Free Web NovelChapter 318: Chapter 47: Meeting Puppet Zi Hong
In the inn’s rear courtyard.
After settling in, Wang Ping stared at the incense burner in the center of the small courtyard outside his room’s window. The incense wasn’t burning brightly here. The guests were almost all from out of town, and most didn’t offer incense to the Emperor. Even so, the golden stream of light from the Imperial Palace on the mountain peak could still reach this place.
"Why does the Emperor love spying on people so much?" Yu Lian poked her head out of his sleeve for a breath of air.
"He can’t be watching all the time, or he’d be dead from exhaustion within a year." Wang Ping retracted his Primordial Spirit Consciousness, no longer observing the Inspiration Realm. His gaze fell upon the area outside the opposite room, where two young Jianghu Travelers were sparring with their sabers.
From the looks of it, they hadn’t been on the road for long. They had likely come to the Capital City to see the world, which was why they could only afford to stay in a cheap inn like this one, located in the North City District near the city gate.
’Cheap’ was only relative to Shangjing City. In any other place, this inn would be considered top-class in both its decor and size. The surrounding area was also filled with entertainment venues: storytellers, musicians, cricket fighting, gambling houses, opera theaters, and more.
When the two young Jianghu Travelers finished their spar, a winner and a loser were naturally decided. This outcome caused a subtle shift in both of their moods. Sensing this emotional change, Wang Ping found his interest piqued. He took out a small bead carved from a red Five Elements Ore and began to toy with it.
As is often the case, the loser was unwilling to accept defeat, and so a second match began. Wang Ping stepped out of his room and reclined on a lounge chair by his door, observing the young men’s spar while continuing to play with the Five Elements Ore in his hand.
The two quickly noticed Wang Ping’s gaze. The young man who had won earlier clearly wanted to stop, but the one who had lost refused. They continued for a while, one on offense and the other on defense, but no winner emerged. Finally, driven to desperation, the loser unleashed a killing move meant for a real enemy.
"CLANG!"
The sound of their weapons colliding was crisp. The one destined to lose still failed to win the match.
They spoke to each other as courteously as before, but the loser was clearly displeased and still unconvinced. Young people were like that, their emotions easily showing on their faces. It wasn’t hatred, though.
What they didn’t know was that in the Inspiration Realm, countless fine golden threads were descending upon the loser, attempting to awaken the desires in his heart and draw him into belief, in exchange for greater power.
"Interesting!"
After muttering to himself, Wang Ping closed his eyes, basking in the winter sun that filled the courtyard.
Before he knew it, night had fallen.
The travelers staying in the courtyard returned one after another. Wang Ping called for an attendant and ordered lamp oil for the night and a plate of fresh shrimp.
Moments later, the lamp in Wang Ping’s room was lit. He fed the plate of fresh shrimp to Yu Lian. As for the other rooms, most remained dark. From under the eaves came the "SLURP" of noodles being eaten, followed by the sound of snoring a half-hour later.
Wang Ping calculated the time with his fingers. It was only 5:30 PM. The streets outside were still bustling with activity, but for these people who were out on business, sleeping early was the best way to save money.
Yu Lian hid herself in the shadows, perching on the windowsill to gaze out at the dark courtyard and at the omnipresent golden halos in the Inspiration Realm. With a light tap of his finger, Wang Ping caused the flame of the oil lamp on the windowsill to dim by half, and the light in the room grew fainter.
A few breaths later, a figure appeared outside the door. Just as he was about to knock, the door opened on its own.
"Greetings, Senior Brother!"
The visitor closed the door and spoke from the darkness of a corner. "Please forgive me, Senior Brother. Shangjing City is crawling with the Commander of the Imperial Guard’s spies."
"It’s fine."
Wang Ping replied softly. The identity he had revealed to the inn’s staff was that of a fourth-generation disciple from Qianmu Temple, sent to Shangjing City.
He got straight to the point. "I have two tasks for you. First, prepare an identity tablet for the Shangjing Region for me. Second, prepare a person to continue living here under my identity for a month. If I haven’t returned after a month, you can do what you will with this identity."
"Yes!"
After replying, the man clearly had more to say.
Wang Ping sensed his hesitation and explained, "I haven’t had contact with anyone on my way here. And anyone who has seen me won’t remember my face."
"In that case, it will be much easier."
After his reply, he withdrew from the room without a sound.
After he left, Yu Lian flew over and landed on Wang Ping. "You’re being a little too cautious," she said. "Going in all these circles... won’t you have to reveal your true identity at the Daoist Scripture Hall anyway?"
"There’s no harm in being careful. Besides, I don’t need to go to the Daoist Scripture Hall personally. As the Third Seat, I have the authority to have them come to me."
Right now, Wang Ping needed to keep his hands clean of everything as much as possible.
"Aren’t you curious about the Daoist Scripture Hall’s headquarters? After all, its predecessor was the Taiyan Sect!" Yu Lian asked.
"There will be plenty of opportunities in the future. But right now... at this juncture, Shangjing City is too conspicuous."
Yu Lian wriggled around, burrowed into Wang Ping’s left sleeve, and asked, "Are we going out to see the night sights of Shangjing City?"
"Yes!"
「An hour later.」
The door opened silently once more. In the darkness, a man of about the same height as Wang Ping, dressed in a Blue Daoist Robe, stood in the corner.
"Here is what you asked for, Senior Brother."
He handed over an identity tablet forged from a colorless Five Elements Ore.
With a wave of his hand, Wang Ping had the identity tablet in his grasp.
The man said, "This identity belongs to a Scholar from Shangqiao Village in the East Suburb. He has a proper name: Li Mincai. His parents passed away early, and he has been using his family’s remaining savings to study at Zhonghui Academy on Yunjiang Road. He passed the scholar examinations last year. Senior Brother, even if you went to Shangqiao Village to claim him as family, everything would check out perfectly."
"Good."
Wang Ping also took out an identity tablet and handed it to the man.
As the other man took the identity tablet, Wang Ping’s figure flickered. He dodged the golden halos of the Inspiration Realm and reappeared in the dark courtyard outside. His Blue Daoist Robe had transformed into a cotton scholar’s long robe, and the jade coronet in his hair had become a common scholar’s cloth cap.
He glanced at the sky, then walked out of the courtyard and into the inn’s main hall. There were a few people there as well, nursing cheap tea and snacks. They huddled by the stove in the corner, planning to wait there until dawn.
Seeing Wang Ping emerge from the rear courtyard, they paid him no mind.
As Wang Ping left, he followed the local custom and offered three sticks of incense at the burner by the entrance.
It was now 9:15 PM, but the streets were still bustling with activity. The most common sight was a group of portly, middle-aged men in wide-sleeved silk robes, followed by a number of sturdy slaves.
Nobles from wealthy families, on the other hand, were followed by servants—servants with official status—but they were rarely seen in the eastern Outer City District.
Wang Ping resisted the urge to scatter seeds on the ground. He walked against the cold wind, heading deeper into the city districts. Just like a true native of the Capital City, he navigated two streets with practiced ease and arrived outside a shop selling mutton.
Under a leather awning, at a table by a stove, his Puppet Zi Hong was dressed in the uniform of a Prefecture Magistrate’s Office constable, eating mutton soup.
His familiarity with this place came entirely from the memories Zi Hong shared with him once a year.
As he drew closer, Wang Ping’s Primordial Spirit Consciousness discreetly connected with Zi Hong’s mind, sharing some of his own thoughts with the puppet.
