Enemies Meet

In the early summer morning, candles burned high in the spacious Directors' Hall, yet Li Qingxian kept feeling cold drafts pass through.

Li Qingxian walked to the rearmost spot by the wall and leaned against it at an angle.

It saved effort.

Before long, Zhou Chunfeng looked at Cao Ming and flicked his eyes toward Li Qingxian.

Cao Ming looked over, his face full of helplessness. What a young master's constitution. He rose and walked to Li Qingxian's side, secretly transmitting his voice. "Little Lord Li, though this Directors' Hall is not the Golden Throne Hall, it still has its rules. Even if you want to stand there listlessly, you can't lean against the wall."

Li Qingxian nodded. Being an official came with far too many matters. He did not know how long it would take him to get used to them.

Li Qingxian moved slightly away from the wall and, like the other Tenth Rank officials, lowered his head and let his shoulders droop. In his heart, however, he reviewed the Fate Arts he had learned.

Fate Arts was an enormous concept that encompassed everything.

In the narrow sense, Fate Arts specifically referred to the methods used by Destiny Arts Masters that consumed mana, such as the Qi-Gazing Technique, Fate-Observing Technique, Deduction Technique, Death-Urging Art, and so on.

Li Qingxian raised his head and glanced around the hall, filled with red and green, forcefully suppressing the urge to use Observing Fate through Qi.

If he used it now, the Destiny Mansions of all these heroes would probably shatter his own Destiny Mansion to pieces.

The Night Guard was a great yamen on equal footing with the Six Ministries. It stood as a self-contained whole and had long since formed a Grand Momentum Configuration.

Using Qi-Gazing and Fortune-Observing at a time like this was no different from a six-year-old child poking a hornets' nest—then poking more than a hundred of them.

Aside from Fortune Fish, which are consumed one by one, the thing that can currently strengthen Observing Fate through Qi the most is the Spirit Eye, "Seeing the Dragon." I must cultivate "Obscuring Eye" as soon as possible.

Li Qingxian sent his consciousness into his Spirit Platform.

With a thought, the complete text of the Obscuring Eye formula appeared before the Thunder Dragon Fire Seal.

This text was called a dharma text. It was written with mana and could be directly imprinted into the Spirit Platform.

The tiny regular-script handwriting was neat and clean, yet carried tremendous force. Jiang Youfei had written it.

Jiang Youfei had once instructed him that learning spells required combining clumsiness and cleverness.

Clumsiness meant that at the beginning, one must not seek shortcuts. One had to first calm down, memorize the text, and understand the basic meaning of every sentence and every word.

Cleverness meant that after memorizing and understanding it, one began to think deeply: what was the Great Dao behind this spell? What qualities did it possess? How was it different from other spells, and how was it alike? Only by thoroughly understanding everything related to the spell could one be said to have mastered it.

Li Qingxian decided to be clumsy first and recite it slowly.

As for that mind-swelling combination of clumsiness and cleverness, he tossed it aside.

As he silently recited it, the lightning sphere clamped in the Thunder Dragon's mouth spun faster, accelerating the accumulation of mana.

After a long while, Li Qingxian felt somewhat tired and stopped cultivating Obscuring Eye.

When he looked up, the Directors' Assembly Hall had already begun.

Several Directors in crimson robes were discussing personnel appointments.

The blackstone platform remained empty. Of the four grand master chairs made of red sandalwood, only one was occupied.

Those four seats belonged to the four people beneath the Chief Night Guard Envoy. In descending order of rank, they were Left Commandant, Right Commandant, Left Deputy Commandant, and Right Deputy Commandant.

Han Anbo had said yesterday that a Deputy Commandant was a vice position.

The man sat in the fourth-ranked chair. He should be Lord Yu Xianhe, the Right Deputy Commandant, a Principal Fourth Rank literary cultivator who oversaw the Night Guard's daily affairs.

Yu Xianhe was slightly plump. He sipped tea with narrowed eyes and seemed not to be participating in the discussion.

Li Qingxian listened for a while. The Middle Three Ranks were discussing the Night Guard's middle and upper-level affairs, which were of no use to a mere Tenth Rank official like him. He thus began practicing Fate Arts, silently reciting the Fate-Observing Technique in his Spirit Platform.

Fate observation primarily included arranging Destiny Pillars, determining Destiny Grounds, reading Destiny Stars, calculating Destiny Spirits, and examining what was hidden.

After finishing the Fate-Observing Technique, he began reciting the Deduction Technique.

The Fate-Observing Technique determined what was inside someone's Destiny Mansion, while the Deduction Technique deduced the relationships between everything.

It mainly included the relationships between Destiny Grounds and the four pillars, between Destiny Pillars and Destiny Stars, among Destiny Stars, between Destiny Patterns and Destiny Spirits, as well as the relationships between the Destiny Molds of different people, and so on and so forth.

After some time, Li Qingxian stopped cultivating, closed his eyes to rest, and recovered his energy.

Before long, a familiar voice rang out. "Lord Tao, the Street Patrol Office is already short-handed. We cannot send people away."

Li Qingxian immediately opened his eyes and looked over. It was He Lei, head of the Divine Capital Office's Street Patrol Office.

Another person said, "Every summer, the Demon Race sends small squads to either secretly cross the Great River or traverse the Western Desert, harassing various places. For the court and the people, we Night Guards should naturally contribute more. The Five-City Military and Horse Bureau can handle patrolling the Divine Capital, but when it comes to leaving the city to exterminate demons, the Military and Horse Bureau cannot do it."

Li Qingxian looked at that man. He wore a Seventh Rank leopard badge without gold thread around it. Fair-faced and red-lipped, with fine brows and handsome features, he stood out sharply among the dark-skinned martial men. Compared to Zhou Chunfeng, though, he was no more than mud and dust.

"Then have your Finance Office send more people. None of our Street Patrol Office's newly promoted Tenth Ranks will go into battle. On the other hand, Lord Tao Zhi has just been promoted to head of the Finance Office's Accounting Office. He can go into battle and serve the country." He Lei finished lazily, turned to glance at Li Qingxian, and lightly nodded once.

Finance Office, new head of the Finance Office Accounting Office, Street Patrol Office, leaving the city to exterminate demons, newly promoted Tenth Rank... Li Qingxian's eyes widened slightly. Could this be aimed at him?

Li Qingxian carefully looked at Tao Zhi. This man had taken Pang Mingjing's position.

Then Li Qingxian narrowed his eyes and searched for Wei Yong, the Finance Office Director.

That day, it had been Wei Yong who sent Pang Mingjing to harm him.

Soon, Li Qingxian's gaze landed on a man in crimson robes of the Fifth Rank. His appearance was ordinary, but his eyes were exceptionally bright. He was of medium build, with a black mole on his left ear, and both hands were dark from practicing Iron Sand Palm.

He matched Han Anbo's description of Wei Yong exactly.

Wei Yong actually looked over as well and smiled faintly before turning his gaze elsewhere.

His gaze was gentle. It seemed like no more than a casual glance and casual smile, without the slightest hint of anything unusual, as if he were looking at a stranger. Yet Li Qingxian knew that the man had recognized him.

He was so young that he stood out too much among the many Tenth Ranks.

When enemies met, the wind was light and the clouds were calm.

The lower three ranks of the Finance Office and Divine Capital Office officials began arguing.

The Middle Three Ranks officials either remained silent or maintained an air of harmony.

Before long, Tao Zhi, who looked like a pale-faced scholar, looked toward Li Qingxian and said, "I think it would be better to let your Divine Capital Office's newly promoted Tenth Rank speak for himself. When the nation is in trouble, should he go into battle and kill the enemy?"

Li Qingxian was about to speak, but seeing He Lei repeatedly signaling with his eyes, he remembered Han Anbo's words and felt a chill in his heart. He looked toward Yu Xianhe, the Right Deputy Commandant seated at the front, cupped his hands, and said, "Reporting to Lord Yu, Lord Tao has a question for me. But I am young and speak bluntly. I do not know whether I may answer in public."

Yu Xianhe said with a genial smile, "Since you are a member of the Divine Capital Office, speak freely."

"Thank you, Lord Yu." Li Qingxian looked toward Tao Zhi, the new head of the Finance Office Accounting Office. "The Night Guard's most urgent task is to first root out the traitors who have harmed their colleagues, and only then leave the capital to exterminate demons."

Some officials stared in dumbfounded shock. Was that something one could say in the Directors' Assembly Hall?

Some military officials, however, laughed happily. The more they looked at this spirited young man, the more pleasing he became to their eyes.

Tao Zhi was actually stunned. He had thought he was forcing Li Qingxian into a dilemma, but he had never expected Li Qingxian to refuse to take the bait and charge straight back at him.

Tao Zhi glanced at his immediate superior, Wei Yong, then lightly coughed. "Your name is Li Qingxian, correct?"

Li Qingxian respectfully cupped his hands and, imitating the steady, unhurried tone of the Middle Three Ranks officials, slowly said, "In reply to Lord Tao, I am Li Qingxian, the one Pang Mingjing of the Finance Office nearly killed on Ministry of Revenue Street."

Tao Zhi's face darkened.