Chapter 460: The Eight Principles of Yong

When Duan Rong woke up from the bed, the daylight in the Inner Room was already very bright.

He lifted the gauze curtains, saw that the floor bedding Ruyi had laid out had already been tidied away, then lazily stretched his waist, slid off the bed, and put on his clothes, shoes, and socks himself.

He turned past the screen and discovered the room door was open, but Ruyi's figure was nowhere to be seen.

Duan Rong walked straight to the washbasin stand, only to see that less than half a basin of clear water had been poured inside. He used a towel to wash up with the cold water; if Ruyi were here, she would have poured him some hot water. In fact, the hot water kettle was not far away in the corner of the wall, but Duan Rong was too lazy to go to the trouble.

The jolt of cold water made him feel much more refreshed. Duan Rong wiped his neck clean as well before slowly strolling out the door.

Duan Rong walked out of the room and saw Chou Luan sitting on that large bluestone, staring blankly at the drifting clouds in the sky with hollow eyes.

And in another corner of the courtyard, Ruyi was squatting there, fanning the stove in front of her with a cattail-leaf fan. On that stove sat a medicine pot, bubbling and emitting white steam...

So this girl was decocting medicine!

Following the white steam rising from the medicine pot, a faint scent of herbs was already drifting through this courtyard...

Just as Duan Rong stepped out of the doorway, Ruyi caught a glimpse of him from the corner of her eye.

Ruyi immediately stood up, holding the cattail-leaf fan, curtsied to Duan Rong, and greeted him, "Sir, you are up?"

Duan Rong looked at Ruyi and smiled slightly; there was a streak of black soot smeared on Ruyi's fair, tender face.

Ruyi said, "Sir, would you like to eat breakfast? This servant will go to the kitchen courtyard to fetch it now."

As Ruyi spoke, she was about to put down the cattail-leaf fan and go into the room to carry the food box.

Duan Rong glanced at the sun and said, "It's already high noon, what breakfast is there to eat? Just eat it together with lunch."

At this moment, a gust of wind passed. Duan Rong twitched his nose, sniffed that herbal scent, and then said, "That medicine is ready; no need to decoct it any longer."

Ruyi looked at Duan Rong with suspicious eyes and said, "Calculating the time, it should indeed be ready."

It was just that Ruyi did not know how Duan Rong, having only just gotten up and standing far away at the doorway, could know that the medicinal decoction was almost ready.

Ruyi used a thick towel to wrap around the handle, lifted the medicine pot with its bottom scorched black, and with her other hand, grabbed the cattail-leaf fan upside down, using the handle of the fan to support the spout of the pot.

She carried the medicine pot to in front of Chou Luan just like that. Without even greeting Chou Luan, she squatted down and poured the steaming medicinal liquid with a splash into Chou Luan's wine jar.

"What are you doing?!"

Chou Luan was in total despair, and the only thing he cared about was his wine.

He had originally thought Ruyi was sick, which was why she was decocting medicine there, but he never expected Ruyi to pour the medicinal decoction directly into his wine jar. The wine had only just been opened; how could he not be angry?

"Let her pour it!"

Just as Chou Luan wanted to move, Duan Rong shouted to stop him.

Chou Luan's figure stiffened, and a flash of confusion crossed his hollow eyes.

Ruyi, however, was squatting there, and while pouring the medicinal decoction, she said, "This is the medicine Sir had someone prepare for you."

Hearing this, Chou Luan raised his head to look at Duan Rong.

Duan Rong said, "It can cure the illness, but it cannot save your life. It is merely to delay the symptoms and make you feel a bit more comfortable."

Duan Rong's meaning was very clear: as long as Chou Luan kept drinking like this, no one could save him.

Chou Luan stood up somewhat stiffly from the large bluestone and cupped his hands to Duan Rong, saying, "Many thanks, Sir!"

For the first time, there was a certain emotion in Chou Luan's habitually cold voice.

Duan Rong only gave a hum, then turned and entered the room. He knew Chou Luan had no will to live; there is no greater sorrow than a dead heart! It was not something medicine could cure!

After Ruyi finished pouring the medicinal decoction, she stood up. She glanced at Chou Luan, then carried the medicine pot toward the side room. Duan Rong had instructed that one dose be decocted twice; the medicine in the pot could still be decocted one more time.

Chou Luan looked at the wine jar not far from his feet; the strange herbal scent had not yet dissipated in the air.

When Duan Rong returned last night, he had merely lightly brushed a few acupuncture points on his body, and he had felt much more comfortable. He did not know what background that Sir had; he looked so young, yet he had such attainments in the Medical Path.

At that time, he had only watched him cough a few times and had already known his symptoms.

Chou Luan held the mouth of the wine jar with one hand, lifted it up, and tilted his head back to gulp down a mouthful.

As the wine mixed with the medicinal decoction entered his throat, Chou Luan could not help but knit his brows, and a flash of misery suddenly crossed his eyes.

Both bitter and potent!

Wasn't this taste just like his own life? Chou Luan could not help but gulp down another large mouthful.

After a large mouthful of wine went down his throat, the image of Duan Rong flashed through Chou Luan's heart.

That young Sir, even the Grand Master of Palace Revenues Zhu Zhengfu had to kneel and pay respects to him, which showed his status was definitely extraordinary. And he himself was nothing but a lingering, lonely ghost; in front of Zhu Zhengfu, he was merely used as a blade. He had already understood this point very well from the way Zhu Zhengfu looked at him.

But that young Sir in this Separate Courtyard, with such status, could still humble himself to treat him with courtesy, and even instruct Ruyi to decoct medicine for his illness.

If this person had treated him this way years ago, he would surely have repaid him with his life!

However, at this moment, he was nothing but an empty shell; in his ash-like heart, the will to follow someone could no longer rise.

He was like a corpse sinking endlessly in the bottomless deep sea, with nothing but darkness all around...

Duan Rong rested in the room for a while, and it was already noon.

Ruyi went to the main kitchen courtyard and brought back a sumptuous meal.

After eating lunch, Duan Rong had nothing to do, so he began to teach Ruyi how to write.

Duan Rong started by writing a large character "Yong" (Eternity) on the paper and let Ruyi copy it.

While Ruyi was copying, Duan Rong watched from the side, pointing things out from time to time, and occasionally would take her hand to write a few strokes. Every time this happened, a shy red glow would fly onto Ruyi's face.

After Ruyi had been copying for half an hour, Duan Rong began to teach her to break down the strokes, explaining them in detail one by one.

Ruyi's calligraphy already had some foundation, and with the coaching of Duan Rong, a master of calligraphy, she soon had a feeling of being reborn.

Ruyi looked at the characters she had written and was quite surprised, asking, "Sir, what method did you teach this servant? How is it that after only learning for a little over an hour! This servant's calligraphy... this calligraphy... how has it changed?"

Although Ruyi had experienced it herself and those characters on the copybook were indeed written by her, she was still completely confused at this moment.

Duan Rong smiled lightly and said, "This is the Eight Principles of Yong!"

"The Eight Principles of Yong?" Ruyi listened, half-understanding.

Duan Rong continued, "This method uses the eight strokes of the character 'Yong' in order as examples to explain the brush techniques of regular script. The so-called dot is 'Ce' (side), the horizontal stroke is 'Le' (bridle), the vertical stroke is 'Nu' (crossbow), the hook is 'Ti' (leap), the upward horizontal is 'Ce' (whip), the long left-falling stroke is 'Lue' (sweep), the short left-falling stroke is 'Zhuo' (peck), and the right-falling stroke is 'Zhe' (torture). With these eight principles, one can exhaust all the characters under heaven!"

"Exhaust all the characters under heaven?" Ruyi stood there holding the brush, her eyes shining as she stared blankly at Duan Rong.

Duan Rong acted as if he saw nothing, continuing to say, "I am teaching you this method to rectify the source and clear the origin! Although the time is short, when the foundation is correct, the origin is cleared, and the effect will naturally become apparent."

"You may keep the character 'Yong' that I wrote and practice tracing it daily. If you are diligent, within a year, you will surely become a master in your own right!" Duan Rong said, then smiled slightly.

Ruyi solemnly put away the sheet of paper with the character 'Yong' that Duan Rong had written.

With the matter finished, Duan Rong taught Ruyi how to write in the Separate Courtyard, and the days passed quite comfortably.

At dusk, just after he had finished dinner and sipped a few cups of tea, Zhu Zhengfu came to pay a visit.

Ruyi served tea and then withdrew, leaving the two of them sitting alone in the room.

Zhu Zhengfu reported to Duan Rong the information collected by the informants he had planted in Shenyun Prefecture.

After the commotion last night, the news of Li Shensi dying in a state of delirium and madness, as well as the bizarre and terrifying Great Immortal Rhinoceros, had completely spread throughout Shenyun Prefecture.

Storytellers in all the major teahouses were recounting the event; some even began to fabricate the life story of the Great Immortal Rhinoceros, claiming that it had appeared in the Western Regions over a hundred years ago and that the ascetic monks of the Faxiang Sect had once fought it, with none surviving and all perishing.

Moreover, it was said that this Great Immortal Rhinoceros had been cultivating for thousands of years.

The story was told with such vivid detail that the common people all believed it to be true.

Many people had already begun to worship portraits of the Great Immortal Rhinoceros in the Shrines in their homes.

This wave of events actually allowed the street painters to make a small fortune...

From then on, Zhu Zhengfu would come to pay his respects every evening and report the news from the informants everywhere to Duan Rong.

On the second day, an incident occurred.

Inside Taihe Tower, a storyteller actually spoke publicly, claiming that the Great Immortal Rhinoceros was fake, that someone was manipulating it to deceive the common people with illusions. He claimed that Magistrate Li Shensi died from a political assassination, just like his predecessor, Zhu Shizhong.

When Duan Rong heard Zhu Zhengfu mention this, his heart skipped a beat, but after a moment of thought, he felt relieved.

Sure enough, Zhu Zhengfu then said that the storyteller had been beaten black and blue by the audience for blaspheming the Great Immortal Rhinoceros and had passed out on the stage; if the government officials hadn't arrived in time to protect him, he likely wouldn't have escaped death.

This was because many of the common people were clamoring to have the man imprisoned and, once the temple was built, burned to death in front of the Great Immortal Rhinoceros's temple, so as to avoid the Great Immortal taking offense and bringing disaster upon Shenyun Prefecture.

Duan Rong suddenly asked, "Magistrate Zhu, which teahouse did you just say this storyteller was at?"

Zhu Zhengfu said, "My lord, it is Taihe Tower."

Duan Rong's brows furrowed slightly. Taihe Tower again. When he first moved into the Separate Courtyard, the waiter he had snuck in to investigate at night was from Taihe Tower, and this storyteller was also at Taihe Tower.

Duan Rong did not believe there were such coincidences in the world.

This Taihe Tower clearly had problems; it might very well be a stronghold of Ge Rusong's spy network in the secular world. And it was likely a very important stronghold.

After all, the private rooms at Taihe Tower were booked year-round by the powerful and influential of Shenyun Prefecture; if everything they discussed inside was being monitored by some secret method...

Then what secrets could this Shenyun Prefecture possibly have from Ge Rusong?

The storyteller in Taihe Tower was clearly trying to turn the tide of public opinion and steer it back toward the political whirlpool. But he, or the person behind him, had clearly underestimated the influence of the story Duan Rong had planted.

Through those six days of monitoring public sentiment, Duan Rong had directly grasped the Achilles' heel of the street gossip. That was the Great Immortal Rhinoceros seen with their own eyes by countless people atop the Heavenly Altar; how could it be overturned by a storyteller with empty words and a few sentences?

After this incident, Ge Rusong and his people would certainly abandon this attempt.

On the third day, construction of the Great Immortal Rhinoceros's temple had already begun outside the city.

It was not built near the Mountain God Temple on Wuji Mountain, because Wuji Mountain was a place for Sacrifice to Heaven, and the Ya Men did not permit it.

In the end, the site for the Great Immortal Rhinoceros's temple was chosen not far from a Taoist temple in the Southern Suburbs of Shenyun Prefecture; that Taoist temple had quite a lot of incense, and choosing that location could be considered a place with good feng shui.

After listening to three days of public sentiment, Duan Rong was certain that he had completely finished the task Zhu He had given him. He had originally planned that when Zhu Zhengfu came on the fourth day, he would instruct him to summarize the three days of public sentiment investigation, send it back to Yunfu Peak, and ask the Ancestor on his behalf: since the task was complete, could he return to the Sect?

On the morning of the fourth day, at the East City Gate of Shenyun Prefecture, early in the morning, a person rode a rather flashy, tall white horse and swayed into the city gate.

The moment he entered the gate, several informants noticed him.

This person had a special status and had already been to Shenyun Prefecture several times; it was no wonder the spies recognized him at a glance, given his high profile this time. He was the personal disciple of an Elder of the Taiyi Sect, and a student of Zhu He: Lu Geng.

Lu Geng, alone on his horse, entered the city gate and headed straight for the relay station.

Arriving at the entrance of the relay station, he jumped off his horse and directly showed his Sect Cloud Token to the bailiffs there; upon seeing it was a personal disciple, the bailiffs immediately kowtowed like they were pounding garlic.

Lu Geng cursed impatiently, "Enough, all of you get up. Take me to a superior room and prepare a table of wine and food for me! Be quick! I have things to do after I eat!"

"Yes, my lord!"

The head of the relay station had already come out to greet him and served him personally.

The bailiffs took Lu Geng's horse and led it to the Back Courtyard to feed it fodder.

After the head of the relay station ushered Lu Geng into the best superior room in the south, he served tea himself and then went to the kitchen to urge them to prepare the food.

Once the dishes were all served, Lu Geng began to eat heartily.

Lu Geng came from a poor background and had never been particular about food or lodging; otherwise, he wouldn't have checked into the relay station as soon as he entered Shenyun Prefecture.

He truly felt that the fancy, varied dishes in the big restaurants were not as substantial as the food at the relay station.

Seeing Lu Geng devouring his meal, the head of the relay station withdrew, instructed two capable bailiffs to serve him carefully, and then rode out of the relay station toward the Prefecture Government Office.

With such a big figure arriving, he naturally had to report it to the Prefecture Master, Wang Maochun.

Before long, two fast horses galloped to the entrance of the relay station, and two men in official robes jumped off; looking at the rank badges on their chests, both were first-rank civil officials.

The two who arrived were none other than the Prefecture Master, Wang Maochun, and the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, Chen Shanmeng.

Not long before Lu Geng arrived, the Prefectural Office had just received an official document from the Sect. The document informed them that Yang Yi of the Ruling Sect Justice Division, Lu Geng of the Inner History Department, and Jiang Zhe of the Office of Transmission would arrive in Shenyun Prefecture in a few days to preside over the case of Li Shensi's death, and that on the Shenyun Prefecture side, the Dali Temple would be the primary court of inquiry, with the Advisory Office and the Privy Council as co-inquiry offices for a joint trial.

Wang Maochun had just seen the document when the head of the relay station came to report that Lu Geng had already arrived at the relay station.

Wang Maochun was immediately flustered; how had this Lu Geng arrived so quickly, arriving almost back-to-back with the document?

He immediately had someone call for Chen Shanmeng to come to the relay station to pay a visit together.

The reason he called Chen Shanmeng was that for this trial, the Dali Temple was the primary court of inquiry, meaning that Lu Geng and the others would all have to enter the Dali Temple to hear the case; since they were going to pay a visit to Lu Geng, he called the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, Chen Shanmeng.

Wang Maochun pondered in his heart all the way there. The Sect's official document this time was clearly quite strange.

The Sect had sent people from the Ruling Sect Justice Division, the Inner History Department, and the Office of Transmission, but the primary court of inquiry was still the Dali Temple, showing that the case was still being tried within the secular judicial structure, only that people from the Sect were to intervene in the investigation.

The origin of this official document went back to when Ge Rusong and his people made trouble in the Elder Council.

That day, as soon as Ge Rusong and his people said in the Elder Council that Li Shensi's death was the work of Duan Rong, they also revealed the time they had investigated Duan Rong being in Shenyun Prefecture, as well as the fact that he might have mastered some kind of poison that caused delirium and madness.

Zhu He was immediately furious in the Elder Council, saying that he had sent Duan Rong to Shenyun Prefecture to eliminate spies.

Half a year ago, Zhu Shizhong was lured into a trap and murdered by that group of craftsmen under the pretext of building a cooling house; the true culprit behind the scenes was never caught, all because a mole had interfered and severed the leads. He sent Duan Rong over specifically to investigate the matter of the mole in secret. Furthermore, that Li Shensi had only been in office for two months and did not belong to any faction; what motive would he have to send Duan Rong to kill him?

This question from Zhu He left Ge Rusong and the others speechless. It was indeed true that they had been insincere, agreeing to Zhu He's request to find someone uninvolved with either faction to stabilize the political situation in Shenyun Prefecture, but they had secretly brought Li Shensi under their control before recommending him.

Both sides held to their own accounts and argued incessantly within the Elder Council; Sect Master Chu Qiushan found it quite a headache, as he knew this matter was actually a struggle for the position of Sect Master between Zhu He and Lv Zhongtang.

He did not want to get too deeply involved in this kind of dispute, and besides, the death of Li Shensi had not caused chaos in the secular world; the common people all believed that Li Shensi had died from offending the Rhinoceros Immortal, and the public was not pressing the Ya Men or the Sect to find the culprit behind it. Consequently, there was no pressure to govern, and Chu Qiushan wanted to manage this matter even less, but since Zhu He and Ge Rusong were arguing so fiercely, he came up with a compromise: the case would remain under trial within the Dali Temple, and he would not let Yang Sixuan and the Ruling Sect Justice Division intervene, but would instead have Yang Yi, Lu Geng, and Jiang Zhe be the three to preside over the case at the Dali Temple.

(End of this chapter)