Chapter 26

Virtues

Li Mubai waved his hand. The coachman was lifted by a magical wind and set down beside the road.

The established Confucian scholar took hold of the reins and uttered gently, “You are a horse bred for a thousand miles.”

An astonishing transformation was happening. The ordinary brown horse let out a long and loud whinny.

Beneath the brown coat, cords of muscles flexed and rippled. In a blink of an eye, the ordinary horse doubled its size and took off.

A trail of dust followed Li Mubai’s carriage.

Zhang Zhen grunted. “Get off.”

He set his coachman down by the road and took the reins. “You are a strong horse bred for a thousand miles, and you have six legs!”

A similar transformation happened—the black horse’s muscles bulged and stretched over its growing frame.

The main difference was this horse had its abdomen ripped open as bones, nerves, and muscles assembled into two additional legs.

The six-legged black horse kicked up a cloud of dust as it galloped away. Within moments, it caught up to Li Mubai’s carriage.

“Oh, you shameless man! Six-legged horses do not exist in nature!” Li Mubai shouted.

Zhang Zhen replied, “It does if I say so.”

“Fine! Then, my horse will have eight legs.”

“You’re so set on stealing my disciple, aren’t you? My carriage is light as a paper, the winds can pick it up!”

As Zhang Zhen’s words fell, a wind blew. His carriage floated along with the breeze and pulled ahead of Li Mubai’s carriage.

Unwilling to admit defeat, Li Mubai called out, “My carriage can ride the clouds.”

A white cloud manifested beneath the wheels of Li Mubai’s carriage and carried the vehicle into the air.

The scene made Xu Pingzhi’s jaw drop. When the two carriages faded into the distance, he wet his lips and said, “Scholars are truly big talkers.”

Xu Xinnian stared into the sky and muttered, “Those are not boasts. They’re demonstrating the fifth-ranked Confucianism, virtue.”

It was also known as literary chaos, dubbed by a drunk Principal Imperial Astronomer.

…

Xu Qian ended up in a cell with manacles around his wrists and ankles. He sat on a disintegrating straw mat and leaned back against the cold wall. He was being held captive in the Ministry of Justice.

The awful smell of humidity and rot brought back memories of his first days in this ancient world.

From the case collections, Xu Qian knew such harassment cases were not out of the ordinary. Such trivial matters would never reach the ears of the Emperor.

Only matters of great import would be brought up to the Emperor’s court.

‘Inspections are abound. Aren’t the Zhou family worried this would be used against them?’ Xu Qian exhaled.

“A quick death to me and a threat to my uncle and his family would clear this mess up. I admit I was wrong about the middle class. Although life is comfortable, an encounter with the upper echelon can easily change everything. To have a respectable life, one has to gain authority and power.”

Clank! The metal door opened and footsteps echoed in the corridor. A jailer appeared before Xu Qian’s cell with two armed and armored soldiers.

“It’s your last meal,” the jailer said with a mocking grin.

He opened the door to Xu Qian’s cell and stepped back. “Get out.”

The two soldiers had their hands firm on their weapons—their expressions suggested they would not hesitate to deliver violence.

Despite the special manacles around his wrists and ankles, Xu Qian’s captors were cautious. The man was a martial artist at maximum refinement. In desperation, he could lash out and seriously injure them.

“Please cooperate. You don’t want us to sever your tendons and drag you out.”

Xu Qian stewed for a moment before getting up on his feet.

…

In the Ministry of Justice, Minister Sun was at his desk sorting through the mountainous piles of scrolls and books.

Suddenly, he had the urge to look out the window.

As he stared out, he saw two silhouettes in the distance. As they neared the building, he could see that they were horse carriages—one rode the wind while the other rode the clouds.

The two carriages raced each other and touched down at the same moment.

The two horses collapsed onto the ground, their entire life force spent in the span of minutes. The horses twitched and passed away in the main courtyard of the Ministry of Justice.

The guards on duty rushed toward the dying animals.

Minister Sun walked out to the courtyard, a stern expression on his squarish face. He was dressed in a scarlet robe.

“Brother Chunjing, Brother Jinyan, what brings you to my court?”

Although the Imperial College and the White Deer Academy had a longstanding feud, having two established Confucian scholars in his courtyard clued Minister Sun in on the gravity of the situation. He looked expectantly at the two men.

Zhang Zhen folded his hands and said, “The Ministry of Justice has captured a student of mine, Xu Qian. I hope Minister Sun can see that he is released.”

A student from the White Deer Academy was arrested?

‘These White Deer Academy elders will protect their young even if they were in the wrong…’ Minister Sun said, “The Ministry of Justice doesn’t arrest people without cause. Please clarify the situation.”

With the support of the Imperial family, the Imperial College had forced the White Deer Academy into a corner when it came to court appointments.

Who could they complain to if the imperial courts chose not to elect their scholars for official appointments?

However, the lack of appointments did not mean the White Deer Academy was a pushover. After all, their academy held the path of Confucianism—the holy grail to all scholars in the realm.

The established Confucian scholars were famed for defending their students, therefore unless there was a violation of the law, the ministry officials would never arrest a Confucian scholar.

Before the Confucian elders could speak, a few bailiffs came running into the courtyard. “Minister Sun, the Imperial Astronomers are here. We couldn’t hold the white robes back.”

Minister Sun and the officials turned around to find the white robes gathering inside the courtyard.

The leader was a man with a kiln symbol embroidered on his white robe. He had bushy eyebrows, a prominent nose, and persistent dark circles around his eyes.

He was the fourth disciple of the Principal Imperial Astronomer—Song Qing.

The show of force made Minister Sun scowl. “Charging into the Ministry of Justice is an offense! Retreat while you have the chance.”

Song Qing stood firm and bowed with hands clasped before him. “Minister, we are here for a prisoner of yours.”

The request was similar to that of the Confucian elders. Intrigued, Minister Sun asked, “Who?”

“Xu Qian, the man who was wrongly arrested today.”

It was the same man. Who was this Xu Qian? To be coveted by the White Deer Academy and the Imperial Astronomers, the man must be a saint and a genius.

In Dafeng, no one wished to get on the bad side of the Principal Imperial Astronomer. Even the Confucians of the White Deer Academy swallowed their pride when they were mocked by the drunk sorcerer.

“What’s going on? Who is Xu Qian?”

“You missed the news. Remember the missing tax money, Xu Qian is the person who solved it.”

“But the man is a martial artist, why would the Confucians and the Imperial Astronomers be interested in him?”

“Odd… Why did we arrest him?”

Whispers traveled among the officials in the Ministry of Justice.

Minister Sun summoned an official to his side. “Did we arrest someone by the name of Xu Qian today?”

The official answered and quickly left. A moment later, he came back with a stack of official documents.

“There is no record of that name in the scroll,” the official reported.

Minister Sun’s expression darkened.

“Who arrested the man?”

“That I know.” The official scanned the crowd and spotted his target. “Officer Huang.”

All eyes turned to the green-robed official who was named.

Officer Huang had just returned to the Ministry of Justice and enjoyed a cup of tea. Before he could reap the rewards from helping Assistant Minister Zhou and his son, his deed was revealed to the whole ministry.