After removing the Demon Sealing Nail, the flesh at the Jue acupoint writhed and returned to normal. Xu Qi An’s aura receded accordingly, no longer emanating pressure.
Chai Xing Er collapsed, drenched in sweat, her lips parted as she gasped for breath. The pressure released by a peak Third Grade cultivator had nearly killed her on the spot.
“My condition has never been better. I want to fight with Asura…” Xu Qi An glanced at Number Eight, who had expended significant energy, and pulled out a porcelain bottle from his robes, tossing it over: “Medicine pills for replenishing blood qi. Thanks.”
Asura caught the bottle, popped open the cork with a soft sound, and swallowed the pill whole before saying: “Even if you recover your cultivation and reach peak Third Grade, it would still be like using a cup of water to save a burning cart – not enough to oppose the Gala Tree. The Gala Tree wields both the ‘Immovable Wisdom King Form’ and the ‘Vajra Form.’ Even your Supervising Director couldn’t harm him. Plus there’s Xu Ping Feng, Black Lotus, and the White Emperor. Oh, and I heard some young fellow called Ji Xuan has also advanced to Third Grade.”
He’s testing my hand, seeing if I’m worth investing in… Xu Qi An considered briefly and decided to reveal some of his cards: “I can advance to Second Grade in the short term, and the Human Path Sect Leader Luo Yu Heng can also transcend tribulation soon to reach First Grade Earthbound Immortal realm. Additionally, the Martial Alliance’s former leader Kou Yang Zhou is also in Second Grade.”
He believed Asura could be recruited as an ally. With top experts in Second Grade, Third Grade, and another Second Grade, if they could bring him into the Great Feng camp, it would undoubtedly compensate for their shortage of transcendent experts.
Asura nodded, his expression relaxing slightly: “With you and me together, plus a Second Grade martial artist, we could contend with either the White Emperor or the Gala Tree. Luo Yu Heng could then counter another First Grade expert. However, Cloud Province still has a Second Grade Black Lotus, a peak Second Grade Xu Ping Feng, and a Third Grade martial artist Ji Xuan.”
Xu Qi An carefully said: “Daoist Jin Lian has now reached Third Grade as well, the Celestial Office has Sun Xuan Ji, and the Cloud Deer Academy’s Chancellor is at peak Third Grade. I’ll try to draw him in…”
Asura shook his head slightly: “It’s still not enough unless you can gain another Second Grade ally, or acquire means to overcome our combat shortcomings.”
Cloud Province: Black Lotus in Second Grade, Xu Ping Feng in Second Grade, Ji Xuan in Third Grade.
Great Feng: Zhao Shou in Third Grade, Sun Xuan Ji in Third Grade, Daoist Jin Lian in Third Grade.
Indeed, they were still a tier short.
At this point, it comes down to the skill of the chess player… Xu Qi An said calmly: “That’s a problem for me to worry about, you needn’t concern yourself.”
No matter what, this game has become playable. Though overall weaker, there’s no room for maneuvering. Unlike before tonight, when there was only despair and powerlessness to resist.
Asura considered for a moment, then said: “I have a suggestion.”
After Xu Qi An nodded, he continued: “You could try recruiting the Deliverance Arhat. The Buddha incident has created a rift between him and Bodhisattva Guang Xian. Deliverance is a fervent advocate of Mahayana Buddhism, and you’re the founder of Mahayana Buddhism. You could try leveraging that connection.”
Xu Qi An immediately shook his head: “The timing isn’t right. Deliverance Arhat still holds hope for Buddha and Buddhism. Trying to turn him now has little chance of success.”
Asura pondered briefly, then agreed with his assessment: “Indeed, that’s true.”
Xu Qi An continued: “I still have a trump card left by the Supervising Director. We’ll see how things unfold after the peace talks.”
The first thing he did upon returning to the Celestial Office was to ask Song Qing if the Supervising Director had left anything behind.
Song Qing thought hard and recalled that at this point, he only knew the Supervising Director had given Zhong Li a magical tool called the Fate-Scrambling Hammer.
Xu Qi An thought this was what the Supervising Director had left for him and eagerly sought out Zhong Li to examine the tool.
The Fate-Scrambling Hammer could alter people’s fate patterns. Zhong Li said it was left to her by the Supervising Director specifically for use on Xu Qi An.
Xu Qi An said, “Well then, let’s do it! Remember to be gentle with me!”
Zhong Li brought the hammer down on his head, changing his fate pattern to that of a “pitiful woman” who had fallen into debauchery. Xu Free-Loader immediately stripped off his clothes and took Zhong Li’s hand, saying: “Master, let this servant attend to your rest.”
Frightened, Zhong Li quickly struck him again, changing his fate pattern to that of a pancake seller.
Xu Qi An knelt on the ground, calling himself Da Lang, mimicking carrying a load, saying: “Wife, wait at home, I’m going to sell pancakes.”
Zhong Li struck him once more, turning him into a scholar. Xu Qi An quietly recited the Three Character Classic for half an hour before returning to normal.
The only discovery from the entire experiment was that the Fate-Scrambling Hammer could only affect Xu Qi An for half an hour.
If ordinary people were struck by this hammer, their fate patterns would be permanently fixed unless struck again.
Song Qing, who witnessed the whole process, commented: “Either the Supervising Director giving Zhong Li the Fate-Scrambling Hammer wasn’t a contingency plan, or we haven’t yet understood his intentions for leaving it.”
Though Song Qing stated the obvious, that was essentially the situation.
Now it’s time to advance to Second Grade… Xu Qi An hurriedly said: “Number Eight, let me escort you out of the tower first. We can keep in touch through the Earth Script.”
Asura nodded slightly, giving him an inscrutable look before saying: “You seem rather eager suddenly.”
Eager to plant some flowers… Xu Qi An returned a proper and polite smile.
“By the way, can I tell the Earth Society members about your identity?” Xu Qi An probed.
Asura gave a meaningful “heh” and said coolly: “Let’s reveal it when we meet in person. Through the Earth Script fragments, we can’t see their embarrassed expressions.”
Xu Qi An was stunned for a moment, then remembered how the Earth Society members had previously gossiped about Asura’s family from across the five lakes and four seas.
Ah, this is indeed a tempting proposal… Xu Qi An was convinced by Asura.
He wondered what expressions they would make when they learned Number Eight was Asura.
The two then left the Pagoda Treasury and parted ways in the dark, cold night, with Asura departing on the wind.
From beginning to end, he never clasped his hands in prayer or chanted Buddhist scriptures… Watching Asura’s silhouette disappear into the night, Xu Qi An recalled the entire process and noticed this detail.
“This storm has flushed out the Earth Society’s two biggest fish.”
The remaining fish was, of course, Huai Qing.
Back when he traveled the jianghu collecting dragon qi, Sun Xuan Ji had mentioned that hosts of scattered dragon qi were extremely rare, and the nine crucial dragon qi hosts were nowhere to be found.
At that time, Xu Qi An had speculated that a third party was collecting dragon qi.
Only now did he know that the third party was this Princess.
Having inherited Wei Gong’s network of hidden agents, she indeed could discover unusual events across the land.
“Wait a minute, even with Earth Script fragments, without the Supervising Director’s modifications, she couldn’t have extracted dragon qi using the Earth Script… Ah, you old fox, Supervising Director…
“This is interesting. The Supervising Director assisted Huai Qing in collecting dragon qi – what was he planning? Did he place his bets on Huai Qing early on?”
Xu Qi An grinned, melted into the shadows like a swimming fish, and returned to the capital.
…
Late night, Princess Huai Qing’s residence.
The Princess sat at her desk, reading a secret report by lamplight.
It stated that Yang Yan, the Military Commander of Sword Province, had secretly returned to the capital with three hundred elite troops.
“Among the golden gongs left by Wei Gong, only Yang Yan will support me without hesitation.”
Huai Qing sighed.
She held the report to the candle flame, watched it burn to ashes, and dropped it into the porcelain washing basin.
“As for the remaining golden gongs, probably only he can convince them to join me in this potentially fatal venture.” Huai Qing glanced at her guard captain in the room.
“How can you ensure that Silver Gong Xu will join you in this venture? He has a marriage arrangement with Princess Lin An,” the guard captain asked puzzled.
“Because he is Silver Gong Xu,” Huai Qing said calmly.
Princess Huai Qing had been playing a cultivation game all along. She had recommended a Chang Le County quick runner to Wei Yuan, getting him recruited as a night watchman. From that point on, she had been planning to cultivate talent.
Later, after learning from Wei Yuan about Xu Qi An’s performance in the heart and values test, Huai Qing became even more determined to cultivate and observe him.
In subsequent events, one after another, Huai Qing provided assistance, and thus Xu Qi An was gradually nurtured by Princess Huai Qing, as she watched a small quick runner grow into today’s major figure.
Of course, she knew Xu Qi An would support her.
However, these words were not meant to be shared with outsiders.
…
[Eight: Everyone, I’ve emerged from seclusion. Shall we set a time and place to meet?]
Late at night, the Earth Society members received Number Eight’s message.
The members were slightly surprised, but with Daoist Jin Lian’s groundwork from the previous days, they weren’t too shocked.
[Seven: Oh? We have a Number Eight in our Earth Society? Haha, just joking. Are you a brother or a sister?]
The Holy Son, considering the recent heavy and stiff atmosphere in the Earth Script chat group, made a joke about Number Eight to lighten the mood.
[Two: Watch out, Number Eight. Seven is a lecher who loves to deceive young women. Hmm, Three is also a lecher who frequents brothels. Be wary of these two. If you’re a brother, forget what I said.]
The Human Path’s dragon and phoenix raised the atmosphere with their back-and-forth banter.
[Eight: When I first held the Earth Script fragment, only Two and Seven had fragments among the nine pieces. The other fragment holders were vacant.]
Is this Number Eight showing off their seniority… Chu Yuan Li messaged:
[What’s your cultivation level after being in seclusion for so long? Among the Earth Society members, except for Three and Daoist Jin Lian, everyone else is in Fourth Grade. When did you emerge? Have you been reading the recent Earth Script messages?]
If they had emerged some time ago, they should know Three’s identity.
Because the recent discussions had all been about Great Feng and Xu Qi An, if they had been quietly observing, they should know that Three is Xu Qi An.
[Eight: My cultivation is modest, not worth mentioning. I emerged some time ago.]
At this point, Daoist Jin Lian messaged:
[Number Eight has been in seclusion too long and isn’t familiar with outside matters. Why don’t you tell them about some things, like some high-level inside information.]
[Two: Ah, can we talk about that? We need Xu Qi An’s permission.]
Li Miao Zhen naturally thought of the ancient secrets Xu Qi An had shared recently, as they were of sufficient caliber.
[Nine: I think he won’t mind.]
[Seven: Let me tell, let me tell! Number Eight, do you want to know Buddha’s secret? That family is quite interesting. Don’t ask why I say family, let me tell you…]
The Earth Society members eagerly began chatting. Everyone showed initiative in showing off in front of Number Eight.
…
Celestial Office, bedroom.
The candlelight burned quietly like a bean.
The round table’s shadow suddenly expanded, and Xu Qi An emerged from the shadows.
The room was quiet. Mu Nan Zhi lay on her side, covered by thick, soft cotton quilts, deep in dreams.
Bai Ji slept beside her, its tiny body the size of two palms hidden under the thick quilt. If not for a tuft of white fur showing at the quilt’s corner, its presence would have been completely undetectable.
“Time to advance to Second Grade. Hmm, better take a bath first…”
Xu Qi An muttered, went behind the screen, and found that Mu Nan Zhi had indeed not emptied the bath water.
Xu Qi An quickly stripped off his clothes and stepped naked into the bath barrel. Flower petals floated on the water’s surface, emanating a faint fragrance.
The Flower Goddess often cultivated unusual flowers and herbs, either sun-dried or powdered, to throw into bath water.
“It smells nice, but we should keep green tangerines at home from now on…”
Xu Qi An quickly finished bathing, stepped out of the barrel, and casually grabbed Mu Nan Zhi’s dress hanging on the screen to dry himself.
Then, he walked naked to the bedside, bent down, and breathed out toward Bai Ji.
This was a sleeping drug created from toxins, which would keep the little white fox sleeping soundly until morning. During this time, even if he shook the bed until it collapsed, the fox cub wouldn’t wake up.
Xu Qi An picked up Bai Ji and tossed it to the foot of the bed, lifted the quilt, and slipped in.
In her drowsy state, Mu Nan Zhi felt a pair of hands lifting her inner clothes and gently pulling down her silk pants.
“Mmm…”
She frowned slightly and immediately woke up.