Ximen

Ximen

These yamen runners gave Ming Shu the feeling that each of them harbored a faintly violent mood that had been brewing for a long time. They did not need to restrain it—instead, they needed to release it.

Ren Yuan merely raised an arm to lightly block a yamen runner from shoving Chong Li, but was immediately surrounded and dragged back to the yamen for questioning.

Just as they were about to clash, the gate of Earl's Mansion opened a crack, and Ming Shu and Old Zhao slipped out.

As for why they had not kept a lower profile and quietly left through the side gate, that was something they would have to ask Earl Ying about. He had personally ordered the steward to arrange it.

There was probably some scheme of his involved as well.

Ming Shu directly asked the steward for help, borrowing Earl Ying's local influence first and using borrowed authority to throw his weight around.

The old steward did not hesitate either. He pulled a silver note from his sleeve and solved the matter with that group of patrolling yamen runners in a simple, brutal fashion.

Only after they had left did the steward tell Ming Shu that they were the lowest-ranking personnel among the yamen runners, which was why they had been assigned to patrol the streets at night.

Who among the proper six shifts of yamen runners would come out to patrol the streets in the middle of the night? Unless they were so poor they had gone mad.

Give them a little money and send them somewhere to drink, and a small problem like this could be settled.

Because of Ming Shu's somewhat reckless actions that night, the four of them no longer needed to separate. There was no point hiding their relationship anymore.

Besides, Chong Li and the others had made a new discovery.

The four of them returned to the inn together and gathered in the same room. Chong Li organized the information she had gathered that day and shared it with them.

The night market they had seen that night, as well as the lights burning throughout the city, were actually already weaker than usual.

Many workers at the docks were all saying that they felt weak and needed to buy medicine from Ximen Pharmacy. The medicine was said to be especially effective.

It made people more vigorous at night, kept them from tiring easily during the day, and gave them more strength for work.

As for the poor who could not afford the medicine, they felt themselves growing weaker and weaker.

This was the most obvious change in the city recently.

Most of these people were impoverished commoners. So far, there was no sign that Qing Shui County was suffering from famine. Grain prices were fairly normal as well, and most people at the bottom could still afford to eat thin porridge.

They had even investigated the meat stalls in the various markets. Every sign indicated that these people had not become weak because they were starving.

Some wealthy people who were fine during the day but not very capable at night also went to buy Ximen Pharmacy's secret medicine.

Those people, as well as their families and servants, surprisingly showed symptoms similar to those of the poor.

Without taking that medicine, they were completely listless during the day and fell asleep early at night. It was obvious that their vitality and spirit were constantly declining.

As for why the poor were suffering from this, Chong Li guessed that, on the one hand, there might be something unclean nearby. But that possibility was unlikely. This was a prosperous, densely populated area, and most of the affected people were men in their prime.

They were the main laborers of their households.

The other possibility was that someone had put something unusual in the nearby drinking water. That seemed more likely.

But if that were the case, the situation should have been more evenly distributed, rather than what they were observing now. Some people's symptoms were very pronounced, while others remained relatively stable.

Some people even lived together yet had nothing happen to them.

Ren Yuan seemed to have thought of something. He immediately went downstairs, bought some food from the inn, and went to several poor households they had questioned earlier.

He carefully compared the people among them who had problems with those who did not.

After investigating their food and even their drinking water, he found that they basically shared everything. Two of the households were even related, yet their conditions were completely different.

When Ren Yuan asked whether they had ever taken medicine from Ximen Pharmacy, the answer finally surfaced.

The great benefactor of the Ximen Family had several wives. One of them came here regularly to distribute porridge and medicine.

Quite a few people had taken the medicine from Ximen Pharmacy that she gave them.

This had been going on for several years. They had clearly been controlling the dosage and delaying the time when the problem would erupt.

They were definitely plotting some major move.

It was just that no one yet knew what severe consequences those medicines would produce in so many people at the same time.

What dangers would they bring?

After Ren Yuan told Chong Li what he had discovered, they could basically identify the Ximen Family in the western part of the city as the culprit.

Moreover, their estate was not far away, just two streets from the inn. It was quite large as well.

While Ren Yuan was away, Ming Shu also briefly told Chong Li about the intelligence he had gathered at Earl Ying's residence. He told her almost everything except for the part concerning the Law of Animacy, including his own discoveries and deductions.

Earl Ying was already planning to flee. He would certainly head south to join up with King Chu.

The Great Jin Immortal Dynasty was facing off between north and south, and even the outbreak of direct war had become an increasingly foreseeable trend.

Earl Ying had access to more secret intelligence, so he surely understood the situation even better—especially King Chu's current arrangements.

He would first create trouble for the new emperor in various places, even going so far as to ally with the northern barbarians.

After nearly a thousand years of division, the northern and southern Dao Sects could already be considered two different religious sects.

In the city, aside from their pharmacy businesses, the Ximen Family also controlled and influenced gambling houses and brothels, either directly or indirectly.

They even had people inside the yamen.

They were also a fairly successful example of merchants transforming into an aristocratic lineage. They had far more foresight than the Zhang Family.

The Zhang Family had been blinded by their hunger for power. They had leaped into the pit themselves, so they had no one to blame.

The Ximen Family was much steadier. Moreover, although there was no evidence yet, it was already possible to infer that they might have colluded with the barbarians.

In the city, aside from Earl Ying having the necessary influence, the other families could only put up a minor struggle against the Ximen Family.

As for the officials representing the Immortal Dynasty, led by the county magistrate of the yamen, Chong Li had no specific intelligence on them. That introduced an element of uncertainty.

They could not determine which faction the county magistrate belonged to, or whether he was involved in the earlier struggle between the princes. If he belonged to those opposed to the new emperor, things would become difficult from here on.

In other words, all the various forces within Qing Shui County were enemies of the Demon Hunters and the Sky-Toppling Observatory.

Therefore, before that happened, their new mission tomorrow would be to see which other forces they could win over and unite.

At the very least, they could not push all of them over to the enemy's side.

Aside from Earl Ying and the others wanting to escape this whirlpool, the families that had sunk roots here for centuries certainly could not bear to abandon their ancestral estates.

They possessed vast amounts of land and people locally. Under the old rules, they lived freely as superior beings.

If turmoil erupted and they were dragged into it, they might instantly lose everything they had. So it was worth trying, but they should not place their hopes too high.