Nightwatcher

# 450. Initial Exploration

Upon seeing the message from Number One, Xu Qi’an was inexplicably filled with a sense of guilt and shame, such that he didn’t respond immediately.

【TWO: You’ve found a lead on Hengyuan? Already? That fast?】

*Truly worthy of the title “Lady Flying Swallow,” ever eager to serve justice!* Xu Qi’an praised her silently.

At the same time, his spirits were lifted. As expected of Huaiqing, as expected of the number one female scholar in the Great Feng, her efficiency was downright terrifying.

【ONE: While killing the Earl of Pingyuan, Hengyuan accidentally saw something he shouldn’t have. This is Number Three’s theory. But what exactly did he see? I’ve no way of guessing. This has left me utterly perplexed, to the point where I toss and turn at night, unable to sleep.】

*This dogged determination to crack a problem, it’s classic top student behaviour. As expected of Huaiqing. If I’d had that kind of drive back then, Tsinghua and Peking University would’ve come knocking... No, that’s not the right way to put it. I’ll never have given those prestigious universities the chance. No matter how good they are, I’d still be the student they could never have...* Xu Qi’an muttered silently, holding the fragment of the Earth Book.

Number One continued writing:

【Given His Majesty’s suspicious nature, he’d surely silence Hengyuan. But since Daoist Jinlian says he won’t die for the time being, he must be imprisoned somewhere the Emperor can monitor directly. Yet after the spy of King Huai led Hengyuan into the inner city, they were never seen again. So where did he go?】

【ONE: Later, Number Four’s speculation about earth-travelling helped me break out of my earlier rut. The capital lies atop a dragon ley, with its channels branching in all directions. If one used an earth-travelling technique, it would be possible to traverse it via the ley line network.

【So, I investigated the Earl of Pingyuan’s residence and found it had been bestowed by the Emperor. Residences granted by the imperial family to meritorious officials must meet certain specifications. For example, only those built on sites with excellent feng shui are permitted.

【And in the capital, the places with the best feng shui are undoubtedly those sitting atop the dragon ley. After infiltrating the residence, I found a secret tunnel hidden among the fake rockery in the rear garden...】

Number One laid out the entire course of events to the members of the Heaven and Earth Society.

*So the Earl of Pingyuan’s manor did have a tunnel? And with a fixed earth-travelling formation, it led directly to the palace?*

Though shocked, the members quickly calmed down. It aligned with the original line of reasoning, and they were pleased with the progress.

*Although Number One keeps a low profile, her capability and intelligence are reliable. In investigation matters, she’s second only to Xu Qi’an…* Li Miaozhen puffed her cheeks in frustration.

*Hmph! Xu Qi’an must be holding out on me, unwilling to teach me his skills, which is why I’ve barely improved at detection and deduction.*

Far in the north, Chu Yuanzhen sent a message from his warship:

【How do we activate the stone disc? Does it require a specific item or some incantation?】

【ONE: It needs a specific item to activate the earth-travelling technique inscribed within it. Also, the technique itself is hard to master. Across all of Jiuzhou, those who can inscribe such a formation are extremely rare.】

【THREE: It can’t be the Sitianjian, can it?】

When Xu Qi’an asked, what flashed through his mind was the mysterious group of arcanists. If it’s not the Sitianjian, then only a group closely tied to the court could have arranged such a formation.

But if that’s the case, it strongly suggests the mysterious arcanists are connected to Emperor Yuanjing, which was very hard to believe.

The Emperor conspiring with rebels?

That’s as absurd as two love rivals suddenly getting along, abandoning the goddess, and hopping into bed together…

【FOUR: Eh? Xu Qi’an, are you the Earth Book’s master now?】

Silence fell over the Heaven and Earth Society.

Xu Qi’an felt like someone had just whipped out his stash of “fan-fiction” in front of a public audience. His scalp tingled.

【THREE: Let’s discuss that later. Back to the matter at hand. Number One, how did you determine the formation requires an object rather than a chant?】

Number One ignored him.

Hmm, based on my years as an experienced detective, she most likely sought help from Chu Caiwei. *Huaiqing and Caiwei are some of the Great Feng’s best besties… But seriously, I’ve never understood how that silly fat-headed fish became close with the clever dolphin...*

Avoiding Three’s question, Number One continued:【I’ve fully understood how to activate the stone disc. The Earth Book fragment can do it.】

Upon reading this, aside from Chu Yuanzhen and Lina, Li Miaozhen and Xu Qi’an immediately understood.

The Earth Book’s origin was closely tied to the mountain and river seals. That it could trigger an earth-travelling formation was no surprise.

What puzzled them was: how did Number One know this so well?

【FOUR: The Earth Book can activate the stone disc formation? How’s that possible?】

Even though it was just text, the astonishment on Old Chu’s face was easy to imagine. Knowing him well, Xu Qi’an could even picture the mental fireworks he was setting off in his head.

The curse of the intelligent—overthinking!

Xu Qi’an gave a simple explanation of the Earth Book’s origin.

【FOUR: Ah, so that’s how it is. I had thought…】

In that moment earlier, he had indeed imagined many possibilities, but now it was clear he’d been overthinking it.

As no one else spoke, Number One resumed leading the discussion:

【The help I need is this: someone trustworthy and powerful must use the Earth Book fragment to activate the stone disc.

【It’s extremely dangerous. You’ve no idea what’s on the other end of the formation. You might never return.】

The Earth Book group chat fell silent again.

Someone trustworthy, so best if they were a member of the Heaven and Earth Society.

As for someone powerful enough to protect themselves… that really only left Xu Qi’an. His defensive strength was already just beneath the level of the “undying body.”

Third rank martial artist: Undying body.

Xu Qi’an sighed and replied:【I’ll go.】

Even if they could find another fourth-rank martial artist, it was unlikely he’d be more suitable than Xu Qi’an. Besides, all the trustworthy fourth-ranks from the Nightwatchers had gone to war with Wei Yuan.

But Hengyuan had to be saved. That baldie was a friend, a companion, and more importantly, a genuinely good man.

【TWO: Be careful.】

【FOUR: If you sense danger, retreat immediately. Take care.】

A thousand li away, he could do nothing but offer dry, empty blessings.

Number One said nothing, but Xu Qi’an felt a mental nudge, an invitation to a private message.

【ONE: It’s simple to activate the stone disc. Place the Earth Book on the formation and infuse it with qi. Before you go, it would be best to get a spell from the Sitianjian to conceal your qi. Also, use a Confucian “Laws follow Commandments” spell to hide yourself. That way, you might be able to pass unnoticed.】

Once she’d finished, she went silent. Just as Xu Qi’an was putting away the Earth Book, she suddenly added:

【ONE: Each has their own fate.】

*What does that mean? Was she hinting that I shouldn’t risk my life to save Hengyuan?* Xu Qi’an let out a quiet sigh.

*If Number One really was Huaiqing, then in her eyes, how could a mere “online acquaintance” possibly compare to someone like her…?*

…

On the canal, over a dozen warships sailed in a neat, orderly line.

Aboard one of them, Chu Yuanzhen put away his fragment of the Earth Book and knocked on Xu Erlang’s door.

“Cijiu, now that you’ve handed that thing to Xu Ningyan, I’ll act as the information broker. There are some things you need to know.”

As he spoke, Chu Yuanzhen stepped inside, his tone dropping low: “Mm, I understand you don’t want to speak of it openly. Ears abound on this boat, so we…”

He spread out a sheet of paper, swiftly wrote a few lines, then showed it to Xu Erlang.

Hiss… flames sprang up and reduced the paper to ashes, which drifted gently down.

With many sharp-eared experts aboard, Chu Yuanzhen didn’t say more and left promptly.

Watching him go, Xu Erlang was left full of question marks.

*What was he saying?*

*What did he want to say?*

*Did I lose my memory or something?*

Unbidden, he recalled what his elder brother had secretly told him before they parted ways:

*“No matter what strange question Chu Yuanzhen asks you, or what odd thing he says, don’t respond. Stay cold. Erlang, I don’t ask you to say ‘my brother has a Diao Chan on his hip’, just help me preserve my spotless reputation.”*

*So this was what Big Brother meant by strange matters and strange questions?* Xu Erlang mused to himself.

He didn’t dwell on it. Taking a seat at the desk, he continued studying military texts. Travelling the canal, the journey from the capital to Chuzhou would take less than ten days, and they were now approaching day four.

His brief journey was already halfway through. Soon, he would embark on his first taste of life on the battlefield.

…

In the widow’s courtyard, Xu Qi’an lounged in a rattan chair under the sun, while the princess consort sat beside him on a small stool, cracking sunflower seeds.

They chatted idly back and forth.

Well—mostly it was the princess consort nattering away, talking about how she’d met Auntie Wang today, and Auntie Li yesterday, and of course her dearest friend, Auntie Zhang.

Always domestic trifles, small and mundane, yet oddly relaxing to hear.

“The peddler’s vegetables yesterday weren’t fresh. I’ve decided to replace him,” she said calmly.

In truth, it was because that peddler had looked at her with a glimmer of admiration in his eyes. Though he hid it well, how could Mu Nanzhi fail to notice? She was the most beautiful flower in all of the Great Feng. She’d seen such gazes countless times.

Even when she used to veil herself, men still couldn’t help falling for her. A bit of prolonged contact, and they’d become besotted as though their brains had been greased with lard.

That peddler came to deliver vegetables daily. They hardly spoke, barely interacted, and yet he too was succumbing to her matchless allure. Better to replace him early, she was a widow living alone, and it would be dangerous to have a man with impure thoughts around.

*Alas, what can I do when I’m this beautiful? Being pretty really is a kind of sin…* The princess consort sighed with a look of self-satisfied melancholy.

“You’re the mistress of the house, if you want to replace him, do it,” Xu Qi’an nodded.

The princess consort brightened immediately. He always gave her the utmost freedom and authority, never interfering in her decisions. The only thing he didn’t like was the look he gave her whenever he ate her cooking.

“Let’s eat out today,” Xu Qi’an suggested.

“No. I want to eat at home,” the princess consort replied petulantly.

“I’m craving something fancy.”

“Plain fare is real living.”

*That’s not plain fare, that’s mild dark cuisine…* Xu Qi’an grumbled internally.

It had been two days since the last Heaven and Earth Society meeting. Six days had passed since the army set out.

Xu Qi’an had been making preparations to rescue Hengyuan. For that, he’d laid out four contingency cards.

Trump card one: The Confucian Sage’s carving knife!

He had gone to Cloud Deer Academy the day before to borrow it from Zhao Shou, only to learn it was no longer in the academy.

So his trump card was gone, but no need to panic. Card two: the Jianzheng!

He then went to the Sitianjian and asked Caiwei to pass on a message to the Jianzheng, telling him that he was about to undertake something significant.

That was sufficient.

Card three: His little aunt’s talisman sword.

Infused with the sword intent of a second ran, even a third rank martial artist would suffer injury. In a critical moment, it could save his life. Moreover, in a place like the capital, if things escalated, countless eyes would turn his way—including those of the Jianzheng and Luo Yuheng.

Card four: Monk Shenshu.

The stinky monk had been asleep ever since their return from Chuzhou, and could not be roused. Whether this card could be played was unknown, but it was still a card in hand.

“When Wei Yuan returns from the campaign, I’ll leave the capital and take my family with me,” Xu Qi’an said, looking at her as he spoke, almost reminding her.

He didn’t know why he kept bringing this up in front of her.

The princess consort responded with an impassive “Mm”: “I wish you the best of luck.”

…

Late at night.

Dressed in black night camouflage, Xu Qi’an flitted silently through the streets of the inner city. He had made no attempt to conceal his movements, yet the surrounding Yudao Guards and the Nightwatchers posted on the rooftops all “coincidentally” ignored him.

Making use of a Confucian techniques to mask his presence, Xu Qi’an soon arrived at the Earl of Pingyuan’s Manor.

Following the directions provided by Number One, he located the rockery in the rear garden that concealed a hidden tunnel.

He triggered the mechanism, and once the entrance appeared, he slipped inside, holding up a fire striker as he moved swiftly through the passage. There were no traps within—the place had already been explored by Number One.

Before long, Xu Qi’an reached a stone chamber at the end of the passageway and saw a stone disc, two zhang in diameter.

*A disc this large can transport dozens of people at once… Earl Pingyuan used this to send the people he abducted directly into the palace…*

Xu Qi’an stood beside the stone disc, pondering for a few seconds before producing the Earth Book fragment and placing it on the array, then channelling his qi into it.

The fragment began to glow faintly, the light somewhat murky. Like flowing water, this light trickled into the engraved runes, illuminating them one by one.

The formation inscribed on the stone disc activated.

Xu Qi’an swiftly stepped onto the disc, and in the next instant, his figure vanished from the stone chamber.

The scenery before his eyes blurred, and then Xu Qi’an found himself plunged into pitch darkness, not a single source of light in sight.

*There’s no sense of danger…*

He held tightly onto Luo Yuheng’s sword talisman, slightly relieved.

He was currently “invisible,” so he didn’t dare light the fire striker. Human eyes couldn’t function in complete darkness. No matter how powerful one's cultivation, this was a biological limit.

Nor did he dare release his spiritual power to probe the surroundings. Instead, he moved forward one cautious step at a time, waving his arms ahead to test the space before him.

Luckily, if there was a cliff or a wall ahead, a warrior’s instinctive sense of danger would provide some warning—an alternative sort of detector.

Like this, Xu Qi’an crept forward for a quarter of an hour. Suddenly, his ears caught a strange sound.

“Huff… huff…”

In the darkness ahead, a bizarre noise echoed—it was as if something were breathing.

*How big must those lungs be?* Xu Qi’an shuddered and lampooned internally.

The closer he got, the clearer the “breathing” became. Cold sweat seemed to bead on his forehead.

*What was hidden beneath the imperial palace?*

Xu Qi’an’s grip on the sword talisman tightened. At the first sign of danger, he’d activate it without hesitation.

Whatever was in the depths of the dark, it exuded an overwhelming sense of menace. The closer he drew, the more his body began to tremble uncontrollably.

Enduring the mounting pressure, he advanced another hundred steps in silence. At last, a faint golden light shimmered in the distance.

This light exuded a solemn and masculine aura. It was somewhat similar to the Indestructible Vajra Divine Art, yet subtly different.

*Buddhist golden light… is that Hengyuan? Has Hengyuan really been taken here? What is that golden light? His last resort? His secret?* Xu Qi’an’s thoughts swirled.

Just as he was about to approach, an image suddenly surfaced in his mind:

He took two steps forward—and then died, silently and without warning. His body shrivelled up, like a dried corpse…

A martial artist’s danger sense!

Xu Qi’an silently stepped back, then turned around and slightly quickened his pace as he withdrew from the perilous place.

Back in the underground stone chamber beneath Earl Pingyuan’s manor, the runes on the disc once more glowed faintly, and Xu Qi’an reappeared.

He bent to pick up the Earth Book fragment, slipped it back into his robes, and instead of leaving immediately, lit a few oil lamps.

Then, leaning against the stone disc, he exhaled silently.

“After investigating the Dog Emperor for so long, I finally have a breakthrough.” Xu Qi’an chuckled to himself, unable to suppress the joy on his face.

*The noise in the depths of the darkness—that strange breathing sound—what was it?*

*Was it the sound of the dragon ley? That location is, in all likelihood, the core of the ley line.*

*Hengyuan has been imprisoned inside the dragon ley… and that golden light is resisting it? And that power that could kill me without a trace—was it a formation?*

Xu Qi’an took out the Earth Book fragment and sent a message: 【I’ve already passed through the formation and made a preliminary exploration of the other side. I’ve gained something.】

【ONE: Is it the imperial palace? Is the formation linked to the palace? Did you run into any danger?】

【TWO: What did you find? Hmm, you’re not hurt, are you?】

【FOUR: That was fast, have you rescued Master Hengyuan yet?】

Aside from the sleeping Lina and the sequestered Daoist Jinlian, the rest of the members all responded to Xu Qi’an’s message. It was clear they’d stayed up on purpose, waiting for his report.