Qingshan

Chapter 68 : Chapter 68

Chapter 68: Innate Divine Strength

In the early morning alleys of Luocheng, Dark Cloud moved lightly through the alleys, unhurried, with the air of a great general.

Behind him, only six of the most agile tabby cats followed.

When they passed by, a watchdog rushed out and barked wildly. However, one of the tabby cats merely gave the watchdog a faint glance, and the dog immediately whimpered and scurried back into its house.

The next moment, a tabby cat came running back head-on, meowing: Not found!

Dark Cloud also meowed: Search again, report again!

The tabby cat turned and darted away.

After a short while, another scouting tabby cat turned back: Not found!

Dark Cloud: Search again, report again!

He had sent out six tabby cats, each taking one of six different paths to give chase. He refused to believe they couldn't find the person I had described.

Just then, a tabby cat ran back: Found him!

With a whoosh, Dark Cloud shot out, his black figure as slick and fierce as a flowing shadow.

The Division Officer had already reached Changning Street. The short blade in his hand had vanished, hidden in his sleeve. As he walked among the crowd, he was like the most ordinary tenant farmer, utterly unremarkable.

The number of pedestrians on the streets of Luocheng was gradually increasing. Every household was carrying out their chamber pots, emptying the night's waste into the public 'capital latrines' built by the government along the streets.

Dung collectors gathered around the latrines. As the residents poured, they scooped.

In this era, the business of collecting human waste had formed a massive industry chain. Merchants mixed the waste with hard soil to shape it, then sold it to farmers after composting.

Some had amassed great fortunes from this business, and the dung collectors had earned a unique title: “Qingjiaotou.”

The Division Officer suddenly stopped. He glanced slightly to the side, his eyes under the bamboo hat as sharp as a blade, cutting across every pedestrian.

But no matter how long he searched, he couldn't find any clues.

Strange. The Division Officer always had a vague sense of crisis in his heart, as if a needle was being pressed against the spot between his eyebrows, making it tingle.

He always had this feeling whenever he was being watched, but this time, he couldn't find the person watching him.

As he was scrutinizing his surroundings, a tabby cat swaggered past his feet.

The Division Officer only gave it a light glance before shifting his gaze elsewhere, without a second thought.

Who was following him?

The Secret Spy Division?

Or that Shopkeeper Yuan? Or perhaps the Liu Family?

Thinking of this, the Division Officer quickened his pace. He ducked into a dead-end alley and, with a light leap, landed on the eaves of a wall.

He crouched behind a roof ridge, cautiously poking his head out to stare at the dead-end alley, wanting to see who would follow him.

However, the Division Officer waited for a full quarter of an hour, but no one ever followed. And on the rooftops of this residential area, there was only a black cat playing with a tabby cat in the distance, nothing out of the ordinary.

The Division Officer let out a soft sigh of relief. It seemed that the string in his mind had been stretched too taut lately, and he was overthinking things.

……

……

In the empty alley, I leaned against the grey wall beside me, panting slowly. I wasn't sure if Dark Cloud could catch up to the Division Officer, but I had to try.

Previously, I had no stance between the Ning Dynasty's Secret Spy Division and the Jing Dynasty's Military Intelligence Division. I could work for anyone, as long as they paid.

But one cannot walk a tightrope every day… At that moment watching the sunrise from the Drum Tower, looking at the Ning Dynasty friends around me, I suddenly wanted a new beginning.

And my identity as a Military Intelligence Division spy was like a great chasm on my path towards that 'new beginning'.

To have a new beginning, I must end my old identity.

Right now, there should only be four people who knew of my identity as a Military Intelligence Division spy: my uncle, the two Division Officers, and the Division Lord.

My legendary uncle had already stepped down. He could no longer control the Military Intelligence Division, and thus, naturally, could no longer control me. If this uncle could be completely overthrown by his political enemies, that would be the best outcome. We would be separated by two dynasties, never to meet again…

As for the remaining three… as long as I killed them all, I could gradually fade from the Jing Dynasty Military Intelligence Division's view.

The Heir had asked me on the Drum Tower what I wanted to do in the future. I didn't know at the time, only saying that I wanted to survive.

Now I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to break free from the Jing Dynasty's Military Intelligence Division.

I propped myself up against the wall and slowly straightened my body. Shopkeeper Yuan had pressed on my wound earlier, and then I had hurried on my way, causing the wound to reopen. It was only now, when I lifted the hem of my clothes, that I discovered my trousers were soaked with blood.

But there was no time to worry about that now. I patted the dust off myself and limped through the small alley back towards the clinic.

I gathered the hem of my clothes to cover the bloodstain on my trousers. But just as I walked out of the alley, I retreated back in.

At this very moment, Golden Pig was standing at the entrance of the Taiping Clinic, saying something through the door.

I frowned. Golden Pig was blocking my way back. If Baili opened the door for him now, and he entered the clinic to find me not there, he would surely become suspicious.

“Baili, you have to stall for me,” I thought anxiously as I arduously climbed onto the roof. I didn't even know if Baili would help me stall for time; after all, I hadn't explained anything to her.

……

……

At the entrance of the Taiping Clinic.

“You’re Chen Ji’s friend?” Princess Baili asked doubtfully through the door.

“Yes,” Golden Pig said with a smile. “Please open the door. I’ve brought him some things to help him recuperate.”

At this moment, Baili instinctively wanted to say that I had gone out, and that he should come back later.

But she looked back at the empty bamboo chair, recalling the way I had just slipped out, and suddenly felt that she couldn't say that.

She thought for a few seconds: “Chen Ji is quite seriously injured and is still sleeping right now. Please wait a moment, I’ll go wake him.”

Outside the door, Golden Pig muttered to himself: “The Princess of the Prince's Mansion really doesn't understand social etiquette. Even if you're going to wake him, at least let me in to sit and wait. What's the meaning of not even opening the door… Huh?”

He gently pulled the door, then pushed it, only to find that the main door of the Taiping Clinic had been bolted from the inside and couldn't be opened at all.

Golden Pig grew even more puzzled. Although a clinic wasn't like a breakfast stall and didn't need to open so early, did no one even go out to fetch water in the morning? Why was the door bolted? What were they doing inside?

Thinking of this, Golden Pig slowly backed away onto Anxi Street, his gaze scanning the rooftops.

Just as he was preparing to climb onto the roof and sneak in to have a look, he heard Princess Baili’s voice from inside the Taiping Clinic: “Chen Ji is still sleeping, but you can come in and wait for him. I’ll open the door for you.”

Hearing this, Golden Pig abandoned the thought of sneaking in and waited patiently.

But he waited and waited, and the door still did not open.

Golden Pig’s voice grew firm: “Why haven’t you opened the door yet?”

Princess Baili said hurriedly from inside: “I don’t know how this bolt got stuck. I can’t pull it out.”

The next moment, Golden Pig put his strength into a hard pull on the door, and with a crack, the bolt snapped.

Inside, the Princess was so frightened she took several steps back, while Golden Pig strode in with a smile: “This bolt must have been rotten, that’s why it wouldn’t open. I’ll send someone this afternoon to have a new one custom-made. I guarantee it will work well.”

The Princess became anxious and desperately pulled at his arm: “Hey, how can you just barge into a private residence like this? This is outrageous! You must be the villain who hurt Chen Ji, don't think you can hurt him again!”

However, how could the Princess’s strength compare to Golden Pig’s? She was dragged along, sliding across the floor.

The Princess shouted at the top of her lungs: “Brother, Physician Yao, Brother Gou’er, someone’s breaking into the clinic!”

“What’s going on, what’s going on?” The Heir was the first to rush over, blocking Golden Pig’s path and grabbing his clothes.

But Golden Pig was as slippery as an eel. With just a turn, he shook off both the Heir and the Princess and crashed into Liang Mao’er.

He pushed Liang Mao’er but couldn’t move him. Instead, he was pushed back to the entrance of the main hall by Liang Mao’er, whose lips were pressed together!

“Hey,” Golden Pig, not believing it, began to grapple fiercely with Liang Mao’er, trying to use wrestling techniques to throw him to the ground.

But strangely, Liang Mao’er’s stance was even more stable than his own. He couldn't be thrown at all!

“Eh?” Golden Pig looked at Liang Mao’er in astonishment: “Innate divine strength?!”

Liang Mao’er grabbed Golden Pig's clothes and said in a muffled voice: “Why are you breaking into the clinic?”

Golden Pig, knowing he couldn't win by force, immediately shed his outer shirt like a cicada sheds its skin, slipped out from under Liang Mao’er’s arm, and dove into the apprentices’ bedroom.

He froze for a moment. In the dim apprentice bedroom, I was wrapped in a quilt, lying on the apprentice's communal bed, pretending to be fast asleep, completely different from what he must have imagined.

The Heir, the Princess, She Dengkang, Liu Quxing, and the others all rushed into the apprentice bedroom, trying to drag Golden Pig outside.

But Golden Pig’s feet seemed to be nailed to the floor. No matter how many of them pulled, he didn't move an inch.

The Princess looked back at Liang Gou’er: “Brother Gou’er, help.”

But Liang Gou’er was sweeping the floor, pretending he hadn’t heard anything.

Seeing this, Liang Mao’er grabbed Golden Pig’s arm and gave a mighty pull, actually lifting him right out of the room.

Golden Pig’s feet left the ground, and he exclaimed in shock: “What the hell?!”

Liang Mao’er carried Golden Pig and placed him in the courtyard. A group of people surrounded him, blocking him at the kitchen door.

Baili stood outside the door with her hands on her hips. She frowned her delicate, willow-leaf brows and scolded in a low voice: “You’re not Chen Ji’s friend at all, are you? Who barges into a friend’s house like this?”

Golden Pig hurriedly explained with a smile: “I was just worried about Chen Ji. You didn’t open the door for so long, I thought something had happened inside.”

“Even if the sky were falling, you shouldn’t do this!”

Old Man Yao stood by the apricot tree with his hands behind his back and said slowly: “Lord Golden Pig, what is the purpose of your visit today?”

Golden Pig lifted the pastries and fruits he was carrying in his hands: “Previously, when our Secret Spy Division was apprehending a Jing Dynasty spy, we carelessly let the spy escape, which resulted in the injury of the passing Chen Ji. In the end, he was injured like this because of our negligence, so I felt guilty and came especially to visit.”

The Heir and Baili were stunned. This fat man was actually from the Secret Spy Division. No wonder Liang Gou’er was unwilling to act just now!

The two of them glanced at Liang Gou’er, only to see him still holding the bamboo broom, acting as if nothing had happened.

Baili turned back to Golden Pig and said: “Lord Golden Pig, you have seen the person, and you have delivered the gifts. Please leave now. In the future, please do your duty and capture Jing Dynasty spies diligently, and don’t let them escape and harm people again… That spy who injured Chen Ji, where is he being held now?”

Golden Pig said with a beaming smile: “Held? No, no, no, he was killed by Chen Ji.”

The Heir and Baili gasped, instinctively looking back at the apprentice bedroom. Before this, they could never have associated me with killing.

Baili recalled my act of slipping out just now, and her expression became complicated. This clinic apprentice seemed to be not as simple as she had thought…

Just as everyone was in a daze, Golden Pig slipped through a gap in the crowd like a loach. He darted into the apprentice bedroom, and with one move, threw off the quilt covering me, revealing half of my body.

I was wearing an inner sleeping garment. I slowly opened my eyes: “Lord Golden Pig, what brings you here?”

Golden Pig’s tightly furrowed brows slowly relaxed. Before the crowd could surround him again, he hurriedly cupped his hands and said with a smile: “I won’t disturb you today. When Chen Ji is better, I will come to visit again.”

With that, he beat a hasty retreat.

I sat on the bed, panting. Golden Pig was too difficult to deal with. His suspicious nature, unwilling to let go of any detail, was undoubtedly what the Secret Spy Division needed most.

But to be an opponent of such a person, the slightest mistake would lead to eternal damnation.

Everyone wanted to come in and ask me what had happened, but Baili stood at the door and said softly: “You all go about your business. I have something to ask him.”

After everyone had left, Baili asked: “Where did you go just now?”

I remained silent for a moment: “Princess, I don’t want to lie to you. If you are willing to trust me, then please don’t ask.”

“Then first tell me, was it arranged by someone for you to be with me and my brother?”

“No, and I will not do anything to harm you.”

“Alright, I won’t ask again in the future. Rest assured, I won’t tell anyone about what happened just now either.”

With that, she turned and left the room, calling out to the Heir: “Brother, let’s go back to the Prince’s Mansion.”

The Heir was taken aback for a moment: “Are you in such a hurry to go back? I was hoping to stay for lunch.”

I sat on the bed, listening to the sound of them climbing the ladder and leaving over the wall, remaining silent.

The window of the apprentice bedroom moved slightly. Dark Cloud’s head squeezed through a crack, and he slithered in like a liquid: “I found the person you were looking for. He’s working as a carriage driver for the Liu Family.”