CHAPTER 183: CHAPTER 154 TEACHERS

"Young Master, you’re back?"

At their home in Golden City Square, Chai Chai, who had just woken up, was yawning while eating breakfast. The main dish was a green vegetable and lean meat porridge, accompanied by pickled vegetables, boiled eggs, and sour-filled buns (vegetable buns). There were also snacks like oil cakes, Cheese Cherries (made by pouring fresh, un-dried cheese—similar in texture to yogurt—over cherries), rice flower cakes, and crispy honey twists (a type of sugar twist). It was thanks to the hefty earnings he’d made recently; otherwise, affording such a spread would have been tough.

"Uh-huh."

On his way home, Li Ang had already dusted himself off. He composedly walked to the pot, ladled a bowl of porridge for himself, and calmly sat at the dining table, sipping his porridge while listening to the chaotic hoofbeats of the garrison’s horses on the streets of Golden City Square.

"Young Master, did you have fun last night?" Chai Chai asked, holding his bowl and looking at Li Ang’s energetic appearance, a hint of jealousy in his voice.

"Uh?"

Li Ang was momentarily taken aback. He quickly realized Chai Chai thought he had gone out to places like Pingkang Square last night. He immediately replied seriously, "It was alright. However, I believe the entertainment industry in Chang’an City currently employs a monotonous approach to value creation. It suffers from weak user retention, and its projects are typically short-term, lacking in-depth development. My personal recommendation is for the Chang’an City entertainment sector to dismantle information silos and cultivate a new industry ecosystem. It should concentrate on the user perception pathway, leveraging differentiation and granularity to reach a critical tipping point. Within vertical domains, a multifaceted strategy should be adopted to generate sustainable revenue and empower both clients and users in value co-creation. Furthermore, by augmenting infrastructure investment and optimizing the operational value chain with a diverse portfolio of strategically-aligned products, a lasting influence over the external user base can be established."

"Uh..."

After listening to Li Ang’s words, Chai Chai paused for a long time before roughly grasping the gist of his verbose speech. He hesitated, "Young Master, are you saying you find Pingkang Square boring and uninteresting?"

"That’s one way to put it." Li Ang nodded. The memories from the otherworld—of bustling cities with their vibrant decadence and intoxicating pleasures—were indeed far more thrilling than the banquets and poetry recitations in Pingkang Square.

"Oh, oh." Chai Chai nodded, only half-understanding, but felt inexplicably better and somewhat relieved.

Seeing this, Li Ang ruffled Chai Chai’s hair. "Do you really think I’m the kind of person who would go out and mess around all day?" he said with a laugh, despite the latter’s protests.

"Of course not! It’s just... it would be best if you went there less often." Chai Chai suddenly lowered his voice and whispered, "I heard people always contract venereal diseases there."

"Mm." Li Ang’s smile gradually faded. He had heard before that one of Jiao Cheng’s definitive evils was secretly disposing of women who contracted venereal diseases and became disfigured. The method of disposal, naturally, was to send them to the Ghost Market to be housed in sunless shacks. Considering the high mortality rate of some venereal diseases, the fate of those women was self-evident.

The romantic escapades and refined pleasures of a few, it seemed, were indeed built upon a foundation of bones.

Li Ang shook his head. The Yu Country’s sick house system had just undergone reform and was still in its nascent stages, far from the level of a ’hospital.’ It was not yet capable of conducting mass medical examinations and treatments for the general public. There was still a lack of manpower, materials, and funds.

Perhaps I could try compiling medical texts, promoting medical knowledge, and gradually transforming the sick houses into self-sustaining hospitals. But this project is too massive; I definitely can’t do it alone. It must involve a team. Li Ang silently thought, I need to leverage the power of the Academic Palace.

Due to various deeds, and the way stories were distorted through hearsay among the common folk, Li Ang enjoyed a rather high reputation among the masses. The articles he published in the Academic Palace’s periodicals were often circulated among scholars and the common folk. For instance, practices that became popular in Chang’an City like not drinking unboiled water, washing hands frequently, bathing regularly, and wearing masks during autumn and winter—backed by the credibility of the Academic Palace, his writings wouldn’t be dismissed as mere marketing for soap, fragrant soap, or absorbent cotton.

Should I apply to the Academic Palace to open a medical course and teach the Academic Palace Disciples myself? Or should I petition the court to recruit literate, age-appropriate children who haven’t received an education in Yin Yang Five Elements medical theory and train them from scratch...?

Li Ang stayed at home all day, pondering hospital matters while covertly observing the hurried soldiers of the garrison on the streets. His intuition was accurate: the garrison must have discovered the large-scale mutation beneath the Ghost Market and had mobilized a significant force to deal with it. There were also many Cultivators in the Ghost Market; they should be able to hold off the Buddha Shedding Monster.

Unfortunately, he didn’t know if the revived Shixing Monk had been discovered and apprehended by the garrison.

Back in the cavern, only Ya Jiu knew my identity. As long as he isn’t captured, I won’t be implicated...

While Li Ang was deep in thought, the Zhao Ming Token beneath his Mo Si vibrated again. He went to the study and retrieved the token. On it, tadpole-like patterns spontaneously formed into text. It was a message from Ya Jiu.

"Have you returned to Chang’an? The garrison can’t catch me for now; they are following leads on Kou Huai’an and the Demon Sect members. Be careful to hide your identity. I will contact you again."

Just as expected.

Li Ang silently put away the token. Ya Jiu’s silver needle Magic allowed him to control others as Puppets. This enabled him to assume countless identities, and with spies scattered throughout Chang’an City, he wasn’t easily caught.

Meanwhile, Ya Jiu didn’t suspect Li Ang. He was unaware that Li Ang, disguised by the Mo Si Armor, had returned to the underground palace and made off with the Dark Lotus and the stone tablet the Shixing Monk had inscribed for himself.

According to what Ya Jiu said in the cavern, the Zhao Ming Organization investigated the Shixing Monk because they were interested in the Pure Thought Sect behind him. If I want to shake off Zhao Ming, or even investigate the Zhao Ming Organization, I should also follow this clue.

Li Ang paused for a moment, then activated Mo Si, forming it into a sphere that enveloped him. Mo Si could isolate fluctuations of Spiritual Energy. He took out the Dark Lotus, examining it back and forth in his hand.

The Dark Lotus was exquisitely detailed. Its petals’ surfaces were adorned with many indistinct floral patterns, somewhat resembling the legendary Buddha’s Pure Land. Its material was soft yet tough, not like a living plant but more like some kind of specimen. It could be easily folded, flattened, and then restored to its original form.

It had to be some kind of Mutated Object, but when he tentatively infused Spiritual Power into it, there was little reaction.

Li Ang contemplated for a moment, pressed the Dark Lotus into a thin sheet between pieces of paper, then covered it with Mo Si and kept it close to his body. Throughout the process, Mo Si still transmitted an intense desire to devour the Black Lotus, which Li Ang forcefully suppressed with his Spiritual Power.

Before going to the Academic Palace’s Book Collection Pavilion to borrow books and figure out what this Black Lotus was, Li Ang wouldn’t let Mo Si devour it directly.

Furthermore...

Li Ang narrowed his eyes slightly, recalling Ya Jiu’s message on the token: "Have you returned to Chang’an?"

Ya Jiu definitely has informants planted near Golden City Square. This feeling of being secretly spied upon isn’t pleasant. I’ll have to find an opportunity, without arousing Ya Jiu’s suspicion, to pinpoint the Puppets he has deployed nearby.