The young Daoist had a horsetail whisk in his hand, and the weathered Daoist had a long sword on his back. Other than that, the two of them were dressed exactly the same. They both wore a purple-gold lotus crown on their heads and a yellow-black Taiyi robe. Coupled with their cloud shoes, they looked like immortals.
(TL Note: The Taiyi robe looks like this: https://baike.baidu.com/pic/%E5%A4%AA%E4%B9%99%E7%9C%9F%E4%BA%BA/5476523/1/3b87e950352ac65c7beebe67f3f2b21193138a3f?fr=lemma&fromModule=lemma_top-image&ct=single#aid=1&pic=3b87e950352ac65c7beebe67f3f2b21193138a3f)
“Senior Brother, where did this Chen Feng come from? Where did he get such inhuman martial arts?”
The older looking Daoist frowned.
When the young Daoist heard this, he flicked his horsetail whisk and made a divination with his free hand.
After a while, he suddenly exclaimed,
“It’s strange. This person has no cause and effect tied to him. I can’t divine his fate as well as his birth and death. He actually has the same result as Perfected Master Windwalker.”
The experienced Daoist was shocked, “There’s actually such a thing? Senior Brother, did you make a mistake again?”
The young Daoist was immediately dissatisfied, “Nonsense. In recent years, my predictions have become more and more accurate. I can always hit three or four out of ten times.”
“… How is this accurate?”
“If you have the ability, do the math. Otherwise, shut up.”
The young Daoist retorted unhappily.
The experienced Daoist said embarrassedly, “I don’t know how to calculate the future. You cultivate spell techniques, I cultivate martial arts, you seek the Dao, and I protect you. Wasn’t it decided long ago by Master? Why do you have to mock me, Senior Brother?”
“You’re the one who doesn’t have the aptitude to practice spells. I still remember clearly how you threw a tantrum and begged Master back then. You even suffered a beating.”
“Ahem… I wonder if that Old Daoist Wei from the Clear Spirit Sect is lying to me. Has this Perfected Master Windwalker really reached the Natural Dao Realm…”
The experienced Daoist looked embarrassed and stiffly changed the topic.
The young Daoist snorted and did not expose the other party. He continued along the same lines,
“Didn’t we come here to find out more about him? According to the records of my Righteous Heart Sect Ancestral Master, a person with such a fruitless fate has many strange abilities. He’s suspected to be an immortal who has descended to the mortal world. He once appeared more than a hundred years ago, but I didn’t expect him to appear again today.
If the records are true, then this Perfected Master Windwalker might really be that so-called Heavenly Thunder Lord, and that Chen Feng is probably some other immortal who has descended to the mortal world.”
As he spoke, the young Daoist stopped smiling. He lowered his voice and sighed.
“The Zi Wei Imperial Star is dim, and there’s also such strange people who have descended to the world. This world is becoming more and more chaotic. It’s a sign of troubled times…”
…
Ning Tian, Zhao Manor.
Magistrate Zhao Xing’an was welcoming an envoy.
“Greetings, Lord Zhao.”
The envoy cupped his hands and smiled faintly, his attitude appearing quite arrogant.
“Lord Jin, please come in.”
Zhao Xing’an smiled as he replied. His attitude was warm, but he did not seem to be trying to curry favor with him.
This envoy, surnamed Jin, was someone from the faction of the Left Prime Minister, Lu Wenzong. He had come to discuss matters on behalf of the Left Prime Minister.
In recent years, Lu Wenzong had been in charge of managing the Emperor’s autumn patrol and was deeply loved by the Emperor. He had quite a bit of power in the court and was the leader of the Lu Party.
In the court, there were the Qin, Lu, Zhu, and so on factions. Most of the time, they fought fiercely.
Although Zhao Xing’an was not from the Lu Family, he had been the Ning Tian Magistrate for many years and was already experienced. He would not cause trouble for himself in this aspect.
The two of them sat down in the back hall. A servant served tea and chatted as they drank.
Envoy Jin took a sip of tea and casually praised it before getting straight to the point.
“His Majesty has already set off a few days ago. The journey towards the capital along the way has already been arranged. Minister Lu has previously sent someone to inform Lord Zhao, and this is not the first time Lord Zhao has received His Majesty. I don’t think I need to say much.”
“Of course.” Zhao Xingan nodded with a smile and asked, “Does Minister Lu have any new requirements for sending Lord Jin to visit?”
Envoy Jin nodded and said slowly, “His Majesty heard that there’s a Perfected Master Windwalker in Ning Tian Prefecture and is very interested. He might want to summon this person, so the Left Minister sent me to make some preparations to see if this Daoist is really talented, lest a swindler bewitches the sacred ears of our Emperor.”
When Zhao Xing’an heard this, he immediately smiled, “Hehe, the Left Minister is worrying too much this time. Perfected Master Windwalker is a true expert who has attained the Dao. He can summon the wind and rain. This is what I saw with my own eyes.”
However, Envoy Jin did not buy it. He said calmly, “It’s not that I don’t believe Lord Zhao, but Minister Lu wants me to see it with my own eyes. Otherwise, it won’t count.”
Zhao Xingan blinked, “Then what does Lord Jin plan to do?”
Envoy Jin rubbed the edge of his cup with the lid before slowly speaking,
“How about this? Get that Perfected Master Windwalker to see me and use the so-called ‘immortal technique’ in front of me for my inspection. If it’s full of flaws, get someone to take him down and send him to prison to see if he’ll be punished for deceiving the public with demonic words or for deceiving the emperor.
If he can truly prove that the rumors are real, then I’ll test his personality. If he’s arrogant because of his talent, I’ll expel him from Ning Tian Prefecture to prevent him from offending His Majesty when His Majesty wants to summon him. If this person is obedient, Minister Lu wants me to teach him some words to please His Majesty so that this person won’t offend him.”
When Zhao Xing’an heard this, a strange expression appeared on his face.
He could tell that this person did not believe in Perfected Master Windwalker methods at all. He only treated it as something to make the Emperor happy. His attitude was condescending, wanting to control everything and not allow any unexpected changes to happen.
Zhao Xing’an was not surprised by the other party’s attitude. This envoy was not from Jiangchun, but from the north. He had never seen Zhou Jing’s methods with his own eyes.
Envoy Jin noticed Zhao Xingan’s hesitation and frowned, “Lord Zhao, this is Minister Lu’s order. Could it be that you have some difficulties?”
Zhao Xing’an coughed a little,
“I have no objections. It’s just that in my opinion, it’s better for Envoy Jin to visit personally.”
“What do you mean? As the magistrate, can’t you order a commoner around?”
Envoy Jin could not understand the other party’s thought process.
“Heh, you’re right. I really can’t move him…”
Of course, Zhao Xing’an was too embarrassed to admit it directly. Moreover, he did not want to offend Perfected Master Windwalker, so he chuckled,
“If I summon this person to visit and explain the reason, this person will definitely be prepared to deal with Envoy Jin’s interrogation. This way, it will be difficult to tell if it’s true or not. Therefore, I feel that it’s better for Envoy Jin to suddenly visit and catch him off guard…”
Envoy Jin frowned, feeling that Zhao Xing’an was trying to brush him off.
However, he thought for a moment and did not refuse. He nodded and said, “Alright, I’ll make a trip… Hmph, this is giving him a lot of face.”
Zhao Xing’an smiled without saying anything.
…
In the Ye family residence.
In the alchemy room, Bill sat cross-legged on the ground with his eyes closed in deep thought, waiting for the furnace to finish boiling the herbs.
The rich smell of medicine filled the air.
There was no one else in the room. It was quite quiet, with only the crackling of firewood.
Suddenly, Bill’s body trembled, and he slowly opened his eyes. His gaze went from wooden to lively.
“Phew, I’m back…”
Zhou Jing took a deep breath. His consciousness had already been projected onto this body.
This time, he chose to project himself to Bill’s side.
Because in autumn, it was said that the Emperor was coming to Ning Tian Prefecture for an autumn tour, so he switched to Bill to avoid missing the Emperor’s visit.
As for Chen Feng, he had already arrived at Jiangchun. It was actually quite fast to take a boat to the Wu Mountain Sect. However, Zhou Jing told him not to be in a hurry to visit for the time being. The placement plan was for Chen Feng to take a detour in Jiangchun and make a name for himself first.
He planned to personally visit the Wu Mountain Sect to obtain some martial arts cultivation techniques the next time he projected himself.
“Now that Bill has stayed in Ning Tian Prefecture for a few months, his reputation has spread more and more. Often, people from other state capitals will specially come to Ning Tian to visit. At the same time, their relationship with the nobles of Ning Tian Prefecture has become more solid…”
Zhou Jing pinched his temples and analyzed Bill’s experiences during his placement.
Under his influence, the Ye family had befriended more high-ranking officials and nobles. Now, they were almost at the level of worshiping him.
Grandfather Ye specially carved out a few courtyards from the residence and left them for Zhou Jing to live in alone. He did not allow the juniors in the family to disturb him.
After Bill’s magic aptitude increased, his sorcery ability had also improved a lot during this period of cultivation. The Gale Spirit’s skill tree had already reached Tier 4 and was starting to touch upon Tier 5.
His ability to summon the wind and rain was much stronger than the last time he astral traveled.
“I wonder if the Emperor has set off. How long will it take for him to reach Ning Tian Prefecture…”
Zhou Jing pondered to himself.
Not long after, he finished refining this furnace of pills. He temporarily stopped refining and walked out of the alchemy room.
When he arrived at the entrance of the courtyard, Zhou Jing realized that a butler was waiting here.
When the butler saw Zhou Jing come out, he hurriedly went up to him and said respectfully,
“Perfected One, someone is here to visit…”