The vermilion gate of Liu Shiyu’s mansion was slowly pulled open from the inside.

Inside, Yun Yang emerged first, with an added hint of arrogance: “The evidence is here. I will dispatch these proofs urgently to the capital for the Emperor’s final decision!”

Liu Mingxian sat on his warhorse, his expression beneath his mourning hat flickering indistinctly in the firelight.

He looked at the stack of evidence in Yun Yang’s hand, a vein throbbing in his forehead. He had not expected Yun Yang and Jiao Tu to actually find proof. At this point, there was no longer any valid reason to avenge the Old Master.

However, he suddenly felt something was amiss. He looked up past Yun Yang and saw a masked figure standing with head bowed.

Who was this? Why were they masked?

Just as Liu Mingxian was about to take a closer look, Yun Yang subtly shifted, completely blocking the masked figure, and gazed at him with a smirk. “Lord Liu, aren’t you going to withdraw?”

Liu Mingxian remained silent, showing no intention of retreating.

Tensions were high, both sides waiting for him to speak. To fight or to retreat, it all hinged on his decision.

Liu Mingxian calmly asked, “Where is Liang Gou’er?”

The young man holding the reins beside the horse anxiously replied, “Second Uncle, Liang Mao’er just delivered a message. He said Liang Gou’er has already drawn his blade against the eunuch faction and is now resting in Red Robe Alley.”

Liu Mingxian’s face darkened. He eyed the Fish Dragon Guards of the Chief Judiciary, who had already drawn their swords, and gritted his teeth. “Tell Liang Gou’er to take his useless blade and get out of the Liu family! There’s no place for him here anymore!”

However, he still had no intention of giving up. He urged his horse forward again, leading hundreds of Liu family members to press on.

At this moment, Lin Chaoqing spoke, “Lord Liu, do not jeopardize the entire Liu family. Perhaps you should wait for Grand Secretary Liu to return to Luocheng and consult with him before deciding what to do.”

Liu Mingxian stared intently at Lin Chaoqing. Finally, he bowed slightly from a distance. “I, Liu, will await orders at home. Return to the mansion! Arrange the funeral for the Old Master!”

As he departed, he couldn’t help but look back, seeing Lin Chaoqing speaking in low tones with the masked figure.

“Investigate that masked person!” Liu Mingxian’s tone was grim. “Yun Yang and Jiao Tu, those living Yama Kings, are formidable killers, but I’ve never heard of them possessing the skill to search for and verify evidence. That masked person must have played a role. We must find out who they are!”

“Understood, Second Uncle.”

At one point, Liu Mingxian even had a premonition: if not for this masked person tonight, perhaps everything would have been different.

After the Liu family left, Lin Chaoqing mounted his horse. He adjusted his straw cape and looked down at Chen Ji. “Young man, my promise is valid for two months. Perhaps in less than two months, you will understand what kind of people are in the Secret Intelligence Bureau.”

Yun Yang’s face darkened. “Who are you being sarcastic about? What else can your Chief Judiciary do besides slander your colleagues?”

Lin Chaoqing silently led the Chief Judiciary eastward, his dark straw cape folded behind him like black wings. They had arrived covered in dust and left the same way.

As they rode away, some Fish Dragon Guards beneath their straw hats smiled at Chen Ji. They respected capable individuals.

But Chen Ji was destined not to work for the Chief Judiciary, for he did not seek official positions nor ever wished to serve imperial power.

He now desired cultivation more, and cultivation required money, something the Chief Judiciary could not provide.

As the sound of hooves faded, Yun Yang glanced at Chen Ji. “Once you join the Chief Judiciary, you become an enemy to all officials in the entire court, destined to be a solitary minister your whole life. How many solitary ministers throughout history have met a good end?”

Chen Ji calmly replied, “Thank you for the reminder, Lord Yun Yang.”

Yun Yang asked, “Do you think there might be other Liu family members involved?”

Chen Ji shook his head. “I don’t know.”

Yun Yang then asked, “Does the Jing Dynasty have other methods of transmitting intelligence?”

Chen Ji shook his head again. “I don’t know.”

“Did you hold anything back again, like last time at the Zhou Mansion?”

Chen Ji stated with certainty, “No.”

Yun Yang was amused, almost to the point of laughter. This young man before him was far less honest than he seemed, yet Yun Yang was helpless.

He smiled at Chen Ji. “Tomorrow night, someone will deliver fifty taels of silver to Taiping Medical Clinic. Goodbye.”

“Wait a moment! Could I get an advance of eight copper coins?” Chen Ji asked.

Yun Yang’s expression was odd as he counted out eight copper coins from his sleeve. “Are you out of your mind with poverty, to even ask for eight copper coins? Consider this a gift.”

Chen Ji smiled sincerely. “Thank you. I’ll take my leave then.”

Jiao Tu suddenly felt that Chen Ji’s smile at that moment was the most sincere.

Yun Yang said, “Wait, don’t go yet.”

Before Chen Ji could react, Yun Yang’s sleeve produced a dagger that grazed past Chen Ji’s ear, a strand of hair falling into his palm. “Now you may go.” Chen Ji was silent for a moment, then left without a word. After Chen Ji had walked some distance, Jiao Tu couldn’t help but ask, “Why don’t we bring him into the Secret Intelligence Bureau and put him under our command? Then we could just make him work as we please, without having to pay him fifty taels of silver as a reward… Fifty taels of silver could buy so many beautiful clothes, more than I could wear in years!”

“No,” Yun Yang refused. “This young man’s abilities… he’s ruthless towards others and even more so towards himself, and he’s clever. This is exactly what the Grand Secretary likes most. If he truly joined the Secret Intelligence Bureau, there’s no telling when he might end up above us.”

“But there are no more positions in the Twelve Zodiacs,” Jiao Tu said.

Yun Yang whispered, “I heard the Ailing Tiger is about to retire… I must have lost my mind, how could I have thought he could replace the Ailing Tiger’s position?”

Jiao Tu suddenly said, “We need to confirm whether he’s a Jing Dynasty spy. Only then can we truly trust him in the future.”

Yun Yang calmly stated, “I’ve already considered that. Last night, I sent a pigeon message to Meng Ji of Kaifeng Prefecture. He will arrive in Luocheng soon. With him handling the interrogation, we can be absolutely sure.”

“What price did you pay to bring Meng Ji here?”

“A very significant price… Come on, it’s getting late.”

In a blink, only leaves swaying in the autumn wind remained before the once bustling entrance.

It was as if it mirrored everyone’s destined fate: after the clamor and the feast, only desolation and emptiness remained.

Chen Ji walked down a dark alley. As he walked, a dark, furry kitten appeared on the wall, holding a book and a ginseng root in its mouth.

The young man walked on the ground, and the cat slowly followed on the wall. Under the moonlight, their shadows moved one after another, as if in silent understanding, a shared rhythm.

As Wuyun let go, the book and ginseng dropped from the air.

Chen Ji silently raised his hand, catching the book and ginseng mid-air. An ice flow naturally emerged, transforming a small portion of the ginseng into four transparent beads.

He then tucked the book and the remaining ginseng into his robe, and one by one, tossed the beads onto the wall’s eaves. Wuyun caught each bead precisely in its mouth as it walked.

The man and the cat performed a series of movements as fluid as if they had been rehearsed. A warm current flowed from Wuyun to Chen Ji, instantly igniting the fourth furnace flame beside his dantian!

In an instant, faint flames emanated from the four furnace flames, connecting them like chains, forming a complete cage that completely sealed off the entire dantian.

These four furnace flames seemed to have an innate connection; the moment they linked, a massive warm current again surged through Chen Ji’s flesh and bones, sweeping away his exhaustion from the entire night. Chen Ji looked up and silently pointed a direction to Wuyun.

Then, at a T-junction, the man and the cat suddenly separated, one going forward, the other turning left.

The next moment, Chen Ji started running wildly!

Immediately after, rapid footsteps echoed from the thin mist dozens of steps behind him, where a blurry figure was swiftly approaching.

Chen Ji took a detour in the darkness, trying to shake off his pursuer in the intricate streets.

But the tracker always found the correct path at every fork. He could almost hear the pursuer’s panting breath behind him.

No, he couldn’t escape.

The pursuer’s footsteps grew closer. Chen Ji judged that the opponent’s speed surpassed his own, at least at the level of a secret agent.

He knew someone was following him, even intending to kill him. So, the ginseng he had originally planned to save to cover the clinic’s losses was used without hesitation to generate ice flow.

One must first be alive for anything to matter.

Since arriving in this world, Chen Ji felt as if he had started on hell mode. Even if he stayed hidden in the medical clinic, dangers would still come knocking one after another.

But if life was destined to be this way, then he chose not to run away.

The footsteps behind him were very close now. Chen Ji’s gaze was calm.

As the footsteps grew closer, and only three paces separated them, he suddenly turned and lunged towards his pursuer. The narrow alley normally allowed only two people to walk abreast, with high residential walls on either side and an uneven stone path underfoot.

The newcomer didn’t expect his prey to turn and confront him. He instinctively reached for the saber at his waist, but before he could draw it, Chen Ji seized his wrist.

The assassin’s strength was originally far greater than Chen Ji’s, but the inertia from their collision gave Chen Ji’s grip on his hand even more power. With a clang, the saber was forced back into its sheath before it could even be drawn!

Under the dim moonlight, the middle-aged assassin’s pupils suddenly constricted. He couldn’t help but look at Chen Ji, only to find that Chen Ji was also staring intently back at him.

This was not the gaze of a prey.

The middle-aged assassin, however, quickly retreated, simultaneously raising his leg to kick Chen Ji in the chest, sending the young man tumbling backward.

He tried to draw his saber again, but this time, only halfway out, Chen Ji, after tumbling, immediately crouched low and charged forward without the slightest pause.

With another clang, the saber was once again forced back.

Twice in a row, the assassin hadn’t even managed to draw his saber!

A cold sneer formed in the assassin’s heart. He simply abandoned his saber and repeatedly punched Chen Ji in the chest.

In his eyes, the young man before him was wide open, full of flaws, with no combat experience whatsoever.

The assassin looked at Chen Ji again, only to find no fear or pain in the young man’s eyes, but rather exhilaration, as if there was fire in their depths.

Chen Ji was now certain that cultivators in this world must be a minority, hidden behind the scenes and not easily appearing.

Otherwise, no matter who wanted to kill him tonight, they wouldn’t have sent just this “ordinary person.” Compared to Lin Chaoqing and Yun Yang, this middle-aged assassin truly counted as just an ordinary person!

In that instant, enduring punch after punch, Chen Ji suddenly lunged forward again, crashing into the assassin and forcibly pinning his arms under his armpits. Now!

A black shadow struck from the wall’s eaves. The assassin turned back in horror, thinking there was an ambush, but only saw a small black cat.

Before he could even exhale in relief, the black cat’s figure had already brushed past him.

As they crossed paths, Wuyun’s sharp claws sliced across the assassin’s neck.

Zzzz. A spray of blood splattered on the wall.

Chen Ji released the assassin, panting, and sat on the ground, coldly watching the assassin clutch his neck in disbelief, stumble backward, and slowly collapse against the wall.

The middle-aged assassin saw the black cat lightly leap into the young man’s arms. Unwilling, he asked, “Xingguan?”

Chen Ji frowned. “Xingguan?” Was that the general term for cultivators in this world?