dissipating in strands. Next was red, ranging from light red to deep red; then purple.
Red tinged with purple; faint purple; deep purple… The last came from the direction of the Imperial City.
So this is Qi… the Qi that exists in all things in heaven and earth. Xu Qi An had a sudden realization.
At this moment, he saw a peculiar color in the direction of the Imperial City. It was a gorgeous color, like a rainbow.
“Five-colored… Completely different from the purple Qi representing the royal family, yet residing in the Imperial City… Daoist Jin Lian once said that I would have a connection with that lady who rode in the royal carriage. And the Daoist’s evaluation of that lady was that her Qi was magnificently varied, rarely seen in the world…”
“Clear Qi… also in the direction of the Imperial City. I remember Caiwei saying that clear Qi represents either the Confucian or Daoist schools… Hmm, is that the Human Sect?”
“Eh, why is the color of the Imperial Academy of Music emerald green… Many women in the Imperial Academy of Music are family members of convicted officials… Maybe I’m overthinking it. I’ll ask Caiwei later what the green light represents… Huh, it’s gone?”
He saw a flash of emerald green Qi in the Imperial Academy of Music, flickering once before disappearing.
Finally, he turned his gaze towards the Court of Astronomical Phenomena, that star-observing tower overlooking all other mountains.
“Ah…” Xu Qi An suddenly let out a miserable cry and fell from the roof of the tavern.
He rolled on the ground in pain, covering his eyes and screaming incessantly.
Zhu Guangxiao and Song Tingfeng were greatly alarmed. They leaped down from the roof, one drawing his sword on guard, the other rushing forward to check.
“What happened to you?” Song Tingfeng asked urgently.