Chapter 3 Shangyi Bureau, Outer Office
Shinju's legs and left hand are still immobile. Relying solely on the self-healing abilities of his True Immortal body, it's estimated that it will take ten days to half a month for him to recover. He originally thought he could rest for a while with this group who had just undergone castration before preparing for entering the palace together.
Unexpectedly, he was suddenly forced to follow the previous group.
Unfortunately, this small world lacked spiritual energy, and Zhen Su's true energy was almost completely dissipated; otherwise, simply walking would have been no problem. After the fierce battle with the demon, Zhen Su had only preserved a last wisp of true energy, sealing it in his crown chakra for future use when he left this small world. Such a crucial wisp could not be wasted in such a place.
In a few breaths, Zhen Su's mind raced like lightning, but he couldn't come up with a good solution.
As he sat up, a "thud" came from behind him, and a book fell from his waist. On the cover were a few scribbles that looked like characters: "The Five Ultimate Classic".
Shinju's eyelids twitched suddenly. His white fingers held the spine of the book, but he hesitated and did not open it.
How could he have forgotten about this book?
If you're looking for a way to fix his leg paralysis, this book actually has one!
There's just one problem—once the arrow is released, there's no turning back.
He deliberately facilitated this process, from being "castrated" to preparing to enter the palace. Yet, he never truly committed to cultivating the "Five Ultimate Scriptures," yet he couldn't completely abandon it either.
If you ask what Zhen Su is hesitating about, it's because this "Five Ultimate Scripture" is a legendary forbidden book of heretical sects! Every time it appears in the world, it shakes the six continents, stirs up a bloody storm in the cultivation world, and ignites a fierce struggle among heroes. Evil and heretical sects flock to it, while the righteous sects wish they could destroy it from the world.
Once he uses the techniques in this book, it means that he has truly embarked on the evil path.
Although the *Five Ultimate Scriptures* is detestable, it requires no special spiritual root aptitude for cultivation. For someone like Zhen Su, with his inferior five spiritual roots, it's a perfect, albeit coincidentally so, thing—perfectly perfect. The Great Dao he previously cultivated is impossible to reclaim. Furthermore, after leaving, he'll need to bide his time and cultivate a new Dao that is as far removed from his previous one as possible. Considering all this, he realized that from the moment he became a cripple, he had long since lost any real choices; he simply refused to face them.
With weak strength, whether in the world of cultivation or the mortal realm, one can only be fish on someone else's chopping board.
He could escape for a while, but he couldn't hide forever. What harm was there in practicing unorthodox methods? If he didn't, he would die anyway. If he didn't fight and kill that unworthy demon with his own hands, how could he be content?
Shinju felt enlightened, so he opened the book and began to read quickly with his eyes lowered.
In the unique system of the *Five Ultimate Classics*, there is no distinction between realms like Qi Refining and Foundation Building. Instead, it is divided into five major stages—Poison, Yin, Turbidity, Witchcraft, and Soldier. The first stage can be summarized as "Ultimate Poisoning for a Golden Body." The key is to feed toxins into the body, allowing the toxins and true essence to coexist and be used for one's own benefit. Poisons can be used to refine the meridians, form membranes or knots to block acupoints, and even fight poison with poison, refining each other to maximize the body's poison resistance. Upon reaching this state, the cultivator will undergo a complete transformation, ultimately forging a golden body.
He only needs to find the poison, then use acupuncture to channel it, turning it into a blockage that obstructs the meridians in his right hand and upper torso, reducing excessive consumption of blood and qi. This then corrodes the blockages in the meridians of his legs, thus clearing the blockages. In this way, he can use his hands and torso to stand and walk.
This is the poison... the poison...
Shinjuku looked around and finally fixed his gaze on his food box, which was still placed at the foot of the bed and had not been collected.
The next moment, the children saw Majutsu reach into the food box with his chopsticks and start eating the spoiled rice and rotten vegetables. He ate one bite after another without ever frowning, his manners as elegant as if he were savoring some delicacy. He just ate at an incredibly fast pace.
The children were all stunned. Even after the food box was empty and Masaya put down his chopsticks, they still hadn't reacted. After a while, someone burst into tears, waking the others up.
Shinju glanced at them with amusement, but time was of the essence, and they had to leave in a quarter of an hour. Shinju hurriedly focused his energy and paid no further attention to them.
The food was delivered at Chenshi (7-9 AM), and it already smelled sour when it arrived. I don't know if it was leftovers from the previous day, and since two hours have passed, I'm betting that it might have become poisonous.
Fortunately, his gamble paid off. Although the food contained a weak level of poison, the poison-enhancing technique from the book's "Ultimate Poison Chapter" immediately amplified it several times over. It then circulated and surged through his body, causing Shinju to gasp for breath, feel dizzy and lightheaded, and experience excruciating abdominal pain as if being relentlessly punched. Shinju, barely managing to stay conscious, quickly began a series of breathing exercises…
Before long, Masakatsu felt the ground beneath his feet gradually harden and the cool breeze gently caressing his ankles. A smile involuntarily appeared on his lips, and with a slight effort, he actually managed to stand up!
His discomfort had completely disappeared, and after a while, a servant came to take him away. Shinjuku did not linger, and left with a room full of reluctant gazes.
As he crossed the threshold, Masaya's neck was still immobile, so he didn't see that on the bed on the side closest to the door, someone suddenly seemed to sense something, their blood surging, causing them to abruptly wake up from their deep sleep.
The man sat up abruptly, his movements swift as a tiger. Relying on the internal energy he felt, he watched intently through the window as the handsome young man's back slowly disappeared behind the moon gate.
.
The Bureau of Ceremonial Affairs was in charge of appointing eunuchs, handling court etiquette, and introducing guests. Initially, the head of the Bureau of Ceremonial Affairs was not a eunuch, but because all matters within the Bureau involved the affairs of the Six Palaces, it gradually came under the control of eunuchs familiar with the Six Palaces. The outer offices of the Bureau of Ceremonial Affairs served as the main place for teaching etiquette to newly recruited eunuchs and for rewarding and punishing them.
As soon as Masakatsu and his party arrived at the outer residence of the Bureau of Ceremonies, the eunuch instructor stood in front of the mansion gate with an iron ruler in hand, his eagle eyes sweeping over each of them with a condescending scrutiny and sizing.
Under the sharp gazes of the crowd, they walked somewhat awkwardly into the doorway. As they crossed the threshold, one person was stopped by the instructor, who swung the ruler down with a sharp "smack," and the person's back burned with pain.
"It hurts!" the man cried out immediately.
Unexpectedly, the instructor rolled up a ruler and slapped him across the mouth again.
Tears welled up in the man's eyes, and soon his mouth swelled up like a sausage. But this time, even though he was in pain, he didn't dare to cry out.
"When crossing the door, step in with your left foot first. Do not shout or yell unless necessary, as it is undignified," the instructor said, and then let the man pass.
Those in front and behind, witnessing this scene, all wore complex expressions.
Shinjuku was standing right behind that person. Upon hearing this, he glanced down and silently withdrew his right foot, which was about to step out.
No one expected that the examination would begin the moment they entered the door.
Even as night fell that day, no one had a chance to rest. They unloaded their bundles, made their beds, changed into dark robes and casual hats, and then rushed to the east hall to sweep and clean.
After the initial humiliation, no one dared to complain and they diligently got to work.
They worked diligently for more than half an hour until the instructor arrived. Although everyone looked tired, they were relatively relaxed. The east hall was bright and simple, easy to clean, and they felt they had swept it quite clean. The instructor probably couldn't find anything wrong with it. Moreover, every nook and cranny was wiped repeatedly by different people. If it was really not up to standard, it would be everyone's responsibility.
Unexpectedly, the instructor didn't care at all whether the east hall was clean or not, but instead raised his voice and asked, "Does anyone know what words are engraved on my ruler?"
However, the hall was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Upon hearing this, many people instinctively tried to look up at the instructor's hands, but were stopped by him. "Did I tell you to look up? If you're serving important people in the future, will you still be looking around like this?!"
The crowd dared not imagine how terrifying it would be if they were punished, with the sharp point of the ruler aimed at their eyes. So they all lowered their heads and dared not move.
At this moment, the instructor asked again what words were engraved on the ruler. This time, someone finally answered. A clear and bright voice, like the sound of a striking chime, and with a soft, gentle quality like fresh snowflakes, entered everyone's ears.
“Reporting to Your Excellency, one side of the ruler is engraved with ‘Guan Hong’ (观宏), and the other side is engraved with ‘Bi Yu’ (闭语),” Shinju replied.
Upon hearing this, the instructor was initially taken aback, but then his gaze turned to Masakuni with a meaningful expression.
He usually only showed the front of the ruler, on which was engraved the word "Silence," which was what he originally intended to test people on. However, he never expected that someone would know that the other side was engraved with "Observe the Greatness." After all, this side could only be seen for the moment he struck someone. Since entering the East Hall, he had not laid a hand on anyone, except for disciplining a few people when he went to the gate of the mansion to greet them in the afternoon.
In such a short time, could anyone really see the words on the back of that ruler?
The tutor was not entirely convinced and decided to have Masakuni follow him to the library.
The others, unable to hear the instructor's judgment on right and wrong for a long time, noticed someone being taken away alone. They couldn't help but feel worried for the poor person and relieved for themselves.
Inside the library.
The tutor had Shinju stand at the door, while he himself sat on a chair in front of the desk, a good three zhang away from the door. Then, without saying a word, he picked up a brush and wrote several large characters on the paper. He would occasionally look up at Shinju, and when Shinju lowered his head, he would arbitrarily rearrange the brush, ink, paper, inkstone, porcelain bottle and other items on the desk.
Soon after, the instructor finally stopped. He narrowed his hawk-like eyes and asked Shinju, "Tell me, where should this vermilion wolf-hair brush go?"
“Right in the center of the pen holder,” Shinjuku replied immediately.
The tutor frowned and asked again, "Was this bamboo paper originally under the inkstone?"
"The bamboo paper has been underneath all along and hasn't been touched," Shinju said frankly.
"...Has this willow-leaf bottle been moved?"
Shinjuku answered without hesitation: "The bottom of the bottle has shifted two fingers to the west, and the body of the bottle has been rotated halfway to the right."
"…………"
The tutor, skeptical, then posed two unexpected and extremely tricky questions. However, Shinju's descriptions remained detailed and accurate, exactly as he had actually demonstrated.
"Good, good!" The tutor had no choice but to admit defeat.
Clearly, the boy before him was extremely clever. The boy was so far from the desk that a dragon boat could have been placed between them, and every time he looked at the boy, the boy never raised his eyes. He didn't know how the boy could see his movements so clearly.
Such insight and such temperament suggest that the boy has been immersed in the palace for many years, a truly rare quality at such a young age. Even the eunuch tutor himself was not confident that he could achieve such a level of skill in a young boy.
What the palace needs most is someone who can see things clearly. After all, those who can only pretend to be deaf and blind are insensitive to the outside world and die quickly; they are not as useful as blind or mute slaves. In short, such a capable person will definitely become an asset to that person. In a few days, he will recommend him, and the person will surely reward him handsomely.
The more the instructor looked at Shinjuku, the more pleasing he became. His usually sharp, hawk-like eyes were now filled with a rare smile. He couldn't help but praise Shinjuku a few times, but Shinjuku didn't seem pleased with himself. He kept his eyes down, looking respectful.
What he didn't know was that the people of Shinjuku, who seemed to be listening to him, had actually been using their five senses for too long and had just lost their ability to hear and see properly for a while.
.
A few days later, the entire outer residence suddenly became busy. Even the eunuchs who were to be selected stopped their teaching and were sent to decorate the courtyard. The residence was filled with a festive atmosphere.
A few lazybones, taking advantage of the fact that the instructors and stewards were out, hid behind the rocks and started gossiping.
"Have you all heard? The Lord Seal Master is coming tomorrow!"
"Do I need to hear about it? I can see it with my own eyes. I didn't believe it at first, but today we've been put in charge of this area. Who else but that lord would have such a grand display of power?"
"Upon arriving at the manor, I was told that a large number of people had been transferred to the palace last month, which kept me up for several nights. I thought I would have to endure here for three or four years before I would have a chance to enter the palace. Who knew! It hasn't been long, and the Grand Master is coming here in person!"
"Shh, I heard something inside. Don't say I said it. If you want to know, come closer..." The speaker didn't even make a sound. He just mouthed "adopted son of an adult," pointed upwards, then stretched his arms around his neck to the sides, and finally stuck out his bright red tongue.
The other two were so frightened that they quickly covered their mouths, their eyes filled with astonishment.
"So...that lord is just here to choose a new son?"
"Then it means only one person?! Oh no, oh no, I feel hopeless. The person that the instructor has punished the most recently is me..." The person said, touching his still slightly swollen lips, looking dejected.
"I definitely can't do it either. Sigh, whoever becomes that person's godson is practically guaranteed to rise to the top! Ahh, I'm so envious, I can't take it anymore, my conjunctivitis is about to flare up!"
"I bet it's that guy or someone else who got selected."
Suddenly, the group exchanged glances, their expressions turning strange.
"The instructor really likes him. Even though he mostly didn't answer the questions on the ruler correctly, he was still taken away by himself. Who knows what he'll do with him after that!"
"Are you out of your mind? How dare you say that?"
"Tsk, it must be him. He's just relying on his good looks. What a vixen! It's over, really over. The selection process is over!"
Everyone thought that Shinju was about to rise to great heights.
However, the very next day, just before the Grand Master of Ceremonies arrived at the outer palace—
Masakatsu, however, was imprisoned in the torture chamber.
A note from the author:
----------------------
This story is fictional, and the job descriptions are a mix of references from different dynasties, so they cannot withstand rigorous scrutiny. However, any serious or factual errors are welcome to be pointed out.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
