Free Web NovelChapter 618: The Ender of All Convictions
Corruption cases were usually nest cases. If investigators dug deeply and thoroughly, who knew how many people would be implicated? However, He Lingchuan felt that State Preceptor Shuang Ye would not be so easily uprooted.
“Also, the Spring Palace is being watched very closely by Star-Plucking Tower lately,” Fang Canran said with a smile. “Bai Ziqi is pursuing the elixir of youth case, but he has made no progress so far, and the Heavenly Palace is very unwilling to let it go. At a time like this, the Spring Palace must naturally restrain its actions somewhat.”
He Lingchuan sighed and said, “The opponent is simply too strong.”
It was said that the might of Heaven was hard to fathom, and the Heavenly Palace represented this nation’s highest will. Whoever it watched, whoever it struck, had to crawl flat to the ground and remain motionless.
Even someone as exalted as a state preceptor did not dare offend it.
If she had faced a different opponent, State Preceptor Qing Yang would not have been suppressed this severely.
He raised his cup and said, “Come, drink.”
As it happened, the last of the honey wine in the jar was finished, and with that, Fang Canran took his leave. “I’ve been out for quite a while. I should return.” frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
He Lingchuan stood as well. “You won’t stay for dinner?”
“No. I just remembered that Dun Garden still has urgent business I need to attend to.”
“Very well. I’ll see Mr. Fang out.”
From the pier to the main gate, the two walked in complete silence.
Just then, Fushan Yue returned to Fleeting Thoughts Manor. Seeing Fang Canran, he was stunned for a moment. “Chief Steward Fang? What wind blew you here?”
Fang Canran saluted him. “Your Highness, Young Master He ordered a rare treasure from Dun Garden, and I simply brought it over for him. The hour is late, so I’ll be heading back first.”
“Sure, sure. I won’t see you out.”
Fang Canran smiled at He Lingchuan again. “Young Master He, we shall meet again.”
He Lingchuan raised a hand in farewell.
Meet again? Of course.
Fushan Yue watched Fang Canran’s carriage depart, then asked He Lingchuan, “What did he bring you?”
“Bring?” He Lingchuan rolled his eyes. “He sold me a toy, an outrageously expensive one. It cost me 9,600 taels of silver!”
“What is it?”
“A dream land.”
Fushan Yue was surprised. “You’re a miser who wouldn’t give up a single hair for nothing, yet you actually spent nearly ten thousand taels on a toy like that?”
“I only asked about it. Who knew he really had one and would even personally deliver it to my door? With him coming all this way, could I say I didn’t want it?” He Lingchuan suddenly put on a broad smile. “How about I resell it to you?”
“Is my head that big that I’d want something like that?” Fushan Yue felt that there was definitely something fishy about this, but he could not be bothered. “Keep it for yourself. Ah, by the way, the event that the Zhongsun Family’s hosting at the Grass Sea will be taking place soon. The invitation came to me, so I replied for you.”
He Lingchuan clicked his tongue. “The Zhongsun Family really is something. Zhongsun Mou’s life or death is still unknown, yet they actually have the mood to hold an event?” freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
“This is a tradition in Lingxu City that’s been held once every two years for centuries. Would their family dare let this tradition break in their hands?” Fushan Yue said darkly, “Compared with that, how big of a fart is Zhongsun Mou’s life or death?”
He Lingchuan shrugged. “By the way, has there been any progress in the Crown Prince Huan incitement case?”
Fushan Yue chuckled. “None, but I went to the Minister of Finance’s residence again this afternoon and stayed there for four whole hours. Old Yao wanted to slip away under the pretext of official business, but I stopped him.”
“You took all your men?” There had been very few Chiyan guards at the manor today. A single glance had been enough to tell He Lingchuan that Fushan Yue had brought them all away.
This is Fushan Yue’s third visit to the Yao Residence, isn’t it?
“Mm-hm, I took them all with me to the Minister of Finance’s residence. I drank tea inside while they waited outside.” The Chiyan guards were all in bright armor, lacking only banners, flags, gongs, and drums to announce their arrival.
The Yao Residence was originally one of Lingxu City’s foremost wealthy households. Its gates were usually crowded, carriages and horses coming and going without cease. Now, dozens of Chiyan guards blocked half the main entrance. Everyone saw it, and everyone understood.
The Crown Prince of Chiyan had come to the Yao residence to pick a fight, create a topic, and keep the heat up.
But Lord Emperor had tacitly allowed it. What could others say?
And Lingxu City’s people really ate this up. Some nobles even sent people to squat at Fleeting Thoughts Manor, hoping to see what new tricks the Chiyan Crown Prince would produce the next time he went to the Yao residence.
It was said that Yao Xingning had already lost control once and wanted to meet Fushan Yue herself, but her own father had strictly guarded against it and restrained her.
The Yao Family’s son-in-law, Cen Boqing, had killed monsters in Chiyan to harvest beads, then plotted against the Chiyan special envoy. The Yao Residence was already extremely passive in this matter. Add to that the suspicion of inciting the Crown Prince of Beijia to kill people and set fires, and the Minister of Finance already felt overwhelmed.
At a time like this, they had to keep a low profile. Faced with the Chiyan Crown Prince’s mockery, curses, and laughter, they could only endure. They absolutely could not let the daughter stir up more trouble.
Fushan Yue stretched. “In seven or eight days, I’ll go ask him for results again.”
He Lingchuan rarely gave Fushan Yue a warning, but this time, he could not stop himself from saying, “Be careful.”
“I know. I still have a sense of things.”
After dinner, He Lingchuan returned to his courtyard to practice martial arts.
With two consecutive eruptions of imperial nectar, heaven and earth spirit qi had gradually begun to recover, and his cultivation had become easier. At this moment, his first dantian was basically filled with liquefied true energy, and he was beginning to fill his second dantian.
Even his proficiency with the Clone Technique had progressed, its duration having gone from the original twelve breaths to twenty breaths. Moreover, the clone could now move up to seventy meters from his body. Of course, the true energy consumption had also increased further, but for the current him, it was relatively easy to bear.
After practicing with the spear for nearly an hour, He Lingchuan’s whole body steamed with heat, yet he still did not feel tired. The fierce tiger lay on a tree watching until its claws itched. In two bounds, it got down from the tree. It then let out a long roar and pounced.
For some time, afterimages of the tiger’s claws and the man’s spear filled the courtyard, turning the typically serene area into quite a lively one.
Jiao Yu was usually lazy, preferring to lie down rather than stand if possible. Yet even a single one of its casual paw swipes could produce nearly two thousand kilos of force, and if it really pushed itself, it could double that. Moreover, it could strike with both paws, landing eight claw strikes in one second. To outsiders, this looked like a series of afterimages.
And then, perhaps, the person would simply be gone.
Its strength was greater than Uncle Da’s. Both possessed the signature innate ability Tiger Intimidation[1], causing them to emit a natural kingly presence that suppressed other creatures until their courage nearly shattered.
A gardener happened to pass outside. Suddenly hearing the tiger roar, his heart almost leaped out of his chest, and the tools in his hands fell to the ground.
He Lingchuan had spent enough time with Jiao Yu that he no longer feared it. However, Jiao Yu’s strength and agility both surpassed Meng Shan’s. It simply had fewer techniques. After all, monsters always preferred to refine the few moves they had rather than stretch themselves thin and master a huge swath of them. When practiced to the extreme, they always returned to simplicity.
The nearby Tongxin Guard were all drawn over. After watching for a while, they grew dizzy and exchanged shaken glances.
Although this was only a man and tiger sparring, the fight was already more intense than He Lingchuan’s brave battle against Uncle Da in the ruins of Qianxing City. Uncle Da had cultivated a frost divine technique, but Jiao Yu was born with the ability to control wind. Thus, though it was larger than its father, its lightness and agility were actually greater.
At the end, it opened its great mouth and pounced at He Lingchuan. He raised his spear horizontally, blocking in front of himself.
Jiao Yu’s fangs clamped down on the wooden spear shaft. Then its head shook, and the shaft snapped with a crack.
He Lingchuan embraced its head with both arms and shouted, “Foul, foul! I wasn’t using the Rising Dragon Spear!”
Only then did Jiao Yu retract its claws, and He Lingchuan shifted to press down on its shoulders.
Man and tiger wrestled for a long while. In the end, He Lingchuan was pushed back several steps and lost.
Both sides sprawled on the ground, utterly exhausted.
Jiao Yu’s tongue lolled out, panting harder than a dog.
If the final grappling exchange were not counted, it knew clearly in its heart that it was already far from He Lingchuan’s match.
Sigh.
Ever since the Lotus Palace battle against Fan Sheng, this special envoy’s cultivation seems to have advanced by another great stride.
After He Lingchuan cooled off for a while, he patted Jiao Yu’s forehead. “Come on. Let’s take a bath in the lake.”
Once they entered the water, he lay on the tiger’s back and lazed.
When he climbed out of the lake, the tiger came out too and shook out the water in its fur, joyfully splashing him from head to face.
“Hey, watch where you shake off!”
He Lingchuan returned to his room and changed into clean clothes. The mirror seized the chance to ask him, “You and that Fang fellow were speaking in riddles, weren’t you?”
“Mm.” He Lingchuan wiped his hair with a towel. “He may have some connection to an old acquaintance I met in the City of the Dead.”
“An old acquaintance in the City of the Dead?” The mirror thought it over. “Huh, wouldn’t that be from over a hundred years ago?”
He Lingchuan nodded.
The mirror understood. No wonder its master had to probe so cautiously. Human hearts were hard enough to judge when separated by flesh, let alone by more than a hundred years.
He Lingchuan drank a mouthful of hot water and thought back to his conversation with Fang Canran that afternoon.
Generally speaking, if descendants did not agree with their ancestor’s ideals, they would not continue to wear an ancestral signet ring, nor would they remember the era in which it was forged with such clarity. That was most likely the result of repeated instruction from their fathers and forefathers.
However, He Lingchuan still did not know what Fang Canran himself thought.
The mirror asked, “If you’re not sure, why probe him?”
“Because I still need to find some help.” He Lingchuan sighed. “My current situation is too difficult.”
As a pure outsider, his target was too difficult, and the same went for his plans. He badly needed a good helper who knew Lingxu City inside and out.
But whether Fang Canran was such a person, he was still not sure.
Ancestors were ancestors, and Fang Canran was Fang Canran. A person might inherit ancestral relics without necessarily inheriting the ancestral will meant to accompany them.
Time, after all, was the ender of all convictions.
If He Lingchuan judged wrongly, what awaited him might be utter catastrophe.
“I’ll observe a little longer. Today’s contact, at least, was a good beginning.”
He sat down to meditate and regulate his breath, stopping only after four hours.
Afterward, He Lingchuan played the flute for a while before taking out the dream land that Dun Garden had found for him and placing it beside his pillow. After that, he peacefully fell asleep.
* * *
The moment he entered Panlong City, he stood beneath the juluo tree.
The whole tree was lush and green, swaying in the wind, already taller and straighter than the other roadside trees by the river.
He patted the trunk. “When will you grow me another golden leaf?”
The juluo tree naturally ignored him.
Instead, the grotesque head on the tree shouted, “Hey, hey, why are you chatting with a tree? Where’s my dream land?”
“You’ll see it once you go out.” He Lingchuan took it down from the branch, shook it twice, and found it had become lighter again.
No matter how the strange head drifted in and out of reality, coming and going as it pleased, inside Panlong City, it could only hang from the branches of the juluo tree. If He Lingchuan did not come to pick it up, it could not move.
“Why would anyone collect dream lands?” He Lingchuan was puzzled. “They’re not nightmares.”
1. In my glossary, there’s an entry for Frighten, which seems to be similar and is also an innate ability of tigers, though I’m not sure if they’re one and the same. ☜
