Ballad Under the Locust Tree

Chengtian Prefecture, the capital.

Inside the Xun Jin Si storeroom, Su He was writing furiously, with three stacks of official gazettes spread out on the table, all sent back from the border.

He dipped his pen in ink and wrote "Jia Si, Nanjiang Prefecture" on the cover. After finishing, he put down his pen, stacked the archived booklets on his left, and took a new stack from his right.

No one knew that Suhe's mind was no longer on this matter.

The tattered books I bought recently are buried under the official gazette.

The conversation between the Ghost Saint and the Flame Ancestor had been swirling in his mind for days, leaving him distracted.

"Squeak—"

The door hinges were pushed open, and Wu Huaiyi came in carrying a stack of things.

"It's an urgent order from above."

Wu Huaiyi kicked the door shut with his heel, pressed his chin against the stack of papers, and reached for the map with his free hand. "It's urgent. The boss told me to find someone to help. You're a smart kid, how about it? Help your brother out?"

Suhe closed the official gazette and casually covered the tattered copy.

He was extremely skilled at this action. Over the years, he had collected no fewer than forty volumes of unofficial historical fragments, and his method of "fishing" had evolved from a flustered act into a habit.

"What is it?" He stood up and took the half-stack of papers from Wu Huaiyi's hand.

Wu Huaiyi spread the top map on Suhe's table. It was a map of the entire territory of Yan Kingdom, with several locations circled in vermilion ink.

One of the circles is in Beiyang Prefecture.

"The most unsolved cases from the last three years, the kind that can't be ignored and must be solved, are all circled in red."

Wu Huaiyi tapped his fingers on the map.

"The most serious incident is this: the search for immortality in Beiyang Prefecture, which resulted in 260 deaths and 351 injuries."

Suhe's eyelid twitched.

Two hundred and sixty dead. This number is not large in border battle reports, but it is the casualties of a small-scale conflict. However, this is not the border, but the territory of Yan Kingdom. The dead are not soldiers, but civilians.

"The prefecture sent experts to the scene to investigate. Judging from the injuries on the body..." Wu Huaiyi turned the official gazette over; there were more words on the back, "It seems that a person at the City Destroyer Realm made the move."

Upon hearing "City Destroyer Realm," Su He's eyelids twitched involuntarily, mainly because those three words carried too much weight.

Everyone knows that spiritual practice is a shortcut to success.

However, spiritual practice relies too much on talent, financial resources, and lineage.

Let's talk about the first three realms: Body Tempering; Observing the Dust; and Gazing at the Mountain.

They are like three deep abysses, trapping 99% of people.

Su He spent five years in the Xun Jin Division and saw many martial artists who were reported as "suspected to be at the Wangyue Realm," but after verification, most of them were just boasting.

To be able to enter Wangyue before the age of fifty is already considered top-tier in a prefecture, and one is treated as an honored guest wherever one goes.

Above the Wangyue Realm... lies the Cuicheng Realm.

The level of "City Destroyer" is likely to be that of a provincial governor, and certainly a general. The ministers of the six ministries in the capital should also be at this level. In any case, the "City Destroyer" level is a great figure anywhere in the world.

"Is it confirmed to be the City Destroyer Realm?" Suhe asked.

"There's no mistake, and it's very troublesome. This person isn't a registered expert in Yan Kingdom; he's most likely from another country or continent."

He paused for a moment, then said, "If this kind of person acts recklessly, the impact will be unbearable for the local authorities. But now we can't find him, so the higher-ups are very nervous."

"I understand. All six ministries are afraid it's a big problem. They keep passing the buck, and after three years, this hot potato has been thrown to Xun Jin Si?" Su He said.

"Words can be dangerous." Wu Huaiyi glared at him. "Don't gossip about things from above."

After he finished speaking, he glanced at the door to make sure no one was there before continuing, "We, the Xun Jin Si, also need to help with the search. Of course, it's not up to you or me to do it; we're not at that level. We just need to organize the information and upload it."

Su He agreed to help without much thought.

Wu Huaiyi then elaborated on the case in more detail, revealing a complete confidential file sent back from Beiyang Prefecture.

Suhe turned to the first page, which contained the overall results of the incident. The handwriting clearly indicated that more than one person had participated in the investigation.

Wu Huaiyi explained from the side:

"There are too few clues. According to the survivors' testimonies, some said they saw the gray-clad man make a move, some said they didn't see it clearly, and some said he didn't make a move at all. But one thing is consistent... that strong man looked to be in his early twenties."

Wearing gray, in his early twenties?

Suhe's finger stopped on the paper, and her heart skipped a beat.

"What's wrong?" Wu Huaiyi noticed something was amiss.

Su He forced a smile: "It's nothing... I just thought someone at the City Destroyer Realm should be an old man, so I'm a little surprised to hear he's in his twenties."

"Perhaps he has the art of preserving his youth, or perhaps he is truly young. Who knows, he is a great figure in the City Destroyer Realm."

"That's true."

The two stopped talking and each began organizing their confidential reports.

Half an incense stick later, Wu Huaiyi neatly stacked several official gazettes: "Alright, the division of labor is clear. We'll put them together and check them again tomorrow."

After saying that, he turned to leave, but when he reached the door, he remembered something and turned back.

Su He noticed that Wu Huaiyi had a serious expression on his face that he didn't usually have.

"Angkor, what's wrong?"

"We can't talk about the City Destroyer incident outside. We're investigating according to the rules. If the higher-ups tell us to stop, we'll stop. You're the most curious, so you need to rein it in."

Wu Huaiyi said earnestly, "I've been here for nine years and I've seen two kinds of people who can't stay: those who can't control their mouths and those who overstep their bounds."

When he uttered the phrase "reaching too far," his gaze lingered for a moment on Suhe's table.

There was a gazette on the table, its cover facing down, and a corner of the paper underneath was showing. The paper was yellowed and different from the paper used in the gazette.

"As a friend, I'm just reminding you, don't bother investigating."

"What do you mean?"

"The information about Yan Zu has been investigated before, and the results were all bad."

"Which one is bad?"

"The higher-ups won't allow it."

Why?

"I don't know either. I only know that there are some red lines that cannot be crossed, at least we can't cross them."

Wu Huaiyi sighed, patted Su He on the shoulder, and turned to leave.

The door closed, and the hinge in the lower right corner creaked again.

Su He sat at the table, his brows furrowed into a deep frown.

He wasn't surprised that Wu Huaiyi knew he was investigating Yan Zu's affairs; he frowned because he didn't understand.

Why won't the authorities allow it?

The fact that Yan Zu is alive is a great thing for the Yan Kingdom; it should be an extremely great thing.

If the Yan Kingdom had the Yan Ancestor in charge, the foreign enemies on the border would not act rashly, and the court would not dare to have factions. It seemed like a win-win situation.

Suhe's father died early, and he was raised by his grandfather.

My grandfather was a retired soldier from the border army and was illiterate.

Before his death, his grandfather held Suhe's hand and said two things that Suhe has always remembered.

The first sentence: "When your father died, the border was in chaos. If Yan Zu were still alive, he wouldn't have died."

The second sentence: "Study hard."

At that time, Suhe did not understand the first sentence.

Now he's starting to understand, so he doesn't want to give up.

He got up and went to the warehouse where the documents were piled up, and easily found his way to a bookshelf.

He raised his hand, pulled out a file from the third compartment, and opened it.

This is a note attached to a military document, which I found half a year ago on an old shelf at the very back of the warehouse.

The paper was yellowed and brittle, and it broke into three pieces at the crease. It took Suhe two hours to piece it back together with rice paste.

The note was extremely short, just one sentence.

[The emperor reigned for a hundred years, and his everyday clothes gradually became more and more gray; his appearance remained unchanged even at twenty.]