Dragon-Drawing Powder

"I... I only knew it was a medicinal catalyst..." Cold sweat streamed down Wang Kong's forehead, his voice broken and halting. "Steward Zhao said... said this batch of Dragon-Drawing Powder was different from the previous ones. He paid a great price to obtain it... He treasured it dearly. Even when it was taken out, I handled it myself. He wouldn't allow anyone else to touch it..."

"A medicinal catalyst." Chen Lingxi cut him off. "What medicine was it for?"

"I truly don't know!" Wang Kong's voice rose sharply. "Steward Zhao never told me such things. I only watched you take the medicine and recorded who lived and who died... He never told me anything else..."

Chen Lingxi looked into his eyes.

Wang Kong's gaze was frantic and terrified, yet he did not seem to be lying.

A man on the verge of death had no need to lie at this point.

"Where is Liu Changle?" Chen Lingxi asked again. "Where did he go?"

Wang Kong froze for a moment, then shook his head. "I don't know... He suddenly vanished... Early that morning, Steward Zhao sent people to the Inverted Room to find him, but he was already gone... Steward Zhao flew into a rage over it and had all the servants in the North Courtyard beaten, but still couldn't learn where he went..."

"He suddenly vanished?"

"He just suddenly vanished!" Wang Kong said urgently. "Everything was still there, but the man was gone, as if he had disappeared into thin air... Steward Zhao said... said that was impossible. An official slave couldn't leave the Marquis Residence, so someone must have hidden him... But after investigating for all these days, they found nothing..."

Chen Lingxi fell silent for a moment.

Having lived two lives, he was still capable of reading people.

Wang Kong's current behavior did not seem feigned.

He asked several more questions. Wang Kong answered each one, rambling and repeating himself, but there was nothing else of use.

Chen Lingxi took a deep breath.

The spring breeze passed through Willow Street Alley, stirring the loose strands of hair before his forehead.

A peddler's cry drifted from the mouth of the alley, its drawling cadence floating faintly through the air.

A dog barked twice somewhere in the distance, then fell quiet again.

He withdrew his gaze and clenched his five fingers into a fist.

Wang Kong's eyes flew wide open. His mouth opened as if he wanted to say something.

Bang!

A crimson gleam flashed past.

Chen Lingxi's punch shattered Wang Kong's forehead. His body slowly slid down the earthen wall.

He was dead.

Chen Lingxi crouched and searched his body.

He found several silver ingots in his robes, mostly loose silver, amounting to roughly twenty or thirty taels.

Two small deerskin pouches were sewn into the inside of his belt. He opened one and found three pills lying within, black, round, and giving off a pungent medicinal scent.

He brought them close and sniffed them, but could not identify the medicinal ingredients. He tucked the entire pouch into his robes.

The other pouch contained a packet of medicinal powder.

"This should be the [Dragon-Drawing Powder]."

He put the Dragon-Drawing Powder away.

He glanced once more at the piece of Hetian jade at Wang Kong's waist.

The jade was warm and lustrous, distinctly white, and of exceptional quality.

He hesitated for a moment, but ultimately did not remove it.

"This jade and that short knife are valuable, but bringing them back to the courtyard would leave too many loose ends. It might bring trouble."

After finishing, he rose, dragged Wang Kong's corpse into the mud-brick house at the end of the alley, where half the structure had collapsed, and tossed it together with the previous two bodies.

Then he changed back into the blue short outfit he had removed earlier.

"Once the bow is drawn, there is no turning back."

"Just keep moving forward."

Chen Lingxi quietly left the twisting alley and merged into the crowds without slowing his steps.

By rule, official slaves and maidservants had to report to the government office before noon.

In the past, Chen Lingxi and the other official slaves and maidservants always set out more than an hour early, lest they be delayed on the road.

Thus, even after killing three people in Willow Street Alley, Chen Lingxi had not delayed his reporting time.

He passed through streets and alleys, arriving at the Yuan River Prefecture government office before long.

The Yuan River Prefecture office stood at the center of the eastern part of the city, facing south from the north. Its vermilion gates were studded with bronze knobs, while two stone lions stood before them with furious eyes, their paws pressing embroidered balls and lion cubs.

It was now the hour of the Dragon, and a long line had already formed outside the government office. There were commoners submitting petitions, constables escorting prisoners, and neatly dressed clerks awaiting summons.

Chen Lingxi did not stand out among the crowd. He simply lined up quietly at the side entrance where official slaves and maidservants reported.

The side door was half-open. An elmwood table stood outside, behind which sat an old clerk with a sallow face and sparse beard. He squinted as he used a brush to mark records in a register.

Chen Lingxi stepped forward and reported his name and slave registration. The old clerk lifted his eyelids to glance at him, flipped through several pages, found his name, marked it with his brush, then waved him away.

He did not mention the other ten official slaves and maidservants listed in the register at all.

Chen Lingxi lowered his head in thanks and turned to leave, only to hear a burst of rapid hoofbeats behind him.

The hoofbeats came swiftly, iron shoes striking the bluestone pavement in a rapid clatter, like a summer downpour battering the eaves.

The crowd in the square instinctively retreated to both sides. Anyone half a beat too slow was yanked aside by a companion.

Chen Lingxi looked toward the sound.

A chestnut stallion turned from the street corner into the square. It was large of frame, with four snow-white hooves and a mane spilling down like black satin. As it ran, its muscles surged beneath its coat in rolling waves. It was truly a fine horse.

A woman sat astride it.

She looked around eighteen or nineteen, exceptionally tall, with shoulders and back as straight as a spear.

She wore a black fitted outfit beneath a scarlet cloak. The cloak snapped in the wind like an unfurling battle banner.

A long saber hung at her waist. Its sheath was dark and unadorned, yet it carried a chill, razor-sharp air of its own.

She was not especially delicate in appearance. Her brows slanted upward, the corners of her eyes tilted slightly, her nose bridge was high, and her jawline hard. Her whole face was chiseled with distinct angles, yet there was an indescribable heroic force about her.

What made Chen Lingxi's heart tighten most was the surging blood qi around her.

That blood qi was not deliberately stirred up, but naturally spilling outward.

A faint silver-white radiance seeped from her body, mingling with the morning mist and outlining her figure in hazy contours, as though she were a silver blade not yet drawn from its sheath.

More than that, with every breath, an extremely faint silver mist rose from her skin. It did not disperse, but coiled and flowed around her like a docile silver dragon curled about her body.

Chen Lingxi narrowed his eyes.

"Silver Bone Realm."

"And Silver Bone Great Completion at that, perhaps even higher."

Chen Lingxi was inwardly astonished.

This woman appeared to be around Lin Longyue's age, at most one or two years older, yet her cultivation surpassed hers.

In Yuan River Prefecture, the identity of a woman with such cultivation at such an age was practically written on her face.

"The Prefecture Lord's daughter, Chu Linzi," he silently repeated the name.

He had long heard of her, and heard that the Crown Prince valued her greatly.

Seeing her today, she truly was someone whose sharpness could not be concealed.

Chen Lingxi did not wish to invite trouble. Lowering his head, he turned sideways to leave.

Just then, Chu Linzi reined in her horse.

She flipped down from the saddle. With one sweep and fall of her scarlet cloak, she had already landed more than a dozen feet away.

She casually tossed the reins to the groom who came forward to receive them, then strode toward the main gate of the government office.

When she reached the stone steps before the gate, her footsteps suddenly paused.

She turned her head.

Her gaze swept over the crowd in the square like a blade, finally falling upon the line of official slaves and maidservants.

Upon Chen Lingxi.

Chen Lingxi felt a chill run down his spine.

Their gazes met from more than ten paces apart.

A flicker of surprise flashed through Chu Linzi's eyes before turning into scrutiny.

She lifted a hand and beckoned. A yamen runner accompanying her hurried over and stood with lowered hands to await orders.

Chu Linzi slightly raised her chin in Chen Lingxi's direction and said something.

Her voice was not loud, and Chen Lingxi could not hear clearly. He only saw the yamen runner nod repeatedly before turning and walking toward him.

Chen Lingxi's heart sank, but his expression did not change. He stood where he was with his hands hanging at his sides.

The yamen runner stopped before him, looked him over several times, and asked, "Whose servant are you?"

His tone carried the habitual arrogance of a government office man.

"This lowly one is Chen Lingxi, an official slave of the Baosu Marquis Residence, sir," Chen Lingxi answered with lowered head.

The yamen runner grunted, then turned and hurried back to Chu Linzi's side to report in a low voice.

After hearing the report, Chu Linzi's brow rose almost imperceptibly.

"Baosu Marquis Residence." She repeated the four words.

"What a pity. If you had belonged to another residence, I might have considered taking you into my own courtyard."

She glanced sideways at Chen Lingxi, then withdrew her gaze and waved to the yamen runner. "Since he is a servant of the Baosu Marquis Residence, there is no need to concern ourselves with him."

With that, she strode through the main gate of the government office. Her scarlet cloak swept in an arc across the threshold before vanishing into the depths of the gateway.

The yamen runner waved Chen Lingxi away, signaling that he could leave.

Chen Lingxi bowed, then turned and departed.

Yet he had broken out in a cold sweat.

"Usually, I use the Concealed Edge Method to hide my spiritual qi, but I do not conceal my blood qi at all times. Since blood qi comes and goes, hiding it would be even more suspicious."

"I never expected Chu Linzi to seemingly see through my blood qi cultivation with a single glance."

"Her eye was even sharper than Jiang Yuan's."

Chen Lingxi quickly passed through the streets and alleys. Before long, he could see the vermilion gates of the Baosu Marquis Residence in the distance.

The two rows of gate studs, like golden pearls, gleamed in the morning light. Several guards leaned against the gateposts, chatting in low voices. When they saw him enter through the side gate, they merely glanced at him and ignored him again.

He crossed the covered corridors, passed around Silver Peace Court, and returned without pause to the servants' quarters in the West Courtyard.

He pushed open the door, turned back to slide the bolt into place, then shut the window. The room immediately darkened.

He did not light a lamp. Borrowing only the few threads of daylight leaking through the gaps in the window lattice, he sat down before the table.

He took the items from his robes and laid them out one by one.

First came the loose silver he had taken from Wang Kong. He weighed it in his hand—some twenty-odd taels. Together with the monthly stipends he had saved, his funds were finally a little more ample.

He put the silver away, then arranged the three crimson pills in a row.

The pills were about the size of longan fruit, perfectly round like pearls, their surfaces smooth as jade. He brought them near his nose and sniffed. A rich medicinal fragrance rushed into his nostrils.

With that single breath, Chen Lingxi felt his spirits lift slightly. The thread of spiritual qi in his dantian seemed to come alive as well, gently pulsing through his meridians.

"These pills are certainly no ordinary goods. Zhao Yong must have bestowed them."

He carefully wrapped the three pills in a clean piece of coarse cloth and hid them close against the inside of his clothes. Only then did he turn his attention to the final item—the packet of Dragon-Drawing Powder.

When he untied the deerskin pouch, the medicinal powder within was dark brown and fine as dust, giving off a strange scent.

Chen Lingxi brought the powder toward his nose, about to take a careful sniff, when the Divine Chamber in his mind suddenly trembled.

Instinctively, he sank into the void of the Divine Chamber. He saw that the line of golden tadpole-script characters had abruptly jumped by one increment—

[Thorough Awakening Divine Ability: Origin-Replenishing Progress 53.4]