Treading the Dipper and Celestial Stars, the Aura-Observing Bureau Chief

Treading the Dipper and Celestial Stars, the Aura-Observing Bureau Chief

By the time Yu Chen returned to Qingfeng Mausoleum, it was already deep into the night.

Yu Chen shut the doors and windows, then took out the Scripture of Deliverance.

When the wooden carving had been delivered before Li Qiu'e's grave, Foolish Young Master Wang Ling's final wish had already been fulfilled.

Now, the final wish [Birthday Gift] had vanished like smoke from the Scripture of Deliverance, and the ghost's figure was no longer visible amid the mist by the Yellow Springs River.

Yu Chen stared at the scripture for a long while in silence.

All along, once their final wishes had been fulfilled, those ghosts crossed the river and departed.

Yet Yu Chen had never known where they went.

Did they simply vanish into nothingness and return to eternal silence, or were they reincarnated and born anew?

No one knew.

Setting aside his tangled thoughts, Yu Chen looked toward the beginning of the Scripture of Deliverance.

Golden light burst forth.

[Eighth-Grade Mortal Wish fulfilled, Eighth-Grade Mortal Soul delivered, bestowing treasure scripture "Yu Step: Mortal Volume"]

Amid the drifting smoky-gray words, a dim gray tome flew out of the Scripture of Deliverance and landed steadily in Yu Chen's hands.

The instant he opened it, his entire being seemed to be drawn once more into that boundless, desolate void.

With the experience of the previous few times, Yu Chen no longer panicked as he watched the golden figure appear in the void.

Without any unnecessary communication or exchange, the golden figure began to move through the void.

Its left foot stepped sideways!

At that instant, it was clearly an incomparably simple step, yet it produced phantom afterimages!

Then its right foot thrust forward!

Another ghostly step!

Its left foot shifted to the side!

The golden figure's footwork grew faster and faster, leaving behind more and more afterimages, until Yu Chen's eyes could no longer follow it at all!

In the void, only a streak of golden light remained, darting and shifting in every direction!

Even stranger, with every step it took, the figure's "presence" rose another notch!

This was neither mere Internal Force nor so-called strength, but an indescribable kind of "presence."

It was like standing by the vast ocean and watching towering waves ten thousand zhang high rise up. Though they were unimaginably distant, that terrifying "presence" still made one's scalp tingle!

After seven times seven, forty-nine steps, the golden figure suddenly shot before Yu Chen, releasing the presence it had accumulated to its peak!

At that moment, though it made no movement at all and merely stood still before Yu Chen, he still felt that what stood before him was not a person, but an incomparably majestic mountain!

It blotted out the heavens and covered the earth!

Then, almost as if by instinct, Yu Chen followed the golden figure's steps, clumsily imitating them.

One step!

Two steps!

Three steps!

From unfamiliarity and stiffness at the start, he gradually became practiced, then consummately skilled, until he reached the pinnacle of perfection!

He did not know how much time had passed.

Yu Chen immersed himself completely in those miraculous steps, forgetting the passage of years.

It seemed as though only a few hours had passed, yet it also felt as though hundreds or thousands of years had gone by.

When Yu Chen finally kept pace completely with the golden figure's footwork, the world spun around him!

He returned to reality!

The dim gray tome also vanished like smoke, leaving behind not the slightest trace.

Yet those miraculous steps had already been engraved into the instincts of Yu Chen's muscles and sinews. He walked out of the room and began moving across the dark snow!

He turned into a black afterimage, weaving through the disorderly grave mounds!

When he finally returned to the door, there was not a single footprint in the cemetery outside!

Leaving no trace upon snow!

And at this very moment, Yu Chen also understood the wonder of the "Yu Step: Mortal Volume"!

First, it was a footwork technique that increased speed, ethereal and traceless, moving like a ghost!

Second, Yu Steps were also known as Treading the Dipper and Celestial Stars. With one's feet treading the paths of the stars, one could briefly manifest the form of the Dipper and Celestial Stars, causing the meridians to erupt with terrifying power in an instant!

—The "presence" Yu Chen had felt from that golden figure earlier came from precisely this.

"Phew..."

After letting out a long breath of turbid air, Yu Chen nodded slightly.

These so-called Yu Steps could not only increase speed; in battle and slaughter, they could also unleash power that caught one's opponent completely off guard in an instant!

And this, like Subduing the Dragon and Taming the Tiger, was merely the "Mortal Volume." If there were deeper portions, what kind of power would they possess?

With that thought, Yu Chen washed up, lay back down on the bed, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.

The next day, Yu Chen rose early.

Today was the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the monthly day when the yamen's Treasury-Filling Bureau issued silver.

—Whatever else might be said, though Yu Chen was a gravekeeper from the lowest of trades, he still ate from the yamen's bowl.

Though a gravekeeper's monthly salary was but a single hair from nine oxen compared with the silver hidden beneath his bed.

A mosquito might be tiny, but it was still meat. No one ever complained about having too much money, did they?

He descended the mountain early, slurped down a bowl of clear-broth noodles at Hanging Bridge, then strolled toward the north of the city.

—This was where the various yamen departments and the Aura-Observing Bureau were located. Usually, Yu Chen never came this way unless he had business here.

Along the way, clerks and constables who also ate from the yamen's bowl were already heading toward the Treasury-Filling Bureau in twos and threes. When they saw Yu Chen, they all instinctively stepped back a few paces.

First, his identity as a gravekeeper was naturally unlucky; second, his status as a criminal household made people unwilling to get tangled up with him.

Yu Chen did not care. He was happy to have the peace and quiet as he shuffled toward the Treasury-Filling Bureau in small steps.

No one fought him for a place, and no one crowded him. He happily collected his copper coins and prepared to head back up the mountain.

After leaving the Treasury-Filling Bureau and reaching Fengtian Street in the north of the city, a gray-black carriage approached him.

There was nothing unusual about the carriage itself—it was simply a standard yamen carriage—but a bright yellow Bagua emblem beneath its compartment caught Yu Chen's attention.

—The Aura-Observing Bureau.

This Bagua insignia was no decorative flourish. It was the mark of the Great Xia court's extraordinary organization, the Aura-Observing Bureau.

Yu Chen had long known that this world contained more than people. In every dark nook and cranny, evil and unclean things such as demons, monsters, ghosts, and specters lurked and roamed.

The reason humanity had been able to keep them suppressed for so long was naturally because among mankind were those who cultivated the Dao and refined Qi, wielding extraordinary power.

The official organization formed by these Great Xia extraordinary individuals was called the Aura-Observing Bureau, tasked solely with slaying demons and eliminating evil.

Of course, Qi Refiners who had entered crooked paths and become utterly heartless were also within their scope of punishment.

In short, to countless ordinary people, the Aura-Observing Bureau was an exceedingly mysterious institution.

Even to many officials, it was the same.

Take Weishui County's Aura-Observing Bureau. Though nominally half a rank below the county magistrate, the yamen had no actual authority to mobilize it.

—Just as when the yamen wanted to borrow the Aura-Observing Bureau's strength to eliminate that man-eating tiger, a single sentence—"It has not become a demon"—had dismissed them, leaving them powerless to do anything.

As these disorderly thoughts churned through Yu Chen's mind, the Aura-Observing Bureau's carriage slowly stopped in front of him.

The tall horse looked down at Yu Chen, snorted, and turned its head away.

The driver was a young man in Daoist robes, staring straight ahead.

Then the curtain was lifted, and a handsome man of about twenty-five or twenty-six poked his head out and sized Yu Chen up.

Even without an expression, he gave people the feeling that he was smiling, like a spring breeze brushing their faces.

"Little fellow, are you here to collect your pay? What's your name?"

At that moment, Yu Chen suddenly felt deeply uncomfortable.

It was as though the person before him was trying to use his gaze to see through every inch of him.

But the Infernal Ghost Mask hidden beneath his flesh immediately took effect, concealing all the surging blood and abnormalities within him.

Still, Yu Chen answered, "Criminal household Yu Chen, currently the gravekeeper of Qingfeng Mausoleum."

"Oh..."

The man apparently found nothing unusual. He drew out the word, withdrew his gaze, lowered the carriage curtain, and left.

Yu Chen found it rather baffling, but the officials nearby were greatly shocked when they saw this scene and gathered around him!

"Gravekeeper! You've got quite the fortune!"

At once, a clerk winked at Yu Chen and leaned closer, no longer caring about Yu Chen's dual debuffs of being both a gravekeeper and a criminal household.

Yu Chen was stunned, not understanding what he meant.

"You don't know who that was in the carriage?"

With an envious look, the clerk watched the departing carriage and sighed.

"That was the chief of the Aura-Observing Bureau! Forget anything else—just because he spoke to you today, no one will dare bully you in Weishui from now on!"

The chief?

The chief of the Aura-Observing Bureau?

Yu Chen's heart jolted!

Weishui was a small place, and those who cultivated the Dao and refined Qi were few and far between. The only person publicly acknowledged to have broken through the Innate Realm and stepped onto the path of cultivation was the mysterious, elusive chief of the Aura-Observing Bureau!

In other words, the man who had just spoken to him was that Qi Refining immortal master said to command wind and fire, summon clouds and rain, and possess all manner of miraculous abilities!

Upon hearing this, Yu Chen turned around as if possessed and glanced with the eyes enhanced by Spirit Ox Tears.

He saw that above the utterly ordinary carriage, blood Qi surged into the heavens, red clouds spreading everywhere, full and rounded like a canopy!

"You, a gravekeeper, actually have the fortune to strike up a connection with the chief!" The clerk was still clicking his tongue in amazement. "You must seize this chance! If the chief takes a liking to you, perhaps even your criminal household status can be erased!"

Yu Chen gave him a few perfunctory replies, then left and returned to Qingfeng Mausoleum.

This chance encounter with the Aura-Observing Bureau chief was only a minor interlude.

Yet it confirmed several things for Yu Chen.

First, those who refined Qi and cultivated the Dao could preserve their appearance without aging. The Aura-Observing Bureau chief had reportedly served in Weishui for more than twenty years, yet today he looked no older than a young man of twenty-five or twenty-six.

Second, the Heavenly Eye of Minute Insight could not see through those who refined Qi and cultivated the Dao. When Yu Chen had observed the chief's blood Qi earlier, he had also activated the Heavenly Eye of Minute Insight, wanting to see just how powerful a Qi Refiner was, but he had been completely unable to see through him.

Of course, that might also have been because Yu Chen himself was still in the Innate Realm and had not yet stepped onto the path of refining Qi. The truth would have to wait for later.

Third, even Qi Refining cultivators seemingly could not see through the Infernal Mask's disguise. Otherwise, if the chief had noticed the boiling blood Qi within Yu Chen earlier, he should not have reacted that way.

After all, this was the first person Yu Chen had encountered who refined Qi and cultivated the Dao, so he could not help thinking a little more about it.

As for what the clerk had said about building a good relationship with the chief and removing his criminal household status.

Yu Chen did not take it to heart at all.

To put it bluntly, from the first moment he saw the chief, perhaps because the man had tried to peer into his secrets, Yu Chen instinctively felt an intense aversion toward this chief he had just met.

He always felt that beneath the man's calm and gentle exterior, something lurked that repulsed him.

That feeling had no reason behind it, yet it existed as plainly and truly as anything.

Yu Chen also believed it was not false.

—After all, that vast blood Qi, like rolling red clouds, was enough to show that the chief was not as gentle as he appeared on the surface.

Shaking his head, Yu Chen threw these tangled thoughts from his mind and prepared to light the fire and cook.

But suddenly, a bird descended from the sky for the first time ever and landed steadily on Yu Chen's windowsill.

Yu Chen froze, then held out a hand.

The bird landed in Yu Chen's palm and transformed into a lifelike paper bird.

Yu Chen narrowed his eyes.

He stopped what he was doing and headed down the mountain again.

—This paper bird was precisely the one he had given Zhengqing Gang's leader, Xie Qing!

Xie Qing had promised to help Jiangnan search for Xiao Zihua, who had escaped from prison. Once he was found, Xie Qing would notify Yu Chen by paper bird.

It seemed there was news today!

At the same time, outside Weishui City, upon the official road.

The Great Xia Dynasty possessed vast territory. To bind its various circuits and provinces more closely together and facilitate the exchange of goods, the late emperor had ordered a mighty expert from the capital's Aura-Observing Bureau to use the divine power of moving mountains and filling seas to carve smooth, open official roads throughout Great Xia's lands.

Thus every circuit, every province, and every county was linked together, allowing carriages and merchant caravans to travel with ease.

—That was the legend, anyway. No one knew the truth, since it had happened so many years ago.

Along the official roads, there was a relay station every hundred li, where travelers could drink tea and rest, feed their horses and recuperate. They also served as vital stations for passing intelligence and information between provinces and prefectures.

A hundred li outside Weishui City stood Qingshan Relay Station.

A broad, burly, unkempt man sat at a table outside the station, slurping down the noodles in his bowl as though he were a starving ghost reborn.

The noodles had merely been boiled in plain water with a little salt and a hint of oil, yet to the burly man, they seemed like the finest delicacies in the world. He wolfed down more than ten bowls in a row before finally belching, then gulped down several bowls of cold water and let out a comfortable breath!

"Comfortable," he said.

The relay station owner was tall and thin, and could be considered half a court official. This place was in the middle of nowhere, far from any village or shop, so he was likely starved for company. Ignoring the burly man's filthy appearance, he sat down beside him and teased, "Eating that much, aren't you afraid your stomach will burst?"

The burly man scratched his head honestly. "Hahaha! Gotta eat my fill so I can work hard!"

"What do you do?" the relay station owner asked curiously.

"Hehe!" The burly man patted his forehead and pointed in Weishui City's direction. "I move corpses in the city!"

Hearing that he worked one of the lowest trades, the relay station owner did not disdain him. He waved a hand. "At my relay station, everyone from all walks of life is a guest. Eat and drink as much as you please—but you can't be short on coin!"

"Of course!" The corpse mover laughed heartily!

Just then, a carrier pigeon circled in from afar and landed on the table.

The relay station owner's expression immediately changed.

He had seen much in this relay station and naturally recognized that the pigeon had been well trained.

If some merchant caravan used it, that would not be strange.

But why would a lowly corpse mover have a carrier pigeon like this?

The corpse mover took a note from the pigeon's leg. After reading it, he smiled, placed more than a dozen copper coins on the table, and said, "Boss, I'm off. Work's come in!"

The relay station owner tucked his hands into his sleeves and did not expose him, merely smiling as he asked, "There's neither village nor shop for ten li around here. Where would you find a corpse to move?"

"Of course there is!"

The corpse mover stood up and grinned.

"—Someone who should have been a corpse fifteen years ago."