[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-imperial-enforcer-with-an-eight-hour-workday":3,"chapter-the-imperial-enforcer-with-an-eight-hour-workday-the-imperial-hounds-of-the-eight-hour-workday-chapter-607":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Imperial Hound on an Eight-Hour Shift",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":20,"prevChapterSlug":21,"totalChapters":22,"novelImage":23},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":16,"volume":17,"translator":18,"content_hash":19},2225665,4113,"Chapter 607: Pawn, Chess Player","the-imperial-hounds-of-the-eight-hour-workday-chapter-607",607,"\u003Cp>Quiet, dim.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The style of the Ise Grand Shrine’s main hall was called \"Unique Deity Construction,\" the oldest and most sacred architectural style in the East. The architectural lines were simple and sharp, and the huge *chigi* and *katsuogi* on the roof extended from the main body of the building like swords pointing to the sky.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Four layers of fences named \"Itagaki, Uchi-tamagaki, Soto-tamagaki, and Mizugaki\" blocked all attempts to peek inside the main hall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ji Ji Tianrui stood still outside the \"Itagaki.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was the closest distance to the shrine she had ever reached before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As early as the end of the Imperial Mausoleum battle, she had already gone to sea to layout in the East. It wasn’t until the night An Qisheng died at Li Miao’s hands that she exposed her identity because she had been away from the East for too long, and thus had to leave the Ise Grand Shrine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She had been here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that time, she had replaced a priest, borrowed this identity to try to get close to the Ise Grand Shrine’s main hall, and investigate Amaterasu’s bottom line... but it was right here, just as she had crossed the outermost \"Itagaki,\" the High Priest, who had clearly been fast asleep, suddenly woke up without warning and rushed straight to her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She could be certain that the High Priest could not have detected her movements, and there was no one else around the shrine that day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then who discovered her and used means she couldn’t even detect to wake the High Priest?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was only one possibility.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amaterasu.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had never slept.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was inside the shrine, watching Ji Ji Tianrui.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ji Ji Tianrui let out a long breath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The habitual, mask-like fake smile on her face gradually faded, leaving an expression as cold and hard as ice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sacrificing countless lives, throwing the world into chaos, and overturning the four seas. Zuo Zuo Lishan, Lan Lan Lechuan, the Ming Cult, the Emperor Jianwen Emperor, the Emperor, Yin Yin Ruihua, the Yang family, Zheng Zheng Anqi, An Qisheng, Liu Jin, Ji Ji Tianrui, the Miao King... paving the way with the blood of countless heroes, geniuses, nobles, and demon lords, she had finally reached here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Many things... seemed to be ending today.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She suddenly spoke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You are watching me, aren’t you?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No response.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But she didn’t care, just continued.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You know, everyone in the world, including Lord Li, thinks I’m a lunatic... why pursue your trail so obsessively, why risk everything to deal with someone I’ve never met and who is ethereal.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"They think you and I have no grievances.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But I think you should understand.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She said softly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You have been to the Central Plains.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"There are some things I don’t want to tell Li Miao... so he won’t understand me, but you should be able to. You know why I want to deal with you, why I am so certain of your existence.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"After handing the Jiezhao technique to the Emperor Jianwen Emperor back then, you didn’t leave the Central Plains. At least thirty years ago, you were still wandering around the Central Plains.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ji Ji Tianrui, do you still remember this name?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ji Ji Tianrui smiled suddenly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"My father, my enemy.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"He imprisoned my freedom. The meaning of my birth was to be a tool for him to overcome the Five Decays of Heaven and Man. He set up countless means to prevent me from escaping... and at that time, I really had no way to resist him.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Fortunately, he died.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"After he died, I inherited everything of his, including all the exploration results he had on certain matters.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Speaking to this point, Ji Ji Tianrui suddenly changed the subject.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Actually, many people who have fought me, including Lord Li, find it strange. Gu arts are originally a minor path, and should be fundamentally incompatible with martial arts. For thousands of years, no one has ever tried to combine them. This should have been a matter of course.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Why could my grandfather, Yang Yang Lixuan, the Yang Cult Leader, suddenly think of this point, secretly conceive with the Miao King, and give birth to my father?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If you say my father could do this, I would believe it, but my grandfather... hehe, the stone heads of the Yang family, if it’s about fighting, that’s useful, but if it’s about finding a new path, it’s not as good as a piece of dog-urine moss.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What did he rely on to combine Gu arts with martial arts? Just a Miao King who borrowed a corpse to return to life? If the Miao King had this ability, why would he only guard the Miao frontier when he was alive?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ji Ji Tianrui paused for a moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Regarding this point, my father also found it very strange... so he did some investigations and obtained some conclusions.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Relying on the Ming Cult, he found the secrets of the Emperor Jianwen Emperor period, then pursued them all the way, discovered Yingzhou and Xu Fu, and finally... confirmed your existence.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The combination of Gu arts and martial arts was a spare move you pushed Yang Yang Lixuan to find. You wanted to use Yang Yang Lixuan’s hand to spread this crooked path throughout the world, lead martial arts onto a crooked path, and completely cut off the possibility of people like Zhang Sanfeng and Bodhidharma appearing.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Because it was a spare move, my father came to be. His birth was just a spare move of yours.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"So he went mad.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"He couldn’t accept the truth about his own origin, couldn’t accept that he couldn’t escape the barriers set by someone casually in his entire life, couldn’t accept that he was just one of countless mediocre people in the last thousand years.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ridiculous, right? Clearly he did exactly this to me, but when it fell on himself, he couldn’t take it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"With his talent, even if he used all his means, he could only barely avoid the Five Decays of Heaven and Man by relying on Gu arts. He couldn’t deduce Sex-Gong. He could only be an incomplete Three Paths in One in his life.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"He couldn’t accept this point, so he had to plot to seize the Jiezhao in the Emperor’s hands, then the Xuanlan in Yingzhou’s hands, the Zhenchang in Xu Fu’s hands, and finally achieve Six Paths in One... to personally overturn your chessboard and kill you, this self-righteous chess player.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But it’s a pity... he overestimated himself. Before he even finished the first step, he died, died in the hands of the Emperor.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Died silently.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This is his story.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ji Ji Tianrui’s words fell slowly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The story of the man thirty years ago, the imaginary enemy before Li Miao came out of the mountains, the Ming Cult Leader Ji Ji Tianrui, was finally fully revealed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The truth about him was finally settled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The story of the dead was thus concluded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No matter how brilliant he was, no matter how much he plotted, he had eventually become a dead man.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And now... it was time to talk about the story of the living.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ji Ji Tianrui said calmly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I am not as smart as Lord Li thinks. It has only been a dozen years since I escaped from the Miao King’s hands. If not for Ji Ji Tianrui’s legacy, I’m afraid I would never be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with Lord Li in this life, let alone pursue you.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But he had his talent, and I have my origin. I don’t belittle myself, nor do I envy the fate of others.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"So... let’s talk about the present.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her voice carried no emotion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Although I don’t want to admit it, I am indeed very similar to Ji Ji Tianrui. I also don’t want anyone to manipulate my life.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ji Ji Tianrui was a tool you pointed Yang Yang Lixuan to create.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"And I am a tool Ji Ji Tianrui created to deal with you.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I want to erase this point, I want to kill everyone related to this, I want to completely get rid of all this. Only then... can 'I' truly be 'I'.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"In heaven and on earth, I alone am the honored one.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ji Ji Tianrui slowly raised her palm, true Qi surging around her, violently vibrating the fine dust and gravel on the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I am me.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ji Ji Tianrui will only be Ji Ji Tianrui.\" \u003C\u002Fp>",1409,"2026-06-17T21:54:32.236Z","2026-06-18T03:13:38.468Z",1,"Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite","4ad745c093c057b8c3fcb0842f0510c1a2519eb5714539d5e983905b5a4e44cd","the-imperial-hounds-of-the-eight-hour-workday-chapter-608","the-imperial-hounds-of-the-eight-hour-workday-chapter-606",647,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-imperial-hound-on-an-eight-hour-shift-cover.jpg"]