The truth came to light

Compared with the anxiety gripping the Skywhale Gang, Teng Jingcai was in excellent spirits. Upon returning to the rear courtyard, he summoned his concubine for some pleasure. Both his appetite and his lust had returned.

In the latter half of the night, Teng Jingcai suddenly felt a tightness in his chest. He began having nightmares, then jolted awake to find his concubine's hand resting on his chest.

"Hah..."

Teng Jingcai gently moved her arm aside, rolled onto his side, and went back to sleep.

Yet as he drifted off, something suddenly occurred to him. He remembered that the Sorcerer surnamed Zhou had once said his spells had many limitations. Some martial artists could condense their blood and vital energy into an astral force. Against those with supremely powerful martial arts, his spells had little effect; against those who had reached the innate realm, they could not work at all.

The innate realm of martial arts... an Innate Expert?

The words of that young master from the Skywhale Gang surfaced in his mind again.

Teng Jingcai sat bolt upright. That man was lying! Zhou's spells could never have driven back a martial artist who had reached the innate realm!

Recalling how the man surnamed Yu had been too badly wounded even to stand on his own, Teng Jingcai grew increasingly frightened. Could they have failed completely? Could Zhou have been captured too?

Now unable to sleep, Teng Jingcai waited uneasily until dawn, then hurriedly dressed and headed for the Skywhale Gang's headquarters. But he failed to meet anyone in charge. He was merely invited inside for some tea and eventually had a brief conversation with a hall master, who said the gang leader had gone out.

Teng Jingcai refused to let the matter drop. He waited until afternoon before leaving, instructing the gang members to have their leader come find him upon returning.

But the next day, Teng Jingcai waited at home all day without anyone coming. Unable to eat or sleep in peace again, he returned to the Skywhale Gang's headquarters early on the third morning. This time, he saw only a few low-ranking lackeys and no one else, though they remained unfailingly courteous, not daring to slight him.

Back in his study at home, Teng Jingcai could not dispel the frustration weighing on his heart.

Just then, a servant approached cautiously with a letter.

"Master, a letter has arrived from Moon Province..."

"What? Give it here!"

Teng Jingcai snatched the letter and tore it open impatiently. As he scanned it, his expression grew steadily worse.

With a bang, Teng Jingcai slammed his hand onto the desk, only for the pain in his right hand to make him grimace immediately.

"That magistrate of Yuanjiang County... how vicious..."

Merely putting the pieces together sent a chill through Teng Jingcai.

"No, I can't sit here and wait to die!"

The next moment, Teng Jingcai quietly began searching through the house for some of the valuables he had hidden away.

While the Skywhale Gang and Teng Jingcai were running about in Wu Prefecture, another urgent memorial from Yuanjiang County had already reached Heaven-Bearing Prefecture.

This memorial focused on detailing the use of sinister witchcraft to harm people. Unlike the previous one, it immediately drew the Ministry of Justice's attention.

Someone, however, once again secretly sent word out. When Sheng Shuying, Vice Minister of Personnel, learned of it in the middle of the night, he collapsed onto the couch in his study.

"It's over. What else has that bastard done? He's going to get me killed!"

He had never imagined that Teng Jingcai would dare dabble in harming people through witchcraft. That violated one of the reigning emperor's greatest taboos. Even ten heads would not be enough to pay for it!

"Hiss... I can't sit here and wait to die!"

Sheng Shuying shuddered violently, crumpled the note in his hand, and immediately began searching his study. He found the secret letter Teng Jingcai had previously sent him. Trembling all over, he took several deep breaths before barely managing to steady himself, then immediately ground some ink and began writing.

The next day happened to be a full court assembly. Having stayed awake all night, Sheng Shuying donned his court robes early and entered the imperial palace. In the waiting chamber, he kept feeling that certain officials were glancing at him, though perhaps it was only his imagination.

At last, the time for the assembly arrived, and the civil and military officials filed into the Purple Dawn Hall. The emperor had yet to arrive, but Sheng Shuying was already unbearably tense.

"Lord Sheng, are you very hot?"

A colleague beside him spoke in puzzlement. Sheng Shuying touched his forehead and found it covered in fine beads of sweat. He could only answer awkwardly.

"Yes... yes, a little."

"His Majesty arrives-"

Sheng Shuying gathered himself and looked toward the dais. The assembled ministers called out together, "We respectfully welcome Your Majesty-"

Led by the chief eunuch, a tall, middle-aged man wearing a dragon robe and a black gauze crown with upturned wings took his seat on the dragon throne and spoke calmly.

"My ministers, dispense with the formalities."

Once the eunuch had taken his place, he raised his voice with the customary announcement.

"Present your memorials-"

Sheng Shuying looked across the assembled ministers. Whenever his gaze passed over the Ministry of Justice officials, the prefect of Heaven-Bearing Prefecture, or several others, each seemed about to step forward. He hastily emerged ahead of them all, memorial in hand.

"Your Majesty, your servant Sheng Shuying has a memorial to present. I wish to accuse a former subordinate of accepting bribes, perverting the law, and murdering for wealth. Shameless beyond measure, he even attempted to secure my protection through a secret letter. His crimes are truly unforgivable. I also accuse myself of poor judgment, for I failed to discover that my former subordinate had committed such crimes. I beg Your Majesty to punish me-"

The man on the dragon throne frowned slightly and focused his gaze on the minister below. Despite the distance, he could tell that Sheng Shuying was extremely nervous.

Ordinarily, such a matter would be submitted directly to the Ministry of Justice. Even if it truly needed to be brought before the emperor, Sheng Shuying could have gone to the imperial study that afternoon. Yet he had hurried to present it directly during the court assembly?

The emperor's expression became rather telling.

"Bring it here."

At the emperor's command, the eunuch took the memorial and presented it to him. After reading it, the emperor looked toward the Ministry of Justice officials.

"Si Jingxiu, have any memorials arrived from Moon Province? Are you aware of the case involving Teng Jingcai?"

The Minister of Justice stepped out from among the assembled ministers.

"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Justice has indeed received the relevant memorials, two of them in fact. As the matter involves an imperial official, the first is already under review, and we are preparing to discuss it with the Censorate. Another arrived yesterday."

As he spoke, the Minister of Justice glanced at Sheng Shuying, then took a memorial from within his robes.

"I have outlined the contents. Please examine it, Your Majesty."

"Bring it here."

The emperor's words remained mild and indifferent. But once the eunuch delivered and unfolded the memorial, he began to sit straighter, and his expression gradually changed. He then glanced at Sheng Shuying and snorted inwardly.

"Minister Sheng, you are indeed a pillar of the nation. You merely placed your trust in a scoundrel. Or perhaps Teng Jingcai was still reasonably well behaved when you were in Wu Prefecture."

Having said this, the emperor looked at the Minister of Justice and spoke coolly.

"A mere assistant prefect of Wu Prefecture colluded with merchants to harm so many women among the common people, all for the profits of brothels? Afterward, he even went so far as to hire a practitioner of sinister arts to harm others through witchcraft over this matter. I fear there are still some things that magistrate of Yuanjiang County did not dare report..."

As he spoke, the emperor looked over his ministers.

"He dared use witchcraft to harm people, and those of the martial world even dared meddle in this affair. Ministry of Justice, Court of Judicial Review, Censorate-investigate this case thoroughly for me. Minister Sheng may remain at his post for now. If you are truly uninvolved, you will naturally not be wrongfully accused."

"We obey Your Majesty's decree!"

Several officials immediately answered. Beside them, Sheng Shuying broke into a cold sweat as he joined their response.

The emperor looked down expressionlessly. Yet aside from the witchcraft disturbing his mood, his gaze strayed once more to the memorial beside him. Questioning a ghost at midnight? ...

As unrest gradually stirred within the imperial court, life at the Yuanjiang County Office settled into tranquility. A month had passed since the night attack without any further trouble.

Yi Shuyuan had not been wandering about during this time either. Besides completing the County Gazetteer, he carefully savored what he had gained over the recent days.

For the past month, Yi Shuyuan's life had followed a straight line between the dining hall and the Library. He had not even visited his sleeping quarters. It was practically an unconventional form of secluded cultivation, and only today did he finally gather in his spirit and still his thoughts.

For Yi Shuyuan as he was now, every gain in cultivation was worth celebrating. Discovering things through his own insight brought an added sense of accomplishment. Unfortunately, he still had quite a way to go before he could fully turn the unreal into the real.

Seated at his desk, Yi Shuyuan felt relaxed now that he had secured his earlier gains. He once again leafed through the book Huang Hongchuan had given him, while his other hand played with the piece of ebony, nourishing it with his own spiritual energy.

Although Yi Shuyuan knew nothing of artifact refinement, he felt that nourishing it with his spiritual energy surely could not be wrong.

He already knew the entire book before him so well that he could recite it backward, yet he still instinctively leafed through it.

As Yi Shuyuan read and recalled his various gains in cultivation, a myriad of thoughts stirred in his heart.

If I can truly manifest this path, then someday a single thought could turn the unreal into the real, transforming into the countless things within my heart. Illusions born from the heart, then transformed into reality-that should deserve the name Earthly Baleful Transformations!

Having already succeeded halfway once, Yi Shuyuan could not help smiling again. If so, there would be far too many things for him to learn and grow accustomed to. Had he not diligently practiced martial arts, with his internal cultivation already reaching the innate realm, even that half-success might never have happened.

But Yi Shuyuan was not impatient. On the contrary, he found his own delight in it. Wandering through the mortal world, seeing myriad people and myriad affairs while also perfecting his own path-why would he not gladly do so?

"Heh, this counts as a pleasure too! If I, Yi Shuyuan, can succeed halfway once, then I can succeed once. If I can succeed once, then I can succeed ten thousand times... Tsk, seems I'm reaching a little beyond my grasp, hah."

Muttering to himself, Yi Shuyuan suddenly looked toward the doorway.

After a while, a child arrived nearby. He circled the courtyard outside, then rose onto his toes and cautiously peered into the Library, only to discover that the person inside was looking out as well.

The child immediately scratched his head in embarrassment and moved off to one side.

Yi Shuyuan, however, set down the ebony and the book, stood, and walked to the doorway. From the Library entrance, he watched the child silently leaving. It was the very boy he had rescued that day.

"Is no one keeping you company?"

Yi Shuyuan spoke gently, trying not to frighten him. The child had been about to leave, but stopped upon hearing his words. Standing in the corridor a dozen or so paces away, he answered awkwardly.

"I'm just wandering by myself in the places I'm allowed to go..."

His voice carried a distinctly nonlocal accent.

"Have you been to see your father?"

The child's expression grew anxious and frightened. After a moment's hesitation, he nodded and answered timidly.

"The officers took me there. They said that man was my father... sir, can I go now?"

"It's all right. Go on."

Hearing Yi Shuyuan say this, the child hurried away as though granted a pardon. He could not leave the County Office or enter certain important areas, and there were not enough people to watch him all the time. He could only wander alone wherever he was allowed, go to the dining hall for food at mealtimes, and squeeze into the shared sleeping quarters at night.

Yi Shuyuan was pondering this when the child reached the end of the corridor, then peered back from behind a pillar. He seemed to hesitate for quite a while before finally speaking again.

"Sir, when will my mother come?"

Yi Shuyuan was slightly taken aback. Looking at the child, he said,

"Why ask me? The other officers should know more about that."

The child opened his mouth, then said hesitantly,

"A young gentleman told me that perhaps the teacher here would know."

Yi Shuyuan frowned slightly, then softened his expression and beckoned to the child. The boy hesitated behind the pillar for a while before finally approaching and stopping in front of him.

"Which young gentleman told you that?"

"The young gentleman who's willing to talk to me besides you, sir."

Yi Shuyuan smiled.

"I'm no official. That young gentleman you mentioned isn't from the office, is he?"

The child was not allowed to leave the County Office, nor did he ordinarily see its few actual officials, since he was forbidden from going to those areas too. Even though he was only an illegitimate child, most of the bailiffs and others disliked him as well. The young gentleman he mentioned might therefore be Chu Hang, who was relatively less likely to let his personal feelings color his treatment of the boy.

"I don't know... sir, when will my mother come?"

The child asked again, his eyes full of anxious hope. Yi Shuyuan reached out and stroked his head. The boy clearly wanted to dodge, but although his body shifted, he did not move away.

The skin on the child's face and hands was rough. He did not look as though he had grown up accustomed to wealth and comfort.

As he watched, half intentionally and half unconsciously, Yi Shuyuan seemed to see a faint wisp of energy shifting above the child's head. More than that, he seemed able to sense an anxious emotion answering it from far away.

This is... the bond between mother and child.

"They... they said that when I was abducted, something might already have happened to Mother..."

A hint of sobbing seemed to enter the child's voice, interrupting Yi Shuyuan's perception. He frowned slightly and asked,

"Who told you that?"

"No... no one told me. When I was sleeping at night, I heard some officers in the shared quarters whispering about it on the beds over there."

Yi Shuyuan nodded and said,

"Don't worry. Your mother is fine. She's very worried about you and will come after a while. Go and play."

Yi Shuyuan's voice carried a tranquility that seeped into the heart, as though it could naturally win a child's trust.

"Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir!"

Delighted surprise appeared on the child's face. He bowed to Yi Shuyuan several times, then trotted away.