CHAPTER 146: CHAPTER 126 PORTRAIT

"Back to the supervision building, everyone!"

Sacrificial Officer Chen Danqiu’s voice, ice-cold to its core, echoed across the plaza.

Yang Yu murmured softly, "What’s going on..."

"I don’t know. Let’s go to the supervision building."

Li Ang shook his head, withdrew his gaze from the western gate, and turned to walk toward the supervision building.

Inside the great hall, students gathered in small groups, quietly discussing the incident that had just unfolded.

The Hu Ren youth spoke softly, "The Sacrificial Officer always remains unflappable, even if Mount Tai were to collapse before him. For him to be this angry, I fear the situation is quite grave."

"That person who fell from the carriage," Pei Jing took a deep breath and said gravely, "His surname is Cui, name Jiu."

"Cui Jiu?" Dou Chi, whose father was the Honglu Temple Deputy Minister, furrowed his brows. "A High-level Cloud Patrol Realm cultivator, and a former Academic Palace Patrol from the Qinghe Cui Family?"

Pei Jing nodded. "Yes, and he’s also the nephew of Sword Study Master Cui Yixian."

The surrounding students gasped at this information.

The number of Academic Palace Patrols was not fixed; only after recommendations from multiple Doctors and Masters, and with the approval of the Sacrificial Officer and the Mountain Master, could one earn the title of Patrol. When operating in the local State Mansions, they even possessed greater power and higher authority than governors and Inspectors.

"Although members of the Academic Palace must stand on the front lines against Aliens and demons, and news of casualties is often received, Senior Brother Cui Jiu is a High-level Cloud Patrol Realm cultivator and also hails from the Qinghe Cui Family. He would certainly not lack Defensive Talismans and similar protective gear."

Dou Chi expressed his confusion, "How could he be so grievously injured? And wasn’t he traveling? If he had been harmed by Aliens elsewhere, he should have received treatment locally."

Just as the disciples were whispering among themselves, Sword Study Instructor Sui Yi quietly entered the great hall and called out to Li Ang, "Bring the medical kit and follow me."

"Okay."

Li Ang, vaguely guessing the reason, didn’t ask further. He slung the medical kit over his shoulder and followed Sui Yi out of the supervision building to the infirmary located between the greenhouse and the Forging Workshop.

Academic Palace Disciples studied and practiced Cultivation Methods, so occasional bumps and injuries were inevitable. Thus, the Academic Palace had its own small infirmary, managed by Herbal Medicine Doctor Sun Pu, much like a clinic.

Li Ang followed Sui Yi into the infirmary. Sacrificial Officer Chen Danqiu, Sword Study Master Cui Yixian, Herbal Medicine Doctor Sun Pu, and others were already waiting, all wearing grim expressions. On the bed in the center of the infirmary lay the blood-soaked Academic Palace Patrol, Cui Jiu, clenching his teeth and groaning softly.

Li Ang stepped forward to examine him.

There was a deep, "Y"-shaped wound on Cui Jiu’s chest. The edges of the cut were clean, as if made by a sharp instrument. The wound was also quite "fresh," showing no signs of healing. It was only through Cui Jiu’s own efforts, along with the Doctors present using their Telekinesis to forcibly hold the gash closed and staunch the bleeding, that he was prevented from dying of blood loss.

How on earth did this wound happen? Surely Senior Brother Cui Jiu wasn’t playing with a dagger in the carriage and stabbed himself?

Li Ang, puzzled, took surgical instruments from the medical kit, cleaned Cui Jiu’s wound, and stitched the skin and flesh. Since the Sacrificial Officer and the others didn’t ask him to stay, Li Ang left on his own after finishing the sutures and bandaging the wound—it was clear the group had private matters to discuss.

「After he had left」

Sacrificial Officer Chen Danqiu casually cast a Soundproofing Technique and asked Cui Jiu in a grave tone, "Cui Shiqi, weren’t you in the Ten Thousand Desolate Mountains with Dr. Ji Tong, educating the Desert People? Why have you returned alone? And what happened to cause this injury?"

As an Academic Palace Patrol, Cui Jiu had spent the past two years following the Academic Palace’s Confucianism Doctor, You Jitong, in the Ten Thousand Desolate Mountains, educating the Desert People. The hope was to persuade the fierce and hardy Desert People to learn the customs and culture of the Yu Country, thereby drawing them closer. The Ten Thousand Desolate Mountains were rich in resources, and the Yu Country amassed a vast fortune annually through trade with the Desert People. Consequently, it was crucial for the Desert People tribes to align themselves more closely with the Yu Country. At the same time, educating the Desert People also served as a safeguard against Nanzhou’s influence seeping into the Ten Thousand Desolate Mountains. Academic Palace Patrols like Cheng Juxiu, and even Sword Study Instructor Sui Yi, who was present, had also gained experience in the Ten Thousand Desolate Mountains.

On the sickbed, Cui Jiu’s face remained pale. He was unable to speak but could already use Telekinesis to make a brush hover and write on paper to communicate.

"Disciple... in the Ten Thousand Desolate Mountains... saw... Jun Qianzi..."

As the final stroke was written, ink bled through the back of the paper. The atmosphere in the infirmary grew incredibly tense.

Sacrificial Officer Chen Danqiu narrowed his eyes, his sleeves stirring without any wind. Word by word, he asked, "Jun Qianzi died fifteen years ago. How could you recognize him?"

The news of Jun Qianzi still being alive was known only among the upper echelons of the Academic Palace, the Garrison, and the Imperial Court. Cui Jiu had been training in the Ten Thousand Desolate Mountains for two years without once returning to Chang’an, so how could he know about Jun Qianzi? Moreover, fifteen years ago, Cui Jiu was only about twelve years old, studying in Qinghe County. He had never been to Chang’an, nor had he attempted to enter the Academic Palace, so he couldn’t have recognized Jun Qianzi by sight.

"Sacrificial Officer, don’t be hasty," Sword Study Master Cui Yixian interrupted Chen Danqiu’s pressing questions. He turned to his nephew and asked calmly, "Shiqilang, tell us exactly what happened, in detail. How did you encounter Jun Qianzi, and how did you recognize him?"

"Yes."

On the sickbed, Cui Jiu laboriously nodded and silently continued to write with the brush.

During his training in the Ten Thousand Desolate Mountains, he not only taught the young men and women of the Desert People tribes but also gathered information on the Aliens within the mountains. The environment of the Desolate Mountains was treacherous, teeming with Evil Spirits, and the density of Aliens was far higher than in the prosperous Yu Country. Examples included lion-headed serpents over a hundred feet long and earthworms that burrowed through the ground, feeding on the fresh blood of living creatures.

During his time at the Academic Palace, Cui Jiu’s favorite subject was Hundred Beasts Studies. He dreamed of writing ’A Chronicle of the Hundred Beasts of the Ten Thousand Desolate Mountains,’ much like Dr. Du’er, who compiled the ’Exotic Beast Taxonomy.’ Therefore, during his rest periods, he would equip himself and venture deep into the Desolate Mountains to explore. He was a High-level Cloud Patrol Realm cultivator and possessed numerous expensive talismans for reconnaissance, attack, and defense, covering all contingencies. Even if he encountered formidable Aliens he couldn’t defeat, escape was always possible.

One day, while surveying in the mountains, he was sketching a Low-level Demon Beast when he suddenly felt a chill on the back of his neck. He whipped around, only to find someone had appeared behind him unnoticed. It was a middle-aged man, perhaps in his thirties or forties, dressed in a cyan robe. He had a gentle smile and an air of refined amiability that inspired an instinctive sense of warmth.

In that instant, Cui Jiu felt his hair stand on end. His talismans could detect Aliens within several miles, and he constantly kept his Divine Thought extended, monitoring any disturbance within a radius of about one hundred meters. When had this person arrived behind him? And why was there not even a trace of disarray on him, despite being deep within the Ten Thousand Desolate Mountains?

Before Cui Jiu had time to think further, he was about to attack and activate his talismans to flee. However, the man simply raised a finger and casually drew two strokes in the air. Cui Jiu’s body instantly stiffened, unable to move an inch. The talismans on his person, already half-activated, all combusted and turned to ash.

"An Academic Palace Patrol?" The stranger glanced at the jade pendant at Cui Jiu’s waist and smiled nonchalantly. "I used to have one of these jade tokens myself."

Cui Jiu struggled to speak, "Who are you..."

"Hmm? You’re an Academic Palace Patrol. Haven’t they shown you my wanted poster? Or perhaps, after fifteen years, my wanted poster hasn’t been updated? The Academic Palace... truly, they’re becoming more and more unreliable in their duties." The man shook his head. "I am Jun Qianzi. Is the Mountain Master in good health? Go back and tell him that the gift I sent to Chang’an is merely the beginning. Now, go."

With that, Jun Qianzi waved his hand, releasing the restraints on Cui Jiu’s body.

Cui Jiu’s mind felt muddled and incapable of thought as he stumbled out of the deep mountains. Without speaking to anyone, relying on his Academic Palace Disciple’s waist token, he traveled by carriage from one post station to another, riding posthaste back to Chang’an. He only regained full consciousness halfway up Xia Mountain, where a wound had inexplicably burst open on his chest, revealing a Y-shaped gash identical to the pattern Jun Qianzi had drawn in the air back in the deep mountains.

"He must be a Candle Cloud Realm cultivator!" Cui Jiu couldn’t suppress the terror deep in his heart, and his handwriting on the paper became erratic as a result. "He also had an ancient tome in his hands! It was titled, ’Xuan Jun’s Seven Chapters Secret Scripture’..."