Chapter 12

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The big black cat stretched, leapt up onto Prince Zhuang’s knees, and idly stepped all over him. It didn’t retract its claws and pulled out threads of silk all over his brocade robe, as well as getting cat hair everywhere.

Prince Zhuang had no temper where the cat was concerned. Not only did he never get annoyed, he sometimes even casually rubbed the cat’s head and let it keep walking.

But this time, for once, he wasn’t in the mood to play with the cat.

The chime clock struck three times, and there was a knock at the door from outside.

Prince Zhuang looked up at once. “Bai Ling, enter.”

In answer, a piece of “paper” slipped through the crack in the door. The bolt didn’t move at all.

When the “paper” came into the room, it shook and expanded, landing on the ground as a very skinny man. He was thin, with a long face and very proper features, but for no apparent reason, it was impossible to remember what he looked like. Even his eyes were slightly lighter than usual.

He entered the room without a sound, more light-footed than a cat.

So Bai Ling, the head of the Prince Zhuang Manor’s secret guard, was a cultivator.

And the sort that hadn’t taken the aboveboard path!

“Your Highness,” said Bai Ling.

Prince Zhuang waved a hand. “No need to be so polite. How is it?”

Bai Ling answered, “The earthquake has stopped. There are executioner’s arrays concealed at the seven Azure Dragon Towers. Not a single one of the people who went to plunder the towers escaped. Around the fifth watch of the night, the assistant commander of Heaven’s Design Pavilion returned to the city with his people…”

Prince Zhuang listened impatiently as he detailed these things, then simply interrupted him: “What about that walking calamity Xi Shiyong?”

Bai Ling said, “All is well with the Viscount. Set your mind at ease, Your Highness. He returned with the immortal envoy’s carriage.”

Prince Zhuang exhaled, his expression relaxing almost imperceptibly.

The chiming clock kept moving forward. He raised a coarse pottery cup and drank a mouthful of water. Then he was once again the unflappable third prince. “Very well—what, did he really leave the city on his own?”

“The immortal envoy’s cultivation is too high. I didn’t dare to approach,” Bai Ling said. “I’m not aware of the details of what happened, but the Viscount was sent back in Heaven’s Design Pavilion’s carriage, and the blue-clothesers at the Yongning Marquis Manor politely dispersed. This must not be a bad thing.”

Prince Zhuang coldly instructed, “Tell the gatekeepers and the guards that if that brat dares to come again, no one is permitted to let him in. Tie him up and send him to the Marquis. He needs a few beatings, or he won’t learn.”

Laughter lines appeared at the corners of Bai Ling’s eyes. “Ah.”

Then Prince Zhuang continued: “Xuanyin’s immortal envoy has come? In previous years, there was news of the immortal envoy months in advance. Whose family does this one belong to? Why has his identity been so strictly concealed?”

“He… Pardon my rudeness.” Bai Ling stepped forward and said a name into Prince Zhuang’s ear.

Hearing it, Prince Zhuang’s eyebrows rose slightly. “Him?”

“Yes,” Bai Ling said quietly. “An ascended spirit peak master coming down from the mountain in person happens hardly once in a hundred years. I don’t know the reason. Perhaps it has to do with the mutiny of the evil cultivators.”

Prince Zhuang patted the black cat, sending it off to play by itself. With his hands behind his back, he walked to the window.

In the courtyard, rain fell on the banana trees. The rainwater fell on the leaves in droplets of mud, as if all the smoke and dust floating over Jinping was falling. Perhaps after this cleaning, tomorrow the fogs would disperse.

The foul black clouds created by mortals in the end fell back upon the mortal world.

There was one thing that others didn’t know, but of which the children of the imperial family were well aware—due to the incident of Lancang to the south, Great Wan’s Dragon Vein had broken once. Xuanyin’s Dignitary of Fate High Elder, the immortal Zhang Jue, had personally come to the mortal world to repair the Dragon Vein and restore the country’s fortune. This was the only “shed skin” immortal of Xuanyin who had publicly shown in his face in the mortal word in thousands of years.

The repaired Dragon Vein wasn’t as stable as the original one. It needed to be reinforced once every ten years. This was why Xuanyin Mountain sent down an immortal envoy, who incidentally presided over the Grand Selection. Reinforcing the Dragon Vein required a suitable time. It was always on a different day, so the date of the Grand Selection had also become mysterious.

When each Grand Selection Year came, the Dragon Vein would be unusually weak. This was also the reason the evil cultivators had chosen this time to take a risk.

Had “this individual” come down from the mountain this year because the evil cultivators scheming against the Dragon Vein were particularly powerful, or…was Xuanyin Mountain hinting that the imperial star was fading, that the sovereign had transgressed, or even that the Dragon Vein was unsteady?

“Tell Wang Zixian that we’ll take no action at this time,” Prince Zhuang said after deliberating silently for a moment. “An ascended spirit cultivator is an ascended spirit cultivator, after all. Let’s not be too clever under this one’s nose.”

Bai Ling gave an affirmative, then said, “There is no clear information about this mutiny of the evil cultivators. The whole thing seems strange from beginning to end. I’ve heard that Heaven’s Design Pavilion wasn’t very polite to the young masters staying at their head office last night. I’m afraid there will be great changes to the Grand Selection roster. If the Viscount had the good fortune to make his name known to the immortal envoy, should…”

Prince Zhuang looked at him expressionlessly. Bai Ling immediately shut his mouth.

Prince Zhuang swept his long sleeve over the window lattice. A silver inscription flashed on the wooden window frame.

This was a third-class inscription. With this embedded in the wooden beam, the room was warm in winter and cool in summer with no need for coals or ice, and it could withstand the earth dragon rolling over three times. Even if outside the sky fell and the earth split, as long as it didn’t reach the stage of the Azure Dragon Towers collapsing, the prince’s manor would be invulnerable.

A half-immortal in the open-eyed period couldn’t create an inscription. These inscriptions had to come from the hand of an immortal of the established foundation period or beyond—in other words, one a member Xuanyin Mountain’s inner sect.

According to the rules, only a Prince of the Second Rank1 or better, or a renderer of extraordinary service receiving special honors, was entitled to use a third-class inscription.

When the immortal sect occasionally bestowed a couple of inscriptions, it was the greatest honor of a mortal’s life.

But how distant the immortal sect was!

Even if you received a selection card and were permitted to enter the Latent Cultivation Temple to cultivate for a year, then were fortunate enough to open your spiritual eyes, those who could enter the inner sect were still vanishingly rare. Out of one class every ten years, it wasn’t certain that the inner sect would choose even one person.

The black cat jumped onto the windowsill, stuck up its big tail, and let out a long “meow” at its owner, shamelessly raising its head and demanding to be pet. The cat’s cry called Zhou Ying’s mind back. He once again returned the jade-like mildness to his face and calmly said, “Mr. Tanghua’s seventieth birthday is coming up. Prepare a generous gift and send someone to let Heaven’s Design Pavilion’s Captain Zhao know. Tell him that the Viscount of Yongning is reckless and insolent, and we’re afraid of offending the immortal envoy’s eyes. If possible, could the Exalted please take a look, and, in case the immortal envoy should wish to make serious changes to the roster of chosen disciples, have the Viscount removed from the alternate list.”

A selection card from Xuanyin Mountain could have all the children of nobility squabbling over it. This was Bai Ling’s first time hearing of someone being removed from the list. He was dazed.

Prince Zhuang said, quietly, “In Jinping, no matter what disaster may come, I can ward it off for him. If he enters the immortal sect, my reach truly won’t be long enough. I only have the one brother. If he had only…”

At this point, he realized that he had misspoken, starting from “only one brother”—where did that leave all the true offspring of imperial blood in the palace? Therefore he stopped speaking, swallowed the following phrase, “if he had only been born ten years later,” only paused, then continued: “One understands one’s own family. He has no natural talent, and the Marquis Manor isn’t struggling to feed him. There’s no need to seek this insupportable ‘great good fortune.’ My uncle understands perfectly. All you need to do is take care of it.”

Early the next morning, news of the entrance of the immortal envoy into the capital had indeed exploded.

There was at once an explanation for all the activity the night before—this was General Zhi!

When General Zhi came down to the mortal world, never mind Southern Sage Temple’s bells ringing and the Dragon Vein leaping, there would have been nothing surprising about the true dragons on the Nine Dragon Pillar turning into fried dough twists!

For a time, rumors in the streets spread like bamboo shoots after rain: there were those who said they had glimpsed auspicious clouds with their own eyes that night; there were those who said the immortal envoy’s carriage had passed their door and old stakes that had been dry for decades had sprouted buds; there were also those who said they had met the immortal envoy in casual dress, and the breath of immortal air had cured their chronic diseases at once!

Locations where the immortal had been encountered included but were not limited to wonton stands, pastry stands, tea shops, wine shops, tofu businesses… Evidently General Zhi had not only cured all illnesses, he was also a glutton who had eaten his way through Jinping in a matter of days!

Amid all this teeming rumor, the inexplicable instability of the Dragon Vein was covered up, and Jinping City’s curfew was lifted without any explanation. The peaceful singing and dancing in the city fell back into rhythm with the rumbling steam engines outside the city.

The singing corpse at the pleasure boat ferry crossing was said to have been drugged by an enemy, and the House of Overflowing Splendor, inextricably connected to the murder, was completely shut down. The bustle of the Flower Viewing Festival seemed to have been only fireworks.

It had begun with a river of red fire, but when the fire was done, there was only ash.

“Those who received the Flower Viewing Invitations didn’t dare to speak of it after they left,” Pang Jian said to Zhi Xiu, who was inspecting the list of provisional disciples. He deliberated for a moment, then asked, “Shishu, won’t it harm your reputation to let these people talk nonsense and fill the world with rumor?”

Indeed, of those rumors about eating at a hundred restaurants, more than half had been created by Zhi Jingzhai himself.

“It’s better than them talking about the Dragon Vein being unstable, anyway. Never mind that it would put the common people in a panic, it would be bad for His Majesty, too,” Zhi Xiu said. “My reputation… What do want I with a reputation like a flawless jade? To drop it on the ground and listen to the crash?”

He held a small writing brush. As he spoke, he swept the shaft of the brush over each name on the list in turn. When he pointed at someone, that person’s face would automatically appear on the paper, along with a genealogical background and any history of wrongdoing.

Pang Jian glanced over and saw General Zhi’s brush shaft point at a “Zhao Wenhong.” Beside the name appeared a rather proper young man’s face. Under the picture appeared small writing, explaining that this person belonged to the main bloodline of the Ning’an Zhao family. It stated his age, who his parents were, which immortals belonged to which generation of the family, and so on.

Then there followed a final line: Raped and insulted his younger half-sister by a concubine; she doesn’t dare to report it.

Pang Jian: “…”

What the fuck was this?

General Zhi was a military man, but perhaps because he had spent many years cultivating, his temper was very mild. At a glance, he looked like an unremarkable scholar. This was completely at odds with both a legendary hero and an ascended spirit peak lord of the immortal sect.

Only now did Pang Jian realize why ascended spirit cultivators had “attained the highest heaven.”

Commander Pang had been in Heaven’s Design Pavilion for most of a century. Excluding the years he had been in other parts of the country on official work and had been unable to return in time, he had received five or six immortal envoys—late established foundation period ones, as well consummate established foundations. He had never seen methods like this.

All the deeds, good and evil, in a mortal’s lifetime, no matter how private, no matter how “kept between heaven and earth and us,” became transparent in front of General Zhi, if he only wanted to know about them.

It was as if he were the “heaven” and “earth” that witnessed all.

Zhi Xiu casually struck off the name “Zhao Wenhong.” He asked, “Is there a member of the Zhao family in Heaven’s Design Pavilion?”

“There is,” said Pang Jian, giving up Zhao Yu. “I’ll let Zhao-shidi know and have him go home and deal with it.”

In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, General Zhi had struck off nearly half the names on the list. “Is there a backup list?”

“Shishu.” Pang Jian, watching from the sidelines, had found the sight too shocking to behold. He couldn’t resist saying, “Don’t you think that we’re…sheltering wicked deeds like this?”

“Some of them really are disgraceful,” Zhi Xiu said very mildly, judging the matter as it stood. “I struck off all the ones who were unsuitable. Fortunately, they’re all the sons of the aristocracy. They won’t be hard to investigate or locate. Whoever deals with these things—have them handle it.”

As he spoke, he looked up. His long phoenix eyes were like a two calm lakes, reflecting the beautiful and the ugly without judgment, neither shocked nor angry. Looking into them for a while made you calm down along with him.

Pang Jian was silent a moment. “Yes, my colleagues ought to have an alternate list ready. Allow me to go look, shishu.”

Soon, Zhao Yu presented the alternate name list. He didn’t dare to say much, only went home, dejected, to deal with his family’s unworthy descendant.

Zhi Xiu crossed out and pointed. Soon he had put together a final list of thirty people and gave it to Pang Jian. “No need to look further. These will do for this year.”

As soon as he spoke, a blue-clotheser came in and said, “Shishu, commander, those evil cultivators who launched a sneak attack against the Azure Dragon Towers all killed themselves after being captured. Of the ones at the Blissful Village, those that didn’t die on the scene couldn’t endure a single soul-searching. We only managed to get fragments in questioning. These people normally use immortal tools made of reincarnation wood to transmit messages. They don’t use their real names when they communicate. They call the evil god they worship Tai Sui. The situation has been handled and written up. Please take a look, shishu.”

Zhi Xiu said “good work” and took the report. He flipped through it carefully. “This was the result of my negligence. I didn’t expect that this evil cultivator would have a consummate ascended spirit. I caused all of you alarm.”

Pang Jian asked, “Shishu, aren’t there very few evil cultivators who can pass the established foundation period? How could there be an ascended spirit evil cultivator? Also…”

“Well?”

Pang Jian hesitated, wondering whether what he was going to say would be too arrogant, but the look in General Zhi’s eyes gave you the feeling that you could say anything in front of him, that he could pardon anything, so he couldn’t resist saying, “I think that that evil cultivator was a little weak—of course, even if I had craned my neck until it broke, I still wouldn’t have been able to see the dust under his heels, but…I just think that he doesn’t…doesn’t quite match my idea of someone half a step from shedding his skin.”

When he had spoken, he waited for Zhi Xiu to laugh, but General Zhi didn’t laugh. Seeming to take his words very seriously, he reflected for a moment, then nodded and said, “Indeed. There are many riddles about this person, and the sect’s information is currently limited. But all of you can set your minds at ease. This kind of evil cultivator may not be encountered once in a thousand years, and there are great events before they appear. The sect will know ahead of time.”

Pang Jian could tell at once that Zhi Xiu didn’t want to say anything more about it. He knew that there were a great many taboos within the sect. What the elders didn’t tell you, you couldn’t casually inquire about. So he tactfully shut his mouth and didn’t ask again.

But Zhi Xiu scrutinized him, smiling, and said, “Wenchang, if I saw right in the Blissful Village woods that day, then your spiritual bones are already complete. You’ve fashioned your Way of the Heart, haven’t you? Since you’ve reached a consummate stage, do you want to go a step further?”

Pang Jian’s eyes suddenly opened wide. He licked his lips involuntarily.

Zhi Xiu said, “An established foundation cultivator has to enter the inner sect. While I don’t take disciples, I can still help you get a reception order.”

Having crossed over to the established foundation, you would truly throw off the mortal world and live forever. No cultivator could be unmoved. This was what countless walkers in the mortal world longed for but couldn’t attain.

Pang Jian was human, too.

But while he opened his mouth and an obvious struggle appeared on his face, he still swallowed his words. Meeting Zhi Xiu’s mild gaze, he lowered his head. “Shishu, entering the inner sect…means I won’t be a walker in the mortal world any longer.”

“Naturally,” Zhi Xiu said. “Those are the rules.”

Hearing this, Pang Jian didn’t speak for a long moment. General Zhi seemed to have infinite patience and didn’t rush him.

Finally, Pang Jian said, almost solemnly, “Thank you, shishu. When I entered Heaven’s Design Pavilion, I didn’t wish to go far along the path of cultivation. I only wanted to learn some skills and be a watchdog for the mortal world, to protect the peace. To ascend to the immortal sect and never again leave the mountains…I just think…I just think…”

Zhi Xiu laughed. “That it would be betraying something.”

At a loss, Pang Jian said, “Well…I mean…that is…”

“Don’t be embarrassed.” Zhi Xiu waved a hand. A trace of longing appeared on his face. “You’re a lot like an old friend of mine. Let’s do this. I’ll leave you the reception order, and when you want to enter the inner sect, send word to me.”

Pang Jian, confused and disoriented, thought, How could I do that?

So he became even more ill at ease.

Just then, fortunately, another blue-clotheser ran in. “Shishu, commander, there’s another thing. How should we handle that ‘earworm’?”

Pang Jian felt that his savior had arrived. He nearly wrenched his head off. “What ‘earworm’?”

“Ah,” said Zhi Xiu, pausing, “I’d forgotten about it. Is it still alive?”

After a moment, Pang Jian saw the little monster that had drawn Xi Ping into the depths of the Blissful Village.

At a glance, this little monster was an ordinary child, with a big head and thin neck, trembling as he was brought to Heaven’s Design Pavilion’s head office. From far away, he saw Zhi Xiu in his jade stamp-green robe and drew back desperately, like a frightened young animal.

Pang Jian pried open his mouth and looked into the little monster’s mouth full of sharp teeth like a bed of nails. He exclaimed in surprise. “This is an ‘earworm half-puppet’?”

Pregnant women were the most easily impacted by evil cultivators. In places where evil cultivators had stayed, children in the area were often born with deformities. Poor families couldn’t look after them, so they could only abandon them. There were evil cultivators who would collect these deformed child and use evil arts to turn them into a half-human half-puppet; they would extend their lifespans and keep them as slaves and pets. The euphemistic name for this was an ‘earworm2’”

“He seems to be a little scared of me.” Zhi Xiu didn’t approach. He said to Pang Jian, “Do you have a spiritual stone? Give him one to eat.”

Pang Jian gave an “all right” and took out a “blue jade” spiritual stone bead the size of a pinky fingernail. As soon as he took it out, the little monster grabbed impatiently it and swallowed it greedily.

“He’s starving. I wonder how long it’s been since he was fed.” Zhi Xiu sighed. “Earworm half-puppets aren’t living people. They can’t eat or drink and have to survive on spiritual stones—was this one created by one of the evil cultivators?”

“Yes,” the reporting blue-clotheser said, “his owner died in the Blissful Village woods.”

“He has to eat spiritual stones? Why not simply live off gold?” Pang Jian said in horror. “Anyway, he’s an evil cultivator’s thing. Let’s dispose of him.”

The little earworm hadn’t expected him to be even more ruthless. He ducked behind the blue-clotheser in fear.

“Wenchang, don’t tease him. A half-puppet may not have the intelligence of a normal child due to the arts used to create him, but he still understands some human speech,” General Zhi Xiu said. “Good and evil have nothing to do with an ignorant little thing like this. I’ll take him to the Latent Cultivation Temple and see whether one of the wealthy disciples would be willing to take him in.”

“On that subject,” Pang Jian said as though “suddenly remembering something” while he flipped through the list of remaining provisional disciples, “Huh? Why wasn’t that Xi Shiyong on the alternate list?”

“You mean that kid from the Blissful Village…the one as reckless as you?”

“He’s the Viscount of Yongning, nephew of the Imperial Consort in the palace. His full name is Xi Ping. Reasonably speaking, he ought to…” Affecting total carelessness, Pang Jian said, “Hey, that’s strange. Perhaps it’s because there aren’t many members of the Xi family, and my subordinates overlooked him.”

Zhi Xiu smiled. He knew that Pang Jian was doing this on purpose and didn’t expose his act. He casually wrote Xi Ping’s name on the paper, and Young Master Xi’s blooming face appeared.

Xi Ping’s “offenses” were simply too numerous to record: on such a month and day, acting in collusion with such and such individuals, beat up the son of the assistant minister of the War Ministry for the sake of an actress; on such a month and day, while drunk, scolded the madam of Fragrant Spring House until she cried; on such a month and day, fed such a person’s saddle horse a laxative; on such a month and day, bullied the cat at Prince Zhuang Manor and chased it up a tree…

Pang Jian: “…”

This brat was truly a hidden treasure. So diverting.

Zhi Xiu laughed and added Xi Ping’s name to the end of the list. “Let’s add him, then.”