Chapter 93: Dog Yan Shidi

Zhen Mo Si, the side courtyard.

Several Golden Eagle Captains set the treasured garments on the bed inside the room, then briskly boiled water and tidied up the place.

Once everything was done, they cupped their fists and said: "Lord Shen, is there anything else you need us to attend to?"

The Regional Commander is not in Qingzhou; the Zhen Mo Grand General is holding down the twelve commanderies.

Within the government office, this aide-de-camp who had yet to depart could be said to hold an extremely high position — one call, a hundred responses — and even out in the world, he would be the equal of an elder of a first-rate noble house or sect.

"Nothing else."

Shen Yi waved a hand, watched the men leave, and sat on the edge of the bed.

He reached out and picked up the gilded openwork wolf-patterned hair crown, instinctively wanting to pinch it with his fingertip.

Then he suddenly realized — with his current strength, forget real gold, even refined iron he could crush in his grip.

He set the crown down, picked up that thin garment, gently stroked the yin-yang fish pattern on it, and only after a long while placed it to one side.

"This promotion came too fast."

Shen Yi lay back on the bed, arms behind his head, savoring the hard-won softness and comfort.

If it had truly been earned by ability, that would be one thing, but he knew in his heart better than anyone just how much water had been mixed into the merit of slaying that Core-Forming Flood Dragon.

Could it be that the real reason his predecessor had been wandering in Bai Yunxian was that he was actually an illegitimate son of some Zhen Mo Grand General, cast out to drift?

He had always felt he could face himself with a clear conscience, yet at this moment he sensed an inexplicable trace of unease.

"Tch!"

Shen Yi curled his lip — did he really have to be targeted before he could feel at ease?

On the way back, he had also learned quite a bit from Hong Lei about the Zhen Mo Si and martial cultivation realms — for instance, these aide-de-camp positions: each Zhen Mo Grand General had only four or five at his side, some not even one.

Among them were no few old aides who had followed their general for one or two hundred years, all of them carved out from countless captains through merit; Jade Liquid Perfection was merely the threshold.

Among the twelve generals, Old Man Chen was the one closest to his great limit.

Fortunately, the Yin Spirit nurtured within his inner elixir had grown somewhat, adding a touch of vitality to that candle flickering in the wind.

If he truly possessed the talent he appeared to have — two months from commoner to Jade Liquid Perfection, and with an external elixir containing a Dragon Lord's cultivation at his side… when the day came that the old man could no longer grip his Hun Iron Halberd, the seat of Zhen Mo Grand General would almost certainly not fall to anyone else.

Governing a commandery of several million commoners — this was something Shen Yi could hardly have imagined back in Bai Yunxian.

The pity was that this "talent" required a massive accumulation of demons' and monsters' lifespans.

"…"

At the thought of demons' and monsters' lifespans, Shen Yi's calm face showed a faint flicker in his gaze.

He was now at Jade Liquid Perfection; to continue advancing, he would need a true Core-Forming method.

He could understand the Zhen Mo Si's pursuit of stability and order, but when it landed on his own shoulders, he still couldn't help sighing at their rigid stubbornness — always measuring things in units of "years."

Shen Yi could wait, but he was unwilling to sit idle and simply wait.

Apart from the Zhen Mo Si, such things weren't unavailable outside either; with the identity of an aide-de-camp, many matters now had room to maneuver.

If he could obtain it ahead of time, that would of course be for the best.

But before doing those things, he still needed sufficient strength as his foundation — otherwise, if the day came when he caught the tail and surrounded the people, only to find he couldn't beat them, that would be the real embarrassment.

"Cough." Imagining such a scene, Shen Yi couldn't help curling his lip.

For now, there were still many directions in which he could improve.

Ever since encountering the young flood dragon of Water Cloud Hamlet, his previous body-tempering method had clearly become insufficient; fortunately, the Bodhi Vajra Body about to come into his hands would allow his physical form to be elevated once more.

Besides that.

Shen Yi sank into inner vision and looked at that Heavenly Demon external elixir suppressed by the Molten Sun Treasure Furnace.

The demonic fiendish energy within had only just reached the halfway mark.

If he could fill it completely, it would be equivalent to possessing twice the Dragon Lord's cultivation — when the time came, below the Embracing Elixir Realm, so long as Yin Spirits and Hunyuan methods weren't involved, wouldn't he be able to walk sideways as he pleased?

Unfortunately, the Molten Sun Treasure Furnace had already reached its limit; to suppress even more formidable demonic power, he might have to rely on opening more orifices.

If he remembered correctly, when deducing the Wind Thunder Molten Sun Treasure Canon that day, it had taken over two hundred years to newly open four orifices — two hundred and seventy-five in total — still a long way from opening them all.

"No rush, take it slow."

Shen Yi lazily climbed out of bed and poured himself a cup of plain boiled water.

Such a huge lifespan gap couldn't be filled in a short while; at least now he had a direction, which was far better than those days in Bai Yunxian groping about blindly like a headless fly.

"Does Lord Shen usually quench his thirst with plain water?"

A teasing voice came from the courtyard. Shen Yi glanced sideways and saw a handsome young man in white carrying two pots of wine, a smile playing at his lips: "Bai Ziming, I work at the medical hall."

That name — he seemed to have heard it from Hong Lei, mentioned alongside Fang Heng and Lin Baiwei, and ranked last.

Shen Yi glanced at the Fang Heng behind him, took a sip of warm water, and said coolly: "Tea is too bitter; I'm not really used to anything else."

His previous life had been miserable enough — where would he find the leisure to savor the sweet aftertaste within bitterness?

"I have some exclusive tonic tea back at my place — nourishes yin, supplements yang, boosts qi, strengthens the kidneys, rich and sweet in flavor. Next time I'll bring a couple of packets over for Lord Shen."

Bai Ziming walked in as if they were old friends, set the wine pots on the table, took the food box from Fang Heng's hanging hand, and surreptitiously sized up Shen Yi before speaking: "My junior brother here has a hot temper and offended you before. I specially brought him over to apologize."

Hearing this, Shen Yi looked over at that tall, burly brute.

Fang Heng said honestly: "No, it's that he doesn't believe there's a martial artist of our generation stronger than him, and he's unconvinced in his heart — he came over to find your weaknesses, planning to ambush you in your next sparring match."

"…" Bai Ziming's eye twitched, his smile turning slightly stiff.

"Don't listen to his nonsense. Lord Shen's cultivation is formidable; I, Bai, am ashamed to compare. I'm just a humble physician — how would I dare speak of any sparring?"

Shen Yi looked toward Fang Heng again.

The burly man raised his head: "No, Jiang Shijie Jiang is at Embracing Elixir Perfection. Last time she came back, he still launched newly developed poison needles from behind, and Jiang Shijie slapped him to the ground with one sword — he was bedridden for two months."

"You two chat." Bai Ziming's face went expressionless. He set down the food box, turned, and walked off: "I still have some matters to attend to."

When Master returns, he must report this — expel that ungrateful turncoat who bites the hand that feeds him from the sect!

"Zhu Shixiong Bai."

Fang Heng called out to him, both arms hanging down, and said with a hint of apology, "Could you pour me some wine?"

"Suddenly I'm neither hungry nor thirsty." Bai Ziming said coldly. Though he said so, he still took out three small wine cups from the food box and filled them to the brim with the fine wine from the pot.

He pushed the cups toward the two of them respectively, then only after that raised his own wine cup.

"Senior brother, help me close the door again." Fang Heng took a deep breath.

The hand holding the wine cup trembled slightly. Bai Ziming looked over with a sinister expression: "Fang, I, Bai, do not bully the disabled. Wait till your injuries are healed—you just wait."

Having said that, he swept his sleeve, turned, and walked out the door, slamming the wooden door shut with a bang.

"..."

Watching this pair of living treasures, Shen Yi fell silent, and only after a moment said, "What on earth is the matter?"

Fang Heng clenched his teeth tightly, and with a hand that had almost no feeling, tremblingly reached for the wine cup, struggled to raise it, then drained it in one gulp.

He did not know how long he had wrestled with himself, but finally mustered his courage and said, "I want to ask you... not to go to Linjiang Commandery, at least not for the next few months."

The words were not spoken loudly.

Yet they made the two people outside the courtyard gate slowly halt their steps.

The broad-shouldered middle-aged man silently looked inside. The little girl sitting on his shoulder suddenly turned cold-faced, and her two fair little legs also stopped swinging.

Bai Ziming stood before the room door. He had just heard the words inside and had not yet reacted, but his peripheral vision caught the figure in the distance, and sweat instantly seeped from his forehead.

This stupid junior brother—without a word, actually brought her along to cheat?!

(End of chapter)