Volume One: Days in the Shantytown - The Secret Investigation Bureau (Part One)

That adjective described Li Xuexiao's lips.

While Du Lengning recovered from his injuries, Li Xuexiao often came to visit. He would look at her slightly bashful face, then find his gaze drifting to her rosy, cherry-like lips. The longer he stared, the shyer she grew, and every visit ended in the same awkward silence: he gazed at her lips, and she lowered her head.

Each was lost in thought. Du Lengning savored the memory of that day, racking his brains and scraping the depths of his mind for a word to describe those two crimson petals. After more than ten days of torment, one suddenly sprang to mind: delectable.

He had no idea why that word had occurred to him, but he was certain it was the only one that described Li Xuexiao's lips perfectly!

Delectable, like ripe cherries, sweet and bursting with juice.

Du Lengning suddenly said, "Oh, have you heard the big news?" "What news?" "The Zuo Household has lost Tianxia Source."

Luo Qian froze. "What happened?" Du Lengning gave a cold laugh. "What do you think? The Zuo Household suffered a devastating blow, and someone seized the opening. Tianxia Source belongs to the Li Household now." As the young master of Distant Hall, Du Lengning had seen his share of shifts in power and understood the rules of the Immortal Realm. This time, though, it concerned the Zuo Household, and he could not help feeling displeased.

"The Li Household?" Luo Qian asked. "Which one?" "The Li Household of Green Parasol Mountain." Green Parasol Mountain was also one of the Inner Thirty-Six Mountains and lay near Tianxia Source. "The Li Household's strength has soared lately. They've coveted the Zuo Household's Tianxia Source for ages. Now that they've moved there from Green Parasol Mountain, they've all but replaced the Zuo Household as the newest of the Immortal Realm's nine great Aristocratic Clans."

"If the Li Household moved away, what happened to Green Parasol Mountain?" Luo Qian asked. "They left it to a small Lineage that used to depend on them. It'll serve nicely for cultivating their own forces."

Du Lengning's expression darkened. "Who could have imagined the mighty Zuo Household would fall so far in the blink of an eye? Old Luo, you still don't know: all five of the Zuo Household's elders died defending the Lineage. Otherwise, Zuo Family Manor wouldn't have been destroyed. The current head of the Zuo Household was killed too. Zuo Lingchuan—Third Uncle Zuo—is in charge now. He's asked my father to set aside a corner of Ningyao Mountain where the Zuo Household can shelter for the time being." Du Lengning sighed. "We were lucky. If the five elders and the head of the Zuo Household hadn't already fought that Demon Beast and worn it down badly, we probably couldn't have withstood its attacks. I hear the Imperial Constabulary has set up a special office to investigate this monster rampage."

Something stirred in Luo Qian's mind. "They should investigate," he said evenly. "There's plenty about this that doesn't add up!"

"There's plenty about this that doesn't add up!" someone else blurted out elsewhere.

Halls, bureaus, courts, and inspectorates formed the Immortal Realm's four tiers of administration. The Imperial Constabulary belonged to the Left Military Hall and handled everyday public security. Before the hall's massive white-jade gates stood two fourth-rank Immortal Soldiers, hands resting on their immortal swords, gazes fixed straight ahead. An official in a blue robe waited respectfully nearby. The guards on either side behaved as though he did not exist.

At last, a sharp-eyed junior clerk emerged from the Left Military Hall. "Lord Zheng, the deputy commissioner will see you," he said with a smile, gesturing for him to enter. Zheng Daoguang answered politely, lifted the hem of his official robe, and stepped inside.

The clerk led the way, with Zheng Daoguang following. Zheng was merely a lateral fourth-rank Constabulary Director, while the man receiving him was a lateral Ninth Rank deputy commissioner. How could he not be nervous?

Immortal officials were divided into principal and lateral ranks, the equivalents of primary and deputy positions.

The clerk brought him to a small gray door and stepped aside. "Lord Zheng, please go in." Zheng Daoguang drew a deep breath. He knew that beyond this door lay his future wealth and status. "Thank you, brother," he told the clerk. He knocked gently, and a deep voice answered from within: "Come in."

It was a study. Thin blue smoke curled from a golden incense burner in the center, spreading a strange fragrance through the room. The burner looked as though it had been lit for years; even the little thread-bound books on the surrounding shelves had been stained faintly yellow.

A screen stood inside the door. Zheng Daoguang walked around it and saw the deputy commissioner of the Left Military Hall—a man who held the lives of most people in the Immortal Realm in one hand—seated behind a plain, long desk, carefully reviewing memorials.

The Deputy Hall Steward looked up with a faint smile. "You're Zheng Daoguang?" Zheng did not dare delay. He cupped his fists and bowed low. "Reporting to Your Excellency: I am Zheng Daoguang, lateral fourth-rank Constabulary Director of the Imperial Constabulary. I pay my respects!" "No need for ceremony. Stand and speak," the Deputy Hall Steward said, closing the memorial in his hands.

"Were you the one who led the rescue forces when that Demon Beast ran rampant through Tianxia Source?" "I was, Your Excellency. Unfortunately, the creature was cunning. I searched again and again without finding it, and the Zuo Household suffered grievous losses." Zheng Daoguang felt uneasy, afraid the Deputy Hall Steward would blame him. Fortunately, the Deputy Hall Steward did not dwell on his failure. After a moment's thought, he asked, "Lord Zheng, did anything about this affair strike you as strange?"

"Plenty about this doesn't add up!" Zheng Daoguang blurted out. A barely perceptible cold gleam flashed through the Deputy Hall Steward's eyes. He smiled faintly. "Oh? Tell me what you found strange." Zheng nodded. "As you command. First, the monster emerged from the Zuo Household's Treasure Chamber Cave. That is hardly the sort of place where a monster would gestate. Second, it was so powerful that, even when the Zuo Household's five elders and its head attacked together, it killed all six. They were among the Immortal Realm's foremost experts. How could a monster that strong have gone undiscovered until now? Third, when I led the rescue force, I carried the Heavenly Eye Mirror, a Trace-Seeking Treasure. A master thief of the Immortal Realm might know how to evade it, but a monster? Yet it slipped past the mirror's search time and again."

The Deputy Hall Steward had listened intently. Though Zheng Daoguang had finished, he remained deep in thought. Zheng had to prompt him. "Your Excellency, I've finished." "Ah..." The Deputy Hall Steward came back to himself and nodded approvingly. "You never even fought the Demon Beast, yet you noticed those three points. That is no small feat." Plainly, there were far more than three things amiss.

The Deputy Hall Steward studied Zheng Daoguang. "You're a talented man. The Imperial Constabulary is wasting you." Alarmed, Zheng promptly dropped to his knees. "Your Excellency, I've always served the Imperial Constabulary to the best of my ability. This incident was an exception..." "Ha! Look how frightened you are. That's not what I meant. Get up."

"Do you know there's another bureau under my command?" the Deputy Hall Steward asked kindly. Zheng Daoguang's heart stirred. He recalled the rumors: beneath the Left Military Hall was a secret department, also organized as a bureau. No one knew where it was.

The Secret Investigation Bureau was the Immortal Realm's covert service, charged with investigating matters that could not bear the light of day. Zheng Daoguang had only heard of it, but he knew it wielded immense authority. Its agents could act first and report afterward, answering directly to the Hall Steward.

Zheng Daoguang's heart hammered. Had the Deputy Hall Steward taken a liking to him and decided to transfer him to the Secret Investigation Bureau? He looked up in confusion. The Deputy Hall Steward chuckled and nodded. "You guessed correctly. No point handing a matter from one person to another. Since you handled this case from the start, you'll see it through. I'm bringing you into the Secret Investigation Bureau. Your rank won't change, but your authority will be quite different..."

Overjoyed, Zheng Daoguang bowed at once. "Thank you for recognizing my worth, Your Excellency!" The Deputy Hall Steward reopened the memorial in his hands and said, as though it were an afterthought, "This case is far from simple. You may bring your former men under your command to investigate it. I'll provide whatever resources you need."

Zheng Daoguang's heart jolted. Does the Deputy Hall Steward distrust even his own Secret Investigation Bureau? Is that why he brought in an outsider like me? A moment ago, he had thought a meat pie had dropped from the sky into his hands. Now cold sweat covered him. It was no pie—it was a scalding-hot yam!

Things had come to this, and Zheng Daoguang had no way to refuse. He thanked the Deputy Hall Steward and backed out of the room, bent low.

The assignment was perilous beyond measure. One careless step could doom him beyond redemption. He stood outside the door in a daze for a while before saying goodbye to the clerk and hurrying away.

Luo Qian doubled the area of the Toad Mountain Underground Palace, giving it room for sixty Rice Cookers. Xiao Xiangzi had already delivered two batches of Power Generators, sixty in all. Luo Qian kept forty for his own use and sold the rest for ten pieces of High-Grade Immortal Jade each, making a tidy little profit.

The medicine shop was doing well. It did not stock many kinds of pills, but every one was useful, and more importantly, they were cheap. Other medicine shops on Ningyao Mountain grumbled in private, but none dared do anything to Young Master Du's shop. Fortunately for them, the Luo Family Medicine Shop sold only basic pills. With fixed costs and slim margins, those pills did not account for much of their profits. Otherwise, the other shops would have had to close. The Luo Family Medicine Shop's costs were rock-bottom; on those few pills, no one could compete with it.

Several kinds of pills often sold out. Daily profit amounted to only a few pieces of High-Grade Immortal Jade at most, but a thin stream ran long; the business was steady. Luo Qian planned to visit the Lower Realm and buy another forty Rice Cookers.

"Feier, I'm going out. Watch the entrance. If customers come, have them leave their names and what they need; if trouble comes, you don't need to leave them anything." Li Feier's eyes lit up. "Boss, are you going to the lower realm?" She was quick-witted, and Luo Qian knew he could not hide it from her, so he admitted it outright. "That's right. But don't think I'll take you. First, I can't. Second, even if I could, I wouldn't. You're Ling Xiaose's cousin, and I have a responsibility to my friend. This could cost us our heads!"

Before Li Feier could respond, Luo Qian drew a sharp breath, ready to make his escape. Immortal Spirit Energy entered his body—and vanished without a trace in an instant.

Li Feier widened her bright, watery eyes, waiting to see what Luo Qian would do. Unfortunately, that strange gap had appeared again. Luo Qian sighed. "Looks like I need a rest." Ignoring her curious gaze, he returned to the Underground Palace and sat down to meditate and regulate his breathing.

He worked at it for an entire day before finally filling the gap. Only then, with a pop, did he vanish from the Immortal Realm.

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