Pei Ying stared wide-eyed at the bead running up to the top of the slope. His legs trembled even more violently. In an instant, he flashed behind Yun Ye. Though his legs were weak, his movements showed no deformation whatsoever—his years of military career hadn’t been in vain.

Yun Ye followed the bead as it moved. The bead rolled faster and faster, and Yun Ye’s steps also quickened. He didn’t care about the walls on either side, nor did he care where the bead would bounce when it hit the wall. He just followed the bead. The reason was simple—the lowest point of the academy was the garden, and the main gate was built at the highest point because it was very close to the river embankment. Although the Dongyang River was just a small river, it also flooded sometimes. To prevent being flooded, the original owner had raised the area outside the main gate extremely high. So following the bead, at the very least he wouldn’t walk outside the gate. The walls on both sides looked very similar, with many forks. Through some forks, he could even see distant tree canopies. Yun Ye still paid no attention and continued following the bead. After making a circuit and passing several entrances, the bead bounced and hopped to a stop in front of the spirit wall. This was the lowest point.

Walking to the front of the spirit wall, looking at Confucius’s admonition, no matter how he looked at it, these characters felt awkward. “When three people walk together, one of them must be my teacher.” These words weren’t wrong, but since when did the Gongshu family start worshipping the great sage teacher of generations? They stubbornly believed their ancestor was the most formidable and refused to worship others. Yun Ye had personally experienced this in Shuofang. It was impossible for them to place these words here as an admonition. Then the only purpose for its appearance here was to conceal something. What did he want to conceal?

Looking down again at the bluestone slabs on the ground, even their patterns were almost continuous. They had deliberately obscured the heights, using reference objects to change the actual appearance of the ground. A later-generation exploration program had once shown a piece about a hillside in Shaanxi that seemed to have magical powers. If a car didn’t brake, it would run up to the top of the slope by itself. Pour a basin of water, and the water would also flow upward by itself. It was called Ghost Slope. As a result, after experts measured on site, they discovered that the highest point was actually the lowest point, and the lowest point was conversely the highest point. People’s eyes had been deceived by the local special reference objects.

That damned Gongshu Mu had also built two corridors on both sides of the spirit wall. They looked straight, but in reality they were curved. Since when did the academy need these things similar to later generations’ devil’s caves? With such fun things, who would still have the mind to study? Not treating the academy’s money as money, right? After getting in, he’d settle accounts with them.

“When three people walk together, one of them must be my teacher.” Since when did Confucius understand punctuation? Such a large comma—did Gongshu Mu think he was blind and couldn’t see it? He told Pei Ying to go move that comma. Who knew this kid would lightly poke it with his finger, then whoosh, run back and hide behind Yun Ye again.

No choice—Yun Ye had to go twist that comma himself. Who knew that thing was dead—after twisting for a long time, it wouldn’t budge. Looked like it was wrong. Yun Ye observed again and finally saw some clues. Every character was movable except the punctuation. This punctuation was somewhat superfluous like drawing legs on a snake. Moving the characters for “three people walk” was quite easy. Moving the following characters was also good—they were all movable. The rest was simple—just a word game. He arranged them several times but couldn’t get it right. If he had to try every character once, Yun Ye would need to try countless times. Yun Ye howled inwardly—your grandmother’s Gongshu Mu, how long would it take me to try every character combination?

This was fundamentally a seven-digit password. Yun Ye didn’t want to think about how many arrangement methods there were, nor dared to think. He still had to find patterns from the word meanings. Fine—he’d start with the most imposing sentence that could be arranged from these seven characters.

“Three teachers walk, one of them must be my person.” As soon as these words came out, creaking sounds came from inside the spirit wall. The Gongshu family was still as consistently proud as ever! A crack opened down the middle of the spirit wall. Yun Ye was delighted—looked like he’d guessed right. The two of them expended great effort to push the door open, panting from exhaustion. He didn’t know why Gongshu Mu didn’t make the door lighter. If everyone needed to use this much force to open the door, this spirit wall would be useless.

Just as he stepped over the threshold, Yun Ye felt his foot trip on something. Out of alertness, Yun Ye quickly lowered his body. A spherical object swept over his head, scaring Yun Ye into a cold sweat. If this thing hit his head, that would be terrible. Who was so vicious?

He was so busy getting angry that he completely forgot there was still a person behind him. He had managed to dodge, but Pei Ying was hit in the face by that thing. With a cry, he fell to the ground. Only then did Yun Ye see clearly—it turned out to be a sandbag.

They had entered the main gate, but the scene was bizarre. Many farmers were there planting elm trees, planting them densely like a wall. No one paid attention to Yun Ye, as if he were a puff of air.

The more one faced bizarre situations, the more one had to maintain calm. Pei Ying was already useless—just let him lie there. Yun Ye had already figured out that this sandbag must be Li Tai’s masterpiece. Old Gongshu wasn’t that bored. He had built a gate for the academy, and this gate came with its own combination lock. The small alley outside the spirit wall was just a playful creation, using people’s visual displacement to make them walk backward unconsciously. Ancient mechanism techniques were probably all like this. Chinese people emphasized using all things in Heaven and Earth for themselves. Mechanism techniques were even more so—everywhere wanting to achieve unity between Heaven and man, yet everywhere leaving room. Even passwords were like this. The so-called “one that escapes” referred to this kind of situation. Yun Ye smiled bitterly. You leave a way out for people everywhere, never wanting to do things to the extreme. Would other peoples treat you this way? They hate that you won’t die!

Just by looking at the planting trick with those elm trees, one could tell this was a labyrinth. Elm trees grew very quickly. Next year they could completely cover the entire open space. As long as they grew to two meters high and the tree crowns were cut off, it would be a perfect labyrinth.

The academy was surrounded by mountains on three sides, with one side facing the Dongyang River. On the opposite bank of the river were the residences Li Ke had newly built. The teachers all lived there. The academy had also built many additional houses, also two stories. The outer walls hadn’t been decorated at all—the brick joints were sealed with cement, looking very neat.

No time to make trouble for Gongshu Mu now. He must first find Liu Xian and ask clearly what stance the Emperor held regarding the Pei family matter, so his own family could choose sides properly. This was a matter of life and death—he dared not be careless.

The elm trees were planted in clusters here and there, not yet forming a pattern, so naturally they couldn’t stop Yun Ye’s steps. In a few steps, he crossed the garden and arrived at the place where the academy teachers worked. Without going to find Li Gang first, Yun Ye knocked on Liu Xian’s door.

The door opened, but there wasn’t just one person. Li Gang was also there. Behind them was a very old eunuch. From his clothes, one could see he had rank—actually a sixth-rank position. In the imperial palace, this was already top grade. Since when could people from the Palace Attendants Bureau freely enter and exit the academy? Yun Ye looked at Li Gang and Liu Xian without speaking, waiting for them to give him a reasonable explanation. Making such an important decision—surely they couldn’t say nothing at all?

“This slave is Wu She, paying respects to Marquis Lantian.” The two of them didn’t speak, but instead this eunuch called Wu She spoke first.

“Looking at your robe style, you serve in the Yeting Bureau, right? A sixth-rank official position—needless to say, you must lead the Yeting Bureau. I just don’t know what business brings you to the academy?” Li Er had long said that the eunuchs’ official duties were gate guard duty, sweeping courtyards, and receiving stipends, nothing more. Since when could they run out of the palace to lecture ministers? If he came bearing words from some empress in the palace asking the academy to open this door and save Pei Ying, Yun Ye would absolutely refuse. If he complied, he would be looked down upon by all the ministers and wouldn’t be able to hold his head up for eight generations. Of course, Empress Zhangsun was an exception. She never made such decisions. If she made any decision, that idea would certainly be Li Er’s. Yun Ye understood these secrets very clearly, and the ministers also understood very clearly.

“Replying to Your Lordship, this slave is indeed a eunuch of the Yeting Bureau. By His Majesty’s decree, I have words to speak to Your Lordship.” The old eunuch still had a bland expression, seemingly unconcerned with Yun Ye’s attitude, speaking still unhurriedly.

“Subject Yun Ye receives the decree.” Nothing else to say. Since it was official business, then handle it officially. Not having to choose sides—this was too good.

“His Majesty says these are just some household words. Your Lordship need not perform grand ceremonial obeisance.”

Now there was a problem. The Emperor didn’t use an edict to speak but insisted on saying some “household words.” This revealed something strange. He must listen carefully and not be deceived by this eunuch. So Yun Ye first looked at Liu Xian. Seeing Liu Xian nod, only then did Yun Ye rise to hear how the Emperor would speak household words with him.

“His Majesty says: ‘Yun Ye, you kid, listen up. I’ve found you a problem, a big problem—this bastard Pei Ying. He poked a hornet’s nest, but this hornet’s nest was poked at my instruction, so the trouble is also mine. Now that you’ve returned, this trouble must be carried by you. You are not permitted to hand over Pei Ying. Unless I tell you to hand him over, don’t listen to anyone’s words. Listen well—even if the Retired Emperor tells you to hand him over, you are not permitted to.'” After Wu She finished speaking these words, he closed his mouth and said nothing more, so quiet it was as if this person didn’t exist.

No wonder he didn’t write an edict. These words simply couldn’t be written in an edict. Although he didn’t know why Pei Ying would listen to the Emperor’s words and poke this hornet’s nest, Yun Ye had still heard one thing—the Emperor wanted to extract himself, extract himself cleanly without leaving a trace. But someone always had to carry the black pot. Who was suitable to carry it? Yun Ye happened to be the most reliable person. As a son of nobility, his status was transcendent. He wouldn’t care about the Dou family’s thousands of years of almost mythical family prestige. Furthermore, Yun Ye got along happily with the Retired Emperor. Even if something happened, there was room for maneuvering. He had thought it through thoroughly, but Yun Ye had suddenly been pushed to the forefront of the storm.

Dragging over a chair and sitting on it, after thinking for a while, Yun Ye said to Wu She: “Please assure His Majesty that Pei Ying and I have a life-and-death friendship. Naturally, I won’t hand him over. No matter who comes, it won’t work. Yun Ye will bear this responsibility.” After saying these words, he turned to Liu Xian: “The matter of guarding Pei Ying is entrusted to Second Brother Liu. No matter what, don’t let him leave the academy even one step.”

Turning back to Li Gang: “Recently I’ve seen the academy students have been somewhat lax. Why not ask Teacher Li to exercise more control over the academy students? As for other matters, Teacher Li need not concern himself. From now on, I’m taking over the academy. Whoever has business can come find me.”

Without waiting for them to respond, Yun Ye pushed open the door and went out. Standing at the railing on the second floor, looking at the distant mountains, he smiled.