Chapter 68

Zhou Yi still didn’t feel at ease, so he grabbed a few more death-row prisoners and tried touching the bone jade with them, the content they spoke of was all the same.

Except for one particularly good liar, who actually concocted a story in no time.

Seventy percent truth mixed with thirty percent fiction, if one were not careful and vigilant, they might have been deceived by this fellow.

Zhou Yi, out of curiosity, asked, “What crime have you committed to be sent to the imperial prison?”

“Reporting to the lord, I was originally a law-transmitting envoy of the White Lotus Sect,” the prisoner replied.

With both hands, the prisoner offered the bone jade: “Not anymore, now I wish to join the lord to ascend the Minor Dan Mountain, cultivate the Immortal Law, and establish a new Divine Lotus Sect…”

Bang!

The Mountain and River Cauldron smashed the prisoner into a pulp, retrieving the bone jade within it.

Zhou Yi brought several barrels of oil into the dungeon and ignited them, the billowing black smoke woke the prison guards on duty.

After some efforts to extinguish the fire, it died down, and the dungeon was left with ashes where corpses once laid.

The prison guards reported to the Jinyiwei authorities, and in the end, the matter was left unsettled.

The courtyard.

Since being sent to prison, it had been abandoned for four or five years now.

The date trees grew tall and strong, grapevines covered the courtyard, clearly, the soil was very fertile.

Zhou Yi took the gold bars and silver ingots that had been prepared earlier, initially planning to place the bone jade in the courtyard. After more careful thought, he found it improper, so he randomly chose a dried-up well in Divine Capital City and hid it there.

Before leaving.

He looked back at Divine Capital City.

Dawn was breaking.

Zhou Yi had a vague premonition that he wouldn’t know in which year or month he would return—if the dynasty hadn’t changed by then, or if the city itself might even be gone.

With this thought in mind, Zhou Yi went to Old Bai’s grave and burned a large pile of joss paper.

“I’m off!”

…

Xuzhou is one of only two coastal provinces among the sixteen provinces of Fengyang Country, with Dai State to its north, famous for its production of sea salt.

The territory is mountainous and watery with few plains, and the people mostly live by hunting and fishing.

Cloud Mountain originates in the western part of Qi Zhou, cuts through the middle of Xuzhou, dividing it in two, with the end of the mountain range approaching the Eastern Sea.

Zhou Yi set out from Divine Capital City, traveling thousands of miles on foot without taking any carriage or horse. During his journey, he changed his appearance several times, now a robust man, then an old man, and even shrinking his bones to take on the appearance of a teenager.

Trekking to the Eastern Sea, he saw the endless waves.

Zhou Yi rented a fishing boat and spent several months playing on the sea, fulfilling his long-held wish from a previous life.

As winter approached.

Traveling from the eastern foothills of Cloud Mountain and crossing mountains and ridges for seven hundred miles, he finally saw a place surrounded by Eight Peaks.

Shrouded in clouds and mist, the true face within was indistinct and unclear.

“Let’s observe for a while,” Zhou Yi decided.

He found a cave dozens of miles away and began closed-door cultivation of the Guiyuan Technique.

Every morning, he would look towards the mountain peaks, and after a year, he changed location and continued his silent observation.

In the third year, he saw two rainbows fly from the sky and disappear into the clouds. Every few years after that, he could detect the presence of cultivators coming and going, with rainbows of different colors.

“Indeed, it’s a gathering place for cultivators,” Zhou Yi confirmed the location of Minor Dan Mountain and continued to retreat to the cave, where he could still practice the Guiyuan Technique.

In the blink of an eye, ten years went by.

Zhou Yi left Cloud Mountain and headed straight for Heng City, the capital of Xuzhou.

“A centennial celebration is indeed in order,” he mused.

After finding out about the top brothel in the city, he lavishly spent half a month there, using up all his gold and silver.

Leaving the Hundred Flowers Pavilion with nothing left, not even a single silver ingot or gold bar.

Zhou Yi clicked his tongue and said, “After all, it’s a small place, nowhere near as good as the Spring Breeze Building.”

Brothels and inns were where the diverse classes and all sorts of true and false news converged, and with some inquiries, Zhou Yi soon learned the current year and month.

The third year of the Guangde era.

Three years ago, the Orthodox Emperor had died of old age, and the throne was passed to his eldest legitimate son.

The Fengyang National Dynasty’s court was split into two factions, with the Northern Border and Jiangnan each controlling half the territory. In such dire circumstances, the smooth transition of the throne was indeed cause for reflection.

“Old Yu, Yuan Shun, they’re already gone…”

Zhou Yi wasn’t too sentimental; he had seen off many people before, and he would see off even more in the future.

He carefully pondered how to determine whether Minor Dan Mountain was safe or not.

Under normal circumstances, following Ji Sheng’s death, the Jinyiwei would have reported the incident, and the bone jade could have possibly ended up in the hands of the Zhao Imperial Family.

Given Ji Sheng’s deep-seated hate for Emperor Chongming, it was not impossible that he set a trap, using the lure of cultivating the Immortal Law to draw the Zhao family into a domain of evil cultivation.

“The likelihood of this is not high, seeing as the Imperial Clan has many members, sending a few dozen to test the waters wouldn’t cause any significant damage, but still, precautions must be taken.”

Zhou Yi pondered for a moment and had already decided on a plan.

Nighttime.

Zhou Yi, disguised as a blue-robed old Taoist, took away news from the Northern Border from an inconspicuous inn in the city and retrieved a secret report from the Jinyiwei from another ordinary residence.

This is the advantage of power, without needing to ask in person in Divine Capital; information was reserved in all sixteen provincial capitals.

The news from the Northern Border tended to be casual and daily, with Li Hong and Chen Jinyu leaving several invitations, asking Zhou Yi to return to the Capital for a reunion.

“Neither relatives nor friends, what is there to reunite for?”

Zhou Yi shook his head and turned to the last piece of news, noting something unusual.

“The prominent families of Jiangnan intend to support Yang Zheng’s rise to power, claiming they have an immortal as their support, and that Li Hong would undoubtedly die if he dares to ascend the throne.”

A glint flashed in Zhou Yi’s eyes as he turned to review the secret report from the Jinyiwei, which was much more formal than the news from the Northern Border.

The first few pages of the secret report were organized and must have been left by Yuan Shun, while the latter pages were miscellaneous, likely because the commander of the Jinyiwei had changed.

Zhou Yi was not interested in the changes in the court, and he skimmed past matters such as promotions, dismissals, and the extermination of the Nine Clans, and directly looked for news related to Li Hong.

“There are extraordinary individuals in the Capital attempting to assassinate the Great General, all failed, either perishing in military formation or by flying swords and the Imperial Seal.”

Corroborating both pieces of information, he confirmed they were accurate.

“The prominent families of Jiangnan indeed have ties to the Cultivation World, but it’s nothing more than incompetent dogs barking! The Cultivation World likely pays no heed to the mortal realm; otherwise, why would Fengyang Country bear the surname Zhao?”

Zhou Yi casually carved a wooden tag, inscribing ‘Northern Border Personally Initiated’ on the surface, and used the Telepathic Secret Technique inside to record the location where the bone jade was buried.

He left a message at the end.

“…Record the situation inside the minor Dan Mountain carefully, and inform this old man through the message!”

Zhou Yi placed the wooden tag in the tavern and continued to return to Cloud Mountain for cultivation.

After over forty years of arduous cultivation, the Guiyuan Technique was about to break through to the third layer, and every increment in strength reduced the danger by a fraction.

With the Immortal Mountain in sight, Zhou Yi was not at all anxious.

…

Noon.

The sun blazed fiercely.

The tavern’s waiter was dozing off when a figure appeared before him, and he quickly perked up.

“Esteemed guest… Taoist priest, would you like to buy some wine?”

The clothes of the old Taoist before him were too tattered, barely sufficing to cover his body and preserve modesty. His hair freely cascaded down, and his beard was tangled and unkempt, as if he were a wild man who had run out of the mountains.

Zhou Yi shook his head, “What year is it now? Who is the emperor?”

The waiter answered, “It’s the fourteenth year of the Kaiqian era, of course, the Da Qian Sacred Emperor reigns!”

Zhou Yi smiled, “Da Qian Sacred Emperor… Is the emperor named Li Hong?”

“You must not directly call the Sacred Emperor by his name!”

The waiter felt this person was somewhat insane and was about to wave him away when he found the old Taoist had already vanished.

…

Zhou Yi changed into a brocade robe, removed the disguise of beard and hair, and transformed into a handsome young master.

“Closing off for twenty years, the world has changed its dynasty!”

“Since Li Hong has become the emperor, Minor Dan Mountain should be safe; it’s time to take this step.”

Zhou Yi had already reached the third level of Qi Refinement ten years ago, with almost no progress in mana. Through years of arduous cultivation, he found that the accumulated mana would slowly dissipate back to the third level of Qi Refinement.

The more mana he stored, the quicker it dissipated.

“Perhaps this is why those who cultivate immortality seldom deal with the mundane world.”

With mana growth difficult, Zhou Yi focused on understanding formations, and now he was capable of laying the most basic Mystifying Array.

Nightfall.

Zhou Yi went to the inn to get the news left from the Northern Border; as for the secret outpost of the Jinyiwei, it had been abandoned and was unattended.

The innkeeper had also changed, and there might have been several switches, but fortunately, the messages from the Northern Border were still there.

“Oh, it should be called Da Qian now!”

Zhou Yi opened the booklet of messages, which roughly recorded the history of Li Hong’s ascension and the founding of the nation.

In the third year of Guangde, Li Hong and Chen Jinyu ascended Minor Dan Mountain together, becoming registered disciples of Dan Ding Sect. The manager of Minor Dan Mountain reprimanded the prominent families of Jiangnan, strictly forbidding cultivators from disturbing the mortal world, and stated that any offenses would be met with the enforcement of sect regulations!

Extraordinary individuals hidden among the mortals of the prominent families of Jiangnan dared not linger and returned to Minor Dan Mountain for cultivation.

In the sixth year of Guangde.

Li Hong launched a military coup, abolished the Zhao Imperial Family, and changed the country’s name to Da Qian.

In the third year of Kaiqian.

Li Hong pacified Jiangnan, the rebel king Yang Zheng was defeated and perished, and Da Qian unified the old lands of Fengyang Country.

Zhou Yi flipped to the end and saw the information about Minor Dan Mountain.

“Minor Dan Mountain became a marketplace established by Dan Ding Sect, open to orthodox Loose Cultivators…”