Seeing Li Ban's complicated expression, Du An waved a hand. "There are pros and cons to this. Don't overthink it."
With that, Du An left the fifth floor.
It was as if he had come solely to set Li Ban's mind at ease.
Once he was gone, Lu Qinghe slammed the heavy doors of the corpse house shut with a resounding thud.
"Now," Lu Qinghe said, rolling up the sleeves of her baggy servant's uniform to reveal pale wrists, "we begin your targeted training."
"You? You're training me?"
Lu Qinghe reintroduced herself.
"Before I followed the lord, I was a Silver Badge assassin in Assassin Hall. A Silver Badge is at the 4th Tier. Although I have since left the Hall, I am more than qualified to train you."
The small Yu Province Death Prison was truly teeming with hidden masters.
There was also the mysterious Zhai Liu, who could command prison officials and force even the wardens to back down.
The strangest part was that these important figures were working together to send him, a mere 2nd Tier, deep undercover as an assassin.
To that end, they had not only gone to great lengths to arrange a prison break but were now expending immense manpower and resources to train him.
Heh, Li Ban laughed to himself. How can a lowly pawn be worthy of such effort?
As if hearing his self-deprecation, Lu Qinghe said expressionlessly, "Lord Zhai originally intended to send Gu Yueqi to Assassin Hall. It was only after Gu Yueqi died that this opportunity fell to you. If you aren't up to the task, they will eliminate you without hesitation and find someone else. Time is tight, but a qualified candidate is equally important."
"I understand that much." Li Ban curled his lip. "Are you going to teach me assassin techniques?"
"On the surface, you are just a newly promoted prison guard. Knowing assassin techniques would only draw the Hall's suspicion. I will only teach you one thing."
"What is it?"
"Guarding your heart."
Li Ban's work became incredibly leisurely once more; he didn't even have to do his previous chores.
During his regular shifts, he spent most of his time training with Lu Qinghe. When off duty, he learned the most common saber techniques from Huo Jiang.
The goal was to maximize his combat strength without doing anything that might cast suspicion on his identity.
Li Ban spent all his remaining time absorbing spiritual rhinoceros.
The others had no idea what Li Ban was going through; they only noticed that he appeared less and less frequently. On the surface, he hadn't changed much, but he had grown far more composed.
Over a month later, Li Ban suddenly moved out of the underground Death Prison and into the outer courtyard, taking up residence directly opposite Uncle Qin.
The explanation given to Zhang Baishan and the rest was that Li Ban had been assigned to organize the Death Prison's ledgers and documents, making it more convenient for him to live in the front courtyard.
Although Zhang Baishan was puzzled, he wasn't about to question Du An's orders.
Zhou Gu, on the other hand, no longer cared about anything outside his own interests. Having lost all hope of promotion, he focused entirely on raking in money.
Even though Li Ban had left the Second Level, there were always new servants to take his place.
Without Li Ban, Zhou Gu still had countless other servants to order around.
However, Zhou Gu had restrained himself somewhat, simply because the Second Level no longer had that many prisoners left for him to torment.
The others didn't pay much attention to Li Ban's changes. Among the prison guards, only Liu Mu vaguely knew that Li Ban had pledged his loyalty to Huo Jiang.
But as for what exactly Li Ban was doing, Liu Mu had no access to core secrets and remained in the dark.
Seeing Li Ban working for Huo Jiang filled Liu Mu with envy.
He had been the one to follow Huo Jiang first, yet now Huo Jiang only guided Li Ban in the saber arts and completely ignored Liu Mu.
Relying on the fact that they used to have a decent relationship, Liu Mu sought Li Ban out in the front courtyard during a break.
Li Ban opened the door to find Liu Mu staring blankly at his face.
"What is it?" Li Ban offered a faint smile, though it didn't reach his eyes. "We haven't seen each other in half a month, and you already don't recognize me?"
"Ah..."
Liu Mu finally snapped back to his senses. "Yeah, I haven't seen you in half a month. You seem to have changed a lot."
"Have I changed a lot?" Li Ban rubbed his face, his smile turning a bit more genuine. "Maybe it's because I've been reading too many books. My brain has gone numb."
Liu Mu ultimately couldn't put his finger on exactly what had changed about Li Ban, so he chuckled. "Right, I can't stand those thick books either. Otherwise, I would have studied hard and taken the imperial exams back in the day."
Liu Mu casually walked into the room. Li Ban didn't stop him, allowing him to inspect the simple front courtyard quarters.
Li Ban asked, "Why did you come looking for me all of a sudden?"
"I noticed you hadn't been around for a while, so I thought we could share some drinks." Liu Mu hoisted the small jug of wine he had brought. "I remember you turned into quite the little drunkard after you started following Official Zhou."
Li Ban politely declined. "Sigh, I can't drink much nowadays. If I make even a single mistake while sorting documents, Lu Qinghe will scold me for half the day."
"She still dares to scold you? You're already at the 2nd Tier! Your status is higher than hers!"
Li Ban thought to himself, Not only does she dare scold me, but she also finds every possible way to torture my mind.
During his time training with Lu Qinghe in the corpse house, his body hadn't suffered a single scratch, but his mind had endured severe trauma.
As time dragged on, he felt like he was slipping into a deep depression.
Yet in the end, he didn't become depressed; he just gradually grew numb.
Li Ban spaced out for a moment before quickly recovering.
If they had been in training and Lu Qinghe caught him spacing out, she would have performed a live Skinning right in front of him.
And the star of the performance was sometimes a wild beast, and sometimes... it wasn't.
Liu Mu didn't notice Li Ban's brief lapse in focus and set the wine on the table.
"If you can't drink much, just have a couple of cups. A couple of cups will refresh you."
He poured a cup for Li Ban, looking as though he wouldn't take no for an answer.
Li Ban shook his head and sat at the table, seemingly unable to refuse him.
After the two shared a cup, Liu Mu chatted about recent events in the Death Prison, sighing with emotion.
"The former Official Zhao left, and we thought a new prison official would be promoted from among the prison guards. Instead, they directly transferred a newcomer from Langzhou, also surnamed Zhao. This new Official Zhao seems to be only in his early twenties, seven or eight years younger than me. How did he get to where he is? And look at where I am."
"Sigh. Only after reaching my current position did I understand why Zhao Yu used all his resources just to leave this place. Look, Officials Zhang, Zhou, and Huo above us aren't old. Under normal circumstances of cultivating spiritual rhinoceros, they can all live past a hundred and fifty. They can work for at least another seventy or eighty years."
Liu Mu held his wine cup, staring blankly, and didn't drink for a long time.
"If I stay in the Death Prison forever, with promotion slots so hard to come by, will I really have to wait another seventy or eighty years for a chance? I might not even outlive them."
Li Ban listened in silence. Without clinking cups with Liu Mu, he downed his own drink.
"Isn't being a prison guard comfortable enough? You can still go to the county town and enjoy yourself from time to time. Why must you fight so desperately to climb higher?"
Liu Mu shook his head and also downed a cup. "You've just been promoted and you're still young. You don't understand."
"How do I not understand?" Li Ban slammed his cup heavily onto the table. "I might be young, but I... I climbed my way up from being a slave!"
"Ha, my mistake. I'll punish myself with a drink." Liu Mu downed another cup of wine and looked at Li Ban curiously. "Why does it feel like something's weighing on your mind? Have you run into trouble lately? Tell me, and I'll help you figure out a solution."
He even patted his chest to emphasize his words.
"Nah!" Li Ban slurred. "I just follow the lords' orders. It's no trouble, no trouble at all."
Liu Mu ultimately failed to find out what Li Ban had been up to lately, but he was certain that Li Ban's troubled demeanor meant he was highly valued by Huo Jiang.
How wonderful it was to be highly valued!
Only those with nothing to do were truly carefree!
When he left with his wine jug, Liu Mu was still sighing with emotion. Only with assignments could one earn merit, and only with merit was there hope for promotion.
As for his task regarding Qi, he hadn't executed it very well.
Qi had successfully been promoted to a servant, but in the end, he had died on the fourth floor for a ridiculous reason.
A single bad outcome was enough to wipe out all of Liu Mu's previous merits.
Liu Mu believed that Huo Jiang had abandoned him.
If no other opportunities arose, he would likely be stuck with his current status as a prison guard until the very end.
If the warden was kind-hearted, he might be able to live out his days like Uncle Qin. But if not, once he reached a certain age and was stripped of his status, the Death Prison would no longer care about his fate.
Looking back at the closed door behind him, Liu Mu shook his head.
He had also thought that if Li Ban weren't around, perhaps this opportunity would have fallen to him.
But recalling Du An's previous threat of "death by a thousand cuts," and considering that Prison Official Huo Jiang was by no means a kind old man, Liu Mu had weighed these heavy concerns and ultimately abandoned the thought of using underhanded tricks.
Inside the room, Li Ban watched Liu Mu leave through the narrow crack in the door.
There was not a trace of drunkenness on his face.
Lu Qinghe had trained him to maintain his clarity of mind under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Although the training hadn't lasted long, it had already yielded initial results.
Did Liu Mu come to test me? Was he instructed by someone else, or was it pure curiosity? Or... Li Ban wondered. Could this also be one of Lu Qinghe's training exercises?
Li Ban turned around, poured out the rest of the wine, and resumed his cultivation.