Xu Qi An smiled, not intimidated at all. He sat down at the table, poured himself a cup of water, and said while drinking:
“I certainly can’t stop General Li from doing what she wants. However, I also happen to have many things I haven’t shared with them. Such as the details of what happened in Yun Province, and… General Li’s claim of being a genius at solving cases. Of course, there’s much more.”
Come on, let’s hurt each other! Who’s afraid of whom?
… Li Miaozhen struggled to maintain a neutral expression, suppressing her inner sense of shame, and said coldly, “I don’t mind teaching you a lesson before the Celestial-Human conflict begins.”
With a small hand slap on the table, the flying sword on her back unsheathed, arcing through the air in a half-circle, aiming for Xu Qi An’s bottom.
Su Su’s face was full of schadenfreude.
Li Miaozhen glanced at Daoist Jin Lian, expecting him to stop her. However, she saw him stroking his beard with a smile, showing no intention of intervening.
Hmph, it seems the Daoist also finds this guy detestable and wants me to teach him a lesson… As this thought flashed through her mind, Li Miaozhen saw the young man reach back without turning his head, grabbing for the flying sword.
Xu Qi An’s palm quickly took on a layer of deep golden light. With a “ding,” a sharp metallic sound resonated from his palm.
Li Miaozhen stood up abruptly, her beautiful eyes widening, staring at Xu Qi An’s arm in disbelief. She said in an astonished voice:
“The Buddhist Golden Body?”
Xu Qi An grinned, “That’s right, the Vajra Divine Skill I won during the battle of techniques. General Li, your flying sword seems a bit soft. Put some more force into it.”
A Buddhist Golden Body won in a battle of techniques… Li Miaozhen was stunned. The government’s announcement hadn’t mentioned anything about this.
“Master, he’s looking down on you,” Su Su immediately fanned the flames.
Her earlier concern was genuine, but now her instigation was equally sincere.
“I’ve been wanting to experience the Daoist flying sword technique,” Xu Qi An raised his eyebrows.
“Fine.”
Li Miaozhen no longer held back, manipulating the flying sword to try and break free from Xu Qi An’s grip. “Buzz buzz buzz…” The flying sword kept vibrating but couldn’t escape his palm.
The Holy Maiden of the Celestial Sect showed a serious expression. With one hand forming a seal, she changed the sword’s direction from retreat to advance, pushing forward bit by bit.
Xu Qi An’s cheek muscles bulged, and the veins on his forehead and palm stood out as if he were arm wrestling someone.
The friction between his palm and the flying sword produced a sound that set one’s teeth on edge.
The silent struggle continued for a few seconds. Suddenly, with a “boom,” the roof was blown off by the violent energy, and broken beams, and tiles fell with a “crash.” The doors and windows were instantly destroyed.
Su Su, living up to her twenty years as a ghost, raised a barrier of yin energy, barely blocking the collision of energies.
“That’s enough, that’s enough…”
Daoist Jin Lian called for a stop, pained by the destruction.
Xu Qi An and Li Miaozhen exchanged a glance, one withdrawing the sword, the other his hand.
In just a few short months, his cultivation has progressed to such a level… Li Miaozhen looked at Xu Qi An with complex emotions. When they met in Yun Province, he was an eighth-rank martial artist on the verge of breaking through to the Spirit Refining realm.
At that time, to the fifth rank Li Miaozhen, such cultivation was considered not bad. Who would have thought that two or three months later, he would have become so powerful?
It should be noted that her cultivation progress was not slow. She was now a fourth-rank Nascent Soul in the Daoist system, incomparable to her former self.
But now, Li Miaozhen felt a sense of helplessness, as if her talent was nothing special.
“Ahem!”
Daoist Jin Lian coughed and said with a smile, “You attacked his physical body with your flying sword, which is using your weakness against his strength. It was just a small test, no need to take it too seriously.”
Li Miaozhen was a fourth-rank expert, and she hadn’t even used the Celestial Sect’s techniques yet. Her flying sword technique could easily cut through sixth-rank bronze skin and iron bones, but against the Buddhist Vajra body, it was somewhat ineffective.
Why has this young man’s Vajra Divine Skill progressed so rapidly… Daoist Jin Lian glanced at Xu Qi An, a flash of confusion crossing his mind.
“In a real fight, I’m no match for you. However, it would still take some effort for you to break through my Vajra Invincibility,” Xu Qi An said humbly, then added in his heart:
At most in seven days, once I’ve fully absorbed Monk Shenshu’s essence blood, I’ll be able to raise the Vajra Divine Skill to the small accomplishment stage.
The true effect of the essence blood left by Monk Shenshu was to enhance the cultivation speed of the Vajra Divine Skill. This was because Shenshu himself had mastered the Vajra Divine Skill.
His essence blood perfectly matched the Vajra Divine Skill. As long as Xu Qi An cultivated this skill while absorbing the essence of blood, he could improve his level in the Vajra Divine Skill.
Li Miaozhen snorted and turned her head away.
After using her sword, some of the anger in her heart had dissipated, and she didn’t feel as uncomfortable as before. At the same time, Xu Qi An’s “threat” made her hesitate.
If she revealed Xu Qi An’s identity, her every word and action in Yun Province would also be made public within the Sky-Earth Society… This kind of mutually destructive action didn’t fit her style as the Holy Maiden of the Celestial Sect.
She finally understood why Xu Qi An had insisted on concealing his identity.
The boasts he had made back then were a hundred times worse than hers. If those were revealed, he wouldn’t be able to show his face in public.
“If Miaozhen doesn’t want to stay at an inn, she can stay at Xu Qi An’s mansion. Number Five is there too. Xu’s mansion is in the inner city, a three-courtyard estate, quite grand,” Daoist Jin Lian said.
You’re at it again? When did my house become an orphanage for the Sky-Earth Society… Xu Qi An’s mouth twitched.
Su Su’s eyes lit up. Compared to staying at an inn, living in a large compound would be much more comfortable. Moreover, she also wanted to try and seduce this man at night, to get him to take her to the Bureau of Astronomy and Astrology.
Li Miaozhen thought of the headless corpse. She was troubled by her limited ability to solve the case, and her crisis of trust in the government made her reluctant to hand it over to the authorities.
She feared those incompetent officials wouldn’t take it seriously.
This was a good opportunity to hand the matter over to Xu Qi An to deal with, and she could also learn some useful investigation techniques from him.
So, Li Miaozhen nodded and said, “Alright, I also want to see Number Five. She must have suffered a lot on her long journey north.”
I feel like Daoist Jin Lian still has something he wants to say to me… Xu Qi An keenly noticed Jin Lian’s frequent scrutinizing glances. He maintained a calm exterior, even smiling:
“General Li, shall we return to my mansion?”
Daoist Jin Lian watched the two people and one ghost leave, then murmured, “Once the Celestial-Human conflict is over, I’ll leave the capital. Before that, I need to find a way to disrupt this struggle.”
…
“Miaozhen…”
On horseback, Xu Qi An had just started to speak when Li Miaozhen corrected him. The Holy Maiden of the Celestial Sect snorted, “You’d better just call me General Li.”
“But that’s so formal. We’re quite close now,” Xu Qi An said shamelessly, smiling. “I have a question about the Celestial-Human conflict.”
Li Miaozhen looked straight ahead, keeping pace with the small mare beside her, ignoring his question.
She’s still angry and doesn’t want to talk to me… Xu Qi An’s thoughts turned, and he said casually:
“We probably haven’t talked about what happened when we were looking for Number Five in Xiang City that day.”
Hearing this, Li Miaozhen turned her head to look at him, gritting her teeth, “Daoist Jin Lian has been blocking my Earth Book fragment all along. I should have realized earlier that he was doing it to cover up the news of your resurrection.”
The fact that Daoist Jin Lian had helped Xu Qi An “deceive” her still rankled Li Miaozhen.
“None of that is important. What’s important is the tomb we discovered, which was unimaginably ancient, a great tomb of a Daoist predecessor. And it’s very likely to be the tomb of a Human Sect cultivator,” Xu Qi An cast out his bait.
“Human Sect?”
Li Miaozhen looked at him, her eyes full of curiosity.
“Yes, a Human Sect cultivator who usurped the throne,” Xu Qi An’s smile grew even broader.
He then told Li Miaozhen about their experiences in the great tomb, exactly as it happened, like he was telling a story, embellishing it greatly. This didn’t include the conversation between Monk Shenshu and the dried corpse.
Li Miaozhen listened with great interest, no longer maintaining her cold demeanor, and enthusiastically discussed it with him.
“This reminds me of something my master once said. He said that among the ‘Heaven, Earth, and Human’ three sects, the Human Sect is the stupidest. Because they actively align themselves with the fortunes of the mortal world. The Earth Sect is second, cultivating virtue and brewing good fortune, but worldly affairs have causes and effects, how can they be explained simply by ‘doing good deeds’? So people of the Earth Sect, when they reach the second rank, are often entangled in karma and easily fall into demonic ways.”
The Earth Sect leader is an example… Why is the Human Sect, which actively aligns with mortal fortunes, the stupidest? Is it that mortal fortunes can’t be touched, or what?… Hiss, so that’s why that Human Sect predecessor finally shed his old body? Xu Qi An nodded:
“What about the Celestial Sect?”
“The Celestial Sect naturally follows a great way, transcending emotions, achieving unity between heaven and man, this is the way of heaven,” Li Miaozhen raised her pointed chin.
“The Celestial Sect emphasizes transcending emotions, with the highest state being unity between heaven and man. According to this philosophy, shouldn’t one be indifferent and detached from all things? Why are they so obsessed with the Celestial-Human conflict, so obsessed with Daoist orthodoxy?”
Xu Qi An took the opportunity to ask about his earlier confusion.
Li Miaozhen looked at him with some surprise, “It’s rare for you to think of this point.”
After a pause, she shook her head and said, “I don’t know. As you said, being so obsessed with conflict indeed doesn’t fit with the Celestial Sect’s philosophy. But the sect has its reasons. I’ve asked before, but never got an answer.”
In other words, the Celestial-Human conflict is ostensibly about philosophy and Daoist orthodoxy, but there’s a deeper reason behind it. And this reason is unknown even to the Holy Maiden of the Celestial Sect… The waters of the Daoist sects run deep.
Half an hour later, they arrived at Xu’s mansion.
Su Su followed behind Xu Qi An, looking around, quite satisfied with the layout and decoration of Xu’s mansion: “Not bad. Living in such a big mansion in the capital, have you embezzled a lot of silver?”
“Of course, so as long as you stick with me, you’ll live a life of luxury in the future,” Xu Qi An joked casually.
As they reached the inner courtyard, they saw Lina sitting on the doorstep with Xu Lingyin, each with a plate of water chestnut cakes on their knees.
Lina was saying angrily, “You have to do horse stance! No horse stance, no cakes.”
The little bean replied, “But I’m tired. How about I give you half of my water chestnut cake, and I’ll only do half of the horse stance today, okay?”
Lina: “Okay, okay.”
“Big Pot!”
Seeing Xu Qi An return, the little bean called out in delight, taking small steps for a dragon charge, bumping into Xu Qi An’s arms.
“Is she Number Five?” Li Miaozhen scrutinized Lina.
She was a very beautiful young girl, with shoulder-length black hair, slightly curled at the ends, healthy wheat-colored skin, and eyes like the clear blue sea.
Lina also noticed Li Miaozhen but didn’t speak, just silently looking at her.
Xu Qi An waved his hand and said, “Lina, this is Number Two, the Holy Maiden of the Celestial Sect, Li Miaozhen.”
When Lina heard this, her face immediately lit up with an enthusiastic smile. She picked up the water chestnut cake and bounced over.
“Oh, so you’re Number Two… Want some water chestnut cake?”
She doesn’t seem very smart… Li Miaozhen shook her head and asked, “The journey from the Southern Border to the capital is long. You must have suffered a lot, right?”
“Mm-hmm.”
Lina nodded vigorously and started talking about her difficult journey north. She had been cheated out of silver, tricked into doing hard labor, working diligently for people just for a meal.
She was even ambushed with knockout gas by jianghu members coveting her beauty. Fortunately, as a member of the Gu clan who had been to the Extreme Abyss, ordinary poisons did not affect her.
She believed the easiest and most enjoyable profession was being a beggar. You didn’t have to do anything, just sit on the street with a broken bowl, and kind people would give you copper coins.
After listening, Li Miaozhen was speechless for a long time.
“Big sister, you’re so beautiful.”
The little bean walked up to Su Su, looking up at her with admiration.
Su Su found this child silly and amusing, so she made a fierce face, baring her teeth: “I’m a ghost…”
The little bean was stunned, staring at her blankly. Suddenly, there was a “gulp” as she swallowed.
Su Su: “???”
Li Miaozhen’s heart was full of sympathy and pity. After comforting Lina with a few words, she turned to Xu Qi An: “On my way to the capital, I found a corpse. It seems he was silenced by someone.”
“I summoned the remnant soul for questioning and discovered something big.”
Something big?
Xu Qi An frowned and said, “Let’s talk in the study.”
He immediately led Li Miaozhen toward the study. Su Su, supporting her red umbrella, followed behind the two. After walking for a while, she looked back.
The little bean was still watching her, her eyes full of desire and aggression.