Chapter 188 Good Boss

As the New Year draws to a close, even though the family is not wealthy, everyone still squeezes in and brings back a lot of New Year's goods, preparing to celebrate the first New Year of family reunion in a lively manner.

Regarding the matter of stealing energy, the master has always advised Xu Chuchu not to be so anxious, to spend the New Year peacefully first, and then look for energy after the New Year. There is no need to rush in just a few days.

But Xu Chuchu refused. She thought that as the year was coming to an end, everyone's hearts were racing and the defenses would be at their weakest, which was also the best time to take action.

If we wait until after the New Year, the night will be long and we won’t know what will happen.

Because there will be an event in the palace on New Year's Eve and outsiders will enter the palace, security will be stricter. Xu Chuchu chose to take action two days before New Year's Eve.

When night fell, she changed into black clothes, took Daju with her, and quietly went to the Imperial Observatory where the Grand Master was.

According to the model of the imperial palace I had seen before, the Imperial Observatory was located in the northwest corner of the entire palace.

In fact, strictly speaking, the Imperial Observatory does not belong to the imperial palace, but it is right next to the palace and has a door directly connected to the palace, and it has become a part of the entire Jade Cicada Formation.

Xu Chuchu naturally would not go through the trouble of entering through the palace gate, but would directly find a place with weak guards outside and climb over the wall to get in.

As she expected, the New Year was approaching and everyone was returning home one after another. Those who stayed behind had no intention of "going to work". There were not many monks on duty outside, only two monks patrolling every half hour, and their cultivation was not high.

Xu Chuchu didn't want to make any noise, so he hid his skills and found an opportunity to sneak in with Daju.

She took a quick look at the environment and deduced that the buildings here were built according to the Eight Formations and Sixteen Styles, with the outer circle surrounding the inner part, progressing layer by layer, which could also serve to gather spiritual power.

In such an environment, the outer circle's spiritual energy is thin, while the inner circle's spiritual energy is abundant. The closer one is to the inner circle, the more effective one's cultivation will be. If one is a cultivator here, he should do everything he can to get the opportunity to enter the inner circle.

It goes without saying that energy must be at the very center.

The man and the cat easily climbed inside. When they encountered a guard that could not be avoided, Daju would lure them away in cat form, wait for Xu Chuchu to enter, and then get rid of the guard. This trick was used twice without any problems.

As Xu Chuchu sneaked in, she observed the compass to detect the specific direction of the energy, but the compass did not respond and she could not feel where the energy fluctuations were.

But this is normal. It is impossible for the great master and his apprentice to make such a big move and let everyone know about it.

They must have set up a magic array somewhere to conceal the spiritual power and hexagrams.

Xu Chuchu searched according to this method, and indeed found some runes on a stone brick on the ground that were similar to the ones he had at home in the suburbs of Beijing.

Arranging these runes counterclockwise would just enclose an inconspicuous tall tower.

The Imperial Observatory was different from other regular government offices. Most of its buildings were bungalows, but there were many three- or four-story towers and temples dedicated to Bodhisattvas.

This tall tower is just one of many towers of average height. If there were no runes on the ground, Xu Chuchu would never have suspected that it was here.

Seeing the tower was pitch black, she wondered if there was anyone inside. She crept down and whispered to Daju, "Wait for me here. Be sure to stay hidden and put away your cultivation. Understand?"

"You're going in alone?!" The big orange cat opened its round cat eyes wide and asked in a meowing voice.

"I'm afraid it would be difficult for us both to escape if we were trapped," Xu Chuchu explained seriously. "The outside of this tower is open air. If there's any danger, I'll let you know immediately. If I don't come out by dawn, you'll have to go back and inform Master. Don't linger. Remember that."

Daju nodded quickly.

He likes the serious Xu Chuchu, so cool and handsome.

Xu Chuchu looked at Daju hiding in the tree in the form of a cat, nodded at him, and tiptoed in.

The tower had three floors, and she estimated the energy was on the second or third floor.

There is an open-air walkway on the outer circle of each floor, similar to a modern balcony, but it is protected by railings. She cannot squeeze in and can only walk inside and cannot climb from the outside.

The first floor was filled with a long corridor and three rooms on each side. She noticed at a glance that the door of one of the rooms was open and bright light was shining out, which she thought was not good.

It's so late and there are still people working overtime? It's too hard.

Although he speculated that the energy was not on the first floor, Xu Chuchu still checked every room along the outer windows to avoid missing it.

She looked at five rooms in a row, all of which were ordinary rooms with tables and chairs. She felt suspicious, but she still held her breath and went to see the last room with the lights on.

She immediately regretted her decision as soon as she looked over... because the person sitting inside was an old fat monk with a white beard, and it was none other than the seventh-level Grand Master himself!

How can he be so dedicated? Doesn’t he need to resign and go home?

At this distance, as long as the Grand Master deliberately uses his spiritual power to search, he can find her immediately!

Xu Chuchu couldn't make any more noises now! She could only pray that the Grand Master wouldn't be idle and check everywhere, and would hurry home after overtime! That way, she might still have a chance!

She glanced over cautiously and found that the Grand Master was with another young monk, and they seemed to be discussing something.

One of them was sitting and the other was standing. The Grand Master had changed out of his fine cassock and was wearing an ordinary thick coarse cloth robe. He had lost his usual majesty and looked like an ordinary, kind bald old man.

The standing monk suddenly pulled out a stack of papers from his bosom and handed them over: "By the way, Master Imperial Master, this is the list of New Year's goods distributed by our Imperial Astronomical Observatory this year. Please take a look."

Xu Chuchu couldn't help but roll her eyes. It was so late at night, and they were really talking about work? If any modern employee handed a list to their boss for review in the middle of the night, they would probably be scolded to death.

The Grand Master took it calmly, nodding as he looked at it. "Well, that's fine. Is the Alchemy Room's inventory sufficient? I'll give each person two more Spiritual Power Pills. This year's work is more complicated than in previous years, and everyone has worked hard."

"Yes, sir," said the young monk.

"Huh?" The Grand Master pointed at the list and asked in confusion, "Why do Zhiyun and Zhiqing have less stuff than the others?"

The monk replied, "You have forgotten, sir, that Zhiyun and Zhiqing went to preach in other places two months ago and failed to gather enough energy to return. According to the rules, they will be penalized."

"Yes, that's right. I really don't remember things when I get old." The Grand Master patted his smooth head in frustration. "But never mind. I didn't do my job well. I punished you when I came back. This time we're distributing New Year's goods, so it's better for everyone to get the same. If anyone is missing something, I'm afraid the whole New Year won't be happy."

What a good boss.

When Xu Chuchu heard this, she couldn't help but secretly sigh at the complexity of human nature.

Just by listening to the surface, she would definitely think that the Grand Master was a compassionate monk who cared about his subordinates.

But the "energy collection" they just mentioned should be obtained by killing innocent people and refining souls, just like Tailing County and Wuchang Village.

While he was killing innocent people indiscriminately, he was also concerned in the middle of the night about whether the New Year's goods for his monks had been distributed... He was not purely evil, and he was good but doing unscrupulous things. It is hard to say whether it is a contradiction or not.

Is all this to promote Buddhism? Xu Chuchu could only say that she couldn't understand this kind of person's fanatical pursuit of religion.

At this time, the Grand Master in the room asked again: "How are your arrangements going with Zhaozhi?"