Ultimate Enlightenment, Open Purple Mansion!

The moment the dry well appeared, Zeng Anmin did not hesitate. He jumped straight down.

The well's mouth was exceptionally ruined.

There was no need to even think about the situation inside. There was absolutely no danger.

"Thud!"

His feet hit the ground, landing on something soft.

The abandoned well was not deep, less than two meters at most.

Inside the well, it was pitch-black.

In the cramped space, Zeng Anmin could only barely bend his legs.

When he reached out, his hand encountered something soft.

He grabbed it and hauled it up.

"Damn, it's heavy."

He had no idea what kind of fabric this was, but it weighed as much as refined iron.

After weighing it slightly, he shouted toward the well mouth:

"Lower a rope."

Before long, someone lowered a rope.

After climbing out of the well, Zeng Anmin's face was somewhat flushed.

After tossing the object in his hands onto the ground, he let out a light breath.

The object struck the ground with a dull "thud."

By the moonlight.

Zeng Anmin saw that the soft object on the ground was a bolt of cloth a full zhang long.

The silky cloth slowly unfurled beneath the force with which he had thrown it down.

A painting steeped in mystery entered his sight.

Within the clouds and mist, a colossal dragon whose full form could not be seen raised its head proudly.

Its faintly visible scales shimmered with golden and green radiance, dazzlingly brilliant.

The dragon held its head high, its eyes like glittering jewels, revealing wisdom and majesty.

Its long horns stretched backward like tree branches, giving off an air of mystery, antiquity, majesty, and solemn grandeur...

It was the Dragon Survey Map!!

"What a painting."

Without realizing it, his gaze was deeply drawn into the painting.

Every single line on the scroll seemed unable to wait to tell him the meaning of its own existence.

Unconsciously, Zeng Anmin's mind began racing wildly.

In the final instant before Rapid Enlightenment was about to end.

His gaze happened to meet that of the giant dragon in the Dragon Survey Map.

"BOOM!!!!"

It was as though, in the age of chaos, the Desolate God had split open heaven and earth.

A dragon's shadow cleaved apart all the mist in his mind!

A massive phantom visible only to him suddenly leaped from the Dragon Survey Map.

"Buzz!"

In the blink of an eye, the phantom lunged at him.

It was so fast that Zeng Anmin had no time to react.

In an instant, Zeng Anmin's Sea of Consciousness churned as though heaven and earth had been overturned.

He seemed to see that Primordial Dragon from ancient times, peerless throughout the ages and arrogant beyond compare!

He also felt, within the Primordial Dragon's enormous, mysterious, unfathomable eyes, a trace of unwilling humiliation...

"Gasp~"

A pain that pierced deep into his marrow and struck directly at his soul surged through him.

Fortunately, it lasted only a moment before vanishing.

All the wondrous visions faded away.

Zeng Anmin sensed that something had appeared within his mind... or rather, within his Sea of Consciousness.

With a thought, he looked down like a Divine Being upon his Sea of Consciousness Space, where rippling purple qi rose and swirled.

A miniature phantom of the Dragon Survey Map floated within it.

"The Dragon Survey Map actually helped me open the Purple Mansion directly?!"

Zeng Anmin's heart shook violently.

As the Governor's son, Zeng Anmin had some knowledge from his memories of this world's extraordinary cultivation systems.

The Sea of Consciousness was a miraculous realm that Body Cultivators—Martial Artists—could only open upon reaching the Seventh-rank Visualization Realm.

Confucian Cultivators called it the Purple Mansion, and one had to reach the Eighth-rank Qi Nurturing Realm to open it.

Daoism called it the Upper Dantian. As for what realm was required, Zeng Anmin did not know yet.

Buddhism called it Nash; likewise, he did not know the required realm.

But regardless of the school, one had to cultivate to a certain realm before being qualified to open it.

He had not even reached the Entry-rank Realm yet, so how had he somehow skipped ranks directly?!

Only a few breaths had passed since Zeng Anmin dragged the map up.

To everyone else, the earth-shattering change that had taken place within him merely looked like him standing there blankly for a brief moment.

No one noticed anything unusual.

"It really is the Dragon Survey Map!"

The White-robed Venerable was the first to reach Zeng Anmin's side.

From afar, he bowed toward Emperor Jianhong and reported.

Jianhong raised a hand without much interest, neither confirming nor denying it.

"Yes."

The White-robed Venerable picked up the enormous scroll from the ground.

The Dragon Survey Map, which Zeng Anmin had struggled to carry, was as light as nothing in his hands.

After arriving beside Emperor Jianhong, the White-robed Venerable respectfully presented it with both hands.

Emperor Jianhong gave it a cursory glance. It was identical to the Dragon Survey Map in his memory.

"Mhm."

He nodded slightly, then turned his gaze to Zeng Anmin in the distance.

Naturally, he knew that he had imprisoned Zeng Shilin this time with insufficient evidence, and that the matter had been handled too hastily...

But he had always been deeply versed in the art of emperors. He would never admit that he had been wrong. Instead, he shifted the focus to the crime and said calmly:

"Zeng Anmin, you have atoned for your father's mistakes and rendered meritorious service despite your guilt. I shall let the matter of the lost Dragon Survey Map pass."

In feudal times, righteousness, propriety, filial piety, and loyalty were held in the highest regard. There was nothing unreasonable about doing so.

Only upon hearing Emperor Jianhong's words did Zeng Anmin come back to his senses.

At this moment, Rapid Enlightenment's duration on the Golden Finger panel had already ended.

A heavy feeling descended upon his mind.

That sensation of calculating heaven and earth, of holding every strategy like pearls in his grasp, suddenly vanished.

Zeng Anmin felt somewhat unaccustomed to it, as though even his thoughts had slowed considerably.

Fortunately, it did not affect his normal reactions.

With a solemn expression, he pointed at the corpse on the ground.

"Your Majesty, the first priority is to determine this scoundrel's identity, search and confiscate his home, and see whether we can find clues pointing to the person behind him."

"And if it is convenient, I would like to... see my father."

Zeng Anmin raised his head to look at Jianhong and made his request.

He truly needed to see this father of his.

After all, his luxurious life for the rest of his days would depend entirely on him.

Emperor Jianhong nodded slightly.

"Granted."

Afterward, Jianhong ordered Wang Daoyuan of the Xuanjing Division to investigate the case.

He led Zeng Anmin and the others toward the Imperial Prison.

The Xuanjing Division's Imperial Prison in Two Rivers Prefecture.

The deepest prison cells were entirely isolated.

This cell held only the most vicious criminals.

Thus, both its door and the surrounding walls had been reinforced and thickened.

Inside the cell, a figure sat desolately upon a worn straw mat.

His eyes were Phoenix Eyes, his brows like reclining silkworms, and his face carried the Majesty of high position.

Father and son both possessed a pair of sharp Phoenix Eyes.

Having been thrown into prison so hastily, he was still wearing his Official Robes.

Zeng Shilin gazed at the deep, shadowy prison door, sorrow flickering in his eyes.

"Burdened with talent soaring ten thousand zhang, yet stifled in prison, I can only swallow my injustice!"

His voice was rich and steady, yet his tone at that moment carried a trace of desolation.

I, Zeng Shilin, have spent my life loyal to my sovereign and serving my country, only to end up in such a bleak state.

If I had been imprisoned for failing in my duty of guard, I would have nothing to say.

But they insist that I was in 'collusion with the Demon Race'?

Out of thin air—a crime forced upon me!

"Heh heh."

Zeng Shilin suddenly laughed, his smile brimming with sarcasm and mockery.

"When the birds are gone, the bow is stored away; when the rabbits are dead, the hounds are boiled."

"Hahaha..."

There was no one else in the cell, so his laughter grew louder and louder.

This was chilling beyond measure!

How cold and heartless!

"Hahahahahaha!"

The entire cell was filled with his bleak, mocking laughter.

"Clack."

The cell door suddenly opened.

Emperor Jianhong, the White-robed Venerable, Princess Ning'an, Zeng Anmin, and nearly ten others filed inside.

"Hahahaha... Hrk?"

As dozens of eyes met his, Zeng Shilin's laughter came to an abrupt halt.

Jianhong was expressionless.

Ning An looked bewildered.

The White-robed Venerable pursed his lips and clenched his fists.

For a moment, the atmosphere was exceedingly strange.

Zeng Anmin's composure was not strong enough. His shoulders could not help trembling as he desperately covered his mouth.

Yet he still made a muffled "kuku" sound.

When someone was caught in the middle of losing their mind, this kind of socially fatal moment...

I really can't hold it in, Dad!

Jianhong could not help laughing either, a faint smile appearing on his dignified face.

"Why is my beloved minister laughing?"

Fortunately, Zeng Shilin reacted superbly.

As though nothing had happened, he slowly rose and bowed to Jianhong.

"Your servant laughs at the Two Rivers Prefecture Governor's lack of strategy, laughs at the Xuanjing Division's lack of wisdom from top to bottom. After waiting so long, they have still failed to clear your servant's injustice and proclaim the truth to Your Majesty."

The smile vanished from Jianhong's face as soon as those words were spoken.

Zeng Shilin's words were simple, yet their meaning ran deep.

First, he expressed his dissatisfaction at Jianhong's wrongful accusation.

Second, he took the chance to insult Jianhong's intelligence.

Very good. Very powerful.

Worthy indeed of the Governor of Fengqi Road's three prefectures.