Well, the August Heaven Emperor's excitement was still quite useful—at the very least it dispelled the immature parts of Gu Chengming's idea.
The imperial house of the Great Qian held an extremely strong desire to control public opinion and intelligence. If he rashly handed over something like the «Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method»—a thing capable of constructing a "realm beyond the law"—even if Director Zhou could tolerate it, could that Son of Heaven tolerate it?
If the imperial house judged it an uncontrollable hidden danger, then even though he was a disciple of the Wenjian Sect, he would likely invite calamity all the same.
"It was indeed a bit hasty."
Gu Chengming shook his head inwardly. The Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method, however, only grew more excited.
[The Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method, upon hearing your concerns, was not the least bit discouraged.]
[It thought to itself: what kind of skill is it to promote something openly and aboveboard? To silently weave a great net beneath the Capital, where imperial scrutiny is most stringent—within every inch of shadow blanketed by the dragon aura—and to secretly accumulate power...]
[Isn't that all the more in keeping with its vision of a mastermind behind the scenes?]
[It strongly recommends we go it alone, that we not let the Night-Watch Bureau get involved—if we're going to do this, then let us be the shadow emperor beneath the Great Qian!]
[Hundred Bones Resonance strongly concurs!]
Gu Chengming: "."
It seemed these cultivation methods had been suppressed for far too long, and had gone a little deranged.
For the moment he soothed the two rowdy ones with a few words, then Gu Chengming heaved a sigh.
While it was true the idea could be attempted, now was not the time—and the one leading it could not be him.
As for how things would unfold in the future, that would have to await a suitable opportunity.
The next morning, the Night-Watch Bureau.
Within Vice-Commander Liu's office, the fragrance of tea curled through the air.
"Chengming, this time you've made that crowd over at the Demon-Catching Bureau lose face in a big way."
Vice-Commander Liu set down his teacup and regarded Gu Chengming, seated across from him. Though his tone carried a measure of satisfaction, it was mixed with a touch of worry as well:
"That demon-catcher who led them yesterday is named Zhao Tieyi—a veteran of the Demon-Catching Bureau."
"His cultivation is at the late second realm; though he has no hope of reaching the third realm, that Spirit-Locking saber technique of his is exceedingly seasoned and vicious. Within the bounds of the Capital, he's gained no small reputation."
"The Demon-Catching Bureau may be subordinate to the Ministry of Justice, and may seem to stand a head shorter before our Night-Watch Bureau, but you must understand..."
Vice-Commander Liu tapped his fingers lightly upon the desk, musing:
"The Night-Watch Bureau follows the path of elite soldiers—few in number, concerned only with great and important cases. The Demon-Catching Bureau, on the other hand, is a colossus spread across all Thirteen Circuits of the Great Qian, with informants even in the county yamens."
"Internally they're riddled with factions, their relationships tangled root and branch. This Elegant Garden case clearly touched upon the interests of some faction within them—or perhaps they meant to use it to pledge their loyalty to certain persons."
Saying this, Vice-Commander Liu sighed:
"This time you've ruined their good plans. Although on the surface they're in the wrong and wouldn't dare do anything to you, privately this grudge has now been forged."
Gu Chengming had long anticipated this, and nodded.
Vice-Commander Liu pondered for a moment, then added a further admonition:
"In any case, for the coming stretch of time, if the people of the Demon-Catching Bureau seek you out privately—whether for a talk or to provoke you—you needn't pay them any mind whatsoever."
"And if they truly dare to climb up your nose and onto your face to make trouble, don't be in a rush to strike, either."
He pointed at the waist-token at Gu Chengming's belt:
"Just use the Night-Patrol Token to notify me directly. This is the Night-Watch Bureau—we're our own people, and it's hardly the place for outsiders to point fingers. I may not be much, but after so many years in the Bureau, this much face I can still win back for you."
Hearing this, Gu Chengming felt a slight warmth in his heart, and cupped his hands. "Many thanks for your guidance, Commander Liu."
With the business concluded, the atmosphere eased considerably.
Gu Chengming recalled the awkwardness of chasing down that death-warrior the night before, and seized the chance to speak up:
"By the way, Commander, I've been in the post for some time now, and after these several cases, it seems quite a few merits have piled up in my waist-token. I wonder—does the Bureau have any regulations regarding exchanging merits for cultivation methods or magic treasures?"
"Merits?"
Vice-Commander Liu blinked, then smacked his forehead and burst into laughter. "Aiyo, look at my memory! I was so busy worrying about the Demon-Catching Bureau giving you grief that I clean forgot about this!"
"The moment you took the post you cut down two third-realm evil spirits, plus a second-realm corpse demon—those merits... tsk tsk, they're probably richer than what many veterans rack up after three or five years!"
"Come, come, come!"
Vice-Commander Liu rose to his feet and, with an air of heroic vigor, threw an arm around Gu Chengming's shoulder:
"I'll take you to the Merit Repository right now! You're a wealthy man in our Bureau these days—it's high time you converted these merits into genuine, solid combat power!"
The Merit Repository was located within an isolated rock cavern in the rear mountain of the Night-Watch Bureau.
Unlike the stern, killing severity of the front hall, this place felt exceptionally tranquil. Two colossal bronze gates, fully three zhang tall, were tightly shut, and carved upon them were not auspicious beasts such as the Bi'an or the Qilin, but countless wide-open eyes—signifying "surveilling all under heaven, leaving every merit and fault on record."
"This is the Merit Repository—the very foundation of our Night-Watch Bureau."
Vice-Commander Liu pointed at those great bronze gates, his tone carrying a trace of pride:
"In the several hundred years since the Great Qian's founding, of all the rare treasures, sole-surviving manuscripts, and divine weapons gathered from across the land, apart from the imperial palace's inner vault and the Demon-Catching Bureau's Cloud Terrace Exchange, this place is the most complete."
"So long as you have enough merits, the things within are yours to choose. You can even find copies of certain sects' non-transmitted secrets in here."
As Vice-Commander Liu presented his token, those heavy bronze gates slowly swung open amid a tooth-grating grind of friction.
A stale air, mingling the fragrance of ink and books with the rusty tang of weapons, rushed out to meet them.
Gu Chengming stepped inside, and what met his eyes was a vast hall arranged in a ring.
Suspended at the center of the hall was an enormous night-luminescent pearl, its gentle radiance spilling down upon the layer upon layer of shelves all around.
On the left were bookshelves, where densely packed jade slips glimmered with spiritual lights of every hue; on the right were weapon racks—sabers, spears, swords, halberds, axes, battle-axes, hooks, and tridents—each one giving off a biting, frigid gleam.
And in the deepest recesses of the great hall, one could faintly make out several small stone chambers sealed by restrictive arrays. What was stored there was clearly treasure of a higher grade.
"This place is divided into four vaults: Heaven, Earth, Mystic, and Yellow."
Vice-Commander Liu explained: "The Yellow Vault is mostly basic pills and standard-issue equipment; the Mystic Vault holds some refined arts and second-tier dharma artifacts; the Earth Vault is where the third-tier treasures and sole-surviving secret manuals are kept; and as for the Heaven Vault..."
He shook his head: "Wait until you reach my position before you go pondering the Heaven Vault."
Having said this, Vice-Commander Liu shot Gu Chengming a glance without changing his expression, thinking to himself that saying such pretentious things in front of young Gu felt oddly satisfying for some reason.
Gu Chengming, for his part, paid it no mind, and instead said: "Might I trouble the Commander to lead the way? I'd like to take a look at the Earth Vault and seek out a handy escape technique."
Vice-Commander Liu had no objection. With a sweep of his big hand, he led Gu Chengming through layer upon layer of restrictive arrays.
Compared to the Mystic Vault outside, the space of this Earth Vault was a good deal smaller, yet that heavy, oppressive sensation grew by geometric multiples.
The surrounding walls were inlaid with "Spirit-Sealing Stones" capable of cutting off divine-sense probing, and every row of shelves was shrouded in a faint flowing light—spirit-nurturing arrays meant to prevent the treasures' spiritual nature from leaking away.
Any single item here, taken outside, would be enough to make the rogue cultivators out there break their heads fighting over it.
Gu Chengming did not linger before those third-tier dharma artifacts radiating treasure-light, but instead walked straight to the area where the cultivation-method jade slips were stored.
His goal was clear—an escape technique.
His fingers brushed across the jade slips one by one, and the interface within his sea of consciousness flickered along in turn.
"«Wind-Treading Stride», second-tier upper grade..."
"«Shrinking the Earth to Inches (Fragmentary Scroll)», third-tier lower grade..."
As Gu Chengming read his way down the row, his brows knitted slightly.
There were indeed no few good things in this Earth Vault, but most came with exceedingly harsh cultivation thresholds and rather high attribute requirements.
Gu Chengming looked through a dozen or more escape techniques in a row, and could not help but knit his brows tighter and tighter.
The things in this Earth Vault were fine—truly fine—but the thresholds were genuinely high.
The majority of superior escape techniques demanded extremely high values in the "Agility" attribute, generally above 15 points, with some even requiring 18.
And although, after being tempered by the «Hundred Bones Resonance», his Agility and Constitution had risen somewhat, his Agility attribute currently stood at only ten points—still a considerable gap short of these escape techniques' thresholds.
Just as he was about to give up on this row, the very last jade slip caught his attention.
Gu Chengming reached out with a beckoning gesture, and that jade slip dropped into his palm.
His divine sense probed within, and a line of quaint, simple small characters surfaced in his mind—
[Red Dust Phantom Body Formula]
"This is..." Gu Chengming's heart stirred slightly.
Reading the introduction closely, the origins of this escape technique proved rather interesting. It did not come from any renowned and orthodox sect, but was created three hundred years ago in the Great Qian by a romantic, eccentric figure—a man who hailed from the Demon-Catching Bureau yet drifted about among the brothels and pleasure-houses.
This method emphasized "entering the red dust of the mortal world, as if in a dream, as if an illusion."
Moving with this method, one's figure became dreamlike and illusory; one could borrow the desires and passions of the mortal world to mask one's killing intent, and could likewise erupt with astonishing speed in an extremely short span.
Cultivated to great accomplishment, it could even produce red-dust phantom bodies impossible to tell true from false, deluding an opponent's mind and spirit.
[Note: Though this method is wondrous, it is extremely prone to inducing qi deviation; none but the firm of will should cultivate it. And because its approach leans toward the soft, sinister, and treacherous, it is often regarded by orthodox cultivators as a heterodox, deviant path.]
At the same time, the attributes required for cultivation surfaced before Gu Chengming's eyes:
[Charm: 19 points (core requirement—the higher the Charm, the more real the phantom body and the more nimble the movements)]
[Agility: 11 points]
The instant he saw these attribute requirements, Gu Chengming nearly failed to hold back a laugh.
"There's actually such a fine bit of luck?"
Ordinarily, a top-grade second-tier escape technique would require Agility of at least around 16 points.
But this «Red Dust Phantom Body Formula» took an unconventional approach, shifting the bulk of its attribute requirement onto "Charm."
Gu Chengming took a glance at his own Charm attribute, which stood as high as 25 points—mm, Charm met the mark.
Then he took a glance at his Agility attribute... short by just one point.
Such a tiny gap—he need only grind the August Heaven Emperor's favorability for a while longer and he'd reach it.
And besides...
Gu Chengming's heart stirred slightly.
This escape technique originated from the Demon-Catching Bureau—could it form a bond with the Demon-Catching Sword Art?
"Ahem, ahem."
At that moment, Vice-Commander Liu, who had been following behind him all along, seemed to sense something amiss about Gu Chengming, and leaned in.
Once he made out the name and provenance on that jade slip, Vice-Commander Liu's brows instantly twisted into the shape of the character "川."
"The Red Dust Phantom Body Formula?"
This kid had just slapped the Demon-Catching Bureau's face, and now he turns around to study the Demon-Catching Bureau's signature skill?
And from the look of him, so reluctant to part with it, he was clearly serious about it.
"This won't do..."
Vice-Commander Liu muttered to himself inwardly.
This young Gu, valued by Director Zhou, was a rare talent wherever you placed him. What if he cultivated this escape technique and, in days to come, grew closer and closer to that Demon-Catching Bureau crowd—or worse, got lured away by them because of the technique's origins?
After all, that Demon-Catching Bureau was famously fond of recruiting precisely this kind of "heterodox, deviant path" talent.
Without changing his expression, Vice-Commander Liu placed himself between Gu Chengming and that jade slip:
"This escape technique is fine, but in the end it's an outsider's approach."
"Our Night-Watch Bureau prizes the grand and forthright. Come, come, come—let me, the Commander, recommend you a few of our Bureau's top-tier escape techniques."
So saying, he dragged Gu Chengming forcibly over to another row of shelves, pointed at several jade slips radiating an aura of fierce strength, and introduced them enthusiastically:
"Look at this one—the «Sea-Patrolling Formula». Once unleashed, waves surge up beneath your feet, with a momentum grand and sweeping. Cultivated to great accomplishment, you can even transform into a yaksha dharma-image and smash mountains to pieces!"
Gu Chengming glanced at the requirements: [Agility 19, Strength 15]
"..." He smiled politely.
"Don't like it? Then look at this one!"
Vice-Commander Liu picked up another: the «Seven-Star Dipper-Treading Steps».
Gu Chengming looked at the requirements again: [Agility 18, Constitution 17]
"..."
He silently withdrew his gaze, and in the end still settled on that Red Dust Phantom Body Formula.
Seeing that Gu Chengming had already made up his mind, Vice-Commander Liu wanted to advise him that this technique was difficult to cultivate—but one look at Gu Chengming's appearance, and the words he'd meant to say stiffened and went back down.
Vice-Commander Liu sighed with some regret; after all, what suits oneself is what's best.
"Fine then. Since you've made up your mind, it's that one."
He no longer dwelt on it, and instead began calculating carefully on Gu Chengming's behalf:
"But to exchange for this technique, the secret manual alone isn't enough."
"When cultivating this «Red Dust Phantom Body Formula», you need to pair it with a special pill called the Illusory Spirit Pill, to stimulate the spirit-soul and condense the phantom body. If you bought one from an alchemy pavilion outside, a single pill would cost a sky-high price."
"Our Merit Repository has them too, but buying them separately isn't cost-effective."
Vice-Commander Liu pointed at a small mark beside that jade slip:
"By the Bureau's rules, if you exchange for this technique together with the cultivation resources it requires, you can save twenty percent on the merits."
"I see that your current merits are enough to exchange for the secret manual, but if you add on the follow-up pills... I'm afraid you'd still be just a tiny bit short."
"Better not rush to exchange for it. Save up a bit more afterward, round out the sum, and take down the whole set in one go—that way you save merits and ensure the continuity of your cultivation as well."
Hearing this, Gu Chengming did some calculating in his heart.
His Agility attribute was still a hair short; even if he got the secret manual, he couldn't cultivate it.
Better to use this stretch of time to go cut down two more evil spirits, gather the attribute points, and amass enough merits along the way—reaching the goal in a single step.
"Many thanks for the Commander's guidance. Then I'll do as the Commander says."
Gu Chengming readily complied, returning that jade slip into the orb of light—while in his heart he had already passed a death sentence on several second-realm evil spirits in the Capital's environs.
After leaving the Merit Repository, Gu Chengming did not head straight back to his small courtyard.
Instead he turned and went to the Night-Watch Bureau's Artifact Forging Workshop.
"It's about time."
Gu Chengming recalled the words Yu Wenqiu had spoken back then aboard the flying ship.
This sword was the embryo of a top-grade second-tier weapon, manifesting as first-tier only because its sword-path had been sealed. Now that his cultivation was sufficient, he need only find a master artificer to clear through the meridian-vein patterns inside the sword body, and it could regain its sharp edge.
The Night-Watch Bureau's Artifact Forging Workshop—its furnace fires never went out the year round.
Though the craftsmen here were mostly mortals or low-tier cultivators, because they had the imperial house of the Great Qian behind them and commanded no small number of unique forging secrets, their skills were exceedingly high.
Gu Chengming found a master craftsman with hair gone grey. The old master took up the Wave-Listening Sword, and his cloudy old eyes instantly lit up.
"A fine sword! A fine embryo!"
The old master stroked the sword body, unable to put it down, as though caressing the skin of a lover:
"This forging technique... is it the approach of the Wenjian Sect's Hidden Sword Pavilion? This 'sealing the meridians to conceal the edge' craft—even this old man hasn't laid eyes on it in several decades."
"Can it be undone?" Gu Chengming asked.
"It can! Of course it can!"
The old master laughed heartily, rolled up his sleeves, and bared two sturdy, powerful arms:
"Were it anyone else, they'd probably have to grind away at it cautiously for a month or more. But here with me... so long as you're willing to spend the blood-capital and temper it with this earth-fire spirit-vein, in less than three of the double-hours I guarantee I'll show you a brand-new fine sword!"
Gu Chengming said not a word more, and simply slapped down a pouch of spirit stones.
Three double-hours later.
"Clang——!"
"It's done!"
Drenched in sweat, the old master gripped the long sword fresh from the furnace with iron tongs and lowered it into the quenching pool prepared long beforehand.
"Hsss——"
White mist surged upward.
When the mist dispersed, Gu Chengming reached out with a beckoning gesture.
"Hummm!"
The long sword, as if possessed of spirit, leapt of its own accord into his palm.
Top-grade second-tier—dharma sword, Wave-Listening.
Gripping the sword's hilt, Gu Chengming felt that there was no longer the slightest barrier between the true essence within his body and the sword body. At a single stirring of thought, the sword's edge hummed and resonated, as though an extension of his own arm.
"A fine sword."
Gu Chengming praised it from the bottom of his heart.
However, just as he was about to put the sword away into its sheath—
That familiar "Sword Chess" system interface suddenly popped up before his eyes of its own accord.
Following close after, a brand-new, grey bond entry slowly surfaced along the side of the chessboard.
[New Bond: Dharma Sword]
[Bond / Dharma Sword (1/3): Ride the sword upon the wind, take a head from a thousand li away. When you simultaneously equip or control three or more "dharma sword"-class weapons, you activate the embryonic form of a "Sword Formation."]
[Sword Formation Effect: Your divine sense can control multiple flying swords at once. For each additional dharma sword, the flying swords' attack frequency and nimbleness increase by 10%, and all dharma swords share the sword-intent bonus.]
"...?"
Gazing at this line of explanation, a question mark slowly rose above Gu Chengming's head.
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