The prison was alight with lamps at night, and it was like the daytime.
Xie Chenjun in scarlet official uniform stood at the gate of the prison and suddenly stopped. The middle-aged man behind him closed the umbrella but didn’t say anything. He just put his hands in the sleeves and looked calm.
The prison guard who welcomed them at the gate bent down. This middle-aged man who had been working in the Yanshi prison for more than ten years didn’t dare to look up at the old man, the most powerful official in this city. In fact, as the decision-maker of this generation in the Xie Family, Xie Chenjun was the family master and the timeless one in the officialdom. This old man was the best writer of cursive handwriting in Dazhou and a great master in music. And he was among the select best in writing essays. What was more, when the late emperor started the battle in the south that year, Xie Chenjun was the commander in chief of the army. However, as he was getting older, he seldom showed up at the imperial court these days and became the “retired governor” in Yanshi City at ease. But this old man still had a high prestige in Dazhou and was trusted by the emperor as always. The most direct statement was that the old man was still the principal of the Imperial Academy, and his nephew Xie Ying was almost granted by the emperor as a princess’ husband. Every sign showed that as long as Xie Chenjun was alive, the Xie Family wouldn’t decline and Yanshi wouldn’t change the situation.
At the moment, the old man stood at the gate without saying a word, but all people present felt an unspeakable oppression, which was not shown by Xie Chenjun intentionally, but was the aura that he had developed because he was in a high position for long.
Xie Chenjun asked casually, “Which room were the two men in?”
The prison guard answered in a low voice, “In the Room No.7. They didn’t commit serious crimes, so we paid no extra attention to them. They didn’t look like atrocious evil-doers. We never expected them to flee from the prison…”
Xie Chenjun waved his hand, “No more words. It’s not your fault. It’s fine that they ran away. Don’t mind it. But you have to investigate the people who were locked up in that room in the past.”
The prison guard was surprised, “Nobody was locked up in the Room No.7 in the past twenty years after a poor scholar died inside last time. And we can’t find anything before that happened.”
Xie Chenjun frowned, “A scholar?”
The prison guard nodded, “According to the records of the prison, a scholar died here and it was unclear why he was locked up. We just know that he seemed to have written an essay on the wall and then committed suicide.”
Xie Chenjun asked, “Didn’t you tell anybody to copy it?”
The prison guard looked gloomy, “No…”
“And we don’t know why the essay on the wall disappeared after the two escaped.”
This aged man looked into the guard’s eyes for the first time and no emotion was showed in his eyes, but the guard instantly felt that he had fallen into ice.
His legs softened and he knelt down, asking for mercy, “Principal, it was my negligence. Please forgive me, My Lord.”
There was an unwritten rule at the imperial court of Dazhou. If an official had many titles at the same time, others should call him by the title of his highest official position. A governor was Rank-4, while the principal of the Imperial Academy was Rank-2. Although the principal was a title in name only, it was a much higher position than the governor.
So it was right to call Xie Chenjun principal.
But after Xie Chenjun heard this form of address, he said peacefully, “Right, a principal can’t punish you, so just forget it.”
It was said that a leader was inferior to the man in charge of the work. In Yanshi City, Xie Chenjun had more than one title, but he could only punish the other party as a governor.
The old man didn’t want to enter the prison anymore and just turned around. The middle-aged man behind him remained silent all the time. Noticing what Xie Chenjun did, he unfolded the oil paper umbrella.
The two went into the rain.
The carriage of the Xie Family was some distance away from the prison. When they walked, the old man asked all of a sudden, “Wuyi, will Ying set out tonight?”
Xie Wuyi held the umbrella and walked in the rain. In fact, the umbrella was over his brother and he got wet all over in the rain. However, this middle-aged man who talked little didn’t show any impatience. Hearing his elder brother’s question, Xie Wuyi responded calmly, “The decree from Shaoliang City arrived earlier. If he didn’t have to chase the two escaped prisoners, Ying should have led his troop of five thousand cavalries to the frontier fortress earlier.”
Xie Chenjun looked at his brother who was nearly thirty years younger than him and laughed, “Isn’t five thousand a small number?”
Xie Wuyi replied stiffly, “Ying is less than twenty years old and it’s beyond imagination that he can lead five thousand soldiers alone. Big brother, don’t you think it’s enough?”
Xie Chenjun smiled, “I certainly know what you are worried about. But His Majesty is different from any one of the emperors in the past dynasties. If you don’t think it’s great that Ying becomes famous at an early age, you just worry too much.”
Raising his head and looking into the distance, Xie Chenjun sighed with emotion and laughed, “Our family has a history of dozens of years at the imperial court of Dazhou and passed down for nearly one hundred years in society. Although the influence might be a thorn in the royal family’s flesh, as long as we don’t rebel, how can the royal family not rely on our service?”
Xie Wuyi kept quiet for a while and then whispered, “I will listen to you, brother.”
Before the family master got in the carriage, he told Xie Wuyi, “Ying has made friends with a teenager in the city, and we don’t have to win him over. Just let the young men do what they want. But if that teenager is bullied by others, you can just handle it in secret and don’t need to show your attitude, in case of misunderstanding.”
Xie Wuyi nodded in silence.
As soon as Xie Chenjun got in the carriage, the coachman drove it away. While Xie Wuyi stood there and didn’t stay with his brother. He was inferior to nobody but Xie Chenjun in the family and was the well-known great master in society. Now he was standing in the rain and laughed.
Then he took out a liquor pot from his waist and drank in the rain.
This great master was addicted to alcohol, which was as important as his life to him. Only when he was in front of his elder brother, he had never drunk.
It was midnight, and no star could be seen. After seeing Xie Ying and the brothers from the Yang Family off, only Qing Huai and Li Fuyao were left in the hotel. Li Fuyao didn’t want to sleep and opened the window, in a daze in the darkness.
After more than fifteen minutes, Li Fuyao turned to the next door and found that the light was on in Qing Huai’s room. When he was in a trance, the window was pushed open. Qing Huai rested her hand on the window and looked at Li Fuyao who opened his eyes wide. She somehow thought this guy was funny.
Li Fuyao laughed, “Qing Huai, are you still up?”
Qing Huai rolled her eyes and ignored this stupid question.
Li Fuyao didn’t feel embarrassed. After all, he had seen something like this many times.
Li Fuyao thought of his conversation with Xie Ying and sighed out of the blue, “I don’t know if I am from Yanling or Dazhou.”
Qing Huai interrupted him, “Li Fuyao, do you know that some warrior in this world can kill cultivators?”
Li Fuyao turned around blankly and looked doubtful. Did he guess right?
“There are not many cultivators but also not few who are not from the three religious sects. Except for the swordsmen who take a narrow path, most of other unofficial cultivators originate from the three sects. But have you thought about why the swordsmen would stand out all of a sudden?”
Qing Huai leaned against the window and asked indifferently.
Li Fuyao wrinkled his brows and repeated, “Stand out…”
Before he finished his words, Li Fuyao soon thought of something and questioned in surprise, “Were swordsmen warriors in the past?”
Qing Huai responded impassively, “You are just partly right. Swordsmen were warriors in the past, but later they became cultivators. However, the warrior who killed cultivators was a swordsman.”
“That year, the Sword Immortal who led the swordsmen to start cultivating had killed a sage with one blow as a warrior before he became a cultivator.”
The words were earth-shattering and heaven-battering and shocked Li Fuyao. He could imagine that a warrior could kill a cultivator, but that person even killed a sage from the three religious sects?
What kind of powerful man was he?