[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-ink-saint-of-great-zhou":3,"chapter-the-ink-saint-of-great-zhou-the-ink-saint-of-great-zhou-chapter-271":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Ink Saint of Great Zhou",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2292234,4481,"Chapter 271","the-ink-saint-of-great-zhou-chapter-271",271,"\u003Cp>Lu Fang did not stay longer in Beiyacheng; after bidding Bai Yu farewell, he left under cover of night, but did not go far—instead, he sat quietly by a tranquil lake on the outskirts, pondering what to do next.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Clearly, this trial in Beiyacheng had failed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had never anticipated encountering something like this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two matters now demanded his attention: first, the Wu Di Army in the Scorched Lands—he had received word from Shen Kangbo that the Great Zhou army would soon establish a garrison there.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Previously, he had ordered the Wu Di Army to camp in the Scorched Lands precisely because of the region’s chaos.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But now things might not go as planned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He considered whether to relocate the Wu Di Army’s base.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After weighing all possibilities, Lu Fang decided to let the Wu Di Army remain in the Scorched Lands for now and observe the situation; if things truly turned dire, withdrawing later would still be timely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Scorched Lands were vast; even if the Great Zhou army had ample troops, they would likely only guard key sealing sites and lack the manpower to manage the rest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, war with the demon barbarians continued in both northern and southern borders, leaving the Great Zhou with few spare soldiers to spare.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The second matter requiring thought was Shen Kangbo’s intelligence network—he had inadvertently learned that Bai Feng was a key figure in the Shen family’s intelligence operations, and that His Majesty had close ties with both men.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Fang had a bold thought: perhaps the Shen family’s intelligence was not truly under Shen Kangbo’s control, for he sensed the shadow of His Majesty behind it all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was no evidence—only a feeling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had not dwelled on it before, because the Son of Heaven had treated Shen Kangbo with little warmth; yet after the Great Zhou’s official gazette spread widely, the Shen family, as its driving force, reaped immense benefits—and correspondingly, their intelligence reach had expanded to an absurd scale.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet Shen Kangbo showed no urgency.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A man who became the wealthiest in Great Zhou should not have overlooked the danger of overwhelming the sovereign’s authority; the only plausible explanation was that he was acting on behalf of the Son of Heaven, hence his utter confidence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, the last time the Son of Heaven sent Lu Fang to Wuyincheng to persuade Shen Kangbo had merely been a ruse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Fang thought for a while and exhaled in relief—he had not used the Shen family’s intelligence network to do anything harmful to Great Zhou.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Henceforth, whenever he used the Shen family’s connections or intelligence network, he must think thrice before acting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After resolving these two matters, Lu Fang deliberately avoided thinking about Li Yu, for he did not know how to handle their current relationship.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two choices now lay before him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One was to return to the Imperial Capital and force himself to write the Elegant Journey to the West—but he quickly dismissed this option.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He did not know whether the Dao of Heaven would permit him to complete the Journey to the West; if he failed to finish it, he would receive no reward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even the first few chapters alone would likely not enable anyone to awaken the transcendent power within, for the novel’s power was too extreme—the Dao of Heaven must impose limits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In that case, he would merely waste time and energy, making no progress in either cultivation or overcoming the Dao of Heaven’s restrictions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thinking thus, Lu Fang could only choose the second path: continue wandering and deceive the Dao of Heaven—but with this experience, he felt he needed to refine his methods.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For instance, he could manipulate his realm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This time, his realm had been too high—there had been no need for it; once a cultivator’s realm rises too far, he ceases to encounter most mundane affairs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was certainly not beneficial to him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He needed to become an ordinary person—or even someone worse than ordinary—so he could see the other side of this world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He also planned to choose a place and settle there for a while; rushing in and out would cause him to miss too much.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Previously, he had been too eager; now he wanted to try a slower pace—perhaps unexpected gains would follow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Regarding the Elegant Journey to the West, he also believed he could balance both during his travels: train by day and silently transcribe by night, thus constantly sensing whether his trials were bearing fruit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Infinite Secret could seal his strength and memories for a fixed duration—Lu Fang judged this feasible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He acted immediately, quickly disguising himself as a thirty-something man with a full beard—a commoner with no cultivation base, though physically stronger than most; yet after thinking it over, he remained unsatisfied.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So he transformed again, becoming a crippled, destitute man.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for his name, this time he was Lu Youfang; after memory alteration, he was a hunter who, after injuring his leg, could no longer hunt and now sought work in a secluded town or city to survive.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Infinite Secret’s seal would automatically lift at night, allowing him to write the Elegant Journey to the West; by day, he would reactivate it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Having completed all this, the horizon far away had just begun to lighten.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Fang shed his disguise, rode the wind, and vanished into the distance—he needed to find a place first; after traveling for a full day and night, he finally settled on one: Shuixiang Town.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A place surrounded by mountains on three sides and a lake on the fourth, its residents mostly lived by hunting and fishing—perfect for seclusion, though its one flaw was extreme remoteness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After triple-checking the location, Lu Fang disguised himself as Lu Youwei—in an instant, he became a crippled man seeking livelihood, his clothes patched all over, his appearance subtly altered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Last time, though ugly, he had been ugly-charming, with a touch of allure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To prevent any emotional entanglements again, this time Lu Fang made Lu Youwei’s appearance rough and plain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Entering the town, Lu Youwei walked the streets, asking each shopkeeper if they needed help; his demands were low—he would do anything legal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He asked only for standard wages and food and lodging.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet even this simple request caused every shopkeeper who saw his limp to wave him off.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some were polite; others were cruel, hurling insults to drive him away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Youwei trudged along, head drooping, asking and asking again, yet securing no job—somehow, his chest felt heavy; though he did not cry, he was deeply pained.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had to keep smiling through rejection, for without work, he might sleep on the streets—his copper coins barely covered three days’ food.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, one shopkeeper, pitying him, told him to try by Shuixiang Lake—there, if he was willing to work hard, he could earn enough to live stably in town.\u003C\u002Fp>",1143,"2026-06-20T03:56:22.339Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","935c51926d280c18f44ee2d33090bd6e8d938c3114bc7a031c72cbdb4787ae9e","the-ink-saint-of-great-zhou-chapter-272","the-ink-saint-of-great-zhou-chapter-270",289,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-ink-saint-of-great-zhou-cover.jpg"]