Chapter 58: Needle’s Eye
In Congshan Ward, Lu Ying slept a bit more, only getting up to wash when the sun was high in the sky, then went to the East Wing Room to call Lu Yun to eat together.
As soon as she entered the room, she saw Lu Yun sitting there, holding a bronze mirror and carefully examining himself.
Lu Ying was greatly puzzled, walked over and looked at her brother in the mirror, saying: “You really are becoming more and more narcissistic.”
Lu Yun didn’t turn his head, just glanced at Lu Ying in the mirror, frowned and said: “Don’t mess around. Elder Sister, help me check if I’ve got a stye.”
Hearing this, Lu Ying turned Lu Yun’s body around, carefully examining those deep pool-like eyes, and said with a shocked face: “There really is one!”
No matter how smoothly the bronze mirror was polished, it was hard to see every detail clearly. Lu Yun believed it upon hearing this and immediately felt some dejection, saying: “Sure enough, looking at that kind of thing will give you a stye…”
Before he finished speaking, he saw Lu Ying laughing so hard she was shaking all over. She sat on the ground with legs spread wide, one hand holding her little belly, one finger pointing at him, her usual poise gone as her two legs flailed wildly.
Lu Yun’s old face immediately turned red. How could he not know he’d been tricked by her? “Elder Sister, if you tease people like this, who will believe you in the future?”
“I didn’t… trick you,” Lu Ying gasped between laughs: “I meant there really is eye gunk…”
“Elder Sister!” Lu Yun was so angry he ignored her, set down the mirror, and prepared to read a book.
After Lu Ying had laughed enough, she sidled up to him and asked with boundless curiosity: “What exactly did you see that you shouldn’t have? Tell me and the stye will go away.”
“Do you think I’ll fall for it again?” Lu Yun gave her a blank look and ignored her. But Lu Ying wouldn’t let it go, clinging to Lu Yun’s side, insisting he tell her exactly what he had seen.
How could Lu Yun tell her that he had first gone to Lu Feng’s place and seen a live triple cultivation erotic show. After leaving Jingxin Ward, he went to the Drunken Immortal Pavilion south of the Luo River… In the daytime, eavesdropping on Manager Chai and his subordinate’s conversation, Lu Yun learned they would go there to have fun at night.
When he arrived at the Drunken Immortal Pavilion, it was already the third watch of the night. Lu Yun had thought everyone inside would definitely be asleep. Who knew the place was still brightly lit, with men and women in every room still sweating profusely, battling without rest. In order to find Manager Chai, Lu Yun had to peep into room after room one by one. It was an eye-opener; he witnessed all sorts of bizarre positions and techniques, and learned the uses of Lu Feng’s those strange things. Only after a long time did he find, in one room, Manager Chai and his subordinate.
At that time, the two were battling with two **bare-chested women**, letting Lu Yun gain knowledge once again. So there was not only triple cultivation in this world, but quadruple cultivation too!
Lu Yun suppressed the nameless fire rising in his heart, and only after waiting until the four were exhausted and fell asleep embracing each other did he quietly sneak in and strike their sleep acupoints. Then he picked up Manager Chai’s clothing from the ground, found that interlayer, untied that special knot, slipped the deed into a blank page of the account book and put it back, then retied the knot exactly as before.
That knot was extremely complex. If he hadn’t watched carefully and remembered diligently in the daytime, and now had ample time to retie it, Lu Yun really wouldn’t have been able to do it without Manager Chai noticing something amiss upon waking.
Once everything was arranged properly, Lu Yun fled back to Congshan Ward like his life depended on it. By then Lu Xin had already gotten up and was preparing to go to Grand Court.
The reason he had to get all this done in one night was because today was the day of Grand Court. Since the Sect Master had already returned from leave, he would naturally attend Grand Court. This was the best chance for Lu Xin to expose the matter! If he missed this opportunity, it was hard to say that Manager Chai wouldn’t discover the deed clipped at the back when checking the account book. That would really be a case of outsmarting himself!
And if Lu Xin could invite the Sect Master to the congee kitchen after court, Lu Yun was confident Manager Chai wouldn’t know a thing. Through several days of observation, he had a thorough grasp of Manager Chai’s routines and knew the other wouldn’t open that interlayer before selling the grain and returning to the city. Because that knot was so complex, even Manager Chai needed a good while to tie it properly, so he definitely wouldn’t bother with it when not recording accounts.
Lu Yun had already calculated it: from Manager Chai boarding the boat to leaving the city to fetch grain, to returning to the city to unload, to leaving again to sell grain, and then returning, it all took a hour and a half in total. Manager Chai usually left the city at mao hour as soon as the gates opened, which was also when the palace gates opened.
On the other hand, Lu Yun had learned from Lu Xin that from opening the palace gates to the end of Grand Court usually took one hour, but sometimes it would drag on a bit due to certain reasons, though at most not more than half an hour extra. Plus half an hour for Lu Xin to manage inviting the Sect Master to the congee kitchen.
Inside and out, time was extremely tight. If the court dragged on, it might let Manager Chai see the account book. So Lu Yun had struck Manager Chai’s sleep acupoint, making him wake up half an hour later than usual. Surely the brothel, considering the guests had battled through the night, wouldn’t cruelly provide a wake-up call service.
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After seeing Lu Xin off, Lu Yun wanted to go back to his room for a short nap, but as soon as he closed his eyes, all sorts of positions appeared, making his qi and blood surge. He had no choice but to sit cross-legged in meditation, trying to circulate qi to calm his mind. But he found his inner demon was particularly heavy today, as if many naked fairies flew down from heaven to his side, striking all sorts of alluring poses, making soul-melting sounds, trying to seduce him into falling into the mortal world forever…
Just as he was about to completely succumb, a passage of scripture suddenly appeared in his mind:
‘When a man’s lust stirs, his soul flies and scatters, lewd thoughts arise. When lewd thoughts arise, desire fire ignites, qi scatters and spirit shifts. Though bodies have not joined, essence has secretly leaked, nature obscured, life shaken. If one indulges in revelry day and night, taking pain as pleasure, harm as delight, one day the oil will dry, the lamp extinguish, marrow deplete, person perish—wasted a lifetime in the mortal world.’
Lu Yun suddenly woke up, secretly scolding himself: ‘From childhood I’ve been determined to avenge my great enmity and accomplish great things! How can I be tempted by lust, shake my resolve, and damage my essence!’ With that, his expression sharpened, gaze firm as he said: “Be it lewd thoughts, lust, fear, hatred, joy, or sorrow—none of the seven emotions and six desires can shake my true heart! They must submit to me, be controlled by me. Only by becoming my own emperor do I have the qualification to vie with the heroes under heaven!”
With this thought, Lu Yun’s mind gradually cleared, his gaze free of any impurity. Even the true qi in his body, which had always been domineering and uncontrollable, now showed signs of submitting to him!
After several heavenly cycles, Lu Yun felt his capacity to bear true qi had finally stepped up another level! He immediately opened the ancestral aperture, letting the essence qi stored in the upper dantian surge out. The true qi in his meridians kept climbing: fifty percent, sixty percent, seventy percent!
It kept rising until seventy percent, when that familiar bone-scraping pain spread through his body again! Lu Yun knew he couldn’t go further, or he’d suffer backlash. He decisively closed the ancestral aperture, savoring the sense of world-shaking power in every gesture.
‘Good! Excellent!’ Lu Yun nodded in satisfaction. Being able to raise to sixty percent cultivation without backlash was already a pleasant surprise! This meant he could now battle an Earth Rank Grandmaster to his heart’s content without worrying about losing his cultivation afterward and being at others’ mercy!
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When Lu Yun finished circulating qi, he found it was already bright daylight outside, nearly halfway through the chen hour.
But the guard he had sent out still hadn’t returned to report whether Lu Xin had crossed the river. Lu Yun couldn’t help but worry inwardly. Could something have happened at court to delay it beyond an hour and a half? Or had Lu Xin failed to convince the Sect Master to cross?
His scheme was too precise, leaving little room for error. If any link went wrong, it could all collapse in failure. But at this moment, he was powerless to change anything and could only wait and see.
Finally, news kept coming in. Lu Xin had indeed brought Lu Shang to the Tongle Ward congee kitchen. Lu Shang had indeed ordered people to arrest Manager Chai and summoned the Eight Great Stewards to report to Tongle Ward. Then, the guard tracking Manager Chai returned to report that Manager Chai had been caught red-handed with the evidence by Lu Shang’s guards while transacting with those merchants!
Only then did Lu Yun’s suspended heart settle. Finally, he had the leisure to care about whether he would get a stye.
After a bout of questioning, Lu Ying still couldn’t get out of him what he had done last night, so she grudgingly called him over to eat.
The brother and sister were eating in the front hall when a guard came in from outside, leaned to Lu Yun’s ear, and whispered: “Lu Feng is missing…”
Lu Yun nodded, signaling the guard to withdraw, then continued eating as if nothing had happened. He wasn’t surprised by this result. With the matter having gone on so long, Lu Feng must have gotten the news. How could he still be at home waiting to be caught?
But none of it mattered anymore. No matter what happened next, Lu Feng was destined to disappear from the list of four…
Lu Yun didn’t even dare hope to pull Lu Jian down this time. As long as Lu Feng was utterly disgraced, these past few days wouldn’t have been wasted.
