Book 10: Chapter 30: Internal Signs
Central Continent Imperial City, Defense Study.
Yunqin Emperor Changsun Jinse had two individuals at his side.
Those who were allowed to sit in the Defense Study of this worldâs most powerful emperor naturally werenât ordinary existences.
One of the two individuals was dressed in wide and spacious long robe. He was white haired yet had young eyes which occasionally flickered with sword radiance. This was precisely Yunqinâs Grand Court Great Consecrator Ni Henian.
Most of Yunqinâs cultivators either wished to achieve their own goals, or they purely wished to use their cultivation to achieve recognition. The ultimate objective of the latter was precisely to become a Consecrator of the Grand Court.
The significance of the Grand Court Consecrator wasnât in the fact that this was an official position with true authority, but rather that those who could become the Grand Courtâs Consecrator had cultivation strength that already received the recognition of Yunqinâs people. These were true masters.
If this type of master publicly took action and faced another as the enemy, then everyone would come to watch. For cultivators, how glorious was this?
There were more than a single Grand Court Consecrator in Central Continent, but as for the title of âGreat Consecratorâ, there was only one person.
Great Consecrator was precisely the most powerful individual among all of the Consecrators.
Standing at Great Consecrator Ni Henianâs side was a white faced middle-aged man dressed in yellow tiger robes. This was precisely Wen Familyâs Wen Xuanshu.
Wen Xuanshu was originally Government Sectorâs Sector Head, having countless students beneath him. After succeeding the position of Grand Secretary, he took over management of all of the other sectors as well, also seizing authority over Central Continentâs guards. As such, in terms of authority, it truly could be described as being above all levels of society, even greater than his original goal of becoming one of the nine senators.
âAll of Zhou Ruohaiâs men had gathered at the residence of his deceased wife, but they all scattered afterwards, respectively returning to their hometowns.â
Just like what Grand Secretary Zhou expected, Changsun Jinse wasnât at ease with him after all. When he called in Wen Xuanshu and Ni Henian, the very thing they discussed were the matters of Grand Secretary Zhouâs subordinates. Only when he heard Wen Xuanshuâs reply, did Changsun Jinse whose eyes were covered in bloody wisps after the crown prince was assassinated in Jadefall City, only resting for four to six hours every day lessen a bit of his fierce expression, saying indifferently with a sneer, âSeems like you still have a trace of loyalty in your heart towards your monarch in the end⊠In that case, I ought to also gift him a bit of glory he ought to have to avoid seeming too cold.â
If there was something bestowed, that was the emperorâs own matter. Ni Henian and Wen Xuanshu didnât say anything, only remaining silent.
âThis one knows that you still had a chance of killing Gu Xinyin. Why didnât you do it?â Changsun Jinseâs sneer disappeared, now coldly turning around to look at Ni Henian, saying this with a clear and dignified voice.
Ni Henian replied with a calm voice, âBecause Vice Principal Xia sent someone over to bring me some words.â
Changsun Jinseâs expression suddenly changed, coldly saying, âWhat words?â
Ni Henian slowly replied, âHe said that as long as Gu Xinyin dies before he returns to the academy, then he will kill all of our Grand Courtâs Consecrators.â
âUnbridled!â
Changsun Jinse erupted into anger. The entire studyâs air trembled, several openwork metal furnaces with beast coals burning within them exploded. âThis is clearly threatening this monarch! He actually dares to be this brazen!â
Ni Henian and Wen Xuanshu once again remained silent before the enraged emperor.
âDoes he have the ability to do it?â Some more bloody wisps appeared in Changsun Jinseâs eyes as he shouted fiercely.
âHe does.â Ni Henian said with a heavy voice. âHis cultivation should still be above Purgatory Mountain Patriarchâs. Judging rom the rumors of the exchange between Purgatory Mountain Patriarch and Li Ku⊠if he doesnât hesitate to pay the price, he should be able to kill all of us.â
Changsun Jinseâs expression continuously changed several times. He restrained his rage, his expression instead becoming completely overcast. âWen Xuanshu, if we sever relations with Green Luan Academy, do you feel that we can win this war against the south?â
Wen Xuanshu nodded, calmly saying, âThis subject believes we can win.â
Changsun Jinseâs expression became a bit more relaxed, nodding and saying, âTell me your reasoning.â
âThe land between my Yunqin and Great Mang is level, suitable to the advance of great armies. In a battle between armies, individual cultivations will be suppressed to the limit. Even those as powerful as Sacred Experts will be crushed under the deaths of thousands.â Wen Xuanshu calmly said, âGongsun Quan[1] has died, Cheng Yu[2] has died, the number of men who escaped Jadefall City and successfully fled into Great Mang is few. Wenren Cangyueâs current advantage is merely his strategic ability being higher than my Yunqinâs generals, and that the dynasty and Purgatory Mountain are all using him as their speartip. Great Mangâs people and my Yunqin bear a great grudge. The current difficulty in deciding victory and defeat between great armies is merely a wearing down of national power. As long as we reinforce this type of crucial timing, and continue with everything strictly, our Yunqinâs royal court will stabilize. Without the rebelling chaos, Wenren Cangyueâs advantage will naturally vanish without a trace and defeat will be inevitable.â
âIn my opinion,â After a slight pause, Wen Xuanshuâs eyes narrowed slightly as he said, âhe doesnât care much about the wins and losses of this war either. What he wishes for is merely the increase in his own strength, as well as the effect on this world.â
âVery good.â
A bit of a satisfied expression finally appeared on Changsun Jinseâs face. He gave Wen Xuanshu a deep look. âWhen scoundrels are many, more ruthless governing needs to be used, this is an age old saying⊠At this type of time, we must first calm our own side. Those who donât exert themselves and instead encumber the greater situation must be dealt with first.â
âŠ
It wasnât that Lin Xi never had the idea of turning this world of cold weapons into one with firepower, but according to the stele Principal Zhang left behind, he already knew that this world didnât have niter and other things that could be used to make explosives. Even if he could find other things to make explosives with astonishing power, it couldnât be made on a large scale, so there wasnât too much meaning in doing so.
That was why ever since he left Deerwood Town and entered Green Luan Academy, truly understanding what kind of world this was, Lin Xi long gave up on any thoughts of spending large amounts of time on chemistry research.
They didnât even have the most crude forms of gunpowder, that was why there had never been fireworks released during Yunqinâs new years.
However, the lack of fireworks didnât mean a lack of festivities.
Yunqinâs new year period was when Qiantang Province[3]âs bamboo merchants made the most money. It was because the various households would all purchase large pieces of hollow moso bamboo and then place them in fire to burn. These were the âfirecrackersâ of Yunqin and this worldâs new years.
The new year already replaced the old. The massive Yunqin Empire already felt as if it crossed another period.
Under continuous explosive firecracker noises, within a government residence in Vast Abundance Provinceâs Abundant State City, Liu Familyâs important strategist Su Zhongwen opened a confidential letter.
After carefully inspecting the contents of this confidential letter, Su Zhongwenâs brows suddenly frowned. In this room that he alone occupied, he coldly said to himself, âThere were some issues after all⊠I really want to see just what you are.â
What was recorded on this Liu Family secret letter were things related to Chen Feirong.
The first time he and Liu Ziyu met Chen Feirong, he already felt like Chen Feirong wasnât an ordinary person, so he had Liu Family secretly investigate her background. With Liu Familyâs strength, purely through the surname Chen Feirong previously reported when passing through the city, he could already find her information in Civil Sector. However, the information he obtained regarding Chen Feirong were instead extremely ordinary, that she was just the daughter of an ordinary farmer in East Forest Province who was betrothed to a merchant to be his concubine, meant to work for the merchant in a business by Dragon Snake Border Pass. Other than this, there were no other records. From these records, it seemed like Chen Feirong should be someone who hadnât even done much studies, an ordinary girl who shouldnât have too much knowledge or experience, she definitely couldnât be this type of great shopkeeper who managed Auspicious Virtue!
In Su Zhongwenâs opinion, a beautiful woman who preferred peace and quiet and didnât meet with others definitely wouldnât have the type of indescribable Chen Feirong had that made even him a bit moved. That was why this Auspicious Virtue great shopkeeperâs mysteriousness definitely had some issues, definitely not like what Chen Feirong said, only naturally not fond of meeting outsiders.
When he now saw the records Liu Family investigated, Su Zhongwen was already sure that Chen Feirong only replaced this ordinary peasant household girlâs identity.
After burning this Liu Family confidential letter, Su Zhongwen began to write a letter for Liu Family to continue the investigation on Chen Feirong.
In the opinion of a strategist like him, there were only two types of people who needed to hide their own identities. One was that they were a Yunqin criminal and the other was that Auspicious Virtue might be involved in illegal businesses. Meanwhile, regardless of which type it was, for him, it was enough to grip Auspicious Virtue by the throat, allowing him and his Liu Family to obtain astonishing benefits.
âŠ
As he walked along River Province Iris Cityâs streets, heading towards his own shop, Liu Jing held a small pumpkin-shaped purple sand pot.[4]
He was a shopkeeper of Riceflower Companyâs branch store in Iris City. Riceflower Company was one of the seventeen allied shops.[5]
Regardless of whether it was Yunqin or Tangcang and Great Mang, after the New Year, only on the eighth day of the first month would most merchant companies open their stores one after another. This wasnât because these merchant companies wanted to get some more rest during new years, neither was it because they were scared that they would have their businesses seized by their competitors, but rather because this unknowingly naturally became a custom. It was because almost all families would store up enough for new years, there definitely wouldnât be any situations like not having enough rice to eat during this period.
That was also why even if shops remained open during the new years, they wouldnât have much business either.
The eighth day of the first lunar month, under countless explosive firecracker noises, the allied seventeen rice companies all opened up for business in the morning. As soon as they opened their shops, these seventeen families that had already fought with Auspicious Virtue for a long time borrowed these most festive times of celebrations to deliver a strong blow, all of them lowering their rice prices.
A week after they opened for business, these allied rice businesses still seemed a bit lonely and cheerless.
For old shopkeeper Liu Jing who had already worked in the rice business for thirty years, this was something extremely normal, because after the lowering of prices went into effect, the rice reserves of everyoneâs families had to drop first before they would come and purchase more. Moreover, the various rice companies already imitated Auspicious Virtueâs methods, all of them keeping records, they also recorded that those old clientsâ rice reserves would run out soon. Roughly two more weeks needed to go by before their businesses would become red hot again.
However, while Liu Jing was pouring a cup of old tea, absent-mindedly walking to his shop, he suddenly stopped.
He saw a dozen or so massive carriages.
These massive carriages all gave off an extremely familiar aura. What was within the various bulging sackcloth bags was all rice.
These dozen or so carriages all belonged to Auspicious Virtue!
1. Gongsun Quan was a powerful poison master under Wenren Cangyue who was ultimately killed by Lin Xi
2. Cheng Yu was the second in command in Wenren Cangyueâs army
3. Bian Linghanâs home province. She is from South Rainmist Region
4. This Liu is not the same as Liu Ziyuâs Liu. Liu Ziyuâs Liu means willow, this one is strictly a surname
5. Seventeen shops allied together in B10C28
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