Chapter 47

The sky was just beginning to brighten.

There were already quite a few breakfast stalls on the streets.

Zhou Yi, starting from one end and working his way to the other, ate his fill as the food in his stomach was refined into nothingness by his circulating mana.

“This salty tofu pudding is great, another bowl please!”

Along the way, he met neighbors and greeted them with a smile, young ones as ‘auntie’ and the elderly as ‘old lady’—he couldn’t go wrong.

A neighbor asked in confusion, “Who is this handsome young man?”

“My master was Zhou Yi. He asked me to seek my fortune in the Capital before he passed away.”

At this moment, Zhou Yi, appearing to be in his twenties, closely resembled his true appearance, and being nourished by the spiritual energy over the years, his appearance had become quite remarkable in the eyes of ordinary people.

Compared to Old Bai, Zhou Yi consoled himself by valuing temperament over appearance.

“The disciple of Master Zhou!”

The neighbor was half-convinced, “You stayed in that courtyard last night?”

In the eyes of those nearby, Zhou Yi was seen as a capable individual. He spoke with gentle warmth, and whenever neighbors encountered any troubles, a single word to the officials would resolve them. He was highly respected.

“Yes, my master set up mechanisms in the yard, and ordinary people who enter would end up…”

Zhou Yi gestured a throat-slitting motion, “I made some noise dismantling the mechanisms last night, I’m afraid I may have disturbed you, sir.”

“Ah, I see, no harm done.”

The old man chuckled, “I was wondering how such a capable person as Master Zhou could have a haunted house!”

The others rejoiced in agreement. Ever since the ghost rumors began, those who had yet to move out were mostly the ones who lacked the means.

Now that the rumors were dispelled, not only could they be at ease, but the fallen house prices might even rise again.

It was nearing midday.

Zhou Yi arrived at the prison. The guards on duty didn’t recognize him, but everyone recognized silver.

“Warden Liu?”

The guard recalled, “Lord Liu has been promoted. He is now the Assistant Minister in the Ministry of Punishments. If you need him, you should go to the Ministry of Punishments.”

At that moment.

An old guard came out of the prison, escorting a prisoner in uniform.

Zhou Yi’s eyes lit up as he approached and called out, “Could you be Warden Feng?”

Feng Qiao had been a jailer for most of his life. It was the first time someone had addressed him with such respect, and he cheerfully spoke with a nasal tone just like the head jailer.

“Hmm, who are you? What are you doing in the prison?”

“Warden Feng, before my master passed away, he pointed me to the prison to seek work. He told me about you, said that you’re imposing and have a mole of fortune on your forehead.”

Zhou Yi took out a letter of recommendation from his chest, penned by himself, the handwriting naturally unmistakable.

“Old Zhou’s… disciple?”

Feng Qiao scrutinized him carefully, comparing him to his memory, and found a resemblance of four or five points, “Old Zhou was a carefree man, the Spring Breeze Building was like his home. Surely you aren’t his son, are you?”

“I’m from Yizhou, my hometown. During the war, I became a displaced person.”

Zhou Yi explained, “I almost starved to death in Xuanzhou, but fortunately, I met my master who said I had a talent for martial arts and took me as his disciple.”

No one could verify this background. Yizhou had only become part of Fengyang Country five or six years ago, and they hadn’t completely sorted out the governance of the people before Great Yong took it back.

“Really, you’re not?”

Feng Qiao looked skeptical but didn’t make it difficult, “I’ll take you to Colonel Lu. He was very good friends with your master; he should be able to arrange a job for you.”

A short while later.

Colonel Lu asked, “Are you really not Old Zhou’s son?”

Zhou Yi, helplessly, repeated his denials.

“How did Old Zhou pass away?”

Colonel Lu asked, “Back in the day, his strength was said to be top-notch in the Capital. Aren’t martial arts masters supposed to live long lives?”

Zhou Yi looked sad, “My master attempted to cleanse his marrow forcefully five years ago. It failed, and he injured his marrow. He struggled for four years but ultimately didn’t make it.”

Martial arts body cultivation starts with shaping the skin membrane, tendons, bones, and refining the viscera, requiring relentless polishing day after day. Those with natural talent in cultivation techniques and medicinal decoctions, without a shortage of either, generally face no major bottlenecks.

Only the marrow cleansing is different. Blood and qi seep into the depths of the bones, cleansing the marrow which is ten times more delicate than the viscera—a slight mishap can result in severe injury.

Those seniors in the jianghu who have fully refined their viscera are not ignorant of the methods of marrow cleansing. Most simply dare not take a step further.

Having already acquired wealth and status at the stage of refining the viscera, they no longer possess the courage of their earlier days when they were willing to stake their lives!

“A clay pot kept near the well inevitably breaks. How could Old Zhou, a man of such wisdom who has been cautious all his life, become reckless in his old age?”

Colonel Lu sighed, examined the recommendation letter, and nodded, “Since you are Old Zhou’s disciple, you should indeed be given a job. What do you have in mind?”

“Delivering meals.”

Zhou Yi said, “My master told me that those who deliver meals live longer.”

“Ha ha!”

Colonel Lu chuckled and clapped his hands, “Those words must indeed be Old Zhou’s. Zhou Li, um, from now on I’ll call you Little Zhou. You will be in charge of delivering meals during the day.”

“Thank you, Colonel Lu.”

Zhou Yi knew that winning trust in a short time was difficult, as spies often infiltrated the prison, attempting to secretly rescue certain prisoners.

This issue wasn’t hard to solve. Just stay in prison for a decade or two, and by then, no one would be suspicious.

Time would smooth everything over!

Colonel Lu asked, “How much of your master’s skills in interrogating prisoners have you learned?”

“My master praised me, saying that ‘the student surpasses the teacher.'”

Zhou Yi confidently said, “Does Colonel Lu have a difficult prisoner to interrogate? Just hand them over to me, and at most in a day’s time, even a man of iron will not last.”

“Indeed, there is one.”

Colonel Lu said, “We caught a bandit a few days ago and have been interrogating for days without finding out where their lair is.”

Zhou Yi feigned a bewildered expression just in time, “There are bandits near Divine Capital?”

The more one lives, the more one experiences, and naturally, the better one becomes at acting. It was easy to play the role of a young, green, and naive youth.

“Wherever there are people who cannot get a meal, there are bandits.”

Seeing his demeanor, Colonel Lu’s doubts diminished a bit, “It’s just that they are blind, robbing ordinary merchants is one thing, but a few days ago, they actually hijacked the goods of the Assistant Minister of Rites. The orders from above are strict—that they must be eradicated!”

“Merely a group of bandits, they should be easy to interrogate!”

An hour later.

Zhou Yi pried open the bandit’s mouth; the bandit stronghold turned out to be on the southern foot of Mountain of Eternal Life.

The bandits had secretly colluded with the soldiers stationed at Mountain of Eternal Life. Whenever officers came to investigate, the soldiers would cover for the bandits, which is why they could never be wiped out.

The bandits were responsible for raiding the goods, while the soldiers handled the disposal of the loot and divided the silver!

“Little Zhou, well done!”

Colonel Lu’s eyes shone, “This is a great achievement. We can even make an appearance before His Majesty!”

The bandits, the imperial guards, the Assistant Minister of Rites—all paled in comparison to the southern foothills of Mountain of Eternal Life.

The site of the Imperial Mausoleum of Fengyang Country had become a hiding place for bandits, and to put it more bluntly, was it taking advantage of the Zhao family’s dragon energy?

“Congratulations, Colonel Lu.”

Zhou Yi showed some shock on the surface, but his heart remained calm. He had been in the imperial prison for nearly forty years and had seen even more bizarre cases.

He had also seen the imperial mausoleum guards a couple of times—they could be described as a group of paupers forgotten by the world.

Only during the emperor’s burial would they feast on meat and vegetables; on normal days, they lived by farming on the mountain.

Now that they could not get a meal, contemplating a side business to make some money was understandable!

“When did I become so cold-blooded?”

Zhou Yi touched his own face, shook his head slightly, and then smiled again, congratulating Colonel Lu.

As for what followed, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of War would handle the case and catch the thieves. Zhou Yi had just entered the prison and already made a great contribution. It was easy for him to establish a foothold.

The jailers treated “Zhou Li” quite well, after all, they had been greatly favored by his master in the past.

For instance, at the Spring Breeze Building, Zhou Yi would always handle the bill.