Chapter 580: Chapter 423: In the Palace Garrison

“Old Lu!”

Zhou Yi struggled to squeeze out two tears from his eyes.

Compared to other times, these tears contained a bit of sincerity but more so a sense of relief.

Old Lu knew too many secrets, dying at someone else’s hand was better than Zhou Yi having to do it personally.

Zhou Yi straightened Old Lu’s head and saw his eyes gouged out and nose flattened. He carefully removed the nails hammered into the body, dressed him with clothes, and managed to restore a human-like shape.

“I will surely avenge you!”

Such torture was rarely seen even in the Inspectorate’s dungeons.

Each wound was calculated, targeting either vital meridian intersections or organ gaps, ensuring the victim wouldn’t die before the torture ended. The torturer was definitely a martial arts expert.

“White Lotus Sect, Three Suns Sect, I am willing to spend hundreds of years if necessary to uproot you completely!”

A cold glint flashed in Zhou Yi’s eyes. Old Lu was his last attachment to humanity; from now on, he would have only cold interests.

He called for the attending eunuch.

“Go tell Xiao Yinzi to find eighteen presentable eunuchs. I promised Old Lu that I’d send him off grandly after his death!”

As Zhou Yi spoke, he suddenly felt a chill on his back.

He turned around quickly to look, but there was no one behind him. In this world, there might be supreme Qinggong experts who leave no trace, but no one can disappear into thin air in front of Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi circulated his True Qi vigourously, like raging waves dispersing in all directions, brutally sweeping several meters underground to ensure there were no hidden tunnels or secret chambers.

“Could it have been a gust of wind?”

A moment later.

Xiao Yinzi came with the eighteen chosen eunuchs who had changed into hemp mourning clothes, with the one in the lead holding a Long Banner of three and a half feet.

This was already a very high level of ceremony within the palace for the death of just a servant. Under normal circumstances, one would be buried in a burlap sack at Enji Temple, without even a grave marker.

“Godfather, we couldn’t find a coffin inside; we’ll have to go out and buy one.”

“The palace isn’t peaceful these days, don’t make a big commotion. Wait until we leave the palace before placing him in the coffin.”

Zhou Yi instructed them, “Once we get to Enji Temple, you must wail loudly and bitterly, as if you’ve lost your own parents. Old Lu was close to our family; he can’t be sent off in silence!”

“Understood.”

All the eunuchs answered together, carefully placing the corpse on the stretcher.

Once outside the imperial palace, they put the body into a coffin that was ready and proceeded towards Enji Temple.

With agents from the Eastern Depot clearing the way and the palace eunuchs weeping and wailing, the common people they encountered started speculating about the high-ranking official who must have died in the palace to warrant such a procession.

More than ten miles south of the capital, Enji Temple was located there.

The monks at the temple didn’t collect incense fees or perform religious services; they only dealt with matters like retirement and funerary services for palace eunuchs.

Abbot Xuan Miao had been waiting outside the temple. Hearing that the supervisor from the Eastern Depot was personally overseeing a funeral, he called all monks well-versed in Buddhist scripture to attend–nothing less would be acceptable for the supervisor.

As the funeral procession approached, the temple rang its bell thrice.

“Amitabha Buddha!”

Xuan Miao chanted the Buddha’s name and bowed, “This poor monk has long admired the supervisor’s reputation. Seeing you today is indeed extraordinary.”

Zhou Yi sensed Xuan Miao’s True Qi and felt some sort of connection with an old acquaintance, asking, “What is your relation to Master Hui Ming of Rotuo Temple?”

Xuan Miao replied, “He is this poor monk’s grand uncle.”

Zhou Yi said, “Master Hui Ming debated Buddhist principles with me, saying I had a connection with the Buddha, and we ended up addressing each other as brothers.”

“Greetings, Uncle Master Zhou!”

Xuan Miao immediately knelt down and kowtowed deeply.

The other monks, taken aback at first, glanced at the fierce-looking agents from the Eastern Depot and quickly followed suit, kneeling and calling out to Master Zhou!

“Very good, very good. When I roamed the jianghu, the Buddhist sect was the most accommodating.”

Zhou Yi nodded slightly and entered Enji Temple first.

The monks quickly rose to their feet and, following proper etiquette and procedures, led the funeral procession and buried Old Lu’s remains in the center of the cemetery, carefully constructing a seven-tiered Stupa.

Inscriptions and the like were written by eunuchs with a knack for writing who heavily praised Old Lu’s exploits in life.

Xuan Miao personally wrote the name tablets and placed them in the Great Heroic Treasure Hall where monks chanted scriptures and prayed regularly, offerings of incense were made daily without fail.

Just as Old Lu was buried, a eunuch named Xiao Cui suddenly threw himself onto the seven-tiered Stupa and began to wail loudly.

“Father! I can’t bear to let you go…”

“He’s my real father!”

His cries were so piercing and filled with such grief that the other eunuchs, who were just pretending, began to wonder if Xiao Cui had lost his real parents.

Xiao Cui kept kowtowing, the fresh blood painting the Stupa red.

A rare look flashed in Zhou Yi’s eyes. He had only heard of adopting living people as fathers, but it was his first time seeing someone worship a dead man as one. This type of eunuch, who could seize an opportunity and didn’t mind losing face, was not common in the palace.

“What’s his name, and where does he serve?”

Xiao Yinzi answered, “It’s Xiao Cui from the Palace Attendants, just entered the palace over two years ago, currently assigned to the Imperial Garden.”

“The Imperial Garden? That has quite a connection with me!”

Zhou Yi declared, “From today, he is Old Lu’s son, renamed to Xiao Luzi, and will be transferred to serve in Yangxin Hall. Our family cannot fail to take care of a friend’s descendant.”

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Xiao Yinzi asked, “Godfather, there is currently no vacancy in Yangxin Hall. Whom shall we replace?”

The Orthodox Emperor often worked in Yangxin Hall, convening his trusted officials for discussions, which over time turned it into one of the palace’s power centers. Every eunuch yearned to work there, hoping to catch the Emperor’s eye.

The eunuchs serving in Yangxin Hall all had connections and backgrounds; martial prowess alone wouldn’t get anyone a position there.

“No need to replace anyone. I’ve heard that Xiao Pingzi has come down with a serious illness, and doesn’t have long to live. Once he’s gone, there will naturally be a vacancy.”

Zhou Yi spoke in a calm, unrippled voice, as if, perhaps from too much killing, talking about death was as natural to him as eating and sleeping.