Unusual Pattern

The three of them then spoke of the situation at Great Meng's border—whether war had truly broken out.

All three of them hated Great Meng so much their teeth itched.

It was cunning to the extreme, sinister and difficult to deal with. It seized every advantage it saw and withdrew whenever there was none, never suffering a loss.

They then spoke of the great generals in the Northern Territory and who could give Great Meng a thorough beating, only to find that there truly were no particularly formidable commanders.

General Zhenyuan Li Haoyuan had always been mature and steady, with considerable achievements to his name, but he was like a turtle. Faced with Great Meng's provocations, he could only defend blindly.

The four of them engaged in another round of armchair strategizing, saying that Great Meng's new emperor had gradually secured his throne and wanted to work diligently to strengthen the nation and begin deploying troops, thereby establishing his prestige.

Perhaps the border was merely seeing small-scale provocations, and there would be no great war.

Chu Zhiyuan chatted freely with the three of them, full of enthusiasm, while in truth he had been organizing the books in Tongtian Pavilion within his mind.

Tongtian Pavilion's collection was vast beyond measure and had to be read selectively. Even if time allowed him to read slowly, the order in which he read them would determine how much they benefited his cultivation.

After drinking, the group dispersed from the banquet. Once they left the Eighteenth Prince's residence, their interest remained high, so they toured Yujing City together.

Chu Mingxuan led them to a bookhouse, where they opened another round and continued drinking, attended by beautiful women from the bookhouse.

Though Chu Zhiyuan held one of the beauties in his arms, he was in little mood for it.

The beauties of this bookhouse were all accomplished in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. They understood affection and propriety, graceful and elegant, yet compared with his four personal maids, they were far too worldly and somewhat affected.

In his eyes, no matter how beautiful these women were, they remained vulgar rouge and common powder.

After the four finished this round of drinking, tonight's revelry finally came to an end, and they went their separate ways back to their respective estates.

On his way back to Prince Qing's Estate, he spotted Huang Shirong amid the crowd.

The moonlight was like water. Beneath the soft glow of lanterns, Huang Shirong, approaching from the opposite side of the crowd, wore an apricot-yellow gauze robe, her figure swaying like a willow branch.

Her expression was calm, her temperament cool and aloof.

Escorted by two snow-white-clad girls, she threaded through the bustling crowd, nimble and light.

Suddenly seeming to sense something, she turned her head and looked over, meeting Chu Zhiyuan's gaze. She could not help but freeze.

Chu Zhiyuan smiled and nodded, yet did not slow his steps as he passed by her.

"Heir Apparent," Huang Shirong hurriedly called. Her willow waist twisted, and she abruptly sped up to arrive before him.

Chu Zhiyuan waved a hand.

Guo Chi stepped back, and the four Xiantian Masters also spread out, allowing Huang Shirong into their circle.

Chu Zhiyuan stopped and cupped his fists with a smile. "Hall Master Huang, have you been well lately?"

Under the lantern light, Huang Shirong's lovely face became even more captivating. A gentle smile made her features shine. "The same as always. Congratulations to you, Heir Apparent, for attaining the Xiantian Realm and entering the Ministry of Rites."

Chu Zhiyuan waved his hand. "I merely slacked off and hid away for some peace and quiet."

Huang Shirong smiled without offering flattering words. His choice truly was one of slacking off and seeking leisure. With his astonishing aptitude and extraordinary perception, going to the military would have been best for earning merit and cultivation. Going to the Ministry of Rites was simply casting pearls before swine.

Could this Fourth Heir Apparent truly be someone without desires or pursuits?

Or had being confined in the princely estate for too long made him overly cautious, timid, and fearful of trouble?

Yet judging from how decisively he had acted against the Jade Cauldron Sect, he did not seem like someone afraid of trouble.

He must have had another purpose in entering the Ministry of Rites.

The two stood amid the crowd while their guards held the people outside, creating a tranquil patch of ground.

Chu Zhiyuan said, "Hall Master Huang, how has Division Chief Jiang been lately?"

Huang Shirong nodded lightly. "The Division Chief is still the same as ever."

"That is cause for celebration," Chu Zhiyuan said with a smile. "When one stays busy and a day passes before one knows it, that is peace and joy. Nothing could be better."

Huang Shirong covered her mouth and chuckled. "What you said, Heir Apparent, sounds rather like my master."

Chu Zhiyuan shook his head and laughed. He was laughing at his own old-fashioned air, yet this was indeed his deepest realization.

In the past, he had felt that no day should be wasted, that every day ought to be magnificent and resplendent. But in this world, getting through an ordinary day was the best possible outcome. There should be no surprises—more often than not, they cost one's life.

The two exchanged more idle chatter. As they were about to part, Chu Zhiyuan said with a smile, "The city has been quite lively lately."

Yujing City was bustling, its streams of people weaving like threads, but he knew every resident along the route from Prince Qing's Estate to the Ministry of Rites Office.

As a Hall Master of the Town Martial Division, Huang Shirong was responsible for a district much like a neighborhood patrol officer in his previous life. She ought to know it just as well.

The reason she had failed to notice was that the Xiantian Masters who had mixed in all understood methods of concealing their auras. There were only a little over twenty of them, enough to evade the Town Martial Division.

Huang Shirong was startled.

Chu Zhiyuan cupped his fists with a smile. "The night is late, Hall Master Huang. Let us meet again."

With that, he accelerated away.

Huang Shirong cupped her fists and remained where she was, her limpid gaze following him until he vanished into the bustling crowd. The smile faded from her face, and she turned to continue onward.

One of the white-clad girls beside Huang Shirong asked, "Hall Master, is there something wrong with this Heir Apparent from Prince Qing's Estate?"

"...Let us go." Huang Shirong gave her a surprised glance.

The other white-clad girl said, "Hall Master, was there something improper in the Fourth Heir Apparent's words?"

They were both sharp-minded and had noticed the change in Huang Shirong's mood. Once Chu Zhiyuan left, she had visibly become subdued and tense.

"...It is nothing." Huang Shirong gently shook her head, her delicate brows faintly furrowing as she looked at the white-clad girl who had spoken first. "Miaoyue, the Fourth Heir Apparent is imperial nobility. Do not allow arrogance to arise in your heart."

"Yes, Hall Master." The white-clad girl lowered her eyes.

Huang Shirong secretly shook her head.

The new generation of disciples from the Four Great Sects was becoming ever more arrogant, seeing no one beneath heaven, even looking down upon members of the imperial clan.

Of course, this also had to do with the Fourth Heir Apparent's background. Prince Qing's Estate truly had declined; a phoenix stripped of its feathers was no match for a chicken.

If it had been King Ying's Heir Apparent, how would they have dared show even the slightest neglect?

But they did not understand one principle: no matter how much Prince Qing's Estate had declined, he was still a prince, and his father was the emperor. How could he be slighted?

She promptly set such thoughts aside and pondered inwardly. These younger people would only understand such principles after suffering hardship. Each one was proud and would not listen to her advice, so she might as well keep silent. The crucial point was the Fourth Heir Apparent's final sentence.

Though simple, it contained an astonishing piece of information.

The city had been lively lately? Why had she not noticed anything unusual?

Chu Zhiyuan returned to Listening to Waves Courtyard. After Mo Yi and the others attended to his washing, he sat on the couch in a loose sleeping robe and opened the Ebony Wood Box.

A pile of jade fragments was reassembled in the blink of an eye, restored into a complete jade pendant—a palm-sized Green Jade Pendant.

He pressed his hand against the Green Jade Pendant and sensed its minute inner details, faintly seeing a strange pattern.

He deeply imprinted that strange pattern into his mind. Then, after getting down from the couch and sitting before the desk by the window, he picked up a brush to draw it, only to discover that his mind was utterly blank.

An invisible force had erased his memory of the pattern.

Refusing to believe it, he grasped the jade pendant again, imprinted its pattern into his mind, and inspected it closely. He could see it with perfect clarity.

But when he tried to remember it, he simply could not.

He frowned and began recalling the two patterns within the Qingying Sword, only to discover that he could not remember them either.

He had somehow failed to notice this before.

He continued struggling with it for quite some time, but in the end, he still could not retain the three patterns. He could see them, yet he could not draw them on paper or recall them afterward.

So he simply set the matter aside and planned to investigate it properly in Tongtian Pavilion. The two characters Qingying were the best clue.

His cultivation advanced a thousand miles in a single day. Breaking through the Jade Lock Golden Pass Technique had gone remarkably smoothly. He had already broken through the Second Layer and was now attacking the Third Layer.

With every layer he broke through, his True Qi became more vigorous and purer, but the pressure on his Meridians also increased. After breaking through the Second Layer, he had faintly begun to feel that pressure.

When he used True Qi to cultivate the Dragon Transformation Technique, he discovered that the first level of Meridian Tempering, which had already reached completion, was no longer complete and could still be further improved.

Thus, he stopped to cultivate the Dragon Transformation Technique. Once its first level reached completion, he would continue breaking through the remaining ten layers.

But the Dragon Transformation Technique did not progress nearly as quickly. Tempering Meridians required time and could not be achieved in a single stroke.

Over the next two days, he reported for duty at the Ministry of Rites Office before heading to Tongtian Pavilion, wishing he could live there day and night.

With the extraordinary techniques he had now mastered, there was no need for him to venture outside and risk his life to earn merit. As long as his reading kept pace and his understanding of martial arts followed, he could naturally attain Innate Perfection, find the Grandmaster Gate, and break through to become a Grandmaster.

Once he became a Grandmaster and gained the ability to protect himself, he could go out to earn merit and temper himself, eventually achieving the rank of Great Grandmaster.

Unity of man and heaven made a Grandmaster; understanding one's heart and seeing one's nature made a Great Grandmaster. Yet it was not so simple. There were countless subtle and profound mysteries that required realization upon realization.

This was the path he had set for himself.

One morning, just after reporting for duty, he was about to head to Tongtian Pavilion when a young man stopped him. It was one of his subordinates, Gao Lingfeng.

Gao Lingfeng was imposing and dignified, his gaze upright and clear. He had been the Top Scholar four years ago and had only transferred from the Hanlin Academy a year prior.

In merely four years, he had risen to the position of Principal Sixth Rank Administrator, a speed that could be called astonishing.

This was the special advantage of being the Top Scholar. His prospects were vast, even better than Chu Zhiyuan's as an Heir Apparent.

After all, no matter how capable an Heir Apparent was or how great his merits, he could never enter the Grand Secretariat and become a chancellor like a Top Scholar.

"Lord Chu, please wait." Gao Lingfeng cupped his fists.

Chu Zhiyuan stopped and looked at him doubtfully, returning the gesture. "Lord Gao, you are...?"

Gao Lingfeng said gravely, "The site for the Flying Flower Sword Sect's separate courtyard has been chosen, and construction is about to begin. The Director's intention is for the Assistant Director to preside over the Groundbreaking Ceremony."

"A Groundbreaking Ceremony? ...When?"

"It has been set for tomorrow."

"Mm. Come and fetch me tomorrow." Chu Zhiyuan nodded.

"Yes!" Gao Lingfeng solemnly cupped his fists.

Chu Zhiyuan smiled and left the office.

This was a small calculation by the officials. They did not wish to send an official of a higher rank and appear overly fawning, yet they also wished to display the Imperial Court's reverence for a Great Grandmaster. Using his status as an Heir Apparent was exactly right.

In truth, there was no need for such empty formalities. It was nothing more than a display of the civil officials' backbone.