Mani Jewel

"My lord..."

On the way to the Imperial Prison, Su Yunsheng said hesitantly, "Yan Shaoting is... Chancellor Yan's grandson..."

"I know."

Cao Jinxing paid it no mind. "Ignore him. Fighting me over the medicine would be a slap in Eunuch Lu's face. He wouldn't do that. Besides, the Yan family has no shortage of things like this. Most likely, that idiot Liu Sanjin came up with the idea himself."

"Yes, my lord."

Seeing that he had matters well in hand, the two men relaxed.

The three reached the Imperial Prison, and the guard opened the gate to let them through. Just as they were about to enter, Cao Jinxing suddenly remembered something. "Yunsheng."

"My lord," Su Yunsheng answered.

"I want everything we have on the Bone-Melting Cotton Palm, including treatment methods," Cao Jinxing said. "Go fetch it from the archives."

Su Yunsheng nodded respectfully. "Please wait a moment, my lord."

He hurried away.

Cao Jinxing took Sun Lang down into the Imperial Prison.

The Northern Pacification Office's Imperial Prison was known as the greatest prison under heaven!

The walls on all four sides, the floor beneath their feet, and the slabs overhead were all built from the same granite.

The prison lay ten feet underground and never saw sunlight. Even without torture, anyone imprisoned there for long would inevitably weaken and succumb to every sort of illness.

Carrying a lantern, a jailer led Cao Jinxing and Sun Lang deep into the dark prison, where they found the "survivor." By now, he was covered in wounds and barely breathing.

Another jailer brought over a chair. Cao Jinxing sat down casually, facing the man.

"The name of the man who led you yesterday, what martial arts he uses, how many accomplices he still has, and where they might be hiding..."

Cao Jinxing got straight to the point. "I don't like using torture. Tell me directly, and we'll both save ourselves some trouble."

The Hehuan Sect practiced arts that drained others to nourish themselves. Every one of its members, man or woman, deserved death a hundred times over!

"My lord... I told you everything yesterday..."

The man was especially terrified of Cao Jinxing. The moment he saw him, his whole body began trembling.

"Then tell me again!"

Cao Jinxing regarded him coldly. "That testimony of yours might fool someone else, but you think you can fool me? Tell me, the Hehuan Sect has been repeatedly suppressed since the founding of Great Ming. Why haven't you left the capital? Why insist on skulking around here? What are you trying to do? What are you looking for? Talk!"

"..."

The man clearly had not expected that question. He froze, his eyes darting evasively.

Cao Jinxing waved a hand.

With a vicious grin, Sun Lang went in and gave him a round of Tendon-Splitting Bone-Crushing Hand.

"Aaaah!!!"

The man screamed in agony. Before he could endure even three moves, he blurted out, "I'll talk, I'll talk... We're looking for our founding patriarch's... Jialin Zhenshan's tomb..."

"Oh?"

Cao Jinxing leaned forward with a faint, ambiguous smile. "You know what happens if you lie to me!"

The man shuddered. Images of his fellow disciples' heads falling flashed through his mind, and he hurriedly said, "It's true! I wouldn't dare deceive you, my lord! Sect Master Yang Gongbu is a descendant of our patriarch. He's been searching for the patriarch's tomb all along, hoping to find the [Mani Jewel]..."

Cao Jinxing listened carefully, gradually piecing the story together.

The founding patriarch of the Hehuan Sect was named Jialin Zhenshan. He had originally been a foreign Tantric monk skilled in bedchamber arts.

During Emperor Shun of Yuan's reign, Jialin Zhenshan catered to the emperor's tastes by teaching him the Tantric dual-cultivation art, the Great Bliss Zen Method. Through this, he gained the position of Imperial Preceptor and founded the Hehuan Sect, bringing chaos to the court and earning an infamous reputation!

An opportunistic scoundrel like him should not have lived long, but he encountered another stroke of fortune. By chance, he obtained a lost Tantric treasure, the [Mani Jewel]-a supreme treasure formed from all the true essence of the venerable Milarepa!

Milarepa was an eminent Tantric monk of great virtue whose mastery of the divine art Tummo had reached perfection.

The principle behind this art was to transform sexual energy into heat and fire, then transform fire into light and a Mani Jewel.

His power was so great that he could bathe in flames without dying. When he passed into nirvana, his flesh dissolved, but his true essence endured, condensing into the [Mani Jewel].

This jewel contained all the venerable monk's wisdom and power. Whoever obtained it could gain "boundless wisdom," unharmed by poison and untouched by fire.

With its aid, Jialin Zhenshan became a Tongyou-realm master whose might shook his era. After his death, the jewel was buried with him.

"..."

Despite the man's extravagant praise, Cao Jinxing understood that it was really just an item that boosted comprehension and fire resistance.

Cao Jinxing could not absorb the fire-aspect internal energy it contained, and he had no need for better comprehension. Only its fire resistance and protection against poison tempted him somewhat.

"Your help with the Bright Sect's plans must have something to do with this jewel too," Cao Jinxing said.

"Yes... The Bright Sect's holy maiden seems to know where the tomb is. Our sect master reached an agreement with her..."

"How many disciples remained after yesterday's battle?"

"Half... After we set out, Sect Master Yang Gongbu took Right Guardian Ren Lingjiao and the other half of the disciples to retrieve the treasure..."

"Who led your group yesterday?"

"Left Guardian Lou Zizhen."

"Oh..."

Cao Jinxing drew out the word and nodded in satisfaction. Just as the man breathed a sigh of relief, Cao Jinxing said, "Kill him. He's wasting prison food."

He rose and left.

Sun Lang smiled.

The man panicked and cried out repeatedly, "My lord! My-crack!"

Sun Lang tossed the corpse onto the floor and followed, not forgetting to give the jailer an order.

"Clean that up."

"Yes, sir."

The two left the Imperial Prison.

Just then, Su Yunsheng came running back from the archives with the information he had found.

"My lord, I've checked everything."

Su Yunsheng handed him a sheet of paper covered in densely packed, tiny writing.

"Thanks for your work."

Cao Jinxing took it and scanned the page.

The Bone-Melting Cotton Palm was a mid-tier, fifth-grade spiritual martial art created by the renowned martial elder known as the "Bone-Melting Immortal." Its palm force was sinister and terrifying, and the art was extremely difficult to master. Once mastered, a strike would soften every bone in the victim's body until they became like cotton, eventually reducing the victim to blood. No medicine could cure its palm force; only the sixth-grade spiritual material maple-sleep grass could slow its effects.

Su Yunsheng had roughly guessed his intentions and added the properties of maple-sleep grass and a sketch at the bottom of the page.

Cao Jinxing nodded. "Well done."

"My lord."

"Even knowing about maple-sleep grass seems unlikely to help," Su Yunsheng said. "Unless we watch every medicine shop. But a day has already passed, and they probably finished buying it long ago. Looking now may be..."

Cao Jinxing shook his head. "That's too clumsy. I have a faster way. Fourteen."

He called softly. While Su Yunsheng and Sun Lang were still puzzling over it, something darted out of the leather pouch at his waist.

A moment later, a small, snow-white Lion Cat appeared on his shoulder, rubbing its head against his neck and purring.

Lion Cats were tribute cats in Great Ming. The reigning emperor kept one named Frostbrow, and those below followed the example of those above. Although neither man owned one, both recognized the breed.

Yet this one was completely different from an ordinary Lion Cat. It was small and nimble, with lively eyes full of intelligence.

-It looked more like an exotic spirit beast!

Su Yunsheng and Sun Lang exchanged a glance. Their superior even had an exotic beast. He truly kept his abilities hidden.

"Fourteen, I remember this herb. There seemed to be one or two stalks in that pile you ate yesterday. Take a look. Do you remember it?"

Cao Jinxing showed Fourteen the sketch.

Fourteen studied it, tilting its head in thought.

"It's fine if you can't remember. I'll have someone buy a stalk. Zhang Chengfeng should have some in stock..." Before he could finish, Fourteen's eyes lit up. It remembered and nodded repeatedly.

"Meow, meow!"

"Good little one."

Cao Jinxing smiled and stroked its head. "Do you remember the smell? Find me the place where this herb's scent is strongest right now!"

Xuan Yuan Fourteen closed its eyes and drew a deep breath, its nose twitching as it carefully distinguished the various scents in the air.

One of its innate abilities was treasure hunting, making it extremely sensitive to the scents of spiritual materials and treasures.

It soon found something.

"Meow~"

Xuan Yuan Fourteen opened its eyes, a flash of spiritual light flickering through them. It looked southwest, then sprang away, turning into a streak of white lightning.

Cao Jinxing followed close behind with his Lightning Movement Step.

That left Su Yunsheng and Sun Lang in a miserable predicament.

"My lord, wait! We can't keep up!"

The two were on the verge of tears.

Learn movement arts!

We absolutely have to learn movement arts!