Testing Each Other

[Nine: A while ago, while the Daoist Master was asleep, I secretly returned to the Earth Sect on business, only to be ambushed. I escaped all the way to the Great Feng to save my life. To avoid being hunted down, I gave the sealed mirror to Brother Chen Jinnan.]

"You not only revealed my gender, but also implied my age." Xu Qi'an was somewhat angry. He could have disguised himself as a transvestite or a master in the Heaven and Earth Society.

[Nine: Subsequently, with the help of Brother Chen Jinnan, they killed Zi Lian and escaped this calamity.]

[Two: Three, which government office do you work for?]

"You're basically asking me for my address online. I'd be a fool to tell you!" Xu Qi'an thought to himself, mimicking Xu Erlang's tone.

[Part Three: The government offices? The government offices in the capital are nothing but a bunch of incompetent officials holding positions without doing their jobs.]

Number Three seemed to have great disdain for the government offices, and his tone was somewhat arrogant. There are only a few official forces in the capital, and the Human Sect can be ruled out first, as Master Jinlian would not cooperate with the Human Sect.

Nightwatchers wouldn't describe a government office in the capital like that. Is it the Bureau of Astronomy or the Cloud Deer Academy?

This tone is very similar to that of Confucian School scholars who pride themselves on the idea that "all other professions are inferior, only studying is superior."

Number Two and Number Six, standing in front of the mirror, simultaneously made their guesses.

[Two: Number One is also in Beijing. Maybe you two know each other. Number One, I know you're looking in the mirror. Have you heard about what happened today?]

[Part 1: A wandering swordsman died at Cassia Moon Tower in the inner city; sixty miles outside the east city, a hill was pierced by unknown means.]

After a brief pause, Number One continued sending the message:

[Second, has the banditry in Yunzhou been quelled?]

That's interesting!

Xu Qi'an raised an eyebrow.

He sensed the atmosphere of a palace intrigue drama.

Number Two pulls Number One into the water, while simultaneously sending him a message: Number One and you are both in the capital.

This is clearly targeting Number One. The reason is simple: after our conversation, everyone knows that Number Three is from Beijing.

But as Number Three, he doesn't know anything about the others. Number Two can choose not to reveal this.

Number One immediately retaliated, openly releasing information to demonstrate his connections and give Xu Qi'an a heads-up, while simultaneously launching a counterattack against Number Two.

Number Two was involved in the banditry in Yunzhou; was she also a member of the government?

Yunzhou was plagued by bandits every year, and was jokingly called "Bandit Prefecture" by people from other prefectures.

While Xu Qi'an was lost in thought, Number Six and Number Two were also processing the intelligence provided by Number One.

Sixty miles east of the city, a hill was pierced through. There was too little information to determine the cultivation system, but it was certain that it belonged to a high-level expert.

[Part Two: How could it possibly be quelled? The emperor of the Great Feng is a brainless monkey, obsessed with cultivating immortality all day long, oblivious to the suffering of ordinary people.]

This sounds like... Xu Qi'an guessed that Number Two probably wasn't receiving a salary from the imperial court.

[Part Two: Leaving aside previous years, just this year alone, I checked the household registration records of all prefectures and counties in Yunzhou, and conducted inquiries everywhere. My rough estimate is that at least 60,000 people have fled, becoming refugees or bandits.]

Migrants are people who have no land; they are people who cannot afford taxes and abandon their land to flee.

The fields were gone, but people still had to live. Some begged or worked, while others became outlaws, robbing innocent people and creating a vicious cycle.

Number Two continued, "I wiped out more than a dozen bandit groups, but discovered that a deeper force was hidden behind them."

[1: Is there any progress?]

[Two: No. By the way, what's the situation in the capital lately?]

Before Number One could reply, Xu Qi'an preemptively typed in the message: [Part Three: Vice Minister Zhou has fallen from grace, and the political struggle has begun. However, Vice Minister Zhou's downfall is rather absurd and unconventional, caused by his only son being blinded by lust and attempting to defile the second daughter of Marquis Weiwu.]

His words were a message to Number Two, a demonstration of his abilities to the others, and a test of Number One.

Anyone qualified to participate in court intrigues knows that the real reason for Vice Minister Zhou's downfall was the tax silver case.

To his disappointment, Number One did not correct it.

[One: Master Jinlian, I've inquired about it for you. The exact time Cloud Deer Academy's Sub-Sage Academy was sealed off was Jiazi day. Among the outsiders at the Cloud Deer Academy that day, besides the Eldest Princess, there was also a clerk named Xu Qi'an.]

"!!!"

Xu Qi'an's heart skipped a beat, feeling a sense of panic as if he had been doxxed and his address had been published online.

What is the origin of this No. 1, and why is it being investigated about the events of Jiazi Day? Xu Qi'an remembered that on Jiazi Day, Erlang took him to visit Cloud Deer Academy. On a whim, he wrote four lines of Hengqu on a stone tablet.

This caused the extraordinary phenomenon of pure energy soaring into the sky from the Temple of the Second Saint.

At the same time, he was very curious as to why Master Jinlian cared about the changes at the Cloud Deer Academy.

Logically speaking, this is something only scholars from the Imperial Academy should care about; what does it have to do with a Daoist priest from the Earth Sect like you?

[Part 1: However, that clerk was utterly unremarkable. Aside from his decent poetic talent, he was merely at the Essence Refining Realm, not a student of the Cloud Deer Academy, much less a scholar.]

[Jiu: Okay, I understand.]

[Part 3: Why is the Daoist priest concerned about the changes at the Cloud Deer Academy?] Xu Qi'an probed.

[Nine: I want to know if Sage Cheng's stone tablet is cracked.]

[Part 3: Is this important?]

[Nine: Extremely important.]

It cracked. Xu Qi'an didn't tell Daoist Jinlian, and even if he were to, it wouldn't be now.

[Part Three: I have something I'd like to ask you all.]

[Two: You said.]

[Part 3: Were Alchemist exclusive to the Bureau of Astronomy?]

Xu Qi'an's words practically ruled out his identity as a disciple of the Bureau of Astronomy.

The crowd became increasingly certain that he was a scholar from the Cloud Deer Academy, a student highly regarded by the academy's elders; otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to invite a high-level expert to kill the Purple Lotus Daoist.

And this is exactly what Xu Qi'an wanted.

You think I'm a student of the Cloud Deer Academy, but I'm actually Nightwatchers. In the future, when you realize I might be Nightwatchers, you'll discover that I really am a student of the Cloud Deer Academy. Or, you might even discover that I'm the mentor of the Alchemist in the Bureau of Astronomy.

[Lu: Let me answer this question. Six hundred years ago, there was no Warlock System. Warlock only appeared in the Bureau of Astronomy after the founding of the Great Feng Dynasty.]

The sect has a short history and has not branched out. In other words, apart from the Bureau of Astronomy, there are probably very few wild Alchemist. Otherwise, the Alchemist would be surprised if I pulled out a blue book.

No wonder the Alchemist were so eager for my knowledge of chemical theories; they were all clearly very powerful.

Because of its short history, a comprehensive theoretical foundation course has not been developed.

Furthermore, who exactly is the Alchemist behind the tax fraud case?

One suspicious point in the tax evasion case has always bothered Xu Qi'an, a veteran criminal investigator.

The Bureau of Astronomy seems to have adopted a passive attitude towards the Alchemist involved in this case, turning a blind eye and ignoring the matter.

This is very unscientific.

Neither Chu Caiwei, Song Qing, nor any of the other people in white mentioned this matter to him.

[Lu: Number Three, according to the rules, you also need to answer one question for me.]

Xu Qi'an then realized that the conversation between Number One and Number Two was a question and answer session, and that he had just interrupted and answered the question about the current situation in the capital's court on behalf of Number One.

[Part Three: You asked.]

[Lu: What is the second rank of Confucian School called?]

This is yet another test, a test of my identity. It's not a test of whether I am a student of the Cloud Deer Academy, but a test of my social status.

Ordinary Confucian School students did not know what the second rank of Confucian School was called. At that time, the biographical inscription of the Qian Zhong did not explain his realm in detail. It was only after Xu Xinnian explained it that Xu Qi'an learned about it.

Erlang knew this because he was a student valued by the great Confucian scholar Zhang Shen and had passed the imperial examination with flying colors.

This is already considered elite level among the students of the Cloud Deer Academy.

Even if I weren't a student of the Cloud Deer Academy, this test would still be effective. Non- Confucian School students also know that a second-rank official's social status would only be higher.

If I can't answer, these guys will probably think I'm not sophisticated enough.

Xu Qi'an used his finger as a pen to write:

[Part Three: In Confucian School, the second rank is called a Great Confucian Scholar.]