Chapter 126: Persistence

Chen Ji is a paranoid person. To achieve his goals, he will stop at nothing, even if it means getting severely injured. He won't give up until he hits a wall. Again and again, he recited the *Gayun* (Cover Cloud) technique, insisting that he had to generate purple qi in his meridians.

However, that sword qi, as dazzling as the scorching sun, was even more persistent than he was...

Chen Ji sat cross-legged in the dim apprentice dormitory, reciting for a full hour, twelve times in total. The wisps of purple qi that emerged were, without exception, ruthlessly cut off.

"Strange." Chen Ji muttered to himself, "The *Shanmen* (Mountain Gate) and *Jianzhongmen* (Sword Seed Gate) can coexist peacefully, so why not *Gayun*?"

"Could it be that *Jianzhong* and *Gayun* are both Sword Paths, so they can't coexist? Let me try again!"

Just as he was about to recite the thirteenth time, he heard an urgent bird cry sound from outside the courtyard. Chen Ji recognized it as the *Mibumen* (Secret Spy Department)'s copper whistle. But while the bird cries in the past were crisp and pleasant like magpies, this time the sound was urgent, like a bird's nest was about to be dug out.

He stood up and walked out of the medical hall, only to see the carriage driven by Jin Zhu (Gold Pig) stopped diagonally opposite the medical hall. Chen Ji familiar with the routine, ducked into the carriage. Before he could even open his mouth, Jin Zhu, with sweat pouring down his face, said fiercely, "Cultivating is not working! This is cultivating at the ninth level!"

Chen Ji: "!!!"

He feigned confusion: "Lord Jin Zhu, how do you know I'm not cultivating successfully? Could you be monitoring me?"

Jin Zhu knew he had a slip of the tongue and quickly wiped the sweat from his forehead. "I'm just worried you're being too hasty now that you've just entered the cultivation gate. So I specially came to remind you, you must know that although the cultivation gate can make you extraordinary, when cultivating, you also need to properly relax. You absolutely cannot blindly rush forward."

Chen Ji said, "Oh," and replied, "Thank you for your care, Lord."

Jin Zhu's eyes darted around. "Right, when you cultivate, have you encountered any puzzles? Maybe I can help you answer one or two."

Chen Ji shook his head. "No..."

Jin Zhu was heartbroken. "Think carefully again."

Chen Ji glanced at him and casually explained, "Lord, when I cultivate this gate, I always feel a qi machine about to be born but not yet born, something I can't touch or find."

Jin Zhu thought for a moment and said with concern, "Maybe you've been too tired these past few days. That's why you can't calm down when you cultivate. Think about it, you've only slept three or four hours in total these past few days, how can you cultivate well? It's better to get a good night's sleep first."

Chen Ji said, "Mm," and replied, "Lord's words are reasonable. I'll go back and get a good night's sleep now."

Jin Zhu felt relieved. "Very good, very good, off you go."

After Chen Ji got out of the carriage, Jin Zhu leaned back in the carriage, weak. In one hour, twelve ribs were drawn away. What was the difference between this and torture? Perhaps even if he fell into the hands of a Jing Dynasty thief, it would only end like this.

At this moment, Jin Zhu sat in the dim carriage, enjoying a moment of quiet alone. There was no heart-wrenching pain, no worries, just a sense of complete relaxation.

After resting for a bit, he muttered in a low voice, "This boy is quite diligent, even more diligent than Tian Ma was back then. But what is this cultivation gate of his? He clearly has an A-grade talent, so why can't he enter the door? Could it be a problem with the cultivation gate?"

He patted the carriage and said to Xi Feng (West Wind), the guard outside, "Back to the inner prison, continue interrogating that Jing Dynasty thief. ... Aiyo..."

Jin Zhu's face changed drastically. Didn't this boy agree just now? How did he go back and not sleep well, but start cultivating again?

Xi Feng heard him exclaim and quickly lifted the carriage curtain, poking his head in to ask, "Lord, what's wrong? Did you eat something bad?"

Jin Zhu gritted his teeth. "Blow the copper whistle, call Chen Ji out."

Following the sound of the bird cry, after a while, Chen Ji again ducked into the carriage, puzzled, and asked, "Lord, we just said goodbye, why did you call me again?"

Jin Zhu asked seriously, "Do you remember my admonition, to rest well?"

Chen Ji was honest. "Yes, I remember. I went back and immediately lay down to sleep. I didn't cultivate again."

Jin Zhu was speechless. He knew very well the temptation of the cultivation gate to a young person. When he first obtained a cultivation gate, didn't he also rack his brains day and night thinking about how to step into that threshold? He could understand the young person's mood, but he was a bit unable to hold on.

At this time, Chen Ji cupped his hands and said, "Lord, if there's nothing else, I'll go back to the medical hall to sleep."

Jin Zhu tightly grabbed Chen Ji's wrist. "No."

Chen Ji raised his eyebrows. "Huh?"

Jin Zhu patted the carriage wall and said loudly, "Xi Feng, back to the inner prison! Chen Ji and I want to interrogate the Jing Dynasty thief once more."

Chen Ji didn't understand. "Lord, didn't you want me to rest well?"

Jin Zhu said earnestly, "I just thought of that Jing Dynasty Si Cao probably still has a lot of intelligence that can be extracted. If he reveals something else, you can also help me analyze it. If you want to sleep for a while, then sleep in the carriage."

After saying that, he actually took out a copper hand warmer from under the seat, carefully poured in carbon powder, ignited it with an incense stick, and then stuffed it into Chen Ji's embrace. "Hold this and sleep, it's warm. Overthrowing the Liu family and the *Junji Si* (Military Intelligence Department) is a proper matter. Think back to the past when I stared at one Jing Dynasty thief, not sleeping or resting for three full days and nights. Since you've entered the *Mibumen*, you must also slowly get used to it."

Chen Ji said thank you and slowly leaned against the carriage wall, closing his eyes. He was already sure that when he cultivated, the purple qi he obtained should be able to immediately feedback to Jin Zhu's body. And the action of the dazzling sword qi cutting off the purple qi must have caused Jin Zhu considerable injury, otherwise, the other party wouldn't be so strictly guarded. He didn't even dare to let Chen Ji leave his sight.

He just didn't know if the *Shanmen* and *Jianzhongmen* would also immediately feedback to Jin Zhu? He needed to try it to know.

The carriage swayed as it traveled on the bluestone road. Chen Ji seemed to be living a wandering life, coming and going all day, going with the flow. Outside the carriage, the calls of peddlers selling their wares in the streets and alleys, and the laughter of children chasing and playing, gradually faded away. The carriage carried him into the afterglow of the setting sun, bringing him back to the world of the *jianghu*.

"Wake up!" Jin Zhu patted Chen Ji.

Chen Ji opened his eyes and asked in a daze, "Lord, are we at the inner prison?"

Jin Zhu said with a complex expression, "It's hard for you. At such a young age, you have to live this life on the edge of a knife. Rest assured, when we overthrow the Liu family, I'll make the decision and give you a long vacation."

Chen Ji smiled and got up and jumped out of the carriage. "Then I thank you in advance, Lord."

The two bowed their heads and entered the iron door, walking towards the depths of the inner prison.

In the deepest cell of the inner prison, Yuan Zhanggui (Shopkeeper Yuan) had already changed into a clean white prisoner's uniform. He was sitting beside a dark red eight-immortal table, enjoying a chopstick of beef and a mouthful of small wine. His ten fingers were bloody and missing fingernails, and the posture he held his chopsticks with was particularly strange. Hearing the sound of the cell door opening, the plump Yuan Zhanggui raised his head and smiled at Jin Zhu and Chen Ji. "Two Lords, how was the harvest last night? Seeing your expressions, you should have stopped the Liu family's plot."

Chen Ji leaned against the door frame, unwilling to approach this Jing Dynasty expert. Jin Zhu, however, smiled and squinted his eyes, sitting opposite Yuan Zhanggui. He pinched a piece of beef and threw it into his mouth. "We were fighting for our lives outside, and you're having a leisurely and happy day."

Yuan Zhanggui spread his hands. "Just a prisoner under the stairs. How can I talk about being leisurely and happy? Have the two Lords caught the mastermind behind the scenes, Liu Mingxian? If so, that would be a great merit. We should celebrate for the two Lords." After saying that, he pinched up the white porcelain wine cup and drank it all in one gulp.

Jin Zhu said calmly, "Liu Mingxian is dead."

Yuan Zhanggui was puzzled. "Did the Lords kill him?"

Jin Zhu replied, "No, the Liu family killed him."

Yuan Zhanggui was startled, then burst into laughter, laughing until the oil lamp on the stone wall shook.

Jin Zhu frowned. "What's so funny?"

Yuan Zhanggui gradually restrained his smile. "Liu Mingxian was killed by the Liu family. That means that from now on, what the two Lords face is no longer this second-generation ancestor, Liu Mingxian. It's that Liu Cabinet Elder who has stood firm in the court for more than thirty years."

"What about Liu Cabinet Elder?"

Yuan Zhanggui said in a condensed voice, "Emperor Ning hates the Liu family to the bone, yet Liu Cabinet Elder can still hold the *Libu* (Ministry of Personnel) for fifteen years, operating Yu State like an iron bucket. Can the two Lords fight against this kind of giant?"

Jin Zhu pinched another piece of beef and threw it into his mouth. "We two are not fighting alone. Behind this seat is the entire *Sili Jian* (Directorate of Ceremonial) of the Ning Dynasty, and the Inner Minister. Rest assured, you can't scare me away. That Mister Feng beside Liu Cabinet Elder also can't scare me away."

At this time, Jin Zhu wiped the oil stains on his fingers on his robe and changed the subject. "Do you want to get out of the inner prison?"

Yuan Zhanggui laughed. "How could I not want to? I told the two Lords about the Liu family's plan frankly, wasn't it just to exchange for a free body?"

Jin Zhu stared straight at Yuan Zhanggui. "Then tell me something else. I'll go to the Inner Minister and ask for credit for you."

"What if I don't tell you?"

"Do you still have a choice?"

The cell became quiet. Jin Zhu and Yuan Zhanggui faced each other, like two knife tips pressed together, neither willing to yield.

After a moment, it was Yuan Zhanggui who first relaxed his tone. "I helped the two Lords establish a great merit, but I still haven't seen any sincerity from the *Mibumen*? If you want to treat me frankly, you always need to let me see hope, right?"

Only at this time did Jin Zhu take out a document wrapped in gold silk cloth from his sleeve. "This is an imperial edict from Luo City that just arrived today. You should know that the letter I gave to the Inner Minister should have just arrived in the capital yesterday, but the Inner Minister's imperial edict arrived in Luo City today. Do you know what this means?"

"What does it mean?"

"This imperial edict wants to arrive in Luo City within a day. It needs to leave the capital before sunset yesterday and pass through six stations all the way: Baoding, Hengshui, Handan, Hebi, Xinxiang, and Zheng County. Change horses six times, not a moment..."

Chen Ji, who was standing by, found it increasingly familiar the more he listened. He was a little speechless and amused. This Lord Jin Zhu could always give him a little shock inadvertently.

Opposite Jin Zhu, Yuan Zhanggui took the document and unfolded it, quietly looking at it for a long time. His face kept changing. He seemed to be struggling. He put down the imperial edict, raised his head, and looked at Jin Zhu. "If I can truly become the *Mibumen*'s *Haidong Qing* (Sea East Eagle), then you will all understand how correct this decision is today."

Chen Ji was puzzled and didn't know what was written on the imperial edict that could make Yuan Zhanggui change his stance on the spot?

Jin Zhu held the imperial edict and got up, standing beside the stone wall. He used the oil lamp to burn the imperial edict into ashes. "Tell me. What else can you do for us?"

Yuan Zhanggui silently looked at the burned imperial edict. After struggling for a long time, he said, "I once made an appointment with Chang Jing (Long Whale) to meet tonight. He agreed."

Jin Zhu suddenly turned his head. "Is that true?" Immediately after, he shook his head. "That's not right, that's not right. Now that the *Bailu Ting* (Hundred Deer Pavilion) has been destroyed, and the battle of *Mudan Qiao* (Peony Bridge) is known to everyone, how could Chang Jing go to the appointment?"

Yuan Zhanggui said, "But that day in the battle of *Mudan Qiao*, everyone saw me jump into the river to escape, but they didn't see me being captured alive on the beach. What if he goes to the appointment?"

Jin Zhu's eyes were flickering uncertainly. "Where is the appointment?"

Yuan Zhanggui said calmly, "Bring me there tonight. I will lead the way for the two Lords."

Jin Zhu chuckled and turned around to walk out, saying loudly, "Xi Feng, call all the secret spies. Tonight, no one is allowed to act alone."

After the cell door closed, he turned to look at Chen Ji. "What do you think?"

Chen Ji thought for a moment and said, "Lord should be able to tell that he wants to use this opportunity to escape. Otherwise, he wouldn't need to personally lead the way for us. However, his appointment with Chang Jing should be true. If no one creates chaos for him, he also can't run away."

Jin Zhu walked out with a cold laugh. "Then let's go on this trip. I'm just worried about not being able to find these Jing Dynasty rats!"