Chapter 684
Revenge
"Hey buddy, another bowl, please!"
"Another bowl, please!"
"Another bowl, please!"
Jin Zhu ate four bowls of mutton stir-fried noodles in a row, which, when stacked with Tianma's four bowls, looked like a small mountain.
Amidst the astonished gazes of those around them, the golden pig seemed reluctant to leave, saying, "I want to eat some more, but I really can't eat anymore..."
He looked around and tossed a ten-tael silver ingot to the noodle stall waiter: "Today, all the customers who come to eat noodles will pay for them on my behalf. Consider it my payment. The rest of the silver is yours."
The waiter beamed, "Thank you, sir!"
Tianma gestured and asked him, "So happy? You were also in the Seeking Dao Realm before, but you bet on the wrong person and fell down again. I've never seen you this happy when you first entered the Seeking Dao Realm. Is it because of the Martial Dao Resonance?"
Looking at the stack of bowls on the table, Jin Zhu sighed, "It's not just for the sound of martial arts, but also for the relics of the past... Never mind, you wouldn't understand."
Tianma seemed to be deep in thought.
The golden pig smiled and said, "Let's go."
He walked out of the noodle stall with a smile, clutching his stomach. Two scholars passed by and said, "That noise just now, was it the martial arts sound the storyteller talked about? But the storyteller said it was the sound of a sword being drawn, so why did it sound like a money bag today?"
Another scholar shook his head: "I don't know. Perhaps the storyteller was just repeating what he heard. After all, not many people have actually heard the martial arts sounds... I wonder who in the capital caused these martial arts sounds? Could it be that someone has reached the Divine Realm?"
Jin Zhu stepped forward and said, "The martial arts resonance is not necessarily only available to those who have reached the Divine Realm. For example, Lu Yang, the abbot of the Martial Temple, has the martial arts resonance once he enters the Innate Realm."
Jin Zhu changed the subject: "But to have someone in the Seeking Dao Realm trigger a martial arts resonance is unprecedented and likely to remain so. This person must be a cultivation genius second only to Headmaster Lu Yang..."
Before he could finish speaking, Tianma expressionlessly pulled him away by the arm.
Golden Pig broke free from Pegasus's pull and straightened his collar: "What? Can't I show off a little about something this happy?"
Tianma gestured: "Don't flaunt your wealth."
Jin Zhu laughed heartily: "I'm not the kind of person who hides his wealth in secret. After being suppressed for twenty-one years, it's time to finally hold my head high."
Upon hearing "twenty-one years," Tianma actually let go and stopped blocking him, only following behind silently watching Jinzhu boast about it to everyone he met.
Jin Zhu deliberately took a long detour around the capital, and he followed behind him for just as long, until Jin Zhu ran out of new words and his mouth was dry. Then he gestured and said, "It's time to see the Prime Minister. We must report this matter to him."
Jin Zhu chuckled: "That's right, that's right, we have to tell him, we can't keep it from him. Alright, you go ahead with your work, I'll go to the Jie Fan Lou myself."
Tianma asked in confusion, "You're going by yourself?"
Jin Zhu waved his hand: "Aren't you still going to investigate that Yao An? Go quickly and don't delay."
After a moment's thought, Tianma gestured to Jinzhu: "Then I'm leaving."
As Jinzhu watched Tianma's retreating figure, his smile gradually faded, and his expression became more solemn, as if he wanted to etch the other's silhouette into his mind.
After the celestial horse disappeared at the end of the long street, the golden pig took a deep breath, put on a smiling face, and turned to cross the Taiye Pond.
Spies were going in and out in front of the Eagle House, and the Golden Pig heard the Black Serpent's voice from inside: "Investigate again. Before noon, I must know who caused the martial arts resonance!"
He curled his lip and said sarcastically, "I need to know before noon... hehe."
Jin Zhu was originally going to Jie Fan Lou, but then he rolled his eyes and swaggered into Ying Fang Si.
At this moment, Li Dongyan sat in the grand chair in the main hall, lost in thought with his eyes closed. Xuan She's spies came and went, collecting secret reports from people on various routes.
The bright rabbit and the cloud sheep whispered to each other in the corner, chatting idly. The precious monkey sat cross-legged in the corner, head down, weaving a cricket cage.
Jin Zhu found a chair and sat down. He beckoned a spy to pour him tea, then gently skimmed the tea leaves off the cup with the lid, humming a little tune.
Li Dongyan glanced at Jin Zhu, Jiao Tu, Yun Yang, and the others, then looked at Bao Hou, who was weaving a cricket cage in the corner: "A martial arts symphony has emerged right under the emperor's nose in the capital, yet the Secret Service has been unable to find any clues and still has the mind to drink tea and play with crickets. I think the Secret Service is also incompetent and needs to be informed to His Majesty to bring in some fresh blood."
Jiao Tu rolled her eyes.
Without raising his head, Bao Hou spoke softly from behind his mask, "Commander Li, if you have the heart to be loyal to the emperor and serve the country, you should go out and find it yourself, instead of waiting for us. Also, this is the Secret Service, not the Jie Fan Guard. Your Jie Fan Guard's office is in the Imperial Horse Stable. Is it appropriate for you to stay here all the time?"
Li Dongyan remained unmoved: "I am ordered to supervise the Secret Service, so it is naturally more appropriate for me to stay in the Secret Service."
Jin Zhu put down his teacup, cleared his throat, and said, "He's a fat man."
The Eagle House suddenly fell silent, and everyone turned to look at it. Even Bao Hou stopped what he was doing.
The golden pig looked up in deep thought: "Its body length is five feet three inches seven and three centimeters."
Jiao Tu suddenly stood up: "Have you seen this person before? Where is he now?"
The golden pig continued, "This person is meticulous and perceptive..."
The Jade Rabbit asked in confusion, "Did he discover that you were following him?" The Golden Pig ignored her and continued, "This man is exceptionally intelligent. Even if all twelve zodiac animals of the Secret Service were combined, they wouldn't be as good as him... cough, except for the White Dragon and the Sick Tiger."
As he said this, Xuan She's face showed suspicion, while Li Dongyan simply gave a cold laugh.
Just then, a spy under Xuan She rushed over to report: "My lord, I visited an informant on Chessboard Street. The informant said that he saw with his own eyes that when Jin Zhu and Tian Ma were at the noodle stall, a strange phenomenon suddenly occurred. Jin Zhu seemed to have entered the Seeking Dao Realm, and then there was a martial arts sound."
The black snake turned its head and asked in confusion, "Golden Pig, was it you who triggered the martial arts resonance?"
The golden pig laughed heartily: "It is indeed I."
The bright rabbit rolled its eyes again, while the precious monkey simply smashed the half-finished cricket cage on the ground.
Jin Zhu got up, dusted off some non-existent dust, and swaggered out of the Eagle House: "I don't have time to fool around with you. I'm going to see the Minister of the Interior now."
……
……
Outside the Xihua Gate, Changxiu stood beside the vermilion gate, holding a scroll in his hand. Jinzhu flashed his waist token and passed in front of him. Changxiu merely glanced at him before turning his gaze back to the book: "Congratulations, Lord Jinzhu."
The golden pig walked through the wide and desolate palace road and came to the front of the Jiefan Tower, bowing and saying, "I... cough, I want to see the Grand Chancellor."
Shan Niu sat inside the dark gate of Jie Fan Lou and said calmly, "The Inner Minister is waiting for you."
But the golden pig didn't go straight in; instead, it stood in front of the door, hesitating.
Shan Niu didn't urge him, letting him hesitate.
After waiting for a long time, Jin Zhu gritted his teeth and stepped through the gate, lifted his robe and went up the steps to the inner gate, where he knocked on the door: "My lord, Piglet is here."
A copper bell rang inside the room, and the golden pig entered and stood behind the screen, cautiously observing what was behind it.
The Inner Minister, who was engrossed in writing something at his desk, asked without looking up, "Did you trigger the martial arts resonance?"
The golden pig bowed slightly: "Your Excellency is truly insightful."
The Minister nodded and said nothing more.
The room remained silent for a long time, with gray smoke rising straight up to the ceiling from the bronze incense burner in the corner.
The grayish-white smoke suddenly became turbulent. Jin Zhu took a deep breath, knelt down behind the screen, and bowed his head: "My lord, when you took me away from the coal mine twenty-one years ago, I asked you when I could take revenge. You said that day that it would be time when I reached the second level of the Seeking Dao Realm."
The inner minister stopped writing, and remained silent.
The golden pig lay on the ground and remained silent for a long time: "This pig has served you, sir, for twenty-one years. I hope you will grant my request."
The minister put down his pen on the inkstone and finally looked up at the screen: "Is it absolutely necessary to report this? Do you know that by choosing this path, you will have to give your life back to Jiefanlou?"
Jin Zhu said in a low voice, "The Xu family of Huqiu coveted my father's sugar frosting business and forced my father and mother into forced labor, which led to their deaths from exhaustion in the mines. My elder sister, in order to earn food for me, succumbed to prostitution and contracted a sexually transmitted disease. Before she died, I wanted to hug her, but she wouldn't let me, only telling me to stay away from her so as not to soil myself..."
The Minister of the Interior also seemed to be recalling the past.
Jin Zhu's voice choked with sobs: "My elder sister, she sang a nursery rhyme to me as she breathed her last... My lord, I would rather die than not avenge her!"
The Minister leaned back in his chair and suddenly asked, "Why didn't you come to Jie Fan Lou with Tianma?"
Jin Zhu was taken aback: "This is a personal grudge of Zhu'er, and I don't want him to be involved."
The Prime Minister, sitting behind the screen, smiled and said, "Do you know why I said that your journey to the Dao Seeking Realm is the time for revenge?"
The golden pig was even more puzzled: "Because...because the Dao Seeking Realm Official is powerful?"
The Minister scoffed: "No matter how powerful a Dao Seeking Realm official is, can he withstand a volley of muskets from the Divine Machine Battalion or a barrage of fire from the Longevity Army? Not to mention the three Imperial Guard Battalions, you can't even defeat the salt smugglers and Japanese pirates raised by the Xu family of Tiger Hill."
The golden pig gradually calmed down: "Please teach me, sir."
“The only difference between the ‘Escort’ path and other ‘official’ paths is the extra gold and silver coins used to take a life, which is not comparable to other ‘official’ paths,” the inner minister said, looking out the window. “Others think that the ‘Escort’ path is a gamble on luck, but it actually depends on the cultivator’s insight, temperament, and character. If you want to reach the Seeking Dao Realm, you must find two potential Seeking Dao Realm cultivators and lend them a helping hand when they are still in their infancy.”
The inner minister turned his gaze back and landed on the golden pig through the screen: "Once the officials of the escorting official's path enter the second level of the Dao Seeking Realm, they will have two friends in the Dao Seeking Realm, as well as the magnanimity to tolerate others, the patience to endure, and the wisdom to face enemies."
The golden pig lowered its head: "This enmity is dangerous, and I still don't want to involve the heavenly horse."
The Prime Minister smiled, as if he had heard something amusing: "Go, go south to take revenge. First, go to Lingnan and steal Xifeng out, and have him work for you. As for how to take revenge, I will give you an explanation."
The golden pig kowtowed three times heavily on the ground: "Thank you, sir."
He slowly left the room and strode out of the Jiefan Building. But as soon as he stepped outside, he saw Tianma standing in the sunlight outside the Jiefan Building, smiling and gesturing to him: "Let's go."
……
There will be another update tonight, please read it in the morning. (End of this chapter)