In a duel between Qi Refining cultivators, fighting without a magical treasure was like a warrior going into battle without a weapon, starting at a disadvantage from the very beginning.
But magical treasures varied considerably in quality and grade.
Common treasures typically took the form of weapons or ritual implents.
This jade ruler was a sowhat unconventional type, and Ge Xiuxian couldn't imdiately identify its origins or background.
That hardly mattered, though. They said the stranger the weapon, the faster you died.
Regardless of what treasure the opponent used, as long as your actual ability exceeded theirs, there was nothing to worry about.
A re county school chief senior brother, and an acting one at that.
A bookworm, when all was said and done.
The high tuition fees of official schools were an insurmountable barrier for ordinary people, which was why many ancient cultivation thods continued to circulate in the world, and so secluded sects had maintained their lineages without interruption.
Ge Xiuxian had been taught spiritual arts by an unconventional master from childhood, and was particularly skilled in injuring opponents with flying stones. Later he had joined the military and learned its combat thods, making him a practitioner of both the spiritual and martial paths. By his mid-twenties he had built a substantial reputation in the world of wandering practitioners, and was recruited by the Golden Valley Trading Company at great expense to serve as their hired cultivator.
He had always looked down on the well-heeled young n produced by official schools, considering them children without any real cultivation aptitude, coasting on their parents' wealth and spending lavishly to acquire a prestigious na.
All theory from books and no practical combat experience. They could talk endlessly about grand principles, but when real danger arrived every one of them would go weak in the knees, cover their heads, and run. Completely useless.
It was hardly surprising he had developed this impression.
Even within the county school's inner hall, lower-year students rarely ever got to see those in the upper years.
Watching the jade ruler forced to a halt in midair, Ge Xiuxian gave a cold laugh, raised his hand and shot out several more golden pellets, while simultaneously employing the ground-shortening technique beneath his feet, covering three zhang in a single step as he reached out to grab Yang Wenping by the face.
As long as he could take this boy hostage, the county school wouldn't dare to...
Before he could complete the second step, the true qi inside his chest went into sudden chaos, a sweetness rose at the back of his throat, and a mouthful of blood ca spraying out beyond his control.
Poison?
When had he been poisoned?
Ge Xiuxian stumbled and went down. He struggled to turn himself over, and when he looked up, he found Yang Wenping staring down at him with a cold and indifferent expression.
"Wait! Stop! Do you know that the Golden Valley Trading Company is a royal supplier..."
"What kind of insignia?"
"What? What insignia?"
Ge Xiuxian was thoroughly baffled.
"I'm asking, if you actually have the standing to call yourselves a royal supplier, what brand of rice do you supply to the palace?"
"Yu... Yuzhu!"
"That's absolutely not a royal supplier!"
Yang Wenping said with contempt, "Only the Yuzhi rice that is a specialty of Xuanbing City qualifies as imperial tribute. What gives the Golden Valley Trading Company any right to call themselves a royal supplier?"
"We have special authorization from a noble consort..."
Ge Xiuxian got halfway through the sentence and suddenly noticed that his entire body was bristling with golden needles, and he could not move in the slightest. Even his tongue had gone rigid in his mouth.
"A noble consort?"
Yang Wenping looked as though he had heard sothing genuinely amusing, and couldn't help breaking into a laugh.
"This is exactly what happens when soone has no education and knows nothing about anything. The palace doesn't have consorts. Where would they even co from?"
He recalled the jade ruler and gave a respectful bow toward the county school.
"This student happens to be in need of a research subject. Allow this student to deal with this individual."
Ge Xiuxian was struck by a wave of pure terror.
Research subject? What exactly was he planning to do?
No response ca from the county school, as though nobody had heard Yang Wenping's request.
Yang Wenping took no offense. He gave a short laugh, hoisted Ge Xiuxian over his shoulder, and walked away.
Li Qiuchen didn't learn until after school let out that the impressively loud-voiced hired cultivator of the Golden Valley Trading Company had already been dealt with by Acting Chief Senior Brother Yang.
He had never even gotten a look at what the man looked like.
"Young Master Xu went to the county office and asked around. Those people from the Mining District were indeed brought in by the Golden Valley Trading Company, but they ca in without any understanding of proper conduct and with an overbearing manner. The county magistrate accepted the case but hasn't held any hearing."
When he t with Bai Ke that evening, he received intelligence from the other angle of the situation.
In short, the county magistrate had gone through the motions.
The case had been accepted, but nothing had been examined.
Unlike the dramatic county magistrate judgnt scenes from stage operas, in practice criminal investigation work was primarily the county sheriff's responsibility.
The sheriff arrested people and compiled the case details, then presented everything to the magistrate for a ruling.
If you marched directly to the county office and demanded the magistrate conduct a hearing yourself, that was the equivalent of digging a potato straight from the field and trying to shove it, unpeeled, into the magistrate's mouth.
The county magistrate had no desire to make an enemy of the Golden Valley Trading Company, and given their failure to observe basic social norms, had equally little desire to actively engage with them. He pushed the entire matter to County Sheriff Ma Tiancheng.
Proper procedural channels.
Ma Tiancheng booked the arrested parties into holding, and then went to have a drink.
What hearing? Did people think he had nothing else to do? He'd get around to it when he felt like it.
Late in the night, Master Qin set down his book and was preparing to blow out his lamp and retire, when he heard a faint sound of wind from outside the window.
"Master."
"Co in."
Seeing Yang Wenping push open the door and enter with an otherworldly, ethereal quality about him that was slightly undercut by how long he had clearly gone without proper sleep, Master Qin couldn't help frowning. "How many days has it been since you last slept properly?"
"Seven or eight days, roughly. I happened to encounter sothing I found interesting."
Yang Wenping gave a couple of dry laughs, clasped his hands in a bow, and said, "That person has been questioned. He didn't know much."
"Give
the short version."
"The Golden Valley Trading Company's owner died of illness last year. Several sons fought over the inheritance for half a year. In the end, the third house's Jin Shengxuan ca out on top, partly because a distant cousin from his mother's side had entered the palace and beco a noble consort."
"A noble consort?"
Master Qin frowned. "The palace only has a crown consort-in-waiting. There are no noble consorts. Where would they co from?"
"Country people with no education, believing whatever they're told."
"Could it be a royal consort from one of the princely households?"
"That's probably what the county magistrate thinks too. He'd rather treat it as possibly real in case of misunderstanding through the chain of communication. In any case, since Jin Shengxuan ca to power, he's been aggressively removing the old guard and placing his own people in key positions. This Head Manager Feng who ca to Yun County was previously nothing more than a small travelling peddler. After his sudden rise to fortune..."
Master Qin gave a cold snort. "No wonder he has no refinent whatsoever."
Yang Wenping smiled. "Apparently the noble consort far away in the capital has obtained a royal supplier designation for the Golden Valley Trading Company, intending to replace the existing Yuzhi tribute rice with the company's own Yuzhu variety. Jin Shengxuan used this claim to justify his rise to power and bring the clan elders into submission."
"Complete and utter nonsense."
Master Qin said in a asured tone, "Go and call Gu Yanzhi back. Impersonating imperial connections and fraudulently using the imperial na is a matter for the Internal Affairs Office. I have no desire to continue watching Golden Valley Trading Company riffraff co shouting at the county school gates. If you cannot resolve this matter, there is no further need for you to continue serving as acting chief senior brother."
Yang Wenping beca imdiately anxious. "Master, I..."
Catching the expression on Master Qin's face, sothing shifted in his understanding, and he changed what he was about to say at the last mont. "I'll do my best?"
Master Qin gave a small nod.
Yang Wenping was greatly relieved.
...
"Outrageous!"
Head Manager Feng, who had waited until after dark only to discover that Ge Xiuxian still hadn't returned, was beside himself with fury.
A fully grown man, the trading company's official hired cultivator, and he had simply vanished?
What kind of county school was this? Was this a proper establishnt?
Every last person in Yun County was more pigheaded than the last. Did they not understand that the Golden Valley Trading Company was now a royal supplier?
Fine. If none of you were going to show any respect, then don't bla him for being ruthless.
"Soone get in here! Send a carrier pigeon!"
A subordinate tried to dissuade him. "Head Manager, we ca all this way from ho. There's really no need to be this aggressive. I can see the county magistrate simply wants so goodwill. We could just give him that and..."
"Why should we!"
Head Manager Feng shot the subordinate a withering glare. "He's a county magistrate. A petty official the size of a sesa seed. He expects
to show him goodwill? Is he worth it?"
"My aunt by marriage is a noble consort! An imperial noble consort!"
"My personal dignity is the minor concern. If we fail to extract the diamond sand and cast the divine statue, and the Dowager Empress's birthday celebration is disrupted, that is a matter that costs heads!"
The subordinate persisted gently, "Precisely because it's so important, why lower yourself to bickering with local officials? Simply tell them you are acting on behalf of the noble consort, and the magistrate will certainly cooperate fully."
"Fool!"
Head Manager Feng slapped him across the face. "This is a private family matter. How could I possibly tell the authorities? If word gets out and those censors who submit reports on rumors hear of it, the noble consort's position would be compromised."
"Read more books. Develop so sense."
"Get the carrier pigeon sent imdiately. Have the company dispatch more people. I refuse to believe that a little backwater county like Yun County is beyond the reach of our company's thods."
Once the subordinate had gone, Head Manager Feng finally managed to steady his breathing. He rose and ca to stand by the window.
The environnt of the Mining District filled him with profound discomfort.
Incomprehensible steel machinery wherever he looked, and the constant feeling of being watched from behind, only to find nothing there when he turned.
This wretched place.
All he wanted was to extract so ore. How could it possibly be this difficult?
Jiamu County was so much more agreeable. People there even spoke pleasantly.
A streak of blue light crossed the sky overhead, stirring ripples in the autumn air as it passed.
Head Manager Feng sniffled, and couldn't hold back an enormous sneeze.
The gold rings on his fingers suddenly felt sowhat tighter, but he couldn't bring himself to take them off. Losing even one would cause him more distress than death.
There was an itch at the back of his throat.
Head Manager Feng sneezed again, thinking to himself that he was probably going to catch a chill.
If he ca down with an illness at this critical mont, dical care would an another expense.
Not to ntion that in a place as remote as Yun County, what good physicians could there possibly be?
He felt a prickling sensation on his arms, and reached down to scratch instinctively. But the more he scratched, the more it itched.
He pushed up his sleeve and looked.
His arm was covered in patches of red welts.
"AAAGH!"
What in blazes was this? This place was unclean!
Head Manager Feng scread and bolted out of his room, intending to go confront the innkeeper. When he looked down the corridor, the ard escorts he had brought were lying scattered across the floor at all angles.
Every one of them with blackened faces, foam at their mouths, and completely unresponsive.
"Poison! Soone has poisoned us!"
"HELP, SOBODY HELP!"
Head Manager Feng scread for help with every bit of strength he had, then felt the world tilt and go dark in front of him, and pitched forward face-first onto the floor.
[NEXT CHAPTER]
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