The Golden-Armored Bronze Guard

While the materials were being prepared, the mirror asked him, "Are you still going to meddle in this case?" "Fu Shanyue refuses to hand it over entirely to Lingxu City, which must be the Ruler's will," He Lingchuan said with a shrug. "Now that the investigation has come this far, I have to get my hands on that book." "Why is the Chiyan Kingdom clinging so stubbornly to this case?" "Even if you asked Fu Shanyue, he wouldn't tell you the truth." Giving an explanation to the demon subjects of his realm? Heh, sure, take that with a grain of salt. Just then, a guard knocked on the door and handed He Lingchuan a letter, explaining that it had been slipped under the door of his former guest room and brought over by an attendant from the old inn. Over the past few days, the attendants from that inn had forwarded far too many letters and gift lists to He Lingchuan—after all, he had just made quite a splash in Baishaqu. His name, He Xiao, was written on the envelope, and the seal was intact. Opening the letter, He Lingchuan saw familiar handwriting: *Congratulations to the special envoy for surviving the Lotus Palace.* *You possess real capability, and I appreciate talent, which is why I offer this piece of advice:* *Bow out before the case is closed. Stop letting the Fushan father and son use you as their cat's-paw.* *Rifts already existed between Chiyan and Lingxu City. Over the past seven years, Lingxu City has mobilized Chiyan's armies four times to fight distant wars, imposing heavy casualties and immense burdens upon Chiyan. That is why the Chiyan Kingdom insists on a thorough investigation into the courier case. Once the hidden truth comes to light...* *Do not assume the Crown Prince can protect you.* *When Lingxu City's wrath is provoked, the first unlucky soul to take the fall might well be you.* *Signed,* *One whose name you know, yet left unwritten.* One look at the handwriting told He Lingchuan that this was penned by Mai Xuewen. After swallowing Zhongsun Mou, that bastard hadn't even rushed to flee; he had actually slipped back to the inn to leave him a note. Truly unhurried, truly brazen. The mirror read it as well. "That fellow Mai puts on such grand airs—truly insufferable. Yet he isn't wrong. We're foreigners and don't understand Beijia's internal affairs. We shouldn't work our fingers to the bone for Chiyan, only to be sold out by Fu Shanyue with a turn of his hand." Lingxu City and Chiyan Kingdom were, after all, superior and subordinate. No matter how the two sides sparred in the end, the displeasure of the higher-up usually required the lesser party to pay a price to appease. And who would that price be? He Lingchuan shook his head. "Do you think we can just bow out gracefully right now?" "Ah, is it too late?" "Too late." He Lingchuan struck a spark and burned the letter to ashes. "From the moment my investigation led to Cen Boqing, this matter could no longer end quietly. The water is already muddied. "Zhongsun Mou is almost certainly dead, and Cen Boqing is bottled up in his own manor. Lingxu City, the Minister of Agriculture, and the Zhongsun clan will all be watching how this case is handled and who is investigating it. Oh, and now perhaps there's even the Tongxin Guard added to the mix," He Lingchuan said slowly. "Even if I wanted to wash my hands of it now, I couldn't escape." "Then what do we do?" The mirror felt a sense of dread creeping in. What kind of colossal titans was its master facing? And there was no telling whether the father and son ruling Chiyan were reliable, while they themselves had zero footing in the Beijia Kingdom. Wasn't this throwing eggs against stones? Yet why was its master so calm? "If the Ruler of Chiyan had yielded and tossed the case back to Lingxu City to handle, that would be when we were truly in danger." He Lingchuan smiled; he had considered these problems before killing Zhongsun Mou. "If they abandoned the case, they would most likely abandon me as well, turning a blind eye to however Lingxu City chose to dispose of me. "On the contrary, Chiyan's steadfast stance works to my advantage. In truth, I repeatedly tested Fu Shanyue in my replies. Had he shown even a sliver of hesitation, I wouldn't have hesitated for a second to turn and leave." He enunciated every word: "The way to protect myself is actually very simple: expose this case to the bright light of day. The more open it is, the better; the more transparent it is, the better!" In this contest among multiple factions, only total openness, fairness, and transparency would leave others with no pretext to vent their wrath upon him. The mirror couldn't help muttering, "If we had known it would come to this, we shouldn't have helped Fu Shanyue investigate in the first place." "If you don't wade in, how do you know how deep the water is?" He Lingchuan detested anyone—mortal or mirror—who played the hindsight expert. "Besides, I might already be in the warehouse." "Huh?" The mirror failed to understand. "What warehouse?" He Lingchuan refused to elaborate, only saying, "Come on, let's go build our bronze sentinel." He had leaped into this muddy water of his own accord; having made his move, there were no regrets. He took out the recipe for the golden-armored bronze guard gifted by Li Qingge. Compared to the golden-armored bronze guard recipe he had exchanged his military merits for, Li Qingge's recipe required leaner materials and yielded superior performance. After all, more than a century had passed; craftsmanship and refining procedures were bound to have advanced. Most importantly, the new recipe thoughtfully included numerous practical precautions for the refining process, perfectly suited to a half-baked smith like him. Of course, he could now hand this recipe over to the Chiyan royal foundry masters to execute, while he simply had to stand by and watch. *** The Cen Residence. "What? Everyone has fled?" Receiving the guard's report, Cen Boqing slammed the table in fury. *Crack!* The dining table split in two, spilling fine dishes and wine all over the floor. He hadn't had any appetite anyway. But hearing that the house Wu Kai had rented was already emptied of its occupants made his anger flare uncontrollably. So Wu Kai had long prepared to take flight, slipping away not only by himself but bringing his entire family along! That afternoon, when Commander Lu led troops to surround the manor, Wu Kai should have been coordinating the carriages, horses, and personnel. Instead, after taking orders from Cen Boqing and stepping out, he had vanished into thin air! In a manor as vast as the Cen Residence, everyone had searched inside and out, but the man was gone! How could a living person simply vanish? Unwilling though Cen Boqing was to admit it, he had no choice but to conclude that Wu Kai had abandoned his master and fled. This was truly intolerable. The flight of Wu Kai's three-member family came as a sharp blow to Cen Boqing's head: This was a living witness to the demon-slaying pearl harvesting! A vulnerability the enemy could exploit, and the greatest hidden danger by his side! Why hadn't he dealt with him sooner? What foolishness! Though Wu Kai was on the run, this was Fu Shanyue's territory. Who could guarantee he would successfully escape the Chiyan Kingdom without getting caught? Once Wu Kai was captured, then... Cen Boqing turned and walked outside, crossing gardens and corridors until he reached Cheng Yu's quarters. A guard was still stationed outside. Cen Boqing stepped inside and frowned. Cheng Yu's eyes were still tightly shut, snoring loudly in deep slumber, though his complexion looked far better than on the day he was injured. "Has he awakened at all?" The guard pointed to the transparent bottle on the table. "No. Mr. Cheng instructed that unless the lantern inside the bottle goes out, the stopper must not be pulled." Snow still drifted inside the bottle, though the squall had weakened to only a scattering of falling flakes. Inside the small wooden cabin, a silhouette occasionally flickered past. How many days had it been already? Cen Boqing snapped irritably, "Uncork it!" "Ah, right now?" As the guard reached for the bottle, Cen Boqing hesitated. "Wait, hold on!" "My lord?" "We'll wait until tonight passes." Cen Boqing remembered that Cheng Yu had a terrible temper. If he rashly woke him and interrupted his recuperation, would the man still be willing to help him? Wu Kai was meticulous and thorough, and this escape had been planned in advance; Fu Shanyue might not be able to catch him so quickly. Seeing that the snow in the snow-scene bottle was nearly gone, Cheng Yu should be waking soon, shouldn't he? Tomorrow. He would try again tomorrow. Cen Boqing sighed, clasped his hands behind his back, and walked out. *** By dusk, He Lingchuan returned to the inn in high spirits. The inn had been entirely booked out by the Crown Prince, leaving no one inside except guards and servants. Fu Shanyue was reclining in a lounge chair in the courtyard to enjoy the cool evening breeze. Seeing him looking somewhat glum, He Lingchuan asked, "What's the matter?" "I've already sent out several detachments. They searched the entire city twice and rode outside to pursue, yet they still haven't caught Wu Kai's daughter-in-law and grandson." Fu Shanyue rested his hands behind his neck. "That bastard is truly crafty. So, how did your golden-armored guard turn out?" "Royal foundry masters truly live up to their name—far better than upgrading it myself." He had originally forged this gold-armored bronze automaton while in the army by the Han River, where conditions were poor and everything had to make do, even borrowing the monkey Lingguang's medicine furnace. Who would have thought that now, without lifting a finger, top craftsmen from Chiyan Kingdom would rush to Baishaqu just to upgrade it for him? Money alone couldn't buy such service. Authority was indeed a wonderful thing. The upgrading process for a golden-armored guard was not inherently difficult, but just as with a home-cooked braised tofu, an ordinary cook's work could hardly match that of a restaurant master chef. Every craft had its specialists. When released, the golden-armored guard was the same height as before, but its entire frame was now encased in purplish-gold bronze armor, lined inside with a layer of fish-scale soft armor—double the protection, double the safety. He Lingchuan had tested it with various weapons; ordinary blades and spears couldn't even scratch the surface, while fire arts only left a scorch mark. If the Army Breaker property of his saber Fusheng wasn't triggered, it would take six full strikes just to hack through the outer bronze plating. Moreover, the bronze sentinel's joints—such as knees, elbows, and ankles—had all been optimized to better match the natural movement of the human body, allowing He Lingchuan to control it with far greater agility. While working, the smith hadn't stopped grumbling, wondering who had cast the initial automaton so hideously, clumsily, and crudely, more than tripling the workload required to remodel it. He Lingchuan had simply rubbed his nose in silence beside him. True to his reputation as a royal craftsman, the smith had not only repaired numerous old injuries that were difficult for the automaton to mend on its own and recalibrated its frame, but also carved additional arrays for lightness and wind spirits onto it, making its movements swifter, its attacks more precise, and its handling far smoother. Roughly speaking, if the gold-armored bronze automaton He Lingchuan had built himself possessed an attack and defense rating of three, the upgraded golden-armored guard was a seven. He Lingchuan spent nearly half the afternoon putting it through its paces before coming to the depressing realization of its greatest flaw: It consumed far too much energy. Back when it was merely a gold-armored bronze automaton, less than half a piece of light-green profound crystal could keep it running for two shichen—or in fast-paced, intense combat, at least nearly half a shichen. After being upgraded into a bronze sentinel, its appearance was imposing and its combat capabilities had soared, but every movement cost money. An egg-sized chunk of deep-green profound crystal wasn't even enough to power it for a single shichen. And in intense combat? Heh, a quarter of an hour at most. At most. Depending on the rhythm of the battle, it might block a few heavy hits for its master and run out of battery—no, run out of energy. Feeling his far-from-plump coin pouch, He Lingchuan felt a heartache so sharp he could barely breathe. And this was merely a bronze sentinel; earlier, he had casually inquired about the cost of upgrading it further into a gold-armored divine general. Leaving aside the labor fee and counting only materials, the price was roughly fifteen times that of upgrading to a bronze sentinel!