Chapter 631
Chapter 631
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 631
>Chapter Title: The Daoist
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> The clopping of hooves gradually slowed to a stop. Li Huowang tugged on the reins and looked up at the massive, oppressive city walls looming ahead.
>
> After a full day on the road, Silver Mausoleum City was finally in sight.
>
> He had been here before. It was in this very city that Hong Da had introduced him to the Surveillance Bureau. The city was enormous—the most prosperous in all of Jiangnan Province outside the Imperial Capital.
>
> Dusk had already fallen. The massive city gates were creaking shut. Fo Yulu yanked the reins, urging her remaining tall steed straight into the barbican.
>
> The horse reared up high, its front hooves slamming down hard on the gates and forcing the slowly closing doors apart.
> “Surveillance Bureau business!! All of you, get out of the way!”
>
> Li Huowang reached back to tug at Li Sui's tentacles behind him, flicked the reins, and hurried to follow.
>
> Li Sui had put her raincoat back on by now. No matter how much Li Huowang tried to persuade her, she refused to wear anyone else's skin.
>
> As planned, they were just about to head to the City God Temple to find Blind Chen.
>
> But it seemed there were Surveillance Bureau scouts at the gates. They hadn't gone far into Silver Mausoleum City before they were stopped.
>
> A boy dressed as a Daoist acolyte leaped down from the nearby tiled rooftop onto Fo Yulu's carriage and whispered something in her ear.
>
> As soon as the boy departed, Fo Yulu unhesitatingly yanked the reins and galloped off in the complete opposite direction from the City God Temple.
>
> “Aren't we going to find Blind Chen? Why the change?”
> Li Huowang caught up to Fo Yulu, utterly confused, and asked.
>
> “The plan's changed. Lord Zheng wants us to go to him. This is a major matter, and he's handling it personally. Don't worry—he's stronger than Blind Chen.”
>
> “Lord Zheng? Which Lord Zheng? Where does he want to meet us?”
>
> “Of course inside the city. Weren't you with the Surveillance Bureau before? You don't even know which way the secret entrance to the Bureau's base in Silver Mausoleum City opens?”
>
> How could Li Huowang possibly know? Back when he didn't have the Heart Filth Spindle, to keep anyone from discovering his Heart Elemental identity, he had kept as much distance as possible from the others in the Bureau.
>
> “Where exactly is the Surveillance Bureau's outpost!”
> Li Huowang demanded impatiently. Why the sudden detour?
>
> “Next to the Linglong Pagoda.”
>
> Hearing this, Li Huowang looked up at the strikingly visible ceramic tower in the distance. He remembered it was one of Silver Mausoleum City's unique wonders—the bound-foot prostitutes inside, their bodies tattooed with blue-and-white porcelain patterns, were a signature feature of the Linglong Pagoda.
>
> Li Huowang's expression darkened slightly.
> “What, is the Linglong Pagoda a Surveillance Bureau front?”
>
> He remembered all too well how this brothel treated people like mere objects. To entertain certain high officials and nobles, some of the prostitutes here were deaf and mute.
>
> He didn't buy that they were all congenital cases.
>
> “Heh, and you call yourself Surveillance Bureau? You're underestimating the Bureau a bit too much, aren't you?”
>
> Just as Li Huowang's expression began to relax,
> Fo Yulu added from behind,
> “The Linglong Pagoda's manager pays tribute to the palace—it's an imperial merchant. To be precise, the Linglong Pagoda is His Majesty's business.”
>
> “.”
>
> Li Huowang stared at the Linglong Pagoda with a deeply complicated expression. He never would have imagined that the owner behind this man-eating tower was Gao Zhijian!
> Right then, Li Huowang happened to pass a bookstore. He leaped straight off his carriage, snatched a brush from a scholar testing his ink, and quickly scribbled a letter on rice paper.
>
> By the time he caught back up, he saw Fo Yulu shoving the Fa Cult great shaman, He Xinlai, into the inn beside the Linglong Pagoda.
>
> Li Huowang glanced at the alluring figures beneath their thin veils and hurried inside.
>
> Business came first. Since he'd written to Gao Zhijian, he could leave this matter to the Emperor of Great Liang.
>
> The inn didn't look large from outside, but it was loosely guarded on the exterior and tight within. Li Huowang could feel two or three gazes fixed on him the moment he stepped in.
>
> They passed through the lobby, crowded with people. Soon, a door bearing the Surveillance Bureau's signature bronze mask with its protruding eyes swung open, revealing a descending staircase. Like the base in the Imperial Capital, this place was built underground.
>
> “Is this Lord Zheng better at interrogation than me? What's his background?”
> Li Huowang suddenly asked in the somewhat oppressive spiral corridor.
>
> Before Fo Yulu could respond, the man reduced to a human stick, He Xinlai, spoke up directly.
> “Court dogs, don't even dream. You won't pry a single word from me. With Yu'er God's protection! Every Fa Cult follower would rather die than submit!”
>
> “Is that so? All of you would rather die than submit? Then why did that dwarf run earlier? Wasn't he Fa Cult too?”
>
> He Xinlai showed no fear whatsoever. His face darkened in an instant, and he spoke through gritted teeth.
> “Taishan Stone was disloyal to Yu'er God! After death, he can't go to Yu'er God—that man's only fit for the frying oil pot in the underworld!”
>
> Fo Yulu reached out, stuffing seven or eight thumb-sized Buddhas into his mouth to silence him.
> “You'll see when you meet him. Anyway, you know this lord too.”
>
> “I know him?”
> A trace of doubt rose in Li Huowang's mind. He mentally reviewed everyone he knew, but he couldn't recall anyone fitting the name Lord Zheng.
>
> However, when Li Huowang reached an underground Daoist temple, he finally realized who it was: Zheng Boqiao, Supervisor of the Four Qi's Court of Imperial Astronomy.
>
> The Fangxian Daoist who had once made Li Huowang's lotus rhizome head sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, facing three statues of the Celestial Worthies, eyes closed in meditation.
>
> “Lord Zheng! Your subordinate has captured a Fa Cult great shaman.”
> Fo Yulu concisely laid out the entire situation to the meditating Zheng Boqiao.
>
> But Zheng Boqiao didn't turn around right away. He sat there quietly, motionless as the statues on the altar.
>
> He could afford to wait, but Li Huowang had no patience for it.
> “What are you doing! Stop dawdling! The Fa Cult from Great Qi has come to Great Liang! If we don't clean these vermin out fast, do you want Great Liang to end up like Great Qi?”
>
> At Li Huowang's words, Zheng Boqiao finally slowly opened his eyes. He swallowed hard, picked up his whisk from nearby, and turned around.
> “Fellow Daoist Li, since we're both of the Profound Sect, why haven't you achieved the non-anger of the six? Your heart cultivation is lacking.”
>
> Li Huowang ignored him. Unperturbed, Zheng Boqiao paid no attention to He Xinlai on the ground. Instead, he approached the abbot of Zhengde Temple, Master Chandu, with utmost respect.
> “Master, your compassion is boundless. It must have been a hard journey.”
>
> “Amitabha. What are you saying, donor?”
>
> “Newly arrived in Great Liang, you must have many inconveniences, Master. Please speak up if you need anything—the Bureau will do its utmost to assist however it can.”
>
> “There's a geomantically excellent blessed site east of Silver Mausoleum City, currently vacant. How about the masters establish your temple there?”