Su Jin looked at Pei Jingzhi and asked, "Pei Jingzhi, are you willing?"
"I am willing!" Pei Jingzhi replied without hesitation.
In the past, he had cursed the Demon Suppression Division, believing it to be a corrupt agency that disrupted the law and brought chaos to the court. But now... from questioning, to understanding, he was more than willing to follow them for the rest of his life.
"That is good. Now..."
Su Jin's gaze shifted as she called out, "Chen Youli, Wu Mingyu, Yang Tao."
Three elite warriors stepped forward in unison.
"Pei Jingzhi has just arrived at the Demon Suppression Division and still needs to learn many rules, especially how to kill the demons of passion. The three of you will be responsible for supervising him."
The three of them were momentarily stunned.
They were elites, so it was normal for them to lead subordinates. However, they were known for their ruthless methods. Given Pei Jingzhi's age and former status, could he endure their training?
However, the three were also smart.
They quickly understood Su Jin's intention.
She wanted to thoroughly train Pei Jingzhi, to forge him into the sharpest blade of the Demon Suppression Division!
They immediately dropped to one knee and accepted the order in unison.
How could Pei Jingzhi not understand the underlying meaning?
But right now, he didn't have the slightest thought of refusing.
He was willing!
More than willing!
To start as a common foot soldier, a soldier who wielded a blade to kill!
Throughout his life, he had been loyal to the sovereign, the country, and the ancestral shrine.
But in the end, the sovereign was false, the country was in chaos, and his family was broken!
The Empress had usurped the throne and ruined the court, the Great Yu Dynasty was utterly corrupt, and even the person sharing his bed and the children at his knees had all been deceiving him!
In this world, there was no longer a sovereign to be loyal to, nor a country to protect!
Today, he would abandon that false imperial lineage and the rotten Great Yu, and serve under a wise lord!
For the Duke, for the Demon Suppression Division, he would hold the whip and stirrups, purge the wicked monsters, and restore order to the world!
Ren Tianye took in Pei Jingzhi's expressions and movements.
He was very satisfied in his heart.
It seemed that this Pei Jingzhi was not completely stubborn.
Or rather, his stubbornness had already been shattered.
This gave him something to work with!
He called out, "Su Jin."
"Your subordinate is here!"
"Take the people from the Demon Suppression Division and escort Lady Liu and her daughter away. Pei Jingzhi will stay; I have matters to ask him."
"Yes!"
Su Jin led her people away, and Ren Tianye looked at Pei Jingzhi.
Pei Jingzhi was truly beginning to adapt, treating Ren Tianye as a wise lord. He quickly jogged a few steps to stand before Ren Tianye.
"I have a matter that it seems only you know about."
"Please speak, Your Grace. I will tell you everything I know without reservation." Pei Jingzhi's posture was respectful, yet it still carried a sense of integrity. Such people were always the most appreciated by leaders.
They didn't want someone who only knew how to flatter, but someone with their own thoughts, ideas, and initiative, who would prioritize the greater good when a leader assigned a task.
Pei Jingzhi was clearly such a person.
Otherwise, under Xiao Mingzhao's rule, he would have either been assimilated or died a staunch and fiery death long ago.
"Do you know of the White-robed Chancellor?"
"The White-robed Chancellor?" Pei Jingzhi was taken aback. "I only know a little. It is said she was a close boudoir friend of the former Empress. However, I am not too clear on the details. After all, I have always been dispatched outside by the Empress and have not spent much time in the capital."
"It is said that only you know the current location of the White-robed Chancellor?"
"Me?"
Pei Jingzhi was stunned again. How would he know?
However, he quickly realized and said, "Your Grace, it seems I really do know."
"It's just that I never paid attention to it."
"Your Grace, may I be permitted to go to the study? There are blood edicts the Empress once gave me. One of them is addressed to the Eldest Princess, Xiao Ruyi, and it indeed mentioned this."
Ren Tianye nodded. Pei Jingzhi hurried to the study and quickly brought out three blood edicts.
Otherwise, how could Pei Jingzhi have become a pillar of the Great Yu Dynasty? His political acumen was absolutely not low.
Among these three blood edicts, two were more or less targeting Ren Tianye. Yet at this moment, Pei Jingzhi had no intention of hiding them, boldly letting Ren Tianye read them.
He was betting that Ren Tianye would not blame him for past matters.
Sure enough, Ren Tianye didn't mind at all.
Ren Tianye directly threw away the blood letter Xiao Mingzhao gave to Pei Jingzhi. Of the remaining two, he first opened the one Xiao Mingzhao addressed to him. Upon reading it, he almost laughed out loud.
This could be considered a love letter, right?
He didn't expect that Old Ren would also get to enjoy such fine things, actually reaping the benefits of this absurd female-oriented novel world. To think there was a woman who held such great expectations for him—it was truly ridiculous!
He casually tossed it aside.
Looking at the edict Xiao Mingzhao gave to the Eldest Princess, Xiao Ruyi, he found the relevant passage. It clearly stated: If Xiao Ruyi encountered an indecisive matter, she could visit Chongning Nunnery.
It further wrote: If she could not find the person at Chongning Nunnery, she could go search in Wuyin Valley outside the city.
Wuyin Valley?
Ren Tianye's spirits lifted. "Wang Ming, Wei Shuo."
"Your subordinates are here!"
"Lead the army out of the city. The target is Wuyin Valley."
"Yes!"
The two responded in unison.
Wei Shuo took the lead.
There was no helping it. For outsiders like Wang Ming and Ren Tianye, they had no idea where Wuyin Valley was located. In fact, let alone Ren Tianye and Wang Ming, even Pei Jingzhi didn't know.
Only Wei Shuo knew the approximate direction.
To be safe, before leading the men out, Wei Shuo sent someone to notify Su Pengcheng, the head of the Su family in the capital.
Su Pengcheng was much more familiar with the terrain inside and outside the capital than Wei Shuo. With Su Pengcheng there, they would definitely be able to find the specific hiding place of the White-robed Chancellor.
Wei Shuo's prediction was not wrong.
He and Wang Ming led the army to the western outskirts of the capital but could not find the specific location of the White-robed Chancellor. After all, Wuyin Valley was situated at a bend of the Hanyan River, a tributary of the Wei River. It was surrounded by mountains on three sides and faced the water on one. The mouth of the valley was narrow but widened inwards, and its internal area was unknown.
Furthermore, Wuyin Valley was shrouded in mist all year round, making it difficult to distinguish figures beyond five steps. With towering ancient trees and intertwining vines, anyone not extremely familiar with the area could easily get lost.
As a result, even though Wei Shuo and Wang Ming brought a large army with numerous men, they could not discern the direction for a time and failed to find the true residence of the White-robed Chancellor.
Fortunately, Su Pengcheng arrived.
"Your Grace, Generals, there is a small cottage within Wuyin Valley that is quite extraordinary. I have always known about it, but I was unaware that it was related to the White-robed Chancellor. Please forgive my ignorance."
Su Pengcheng personally led the way, and the group followed him through the winding paths. They found that the valley was quite dilapidated, with seven or eight ruined thatched huts scattered about. Their walls were collapsed, windows shattered, and overgrown with weeds, looking as if they had been uninhabited for a long time.
Only one small hut remained relatively intact.
"It should be here."
Su Pengcheng said, "I have been here before. This... this small hut couldn't possibly hide the White-robed Chancellor, right?"
Wei Shuo's thoughts were completely different from Su Pengcheng's. Just because Su Pengcheng had been here didn't mean he had seen the true face of the White-robed Chancellor. Moreover, this small hut might not necessarily be unable to hide someone.
He led his men to search inch by inch and quickly discovered a clue.
"Your Grace, there is a secret passage here!"
Everyone was momentarily stunned and gathered to look. They saw a trapdoor on the floor inside the hut. After opening it, a winding path leading underground was revealed, which was actually quite spacious.
...
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
nto another world, I bought a slave for the first time, never expecting the silver wolf girl to be so cute... Lin Feng: I know it's cold, but you don't have to sneak into my bed! Yuna: Just sharing body warmth, if you dare do anything naughty, I'll definitely...
e vast world of cultivation, where he becomes the master of the Heavenly Ruins Sacred Hall, a dying old man with barely a tenth of his former cultivation remaining. He is immediately confronted with a deadly crisis: his subordinates have rebelled, and his protectors are forcing him to abdicate. At the critical moment, the system descends from the heavens: [Ding! The host has been detected facing a life-or-death crisis. The system is now officially activated!] [As a gift, you have received the Supreme Beginner’s Pack and awakened the ultimate cheat: ten thousand years of pure cultivation essence every second!] Yin Tianjue: “Wait… ten thousand years of cultivation every second? That’s six hundred thousand years a minute, and in one day… I can’t even calculate it. Either way, I’m already invincible!” You’re a peerless prodigy rarely seen in ten thousand years? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re an undying ancestor who has guarded a sacred land for countless ages? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re the strongest chosen one, blessed with heaven-defying destiny? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. From this day forth, I have only one thing to say: “I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. Now, how exactly are you supposed to deal with that?”
