Chapter 191: The Imperial Astronomical Bureau Sends a Messenger

It seems this Official Chai hasn't traced me yet.

Li Rui stared at the pale red smoke.

That makes sense.

Even in his previous life, with more advanced technology, cases of murder and body disposal in the mountains almost always became cold cases.

Even if Chai Jinguang was highly capable, investigating such matters would be extremely difficult.

Pull your thoughts back.

"Strengthen the qi, condense the yuan to open the qi sea."

This is a long-standing mantra from the martial world for the Dragon Gate realm.

That's exactly it.

After leaping the Dragon Gate, one must continue to strengthen the true qi, refine the dantian with qi-form, form the qi-yuan, and only then can one open the dantian into a qi sea.

Once the qi sea is opened, one naturally enters the Observing Sea realm.

This process is extremely lengthy.

Generally speaking, without decades of painstaking effort, it's nearly impossible.

Ning Zhongtian has exceptional talent and has passed the Dragon Gate for three to five years, yet he still remains in the first stage: strengthening qi.

This alone shows how difficult it is.

Strengthening qi isn't hard in theory—it's simply continuing to nourish qi along the willow vein path, except the true qi must be strengthened a hundredfold or more; otherwise, the qi won't be sufficient to support condensing the yuan, let alone forming the qi sea later.

Of course, with large quantities of spirit elixirs to assist, the speed of strengthening qi can indeed be accelerated.

But even the elixirs for strengthening qi are at least sixth-rank, and even major clans and sects can't afford them for everyone—unless they're prodigies like Jiang Lin, forged by the entire sect's resources.

"I heard Jiang Lin opened his qi sea in just seven years—the fastest in Yunzhou."

If not for such astonishing brilliance, he wouldn't have earned the title "Sword Immortal of Jiangdong."

Li Rui, a commoner born of mud and dust, certainly didn't have such privileges.

To obtain resources, one must seize them oneself.

He pulled a small jade vial from his bosom.

Inside were six pills with a fragrant aroma—the sixth-rank spirit elixirs seized from Gao Zhen.

"All are Pei Qi Pills."

Pei Qi Pills are the most common type among sixth-rank spirit elixirs.

Common doesn't mean low value.

On the contrary, one Pei Qi Pill is worth twenty seventh-rank spirit stones, because it's the most sought-after by martial cultivators, with the highest demand—so alchemists often produce one out of every three sixth-rank batches as Pei Qi Pills.

The unit of exchange has shifted from gold and silver to elixirs.

The higher the rank of spirit elixirs, spirit weapons, or spirit herbs, the greater their value multiplies.

They often cost thousands of gold.

What does a thousand gold mean?

A thousand jin of gold requires a cart to haul.

Spirit elixirs are small in volume, needed by nearly all martial cultivators, and can be stored for extremely long periods.

Naturally, they've become a form of currency.

The imperial court has established specific regulations and selected the most popular elixirs of each rank as benchmark elixirs to standardize the market.

Six sixth-rank spirit elixirs equal one hundred and twenty ordinary seventh-rank spirit stones.

Li Rui is merely a sixth-rank official.

And even then, only in title—he holds no actual sixth-rank authority, and his sixth-rank realm is newly attained; he certainly can't afford them.

Come to think of it.

He owes this to Gao Zhen.

Six Pei Qi Pills will last him a good while.

As for Gao Zhen's sword, it had long been melted down into iron by his disciple Liu Tiezhu.

Gao Zhen came from the Gao clan, so his sword was forged from sixth-rank spirit iron—but precisely because of that, Li Rui had no intention of forging it into a weapon; instead, he ordered Liu Tiezhu to turn it into an inner armor.

Sixth-rank spirit iron is inherently rare, and right now it's under intense scrutiny—Ministry of Justice officials are still investigating within the Anning Guard.

If he were to produce a weapon made of the same material as Gao Zhen's sword, suspicion would be unavoidable.

Turning it into an inner armor, hidden beneath clothing, is perfect.

"No wonder so many people enjoy being bandit swordsmen—the efficiency of acquiring resources is truly high."

Without Gao Zhen, he never would've obtained so many sixth-rank elixirs at once.

Li Rui took out one Pei Qi Pill and placed it in his mouth.

A refreshing scent exploded in his lips and teeth, then flowed down his throat into his body—the Xuan Qi in his dantian instantly boiled.

His Wu Bone automatically activated, extracting every drop of the pill's efficacy.

"No wonder it's a sixth-rank spirit elixir."

Li Rui could feel that under the Pei Qi Pill's effect, the Xuan Qi was at least several times more active than usual—this single circulation was worth a hundred normal ones.

If not for this, Pei Qi Pills wouldn't be the most popular elixir among sixth-rank martial cultivators.

He took a deep breath and immediately activated his cultivation technique.

Completed one full Great Circulation.

Only then did he crawl into bed and fall into deep sleep.

Three days passed.

"Official Chai, any discoveries?"

Cao Wei entered the courtyard specially prepared by the General's Mansion for Chai Jinguang and the Ministry of Justice clerks, and saw the room piled high with case files, each Ministry official hunched over their desks like candidates preparing for the imperial examinations.

Seeing this intense scene, he silently praised Chai Jinguang for his strict discipline.

Chai Jinguang, like the others, was flipping through his case files.

Hearing Cao Wei's voice, he lifted his head wearily, offering a faint smile:

"Official Cao."

Then he stood up and stretched: "I happen to have some matters I'd like to verify with you, Brother Cao."

Cao Wei raised an eyebrow slightly: "Official Chai, ask freely—I'll answer honestly." Chai Jinguang seemed to be choosing his words carefully:

"Why did Gao Zhen know the Wei Duke?"

Aside from Emperor Taizu's initial enfeoffment of meritorious ministers, later generations of Yu had imposed extremely strict controls on noble titles.

Even great clans like the Gao family held no titles.

Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, Baron—not even a Baron.

Titles are hereditary, unless there are no male heirs or the family line dies out, in which case the court reclaims them.

A family granted a title could eat imperial grain for generations.

Thus, titles were almost exclusively given to descendants of the Zhu imperial clan, and the court feared any family growing too powerful through hereditary titles, potentially threatening the empire.

Zhu imperial clan members granted titles were strictly confined to the capital, with no fiefs or authority.

They were merely noble in name.

=9+ Shu _ Ba

Perhaps Emperor Taizu realized he'd granted too many Dukes and Marquises in his enthusiasm; during his reign, most Marquises died under his hand, and only two Dukes remained.

After a thousand years of evolution,

many titles were revoked due to various crimes.

Those remaining today are all noble families deeply trusted by the emperors.

The most famous among them is, of course, the Dingyuan Marquis, a veteran minister who joined Emperor Taizu in rising from Feng'an and conquering the realm.

Among that generation of founding ministers, Dingyuan Marquis wasn't the strongest in martial prowess, nor the most accomplished in civil governance, and his marquis title wasn't even outstanding among the Dukes.

Yet precisely because of this, he escaped Emperor Taizu's purges.

Moreover, the old Dingyuan Marquis had unparalleled fertility, so his lineage flourished further and is now a pillar of the empire.

But the Wei Duke's situation differs greatly from the Dingyuan Marquis's.

If the Dingyuan Marquis represents the founding ministers, the Wei Duke represents the remnants of the previous dynasty.

Indeed, the old Wei Duke was the paternal uncle of the former Xuan Emperor and the Xuan Empire's Divine General.

When Emperor Taizu and the Xuan army were locked in fierce battle, this Divine General chose to surrender.

Emperor Taizu was overjoyed.

He immediately granted him the title of Wei Duke.

Most remnants of the former dynasty fell under the Wei Duke's command.

Though the Wei Duke's lineage holds the rare distinction of being one of only two Dukes in Yu, they rarely appear in court affairs.

Cao Wei paused thoughtfully:

"I asked Gao Zhen about this. He said he met the Wei Duke during his travels, received his support, and thus became Garrison Commander of Anning Guard."

Chai Jinguang frowned slightly.

Gao Zhen was young, having just passed the martial examination, yet already held the real power of a sixth-rank Garrison Commander.

It would be strange if he had no powerful backing.

But how could a member of the Lu Yang Gao clan attract the attention of a Duke who rarely shows himself?

Remember, the current Wei Duke is already two hundred years old.

He had not appeared in court for a full hundred years.

He had worn out the dossier on Gao Zhen.

When Gao Zhen sought office, the Ministry of Personnel naturally sent personnel to investigate and compile a dossier, which contained detailed records of Gao Zhen's life.

He began as an obscure disciple of the Gao clan, only rising rapidly in the past six or seven years as if awakened.

It must have been around that time he gained the support of the Duke of Wei.

Cao Wei ventured cautiously: "What, Brother Chai, do you suspect the killer of Gao Zhen might be connected to the Duke of Wei—"

He did not finish his sentence.

The Duke of Wei's lineage had declined, but it was not for a mere Assistant Regional Commander to speak lightly of them.

Chai Jinguo sighed softly and shook his head:

"It's still uncertain—just speculation."

Murder.

Usually it's random killing, like a villain casually slaying a beggar—such cases are hardest to solve.

No motive, no premeditation.

There was almost no connection between the two.

But Gao Zhen was an officer of the Anning Guard, and himself a sixth-rank cultivator.

It's not impossible for someone to casually kill a sixth-rank imperial official, but the likelihood is extremely small.

So Chai Jinguo leaned more toward a premeditated murder.

If it was premeditated, there must be some interest at stake—the killer stood to gain from Gao Zhen's death.

He had previously thought it was Gao's enemy who struck; now it seemed more likely to be an enemy of the Duke of Wei's lineage.

The moment he thought of this,

Chai Jinguo's headache worsened.

The Lu Yang Gao clan was already troublesome enough; now add the Duke of Wei.

Chaos, utter chaos.

Both sides were powerful figures he dared not offend; as a lowly Ministry of Justice Physician, he was caught in the middle and found it impossible to act.

Cases, especially those involving officials, are not always unsolvable—they're just too dangerous to solve.

Even the Ministry of Justice dared not make a hasty ruling.

In the end, the Ministry of Justice was a tool of the imperial court to maintain stability, not to uphold some foolish notion of justice.

"Difficult, difficult, difficult."

As Chai Jinguo was about to continue sorting through the documents, a soldier ran into the courtyard.

The Anning Guard soldier first bowed to Cao Wei and Chai Jinguo, then said: "General Cao, there's a Daoist outside the gate who claims to be from the Imperial Astronomical Bureau and wishes to meet His Excellency."

(End of Chapter)