Burying the Gold

A deathly silence filled the hall.

All the personal guards kept their heads down, not daring to look at the captain's livid face.

The county magistrate, Zhao De, had collapsed to the ground. His fat body shook like a mountain of flesh, and his crotch was soaked.

Li Zhong's chest heaved as his scarlet eyes swept over the wreckage. Finally, his gaze settled on the useless magistrate.

"Trash!"

He spat the word through clenched teeth, then turned and strode outside.

"Fall back!"

The icy command came as a pardon to all the personal guards. They hurried after him; none of them wanted to stay a second longer.

What a disgrace. What a humiliation.

Thirty of the residence's elite had come in a blaze of aggression, only to retreat with their tails between their legs, unable to capture even one woman.

If word got out, the entire Prince of Xiushan's Residence would lose all face.

Chen Fan was at the back of the group, preparing to mount his horse, when a trembling voice came from behind him.

"Sir, please... please wait!"

Chen Fan turned and saw Magistrate Zhao De scrambling after him, an obsequious smile on his face that looked uglier than a grimace.

What does this fellow want?

Chen Fan wondered, but he didn't stop walking.

At the head of the group, Li Zhong reined in his horse and looked back impatiently.

"Magistrate Zhao, what else is it?"

"N-no, nothing!" Zhao De shuddered in fright and hurriedly waved his hands. He went around the others and ran straight up to Chen Fan, nodding and bowing.

"I... I only wanted to thank this young man in private."

Everyone's eyes turned to Chen Fan in unison.

Some were puzzled; others were bewildered.

Chen Fan was even more confused.

Thank me? For kicking in the door of his Courtyard of Red Delights, or for botching the whole affair?

Li Zhong clearly had no patience to watch them put on a show. He snorted.

"Hurry up!"

With that, he squeezed his horse's flanks and led the group onward.

In the blink of an eye, only Chen Fan and the strange magistrate remained.

Zhao De grabbed Chen Fan's arm and dragged him to a secluded corner by a wall. The fawning look on his face was suddenly replaced by genuine excitement.

He pulled a heavy money pouch from his robes and pressed it into Chen Fan's hand without giving him a chance to object.

"Sir! Words cannot express my gratitude for your great kindness!"

Chen Fan instinctively dodged.

"Lord Zhao, what is the meaning of this?"

Judging by its weight, the pouch held at least several dozen taels of gold. He had done nothing to deserve a reward; this old fox definitely had no good intentions.

"There's something you don't know, sir!" When Zhao De saw that he wouldn't accept it, he was so anxious he nearly cried. He lowered his voice, which quavered slightly.

"Brother Zhang Cheng from the residence told me that the bandit chief of Black Wind Mountain, Black Wind Baleful Intent... was executed by your own hand!"

Chen Fan froze.

Zhang Cheng and his big mouth.

Tears streamed down Zhao De's aged face, and his voice choked.

"That cursed bandit chief killed my poor son, Zhao Long! You... you avenged my son's blood feud!"

So that's how it is.

Chen Fan looked at the magistrate before him, crying with tears and snot running down his face, and felt the absurdity of it all.

Zhao Long, the first poor wretch whose body he had possessed.

Black Wind Baleful Intent, the second poor wretch whose body he had possessed.

And now he was Lin Shou, the executioner who had killed "Black Wind Baleful Intent."

Every bite and sip was ordained by heaven. This karmic retribution truly was mysterious.

He looked at the pouch in Zhao De's hand, and the little wariness he felt slowly faded.

He was a guard at the residence, and his monthly allowance was only two taels of silver. He would have to work for years without eating or drinking to earn this much.

He would be a fool not to take it.

Besides, Lin Shou was the one who had killed "Black Wind Baleful Intent," not him, Chen Fan.

He accepted the pouch with a clear conscience and hefted it. It was quite heavy.

"Lord Zhao, please restrain your grief."

Imitating the manner in Lin Shou's memories, he uttered those few dry words, then turned and hurried after the departing group.

By the time they returned to the Prince of Xiushan's Residence, dawn was breaking.

What awaited them was not praise, but the prince's thunderous wrath.

In the study, Li Zhong and all the personal guards who had taken part in the operation knelt in a row on the cold floor.

Zheng Xian, the Prince of Xiushan, stood with his back to them. There was no roaring, no angry cursing, only a deathly silence.

But that silence was more frightening than any roar.

No one knew how much time had passed before Zheng Xian slowly turned around.

"Thirty of the residence's elite, my trusted men. I sent you to capture one maid who had defected, and you let her escape."

His words were quiet, but each one struck everyone's heart like a heavy hammer.

"Is my face there for you trash to grind into the dirt like this?"

"Your Highness, I was incompetent! I am willing to accept punishment!" Li Zhong knocked his head heavily against the floor.

"Punishment?" Zheng Xian sneered. "What use is punishing you? Will it bring back the secret text? Can it restore the face I've lost?"

He kicked Li Zhong in the shoulder, sending the Seventh Rank martial artist staggering.

"Get out! All of you, get out!"

"Li Zhong, you're docked a year's pay. Go to the stables and groom my horses for a month!"

"The rest of you, twenty strokes of the military rod each. Your allowances for this month are forfeited!"

Everyone's hearts trembled, but none dared utter a word of complaint. After kowtowing to thank him, they retreated in disgrace.

Chen Fan lay on a bench and took all twenty blows.

The rod came down, splitting his skin and flesh, but he only gritted his teeth without making a sound.

Compared with the soul-deep tearing pain of possession, this was practically a tickle.

After the punishment, a steward came to reassign their duties.

Chen Fan was transferred away from the rear courtyard and assigned to guard the residence's western wall.

It was the most leisurely post, and also the one with the least prospect of advancement.

Chen Fan couldn't have asked for more.

He was happy to take it easy.

At the same time, he was considering what to do with the gold Zhao De had given him.

A full fifty taels of gold was an enormous sum.

It wasn't safe to keep it on him. He might die one day and not have a coin left. Just like when he was Black Wind Baleful Intent: the residence had confiscated all his belongings, leaving him with nothing.

"I'll find somewhere to bury it. If I'm short of money after reincarnating as someone else, I can come back and dig it up."

With that thought in mind, Chen Fan found time to leave the residence. He found an out-of-the-way spot in the wilderness, buried the gold, and marked the place.

Only after doing all that did he leave, satisfied.

Meanwhile.

Inside a dilapidated mountain god temple in Xiushan Province.

Su Xin sat cross-legged, her face pale.

A black-robed figure stood before her, giving off a cold, sinister presence.

"Holy Maiden, you're injured?"

"Just a minor injury. It's nothing serious." Su Xin opened her eyes, which held an unyielding chill. "Li Zhong's martial arts are indeed quite accomplished."

She took a yellowed ancient book from her robes and tossed it to the black-robed figure.

"Take a look."

The black-robed figure caught it excitedly, but after turning just two pages, the wild joy on their face gave way to silence.

"It's still only a fragment?!"

"That's right." Su Xin spoke coldly. "The Record of the Grand Progenitor's Ascension to Immortality is a secret of the imperial family. The complete text exists only in the imperial palace. Experts there are as numerous as clouds; we can't go there."

The black-robed figure clutched the fragment, trembling all over with anger.

"Then... wasn't all our work this time for nothing?"

"No." Su Xin shook her head. "The various princes all have fragments of the secret text, more or less. As long as we gather all the fragments, we can probably obtain the complete Record of the Grand Progenitor's Ascension to Immortality."

Hearing this, the black-robed figure's heart immediately settled.

"How were you exposed, Holy Maiden?" the black-robed figure couldn't help asking.

"A guard." Su Xin's words were full of confusion and murderous intent. "An utterly ordinary guard from the residence. He recognized me at a glance."

That's impossible!

She had used a false identity while lying low in the residence, then changed her appearance after escaping. There was no way anyone from the residence could have recognized her.

Su Xin thought no more about it. She walked to the altar, picked up the stub of a burned-out incense stick, dipped it in the water pooled on the floor, and quickly began sketching on the worn offering table.

With just a few strokes, a man's face clearly emerged.

"Investigate."

Her voice was like a cold wind from the Nine Netherworlds.

"Investigate this man from top to bottom. I want to know everything about him: his birth, his origins, and all his family and friends."

The black-robed figure looked at the utterly ordinary face on the table, the face that had drawn so much of the Holy Maiden's attention, and bowed to accept the order.

"Yes!"

The portrait traced in water on the offering table was none other than Lin Shou.

It was also Chen Fan's current face.