Within the side courtyard of the Fengtian Division, voices roared and heat seared the air.
Thirty taels of silver were like a red-hot branding iron pressed against every constable's heart. Everyone whispered among themselves, calculating their own connections and trying to win over familiar companions. Every face was naked with desire and scheming.
Wei Datong rubbed his hands together, eyes shining as he stared at Ye Qingxuan. His spit was practically flying. "Qingxuan, thirty taels! How long could that keep us fed and clothed?"
Xiong Tiezhu merely lowered his head beside him and repeated in his deep, muffled voice, "Do it!"
Ye Qingxuan withdrew his gaze from the excited crowd and shifted it to Hong Qingshan, who was puffing away in the corner. Finally, his eyes settled on the faces of his two companions.
"Of course we're doing it." His voice was not loud, yet it quieted both the feverish Wei Datong and Xiong Tiezhu. "But we're not charging out headfirst right now."
"Why?" Wei Datong was puzzled. "If we're late for such a good thing, we won't even get to drink the soup!"
Ye Qingxuan shook his head. "What kind of people are the Green Fish Gang? Desperadoes who lick blood from the edge of a blade. That 'Mottled Fish' is one of their leaders. Even badly wounded, he isn't someone to trifle with. The three of us rushing into him so recklessly—are we planning to trade our lives for money?"
Those words were a basin of cold water poured over Wei Datong's head. He drew in his neck and muttered, "Then... then what do you say we do?"
"Lord Xiao said he wants results. Linyuan Prefecture isn't too large, but it isn't small either. Where could a heavily wounded man hide? We'll proceed step by step and do our own work properly while keeping an eye out in secret. The more critical the moment, the less we can lose our heads."
Ye Qingxuan's plan went far beyond that.
He had a ledger in his heart.
He was currently at the perfected second stage of body tempering. With cultivation like that, even Deputy Commander Xiao Yunting had failed to see through him face-to-face. It was all thanks to the Method of Concealing Radiance and Nourishing Obscurity from the Martial Path Heavenly Machine Codex.
But this martial prowess could not see the light of day. How could an unregistered temporary constable with no sect or school explain such hardened physical skills? If anyone pressed him for answers, it would bring down a calamity that blotted out the sky.
Thus, he could not reveal his martial arts directly to compete for credit.
What he wanted was to be "justified and proper."
As long as he established a moderate merit, he could become a regular constable. Once he was registered, he could receive the Fengtian Division's standard martial art, the Thirteen Blades of Fengtian. By then, he could reveal his martial cultivation and have a source for it, an explanation.
Others would merely assume that he had obtained an official cultivation art and possessed extraordinary talent, allowing him to soar to the heavens in a single flight.
That was the safest plan.
And the bounty before him was precisely the "moderate merit" that could let him step across the formal threshold of the Fengtian Division.
Seeing that Ye Qingxuan's words were reasonable and well-founded, Wei Datong and Xiong Tiezhu both nodded. Once the three had finished discussing it, they stopped crowding into the excitement and went their separate ways, preparing for the afternoon patrol.
The sun slanted westward, and the summer heat gradually faded.
The streets of the Southern District had grown somewhat sparser. Ye Qingxuan and the other two walked along the streets and alleys for the entire afternoon, watching in every direction and listening on all sides, yet they failed to hear even the slightest whisper about "Mottled Fish."
Wei Datong's lips were nearly worn raw. He had questioned idle men at teahouses at one end of the street and old women selling huobing at the other, but all he got in return were shakes of the head.
"Damn it, did this Mottled Fish burrow into the ground?" Wei Datong dropped onto the stone steps by the roadside and pounded his aching legs.
Xiong Tiezhu still said little, though sweat had appeared on his forehead as well.
Ye Qingxuan, however, remained as composed as ever. This amount of walking was nothing to his current physique. He merely committed the terrain along the way—the narrow alleys and waterways—to memory one by one.
As the end of their shift approached, the three passed a courtyard wall under repair. Several masons were busy at work, with quite a few old bricks and stones removed from the wall piled beside them.
Ye Qingxuan's footsteps paused, and his gaze fell upon the pile of bricks and stones.
He walked over and cupped his hands toward an old craftsman who was resting. "Uncle Zhang, keeping busy?"
Uncle Zhang recognized Ye Qingxuan and broke into a grin. "Oh, it's Qingxuan. What, not on duty today?"
"Our shift is almost over." Ye Qingxuan pointed at the pile of scrap. "Uncle, could I trouble you for a few stones?"
"Ah, what's the harm? It's just a pile of junk. If you want some, take them yourself." Uncle Zhang waved his hand dismissively.
Ye Qingxuan thanked him, then walked over and bent down to sort through the pile. He specifically chose the hard bluestones with sharp, well-defined edges. After weighing them in his hand, he selected seven or eight, wrapped them in a scrap of cloth, and carried them away.
Wei Datong came over, curious. "Qingxuan, what are you taking that stuff for? Building a wall?"
"The courtyard at home is a little low in places. I'm going to pad it out." Ye Qingxuan gave him a casual answer.
Wei Datong did not think much of it, taking it for an ordinary household chore.
The three returned to the Fengtian Division to mark the end of their shift, then went their separate ways. Ye Qingxuan carried the heavy bundle of stones, yet his steps were several times lighter than when he had arrived.
The afterglow of the setting sun dyed the alleys of the Southern District a warm orange.
When he pushed open the gate to his courtyard, the aroma of food rushed toward him.
"Brother, you're back!"
A thin, petite figure ran out of the kitchen. It was Ye Caiwei. Her hair was tied into two little knots, and a bit of stove ash stained her face, making her look like a little cat.
Ye Qingxuan set down the bundle of stones and reached out to wipe the ash from her face, his movements gentle.
"Nannan, what delicious food did you make today?"
"I used yesterday's leftover minced meat to steam egg custard!" Ye Caiwei lifted her little face and said proudly, "I also heated up two multigrain steamed buns."
"Our Nannan is so capable." Ye Qingxuan praised her and lifted her into his arms.
The little girl giggled brightly against his chest, and the fatigue of the day seemed to vanish into that laughter.
The siblings sat together before the small dining table. There was a bowl of golden, tender egg custard and two steaming buns.
Ye Caiwei carefully scooped a large spoonful of custard into Ye Qingxuan's bowl, leaving only a little broth in her own.
"Brother, eat more. Your work is hard."
Ye Qingxuan looked at the clear soup and scant food in his sister's bowl. His heart warmed, yet a sourness welled up within it. He said nothing, only divided more than half of the custard from his own bowl and put it into hers.
"You're still growing. You need to eat more."
"But..."
"No buts. Listen to your brother."
Only then did Ye Caiwei begin eating in small mouthfuls, her large eyes narrowing happily into crescent moons.
In this turbid, wretched world, what Ye Qingxuan had was this bowl of steaming egg custard and his sister's satisfied smile. To protect this warmth, he was willing to face any storm.
After the meal, Ye Caiwei obediently cleared away the bowls and chopsticks.
Ye Qingxuan carried the bundle of stones to the corner of the courtyard.
The night deepened. He removed his shirt, revealing his sturdy upper body. Beneath the moonlight, his skin gleamed with healthy color, and the lines of his muscles flowed smoothly. They were not as knotted and exaggerated as those of ordinary martial men, yet they contained astonishing strength.
He first grabbed two handfuls of fine river sand and rubbed them repeatedly over his body until his skin reddened and grew hot. This was the skin-refining method of the first step of the Indestructible Vajra Body.
Afterward, he focused his mind.
[Indestructible Vajra Body (measurement: four inches, Merit: twenty-one points)] [Sandstone tempering, tendons and bones faintly ringing, Merit points +3.]
The feedback from the Heavenly Machine Codex came clearly through his mind.
He exhaled a breath of turbid air. Sure enough, ordinary sand and stone were becoming less and less effective.
Next, he untied the cloth bundle, revealing the angular bluestones inside.
He drew a deep breath, picked up a stone, and slowly rolled its sharp edges over his arms, chest, and back.
A stinging pain spread through him, far more intense than that caused by sand and gravel. Soon, lines of red appeared across his skin.
But the pain instead made his spirit surge.
He could clearly sense that as the stone rolled over him, the muscles and fascia beneath his skin were repeatedly stimulated, compressed, and strengthened by a strange force.
This was what he wanted.
The next day, before the sky had fully brightened,
Ye Qingxuan was already practicing in the courtyard. After tempering his body with the angular stones, he once again activated the Heavenly Machine Codex.
[Indestructible Vajra Body (measurement: four inches, Merit: twenty-four points)] [Strange-stone body tempering, qi and blood surging, Merit points +3.]
It was the same increase of three points, but this time the sensation was far more substantial and solid than when he had used sand and gravel the day before.
He dressed, ate the breakfast his sister had prepared, and headed for the Fengtian Division in high spirits.
The pre-shift meeting was still Chief Constable Zhang giving them a lecture. He was still talking about the search for "Mottled Fish," with nothing new to add.
Wei Datong, however, took advantage of the Chief Constable's inattention to quietly tug Xiong Tiezhu over and whisper in his ear.
"Dashan, I'll tell you a trick of the trade." Wei Datong lowered his voice mysteriously. "There's a particular way we address people in the Fengtian Division. For someone like Chief Constable Zhang or Chief Constable Hong, you have to call him 'Chief Constable,' not 'constable.' One word apart, but worlds apart."
Xiong Tiezhu nodded stupidly.
"Someone like Constable Qin is an old hand among the regular constables, so we call him 'Brother Qin' as a term of respect. Ordinary regular constables are called 'Brother X.' As for people like us who aren't registered, if they're in a good mood, they'll call you by your name. If they're not, they'll just shout, 'Hey!' And you still have to come running over with your tail wagging."
Ye Qingxuan listened from the side, understanding dawning in his heart. These were the rules of this turbid, wretched world—the rules on the official side. People were divided into nine grades, and clothing came in every color under the sun. A single form of address was a class chasm.
Wei Datong sighed. "When will we be able to make someone call us 'Brother' or 'Chief'? Then we'll have lived for something."
Those words voiced the feelings of every temporary constable.
Another day of street patrols began.
There was even more discussion of "Mottled Fish" in the streets and alleys, but not a single genuinely useful clue.
Wei Datong remained full of fighting spirit, asking around everywhere, with Xiong Tiezhu following close behind without leaving his side.
Ye Qingxuan walked at the rear, his calm gaze sweeping over every corner where someone might hide.
He was not in a hurry.
A hunter needed patience.
That fish worth thirty taels of silver would surface sooner or later. And what he had to do was seize it firmly, in the safest possible manner, at the instant it broke the surface.
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