Chapter 261: Information on Luoyang
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
A few days later, inside the Green-ribbon Arrester Kong Yu’s Notes Room in the Six Fan School of the Zhou County.
“Huh? What are you doing here, Xiao Meng?” Kong Yu put down the paperwork in his hands and stood up in surprise.
Meng Qi, in his black clothes and swords strapped to his back, entered from the door. He smiled and said, “Old Kong, you know I never visit without a reason.”
Kong Yu contemplated his words and suddenly burst out in laughter. “You’ve made up your mind?”
“Of course,” Meng Qi answered without hesitation. “I want to join the Secret-searching Nark.”
“Very well,” Kong Yu replied in a low voice. He checked on the situation outside the Notes Room and gave a wave. He pulled the door shut and closed the windows. “The ident.i.ties of the Secret-searching Nark officials are a secret. We need to keep it from everyone else.”
It wasn’t like being a Yamen arrester, where one could let the world know.
Meng Qi nodded, indicating that he understood this. He glanced at the paperwork in Kong Yu’s hands. “Old Kong, is there something serious going on lately?”
“No. This is the latest news about Meng Qi, the Gentleman Sword. He had the Huanhua Swords Sect send Qi Zhengyan to return the Purple Decease Sword to the Ye family in the Qi City. He had apparently come out of his closed-door cultivation and went to the Immensity Sea. He went to Bo Mi to seek his revenge, killing a Half-step Exterior Scenery warrior. Due to the viciousness of Bo Mi and the lack of evidence, only doubt, the fight couldn’t be considered for the Ranking List of Young Masters.” Considering that Meng Qi had agreed to join the Six Fan School, Kong Yu considered him as one of their own and was thus honest with him. “I heard Qi Zhengyan’s return to the Huahua Swords Sect this time was to seek approval to go traveling.”
Bo Mi was the most dangerous place in the Immensity Sea, filled with all kinds of good and evil men. Many Exterior warriors evading from their enemies as well as Half-step Exterior Scenery masters hid there. Due to its complicated terrains, many had died without a trace. Meng Qi used the place to conceal his whereabouts as the Gentleman Sword.
With an unchanging expression, Meng Qi said, “Where’s the Gentleman Sword now?”
“You want to challenge him?” Kong Yu asked, thinking that he had a firm grasp of Meng Qi’s character. He sighed. “But you’re going to be disappointed. He was heavily injured and has gone underground to recover. His current whereabouts are unknown.”
It seemed that the Yamen of the Zhou County truly didn’t know Meng Qi was, in fact, the Gentleman Sword… He became certain of this. It was likely thanks to the Luoyang headquarters concealing this.
The two of them chatted for a while longer before Meng Qi excused himself. Kong Yu saw him off at the door and told him through Secret Voice-sending, “I’ll be sending the paperwork directly to the Luoyang headquarters. I expect a reply will arrive in five days.”
As the Green-ribbon Arrester, he had the right to directly make a recommendation to the Luoyang headquarters. Besides, Meng Qi was hoping to join the Secret-searching Nark and that wasn’t appropriate for others to find out. Otherwise, he would just hand the recommendation paperwork over to Silvery-badge Guo and submit to the county Yamen office for them to send it to the Luoyang headquarters. This method would have allowed him to preserve the faces of his higher-ups.
“Five days…” Meng Qi once again marveled at the speed of the intelligence transmission in the Six Fan School. It truly was beyond comparison.
Even if the journey was smooth sailing, it would take more than two months to travel from Yedu to Luoyang. Discounting all the bureaucratic trivialities in the Yamen, wasn’t it too early for a reply to come in five days?
Could they be using a transmission spell? Or a similar Exterior method?
After all, the Inner World was different. Even the Exterior abilities would be different. Some would be mysterious and profound. In addition, there were many different eccentric people who would cultivate only their Nether Spirit or incense Immortal Path. All kinds of odd things could happen.
…
Five days later, while Meng Qi was learning the Supernatural Power of Shaking Heaven and Hitting Earth by utilizing the One Heart Affecting Another tactic of his Ananda Oath-breaking Bladesmans.h.i.+p, he heard rapid knocks on the door.
Without needing to get up or prying into the matter, Kong Yu’s figure appeared in his realm of consciousness.
“Old Kong, has the decision from Luoyang arrived?” Meng Qi asked with a pleasant smile. He was still immersed in studying the Supernatural Power of Shaking Heaven and Hitting Earth.
Kong Yu looked stunned. He felt that Xiao Meng was exuding an indescribable temperament at the moment. Xiao Meng stood there, looking as if he wouldn’t accept any restrictions on him. He seemed removed from all worldly concerns, basking only in the red dust. His smile was warm and his pair of eyes were spirited as if they were capable of seeing deep into people’s hearts. His entire being carried the odd charm of a Buddha.
But that strange feeling was like an illusion and disappeared in an instant. Kong Yu snapped out of his reverie and laughed. “Congratulations! Luoyang has approved my recommendation and agreed for you to join the Secret-searching Nark. You’ll be a Green Ribbon and get a thousand silvers compensation a month.”
“A thousand silvers?” Meng Qi asked.
Thinking that Meng Qi found the sum too small, Kong Yu grinned and explained, “The compensation is neither a lot nor little, but it’s great in that it’s a stable income. In three to five years, you’ll be able to recover the deeds you sold off. Monetary compensation is only part of it. We have all sorts of resources available and they’re cheaper by at least 50 percent. We only want to recover our cost. But you need to apply for the things you need in advance and we’ll deduct the cost directly from your compensation. Of course, you can’t sell them either.”
He lowered his voice and said, “Compensations for arresters who stay put in a region like us aren’t much to look at. We mainly have to pay our respects to all our superiors and be covert. Our extra compensation comes from the artifacts that we might get from investigating major cases.”
The Six Fan School was very strict about internal corruption and had harsh punishments for offenders. In contrast, they would turn a blind eye to the heads of arresters to prevent their people from being displeased. Take the large city of Yedu for example. It was such a complicated region that housed the w.a.n.g family and the Huanhua Swords Sect. Even when these groups of people maintaining the order in the city, there was nevertheless a dark side with people competing for the superiority of their gangs and people committing various crimes.
Yet what the Six Fan School needed was people to suppress rebellions on the ground, maintain stability, gather intelligence, watching over the Jianghu folks, and investigate and arrest criminals who disturb the peace of the city. They didn’t have the manpower to penetrate every corner of the city and was forced to rely on the power of the gangs. Thus they had to turn a blind eye to the gangs’ underhanded practices as long as they didn’t affect the stability of the city and continued to provide various intelligence.
These gangs naturally treated the arresters with respect. It was an unbelievably great thing to have the Six Fan School backing them. If there was something the arresters didn’t want to do, there were many who would clamor for the chance to do it for them!
The Investigating Arresters were responsible for internal cleansing. Wherever they went, there would be local arresters paying their respects and indulging them. As long as the local arresters didn’t embezzle officials’ salaries and resources, they would leave them be.
Whether it was the local arresters or the Investigating Arresters, both had their external ‘incomes’. This was something the Six Fan School knew very well. Naturally, they weren’t strict on the Secret-sending Nark either. For example, the officials would need to submit the artifacts they found in their investigations. The Six Fan School would allow them to keep the artifact sc.r.a.ps to safeguard their loyalty.
“Oh? We can use our salaries to exchange for resources?” Meng Qi didn’t care for money, but he became excited at the thought of buying various elixirs, containers, and the like at cost-price from the Six Fan School. On one hand, he could exchange those items for Karma points. On the other, he could keep them for personal use without wasting his Karma points.
Kong Yu nodded with certainty. “There’s no problem at all. Except for items at Magical Arms level, we have everything that you would need. But you’ll have to meet the Emperor and receive training from the Head Constable before you can officially join the Six Fan School before you can enjoy our resources and compensation.”
“Old Kong, when will we be departing for Luoyang?” Meng Qi asked. He had now become the type of person who took initiative in everything.
Kong Yu shook his head. “You’re now part of the Secret-searching Nark. If I accompany you to Luoyang, or send someone to take you there, wouldn’t that be announcing to the world that you’re part of the Six Fan School? That would inconvenience you in the future. So you have to go alone. Either way, you’re a ranked master. You won’t have to worry about the people at the headquarters not recognizing you.”
“Then I’ll set off tomorrow.” Meng Qi was impatient to leave immediately but had to pretend to sound conflicted. “Old Kong, there are so many eminences and aristocratic families in Luoyang. I’m not too familiar with them and worry that I might provoke those I shouldn’t be provoking. Could you show me the secret doc.u.ments related to Luoyang?”
Kong Yu mumbled to himself before replying, “You’re considered one of us now. I can’t show you the secret doc.u.ments now but there’s no harm in letting you learn about the general information related to Luoyang.”
Even if Meng Qi was officially part of the Six Fan School, the information he had access to would still be restricted to his rank and the scope of his responsibilities.
“That’s good enough,” Meng Qi replied sincerely, his face full of smiles.
…
On the next day, inside Kong Yu’s Notes Room, Meng Qi flipped through a doc.u.ment containing information related to Luoyang.
Kong Yu had deliberately retrieved the doc.u.ment for Meng Qi, lest he exposed his ident.i.ty while searching for the doc.u.ment.
A man with the surname of Su; a Duke. Meng Qi instantly found the two information that he wanted.
“The Su family, a family related to the royal family. They earned a great merit five generations again and their head of the family was awarded the non-hereditary t.i.tle of Duke.”
“Su Li is nicknamed the G.o.d Mightiness Duke, a Top Cla.s.s Master Pro of the Third Heaven of the Exterior. His family treasure is the Kun Wu Sword. Currently the deputy commander, he is blessed with two sons and a daughter. His wife is Ke Weilan…”
“Su Yue, dubbed the golden-eyed Super Arrester, is the illegitimate son of the Su family and Su Li’s younger brother. He’s a Peerless Master Pro of the N-fold Heaven of the Exterior and one of the Eight Distinguished Super Arresters. He has three sons and two daughters…”
“The old madam Bai Jingluo, the legal wife’s daughter of the Bai family in Shengdu. She’s a Top Cla.s.s Master Pro of the Third Heaven of the Exterior…”
“Ke Weilan, a Half-step Exterior Scenery warrior. Her father is a Great Master. She’s one of the Eight Distinguished Super Arresters and is bestowed with the Dragon Claw by the emperor. Relying on the fact that she’s Su Li’s concubine, she lost her roots and amounted to nothing…”
“Su Zihua, currently 20. Su Li’s eldest son birthed by Ke Weilan when she was a servant that was sent to his household as part of his wife’s dowry. Su Zihua had a hidden illness and occasionally showed his madness. He once met a miracle and is now an Eight Acupores master.”
“Su Ziyuan, 17. Su Li’s second son birthed by his concubine. His whereabouts became unknown after becoming a disciple at the Shaolin Temple.”
…
“Su Ziyuan…?” Meng Qi gently tapped on the table and silently muttered this name. He felt no sense of belonging to this family at all and never thought of meeting them either. The only reason he wanted this information was so he wouldn’t be ignorant if something inexplicably happened to him.
He took a deep breath and began to read the doc.u.ment about Luoyang carefully.
A moment later, Kong Yu pushed the door open and let himself in. He was holding a parcel in his hand and his expression seemed odd.
“What’s wrong, Old Kong?” Meng Qi looked at him curiously.
Kong Yu closed the doors and stared at Meng Qi for a moment. “You don’t have to meet the Emperor, Head Constable, or Super Arrester in Luoyang anymore.”
“Huh? Why?” Meng Qi couldn’t figure out why.
“I received a secret doc.u.ment today. It read: ‘Su Meng, the Killing Blade, was of innocent background and a reliable and loyal person. Now that there’s an important matter to be attended to, there’s no need for him to visit Shengdu. He should accept his official seal immediately.” Kong Yu appeared to be in a daze as he continued, “Don’t all official seals need to be custom made with the official’s blood to prevent falsification? How can Xiao Meng be granted one immediately…”
He took out a pale cyan piece of official seal tied with a green ribbon.
Meng Qi finally grasped a basic understanding of the situation. He accepted the seal and saw that it was etched with the words ‘Chasing the Wind’. When he poured some of his inner force into the seal, it gradually turned greener.
“I-It’s your blood lineage…” Kong Yu watched him with his mouth open. Since when did Xiao Meng visit Luoyang? Could he be from Luoyang?
Huh. In order to prevent him from going to Luoyang, they even ransacked his family’s ancestral hall to find traces of his hair and blood… Meng Qi could guess as much. Large families would always submit the hair of their newborns to the royal court. Shengdu was akin to a large ancestral hall. He said, “Old Kong, what’s my a.s.signment?”
Kong Yu took out the official doc.u.ment. “There’s a large number of masters gathering in Mao Ling in the River East. One arrester mysteriously disappeared after conducting a secret investigation and his body was found in Yang Xia in the Hua Province a month later.”
River East… Meng Qi suddenly became excited.