21、Executive Officer

The vermilion-painted doors of the Liu Shenyu mansion were slowly pulled open from the inside.

Inside the gate, the first person to walk out, Yun Yang, carried a few more ounces of arrogance, "The evidence is here, and I will have it sent to the Imperial Capital with utmost urgency, for His Majesty to judge!"

Liu Mingxian sat atop his war horse, his expression under his mourning hat flickering uncertainly in the firelight.

He watched the stack of evidence in Yun Yang's hands, the veins on his forehead throbbing. He had not expected Yun Yang and Jiao Tu to truly find the evidence. At this moment, if he wished to avenge the old master, he had no grounds to stand on anymore.

However, he suddenly felt something was amiss... He looked up behind Yun Yang, spotting a person wearing a mask, head lowered.

Who is this?

Why the mask?

Just as Liu Mingxian thought to take a closer look, he was startled to see Yun Yang take a small step to completely block the masked person from view, looking at him with a smile that was not quite a smile, "Lord Liu, aren't you leaving?"

Liu Mingxian remained silent, showing no sign of backing down.

Everyone was on tenterhooks, waiting for him to speak, whether to fight or retreat was up to him.

Liu Mingxian asked calmly, "Where is Liang Gou'er?"

The young man holding the reins by the horse panicked, "Uncle, Liang Mao'er just delivered a message, Liang Gou has already taken a swing at the Eunuch Party, and he is now sleeping in Hongyi Lane."

Liu Mingxian's face darkened as he sized up the Criminal Justice Department's Fish-Dragon Guards who had already drawn their swords, clenching his teeth, "Tell Liang Gou to take his broken sword and get out of the Liu Family. He has no place with us anymore!"

Yet, he still did not plan to give up and again spurred his horse forward, leading hundreds of the Liu Family members pressing on.

At that moment, Lin Chaoqing spoke up, "Lord Liu, don't doom the entire Liu Family. You might as well wait for Official Liu to return to Luocheng City, then decide what to do."

Liu Mingxian stared straight at Lin Chaoqing and finally, he clasped his hands in a salute from afar, "I will await my fate at home. Return to the mansion! To prepare for the old master's funeral!"

As he left, he couldn't help but look back and saw Lin Chaoqing whispering to the masked person.

"Look into that masked person!" Liu Mingxian spat viciously, "Yun Yang and Jiao Tu are notorious for their brutal killings, but I've never heard they have the skills for investigating crimes. It must be that masked person who played a role. I must find out who he is!"

"Understood, Uncle."

At one moment, Liu Mingxian even had an intuition: had it not been for that masked person, maybe everything tonight would have been different.

After the Liu Family members left, Lin Chaoqing also mounted his horse. He straightened his raincoat and looked down at Chen Ji, "Young man, my promise is valid for two months. Maybe you won't need two months to understand what kind of people are in the Spy Department."

Yun Yang's expression darkened, "Who's acting all mysterious now? Aside from criticizing your peers, what else does the Criminal Justice Department do?"

Lin Chaoqing led the Criminal Justice Department to the east in silence. His dark raincoat, like black wings folding behind him, arrived in a flurry of dust and departed in the same manner.

As he rode off, a Fish-Dragon Guard smiled under his conical hat at Chen Ji, showing respect for someone with talent.

However, Chen Ji was destined never to work for the Criminal Justice Department because what he sought was not an official position, nor did he ever consider serving the imperial power.

What he wanted more now was to cultivate, and cultivation required money, something the Criminal Justice Department couldn't provide.

The sounds of the horse hooves faded, and Yun Yang glanced at Chen Ji, "Once you join the Criminal Justice Department, you become the enemy of all the court officials and can only ever be a lonely minister. How many lonely ministers throughout history have met a good end?"

Chen Ji responded calmly, "Thank you for the warning, Lord Yunyang."

Yun Yang asked, "Do you think there are other members of the Liu Family involved?"

Chen Ji shook his head, "I don't know."

Yun Yang continued, "Do you think the Jing Dynasty has other means of transmitting intelligence?"

Chen Ji shook his head again, "I don't know."

"Do you have something else up your sleeve like the last time at Zhou Mansion?"

Chen Ji stated with certainty, "No."

Yun Yang couldn't help but laugh, finding the young man before him far less honest than he appeared, yet without a way to deal with him.

He watched Chen Ji with a cheerful gaze, "Tomorrow night, someone will deliver fifty silver taels to Taiping Medical Hall, be on your way."

"One moment! Could I get an advance of eight cents?" Chen Ji asked.

Yun Yang had a strange look as he counted out eight Copper Coins from his sleeve, "Are you mad with poverty, to ask for a mere eight cents? Consider it a gift."

Chen Ji smiled sincerely, "Thank you, then I shall take my leave."

Suddenly, Jiao Tu felt that only in this moment was Chen Ji's smile truly sincere.

Yun Yang said, "Wait, don't go just yet."

Before Chen Ji could react, a dagger slipped from Yun Yang's sleeve, slashing past his ear, and a strand of hair fell into his palm, "Now you can go."

Chen Ji fell silent for a moment, and ultimately left without a word.

After Chen Ji was far gone, Jiao Tu couldn't help asking, "Why not recruit him into the Spy Department? If we had him under our command, we could use him freely without paying him fifty silver taels... With fifty silver taels, I could buy so many beautiful clothes that I couldn't wear them all in several years!"

"No," Yun Yang said decisively, "This young man is ruthless towards others and even more to himself, plus he is smart, just what the Lord Prime Minister likes. If we let him into the Spy Department, who knows when he'll end up on top of us."

"But there's no more room in the Twelve Signs," Jiao Tu said.

Yun Yang murmured, "I've heard that Binghu is about to step down... I've been confused, how could I have thought he could take Binghu's place."

Jiao Tu suddenly interjected, "We need to confirm whether or not he's a Jing Dynasty Spy, then we can rest easy using him."

Yun Yang stated calmly, "I've already thought of that. As of last night, a carrier pigeon was sent to Meng Ji at Kaifeng Prefecture. He will soon arrive in Luocheng City, and his interrogation is guaranteed to be flawless."

"What price did we pay to get Meng Ji's help?"

"A steep price... Let's go, it's late."

In the blink of an eye, the once bustling courtyard was left with only leaves fluttering in the autumn wind.

It was as if after all the noise and feasting, what remained for everyone's destined fate was only desolation and emptiness.

...

...

Chen Ji walked down a dark alley; as he did, a fuzzy black cat appeared on the wall, holding a book and a stick of ginseng in its mouth.

The youth walked on the ground, the cat slowly followed on the wall; under the moonlight, the shadows of one person and one cat, one in front and one behind, as if they shared some tacit understanding, some rhythm.

Wu Yun let go, and the book and ginseng fell from the air.

Chen Ji silently raised his hand and caught the book and ginseng in midair, and with a move of Ice Flow, transformed a part of the ginseng into four transparent beads.

He then tucked the book and the remaining ginseng away into his chest and tossed the beads up onto the edge of the wall, Wu Yun catching them precisely in its mouth as it walked.

The actions of the man and cat were fluid as if rehearsed, a warm current passing from Wu Yun to Chen Ji, suddenly igniting the fourth furnace by his Dantian!

In an instant, the four furnaces released flames that were almost invisible, connecting like chains, enclosing and completely sealing off the entire Dantian.

These four furnaces seemed naturally bound together; the moment they connected, a massive warm current surged, washing over Chen Ji's flesh and bones, sweeping away the weariness of the night.

Chen Ji looked up and silently pointed out a direction to Wu Yun.

Then, at a T-junction, the man and cat suddenly split up, one going straight while the other turned left.

The next moment, Chen Ji started sprinting!

Soon after, hastened footsteps echoed from a layer of thin mist dozens of steps behind him; a blurry figure was approaching fast.

In the darkness, Chen Ji took twists and turns, attempting to shake the pursuer off in the complex streets.

However, the tracker always picked the correct path at each intersection; it seemed as if Chen Ji could already hear the other's panting behind him.

No use; he couldn't escape.

The footsteps grew closer, and Chen Ji judged that the pursuer was faster than him, obviously of Spy Department caliber.

He knew someone would track him, even wanting to end his life, so he didn't hesitate to use the ginseng he had planned to save for Taiping Medical Hall's loss to transform into Ice Flow energy.

One must first survive for anything to have meaning.

After coming to this world, Chen Ji felt like he had started in hell mode; even if he hid in the Medical Hall and stayed put, danger would still find him, one after another.

But if life was destined to be like this, then he chose not to flee.

The footsteps behind him were very close now; Chen Ji's eyes held only calmness.

As the steps drew nearer, when only a few paces separated them, he suddenly turned and charged toward the oncoming person.

The narrow alley usually only allowed two people to walk side by side, with high residential eaves on both sides and uneven cobblestone paths below.

The assailant didn't expect the prey to dare turn around and fight. He subconsciously reached for the sword at his waist, but before he could draw it, Chen Ji had already grabbed his wrist.

The assassin's strength was initially much greater than Chen Ji's, but the inertia from their collision gave Chen Ji more power over the assassin's hand.

With a clang, the sword that had barely been drawn was forcefully pushed back in!

Under the dim moonlight, the middle-aged assassin's pupils shrank abruptly; he couldn't help but look at Chen Ji, only to find Chen Ji staring back fiercely.

This wasn't the look of a prey.

The middle-aged assailant attempted to retreat and kicked out at Chen Ji's chest, sending the young man tumbling backward.

He reached for his sword again, but halfway through the draw, Chen Ji rolled and dashed forward without pause, low to the ground.

With another clang, the sword was forced back yet again.

Twice in a row, the assassin hadn't managed to draw his weapon!

A cold laugh grew in the murderer's heart; he decided to discard his sword and instead unleashed a series of punches at Chen Ji's chest.

In his eyes, the youth before him was wide open and full of flaws, without the slightest experience in fighting.

Looking at Chen Ji again, the assassins saw not fear or pain in his eyes but rather an excitement, as if fire was burning within.

At this moment, Chen Ji was certain that cultivators must be a minority in this world, hidden behind its facade, seldom making an appearance.

Otherwise, whoever wanted him dead tonight wouldn't have simply sent this "ordinary person" after him.

Compared to Lin Chaoqing and Yun Yang, this middle-aged assassin indeed counted as an ordinary person!

In a flash, Chen Ji took punch after punch, then once more turned and pounced, pinning the assailant's arms under his armpits.

Now was the moment!

A dark shadow leapt from the eaves, and the assassin turned in alarm, thinking there was an ambush. But he saw only a black cat.

Before he could sigh in relief, the black cat had already passed by him.

As they crossed paths, Wu Yun's sharp claws sliced across the assassin's neck.

Hiss.

A streak of fresh blood splattered on the wall.

Chen Ji let go and the killer sat on the ground, gasping, as Chen Ji coldly watched him unbelievingly clutching his neck, stumbling backward until he collapsed against the wall.

The middle-aged assassin saw the black cat nestle into the young man's arms and, in disbelief, asked, "Executive Officer?"

Chen Ji frowned. Executive Officer? Was this the world's general term for cultivators?