Jiangshan Fengwuzhi

Chapter 315 Infiltration
The Chief Justice.

Pei Nian was summoned by Supervisor Xu Yun to report on official business, but Xu Yun was not there when he arrived.

As she waited, she suddenly felt something engraved on the hilt of her sword. Looking down, she saw that it was a few words that had been ground off, and she began to examine them closely.

Lost in thought, she heard an old voice behind her.

"This is the sword that Governor Min once used."

Pei Nian turned around and saw Xu Yun walking towards her with his hands behind his back. He quickly said, "Greetings, Chief Inspector."

Xu Yun nodded, his gaze fixed on the Heartbreak Sword, and asked, "The Garrison Commander gifted you this sword?"

"Yes."

Do you know the name of the sword?

"Yes."

Xu Yun stroked his beard and said, "Then you must not disappoint the garrison commander's high expectations."

Pei Nian agreed and asked, "The Supervisor seems to know a lot about the origin of this sword?"

"I can only say I know a little bit about it." Xu Yun sat down in the chair and sighed, "As you know, the Commander-in-Chief came from a military background. In his youth, he joined the army and went on a northern expedition to fight against the Yu Kingdom, where he repeatedly made meritorious contributions. But later, he met Zhai Qiqing, the daughter of the King of Beichuan of the Yu Kingdom. Zhai Qiqing was known as a bewitching woman and was extremely skilled. After the Commander-in-Chief and she fought several times, somehow, they developed feelings for each other."

Pei Nian asked, "And then?"

"Later, His Majesty personally bestowed this sword upon him and ordered him to kill Zhai Qiqing. Hence, this sword was named 'Severing Emotions'."

After telling the story, Xu Yun looked at Pei Nian with his old eyes, smiled, and said, "Pei Jishi is determined to make great achievements. His future achievements may not be less than those of Commander Min. Therefore, the Commander Min bestowed a sword upon you as a great encouragement."

"Yes."

"Alright, let's get down to business. What do you think about Gu Jingnian disguising himself as Wang Qinghe to gather information today?"

Pei Nian pondered for a moment, then said, "This humble servant believes that Wang Qinghe is very suspicious."

"Oh?" Xu Yun was quite surprised and raised an eyebrow.

Pei Nian said, "Since Wang Qinghe led people to find Yi Yan to disguise herself, he did not send more people to keep a close eye on Yi Yan, allowing Gu Jingnian to come and go freely. This is one point of suspicion. Gu Jingnian was able to disguise himself as Wang Qinghe and walk around Kaiping Division without being discovered, so he must be very familiar with him. This is another point of suspicion. In the beginning, it was Wang Qinghe who transferred Gu Jingnian to his command as a constable, which led to the incident at Kumu Cliff. This is the third point of suspicion."

"You suspect that Wang Qinghe is colluding with Gu Jingnian?"

“It’s not certain,” Pei Nian said. “However, if Wang Qinghe knows where Gu Caiwei is, that might be a problem.”

"Don't worry, he doesn't know."

"How can the Ti Si be determined?"

Xu Yun said, "Gu Jingnian is now very capable, but Gu Caiwei is his only weakness. Even I don't know her whereabouts, let alone Wang Qinghe?"

Pei Nian said, "In that case, even if Gu Jingnian sneaks into Kaiping Division again, he won't be able to find out any information."

“That’s right, in the entire Southern Prefecture, only the Garrison Commander knows,” Xu Yun said. “Could he possibly hide it from the Garrison Commander’s eyes?”

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A small grave stands in the mountains, with no words on the tombstone.

Every year on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, Min Yuanxiu would spend half a day alone at this grave.

He didn't allow anyone to accompany him; he would always sit there and drink silently.

The wine we were drinking was a strong, throat-burning brew, a rare find in Rui. It was only available to people living near the northern border, and was mostly bought at trade markets with Yu.

Min Yuanxiu had an excellent alcohol tolerance; he drank the entire pot without showing any signs of drunkenness, though a hint of melancholy appeared in his eyes.

"I gave the Heartbreak Sword to someone else."

He murmured in a low, hoarse voice, chatting with the people in the grave.

"Now that the sword is no longer with me, I can finally get a good night's sleep."

After that, he talked about some trivial matters in his daily life.

If his subordinates heard this once stern garrison commander say these things, they might suspect that he was Gu Jingnian in disguise.

Min Yuanxiu sat alone until dusk before getting up and going down the mountain.

The mountain path was rugged, and because he disliked being disturbed, he did not allow his entourage and horses to go up the mountain together, but instead waited outside a bamboo grove.

As he walked through the deserted bamboo forest path, Min Yuanxiu paused for a moment.

All that could be seen under the tree where he had tethered his horse were melon rinds and fruit peels scattered on the ground, but his attendants and horse were nowhere to be seen.

His attendant, Xiao Yi, had served him for so many years and had never made such a mistake.

--------

"Shut up!"

Outside the side gate of the Kaiping Division's government office, Xiao Yi reined in his horse and looked back. Min Yuanxiu had already dismounted, his prosthetic leg making a slight stagger, just like usual. Xiao Yi quickened his pace and, before Min Yuanxiu, flashed his identification token to the guards by the gate. This was a new rule in the Kaiping Division recently; even the commander himself had to show his identity.

Of course, even without the talisman, everyone recognized Min Yuanxiu and bowed respectfully.

"Governor-General".

Min Yuanxiu's face, covered by a half-mask, was as cold as ice. He strode towards his Bi'an Hall with unsteady but imposing steps.

Halfway there, he turned around and instructed Xiao Yi, "I would like to pay my respects to the commander. Go and ask if he is here?"

"Yes."

Xiao dared not delay and hurried away.

Min Yuanxiu returned to his office alone, locked the door, and began to look through the files on the table.

After going through all the files, he started rummaging through drawers and cabinets.

Until Xiao Yi's voice came from outside the door.

"Master, the commander requests your presence."

"Ah."

Min Yuanxiu gave a sullen reply and walked out.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a pure red bead on the table, but he didn't pay much attention to it. He opened the door and went with Xiao Yi to see Song Jian.

As he walked further and further away, the beads on the table gradually became less pure red, and one could see the blood mist flowing inside, like misty clouds.

Unlike the offices of officials at all levels in Kaiping Division, which were decorated with carvings of ferocious beasts, Commander Song Jian's office was completely bare, as if he himself were a ferocious beast sitting there.

Unfortunately, Song Jian himself did not look fierce at all; on the contrary, he was unusually gentle.

"I've heard about it. Gu Jingnian has returned to Zhuojing."

Upon meeting, Song Jian cut straight to the point without any pleasantries, saying, "This kid is an uncontrollable pawn."

Min Yuanxiu said, "With his current abilities, he is not easy to deal with. I think the only way is to use Gu Caiwei to coerce him into showing himself."

“No rush.” Song Jian raised his hand slightly and said, “I still want to have a proper talk with him.”

Min Yuanxiu said, "I'm afraid he's not sincere in his negotiations."

"That's because he doesn't understand what we need him to do."

Song Jian sighed with emotion, then murmured, "Although the Kaiping Division did things by any means necessary, it was ultimately to protect the peace of Zhongzhou. I've been thinking lately that if we hadn't directly used them, but instead reasoned with them, perhaps the outcome would have been different."

Min Yuanxiu remained silent, sitting there quietly.

Song Jian turned and glanced at him, saying, "You insist on using Gu Jingnian's excuse, even you don't know, do you?"

Min Yuanxiu hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

Song Jian said, “The Fujie Mountain of Yong State, the Dongji Mountain of Yue State, the Cangshou Mountain of Yan State, and the Dong Mountain of Yu State are the four pillars of the Central Plains. The ancients set up a balance instrument in Zhuojing to observe the strength of the four pillars. If their strength is balanced, then there will be no gaps in the territory of the Central Plains, and the Central Plains can be protected from the invasion of the barbarian seas.”

For some reason, he kept looking into Min Yuanxiu's eyes while he was saying these things, as if he wanted to persuade Min Yuanxiu about something.

“The problem lies in Dongji Mountain in the Yue Kingdom,” Song Jian said. “Back then, when Shi Xuandao entered the Yue Kingdom, he once sneaked into Dongji Mountain and damaged its boundaries.”

Min Yuanxiu was surprised and asked, "He can do that?"

"He did it. After we destroyed the Yue Kingdom, we sent a large number of experts to guard Dongji Mountain, but we still couldn't maintain the balance of the Four Pillars. And in recent years, Fujie Mountain has become increasingly powerful, causing the gap in Zhongzhou to widen. Have you noticed? The supernatural beings in Zhongzhou have become increasingly rampant."

Song Jian's eyes were gentle yet firm as he said, "Therefore, in order to stop the gap from getting bigger and bigger, we must break the boundary of Fujie Mountain."

Min Yuanxiu asked, "What does this have to do with Gu Jingnian?"

“Because we need the phoenix,” Song Jian said. “Do you know how the realm exists?”

"It is a shadow of the Yihai."

“That’s right,” Song Jian said. “But if Yi Hai wants to continue sending shadows to Zhongzhou, he can’t just do it aimlessly. And what does sending shadows require?”

“Aura,” Min Yuanxiu replied.

"Yes, the stronger the aura, the more solid the projection of the Yihai, and the more favorable the realm is for the lives of the supernatural beings. The realm has existed for thousands of years, and the supernatural beings who originally came from the Yihai to the Central Plains have all died out, except for the Womin. Therefore, among the four pillars, only the Fujie Mountain, which possesses the Womin, is getting stronger and stronger. Therefore, the people of the realm need the phoenix, because the strong aura of the Womin can make their realm stronger. And if we want to break through the realm, we also need to rely on the phoenix."

How can we use it?

“When the phoenix enters the realm, it will gradually merge with the realm,” Song Jian said. “Then, once they have merged, the phoenix only needs to set itself on fire, and the realm can be broken.”

Upon hearing this, Min Yuanxiu unconsciously frowned.

Looking into his eyes, Song Jian slowly said, word by word, "So, what we want is for Gu Jingnian to order Yingyao to die."

(End of this chapter)