Chapter 87

On the third day at noon, Bu Ye finally saw the distant Dongping Wangcheng from afar.

This city was situated at the confluence of the Zuo River and Luotong River in the southern part of the Xiao Kingdom. At that moment, Bu Ye and Hongyun were standing on a small hill, looking over. First, they saw the three broad streams forming an inverted "Y" shape, and the white sails of the various boats on the water and at the docks. Then, they saw the tall city walls of Dongping Wangcheng.

Between the eastern city wall and the Luotong River flowing from southeast to northwest, there stood the city's landmark, the seventeen-story Guanchao Pavilion with its red walls and green tiles. According to legend, the Guanchao Pavilion was once open only to nobles and high officials. However, it wasn't until two hundred years ago when a Duke of Dongping opened the lower sixteen floors to the public that the Guanchao Pavilion truly earned its name.

Bu Ye looked at the Guanchao Pavilion standing majestically on the banks of the Luotong River from afar and was momentarily stunned. In his previous life, he had longed to visit the Tengwang Pavilion and the Yueyang Tower, but he never had the chance to see their grandeur. The "Preface to the Tengwang Pavilion" made Wang Bo famous, and the "Record of the Yueyang Tower" made Fan Zhongyan famous. Their achievements in Chinese literature were truly awe-inspiring. How many people who truly love literature do not admire and respect them?

Bu Ye had once thought that if he were placed in ancient times, he would never reach the heights of Wang Bo or Fan Zhongyan. However, if he could systematically study ancient literature and read extensively to build a solid foundation, he could at least get closer to them, rather than being so far behind that he couldn't even see their backs.

"I can't become Wang Bo or Fan Zhongyan, but I can strive to be a witness to their great works when they wrote them at the Tengwang Pavilion and the Yueyang Tower." This was Bu Ye's previous thought.

But now, after being diagnosed with cancer, Bu Ye felt more sympathy and pity for them, even for the more famous Li Bai.

This was because those great poets and literary figures almost all had a common ideal that they wanted to achieve more than writing poetry or essays: to expand the territory and have their portraits hung in the Lingyan Pavilion, and to bring peace and prosperity to the nation, earning the praise of the world. But how many truly achieved this? Wang Anshi did indeed become a prime minister, but once he was out of office, most of his policies were abandoned. Wang Anshi was already the one who had the most success in politics and the court among the poets and literary figures that Bu Ye knew.

So, in their most important goals, they were all failures, no matter how successful they were in their secondary goals...

Now, Bu Ye was very straightforward: "I must achieve my most important goal, no matter what means I use."

He glanced at the poets and literary figures he once admired across time and space, then gently tugged the reins, and Hongyun immediately galloped down the hill toward the city.

...

Half an hour later, Bu Ye appeared at the southern gate of the city.

He had already dismissed Hongyun, changed his clothes, and disguised himself to look like a poor scholar. He wanted to store the Yu Zibao sword in the Jieyuan, but it was impossible. The security at the city gate was also very strict, so he hid it outside the city.

Finally, he entered the city gate, and before his eyes was a wide cobblestone road, bustling with people. Listening to the noisy voices and the occasional waft of food aromas, and even occasionally bumping into children playing on the street, Bu Ye hurried toward the heart of the city.

Over the past two days, he had rarely rested, spending most of his time traveling to arrive here before news from Muyuan City reached. As long as the city had not yet received news of Lu Yu's death, his room for maneuver would be quite large.

Dongping Wangcheng was square, divided into sixteen squares by three horizontal and three vertical main roads. The Dongping Wangfu was in the second row from the west to the east, occupying one of those squares.

Because the city was so large and Bu Ye entered from the south gate, it took him over an hour to approach his destination.

Completely different from the other fifteen squares, the square where the Wangfu and the government office were located had very few pedestrians, appearing very solemn. The government office was in the south, with buildings that were tall and regular, making people feel suffocated from a distance; the Wangfu was in the north, much more magnificent, with its tall rooftops, intricately carved eaves, and even money trees that towered over the walls, all stimulating the eyes.

Seeing the few pedestrians on the road, Bu Ye frowned. In this situation, it would be quite difficult to enter the Wangfu without being noticed.

After a moment, Bu Ye left and entered a tavern nearby.

It must be said that the common trope in martial arts novels where "someone accidentally learns something important in a tavern" is quite reliable. Men tend to talk freely when they are drunk.

Bu Ye sat at a window seat on the second floor of the tavern for a while and heard a lot of information about Dongping Wangcheng. When the waiter brought another dish, Bu Ye looked in the direction of the Wangfu and sighed, "This Wangfu has such a grand atmosphere. People like us can only admire it from a distance."

The waiter, a young and clever boy not yet twenty, placed a dish of beautifully prepared bamboo shoots and cured meat on the table and smiled, "Sir, is this your first time in our city?"

"Yes," Bu Ye nodded.

The waiter laughed, "Sir, you'll only feel this way today. Once you leave the city, it won't matter. We are the ones who suffer the most, seeing it every day and feeling envious, but never being able to enter."

Bu Ye couldn't help but laugh and asked, "Is there really no way at all?"

"There is, but I see that you are a scholar. If you really want to, you can try when the Wangfu recruits people at the beginning of each month."

"Oh?"

The waiter was happy to have a customer to talk to and could take a break, so he stood next to Bu Ye's table and continued, "However, the Wangfu recruits fewer accountants and more martial artists. There is a notice at the government office that is always valid. Anyone above the Heart Cloud Eighth Star can apply to the Wangfu at any time."

Recruiting people all year round?

Bu Ye was puzzled. A place like the Dongping Wangfu should not lack talent.

But at that moment, someone below called the waiter, and the young boy had to apologize and run downstairs.

Fortunately, there were still many customers on the second floor of the tavern. After a while, Bu Ye asked a customer at the next table, "Brother, the waiter just told me that the government office has a notice about the Wangfu recruiting people all year round. I'm really curious, is the Wangfu so short of people?"

The other person was clearly a local and smiled openly, "Young brother, you don't know..."

Then Bu Ye heard a strange phenomenon in Dongping that only locals knew, which left him stunned.

It turned out that in recent years, the Duke of Dongping, Xiao Hong, had become less cruel to the common people but more cruel to officials and people inside the Wangfu. In recent years, countless officials and generals had died at his hands, and the servants and guards in the Wangfu were often executed. Originally, working in the Wangfu was a good job, but with Xiao Hong's actions, the old servants no longer dared to recommend their relatives or children to work there, cutting off the internal channels and forcing them to recruit externally.

Because Xiao Hong had killed so many people, he naturally had many enemies. Even though most of the people he killed were not as powerful as him, there were still a few particularly loyal bodyguards and advisors. Therefore, in recent years, attempts to assassinate Xiao Hong had never stopped. This increased the casualties among the Wangfu's guards and, combined with Xiao Hong's own bloodthirstiness, even led to the Wangfu having to recruit guards from the military. The southern border of the Xiao Kingdom was in a fierce battle, and the front lines were already stretched thin, so it was impossible to spare more troops for the Wangfu.

Thus, in the peaceful, prosperous, and bustling Dongping Wangcheng, the Wangfu was a very special place. In the Wangfu, only three types of people were truly safe: the Duke of Dongping, Xiao Hong, and his family; the two elite guard teams inside the Wangfu, one consisting of no more than ten Pure Heart Cloud experts and the other consisting of about fifty Heart Cloud Twelfth Star experts; and the old servants who had worked in the Wangfu for over twenty years.

This information was like listening to a storytelling session for Bu Ye, and he couldn't help but think it was too exaggerated.

With such powerful guards and elite teams in the Wangfu, what could he do by infiltrating it?

But since he had come, he wouldn't be scared off so easily.

Most importantly, Xiao Hong's cruelty was because of his strong foundation. And what was Bu Ye here for?

Think about Lu Yu and Chai Yujing.

Bu Ye smiled and thanked the other person sincerely, then began to think about his next plan.

However, Bu Ye didn't expect that the other person's interest in talking had been piqued. Since everyone at the same table was a local and knew the story, they could only confide in Bu Ye, the outsider. After a while, Bu Ye was invited to their table, and the other person began to spill the beans.

It wasn't until over an hour later that Bu Ye left the tavern, remembering the name and address of the interesting customer, thinking that if he didn't get into trouble in the future, he could find the person to chat.

Then Bu Ye didn't change his disguise and went directly to the government office of the city.

A short while later, in a small hall outside the government office, Bu Ye "nervously" listened to the questions of an old man in official attire, whose rank Bu Ye couldn't determine, but whose tone was always very serious.

"You say you are from Nanluo?" the old man asked.

"Yes," Bu Ye replied.

"Do you have any family?"

"No."

"You look like a scholar, why are you applying to be a guard?"

Bu Ye said with some resentment, "I've studied for so many years without any success, and life has become harder and harder."

The old man couldn't help but laugh, "You've had a hard time, but you've only realized it now that you're at Heart Cloud Tenth Star."

Bu Ye perked up, surprised, "Sir, are you willing to hire me?"

"Hmm, why else would we post the notice?" the old man said irritably, but since he had decided to hire Bu Ye, his tone became much lighter, "You should have heard that working in the Wangfu can cost you your head. But let me tell you, that's all nonsense. The Duke is bloodthirsty, but he doesn't kill without reason. You'll be a guard in the outer court, and you might not even see the Duke for a whole year. Don't worry."

"Thank you, sir, for telling me."

"Alright, do you have anything else to prepare?"

"No."

"Good, wait here, and I'll find someone to take you to the Wangfu."

"Yes."

...

If you don't offend me, I won't offend you; if you offend me, I will repay you tenfold!

This was Nie Ning's implicit evaluation of Bu Ye.

From this, it can be seen that Nie Ning actually believed Bu Ye was a person with principles, as Bu Ye's "repaying tenfold" always had the premise of "if you offend me."

But what was the real situation?

The real situation was that Bu Ye's principles were very low, much lower than Nie Ning imagined.

For example, now, had the Duke of Dongping, Xiao Hong, provoked Bu Ye?

Before Xiao Hong even knew of Bu Ye's existence, Bu Ye had already taken action and found him...

Bu Ye admitted he couldn't kill people indiscriminately to eliminate potential threats, but once he found a small reason or excuse, he would do it.

And there were many reasons and excuses Bu Ye could find in Xiao Hong.

Moreover, Xiao Hong was indeed likely to target him and the villagers of Dongmang Village in the near future, so he came.

Led by a minor official from the government office, Bu Ye entered the Dongping Wangfu through a side gate.

Then he was handed over to a steward of the Wangfu, who took him to meet a deputy commander of the outer court guards, You Yuan.

You Yuan then handed him over to a deputy squad leader named Sun Shi, who gave him a few instructions and then handed him over to a steward responsible for the logistics of the outer court guards...

By the time Bu Ye finally received his guard uniform, access token, and weapons and arrived at his dormitory, he was thoroughly confused...

Even this was just a corner of the outer court of the Wangfu. How large must the entire Wangfu be?

Bu Ye deeply felt that his task was very challenging...

The dormitory was a double room, and the other bed was neatly made, clearly already occupied. Bu Ye laid out his bedding on the other bed and waited in the room.

After a while, a Wangfu guard ran in and called his name from outside the door.

Bu Ye quickly ran out and followed the guard assigned to help him familiarize himself with his new job.

Soon, Bu Ye understood that his only task now was to patrol. He was scheduled for a shift that night, patrolling the outer court with five other guards, one of twenty-four teams. He would be led by someone, and the other five would guide him.

Finally, the guard told Bu Ye before leaving, "There are too many rules, and I can't remember them all. In short, anything I haven't told you is not allowed."

"Okay."

"Remember, we must never go to the inner court, and it's best not to even look in that direction. Otherwise, you'll not only get yourself in trouble but also everyone else." The guard said seriously.

"Understood." Bu Ye acted like a complete newcomer, agreeing to everything the other person said.

"Alright, go back to your room and wait. Someone will call you for dinner, and then take you on patrol."

"Okay."

After the guard left, Bu Ye returned to his dormitory, lay down on the bed, and closed his eyes.

Although this was a new environment and he had no clear plan for what to do next, he wasn't afraid. He wasn't using his real name, and he had a mustache that he could remove if necessary. If things got really bad, he could summon Hongyun to escape. Hongyun's speed was unmatched even by Heart Cloud experts.

Now, lying on the bed, he was actually thinking about something else.

He calmed himself down, and his mind sank into his brain, where he could see the Jieyuan floating quietly. Next to the Jieyuan, the eighteen black clouds had been reduced to just one.

This meant that he would be summoned by the red light again at dawn tomorrow!

In the blink of an eye, it had been eighteen days since he left the red light.

These eighteen days, it took him three days to return to the village from the depths of Dongmang Mountain, ten days to travel from Dongmang Village to Muyuan, and on the fourteenth night, he went to Wenyu Town to kill someone. On the fifteenth day, he rushed back to Muyuan to kill Lu Yu and capture Chai Yujing. The following two days, he came to Dongping Wangcheng...

In these eighteen days, most of the time was spent traveling.

Bu Ye couldn't help but laugh to himself. Was he destined to be a wanderer in this world?

...

As Bu Ye lay in bed pondering, the sun outside was gradually setting on the western horizon.

In the northeast of the city, there was a small hill with the city's only Star God Temple. The people of the Xiao Kingdom, like all the countries on Qiaoshou Star, worshipped the Star God. The Star God, in simple terms, was somewhat like God or Buddha on Earth, but the relationship between the Star God and humans was a bit more distant. In people's beliefs, the Star God was more detached, allowing everything in the world to develop on its own. Therefore, on Qiaoshou Star, few people said things like "May the Star God bless us." To them, the Star God was more like a mysterious spiritual companion.

However, in many places, there were secondary gods below the Star God, who were the gods of specific constellations. The Star God might not care about certain matters, but the constellation gods might. Whether they were effective or not, when people had real needs, they tended to pray to these secondary constellation gods.

It was said that the origin of all this was the incredibly powerful perception of Heart Cloud experts, but those who hadn't reached that level could never understand, and those who had reached it were always very secretive.

The Star God Temple in Dongping Wangcheng was the simplest, with mostly tourists visiting, and very few people came to pray for anything.

As evening approached, the Star God Temple on the hilltop should have been bustling with tourists descending, but it was unusually quiet.

The quiet wasn't because there were no people; there were quite a few, including palace maids, a ceremonial guard, and even soldiers.

From a distance, a figure in a luxurious black dress was seen being escorted by several palace maids into a magnificent carriage, and then the procession slowly moved, with a grand display.

The procession slowly descended the hill and headed toward the Wangfu, clearing the roads and imposing strict security at intersections.

People on the streets either hid in alleys or entered nearby shops, but this didn't stop them from watching the long procession.

Everyone's focus was on the luxurious carriage pulled by four Moonlight Beasts.

Moonlight Beasts