Chapter 191: Someone from the Directorate of Astronomy

"It seems this Magistrate Chai hasn't investigated me yet."

Li Rui gazed at the pale red mist.

That made sense.

Even in his past life, where technology was more advanced, cases of murder and body disposal in mountain forests almost always became cold cases.

Even if Chai Jingong had considerable means, investigating such a matter would be extremely thorny.

He withdrew his focus.

"Strengthen Qi, condense the Yuan to open the Qi Sea."

This was the long-circulated mantra for the Longmen Realm in the Jianghu.

It meant exactly that.

After leaping over the Longmen, one must continue to strengthen the true Qi, using the Qi form to polish the dantian and form the Qi Yuan, only then being able to open the dantian into a Qi Sea.

Once the Qi Sea is opened, one naturally steps into the Sea-Observing Realm.

This process is extremely long.

Generally speaking, without a dozen years of grinding effort, it is almost impossible.

Ning Zhongtian had excellent natural talent and had leaped over the Longmen three or five years ago, yet he still remained at the first stage: Strengthening Qi.

From this, one could see the difficulty.

Strengthening Qi is not difficult, but it is not easy either; it is simply continuing to nourish Qi along the path of Willow Sinew, only the true Qi is more than a hundred times stronger than during the Willow Sinew stage. Otherwise, if the Qi is insufficient, how could it support the condensation of Yuan, let alone the Qi Sea that follows?

Of course, if one has a large amount of spiritual elixirs to assist, it can indeed speed up the process of Strengthening Qi.

However, elixirs for Strengthening Qi are at least Sixth-Rank; even for those large clans and sects, not everyone can afford to eat them, unless it is a heaven-gifted talent like Jiang Linxian, who is cultivated by the power of an entire sect.

"I heard Jiang Linxian only used seven years to open the Qi Sea, the best in Yunzhou."

If not for such stunning talent, he would not have been crowned by the Jianghu with the title of Jiangdong Sword Immortal.

Li Rui, coming from a humble background, naturally did not have such treatment.

If he wanted resources, he could only fight for them himself.

He took a small jade bottle from his bosom.

Inside were six fragrant pills; these were exactly the Sixth-Rank spiritual elixirs searched from Gao Zhen's body.

"They are all Qi-Nurturing Pills."

Qi-Nurturing Pills are the most common type among Sixth-Rank spiritual elixirs.

Common does not mean low value.

On the contrary, one Qi-Nurturing Pill is worth twenty Seventh-Rank spiritual elixirs because it is the most sought after by martial artists and has the highest demand, so alchemists often produce one batch of Qi-Nurturing Pills for every three batches of Sixth-Rank elixirs.

The unit of conversion has changed from gold and silver to elixirs.

The higher the rank of spiritual elixirs, spiritual weapons, and spiritual herbs, the more their value multiplies.

It is often thousands of gold.

What is the concept of a thousand gold?

A thousand jin of gold, which requires a horse-drawn carriage to move.

Spiritual elixirs are small in volume, almost all martial artists need them, and they have a very long shelf life.

Naturally, they became a form of currency.

The imperial court also has specific regulations for this and has specially selected the most popular elixirs of each rank as benchmark elixirs to regulate the market.

Six Sixth-Rank spiritual elixirs are one hundred and twenty ordinary Seventh-Rank spiritual elixirs.

Li Rui is only a minor Sixth-Rank official.

And he only enjoys the treatment of one, without real power, and his Sixth-Rank realm was just broken through, so of course he couldn't afford them.

Speaking of which.

He should thank Gao Zhen for this.

Six Qi-Nurturing Pills are enough to last for quite a while.

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

Gao Zhen came from the Gao clan, so his sword was naturally forged from Sixth-Rank spiritual iron, but precisely because of this, Li Rui had no intention of forging the spiritual iron into a weapon, but instead had Liu Tiezhu make it into an inner armor.

Sixth-Rank spiritual iron is rare, and now is the time when the spotlight is on it; the Ministry of Justice officials are still investigating the case inside the Anning Guard.

If he were to take out a weapon made of the same material as Gao Zhen's sword at this time, it would be hard not to be suspected.

Making it into inner armor and hiding it in his clothes is very appropriate.

"No wonder so many people like to be bandits who rob houses; the efficiency of obtaining resources is indeed high."

If it weren't for Gao Zhen, he certainly couldn't have obtained so many Sixth-Rank elixirs in one go.

Li Rui took out a Qi-Nurturing Pill and put it into his mouth.

The refreshing scent exploded on his lips and teeth, entering his body down his throat, and the Immortal Xuan Qi in his dantian instantly boiled.

His Martial Bone operated on its own, squeezing out every drop of the pill's medicinal effect.

"It lives up to being a Sixth-Rank spiritual elixir."

Li Rui could feel that under the effect of the Qi-Nurturing Pill, the Immortal Xuan Qi was at least several times more active than usual; running the Qi once at this time was more effective than running it a hundred times on a normal day.

If not for this, the Qi-Nurturing Pill would not be the most popular elixir for Sixth-Rank martial artists.

He took a deep breath and hurriedly operated his cultivation technique.

He finished one major cycle.

Only then did he crawl into his quilt and fall into a deep sleep.

Three days passed.

"Magistrate Chai, any discoveries?"

Cao Wei walked into the large courtyard specially prepared by the General's Mansion for Chai Jingong and his Ministry of Justice entourage, only to see the room piled high with case files, and the Ministry of Justice officials, like scholars rushing to the capital for examinations, were hunched over their desks, buried in study.

Seeing such a heated situation, he secretly praised Chai Jingong for his excellent governance.

Chai Jingong, like the others, was flipping through the case files in his hand.

Hearing Cao Wei's voice, he raised his head with an exhausted expression, revealing a hint of a smile:

"Magistrate Cao."

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

Cao Wei raised his eyebrows slightly: "Magistrate Chai, just ask, I will tell you everything I know." Chai Jingong seemed to be pondering his wording:

"Gao Zhen... why did he know the Duke of Wei?"

Apart from the founding of the Yu Kingdom when the Grand Progenitor Emperor heavily enfeoffed meritorious officials, the control over titles in later generations became extremely strict.

Even for a large clan like the Gao family, they still had no titles.

Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, Baron—they didn't even have a Baron.

One must know that titles can be inherited, and unless there are no male heirs in later generations, or the family line dies out, they will be reclaimed by the imperial court.

Once a family obtains a title, they can eat the imperial salary for generations.

Therefore, titles were almost all given to the descendants of the Zhu imperial clan, and the imperial court was unwilling to see a family inherit a title and gradually grow strong, or even threaten the country.

The Zhu imperial clan members who obtained titles were also strictly controlled in the capital, with no fiefs and no power.

They were merely noble in name.

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Perhaps the Grand Progenitor Emperor also discovered that he had been too happy in handing out titles of Duke and Marquis, so during his reign, most of the Marquises died at his hands, and only two Dukes remained.

After a thousand years of evolution.

During this period, many titles were reclaimed due to various crimes.

Those that remain today are all noble families deeply trusted by the Emperor.

Among them, the most famous is naturally the Marquis of Dingyuan, an old minister who followed the Grand Progenitor Emperor from Feng'an to raise an army and conquer the world.

If one were to talk about that batch of ministers who followed the dragon, in terms of martial arts, the Marquis of Dingyuan was not the first, and in terms of civil governance, he was a complete mess, and the title of Marquis did not seem abrupt among the Dukes.

But precisely because of this, he avoided being liquidated by the Grand Progenitor Emperor.

Coupled with the old Marquis of Dingyuan's unique ability to father sons, the Dingyuan Marquis line became increasingly prosperous, and now it has become a pillar of the empire.

But the situation of the Duke of Wei is quite different from that of the Marquis of Dingyuan.

If the Marquis of Dingyuan represents the founding meritorious officials, then the Duke of Wei represents the old forces of the previous dynasty.

That's right, the old Duke of Wei was the uncle of the Emperor of the previous Xuan Kingdom and was also the God of War of the Xuan Kingdom.

Just when the Grand Progenitor Emperor and the Xuan Kingdom's army were fighting intensely, this God of War imperial uncle chose to surrender.

The Grand Progenitor Emperor was overjoyed.

On the spot, he promised the title of Duke of Wei.

Most of the forces remaining from the previous dynasty fell under the command of the Duke of Wei.

Although the Duke of Wei line is one of the only two Dukes in the Yu Kingdom, they have rarely appeared in government affairs.

Cao Wei pondered:

"I have also asked Gao Zhen about this matter; according to him, he met the Duke of Wei by chance when he was traveling, and with the Duke of Wei's support, he was able to become the Garrison Commander of the Anning Guard."

Chai Jingong frowned slightly.

Gao Zhen was young, and having just obtained the title of Martial Graduate, he was able to become a Sixth-Rank Garrison Commander, a position with real power.

It would be truly strange if there were no one behind him.

But Gao Zhen, a member of the Lu Yang Gao clan, why would it be the turn of a Duke who almost never appears to promote him?

One must know that the current Duke of Wei is already two hundred years old.

He hasn't appeared in the imperial court for a full hundred years.

He had already worn out Gao Zhen's case file.

For Gao Zhen to become an official, the Ministry of Personnel would naturally send people to assess and investigate the situation, creating a case file that detailed Gao Zhen's life.

At first, he was just an unknown disciple of the Gao clan, and it was only in the last six or seven years that he rose all the way as if he had suddenly become enlightened.

It must have been at that time that he obtained the support of the Duke of Wei.

Cao Wei asked tentatively: "Why, does Brother Chai feel that the person who killed Gao Zhen might be related to the Duke of Wei..."

He did not continue.

The Duke of Wei line had declined, but it was not something he, a mere Assistant Regional Commander, could recklessly discuss.

Chai Jingong sighed lightly and shook his head:

"It's not certain yet, it's just a guess."

Murder.

Usually, it is either random murder, like a villain killing a beggar on a whim; such cases are the hardest to solve.

There is neither motive nor premeditation.

One can hardly find any connection between the two.

But Gao Zhen was an officer of the Anning Guard and was himself a Sixth-Rank expert.

The possibility of killing a Sixth-Rank imperial official on a whim is not non-existent, but it is extremely small.

Therefore, Chai Jingong was more inclined toward premeditated murder.

Since it was premeditated, there must be an interest involved, and the killer must benefit from killing Gao Zhen.

Before, he thought it was an enemy of the Gao family who did it, but now it seems that the possibility of it being an enemy of the Duke of Wei line is even greater.

Thinking of this.

Chai Jingong felt even more of a headache.

The Lu Yang Gao clan was already thorny enough, and now there was the Duke of Wei.

Chaotic, too chaotic.

Both sides were big figures he couldn't afford to provoke, and he, a mere minor Ministry of Justice official, was caught in the middle and found it very difficult to handle.

Cases, especially those involving officials, are sometimes not impossible to solve, but rather one dares not solve them.

Even the Ministry of Justice does not dare to settle a case casually.

In the end, the Ministry of Justice is a tool for the imperial court to maintain stability, not really to uphold some kind of fairness and justice.

"Difficult, difficult, difficult."

Just as Chai Jingong was planning to continue organizing the documents, a soldier trotted into the courtyard.

The Anning Guard soldier first saluted Cao Wei and Chai Jingong, then said: "General Cao, there is a Daoist priest outside the gate who claims to be from the Directorate of Astronomy and wants to see you."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 192 =====