Chapter 63

Courtyard.

The night was like water.

Zhou Yi stood in the courtyard, his eyes filled with reluctance to part.

“I can no longer use this identity for the time being. Many people in the Capital and the Northern Border are aware of it, which poses some danger.”

Li Hong, Chen Jinyu, and people from the Wei family seem trustworthy, but Zhou Yi, having spent years in the Heavenly Prison, had seen too much of the fickleness of human nature to measure.

One moment they were the best of friends, the next they were irreconcilable enemies.

“The last time I switched identities, I only thought about making it quick and easy, but I left a huge loophole.”

“This time, I’ve learned my lesson. I’ll transform into someone entirely unrelated to Zhou Yi; no one will suspect any connection between the two. Besides, it’s not like Zhou Yi is dead—he can still show up when necessary.”

Zhou Yi had made up his mind; he would never return to the Heavenly Prison, where there were too many familiar faces.

During the day, Zhou Yi had asked to resign, and Officer Yang did not make things difficult for him, though his face was somewhat gloomy.

Retaliation was unlikely; after all, Zhou Yi was just a jailer skilled in martial arts, not worth the envy and hatred of a hero.

“Living too long is also troublesome; every few decades, I have to switch identities!”

Zhou Yi feigned a sigh and took out a rolled-up blue-covered booklet from his chest.

It recorded, in Pinyin, the individuals and locations within Fengyang Country that were most likely related to the Cultivation World.

Next to each location and person were many annotated analyses, verified through repeated investigations by the Jinyiwei from various prefectures. Zhou Yi would choose the secure and eliminate the risky, and he already had a plan for how to safely blend into the Cultivation World. He was currently fleshing out his strategy.

“Let’s put aside these dangerous places for now. Even if they’re related to the Cultivation World, without knowing their righteousness or danger, I mustn’t touch them recklessly.”

“Therefore, there aren’t many options left—those households that became rich overnight, and the cultivators imprisoned underground in the imperial dungeons!”

Zhou Yi had his Jinyiwei subordinates investigate extraordinary individuals while also keeping an eye on those households that had become rich without reason, clarifying the sources of their wealth. If it related to immortals, they would be under continuous observation.

Cultivators are human too, especially those who are just beginning their path.

They haven’t been cultivating for long and still have familial ties to the mundane world; they often leave Gold and Silver for their families.

Upon investigating the rich households of Fengyang Country over the years, the Jinyiwei found that ninety-nine percent of the reasons for their sudden wealth were rooted in legal trickery—deception, grave robbing, and a myriad of other tactics.

After all, the degree of class solidification in Fengyang Country far exceeded that of Zhou Yi’s previous life.

“After meticulous screening, these three households are the most suspicious. Using covert operatives and mounted scouts from the Jinyiwei to trap them into conversation, they all claimed to have a family member who had become an itinerant Daoist.”

Zhou Yi pondered for a long time, flipping through the information on the three households, but continued to have the mounted scouts keep an eye on them.

“Based on the information tricked out by the mounted scouts, those three potential cultivators are still young and could live for another hundred and eighty years at least. I haven’t yet seen a cultivator’s powers, and it’s not certain if they have means of investigation; it’s not advisable to wait passively.”

The three young cultivators, who might one day return home accomplished and use detection and sensing Spells.

What Zhou Yi might be facing wouldn’t be a chance at immortality, but rather a huge fireball the size of a millstone.

“After repeatedly checking and screening, the safest seems to be the imperial dungeon underground.”

“That cultivator caught by the Dog Emperor, who has been imprisoned in a mundane jail for decades, must be of low strength with no lethal Spells.”

Zhou Yi pondered for a long time and shook his head slightly.

“For now, I’ll seclude myself in the mountains for two or three years, waiting for the investigation results from the Jiangnan aristocratic families before making further plans.”

“However, the hope for this is slim. The Dog Emperor was so obsessed with the path of immortality back then, yet he didn’t touch the Jiangnan aristocratic families; surely he must have his reservations.”

…

The seventh year of the Orthodox era.

The Yuan residence.

Rear Residence.

Yuan Shun bowed respectfully and presented the red sandalwood box with both hands.

“Your Honor, this is this year’s royal tribute tea. I chose each and every leaf, ensuring they are equal in size and uniform in color.”

“Little Yuanzi has put a lot of thought into this.”

Zhou Yi put the tea box into his sleeve, “How is the position of Deputy Commander treating you?”

“With Your Honor’s support, I am now well-established in it.”

Yuan Shun bent even lower, reflecting on the previous year when Feng Zhong died within the palace—an incident that had caused a great uproar.

Feng Zhong, a respected eunuch in charge of the Jinyiwei with the epithet of Inner Minister, had been killed within the palace. It was later investigated and discovered that on the day of the incident, two Innate Grandmasters had made their move. One had drawn away the palace protector tasked with safeguarding Feng Zhong, while the other had assassinated him.

Zhou Yi asked, “Do you have any thoughts on the position of Commander?”

“I was just about to report to Your Honor, the emperor summoned me to the palace a few days ago for questioning.”

Yuan Shun said, “Now that Empress Dowager Zhang has aged, Feng Zhong is dead, and His Majesty has started to use Yu Qingtian as the secondary advisor, I feel that the Zhang family’s ship has reached its end, so I agreed to align with His Majesty’s overtures.”

“As long as you do not hinder this old man’s affairs, you are free to do as you please.”

Zhou Yi nodded slightly, confident in Yuan Shun’s vision and capabilities to have reached his position today.

After Feng Zhong was assassinated by Chen and Wei from the Northern Border, seven or eight people vied for the Deputy Commander position. Yuan Shun didn’t seek Zhou Yi’s help, but managed to secure the position on his own merits.

The assassination of Feng Zhong by Chen and Wei was not only at Zhou Yi’s command, but also a chance for the Orthodox Emperor to resist.

With the Divine Capital in chaos, the Imperial Court naturally had no energy to pay attention to the Northern Border!

“Rest assured, Your Honor, the vital positions within the Jinyiwei are now under my control. The newly appointed Duke Wei has only the name of Commander but cannot mobilize anyone.”

Yuan Shun took out a thick volume of documents, “This is the record of the direct and collateral family members from the eight great families of Jiangnan.”

Zhou Yi flipped through it. Each page was filled with detailed information, and the entire volume easily contained tens of thousands of words.

“I trust your work, talk to me about the key information.”

“Upon investigation, I found that each of the eight great families has three to five remarkable individuals. They usually stay hidden within the family, only revealing their extraordinary skills on the rare occasions they venture out.”

“The identities of these individuals are specially marked in the records,” Yuan Shun said, with a flash of envy in his eyes. By now he no longer doubted the existence of Cultivation World, “They are extremely cautious when traveling outside. If our secret agents show even the slightest slip, they either lose the trail or wind up dead.”

“The truly useful information we’ve gathered is not much and is fully recorded at the end of the volume.”

Zhou Yi turned to the end of the volume, where there were only a few dozen lines of text, presumably overheard by the Jinyiwei operatives in secret.

“Xiaodan Mountain, Qi Yun Peak, Dan Ding Sect…”

These three names flashed quickly through his mind. The previous strange and dangerous locations marked by the Jinyiwei did not match any, either the investigation was wrong or the names in the Cultivation World were different from the mundane world.

Zhou Yi closed the volume, planning to scrutinize each individual’s details upon his return, “What major events have occurred in the Capital these past few years?”

“Feng Zhong is dead and Yu Qingtian has been restored; Your Honor is already aware of this.”

After a moment of reflection, Yuan Shun said, “The only other thing that can be considered a major event is a relative of the Yang family, Yang Zheng, being promoted to commander of the imperial guards. He has quite a reputation among the young generals.”

The position of commander of the imperial guards was a fifth-grade official title and carried real military power in the Divine Capital. Yet in Yuan Shun’s eyes, it was still a junior post, both in terms of authority and influence.

Zhou Yi quickly flipped through the volume to the page about Yang Zheng, recording in detail his actions in the Capital.

In three years’ time, Yang Zheng used Kuaihuo Forest as his base and continued expanding. He nearly monopolized the Divine Capital’s gangs, brothels, and gambling houses, and recently, he had even interfered with the Sushui Canal Transport.

On the surface, he was the commander of the imperial guards, but behind the scenes, he was the underground king of the Divine Capital.

“Yang Zheng seeks more than just high rank and wealth!”