Meeting the Saint

Red walls and yellow tiles stretch across the center of Kyoto.

Countless people want to come in here, and countless people want to escape from here.

A carriage came from the Ministry of Justice prison, went all the way into the palace, and finally stopped outside the Imperial Medical Bureau.

"Clean the person up."

Feng Ruan only gave one instruction before leaving in a hurry.

Two eunuchs helped Suhe into the Imperial Medical Bureau. The bright sunlight shone down, causing him to instinctively raise his hand to shield his eyes.

After spending ten days in prison, Suhe felt as if ten years had passed.

The scorching summer sun beat down on him. He slowly raised his eyelids and looked out through his fingers. Even though the sunlight was blinding, it was still much better than being in the death row.

A white-bearded imperial physician came over, looked the prisoner over, and then deftly cut open the prison clothes.

Only then did Suhe realize that much of the skin on his body had rotted.

"The Ministry of Justice is really ruthless. You'll have to bear with it." The physician frowned as he scraped the wound with a knife.

"Hiss." Su He gritted her teeth, pressing her hands firmly against the edge of the bed, and didn't make a sound.

The cleaning and bandaging took about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. After finishing, the imperial physician pointed to the table behind him.

"I drank it."

There were two bowls of medicine on the table, one to stop the bleeding and the other to calm the nerves. "The wound will hurt a lot later, so drink the medicine and sleep it off to suffer less."

Su He first smelled it: "Can I not drink it?"

Su He spoke seriously, fearing that taking the medicine might cause him to make mistakes. His time in prison had taught him that he must not let his guard down before the outcome of any matter.

The physician glanced at it a few times but didn't offer any advice; he simply took the other bowl away.

After Su He finished drinking the medicine to stop the bleeding, he leaned against the headboard and waited. People occasionally came and went in the Imperial Medical Bureau, but no one spoke to him, and he didn't say anything more.

Another hour passed.

The door opened.

Eunuch Feng walked in and threw an old scroll on the table: "Do you recognize it?"

On the cover of the old scroll were two faded words, almost illegible: "Old Questions".

Su He flipped through a few pages and then nodded:

"It's this one."

"Good memory, and the stuff is still here." Feng Ruan sat down at the table. "Consider it a life you saved."

Feng Ruan asked a eunuch to bring paper and pen, and placed a piece of paper on the table: "Write down everything you want to say to His Majesty."

"Only one page?" Suhe looked at the paper.

"His Majesty is not a clerk in the Bureau of Recalling the Past; he has no time to leisurely reminisce about old files with you."

"I understand."

Su He picked up his brush and wrote the first line quickly, using thick ink right away.

[The Ancestor Yan is not dead.]

Feng Ruan, sitting to the side, twitched her eyelids.

Suhe's pen hovered for a moment before falling back onto the paper.

[In several locations within the Eastern Ashes region, a gray-clad figure appeared one after another. His appearance and clothing were similar to those of the Flame Ancestor in his later years, and his speed far surpassed that of ordinary cultivators.]

He paused here and added a sentence.

[However, the person's identity is unknown, and the existing materials can only provide directions, not a name.]

He wrote the following content very skillfully.

Su He spent five years compiling information about the Yan Ancestor.

He wrote down and clearly marked which entry came from the old scroll, which came from the inquiry in Changluo County, and which was just a deduction he made based on the distance and appearance.

At the end, there was still a small blank space on the paper.

Suhe put down her pen and stopped writing.

Feng Ruan picked up the paper and read it from beginning to end.

"Why isn't it written how to find it?"

"I have many ideas on how to find the person, but it depends on what documents I can access and who I can ask."

"You sure know how to beg for things."

Feng Ruan folded the paper and put it in her sleeve. "Then let's see if your method is worth losing half your life."

After saying this, Feng Ruan got up and walked outside, with Su He following closely behind.

The two walked among the high vermilion walls and finally arrived at a pavilion paved with glazed tiles.

Someone inside was turning over papers; the sound was very soft.

Suhe waited outside the hall for about fifteen minutes before hearing Feng Ruan call out in a high-pitched voice:

"Announce."

Suhe bowed her head and entered the hall, kneeling down at the designated spot.

"The guilty official Suhe pays his respects to Your Majesty."

There was no immediate call from above.

Suhe could only see the floor tiles in front of him, with a small patch of dried ink in the crack between the tiles. It was probably spilled by some eunuch when he moved the table. No one dared to wipe it too hard, and a little bit of gray-black ink remained.

A moment later, a piece of paper landed in front of him.

It was the page he had written earlier.

"look up."

Suhe raised her head.

Li Youchan sat behind his desk, with two thin confessions beside him.

Feng Ruan stood to the side and behind, his eyes downcast, as if what had happened before was none of his business.

Li Youchan pointed to the paper on the ground.

"Did you write this?"

"Your Majesty, it was written by a corrupt official."

"Then take a look at this."

Li Youchan pulled out a confession from his side.

Suhe picked up the confession from the ground and read it carefully.

[At the border, a formidable enemy appeared. The old soldiers knelt to greet the man in gray, calling him "Your Majesty." The man then stepped into the mist, and was subsequently defeated.]

[Written by Zhang Shoujie himself; witnesses are present from the Ministry of War, the Imperial Observatory, and the Bureau of Astronomy.]

The pages are turned.

Another statement was placed on top of it.

[According to Wu Huaiyi, the scribe of the Xun Jin Division, the gray-clad figure bears a striking resemblance to Yan Zu.]

Su He's gaze fell on the second statement, which indeed had Wu Huaiyi's signature at the end.

Li Youchan asked:

What do you think?

"I have not been inside that fog, so I dare not draw any conclusions."

"You didn't have so many things you wouldn't dare to do before you went to jail."

"So the villain went to jail."

After saying this, Suhe lowered her head again.

Li Youchan tapped his finger on the table, his tone testing:

"So, according to you, this person can't be considered the Yan Ancestor. Should we still investigate him?"

"Your Majesty, if this person is not Yan Zu, then we should investigate even more."

Why?

"Someone is using the appearance of Emperor Yan in his later years to travel in Dongjin." Suhe paused. "The court should know who this person is, where he comes from, and what he wants to do."

A slight smile gradually appeared on Li Youchan's lips. "What if he really is?"

Suhe did not answer immediately; the matter concerning the Northern Third Battalion was completely beyond the scope of his prepared lines.

After a moment's thought, Suhe said:

"Whether or not he is Yan Zu, finding this person is the most urgent task."

"How do we get it after we find it?"

"You can't take it."

"oh?"

Li Youchan leaned back gently in his chair.

Su He continued, "A person who can enter the Northern Three Camps' Fiend Realm alone and come out unscathed is someone that ordinary troops cannot capture. If it is really Yan Zu, then it is even less likely that troops will be sent."

"So, according to you, I can't do anything?"

"My suggestion is to investigate where he has been, who he has met, and why he stopped."

"You really want to find Yan Zu."

"think."

Why are you looking for it?

Suhe opened his mouth.

He could say that finding Yan Zu was to share the burden of the Yan Kingdom, to inspire the people, and to instill fear in the enemy.

Besides that, he could say a lot more.

But when he arrived before the Emperor, Suhe only said one sentence: "This humble servant wants to know whether I have made a mistake in my investigation."

Li Youchan looked at him for a moment, smiled, and had someone bring over a low stool.

"Answer while seated."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Suhe sat down, holding onto the edge of the stool, her movements not very nimble.

Li Youchan asked, "If that person is truly Emperor Yanzu, and I order you to invite him back to the capital, can you bring him back?"

"I'm not sure."

"Then what use would I have for you?"

Li Youchan's voice lowered.

Suhe was neither humble nor arrogant.

"I believe that at least we can find him first, find out who he is, why he came back, and what he has been doing lately."

"And then what?"

"Return and report back."

Su He answered directly.

The emperor's lips curled slightly:

"Do you want to live?"

"think."

"I'm giving you a chance."

Li Youchan glanced at his side.

Feng Ruan understood immediately and took a wooden tray from the side, placing it in front of Su He.

There is a bronze symbol on the tray.

The bronze talisman was small, with the words "Xun Jin Si" engraved on the front and "Xun An" added on the back. The engravings were very new.

Beneath the bronze talisman lay a document.

Suhe only glanced at it before recognizing it as his death sentence.

"The death sentence is suspended, the original case is reopened, and he is temporarily appointed as a seventh-rank Imperial Inspector to investigate corrupt officials in the prefecture and county."

Li Youchan pointed to the bronze talisman: "The official rank should not be too high for the things done in secret. If you encounter difficulties, you can show this talisman. It cannot mobilize troops or arrest people, but it can access old files, state and prefectural records and postal documents. Officials below the third rank are not allowed to obstruct it."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Suhe knelt heavily on the ground, "I will certainly not fail Your Majesty's trust."

"Don't be too happy yet. I'll give you three months. If there's no progress, the knife in the West Market won't run away."

Li Youchan paused and then added, "Most importantly, the information found should not be entered into the Xun Jin Si Gong file, and should not be handed over to anyone. It should be handed over to Feng Gong first."

When he said this, the emperor emphasized the word "anyone".

Suhe should write it down.

"Step down," Li Youchan said.

Suhe remained prostrate on the ground: "There is one more thing I would like to ask Your Majesty for permission to do."

Feng Ruan's face showed displeasure, and he was about to lash out when Li Youchan raised his hand to stop him and asked:

"What is it?"

"I implore Your Majesty to withdraw the arrest warrant."