Chapter 1179: Buying One's Way Out of Disaster

Xiao Xiao Jincheng had an audience with the Emperor.

Emperor Jian Shi felt both hatred and fury toward him—hatred that he had not been thorough enough in his actions, letting others seize on his mistakes and even implicating the Emperor himself; fury that he was so useless, wasting so many opportunities for nothing.

He kicked the man over with one foot.

Xiao Xiao Jincheng released all the strength from his body, rolled twice on the ground along with the kick, and then continued kneeling to beg for punishment.

The court officials watching this scene were deeply satisfied. There was a certain thrill in having kicked down a man surnamed Xiao themselves.

"Worthless!"

Emperor Jian Shi lowered his voice and cursed in anger.

Xiao Xiao Jincheng kept his head bowed, a flash of humiliation in his eyes. He was not worthless—he had simply suffered a run of bad luck, letting the Censorate find a gap to exploit. In normal times, the Censorate would never have had the chance to catch him out.

"Do you confess your crime?"

"This minister is guilty!" Xiao Xiao Jincheng answered crisply.

Emperor Jian Shi gave a cold snort. "Since you are guilty, you must be punished! Guards, seal his martial meridian, drag him out—one hundred strokes of the rod, beat him hard!"

Gritting his teeth was not enough to vent his rage.

Emperor Jian Shi hated most those who made him lose face, who left him with no way to back down.

Those hundred strokes were both an answer to the court officials and Emperor Jian Shi's own need to vent his fury.

He even thought that a hundred strokes was too light—he had to be beaten savagely, beaten to death, and if he died, so be it.

But he still had a shred of reason. The man surnamed Xiao was still of great use; he could not be killed just yet. His life had to be spared so he could continue sharing the Emperor's burdens.

What followed could not be handled by ordinary eunuchs. Martial eunuchs stepped into the great hall on their own, dragged Xiao Xiao Jincheng out, and sealed his martial meridian.

"Lord Xiao, pardon the offense!"

Having one's martial meridian sealed is an agonizing experience for the one being sealed. It is not merely physical agony—there is also torment of the spirit.

One moment he had been so powerful; the next, he had become frail as a breath of wind, unable to wield even a thread of cultivation. Though his martial skill remained, he had not a shred of strength to use it. He could not even display his skill in full—he had become a cripple.

For someone of fragile spirit, that gulf might well drive them mad on the spot!

"You are only following orders—set your minds at ease, I do not blame you! Go ahead and do what you must!"

"Lord Xiao is truly a man!"

The martial eunuchs did not hold back in the slightest. Their strikes were swift, precise, and ruthless.

In the blink of an eye, Xiao Xiao Jincheng's martial meridian was sealed, and he went from a powerful martial artist to a feeble one.

Sweat beaded on his forehead. He was enduring.

"Lord Xiao, bear with it—it will be over soon. The real test comes later with the court rod."

"The one handling the court rod today is the man the Court of Prudent Punishment universally acknowledges as the most vicious. If Lord Xiao wants to live, you'd better think of a way to grease some palms. Otherwise, in your current state, I doubt you can take it."

Xiao Xiao Jincheng bore the pain. He knew Wang Defa would help him pull strings. But he could not place all his hopes on Wang Defa.

"Many thanks for the warning!" He drew a couple of silver notes from his breast. "A small token of regard—please do me the favor."

The two martial eunuchs glanced at the denominations on the notes, exchanged a look, and after decisively pocketing the money, decided to share a bit of information. "Do you know Eunuch Wang Hai?"

"What about him?" Xiao Xiao Jincheng's expression did not change.

"Eunuch Wang Hai's connections are tied to the Court of Prudent Punishment. Though he holds no specific post, his word carries weight."

"He is Eunuch Wei's adopted son."

"Eunuch Wei has not taken an adopted son in many years."

"Eunuch Wang has made his fortune."

"If you can get Eunuch Wang to nod, you'll survive this one for certain."

The two martial eunuchs traded line for line, letting the information slip out.

Xiao Xiao Jincheng's heart stirred slightly. "May I ask where I might find Eunuch Wang Hai?"

"He is on the scene today as well!"

"He is in charge of overseeing the punishment and keeping the record."

"Lord Xiao, come over—do you see him? The young one with the mole by his ear—that is Eunuch Wang Hai."

"Eunuch Wang is the cream of the palace, the model for all of us martial eunuchs. So young, yet already a ninth-rank martial artist. My master says Eunuch Wang's talent is the highest the palace has seen in recent years."

"It was precisely because his talent was so high that Eunuch Wei took him as an adopted son."

"Eunuch Wang's martial cultivation is high, but his other skills are middling at best, and he is always short of money. Lord Xiao, you're certainly not short of silver, are you?"

Xiao Xiao Jincheng nodded. Coming to the palace that day, he had foreseen he would suffer a bit, so he had grabbed a handful of silver notes before leaving. Now they had finally found their use.

"Might the two of you introduce me to Eunuch Wang Hai? Tell him that I and the Jiang Jiang Yucheng Chen of the Heaven Prison are sworn brothers by choice, not by blood."

Huh?

The two martial eunuchs were a bit puzzled. "What does the Jiang Jiang Yucheng Chen of the Heaven Prison have to do with this?"

Even if one had never met Chen Chen Guanlou, one could not possibly have failed to hear his famous name.

To these martial eunuchs, Chen Chen Guanlou was a legend—in just a few short years, he had gone from a penniless nobody to a hero who had fought Master Qi, a ninth-rank martial artist of the Jixia Academy, to a standstill! The very model of a small-timer's rise, secretly the life goal of countless hearts.

"Can it be that you don't know Eunuch Wang Hai and Warden Chen are close friends?" The corners of Xiao Xiao Jincheng's mouth lifted slightly.

The secret dealings between Eunuch Wang Hai and Chen Chen Guanlou—others might not know, but as the head of the Brocade Guards, he could not possibly be unaware. He had simply never had the chance to make Eunuch Wang Hai's acquaintance before.

How convenient this time!

"I see! Wait here—I'll go put in a word for you. It's not a sure thing, mind. By the way, how much are you planning to offer?"

"How much is needed?"

"A thousand taels at the very least."

"I'll pay three thousand taels!" Xiao Xiao Jincheng's offer far exceeded the martial eunuchs' expectations. He was deliberately throwing money at the problem to smash his way out alive. Once he weathered this crisis, he would settle every grudge in full.

"Truly?"

"Absolutely! I pledge on my rank as Commander of the Brocade Guards—honest as daylight, no trickery! Of course, the two of you will not go unrewarded either."

"Good!"

The two sides reached a deal!

Wang Hai had come to the scene today purely to watch the excitement. He wanted to see the miserable sight of the usually arrogant and overbearing head of the Embroidered Uniform Guard getting his pants pulled down for a beating. He'd find Chen Chen Guanlou for some gossip tomorrow — the other man would surely be overjoyed.

Never in his wildest dreams had he expected the other party to set their sights on him instead.

A three-thousand-tael deal?

Wang Hai glanced in Xiao Xiao Jincheng's direction. "I won't go see him! Tell him, once the money's in place, everything's negotiable."

"Eunuch Wang, do you really know Chen the Jiang Yucheng? You're both young and talented — truly enviable."

"Slap your own mouth!" Wang Hai's eyes bulged, and the words he spat were like arsenic-laced — venomous and vicious!

The two martial-arts eunuchs were both no weaklings — one seventh-rank, one eighth-rank. But facing Wang Hai, they both turned into bullied little brides.

"It's too crowded and watchful here. Once we're back, each of you will slap your own mouth twenty times — a little lesson for you!"

Wang Hai gave a cold snort, hands clasped behind his back, every inch the aloof image.

This little interlude did not affect the three-thousand-tael deal.

Once you've taken the money, you do the job — build your own reputation.

This was something Wang Hai had learned from Chen Chen Guanlou.

Unlike the others in the palace, every single one of them a backstabbing whore. People who took the money, didn't do the job, and then turned around to bite you — they were everywhere! The atmosphere inside the palace had been ruined by this lot.