Princess Lin'an's life hung in the balance

"The smaller one!"

After bandaging her head, Zhong Li took off her embroidered shoes, hugged her knees, lowered her head, and said, "I have been in your household for a long time, and from my uncle down to the servants, everyone's luck has turned bad."

"Only the child remained unchanged, unaffected by the bad luck."

"It's not Lingyue, that's right. Heaven let her inherit her aunt's beauty. If it favors her too, then the little bean sprout would be too pitiful, "Xu Qi'an said.

"So, my younger sister is also someone with great fortune?"

Zhong Li slowly shook her head. "A person with good fortune has abundant blessings and benefits in everything they do. She is clearly not like that; she simply has a strong destiny and is not affected by bad luck."

"Everyone in your household has had bad luck. Hearing you say that, I'm starting to wonder if it's because I haven't found any silver these past few days that I'm having this problem?"

Since taking in Zhong Li, this unlucky fellow, Xu Qi'an has never picked up any silver again.

"I don't know," Zhong Li answered honestly.

"I suddenly had an idea. If Lingyin could protect you from bad luck, I could take her with me whenever I go out, and then I could find more money." Xu Qi'an thought for a moment and suggested, "How about we test it out?"

"How do we test it?" Zhong Li asked.

"Just wait."

Xu Qi'an immediately went out, carried out his aunt's beloved orchid potted plant from the front hall, placed it on the roof ridge of the corridor, then walked to the east wing, listened carefully, and after confirming, knocked on the door and said:

"Second Uncle, is Lingyin asleep?"

My second uncle's puzzled voice came from the room, "What's wrong, making a fuss in bed?"

"It's alright, just bring Lingyin out," Xu Qi'an said.

"Good."

Second Uncle Xu didn't ask why. He opened the door while holding the little boy. Xu Qi'an consciously took a few steps back. After all, this was his uncle and aunt's bedroom, and it was late at night. He shouldn't stand at the door.

"Big pot."

Xu Lingyin stretched out her little arms and instinctively rushed towards Xu Qi'an.

Xu Qi'an carried her towards his room. When they reached the corridor with potted plants overhead, he placed Xu Lingyin down below and said, "Sit here and eat some pastries. We'll go back after you're done."

The usually quick-witted Xu Lingyin would have found it strange that they had to sit outside to eat, but as soon as she heard there was food, her already limited intelligence plummeted.

She happily replied, "Okay."

So Xu Qi'an placed the tiny little bean on the steps by the corridor, and magically produced a piece of pastry for her to sit and eat.

"Given my bad luck, the potted plant is bound to fall down," Zhong Li said softly.

"Hmm." Xu Qi'an nodded.

He was testing Xu Lingyin's luck. If Zhong Li made a mistake, it wouldn't matter; he would simply knock the potted plant away to prevent the little bean from getting hurt.

A few seconds later, a "thud" came from the roof ridge, and sure enough, the potted plant fell down.

Just then, an orange cat darted out of the flowerbed, leaped up, and slapped the potted plant away, aiming it at Xu Qi'an.

Xu Qi'an dodged by turning his head, but Zhong Li did not.

The potted plant shattered on Zhong Li's head.

"I knew this would happen. I'm going back to my room to bandage my wound." Zhong Li walked away silently.

"Cat, cat"

The little one, with a pastry in his mouth, pointed at the orange cat and excitedly shouted.

"Alright, alright, big brother will carry you back to your room to sleep." Xu Qi'an picked up the little girl and returned to the east wing, handing her over to his second uncle, and then reminded his second uncle to supervise her brushing her teeth.

Considering that these were his aunt's favorite orchids, Xu Qi'an returned the broken porcelain shards, the orchids, and the fertile soil to the hall.

Having done all this, he went to the backyard and looked around. He saw the orange cat crouching on the edge of the well, its amber vertical pupils staring at him intently.

"Master."

Xu Qi'an approached and greeted him.

"What were you doing just now?" the orange cat asked in a human voice.

"It's just a small experiment."

The orange cat nodded slowly. "That astronomer from the Bureau of Astronomy Observatory just now?"

Xu Qi'an hummed in agreement. "With the Daoist's eyesight, you should be able to see the dark clouds gathering above her head, right?"

"It's not just dark clouds gathering, it's practically divine retribution." The orange cat raised its paw and stroked its whiskers. "Both are revealing heavenly secrets, but compared to prophets, diviners in the Sorcerer System are practically blessed by the heavens."

"You only need to endure eighty-one tribulations to become a fortune teller."

Upon hearing this, Xu Qi'an chimed in, "And the prophet will have to endure three thousand six hundred tribulations. Hmm?"

Xu Qi'an suddenly gave a puzzled "hmm," then frowned and said, "Prophet and diviner, aren't they actually the same thing? Just different names."

As he spoke, he turned his questioning gaze to Daoist Jinlian.

Because of the different names, he hadn't connected "prophet" and "diviner" before, but after hearing what Master Jinlian said, Xu Qi'an suddenly realized that they seemed to mean the same thing, just with different names.

It's like the terms "goddess" and "player" – different names, but the same thing: keeping backup lovers and keeping fish.

The orange cat lowered its paws and obediently squatted on the edge of the well, looking quite adorable. Unfortunately, the voice that came out was that of a grumpy old man. "Heh, it seems you don't know yet."

"The Warlock System has only been around for six hundred years, the same age as the Great Feng Kingdom. But don't you find it strange that the warrior system, which has been perfected to this day, still has no martial god? Wizards, Buddhist School, Daoist School, and Confucian School all have histories spanning thousands of years."

"In a mere six hundred years, the Warlock System, apart from lacking any beings exceeding a certain rank, is remarkably well-developed, ranging from the ninth rank to the first rank."

"Yes, the Warlock System has become so perfect in just six hundred years. If it were truly created from scratch, what kind of extraordinary genius would the first Supervisor have been? How could such a person possibly fail to surpass the required rank?" Xu Qi'an keenly sensed the inconsistency and wondered:

"So, what's going on?"

The orange cat didn't answer directly, but laughed and said, "Let me tell you a piece of history; you can figure it out for yourself."

It licked its paws first before saying, "The founding emperor of the Great Feng Dynasty had a difficult time in establishing his dynasty and was forced to the brink of despair several times. One year, he went to the Northeast to borrow troops from the Witch God Sect and promised that if he could overthrow the corrupt court and establish a new dynasty, he would make the Witch God Sect the state religion."

"The vast lands and rivers of the Central Plains will also be incorporated into the territory of the Witch God Sect, and the Witch God Sect has agreed. They have lent him 200,000 elite troops, as well as many Witch God Sect masters."

"Later, the founding emperor overthrew the corrupt previous dynasty, defeated various warlords, and unified the Central Plains. However, the Witch God Sect did not become the state religion of the Great Feng Dynasty as it had hoped."

"Because the Great Feng established an Bureau of Astronomy, the Warlock System was born."

Only two words remained in Xu Qi'an's mind: Holy crap!!

On the surface, Master Jinlian was talking about the dark history of the Great Feng Dynasty, who betrayed his country after using it. But it can't really be called dark history, since founding emperors throughout history have always been ruthless and immoral people with extremely low moral standards. A virtuous person could never achieve such a feat. In fact, Master Jinlian was revealing to him the origin of the Warlock System.

The Warlock System originated from the Sorcerer System!

This judgment was made by Xu Qi'an based on his reading comprehension skills developed during his nine years of compulsory education.

No wonder the abilities of "prophet" and "diviner" are so similar.

Oh right, there are similar systems like the Warrior system and the Monk system! It's not impossible that Warlock evolved from wizards. Xu Qi'an suddenly realized.

Furthermore, he began to make connections and expand his thinking, suspecting that the first supervisor was among the wizards who had come to offer assistance back then.

"Warlock evolved from wizards. Although they have the foundation of wizardry, creating a completely new system is still not easy. The hidden story behind this is probably only known to the first Supervisor and the founding emperor of the Great Feng Dynasty. I suspect it is related to the secrets kept by the Supervisor. This may be able to unveil the mystery of the Warlock of Yunzhou."

Xu Qi'an voiced his doubts, hoping that the knowledgeable Daoist Master Jinlian could answer them for him.

Unfortunately, Master Jinlian lacked the idea of receiving the liquid through the Daoist channel for Xu Qi'an and pretended not to hear.

Only by asking Wei Yuan or the Eldest Princess about this history could Xu Qi'an change the subject, saying, "What does the Daoist priest want with me?"

The orange cat gazed at him intently for a long while before saying, "I was just passing by when I noticed your good fortune had vanished, so I came to check on you."

After hearing this, the first thing that came to Xu Qi'an's mind was:???

A moment later, the following appeared:!!!

His next emotion was realizing that it was no wonder he hadn't picked up any silver these past few days; it was all because of the "404 Law" of the supervisory commissioner.

"But after seeing that girl, I understood why," the orange cat said.

Did Master Jinlian think that Zhong Li's bad luck had been offset by my good fortune? Xu Qi'an didn't explain and remained silent.

He also had no interest in performing the infusion on an old Daoist priest.

After bidding farewell to Daoist Jinlian, Xu Qi'an entered the house with a sullen expression, glaring at Zhong Li without saying a word.

The woman had bandages wrapped around her head and face, looking pitiful. Noticing the change in Xu Qi'an's attitude, she whispered:

What did that Daoist School master say to you?

"What's it to you?"

"Oh." She lowered her head slightly.

But Xu Qi'an wouldn't let her off the hook, angrily saying, "Do you know I used to pick up silver every day?"

"I don't know, but I can understand," Zhong Li answered honestly.

"But because of you, the supervisor kept me in the capital and shielded me from some of my luck." Xu Qi'an judged it to be only some of my luck, based on the fact that he could still protect Zhong Li from disasters.

I'm sorry.

"What's the use of saying sorry? I lose millions every day," Xu Qi'an retorted angrily. "You have to compensate me."

"I... I have no money." Zhong Li lowered her head in shame.

"If you don't have money, sleep with me. My bed is very sturdy; it won't collapse."

The next morning, Xu Qi'an woke up refreshed and extremely satisfied; the bed hadn't collapsed.

This has nothing to do with Zhong Li. He was just saying things in anger last night, although the supervisor's behavior pained him greatly.

This woman has already suffered enough; Xu Qi'an's conscience wouldn't allow him to harm her.

However, Zhong Li promised to give him two Law Artifact as compensation, which made Xu Qi'an very happy, and he slept exceptionally soundly.

After washing up, he went to the front hall for breakfast and heard the little boy crying loudly in the distance.

Stepping over the threshold and entering the house, I saw Xu Lingyin being held down on a stool by her aunt, who was waving a feather duster and slapping her little bottom repeatedly.

Second Uncle Xu, Xu Lingyue, and Xu Erlang ate without changing their expressions, completely ignoring their sister's (daughter's) crying, their minds only on the porridge, buns, and vegetables.

Seeing injustice, Xu Qi'an shouted, "Stop!"

The aunt ignored her nephew; she was beating her own daughter, what did it have to do with this kid?

"Auntie, that's going too far!" Xu Qi'an snatched the feather duster away and said, "Lingyin is still young, you can't hit her like that."

"Big pot."

That cry of "Big Pot" came from the bottom of his heart, like the cry of a loving father.

"Big brother," Xu Lingyue explained, "Mother's beloved orchid was broken and can't be saved. Mother suspects that Lingyin broke it."

Xu Qi'an handed the feather duster back to his aunt and patted her hand. "You have to start disciplining children early. If you don't discipline them now, it will be too late later. Auntie did a good job. Please continue, Auntie."

"Aww, aww, aww!" Xu Lingyin cried so hard.

As expected, this child lacks good fortune and relies solely on a strong birth chart.

As more and more martial arts practitioners flocked to the capital, the city's security plummeted. To solve this problem, Wei Yuan came up with a solution.

He ordered the construction of a sturdy white marble platform in each of the four cardinal directions of the outer city, naming it the "Heroic Platform."

It was specifically designed to resolve disputes among those chivalrous figures from the martial arts world who were prone to saying things like "What are you looking at?" and "What's it to you?" In no time, people from all over the country flocked to the Heroic Platform upon arriving in the capital. Those who had enemies in the capital would simply jump onto the platform and shout, "XXX, do you dare to come up here and fight? If you don't come, you're a coward!"

If XXX hears this, he will accept the invitation to fight the very next day.

It provides a platform for chivalrous individuals to resolve conflicts without harming ordinary people, while also ensuring that the people of the capital have something to eat and something exciting to watch every day, thus boosting local food and beverage consumption.

"Wei Yuan is quite capable; he's an official who can achieve political success." Xu Qi'an nodded secretly, continuing to listen to his Second Uncle Xu recount his observations during his city patrol.

In addition, young heroes without any grudges would also go on stage together to spar and gain fame. The female heroes, on the other hand, were not interested in performing on stage, but were more interested in chatting and laughing with the famous heroes and attending banquets.

They were keen to find opportunities to curry favor with high-ranking officials and dignitaries in the capital, and to seduce promising students from Beijing.

This shows that men and women have always pursued vastly different things.

Men strive for instant fame, while women aim for overnight success.

Because there are so many alluring and lewd women outside, Second Uncle Xu ordered Erlang not to go out unless necessary, so as not to let those rude female warriors lust after him.

Erlang should stay home obediently; the female demons are left to their father. Xu Qi'an extracted the core meaning from his second uncle's words.

"Second Uncle, among the female warriors who have come to the capital recently, are there any whose beauty is widely known?"

After Xu Qi'an finished speaking, noticing the strange expressions on his sister's and aunt's faces, he quickly added, "I'm doing this as a precaution."

The aunt and sister looked at Second Uncle Xu again. Second Uncle Xu frowned and complained, "You brat, how could I possibly know about this kind of thing? Do you think I'm the kind of person who would pay attention to such matters?"

Xu Xinnian watched his elder brother and father putting on an act and scoffed dismissively.

After breakfast, the uncle and nephew went out together, bringing their horses. Second Uncle Xu stroked the mare and remarked, "It seems to have become more and more energetic since it started following you."

"It got nourished," Xu Qi'an replied.

"Hmm?" Second Uncle asked, puzzled.

"The food at the Nightwatchers's office is good. They feed them fine feed, barley, soybeans, eggs, and coarse salt," Xu Qi'an explained.

Upon hearing this, Second Uncle Xu immediately became envious and said, "Then let's switch. Let's send my horse to the Nightwatchers's office to improve its meals."

Xu Qi'an waved his hands repeatedly. "I won't change my horse."

"Second Uncle, let's talk about the female warriors instead." Xu Qi'an was particularly interested in the female warriors of the martial arts world, probably due to his lingering feelings for the martial arts world from his previous life.

Speaking of this, Second Uncle Xu knew it like the back of his hand. "It is said that there are countless beautiful female warriors in the capital now, but there are four who are the most outstanding. One of them is the daughter of the master of Luya Sword Pavilion, who is known as "Butterfly Sword". Not only is she highly skilled, but she is also very beautiful."

"Rongrong from the brothel, nicknamed 'Soul-Stealing Hand,' is said by her colleagues to be an absolute seductive vixen. No man can resist her charm."

A seductive hand?!

Is that the "soul-stirring hand" I understand it to mean "scratching" or "rubbing"?

"There's also the Thousand-Faced Female Thief. I've never seen what she looks like, but it's said she's a master of disguise and always appears as a stunning beauty."

Generally speaking, these are women who are considered unattractive.

"The last one is even more remarkable. She's a famous female swordswoman who wields twin swords and is a disciple of the Leizhou Twin Swords Sect," Second Uncle Xu clicked his tongue in amazement.

"What a heroic and valiant woman! If I were twenty years younger, I would still choose your aunt."

Xu Qi'an nodded, thinking to himself that his second uncle still loved his aunt very much. He patted his shoulder and said, "Leave those female warriors to your twenty-year-old nephew."

Upon arriving at the yamen, after completing the roll call, Xu Qi'an practiced breathing exercises for half an hour at the familiar Yinluo Minshan branch. Then, he planned to take his two gong-wielding subordinates to patrol the streets—the Chunfeng Hall had been burned down and was not yet rebuilt.

"Boss, where are we patrolling?"

"Do you know where these female warriors like to hang out?" Xu Qi'an asked.

"Naturally, it's the Heroic Arena, with four arenas in the east, west, south, and north. It's quite lively now, with many people from the inner city flocking to the outer city to watch the excitement."

"Alright, let's go to the Heroic Terrace in the South City today." Xu Qi'an made the decision.

As soon as he stepped out of the yamen, he saw a horse galloping towards him. The guard sitting on the horse was dressed in the uniform of a court official; he was a guard from Lin'an.

"Lord Xu!"

Upon seeing Xu Qi'an, the guard was overjoyed and abruptly pulled on the reins, bringing the horse to a stop.

"Lord Xu, His Highness the Second Prince requests your immediate presence at the palace."

"What is it?" Xu Qi'an asked calmly.

"His Highness said that this is a matter of life and death, and her life is in your hands," the guard said in a deep voice.

"???"

As Xu Qi'an instructed Tongluo to fetch the horse, he asked, "Has something happened in the palace?"

PS: Updated first, revised later.