On the bluestone streets of Yichuan County,
A slow-moving ox cart led the way, followed leisurely by six scholars carrying their boxes and cages.
They chatted and laughed, discussing tomorrow’s Literary eting and the classics of history and philosophy, just like a group of true scholars.
At one point, Chen Ji felt he might be getting overly suspicious.
He sat in the ox cart when suddenly he turned to Chen Wenzong and asked in a low voice, "Brother, what are they discussing?"
Chen Wenzong, sowhat flattered, quickly replied, "They’re discussing this year’s Autumn Imperial Examination on current affairs, specifically how to view trade in border towns; I had analyzed the topic from three perspectives when..."
Chen Ji stopped listening; he just felt he might really be too suspicious—how could assassins understand these topics?
However, before they left the city, he suddenly called out, "Stop the cart for a mont."
Prince Jing, wearing a straw hat, pulled on the reins to halt the ox cart.
Chen Ji jumped down, "Please wait for , everyone."
Bai Li asked curiously, "Did you forget sothing at the inn? I’ll go back with you to get it."
Yet Chen Ji simply smiled and said, "We just passed by a bun shop, and I thought I’d treat everyone to so buns. How many would you like?"
The Princely Heir pondered, "Four!"
Bai Li laughed, "Two."
Chen Wenxiao stiffened his neck, "I’m not hungry. If I want so, I can buy them myself."
After asking everyone, Chen Ji jogged to the front of a bun shop and called out, "Shopkeeper, nineteen pork buns, wrapped in yellow paper, please!"
The shopkeeper, hearing there was good business, quickly lifted the lid of the stear and began picking out buns.
While pretending to buy buns, Chen Ji surreptitiously observed the scholars and saw that instead of continuing on, they paused briefly, then also headed toward the bun shop.
One of them said to the shopkeeper with a smile, "Shopkeeper, we’ll take fifteen pork buns."
Chen Ji’s heart sank.
These people were indeed after them.
The fact that they stopped to buy buns might not prove anything, but the buyer didn’t ask anyone else how many they wanted and just decided on fifteen—a decidedly illogical move.
Moreover, there was no ntion of how the bun money was to be settled.
Chen Ji returned to the cart with a calm face and distributed the buns to everyone.
The ox cart headed west out of the county town, the dirt road winding through the trees.
The leaves had fallen, the branches were bare, and the ground was a soft carpet of decayed foliage, the area growing deserted.
Sitting in the cart, Chen Ji silently turned to look ahead on the road.
What exactly were these people here for?
Was it to investigate last night’s peeping tom and silence them, or to protect Prince Jing?
After pondering for a mont, Chen Ji thought it must be the latter.
After all, last night’s disturbance had passed; if that mysterious person wearing the black jade had truly intended to kill and silence, why would they wait until today?
Besides, in this cart were the Princely Heir, Bai Li, and Mr. Wang—how could Prince Jing allow them to be silenced?
With this thought, he felt sowhat more at ease.
At this ti, the ox cart entered the mountains along the official road, with Mr. Wang holding a scroll and teaching on the cart.
He calmly asked, "The ’Book of Rites Academy’ states ’the extension of knowledge lies in the investigation of things; when things are investigated, knowledge is extended.’ Here, what does it an to ’investigate things to extend knowledge’?"
Chen Wenzong thought for a mont and said, "Zhu Zi stated, ’To investigate things to extend knowledge is to exhaust the principles of nature, to understand human relationships, to expound the teachings of sages, and to grasp past events.’"
Mr. Wang leaned casually against the ox cart and said with a smile, "That was what Zhu Zi said, but now I want you to tell in your own words, what does it an to ’extend knowledge to the utmost by investigating things.’"
Chen Wenzong was sowhat perplexed.
Just as he pondered his response, a cat’s ow ca from the woods. Chen Ji suddenly widened his eyes and turned to speak to Prince Jing’s silhouette, "Please, stop the cart for a mont!"
Chen Wenxiao said impatiently, "What are you up to now, why must you always complicate things?"
Chen Ji, clutching his stomach, leaped off the cart, "Sorry, my stomach hurts, I need to relieve myself!"
After speaking, he tramped through the layer of rotten leaves and ran into the forest, taking several hundred steps before he finally slowed down and called out softly, "Wu Yun?!"
Wu Yun then appeared atop the branches, carrying a blue cloth bundle on his back.
Chen Ji was astounded, "How did you get here?"
Wu Yun bowed his head to bite open the knot of the cloth bundle, and with a clatter, a wooden box slid out. Crouching on a branch, he spoke, "Master casually divined last night and said you might be in danger, so he sent to wait for you on this official road overnight, and also brought the fifteen ginseng roots you had hidden."
Chen Ji’s pupils shrank slightly.
Those fifteen ginseng roots were a gift from Jin Zhu, but Chen Ji had always been wary of Jin Zhu’s betting-like cultivation path, and thus had never found the opportunity to use them.
Now, Old Yao had not only sent Wu Yun to alert him overnight but also brought the fifteen ginseng roots along!
This ti, the danger was truly grave!
Chen Ji looked around the forest, "Did master co as well?"
Wu Yun owed, "Master said if you asked about this matter, to reply on his behalf... it’s none of his damn business."
Chen Ji, "..."
Master was, as ever, the sa person who kept aloof from anything that did not concern him.
Chen Ji asked again, "Did master say whether these fifteen ginseng roots would be enough for to deal with this danger?"
Wu Yun owed, "I asked about that; master said, ’It’s rather unlikely.’"
Chen Ji, "..."
He stood in the forest, eyes closed, contemplating what the source of the crisis could be and how to confront it.
Yet, after much thought, he realized the danger could only co from that mysterious great figure of the previous night.
If it were indeed such a personage who acted against him, he, a re apprentice who had not yet entered the Innate Realm, how could he protect himself?
The next mont, he opened his eyes, picked up the wooden box from the ground, and opened it.
With just a light touch, each of the ginseng roots in the box transford into crystal beads, tinkling as they fell to the bottom. Wu Yun, coveting them, leaped down from the treetop and landed gracefully on Chen Ji’s shoulder, his black and fluffy tail stood up, swaying at the tip.
Nuzzling Chen Ji, he asked, "Can I eat them now?"
But Chen Ji closed the box again and said calmly, "Not yet, Wu Yun, I need you to quietly follow with the box, and when I tell you it’s ti to eat, then you can eat them."
Having said that, he sat down cross-legged, pulled out a scroll from his sleeve, and unrolled it, murmuring in a low voice, "Before the Upper Qing Purple Mist Emperor, Supre Daoist Yuchen Jun, in leisure Ruizhu composes seven-character verses, dispersing into five forms, transforming into myriad gods..."
Jin Zhu said the cultivation path granted by the Ritual Supervision was of the utmost secrecy, to be burned after reading.
But Chen Ji could not morize it at a glance; he had to carry it with him and recite a section from ti to ti. A few days had passed, and Chen Ji had only morized half of it.
He recited over and over, with great speed.
A passage that once took an entire thirty minutes to stumble through now took him only fifteen minutes.
Wu Yun was astonished, "Facing danger and yet you choose to cultivate on the spot? How audacious!"
Chen Ji shook his head, "I’m not cultivating, I’m calling for reinforcents."
...
...
With the Mid-Autumn Festival coming up, there have been many things to do, and updates have been less frequent. To make ands, ten signed editions of ’Night Naming Skill’ will be drawn, to winners from the 1st, 66th, 166th, 266th, 366th, 466th, 666th, 888th, 1666th, and 1999th comnts. Please contact Star (Q number 3384561866).
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