Nanmanju Inn, Heaven-Class Guest Room.
Jiang Yun was sitting cross-legged on the floor, meditating and cultivating.
Of course, the Five Elements Array was gone now.
That thing had devoured too much gold.
In just these five days, Xu Xiaogang had gone around shaking people down several times.
He had squeezed a total of twelve jin of gold from the Prefect, Vice Prefect, and other officials of Nanzhou Prefecture.
Converted to silver, that came to a full twelve hundred taels.
It was a fortune.
Xu Xiaogang had gone out to flash his face again last night, but no matter what he tried, he couldn't squeeze any more gold out of them.
So he had to give up.
Still, in just these four days, the Magic Power inside Jiang Yun had grown increasingly abundant.
Watching Jiang Yun cultivate with his eyes closed, Xu Xiaogang lowered his voice and whispered to Xu Suwen beside him, "Sis, five days ago, Jiang Yun's Magic Power was probably only just enough to enter the Ninth Rank Dao Entry Realm."
"But now, the Magic Power inside him has probably reached the peak of the Eighth Rank Spellcasting Realm."
"He seems to have no bottlenecks at all?"
Whether it was martial arts, the Daoist Sect, or the Confucian Dao,
cultivation came with bottlenecks. Most people lacked the talent to get past them and would end up stuck in one realm, unable to advance.
Of course, every path had its own way of breaking through a bottleneck.
Take Xu Suwen and Xu Xiaogang, for example.
Both were at the seventh rank of martial arts, the Muscle Refining Realm, and wanted to reach the sixth rank, the Innate Realm.
Cultivating Magic Power was secondary; the main thing was to train their bodies to the utmost.
But for the Daoist Sect, Buddhism, and the Confucian School, one's state of mind mattered more.
Plenty of gifted people had struggled for years, only to suddenly reach clarity one day, awaken in a single moment, and make rapid leaps in cultivation.
Martial arts, on the other hand, demanded that one keep their feet on the ground and cultivate through hardship, step by step.
Xu Suwen's expression remained calm as she nodded. Jiang Yun's current state only further confirmed her guess.
Jiang Yun was focused on cultivating, but he could still hear Xu Suwen and Xu Xiaogang talking.
He didn't know much about these classifications of realms.
In his previous life, there hadn't even been such a system of cultivation realms.
He had even wondered whether the Celestial Masters of his previous life were different from the Celestial Masters of this world.
Perhaps they only shared the same name.
Of course, he would have to verify that later.
For now, he needed to increase his cultivation as quickly as possible.
Cultivating with the Five Elements Array really was incredibly fast.
But it had a drawback.
It cost too much money.
Over the past few days, he had swallowed a full twelve hundred taels.
He couldn't help thinking, It's good to be rich.
Once this storm had passed, he would have to make a fortune.
Of course, one couldn't rush these things.
A certain tycoon from his previous life had once said that having such an ambition was right; it was the direction to strive toward.
But it was best to start by setting a small goal that was within reach.
Jiang Yun thought to himself, I'll find a way to earn a hundred million first.
Just then, Qian Bochou's thunderous shout rang out from downstairs.
"Seal off Nanmanju Inn!"
Jiang Yun snapped out of it and stopped cultivating.
He hurried to the window and looked down. Qian Bochou was leading a group of men into Nanmanju Inn.
This is bad, Jiang Yun thought. He turned to Xu Suwen. "Miss Xu, sorry for the trouble. Take Qiaoqiao and leave first."
"If a fight really breaks out..."
Xu Suwen looked at Xu Xiaogang with some concern. "Xiaogang, take that Jiang girl and leave."
Xu Xiaogang folded his arms and said coolly, "In my dictionary, there's no such thing as..."
Seeing Xu Suwen slowly raise her foot,
he shut his mouth and went into the next room.
Jiang Qiaoqiao was doing embroidery in her room. She had been staying at Nanmanju Inn these past few days and was bored.
So she had decided to embroider some pretty pieces and sell them for a little money later.
When Xu Xiaogang hurried into the room, she looked at him, puzzled.
Xu Xiaogang smiled faintly. "Jiang girl, have you ever heard of scaling walls and vaulting over rooftops?"
Jiang Qiaoqiao thought for a moment and nodded. "Mm. In the storytellers' tales, lots of experts can scale walls and vault over rooftops."
"Lucky for you, there's an expert from the Imperial Guards right in front of you. Today, I'll let you experience it for yourself."
"Let's go."
With that, Xu Xiaogang grabbed Jiang Qiaoqiao's hand and led her out the window, leaping onto the eaves.
Only after Jiang Qiaoqiao had left did Jiang Yun finally feel at ease.
"Miss Xu, if anything happens to me, remember what you promised." Jiang Yun frowned as he watched Jiang Qiaoqiao's departing figure.
Xu Suwen nodded and said solemnly, "Don't worry."
Soon, constables began searching the rooms one by one.
Before long, they reached the third floor.
"The third floor is full of honored guests. Don't disturb them," Qian Bochou's voice rang out.
"Chief, the order from above is to search every inch of the place."
Qian Bochou said, "All right..."
Before long, Qian Bochou led a group of constables upstairs, swaggering in.
There were only two guests in the third-floor rooms, Xu Suwen and Xu Xiaogang.
The constables pushed open the door.
They soon spotted Jiang Yun and Xu Suwen.
"Chief, Jiang Yun is here!" The constable who had opened the door lit up and shouted.
Qian Bochou ran over and slapped the constable across the face. "Are you blind? Does that look like Jiang Yun to you?"
As he spoke, he pulled out the portrait he had drawn himself. "Look closely. This is what Jiang Yun looks like. What about this person looks anything like him?"
The constable covered his face, looking aggrieved, and said quietly, "Lord Qian, I know Jiang Yun. My older sister married into Yiyun Street."
"It's right next to Jiayun Street. I've seen him before."
"Oh? Is that so?" Qian Bochou scratched his head and turned around. All the constables were staring at him.
After all, the person they were supposed to capture was wanted by the Prince's Mansion. He couldn't keep shielding Jiang Yun, no matter what.
He took a deep breath, tore up the portrait in his hand, and cursed, "Damn it! Whoever drew this lousy picture made me search for days for nothing."
A constable behind him stepped forward. "My lord, I think the person who drew it was..."
Qian Bochou kicked him. "So you drew it, you little bastard."
"Get him!"
With that, Qian Bochou hurriedly backed away, not daring to step forward at all.
He knew exactly how formidable Xu Suwen was.
Sure enough, as soon as the constables entered the room, Xu Suwen suddenly drew her sword and swept a streak of Sword Qi across the floor.
It carved a sword mark just in front of the constables' feet.
Not one of them dared take another step. Xu Suwen slowly sheathed her sword, sat down at the table, and took a sip of the tea she had poured earlier.
"Bring another group."
"You're not enough to capture him."
The constables all turned to look at Qian Bochou.
"What are you looking at me for? Do you think I can beat her?" Qian Bochou roared. "Fall back and wait for the Prince's Mansion's experts to arrive."
In an instant, all the constables fled downstairs.
Jiang Yun hurried to the window and scanned the surroundings. He said to Xu Suwen, "Miss Xu, how about you take me along for a taste of scaling walls and vaulting over rooftops?"
"Before the Prince's Mansion's experts get here."
Xu Suwen took a sip of tea and said, "The fifth window of the tavern across the street, on the right."
"The window of the jewelry shop on the left."
"There are experts from the Prince's Mansion right downstairs, too."
"They arrived around noon."
"The Prince's Mansion probably discovered our whereabouts long ago. They just haven't made a move."
"There's no escaping."
Jiang Yun frowned. "You noticed them long ago?"
"Of course." Xu Suwen smiled. "So what are you going to do?"
Jiang Yun opened his bundle and took out several prepared talismans, carefully counting them as he spoke.
"Miss Xu, do you know that the Lightning Palm Strike I used a few days ago is only an entry-level trick among the tens of millions of Daoist Arts in my Daoist tradition?"
This was the first time Xu Suwen had seen Jiang Yun take out such complete, neatly made talismans. Curious, she asked, "Then what are these?"
Jiang Yun raised his head and grinned. "You'll soon see what true Talisman Arts look like!"
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