Chapter 411: Trees, Frost, and Water, Swaying in the Wind
Kong Xianglong had been assigned to the Field Operations Office, where he was tasked with tracking down criminals. Today, he had come with a criminal he had arrested. When Xu Qing spotted him, he was chatting with one of the jailers he knew on Level 9.
Lying on the ground next to him was a Dualface, gasping for breath. The Dualface had an impressive cultivation base. Despite being hurt and reclining, it still pulsed with the fluctuations of seven heavenly palaces. It was clearly an impressive representation of its species. That said, it was in bad condition. It had been beaten up so badly it was missing a leg, and from the wound, it had apparently been ripped off.
Kong Xianglong was also hurt, but he didn’t seem worried about the injuries. Seeing Xu Qing, his eyes lit up.
“Xu Qing!”
“Big Bro Kong,” Xu Qing replied, saluting him in return.
The other jailers called out greetings. Quite a few of them had heard that Xu Qing never requested a transfer after being assigned to D-132. What was more, he always went home after work, and had not yet died under mysterious circumstances. That had earned him the admiration of the jailers.
Xu Qing smiled at Kong Xianglong and looked closely at his injuries.
“It’s nothing, really. Flesh wounds. Xu Qing, are you actually a jailer now? Hahaha! I should have expected that.” Kong Xianglong had obviously noted his uniform with its dark flame markings, and also the way the other jailers treated him. He didn’t seem surprised at all that Xu Qing was a jailer. “Actually, back when I heard you were assigned to be the palace lord’s secretary-general, I totally knew that—”
“What exactly did you ‘totally know’?” a cold voice said, interrupting Kong Xianglong before he could finish. It was coming from the staircase leading up to Level 9.
As the voice echoed out, the palace lord’s cold visage appeared as he reached the top of the stairs and walked over to the group.
The jailers all clasped hands and bowed formally.
“Well met, Palace Lord.”
Xu Qing did the same, while Kong Xianglong shivered, quickly clasped hands, and bowed.
All of a sudden, Xu Qing realized that Kong Xianglong looked terrified. He was even sweating.
The pressure coming off of the palace lord was immense, filling all of Level 9. Absolute silence reigned as he looked around at everyone. He looked at the Dualface criminal lying on the ground, then looked at Kong Xianglong.
“Given your cultivation base,” he said coldly, “you could have captured this cultivator with a single sword attack. Why did you use two attacks? People blather on about you being the top chosen of this generation. Is that why you’re so smug all the time? You might not have mastered anything else, but you’ve mastered how to be arrogant.” He turned to Xu Qing. “As for you,” he went on, his tone just as cold as before, “shouldn’t you be back home working on your cultivation already? You got things under control in D-132, do you? Well, if you’re that skilled, maybe I should promote you to Unit C!”
Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. He was aware that the palace lord had a temper. After getting to know some of the other jailers, he had heard some stories about how strict he was. Combined with how the palace lord had scolded him on their first meeting, he knew that responding wouldn’t do any good.
As for Kong Xianglong, he had his head bowed and he wasn’t saying anything. The palace lord shifted his gaze from Xu Qing back to Kong Xianglong. “Well, speak up! I asked you a question!”
Kong Xianglong hesitated then said, “This Dualface cultivator had a handful of half-blood handmaidens, the poor things. Unfortunately, I didn’t control my attacks well and harmed the innocent. That’s why it ended up like this....”
Half-bloods were children born to humans and nonhumans. Oftentimes, their fates were much worse because of their status.
The palace lord took in the information and then said, “Even still, all you did was fight a seven-palace cultivator, yet you still ended up hurt. What else happened? Were you using your official authority to handle personal matters?”
Kong Xianglong was sweating, but given that the palace lord was directly asking him questions, he had no choice but to answer. “The criminal had some friends. They ran away, and though they weren’t on the wanted list, they’d done some really unconscionable things. I couldn’t hold back, so I chased them down and put them to death. Later, another tough opponent showed up, and I killed him too, which is how I got wounded.”
The palace lord looked coldly at Kong Xianglong, then turned and walked back toward the stairs. As he did, his cold voice rang out. “That’s understandable. However, you didn’t follow mission protocol, and as a result, side problems kept cropping up. As your punishment, you’ll be locked up here for seven days. Take him away!”
With that, the palace lord disappeared.
Xu Qing looked sympathetically at Kong Xianglong. As far as Xu Qing was concerned, the palace lord was being a bit unreasonable.
But Kong Xianglong just sighed and then smiled bitterly at Xu Qing. “If I’d known this would happen, I would have just dropped off the prisoner and left. How unlucky!”
Two jailers approached, bound the Dualface prisoner, and then walked up to Kong Xianglong.
Kong Xianglong resigned himself to his fate and held out his hands. They put manacles on them, and then led him down into the prison. Just before disappearing down the stairs, he turned and waved to Xu Qing.
Xu Qing watched him go, then left for his sword pavilion. Settling down cross-legged, he looked out into the night and thought about Kong Xianglong being rebuked and taken into custody. It just went to emphasize how much the palace lord emphasized following the rules. He had rebuked Xu Qing and had done the same to Kong Xianglong, who was a famous chosen.
So this is what the Swordsage Palace is like....
The more he thought about it, the more he liked it. The rules were simple, and though strength was important, the fact remained that meritorious service and following the rules was also important.
Back when Big Bro Chen mentioned that Zhang Siyun’s Sect Grandfather was one of the four honor guards, he made a point to say that he didn’t practice favoritism and engage in cronyism. With a palace lord like this, there’s no way anybody will be allowed to do that.
After all of the things Xu Qing had experienced so far in the Swordsage Palace, including all the seemingly trivial matters, he felt like he was really starting to understand the place.
He also hadn’t forgotten what Sir Inkwell said.
There’s the clone of a god locked up in the prison depths??
Xu Qing shook his head. As far as he was concerned, knowing that information wasn’t going to do much. It wasn’t as if he could look into it and confirm the truth. Therefore, he tucked the information away, closed his eyes, and focused on his fifth heavenly palace.
That heavenly palace was just on the verge of forming, and based on what he could tell, he would only need five or six more days to complete the materialization.
The more progress I make, the longer it takes for the materialization.
Lately he had been putting a lot of thought into whether he should actually put his bluegreen dragon into a heavenly palace....
For one thing, he felt like his four current heavenly palaces were pretty amazing, and that the bluegreen dragon was only average. When forming gold cores for your heavenly palaces you could add an outside item or a technique. Because of that, Xu Qing had been contemplating using an imperial-class technique. Theoretically speaking, it was possible, but Xu Qing lacked detailed information about how to do it. After some thought, he finally braced himself, took out a transmission jade slip, and sent a voice message to Arch-Immortal Plumdark.
“Senior, are you there?”
“No.”
Her reply came almost instantly. Xu Qing sat there quietly for a moment, but no further message came. Something about Arch-Immortal Plumdark’s tone had seemed off, but he had no idea what it meant. Had he somehow done something to offend her? Next, he sent a message to Master Fifth asking her about using imperial-class techniques along with heavenly palaces.
“What? Arch-Immortal Plumdark didn’t explain that to you? Before we came here to the county capital, your Master specifically asked her to explain how your imperial-class technique can be used to make a gold core.
“A few days ago, I even saw Arch-Immortal Plumdark talking with some of her friends about that exact subject. After all, imperial-class techniques are all different, so you need to put a lot of emphasis on the specific method you use. Arch-Immortal Plumdark visited the three great sects, and even paid a lot of money to browse through their Halls of Scriptures and Magic looking for details.
“If you just randomly do it, you won’t get hurt, but at the same time you won’t succeed.”
After some more thought, Xu Qing still couldn’t figure out why Arch-Immortal Plumdark would do so much for him. Feeling confused and nervous, he sent her another voice message.
“Senior...?”
“Huh? Who are you?” she replied through the jade slip.
“It’s me, Xu Qing.”
“Oh. You mean the one who’s been hiding out from me all the time in his sword pavilion and hasn’t come to see me even once?”
Xu Qing wasn’t sure how to respond. Finally, he quietly said, “Master Fifth explained everything. So… I offer profound thanks, Senior!”
The response came in the form of a cold harrumph. Then she said, “Your fifth heavenly palace is almost done, right? On the day you finish it, come see me. By the way, I really like the osmanthus cakes from the south part of the city.” [1]
“Okay.” Feeling a bit relieved, Xu Qing put away the jade slip and made sure to commit ‘osmanthus cakes’ to memory.
I need to find an opportunity to pay her back. Xu Qing wasn’t very good at expressing his feelings, so he took out his bamboo slip, flipped it to the side with benefactors, and carved ‘Plumdark’ on it.
Now, I still need to figure out how to make a lot of military credits. The thought of military credits made him frown. After becoming a jailer, he got a much better idea of how military credits were earned. For one thing, jailers got a certain amount per month. It wasn’t much, and didn’t come anywhere close to putting a dent in what he needed. If he wanted to earn more, he would have to go out on missions. Except, there weren’t many missions available. And those with good rewards were generally designed for either groups or Nascent Soul cultivators. That said, as long as he kept saving up, he would eventually reach his goal. Therefore, he decided that he should just accept some missions near the county capital. With that decision made, he closed his eyes and started meditating.
Time passed. When it was bright outside, he opened his eyes.
Why do I feel like I’ve forgotten something...?
He frowned thoughtfully.
Will today be the day the palace lord asks me if I have D-132 under control?
Something about that thought seemed unusual. And what was most unusual of all was that he seemed to be having memory problems.
What’s going on? He had always been able to fully trust his memory. And he rarely forgot things.
Since when did my memory start going bad? After thinking back to recent events, his pupils constricted. I’ve been forgetting things related to D-132, but nothing else. That means the problem must have started when I was assigned there!
His mind spun. All of a sudden, he thought back to what Chen Boli had told him.
“When you think you know everything, you’ll find there’s only more to find out.”
After some more thought, his eyes glittered coldly.
“D-132 is really affecting me somehow.”
It was light outside, but it wasn’t a sunny and dazzling day. It was hazy and rainy. The rainy season in the county capital would last for months. Xu Qing stood, his eyes cold as he pushed open the door of the sword pavilion and walked through the wind and rain toward the Corrections Division.
Once inside, he projected messages to Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior and the shadow.
“Starting now, I want both of you to record everything that happens.”
The patriarch and shadow were both surprised, but they both voiced their acknowledgment.
“Milord, what’s going on?” the patriarch asked cautiously.
”I suspect that some outside power is tampering with my mind. Interfering with my memories.”
Eyes growing increasingly cold, he walked down to Level 57 and then... into D-132!
At some point, D-132 had stopped being so dark and cold. The head had stopped talking so much, the cloud troll didn’t eat its own tentacles. The Rockdevil trembled as it rotated in place, and Sir Inkwell started showing his face more often. Perhaps some of that was because of the hard work of the shadow and patriarch.
Upon entering D-132 and looking around, Xu Qing came up with an idea.
The boy appeared, standing not too far away, looking slightly uncomfortable. Xu Qing glanced at him briefly, then started walking down the path like he often did, checking on all the cells.
When he reached the Rockdevil, he saw the chattering head. Instead of rolling around on the ground like usual, it was atop the millstone, staring at Xu Qing with an odd expression.
It looked at Xu Qing. He looked back.
The head didn’t say anything.
“Why so quiet today?” Xu Qing said calmly.
“I don’t want to get stomped. Besides, have you ever seen a living person talking to a dead one?” The head grinned very gruishly.
“I have,” Xu Qing replied.
The head was visibly surprised.
“I haven’t just seen it, I’ve talked about it,” Xu Qing said, sounding very serious.
The head looked back quizzically, then shivered and turned around so it was facing away from Xu Qing.
Xu Qing kept walking until he was in front of the Paintedfolk cell. Looking at Sir Inkwell, he said, “Repeat to me everything you’ve ever said to me. In full. Leave out one word and I’ll put you to death.”
The old man gaped.
Face completely expressionless, Xu Qing waved his hand, causing his shadow to stretch into the cell.
Sir Inkwell immediately started talking. Obviously, he had a very sharp memory, as he managed to repeat every single thing he had ever said since Xu Qing was assigned to D-132.
Hearing it, Xu Qing nodded, then went back to the door and sat down to meditate. The day passed, and nothing unusual happened. It was just like any other day. In fact, when his shift was over, he simply walked out. He went all the way back to his sword pavilion without stopping anywhere along the way.
Once seated cross-legged, he said, “You first, Master Freespirit.”
The black iron skewer flew out and the patriarch created a projection of himself. Looking very somber, he waved his hand, causing an image to appear.
It was Xu Qing.
The recording showed everything he did that day from the moment he stepped into the Corrections Division until he left D-132. Everything was recorded in detail, without anything missing. It also contained everything that Sir Inkwell had said. After watching the recording and not spotting anything unusual, Xu Qing had the shadow show its recording. Just like the first recording, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
As Xu Qing thought about it, a possibility suddenly occurred to him.
Am I just thinking too much into this?
Eventually he squashed the thought and once again examined the recording in the jade slip. His eyes glittered as he focused on Sir Inkwell.
Voice trembling, Sir Inkwell said, “Exalted Jailer... do you know how many people are actually locked up in D-132? When you think back, can you determine... how many prisoners there actually are?
“Exalted one, I really had no choice but to say that stuff. That shadow was about to eat me! I had to do it to buy some time! Otherwise I’d be done for. Exalted one, please forgive me! Forgive me. Just this one time!”
Xu Qing listened to that part of the recording a few times, then finally performed an incantation gesture, causing the part where Sir Inkwell asked for forgiveness to play in a loop over and over again.
“Master Freespirit, Little Shadow,” he said quietly. “Listen to what he’s saying, and tell me, is Sir Inkwell... actually talking to me?”
1. Osmanthus cake is a real-life Chinese pastry. It even has a wikipedia article complete with a picture. ☜