Chapter 62: Chapter 62

After the two men entered, the Gatekeeper hurriedly closed the gate, bowed low, and retreated to one side.

Only a few lonely buildings greeted the eye beyond the entrance. Blue-gray walls, blue-gray tiles, and flagstones underfoot—everything was the same color. Never mind flowers or grass; there was not even a single tree in the entire courtyard. The place had an air of bleak desolation and murderous severity.

Zhao Jiu followed Lu Wenyu past two buildings and toward a room on the left.

Upon entering, Zhao Jiu looked around. The entire room contained only one large table. Behind it sat an elderly man with snow-white hair and beard, dressed in a red Flying Fish Robe.

When the old man saw Lu Wenyu enter, he did not stand. He merely set down his unlit pipe and nodded.

“Fifth, are you here to take a prisoner?”

“Third Master, hasn’t Old Xiao retired? I brought the newcomer to have the paperwork changed over.” Lu Wenyu bowed, then waved Zhao Jiu forward. “Muzhi, this is the Third Master.”

“Third Master.” Zhao Jiu bowed respectfully.

The Third Master gave a mild grunt of acknowledgement. Holding his pipe, he narrowed his eyes and examined Zhao Jiu. Only after some time did he slowly speak.

“I’m old now. I can’t keep up anymore. A Third Rank at your age… you’ve got limitless prospects, kid.”

Zhao Jiu stood obediently to the side, his expression calm. Lu Wenyu, however, burst out laughing.

He understood what Third Master meant. The old man was merely complaining that Zhao Jiu had been given too much and allowed to start too high, so he had teased him a little. Third Master had seniority, so a couple of remarks were no great matter.

“I understand what you mean, Third Master,” Lu Wenyu replied. “I won’t interfere in the affairs of the men below me. But if I learn that anyone has made things difficult for Muzhi—heh—I won’t stand for it.”

Now that was dominance—practically spilling out of him!

Zhao Jiu had not expected Lu Wenyu to possess such a side. No wonder people called him the “Full First-Rank Commander.” After those words, even Zhao Jiu’s spine stiffened a few degrees.

Lord Lu was impressive!

Third Master stared blankly for a moment before lifting his teacup with a smile.

“Fifth, don’t worry. If this kid runs into trouble in the Imperial Prison, I won’t stand idly by. But passing on your mantle… isn’t it a little soon?”

“Hahahaha! You’ve misunderstood, Third Master. He’s my own nephew!”

After Lu Wenyu’s explanation, Third Master’s expression relaxed considerably.

Zhao Jiu having powerful backing was good news to him. Old men preferred peace and quiet. If the Imperial Prison became consumed by open and covert struggles every day, it would only annoy him.

With Zhao Jiu’s Third-Rank strength and Lu Wenyu behind him, even if he could not run rampant through the Imperial Prison, he would come close.

What a relief!

Third Master said nothing more and efficiently changed the paperwork over for Zhao Jiu.

From that moment onward, Zhao Jiu was a fully legitimate Lower Fourth-Rank Pacification Commissioner.

After bidding Third Master farewell, Zhao Jiu followed Lu Wenyu onward. Eventually, they stopped before a vast, high-walled compound.

Zhao Jiu followed Lu Wenyu inside and looked around, immediately finding the place exceedingly strange.

A massive rectangular two-story building stood in the center of the compound. Its lower floor resembled a cage, while its upper floor was a pointed-roof pavilion.

Four towering watchtowers stood at the courtyard’s corners. Its walls were extraordinarily high, measuring at least four zhang by Zhao Jiu’s rough estimate. Apart from the tiled roofs of the pavilion and watchtowers, everything within sight was blue-gray.

Underfoot, Zhao Jiu could clearly feel that the terrain was higher in the center and lower around the edges. The ground was paved with flagstones, and circular drainage holes had been left at regular intervals to channel rainwater away.

Although the compound was exceedingly strange, every part of it had been constructed with meticulous precision. Even the flagstones underfoot appeared almost perfectly level to the naked eye.

Zhao Jiu had never visited the imperial palace, but in his estimation, the craftsmanship of this compound already rivaled it.

Seeing Zhao Jiu looking around like a curious baby, Lu Wenyu explained, “Stop looking. This is the Imperial Prison.”

Zhao Jiu turned to stare at Lu Wenyu in disbelief.

This exquisitely constructed compound was actually a prison?

Lu Wenyu continued, “Do you see those four high walls? They’re no ordinary walls. Every one of them was constructed from blocks of Qinggang Stone laid one atop another. Holes were bored through the centers of the stones, which were then joined in a crisscrossing grid by iron rods.

“Four zhang of the walls stand aboveground, while more than half that height extends underground. Mugwort, cornel, realgar, calamus, atractylodes, and cinnabar were ground into powder, then mixed with iron filings and crushed porcelain in Glutinous-Rice Mortar. The mixture was stirred into a paste and used to seal the gaps between the stones. Finally, molten iron was poured into the holes.

“This made the entire wall impervious to fire and water, repellent to snakes and insects, and virtually indestructible. During the Founding Emperor’s reign, constructing these four walls and the watchtowers alone required forty thousand corvée laborers and took seven years to complete.”

Incredible!

Zhao Jiu ran a hand over the wall, carefully feeling its surface. After nearly a century of exposure to wind and sun, it had been weathered silken-smooth and felt almost like porcelain beneath his fingers.

This was no longer merely a wall. It was practically a rare work of art!

“Fifth Master, there’s more to this wall, isn’t there?” Zhao Jiu asked distractedly as he continued stroking it.

“Of course. Care to show me what you can do?”

“Against you?”

“Against this wall!”

Lu Wenyu found a stone block and sat down, looking at Zhao Jiu expectantly.

Since Lu Wenyu had suggested it, Zhao Jiu naturally would not refuse. It was only a stone wall, not some impregnable fortress of bronze and iron. Why was it acting so formidable?

Zhao Jiu stepped back several paces and planted his feet firmly, one before the other. His Flying Fish Robe billowed as his True Qi circulated and gathered in his palm.

Just as he was about to draw upon the Momentum, his True Qi suddenly faltered.

Strange!

Why had the Momentum of Heaven and Earth abruptly vanished without a trace? Even the circulation of his True Qi was not as smooth as before.

Could his cultivation have regressed?

The arrow was already on the string and had to be loosed. Although the situation felt strange, Zhao Jiu shifted his footing as his True Qi surged. He vanished from where he stood and lightly pressed a palm toward the wall.

Monument-Splitting!

The seemingly powerless palm concealed immensely powerful True Qi, all concentrated upon a single point. Its effectiveness was astonishing.

If this palm struck a Third-Rank expert, it would undoubtedly tear tendons and shatter bones. The victim might not even survive.

Yet when the palm landed on the wall, not only did the stones remain intact, there was not even the slightest mark upon them.

Zhao Jiu retreated several steps, his face filled with disbelief.

That had been a palm strike imbued with the concentrated True Qi of a Third Rank. How could it fail to leave even a mark on a stone wall?

CLANG!

An Embroidered Spring Saber landed in front of Zhao Jiu.

Lu Wenyu’s eyes curved with amusement, as though he had expected this result all along.

“Try it with a saber!”

Zhao Jiu picked up the Embroidered Spring Saber and stared gravely at the wall.

There was undoubtedly something strange about it. But shrinking back in fear was not Zhao Jiu’s style. Whatever secrets the wall possessed, one slash would reveal them.

His True Qi circulated, but he still could not draw upon the Momentum. Zhao Jiu did not mind. His immense True Qi churned like boiling water, while he resembled a ferocious tiger descending a mountain.

He raised his hand and swung the saber in one fluid motion, without the slightest hesitation or wasted movement.

A narrow streak of saber light flashed past.

The wall remained the same wall, except for a faint white score across its surface.

Zhao Jiu had already grasped a clue. At the instant the saber light struck, something seemed to disperse his True Qi. Like an eggshell, the wall spread the force it received evenly throughout its entire structure. That was why the saber light could leave only a faint white mark.

Zhao Jiu was about to swing again to test his theory, but Lu Wenyu raised a hand and called for him to stop.

“That’s enough. Are you planning to turn the Imperial Prison into your personal training ground?”

“Within these walls, which are nearly three chi thick, lies a great formation laid down by generations of Celestial Masters. It can isolate the Momentum and dissipate True Qi.”

“Never mind a mere Third Rank like you—Even a Great Grandmaster would have to expend considerable effort to break the formation!”

Zhao Jiu was thoroughly depressed.

Why didn’t you say that earlier?

Here he was, performing an entire saber-spear-staff-and-club routine against a pile of stones. He must have looked like a red-assed monkey. No matter how one looked at it, he appeared utterly ridiculous.

Lu Wenyu had indeed intended to toy with Zhao Jiu. Knowing that he was in the wrong, he hurriedly changed the subject.

“Come on. Let’s take a walk through the prison cells.”