Chapter 136: The Nine Classics

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In the days that followed, Zhuang Jin found himself quite at leisure.

If he truly wished to interfere in the streets below and serve as a blade for the Department of Public Affairs, there would naturally be an endless stream of matters to handle and troubles without end. But if he merely turned a blind eye, kept himself apart, and watched from the sidelines, then there was nothing at all for him to do.

As for the medicinal fields beyond the city, one still had to contend with exotic beasts. Here in the eastern district, however, so long as all sorts of affairs were delegated, there was truly nothing to worry about. At most, he needed to spend half an hour at the end of each month looking over the accounts, signing them, and submitting them.

There was little work, yet the benefits were considerable. Zhuang Jin took only what he could and ought to take, and still earned seven or eight hundred silver taels a month. The prosperity of the eastern district was plain to see.

Under such circumstances, Zhuang Jin devoted himself to cultivation. The previous month, after escorting the fleets of wealthy merchants from below and spending long days traveling back and forth, his slow cultivation had once more entered the fast lane. His accumulation in the Eighth Meridian Realm advanced at astonishing speed.

Chen Yun, as before, took meticulous care of him and handled all the trivial household matters. With Yu Xiaoxiao and Song Lan, the two young maids, helping and sharing the burden, things were much easier for her.

Her blood disorder also seemed to have improved considerably and had not flared up again. Part of the illness had been hereditary, and part of it had been a sickness of the heart. Now that Zhuang Jin had returned, the sickness of the heart had vanished, and with the nourishment provided by the Blood Jade Ginseng, such an improvement was only natural.

The eastern district was no less peaceful than the medicinal fields beyond the city—indeed, it was even more so. With peace restored and spring flowers blooming, Chen Yun once again placed vase flowers on the tables at home.

Not content with that, Chen Yun brought Yu Xiaoxiao and Song Lan together to devise two unusual “living flower screens.” Each screen was made from two wooden branches, about four or five inches long, fashioned into something like a low, elongated bench with its middle left open. Four horizontal wooden bars, each about a foot wide, were fitted across it, and shallow pots of trailing aromatic herbs were placed above, allowing the vines to climb and spread.

Placed inside the rooms, these living flower screens filled the windows with green shade. They let in the breeze while blocking the sun, their winding forms exceedingly pleasing to the eye.

Thus the days slowly settled into a gentle rhythm—clear, warm, and tender. When he was not cultivating, Zhuang Jin and his wife did nothing in particular. They merely sat side by side, chatting idly, and each felt within their heart an indescribable tranquility and peace. Perhaps this was what the ancients meant by husband and wife raising their brows in harmony, their lives resonating like lute and zither.

During this time, Ou Wenzhong also came by from time to time. He never arrived empty-handed, always bringing a gift. Knowing Zhuang Jin’s temperament, he understood that anything too valuable would be refused. Thus, the gifts were generally inexpensive, yet chosen with great care and perfectly suited to Zhuang Jin’s tastes, overflowing with sincerity.

Ou Wenzhong was a Ninth-Meridian expert, a realm higher than Zhuang Jin’s. His manner was genial, his words pleasing, and his etiquette impeccable. He had none of the odious habits of the ward guardians in the northern district—none of their concern with ancestry, family standing, or pedigree. Getting along with him was quite pleasant.

Naturally, Ou Wenzhong was making a deliberate effort to curry favor and accommodate him. This was hardly surprising, given Zhuang Jin’s value as an ally.

There was also the matter of Ou Wenzhong’s satisfaction with him. Zhuang Jin was a man who could be trusted with both goods and affairs. With such a small expenditure of gifts and effort, he had managed to block the moves of the Shen family’s main branch—a perfect example of accomplishing great things with little expense.

As one of the representatives of the forces entrenched in the eastern district, Ou Wenzhong had come to establish contact with Zhuang Jin. His ability to handle the assignment had made him highly conspicuous amid the eastern district’s tangled relationships and competing powers. In recognition of his achievement, his position in the exchange queue for Unbinding Pills had also risen.

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It was precisely because of these benefits that Ou Wenzhong was now extraordinarily tolerant of Zhuang Jin. So long as Zhuang Jin remained steady through this period and caused no trouble, anything could be discussed. Visiting every few days with gifts, making himself known, and coaxing Zhuang Jin with a few flattering words were all minor matters.

Because he saw that Zhuang Jin was interested, Ou Wenzhong also often brought news of the outside world. After the Medicine King Gang’s attack in January on the return fleets of the wealthy merchants below, the Shen family had now steadied itself and launched retaliatory counterattacks in the northern and southern districts. In the south, they were merely expending strength and tying down the enemy; in the north, however, they had begun a forceful counteroffensive, determined to drive the Medicine King Gang out completely.

The fighting continued to expand. Even ward guardians of the Seventh Meridian Realm and above had begun to suffer deaths and injuries, while warriors from the First through Sixth Meridian Realms were falling in great numbers. Many warriors from the rear areas of the eastern and southern districts, far from the front line against the Medicine King Gang, had been transferred there as well.

These were mostly low-ranking warriors from below. Veterans of the middle and upper levels in the eastern and southern districts, such as Ou Wenzhong, were still enjoying peace and comfort.

Zhuang Jin could not help sighing inwardly. The front lines were strained while the rear feasted. The warriors in the northern and southern districts, bordering the Medicine King Gang’s front, were bleeding and sweating, while the fat rats of the eastern district ate until oil dripped from their mouths. No wonder Shen Xuchen could not stand the sight of it.

Still, none of this had anything to do with him. He had rendered great service and had come here to recuperate. To demand that an “injured man” like him charge into battle, throw himself into the fray, and hack a path through every obstacle would have been far too unreasonable—and far too ugly a spectacle. This was one of the chief reasons Shen Xuchen had relied on temptation rather than coercion.

“I risked life and limb for the Shen family in January. Can’t I relax and enjoy myself for half a year?”

Zhuang Jin felt that by refusing to sink into the company of the eastern district’s forces, he had already upheld the greater principles and done right by the Shen family. Surely the people above in the Shen family were not so naive as to demand that everyone be utterly selfless, burn themselves away, and make sacrifices without end.

In any case, he had nothing to do in the eastern district. Both sides remained at peace, and he could watch the winds of change while devoting himself to cultivation.

…

Time hurried on. In the blink of an eye, more than a month passed, and the date became the twenty-first of March.

That day, Ou Wenzhong came by with news: Miao Shao had been killed in battle in the southern district.

When he had investigated Zhuang Jin’s background, Ou Wenzhong had naturally learned that the two men had a grudge between them. His main purpose in coming this time was to share the news and tell Zhuang Jin the good tidings.

Zhuang Jin was quite surprised. After seeing Ou Wenzhong off, he sighed, “I haven’t even made a move, and Miao Shao has already fallen? How dull!”

This also made him realize something: so long as he remained cautious and stayed safely out of danger, there would be times when he need not act at all—the enemy would die on his own. This was his first taste of the pleasure of outliving an enemy.

“This feeling isn’t bad. Still, when an enemy doesn’t die by my own hand, something is missing. I hope Zhao Bin can hold out a little longer.”

With that thought, Zhuang Jin turned around and prepared to repay Miao Shao in kind, beginning by reuniting his entire family with him.

“A family ought to remain together. Miao Shao, if he knows of this in the underworld, should be thanking me.”

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“This move serves two purposes at once. Once Zhao Bin learns that something has happened to Miao Shao’s family, he’ll realize how foolish his previous resistance was. He is being watched now and cannot defect. He is at the front and cannot hide. With Miao Shao’s fate before his eyes, he will be even less willing to die. The moment he does, his family will be wiped out at once. He can only remain nailed there while the last of his value is squeezed from him.”

Such a desperate predicament would surely torment him all the more.

“Zhao Bin will soon understand that compared with dying swiftly, what is more agonizing and unbearable is to live worse than death—to yearn for death and yet be unable to die.”

“But that can wait. First, let me break through.”

By this day, Zhuang Jin had finally completed his accumulation in the Eighth Meridian Realm.

“As expected of crossing an entire level. Consuming meat from beasts at the Minor Flesh-Forging stage really does increase cultivation speed tremendously. Calculated properly, it took less than two months to complete this accumulation.”

Meat from beasts at the Flesh-Forging Initiate stage corresponded to the Seventh and Eighth Meridian Realms. For the Eighth Meridian Realm, such meat would actually have been sufficient. Zhuang Jin, however, had switched in advance to meat from beasts at the Minor Flesh-Forging stage, corresponding to the Ninth Meridian Realm of martial cultivation.

Under normal circumstances, this would have been a waste of precious resources. But his potential had accumulated, his aptitude had improved, and his ability to refine energy had increased greatly. He could therefore make reasonably good use of it without wasting too much.

Meat from beasts at the Flesh-Forging Initiate stage cost fifty battle merits per pound, while meat from those at the Minor Flesh-Forging stage cost a hundred. That came to three thousand battle merits a month. Only someone like Zhuang Jin, who had battle merits to spare and money to burn, could afford such extravagance.

“Trading battle merits for efficiency is worth it. Compared with leaving battle merits sitting uselessly in an account, I would rather save time and strive to reach the Eleventh Meridian Realm while I’m in the eastern district.”

“Of course, that is still some distance away. For now, I should break through to the Ninth Meridian Realm first.”

Zhuang Jin closed his eyes and focused his mind, circulating his inner breath toward the Foot Taiyang Meridian.

…