“A commendation from the Celestial Master Mansion?”
Zhou Wuji was puzzled. How did Jin Ying know about the Celestial Master Mansion? Was the Jin family so powerful that it could reach even into the Celestial Master Mansion?!
Jin Ying knew Zhou Wuji had misunderstood a little. She smiled sweetly and explained in a soft voice, “The Celestial Master Mansion is far away in Tiandu, ten thousand li from Yunyang. The Mansion's people only reached Chu Prefecture a few days ago. They weren't in a hurry to travel, so their journey was slow. Many people had already heard the news long before...”
Zhou Wuji understood. The Jin family were great merchants with ears everywhere; the moment the Mansion's people reached Chu Prefecture, the Jin family had the news.
There were always people willing to flatter and curry favor with the Celestial Master Mansion's experts.
The commendation for him wasn't any secret; word naturally leaked out in casual conversation.
“So that's how it was.”
Zhou Wuji still had some expectations for the commendation.
The Celestial Master Mansion governed all Daoist sects under heaven. With such status and prestige, they would surely give something good.
This time he would surely also get his seventh-rank Tianshu Token, formally becoming a seventh-rank Daoist on the official roster, and from then on draw a stipend from the imperial court.
With the seventh-rank Tianshu Token, he would also have a formal rank in the Arctic Sect.
Even the Lower Court abbot could not easily dispose of him.
For example, if the abbot wanted to expel him from the sect, Zhihe would have to apply to the Upper Court.
However the Upper Court handled it, it would have to explain the matter to the Lower Court and keep a record on file with the Celestial Master Mansion.
The Celestial Master Mansion generally did not interfere in the internal affairs of sects, but expelling a seventh-rank Daoist was a great disgrace for a sect.
Being on the official roster or not made a world of difference in status and standing.
Zhou Wuji was pleased, but his face showed only a faint smile. “Miss Jin is well informed. I still know nothing at all.”
He actually wanted to ask what the commendation was, but asking in advance would make him seem too shallow. It was only a matter of time, so there was no need to hurry.
He changed the subject and asked, “What is the situation in Yunming County?”
“It's said to be Wu Family Village in Yunming County. The village has several hundred people. Apart from farming, they mostly fire pottery; there are several large pottery kilns.
“One day a monstrous creature emerged from a fire kiln. It killed many people in the village and burned the village to ruins. They say the village has become a ghost realm...”
Jin Ying said, “Some say the Heavenly Ghost Sect is raising ghosts; some say the Yin-Yang Dao is sacrificing to a demon god; others say the Myriad Fiends Cult is refining a demonic artifact.
“There are all sorts of theories, and no one can say for certain. The rumors are multiplying, and people are in a panic...”
Zhou Wuji chatted with Jin Ying for a while and ate some peaches, plums, and other fruit from her home.
Fruit was different; if someone tried to tamper with it, it would be easy to tell.
Jin Ying was a good conversationalist, with a sweet voice and a very pretty face. Her wheat-colored skin might look dark to others, but Zhou Wuji rather liked that healthy, sun-kissed complexion.
They talked about amusing incidents in Yunyang City and anecdotes about the various families, and the two got along famously.
Zhou Wuji declined Jin Ying's dinner invitation. He gave her the yellow jade gourd and asked her to find someone to appraise the magic implement and calculate its price.
He didn't have much money at the moment, and the gourd was useless to him, so it was perfect for exchanging for cash.
With the gourd as an excuse, he also had a reason to stay in contact with Jin Ying.
Otherwise, a young girl like her being in close contact with him would be hard to explain.
Zhou Wuji had no designs on Jin Ying; it was simply that she had wide connections and good information, making her the best window into Yunyang's affairs.
As for whether Jin Ying might embezzle the yellow jade gourd, the possibility wasn't nonexistent, but it was very low...
After all, it was only a magic implement that gathered yin qi, and its rank would not exceed Rank Five. It could not compare at all with his Heavenly Puppet.
Zhou Wuji went to the great market in the west of Yunyang City and bought ten loads of dry firewood there. A load of dry firewood cost no more than a hundred coppers.
The firewood sellers saw Zhou Wuji take the dry firewood into his sleeve and were astonished. They dropped to their knees on the spot and tried to return the copper coins to Zhou Wuji.
The people around them all stared wide-eyed and open-mouthed.
They all knew the Lower Court Daoists were formidable, but few had ever seen a Daoist's methods.
To them, the Five Yin Pouch collecting the firewood was like an immortal's magic.
Zhou Wuji rather enjoyed the shock the Five Yin Pouch caused, but he didn't much like people kneeling to him. He said a few reassuring words and drifted away.
On the way back, Zhou Wuji thought of how depressed his Uncle-Master Yiping had been lately, so he bought the old man some wine and meat, and some sweets and fruit for the two youngsters.
The Five Yin Pouch's yin qi would corrode living things, so food couldn't be put inside it.
Zhou Wuji had to carry it all by hand. Fortunately, his wide sleeves were enough to hide it, and he walked fast enough that he didn't draw a crowd.
Back at the stone cottage, Yiping was very happy to see the wine and meat.
The old man wasn't actually greedy for drink; life at the stone cottage was simply so dreary that a little indulgence in food and drink made him happy.
Yang Tieying and Shangxing were happy too. They were both at the age when they were growing, and their craving for meat and sugar was extremely strong, so their satisfaction was especially great.
The yin qi from below made the courtyard somewhat gloomy, and it even drove away the heat of July.
But the two youngsters' laughter and chatter, together with the old man's relieved, contented smile, filled the courtyard with life.
Zhou Wuji liked this atmosphere. The harder life was, the more people needed to stay positive.
He said to Yiping, “Don't worry, Uncle-Master. The Myriad Ghosts Cavern is rotated every six months. If they don't rotate us after six months, I'll go see the abbot.”
Yiping shook his head. “That won't be necessary. It's quite peaceful here, and it's cool in summer. It's fine...”
He consoled Zhou Wuji: “Don't anger the abbot. The slot for studying at the Upper Court next year is very important.
“If you can gain a firm footing in the Upper Court, we can bask in your light too.”
Zhou Wuji laughed. Yiping was emotionally stable and optimistic; no wonder he had been able to coast for years.
He didn't mention the Celestial Master Mansion's commendation, only talked about recent developments in Yunyang Prefecture.
When he heard that the old monk Xinjue was still abbot of Golden Leaf Temple, Yiping loudly cursed the unfairness.
If Zhiyuan hadn't left either, he would be lying around in who knows how much comfort and ease right now...
When night came, Zhou Wuji quietly left the Lower Court. Halfway there, he changed into the Yin-Yang Dao's robes, put on a bamboo hat, a mask, and long boots, and circulated his power to shrink his body slightly.
These subtle adjustments changed his physical characteristics, even his aura and bearing.
Deep in the night, with no one around, Zhou Wuji activated the Flowing Cloud Movement Technique, and in less than a quarter-hour he had arrived at the base of Yunyang City's wall.
The city gates were already closed. Lanterns hung from the gate tower, and the figures of patrol soldiers could still be seen on the wall.
It was a prefectural city, an important place, completely different from a county town. The patrol soldiers might be lazy, but they were still more or less diligent.
Zhou Wuji watched for a while, then found a gap and leaped up.
He couldn't fly, but with his five thousand five hundred total of vigorous true qi, he could easily change direction repeatedly in midair.
The city wall was only a little over four zhang high. He adjusted his body in midair and, like a bird, swept over the wall and landed directly inside Yunyang City.
Zhou Wuji landed light as a feather, without stirring a speck of dust.
His long boots were wrapped in true qi, so he wouldn't even leave a footprint on the ground.
He had truly reached the level of treading on flowing clouds and coming and going without a trace.
Zhou Wuji had actually never been to the Zhang family residence; he had only been to the Pacification Office. But he knew the Zhang family must live on one side of the Pacification Office.
That way, the family's safety was assured, and family members on duty could easily reach the Pacification Office.
Zhou Wuji's target was not the Zhang family as a whole. The Zhang family had been rooted in Yunyang City for several hundred years; even the direct-line descendants ran into the hundreds and thousands, and the collateral branches were too many to count.
Every wrong has its source and every debt its debtor; he had come for Zhang Yunfeng and Zhang Banshan.
Zhang Banshan had spoken up for Zhang Xinhu. As for whether he had schemed against him later, that was hard to say.
So Zhou Wuji still intended to kill Zhang Yunfeng first, and then decide whether to kill Zhang Banshan based on the situation.
The Pacification Office occupied a large area in the west of the city, connecting with large residential areas on both sides to form an independent district. At night, the entrances and exits were sealed off to prevent outsiders from entering.
The night sky was thick with clouds; there was no moon and no stars.
A three-story building with two slopes and five ridges; on either side of the central ridge, the corner ridges rose high, shaped like bird heads.
Zhou Wuji stood on the highest bird-head finial, looking down at the Pacification Office and the surrounding residences.
As his true qi level had risen, the Six Yang Dharma Eyes' range of observation had increased by fifty percent.
Standing at this height, Zhou Wuji could look down over the various life auras throughout the entire area.
At a glance, in the gloom, various auras of qi and blood flickered like stars in the night sky.
Life auras of different ranks naturally formed a hierarchy of strength.
The Pacification Office was different. A powerful qi protected it like a transparent barrier, blocking the Six Yang Dharma Eyes' observation.
Zhou Wuji had felt this kind of qi once before, at the prefect's official residence.
It could be called official qi, or the collective will of the people generated by governing the myriad people.
Whatever it was, this kind of qi exerted enormous suppression on cultivators.
It was already the third watch. Zhang Yunfeng was unlikely to be at the Pacification Office.
The Pacification Office was protected by qi, but the surrounding residences were not.
Through observation, Zhou Wuji locked onto two targets.
He wasn't just looking at life auras; he also had to look at the layout of the residences.
Zhang Yunfeng was a direct-line member of the Zhang family and a Hundred-household Officer. His rank wasn't high, but his position was very important.
Given Zhang Yunfeng's status in the Zhang family, his residence wouldn't be too poor, though of course it couldn't be too fine either.
According to his rank, a three-courtyard compound would be about right for Zhang Yunfeng.
A little overstepping in clothing didn't matter much, but a residence was out in the open; exceeding one's rank there could easily cause trouble.
The distance was a bit far. To see what was really going on, he would have to go deeper into the courtyards where the two men lived.
Zhou Wuji was just about to act when a thought stirred in his mind: perhaps he could try his Heart Mirror.
His Yin Thunder had reached the realm of perfection, establishing a stable connection between him and the Big Dipper star domain.
The rise in his true qi level allowed him to sense a larger range of the Big Dipper star domain.
In principle, the Big Dipper star domain covered the nine heavens and ten earths, and was everywhere.
Heaven and earth, and all living beings, were merely part of the Big Dipper star domain.
Zhou Wuji activated the spirit aperture between his brows. The Heavenly Gate at the crown of his head opened wide, and he first established a connection with the Tianshu Star above the nine heavens.
As the connection deepened, Zhou Wuji felt himself become part of the Big Dipper star domain, breathing together with this world.
His mind rose limitlessly. The stars of the Big Dipper seemed to become his eyes, letting him observe the ten directions of heaven and earth.
As his consciousness turned, the boundless heaven and earth contracted into a single point, and the Pacification Office and the surrounding residences unfolded upon the Heart Mirror in his sea of consciousness.
Without any deliberate guidance, Zhang Yunfeng's image appeared on the Heart Mirror.
Zhang Yunfeng was holding a beautiful woman and laughing and joking with her. Before him, a table was set with fine wine and delicacies.
The night was still hot and muggy. Zhang Yunfeng and the woman were both dressed in thin, light clothing, exposing large expanses of skin.
There was no one else in the room, and the two were behaving without restraint, quite indecently...
Looking again at the Pacification Office, he could now see points of life aura shining. They were still somewhat blurry.
Zhou Wuji did not find any particularly strong life aura in the Pacification Office, and guessed that Zhai Jun was probably not there.
This state was rapidly consuming his true qi, and he had no time to ponder these things.
Zhou Wuji was about to continue observing Zhang Yunfeng when the mirror reflected a discordant, gloomy aura.
He hadn't noticed this aura before with the Six Yang Dharma Eyes, but in resonance with the Big Dipper star domain, using the Big Dipper stars as his eyes, he could see into deeper, subtler levels.
Though this person's aura was deeply hidden, it was still covered by the Big Dipper star domain. His own true qi naturally interacted with the star domain, but the reaction was extremely subtle and did not radiate outward.
Only in a state approaching the unity of heaven and man did Zhou Wuji sense this person's aura.
As his spirit and intent shifted, the Heart Mirror naturally reflected this person's appearance.
The man was not far in front of the Pacification Office's archway. His actual position was in a room a hundred zhang diagonally behind Zhou Wuji. The man was ugly, with a large black mole between his brows that looked like an eye.
He wore a black hemp garment, and beside him lay a long white cloth banner...
Judging by this man's clothes and appearance, he was clearly of the same ilk as the Cold-Blooded Twin Fiends. He was probably a Heavenly Ghost Sect expert of Rank Six...
Chapter 125