Prime Minister?
I hurried inside, only to find many people sitting on the ground in the courtyard of the Prime Minister's residence. They were all dressed as ordinary people, young and old. When they saw me come in, they all looked over. Then a kind old man came over and led me into the residence, saying, "Come in, come in, it's safer there."
What's going on? I looked around the courtyard and finally found the Prime Minister's steward in the crowd. I walked over and patted him on the shoulder. He turned around, saw me, and was somewhat surprised: "A distinguished guest?"
"This..." I pointed to the people around me: "What's going on here?"
“Oh, suddenly there are a lot of people going berserk in the capital, hurting people everywhere. We originally closed the gates of the mansion, but we found that those people would consciously and spontaneously stay away from the Prime Minister’s mansion, and even ignore the open gates. So the master let the people in the vicinity hide here. Seeing that you have come, they are even more at ease.”
"Hmm? Turning a blind eye?" I began to survey the area around the Prime Minister's residence, and suddenly noticed the copper bell on the eaves sway slightly without any wind. Instantly, I remembered Bai Da's arrangement...
My heart is filled with complex emotions. Bai Da's heart is entirely devoted to Xiang Qi. He has even made thorough preparations to protect the Prime Minister's residence, and even now, he is still protecting the residence and thus the people in the vicinity... But he himself is still dragging his crippled body to recuperate in the mountains...
To say I'm angry is an understatement; looking at all these people scattered across the land, I can't muster any anger. But to say I'm not angry is also an understatement; thinking of Bai Da's broken body, I feel an unbearable sense of frustration...
At that moment, the prime minister arrived, his deep eyes looking at me: "Oh, you've come to see if I'm alright?"
"No," I denied it outright, but then I felt there was no point in denying it, so I changed my mind and said, "Yes."
The prime minister clicked his tongue twice: "This is both yes and no..." Then he changed his tune: "You rushed over here, you must have come to check if I was alright, you should be happy to see I'm fine, why do you look so depressed?"
I'm annoyed, annoyed my ass! I rolled my eyes inwardly, fanned myself with my palm, but it didn't make any wind. Instead, I got even angrier, so I just left: "I'm glad you're okay. I'll go check other places."
After saying that, he turned and rode away, and behind him came the prime minister's deep voice: "Be careful."
Did I expect you to tell me to be careful? I rolled my eyes again.
I rode my horse at breakneck speed along the empty roads of the capital, heading wherever I heard screams, and if I encountered a raging person, I would simply run into him.
Before the man could get up, they dismounted and pinned him down, then used the broken little finger bone to prick his brow, drawing out the malevolent energy within him, before pulling it all out and stuffing it into the gourd. Once the man was unconscious, they proceeded to the next location…
Passing by the residences of some high-ranking officials and nobles, I saw people from the Imperial Observatory and the Imperial Guards working together to set up formations and suppress rampaging people. I was very glad that I wasn't alone...
However, the Imperial Observatory's process of dispelling the malevolent energy was too long, so I simply stopped one of the Imperial Observatory personnel and told him to go back and tell everyone to just suppress the rampaging people to their original positions. I would personally go street by street to extract the malevolent energy, which would be much more efficient.
I don't know how much malevolent energy they extracted, but Ah Shi found me and said, "Aunt, the people from the Imperial Observatory have all suppressed the rampaging people as you instructed. I'll go with you to extract the malevolent energy from each of them."
“Okay,” I said, my hands still busy, “remember where the formation is, and then take me there.”
After putting the newly extracted malevolent energy into the gourd, I found that the gourd I was carrying was full.
He then turned to Ah Shi and asked, "Did you bring a gourd?"
"A gourd?" Ah Shi glanced at the person who had already fainted inside the formation: "Is Auntie trying to store up the malevolent energy?"
"Yes! I don't know how to resolve it. I'll wait until I extract it, and then we'll go to the Imperial Observatory to resolve it together."
“I have a spirit jade, which I can also use.”
"Okay, give it to me."
The spirit jade is much better than the gourd. As soon as the malevolent energy is drawn out, it automatically flows into the spirit jade, without me having to force it in. However, the downside is that a spirit jade can't store much malevolent energy. After I filled the last spirit jade that Ah Shi was carrying, I could only look at the roaring people in the distant formation and shake my head helplessly.
I need something that can hold a lot of energy. To be honest, I didn't think there was that much resentment when I ran away. How come it's been so long and they still haven't finished catching them?
I returned to the Imperial Observatory with great frustration and found the Director of the Production Department: "Director, is there any container that can hold malevolent energy? I urgently need a large one."
"Yes!" The supervisor nodded and handed me a sachet. I immediately recognized it as the one I'd been wearing at my waist. I was quite surprised: "When did you put it away?"
The supervisor touched his nose: "When you are being punished by heaven."
"When I was being punished by heaven?" I was even more speechless: "I kept giving you signals to drag Wu Zi out, but you didn't do anything. And yet you took this sachet back?"
"Hehe," the supervisor chuckled awkwardly, "It's different; it can't withstand heavenly lightning."
They were talking about Wu Zi as if he could withstand divine lightning. I protested, "Aren't you being too biased? This is just an inanimate object! Wu Zi is alive, though..."
At this point, I realized something was wrong. The contents of this sachet didn't seem to be inanimate objects.
I pressed my ear close to the sachet and sensed it. My sharp ears detected something moving inside. I looked at the supervisor with surprise: "Is this a living thing?"
"Living things can absorb more than inanimate things..."
Wait, why does that one in here seem so familiar? I closed my eyes and sensed it again... this... seems somewhat similar to the shadow I saw under my feet earlier? Suddenly, a lot of things clicked, and I was even more speechless: "The shadow you gave me, sir, is it alive?"
"Hehe," the supervisor chuckled, remaining silent.
I sighed helplessly, "You're really a swindler!" I rolled my eyes, "Won't it cause trouble if this living thing absorbs too much malevolent energy?"
“No,” the supervisor immediately became serious: “It has listened to my teachings for so many years, it will be fine… and it will be even less likely to be in your hands.”
"Really?" I asked uncertainly. "What if we end up feeding a big one?"
"No, don't worry." The supervisor waved his hand repeatedly.
"Alright," I clicked my tongue, "I'll trust you this once."
Then I gave the gourd and spirit jade to the supervisor so he could find someone to resolve the issue, and then I took Ah Shi out.
Living things can indeed absorb more energy than dead things, but each time it absorbs malevolent energy, the sachet will grow larger, which terrifies me every time, fearing that it will burst at any moment.
As evening fell, the entire capital became even colder and more gloomy. The night air was already heavy with yin energy, and now, tinged with malevolent energy, it made anyone walking the streets feel uneasy. It was no longer suitable for the Imperial Guards to accompany us at night, so I immediately ordered Mu Li to take his men back to rest.
Then he and the other members of the Imperial Observatory continued their inspection of various places in the capital.
I'm all bones and don't need rest at all, but the people from the Imperial Observatory can't. Cultivators are human too, and by evening, they're all exhausted, making it even harder to set up formations. I sighed and told everyone else to go back first.
I was going to send Ah Shi away anyway, but he insisted on staying with me. I shook my head and said, "Go back and call out the supervisor. It's time for him to do his part."
"Huh?" Ah Shi's eyes widened: "Summon the Chief Supervisor?"
“That’s right,” I said matter-of-factly. “You cultivators handle it during the day, shouldn’t he lend a hand at night?”
"Ah? But..." Before Ah Shi could finish speaking, we heard the supervisor's voice: "Here you come. I knew you wouldn't let me off the hook."
When the supervisor arrived, I looked at Ah Shi and said, "You should go back first and get some rest. We still need to continue extracting malevolent energy tomorrow."
“No,” Ah Shi shook his head firmly, “I’m not going back. I’ll stay with you two.”
"You two?" I patted Ah Eleven on the shoulder. "Am I that old?"
Ah Shi chuckled sheepishly, "Hehe, it sounds right, it sounds right."
The supervisor flicked his whisk and said, "Forget it, let him come along. His cultivation isn't good enough; he can only win people over by being more diligent."
What... what are you saying? But Ah Shi's foundation is indeed not as good as others...
So I nodded: "Okay, then you can come along. If you feel uncomfortable anywhere, don't push yourself. This is a long battle, it can't be finished in a day or two."
"Okay, Auntie, don't worry, I will do what I can."
Having made our agreement, the three of us began wandering around the capital. I asked the supervisor, "Supervisor, I didn't see so much malevolent energy coming out. How come we've been collecting it all day and it's still not finished?"
"Like attracts like. There is already a lot of hostility in this world... hostility attracts more hostility, so there will naturally be even more."
Sigh, I sighed again. What a mess I've made...
"Sigh, if I had been more careful and cautious back then, none of this would have happened."
“Sigh…” The supervisor waved his whisk in front of me, interrupting my thoughts: “The past cannot be retrieved, so be careful not to dwell on it or you will go astray.”
"You're so honest and straightforward!"
The supervisor touched his nose: "Well... who hasn't made mistakes when they were young? Just correct them. The real problem is not knowing you've made a mistake, that would be terrible."
"Too."
We were chatting when we saw a dark gray shadow flash by on the side of the street ahead. I quickly called out to Ah Shi, "Chase it!"
We had only taken a few steps when we heard a booming voice: "Zhen!"
Then the fleeing ghost was trapped by a magical shield formed by magic power. During the day, I always saw groups of cultivators throwing magical artifacts and chanting incantations together to trap those who were rioting. But the supervisor only used one word? I turned to look at the supervisor and was stunned: "You have this trick up your sleeve?"
The supervisor's expression hardened: "What are you talking about? I'm this old, how could I have survived without some tricks up my sleeve?"
I gave the supervisor a thumbs up: "Amazing!"
The supervisor shook his whisk and said, "Go, little Xu Yi, let me see how you extract your malevolence."
"Um?"
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