Translator: Atlas Studios
Editor: Atlas Studios
This adjective was referring to Li Xuexiao’s lips.
During the course of Du Lengning’s recovery, Li Xuexiao often came over to visit. Watching her face that looked slightly shy, Du Lengning always could not restrain his gaze from focusing on those rosy cherry lips of hers. The more he behaved like this, the shyer Li Xuexiao was. Each visit always ended in such silent awkwardness, Du Lengning staring at her red lips, and her bowing her head shyly.
The two each focused on their own thoughts. Du Lengning recollected his feelings on that day, racking his wits. He wanted to find a term to describe the two petals of lips. After more than ten days of thinking hard, a word suddenly jumped into his mind—delicious.
He, too, had no idea why he would have such a thought, but he was sure that only this word could aptly describe Li Xuexiao’s lips best.
Delicious, just like thoroughly ripe cherries, sweet and juicy.
…
Du Lengning suddenly asked, “By the way, there’s big news recently, have you heard about it yet?”
“What news?”
“The Zuo family have lost Rosy Cloud Spring.”
Luo Qian faltered. “What happened?”
Du Lengning said with a cold smile, “Hmph, what else could it be. The Zuo family was greatly weakened; there were naturally people who took advantage of this. Now Rosy Cloud Spring belongs to the Lis.” Du Lengning was the young master of Faraway Hall after all; he’d more or less witnessed some changes in power. He knew the Immortal Realm’s rules very well in his heart. But this time, he was displeased to some extent since it involved the Zuo family.
“Li?” Luo Qian asked confusedly, “Which Li family?”
“Green Parasol Peak’s Li family.” Green Parasol Peak was also one of the Thirty-six Mountains in the Realm, close to Rosy Cloud Spring. “The Li family has indeed seen a swift improvement in their capabilities recently; they’ve been coveting the Zuo family’s Rosy Cloud Spring for some time. Moving from Green Parasol Peak to Rosy Cloud Spring… It seems they’ve already replaced the Zuo family to become the new rich amongst the Immortal Realm’s nine big aristocratic family clans.”
“Now that the Li family has moved away, what will happen to their Green Parasol Peak?” asked Luo Qian.
“Green Parasol Peak has been left to a small family clan that was originally an appendage of the Li family, just nice for them to nurture their own forces.”
Du Lengning said a little dejectedly, “Who would’ve thought the dignified Zuo family would get into such a plight in the blink of an eye? Old Luo, I don’t think you know yet, the five Elders of the Zuo family were all sacrificed in the battle to protect the clan. Otherwise, the Zuo Family Manor would not have been destroyed. Zuo family’s current patriarch died in battle; the one in charge now is Zuo Lingchuan’s third uncle. He has already implored my father to cut out a small plot of land on Mountain Ning Yao for their family’s dwelling for the time being.”
Du Lengning was quite full of sighs. At last, he added, “We’re considered lucky. If it wasn’t because that demon had been jointly attacked and fiercely fought by the five Elders and the Zuo family’s patriarch and was greatly exhausted, I’m afraid we wouldn’t be able to resist its attacks at all. It’s said that the Imperial Arrest Council has already formed an exclusive organization to investigate this demon disaster incident.”
Luo Qian’s heart skipped, and he commented coolly, “Investigate! Of course it has to be investigated. There are many fishy aspects in this incident!”
…
“This incident has many fishy aspects!” At another place, another person burst out.
Court, council, institute and office, the four levels in the Immortal Realm’s organizational framework. The Imperial Arrest Council was under the jurisdiction of the Left Military Court and were responsible for the Immortal Realm’s daily public security. Before the Left Military Court’s huge doors that were built of white jade stood two Fourth-Order Immortal soldiers with their hands on their immortal swords, eyes bright as they looked ahead. An Immortal official dressed in green official robes waited respectfully. The Immortal guards on the two sides acted as if he didn’t exist at all.
Ages later, a clever little clerk walked out from the Left Military Court and said with a smile, “Sir Zheng, the Deputy Magistrate requests to see you.” He made a ‘this way please’ gesture. Zheng Daoguang hurriedly responded politely, lifted his official robes, and started walking.
The clerk in front and Zheng Daoguang behind. In terms of rank, Zheng Daoguang was merely a secondary Fourth Grade Institute Director. The person who was receiving him was a secondary Ninth Grade Deputy Magistrate; how could Zheng Daoguang not be struck with awe?
Immortal officials were separated into two categories, primary and secondary, which meant principal and deputy.
The clerk led him to a small gray door, then turned and said, “Sir Zheng, please enter.”
Zheng Daoguang took a deep breath; he knew that behind this door was all his glory and riches henceforth. “Thank you, little brother.” He said his thanks and knocked lightly.
A deep voice came from inside, “Come in.”
It was a study; smoke curled up from the gold incense furnace in the center, an odd fragrance lingering in the air. This incense furnace looked like it was used all year round; the smoke had made all those small thread-bound ancient books on the surrounding bookshelves a little yellow.
In front of the door was a screen. Walking around it, Zheng Daoguang saw the Deputy Magistrate of the Left Military Court, who held the majority of fates in the Immortal Realm in his hand. He was seated behind a plain table, carefully reviewing some documents.
The Deputy Magistrate lifted his head and smiled. “You are Zheng Daoguang?”
Zheng Daoguang dared not be impolite; he cupped his fists, bent his body, and bowed. “Sir, Imperial Arrest Council’s secondary Fourth Grade Institute Director, greets my sir!”
The Deputy Magistrate closed the document in his hand and said, “Forego the formalities; stand up to speak.”
“Were you the one responsible for leading the troops for the rescue when the demon rampaged through Rosy Cloud Spring this time?”
“It was me; unfortunately, the demon was cunning. I repeatedly failed and ultimately made the Zuo family suffer a serious defeat.” Zheng Daoguang was slightly restless in his heart, afraid that the Deputy Magistrate would blame him.
Thankfully, the Deputy Magistrate did not pursue much on the problem of his negligence of duty. After pondering for a moment, he asked, “Sir Zheng, did you feel that there was anything fishy about this incident?”
“This incident has many fishy aspects!” Zheng Daoguang burst out.
A hint of coldness that wasn’t easy to detect flashed across the Deputy Magistrate’s eyes. He smiled and questioned, “Oh, which aspects were fishy? Let’s hear about them.”
Zheng Daoguang nodded. “Yes, sir. This time, the demon had charged out from the Zuo family’s treasure vault cave. Normally, such places do not breed demons; that is one fishy aspect. The demon was overbearingly powerful. After being attacked by the five Elders and patriarch of the Zuo family, not only did it not lose, but it went on to kill six people in succession instead. These six people were part of the Immortal Realm’s limited aces, yet such a powerful demon was actually never discovered previously; this is the second suspicious point. I led troops for the rescue with the search Treasure ‘Heavenly Eye Mirror’ in hand. Bandits of the Immortal Realm might be able to escape the scouring of the Heavenly Eye Mirror, but a demon was actually able to evade the scouring of my Heavenly Eye Mirror repeatedly. That is the third fishy aspect.”
The Deputy Magistrate was absorbed in his sharing. Zheng Daoguang had finished speaking, yet he was still in deep thought. Zheng Daoguang could only remind, “Sir, I am done.”
“Oh…” The Deputy Magistrate sobered up from his musing. Nodding his head, he praised, “You were able to see these three points without being engaged with the demon; that’s not easy.” However, there were clearly far more suspicious aspects than the three mentioned.
The Deputy Magistrate looked at Zheng Daoguang. “You are a talent; keeping you at the Imperial Arrest Council has been unfair to you.”
Zheng Daoguang was terrified; he hastily fell to his knees. “Sir, I’ve always been devoted to my work for the Imperial Arrest Council. This time was truly an exception…”
“Hehe, look how I’ve scared you. I don’t mean it that way; get up.”
“Do you know I have another council under my charge?” asked the Deputy Magistrate with a pleasant countenance.
Zheng Daoguang’s heart jumped as he recalled a legend of the Immortal Realm. There was another concealed department under the Left Military Court, also with an organizational system of a ‘council.’ Only, nobody knew where exactly this council was.
The Dark Arrest Council, equivalent to the special task agency of the Immortal Realm. They were specially in charge of investigating affairs that weren’t fit to be revealed. It was just hearsay for Zheng Daoguang too; he only knew that this council had great authority, that they could act first and report afterward, and reported directly to the Magistrate.
Zheng Daoguang’s heart pounded wildly. Could it be that the Deputy Magistrate had had his eye on him and wanted to transfer him to the Dark Arrest Council? He looked confusedly at the Deputy Magistrate.
The sir chuckled, nodded, and said, “You’ve guessed right. One affair should not bother two leaders. Since you were in charge of this incident, you shall be responsible until the end. I will bring you into the Dark Arrest Council; though there is no change to your rank, your power will be entirely different…”
Zheng Daoguang was delighted. He bent and bowed. “Thank you for your appreciation and grace, sir!”
The Deputy Magistrate reopened the document in his hand. He appeared to be indifferent as he said, “This incident certainly isn’t simple. You can recruit all your original men to your charge and be responsible for the investigation. I will support you with all required resources.”
Zheng Daoguang was shocked in his heart—Could it be that the Deputy Magistrate did not even trust the Dark Arrest Council under his own charge, and that was why he brought in an outsider like himself to do the investigation? Zheng Daoguang—who initially thought that he had caught the pie that fell from the sky—was now covered in cold sweat. This was no pie, but a hot potato!
At this point, Zheng Daoguang had no excuse; he could only thank the Deputy Magistrate with a bow and walk out while maintaining the bow.
This task was extremely dangerous. Just the slightest bit of carelessness, and he would be doomed eternally. He stood at the entrance in a trance and thought for a moment before he bade farewell to the clerk and left in a hurry.
…
Luo Qian doubled the area of Fushan’s crypt; it could now hold 64 rice cookers. Xiao Xiangzi had delivered two batches of power supply cases. There were a total of 60 of them; Luo Qian kept 40 for his own use, and the rest were sold at the price of 10 Superior Immortal Jade each. He made a small profit.
Business at the medicine hall was pretty good. Though there wasn’t a large variety of elixirs, all of them were very practical. Most importantly, they were cheap. Although the other medicine halls on Mountain Ning Yao complained inwardly, they did not dare to do anything to Young Master Du’s medicine hall. Fortunately, Luo Medicine Hall only sold some basic elixirs. The elixirs had a fixed cost price with very low profits; there wasn’t too much impact on their profits. Otherwise, these medicine halls would have to shut down and move away. Luo Medicine Hall’s cost-price was down to the floor; they had absolutely no way of competing with Luo on these few kinds of elixirs.
These few kinds of elixirs were often sold until they went out of stock. Although their daily profit was a few pieces of Superior Immortal Jade at most, it was a small but steady stream. The advantage was in being a lasting venture. Luo Qian prepared to make a trip to the Human Realm to buy another 40 rice cookers.
“Fei’er, Boss needs to go somewhere. Guard the gates well; if business comes to the door, get them to leave their names and the items they need. If trouble comes to the door, you don’t have to leave anything.”
Li Fei’er’s eyes lit up. “Boss, are you going to the Human Realm?”
She was clever and mischievous, so Luo Qian knew he wouldn’t be able to hide it from her. Thus, he admitted it directly. “That’s right. But, don’t think of getting me to bring you there. Firstly, I don’t have this ability at all. Secondly, even if I did have the ability to do so, I cannot bring you. You are Ling Xiaose’s cousin; I have to be responsible to my brain, and this is something that concerns beheading!”
Luo Qian finished, and without waiting for Li Fei’er to respond, he abruptly inhaled a breath of Immortal air, preparing to sneak out. Once the Immortal air entered his body, it instantly vanished without a trace.
Li Fei’er widened her pair of dewy eyes, waiting to see Luo Qian’s performance. Unfortunately, that strange hole appeared once again.
Luo Qian sighed. “Seems like I have to rest for a while.” Ignoring Li Fei’er’s strange gaze, Luo Qian returned to the crypt and entered seated meditation.
After working hard for an entire day, he finally succeeded in filling up that hole. He then disappeared from the Immortal Realm with a bang.