Leaving Happiness Street and entering Wanping Street was like turning off a boiling kettle—the clamor vanished.
Zheng Hui said, "The people coming and going on this street are either rich or noble. Who knows which high official or marquis stands behind each shop? Be careful. Times have changed. We Night Guards have to keep our tails tucked between our legs. Qingxian, you're the youngest and the most prone to acting on impulse, but this old brother has to warn you: the eastern district of the Divine Capital runs deep, with crouching dragons and coiled tigers. This isn't the outer districts where you could run wild as a child."
"Captain Zheng, don't worry. Over these six months in the Night Guard, I've gradually gotten the hang of things. If I still didn't improve, I really would have lived for nothing." Li Qingxian sighed softly as he spoke.
"You really came at the wrong time. Back then, when people saw this brocade uniform, even those of the Upper Three Ranks wouldn't dare act up. Now we're worse off than the Military and Horse Bureau. Sigh..." Zheng Hui sighed.
Wanping Street in the early morning was paved with neat bluestone slabs. Sparse pedestrians passed by, the taverns and flower towers were shut, and only the shops selling goods had their doors wide open.
Wherever the group of four passed, shopkeepers and clerks from many stores greeted them of their own accord, cheerfully calling out, "Zheng Black! Brother Zheng!"
Some acquaintances gave them food. Zheng Hui normally refused such things, but today he accepted some snacks such as peanuts, crispy cakes, and osmanthus cakes. Han Anbo did not eat snacks, so he gave them to Li Qingxian and Yu Ping.
Yu Ping was so delighted his eyes narrowed into slits. He ate with great gusto, secretly thanking Li Qingxian. "Stay sick for a few more days. This is all thanks to you."
Li Qingxian glanced at the snacks in his hand and asked, "You don't like osmanthus cakes?"
"I like them too much. I can't bear to eat them all at once, so I'm saving them to eat slowly." Yu Ping carefully stroked the packet of osmanthus cakes.
Before long, they passed Liu's Fengxiang Silk Shop.
Two burly men in black short outfits stood at the entrance. They gave the four a cold glance, then looked elsewhere.
After they had walked a few steps, Zheng Hui said quietly, "The 'Liu's' before the signboard is gone, and there's a blood-red rose beneath it. The Devil Sect must have just stamped it there. Poor Old Liu."
Han Anbo sighed and shook his head.
Wanping Street was cold and deserted in the morning. Near the end of the street, a faint fragrance of wine lingered in the air.
Zheng Hui took a deep sniff and looked toward Flower Sea Tower.
A grand three-story wooden building towered ahead, while clerks wiped down the large red lanterns hanging everywhere.
At the lower right corner of the Flower Sea Tower signboard above the main entrance was the inscription of Xu Ziping, the founding dynasty's famed prime minister.
Unlike other establishments, the wine banner hanging before this building was trimmed in scarlet and yellow. Only stores the emperor had personally visited could raise such a banner.
Two wine streamers swayed gently before the building. The one on the right read, "Brewing wine for spring, summer, autumn, and winter," while the one on the left read, "Intoxicating folk from east, west, south, and north."
Zheng Hui could not help glancing at Li Qingxian. "Last time, you said that when you advanced to Tenth Rank, or I advanced to Ninth Rank, you'd buy me a jar of Flower Sea Strong Brew. Don't forget."
"When that day truly comes, I'll pawn the Night Blade if I have to and buy you a jar." Li Qingxian said.
"Good. I'll wait for it. We Martial Cultivators who have entered the ranks find those yellow wines bland and tasteless. We need strong liquor like Flower Sea Strong Brew! Shame it's so expensive." Zheng Hui said.
Li Qingxian recalled that his father, Li Gangfeng, also drank yellow wine now and then. Great Qi seemed to have very little strong liquor, and even when it did, production was extremely limited.
At the end of Wanping Street, Zheng Hui stopped before Zhao's Clothing Shop.
"Check your weapons."
The four drew their blades together and checked them for cracks or chips.
"You all brought your whistles, right?" Zheng Hui took a bamboo whistle from the leather belt at his right waist.
Li Qingxian also picked up his whistle. It had long been tied to his belt with a strip of cloth, hanging opposite the Deer-and-Crane Jade Pendant.
"Split into two groups. Blow the whistle if anything happens! Qingxian, let's go."
Just then, a carriage approached from the opposite direction. A black flag on its roof bore an embroidered white character for "Night," and it suddenly stopped ahead of them.
Behind the carriage, four Night Guard soldiers gripped the hilts of their blades, glaring like tigers eyeing prey.
"Street Patrol Office?"
The off-white gauze curtain was pushed open from within. A middle-aged man with three wisps of beard leaned out, revealing his brocade official robes.
The gazes of Li Qingxian and the other three sharpened. Embroidered on the official rank badge was a majestic tiger, while golden thread decorated all four sides.
Principal Seventh Rank.
"Zheng Hui, captain of Squad Jia-Nine, greets Chief Pang." Zheng Hui stepped forward, clasped his fists, and bowed.
Li Qingxian and the other three immediately lowered their heads slightly in salute.
"I remember now. Zheng Black, right?" Pang Mingjing rested his right arm on the carriage window, smiling.
"Yes, my lord." Zheng Hui said.
"I'm going to Ministry of Revenue Street to collect a debt, and I need someone young and clever. You people... you there. Follow along." Pang Mingjing pointed at Li Qingxian, then pointed behind the carriage.
The instant he heard "Ministry of Revenue Street," Li Qingxian's heart gave a violent jolt.
Zheng Hui and the other two changed expression slightly. Zheng Hui froze, while Han Anbo stepped forward half a pace. "Reporting to Lord Pang, Li Qingxian has not recovered from a serious illness and needs to return to see Doctor Sun. Lord Zhou specifically instructed us to look after him."
"Oh?" The smile vanished from Pang Mingjing's face, and his gaze turned cold.
Zheng Hui plastered on a smile. "Lord Pang, Li Qingxian is a reckless brute, not clever at all. Why not take me instead? Rest assured, I have Tenth Rank strength at any rate."
Pang Mingjing swept his gaze over the four, then crooked a finger at Zheng Hui.
Zheng Hui hurried forward to the carriage window, slightly lowered his head, and let his hands hang at his sides.
"Tenth Rank. How impressive." Pang Mingjing extended his fair right hand and lightly patted Zheng Hui's shoulder three times.
"This subordinate would not dare." Zheng Hui lowered his head even further.
"The standing of our Finance Office has gotten worse by the day." Pang Mingjing sighed.
A cold wind passed through. Not a crow nor sparrow made a sound.
Among the Night Guard's eighteen offices, the Finance Office controlled the Night Guard's financial power. It was truly the Night Guard's foremost office.
Zheng Hui raised his head, about to speak.
Hiss, hiss, hiss...
A piercing sound came from all around Zheng Hui. His clothes abruptly swelled, splitting apart in countless places. An instant later, his garments exploded, scraps of cloth scattering everywhere.
Zheng Hui was completely unharmed, but his clothes had become strips of rags dangling from his body, shivering in the wind and unable to conceal his dark skin.
Everyone was too shocked to speak.
Pedestrians and shopkeepers in the distance pointed and whispered, bursts of mocking laughter drifting over.
A crimson flush spread across Zheng Hui's dark face, reddening his entire neck.
Li Qingxian gritted his teeth hard.
"Will you come, or will he?" Pang Mingjing asked.
Zheng Hui bent his back and clasped his fists. "Li Qingxian is the son of Lord Li Gangfeng and has received Lord Zhou Chunfeng's special care. He is gravely ill and cannot conveniently go, but this lowly one is willing to serve my lord like a dog or horse."
Li Qingxian looked at Zheng Black, who usually nagged endlessly, and a surge of warmth churned within him.
Pang Mingjing seemed taken aback. After a moment, he tossed something out with his right hand.
With a smack, the object landed at Zheng Hui's feet.
Li Qingxian looked over, and his entire body stiffened.
Wooden grain. The shape of a command token. Black background, golden characters.
No!
A clear memory surfaced in Li Qingxian's mind. This was a Night Guard command token. Once it was invoked, its holder could directly execute anyone below Ninth Rank who disobeyed it.
No one would produce a Gold-Character Command Token for an ordinary soldier.
Pang Mingjing had come prepared!
Zheng Hui stared down at the Gold-Character Command Token. His mouth opened, his fists clenched tight, veins bulging from his forehead, yet no words came out.
Suddenly, a piercing whistle sounded.
Li Qingxian turned his head and saw Yu Ping with a bamboo whistle in his mouth, alternating long and short notes—the Night Guard's call for help.
"Disarm them!"
At Pang Mingjing's command, the four brawny Night Guard soldiers behind the carriage rushed forward, seized Yu Ping's whistle, and took the whistles from Li Qingxian's and Han Anbo's waists as well.
Li Qingxian looked at Yu Ping. Yu Ping grinned. "When you have money later, remember to treat me to mutton soup. Don't be as stingy as Captain Zheng."
Inside the carriage, Pang Mingjing leisurely took out a copper whistle and blew it three times, each time with three long notes and one short.
The alarm was lifted.
The smile on Yu Ping's face froze.
Pang Mingjing turned to Li Qingxian with a smile. "Will you come, or will the three of them?"
"The three of us!" Zheng Hui abruptly raised his head beside the carriage, stared straight at Pang Mingjing, and stepped forward half a pace.
Han Anbo and Yu Ping stepped forward together.
Pang Mingjing frowned slightly. Zheng Hui's dark face was somewhat glaring.
Li Qingxian looked at his three teammates, sighed, and said, "I'll go with you, my lord. It's only that I haven't recovered from my illness, so I walk rather slowly."
"No matter. Sit beside me."
Li Qingxian's expression turned even colder. "Since my lord is so gracious, this subordinate would be disrespectful to refuse. Captain Zheng, Vice Captain Han, Yu Ping, go back. I'll make this trip with Lord Pang."
"Qingxian!" Zheng Hui barked.
Li Qingxian acted as though he had not heard. He picked up the Gold-Character Command Token and walked toward the carriage.
When he reached the carriage door, Li Qingxian stopped, waved to the three behind his back, and climbed inside.
The window curtain fell.
"To Ministry of Revenue Street."
The carriage rolled forward.
Suddenly, Han Anbo shouted, "At the Ministry of Revenue, propriety comes first. There must be no carelessness!"
"Bastard!" Zheng Hui ground his teeth.
Yu Ping clenched his right fist so tightly that he crushed the osmanthus cake.
Han Anbo drew a deep breath. "The urgent matter is not standing here dazed! That Pang Mingjing is the chief of the Finance Section within the Finance Office. He holds high rank and great power, and he is a close confidant of the Finance Office's chief. This is already beyond what we can solve. Captain Zheng, you and Yu Ping must immediately return to the Night Guard Yamen and find Lord Zhou. He is an upright man. He absolutely cannot watch Lord Li Gangfeng's son die without clarity. If you can't find him, find Lord Zhou Hen. He will certainly know where Lord Zhou is. Right now, apart from Lord Zhou, no one can save Little Li. If all else fails, strike the Night Guard Alarm Drum."
"I'll strike it!" Yu Ping said.
"And you?" Zheng Hui asked.
Han Anbo sighed, watching the carriage recede into the distance. "I'll follow from afar and adapt to the circumstances."
Zheng Hui's throat bobbed. He drew a deep breath and said, "You've always been quick-witted. This time too, you must... take care."
"I'm Night Guard. So is Little Li." Han Anbo smiled and followed Pang Mingjing's carriage from afar.
"I'll return to the yamen first." Zheng Hui took one deep look at the black carriage, circulated his True Essence, braced his left hand on his blade, lowered his body slightly, and leaped onto a roof. His feet clattered over roof tiles as he crossed one rooftop after another, racing straight for the Night Guard Yamen.
Yu Ping looked down at his round, bulging belly, opened his mouth, and swallowed the osmanthus cake stuck to his right hand. Then he tossed all the snacks on him onto Zhao's Clothing Shop's counter.
"They're yours." With that, Yu Ping jogged toward the Night Guard Yamen.
The carriage wheels rumbled on, while the compartment remained silent.
Pang Mingjing's voice sounded within the carriage.
"That year, when the South River burst its banks, Mr. Gangfeng went atop the dike to hold back the flood. With one Righteousness Sword, he severed wave after wave of flood crests, without rest for ten days. Once the waters receded, he slept for three days before waking. Afterward, he submitted forty-six memorials impeaching the officials of the two river regions, brought down two Third Ranks, fourteen Middle Three Ranks, and countless Lower Three Ranks. The world called him the Flood-Cleaving Sword. When the Mounted Patrol was deployed for the South River Case, I was among them."
Li Qingxian stared quietly ahead as though he had heard nothing.
"I once saw Lord Li's appearance with my own eyes. You resemble him by thirty percent."
Li Qingxian still said nothing.
"Who would have thought that after all these years, things would turn out like this?" Pang Mingjing lowered his head slightly, though no one knew what he was looking at.
After a long while, Pang Mingjing slowly said, "Before coming here, I didn't know you were Lord Li's son."
"What difference would it make if you knew? What difference if you didn't?" Li Qingxian chuckled.
"Some joked that the Censorate had offended the entire court, and Lord Li accounted for half of it. Yes, so what if that was true? So what if it wasn't? Lord Li is gone. In the end, you won't get far."
Silence filled the carriage.
"What does Lord Pang want me to do at the Ministry of Revenue Yamen?"
Pang Mingjing tossed a light-brown kraft paper bag to Li Qingxian.
"Inside are documents from the Night Guard Household Office. Go to the Ministry of Revenue and recover the eight thousand taels of silver they owe us. If you cannot get it within one hour, you will be punished under military law and expelled from the Night Guard." After speaking, Pang Mingjing turned his head and looked out through the white gauze curtain.
"Oh."
Li Qingxian answered casually. His expression remained calm, but his mind whirled frantically, analyzing every piece of information with all his strength in search of a way to survive.
What exactly did Han Anbo mean by saying that propriety came first?
Han Anbo would never speak without cause. If his memories were intact, he would certainly understand, but Han Anbo did not know that something had gone wrong with his memories.
He had suspected before that the death of this world's Li Qingxian was suspicious. Now there was no longer any need to suspect.
Li Qingxian's heart sank to the bottom.
After a long while, the carriage stopped.
"My lord, we have reached the entrance to Ministry of Revenue Street."
The carriage remained quiet.
"Go."
Li Qingxian lifted the carriage curtain and was about to get down when Pang Mingjing spoke again. "Take the documents."
Li Qingxian's gaze shifted. He turned back, pressed his right hand against the documents, and stared directly into Pang Mingjing's eyes.
Pang Mingjing's eyes were like water, his expression calm.
Li Qingxian picked up the documents, turned, and left.
The curtain fell.
Pang Mingjing sighed softly.
"Unflustered in the face of danger, with courage beyond others. In ten years, he should have become a second Li Gangfeng. What a pity..."
Li Qingxian stepped down from the carriage, looked up, and froze where he stood.
What left Li Qingxian staring blankly was not the four grim-faced Night Guards on either side.
It was not the Ministry of Revenue's strange black walls streaked with blood-gold patterns.
Nor was it the empty street.
It was the five enormous statues within the Ministry of Revenue's walls, each as tall as a ten-story building, and the tangible oppressive might radiating from them.
The nearest statue was nearly human in shape. Its entire body was pitch-black, covered in blood-edged scales. It had no facial features, only a hazy black face that contained nothing at all.
White bone spikes protruded from atop the statue's head, arranged in a ring like a crown. Behind that crown hung a bright yellow halo.
From behind this statue stretched hundreds upon thousands of enormous blue-black arms patterned with gold. The giant arms were arranged in neat rows from top to bottom, long to short, as if woven into a pair of black wings embroidered with gold.
In the palm of every arm was carved a scarlet eye, crystalline as a gemstone.
The instant Li Qingxian saw the statue, inexplicable terror enveloped him. Those huge eyes in the palms seemed to come alive, rolling wildly in their sockets.
Within every enormous eye seemed to lie a pitch-black world.
A thousand arms, a thousand hands, a thousand eyes, a thousand pupils.
It stood at the Ministry of Revenue, overlooking the Divine Capital.
This statue was the only humanoid one among the five.
Li Qingxian's hair stood on end, and his eyes stung. Instinctively, he lowered his head.
At that moment, a fierce wind swept past, blowing away most of the fog shrouding his memories.
The statue was an Evil God.
The Evil God controlled the Ministry of Revenue.
A ceaseless roar rang in his ears, and the world before his eyes churned violently.
Countless memories unfurled in Li Qingxian's mind. At last, he understood—the unsettling colossal shadows were these divine statues.
It was now the Taining Era. At the end of the previous Taikang Era, four great events had occurred in succession, collectively known as the Four Calamities of Taikang.
Princes' Succession Struggle.
Demon Clan's Entry through the Pass.
Netherworld's Return of the Dead.
Martial World Power Struggle.
Afterward, Emperor Tiankang died, Emperor Taining ascended the throne, and the princes purged evil from the emperor's side. Qi Kingdom descended into utter chaos.
Whether to contend against other powers or out of sheer necessity, Emperor Taining had actually brought the Devil Sect, the Netherworld, and the Evil Sects into court, joining forces against the Demon Race. From then on, Great Qi's major factions took shape.
This Ministry of Revenue was jointly controlled by the five great Evil Sects.
The Evil Sects worshipped evil as gods.
Li Qingxian roared wildly in his heart.
Was he insane, was Emperor Taining insane, or had this entire world gone insane?
Evil demons entered the court, and puppet monsters presented memorials?
Was this still the human world?
It was too damn yin!
Li Qingxian felt his entire worldview being washed away without a trace.
At that moment, he wished he could grow ten thousand legs and ten thousand wings, then flee as far away as possible.
The Night Guard dealt with people like these?
This world was far too dangerous. I want to go back to Blue Star!
Li Qingxian stood in the wind without even a breeze, disheveled and utterly at a loss.
In this book, "sect" is occasionally written as "school," and "puppet" shares a homophone with "track." There will be no further explanation of such stylistic choices.
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