Dawn had only just begun to break.
Quite a few breakfast stalls were already open along the streets.
Zhou Yi ate from one end of the street to the other. The moment food entered his stomach, Mana circulated and refined it into nothing.
"This salted tofu pudding is good. Another bowl!"
Whenever he met neighbors along the way, he greeted them with a smile. He called the younger women Auntie and the older ones Granny—he could not go wrong that way.
A neighbor asked in confusion, "Who's this handsome young man?"
"My master was Zhou Yi. Before he died, he told me to come to the capital and make my way in the world."
Zhou Yi currently looked to be in his twenties, bearing a seventy to eighty percent resemblance to his true appearance. Nurtured by spiritual energy over countless years, his looks were already exceptionally striking in the eyes of ordinary people.
Compared with Lao Bai, however, Zhou Yi could only console himself by saying that temperament mattered more than looks.
"Mr. Zhou's disciple!"
The old neighbor was half convinced, half doubtful. "You stayed in that courtyard last night?"
In the eyes of the local residents, Zhou Yi had been a capable man. He was usually gentle and courteous, yet whenever neighbors encountered trouble, he only needed to say a word to the yamen, and it would be handled. He carried considerable prestige.
"Yes. Master set mechanisms around the courtyard. If ordinary people entered, then..."
Zhou Yi made a throat-slitting gesture. "When I dismantled the mechanisms last night, I made some noise and accidentally disturbed you, sir."
"So that was it. No matter, no matter."
The old man laughed. "That's what I said! How could a capable man like Mr. Zhou have ghosts in his home?"
The others chimed in happily. Since rumors of haunting had begun, those who had still not moved away mostly lacked the money to do so.
Now that the rumor had been dispelled, not only would they be able to live in peace, but the fallen house prices would rise again.
Near noon.
Zhou Yi arrived at the Heavenly Prison. The guards on duty did not recognize him, but everyone recognized silver.
"Warden Liu?"
A jailer thought for a moment. "Lord Liu has already been promoted. He is now a Vice Minister at the Ministry of Justice. If you seek him, you should go to the Ministry of Justice offices."
Just then.
An old jailer emerged from the prison, escorting a convict in prison garb.
Zhou Yi's eyes lit up, and he stepped forward to greet him. "Would this be Lord Feng?"
Feng Qiao had served as a jailer for most of his life. This was the first time anyone had called him "Lord," and his spirits immediately soared. Imitating the Warden's manner of speaking, he drawled through his nose.
"Mhm. Who are you? What are you doing at the Heavenly Prison?"
"Lord Feng, before my master Zhou Yi passed away, he directed me to come to the Heavenly Prison to seek work. Master once told me that Lord Feng looked imposing, with a mole of fortune on your forehead."
Zhou Yi took out a letter of recommendation from his robes. He had written it himself, so naturally the handwriting could not be wrong.
"Old Zhou's... disciple?"
Feng Qiao examined him closely, comparing him with the face in his memories. He found them four or five parts alike. "That Old Zhou was a born romantic; Spring Breeze Pavilion was practically his home. You aren't his son, are you?"
"My hometown is in Yi Province. The war back then turned me into a refugee."
Zhou Yi said, "I nearly starved to death in Xuan Province. Fortunately, I met Master. He said I had considerable talent in martial arts, so he accepted me as his disciple."
No one could verify this background. Yi Province had only been incorporated into the Fengyang Kingdom five or six years earlier, and before it could fully sort out the people under its rule, Great Yong had reclaimed it.
"You really aren't?"
Suspicion filled Feng Qiao's face, but he did not make things difficult for him. "I'll take you to Captain Lu. He and your master were very close, so he should be able to arrange a position for you."
A moment later.
Captain Lu asked, "You really aren't Old Zhou's son?"
Zhou Yi helplessly denied it again and again.
"How did Old Zhou die?"
Captain Lu said, "Back then, his strength was said to be among the best in the capital. Don't martial arts experts all live long lives?"
A sorrowful expression appeared on Zhou Yi's face. "Five years ago, Master forcibly attempted marrow cleansing. After it failed, his blood and vitality damaged his marrow. He lingered on for four years, but in the end, he could not hold on."
The early stages of martial body cultivation were skin and flesh, sinews and bones, then organ refinement. They required years of painstaking tempering. For those with good talent who lacked neither cultivation methods nor medicinal soups, there were basically no major bottlenecks.
Marrow cleansing alone was different. Blood and vitality had to seep deep into the bones, refining marrow ten times frailer than even the internal organs. A single misstep could result in grievous injury.
Those elderly martial artists in the jianghu who had perfected organ refinement were not ignorant of the marrow-cleansing method. Most simply did not dare to take another step forward.
Once one reached the organ-refinement realm, wealth and status were no longer lacking, and the courage to risk one's life as before had vanished.
"A clay pot never leaves the wellhead without breaking. Old Zhou was such a clever man, cautious all his life—how could he suddenly lose his head in his old age?"
Captain Lu sighed, examined the recommendation letter, and nodded. "Since you are Old Zhou's disciple, I ought to arrange work for you. What are your plans?"
"Delivering meals."
Zhou Yi said, "Master told me that meal delivery lets you live a long life."
"Haha!"
Captain Lu clapped his hands and laughed. "Old Zhou must have said that. Zhou Li, hm, from now on, you'll be called Little Zhou. You'll be responsible for delivering meals during the day."
"Thank you, Lord Lu."
Zhou Yi knew trust would be difficult to gain in a short time. Spies often infiltrated the Heavenly Prison, hoping to secretly rescue some prisoner.
This problem was not hard to solve either. He only needed to remain in the prison for ten or twenty years. By then, no one would suspect him.
Time would smooth over everything!
Captain Lu said, "How much of your master's skill in interrogating prisoners did you learn?"
"Master praised me, saying the student surpassed the master."
Zhou Yi said confidently, "Has Lord Lu encountered a difficult prisoner? Leave him to me. At most one day is needed. Even an iron-forged man will not be able to endure it."
"There is indeed one."
Captain Lu said, "A few days ago, we caught a bandit lackey. We have interrogated him for days, yet still cannot get him to reveal where their hideout is."
Zhou Yi promptly put on a bewildered expression. "There are bandits near Shenjing too?"
The longer one lived, the more one experienced. Acting skills naturally improved. It was easy to pretend to be a young man fresh from the countryside, ignorant of worldly affairs.
"Wherever there are people who cannot afford food, there will naturally be bandits."
Seeing this, Captain Lu's suspicions faded somewhat. "They only have themselves to blame for not knowing their place. Robbing ordinary merchants before would have been one thing, but a few days ago, they actually robbed goods belonging to the Vice Minister of Rites. The higher-ups have ordered that they must be wiped out!"
"Petty bandits are easy to interrogate!"
Half an hour later.
Zhou Yi pried open the bandit's mouth. The bandits' main stronghold was actually on the southern foothills of Longevity Mountain.
The bandits had secretly colluded with the Imperial Guards stationed at Longevity Mountain. Whenever government soldiers came to investigate, the Imperial Guards covered the bandits' tracks. That was why repeated campaigns had failed to eliminate them.
The bandits were responsible for plundering merchants' goods, while the Imperial Guards fenced the loot and shared the proceeds!
"Little Zhou, well done!"
Captain Lu's eyes shone. "This is a heaven-sent merit. We might even get to show our faces before His Majesty!"
Bandits, Imperial Guards, and the Vice Minister of Rites—added together, none of them compared to the southern foothills of Longevity Mountain.
The Fengyang Kingdom's Imperial Mausoleum was actually being used as a bandit hideout. To put it more harshly, were they not stealing the dragon aura of the Zhao clan?
"Congratulations, Lord Lu."
Zhou Yi showed a slight look of shock, but his heart remained utterly calm. He had spent nearly forty years in the Heavenly Prison and had seen cases even stranger than this.
Zhou Yi had also seen the Imperial Guards at the mausoleum twice. They could be called a group of poverty-stricken wretches forgotten by the world.
Only when an emperor was buried could they eat a few meals with meat and vegetables. Ordinarily, they survived by farming on the mountain.
Now that they could not afford food, they had started considering a side business to make money. It was understandable!
"When did I become so cold-blooded?"
Zhou Yi touched his face, gently shook his head, then smiled and congratulated Captain Lu again.
The Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of War would handle the investigation and arrest the bandits afterward. Zhou Yi had rendered great merit as soon as he entered the prison, making it easy for him to gain a firm foothold.
The prison jailers all treated "Zhou Li" quite well, since they had received no small amount of favor from his master back then.
For instance, whenever they went to Spring Breeze Pavilion to listen to music, Zhou Yi had always paid the bill.
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