Xie An rubbed his teacup, quietly listening to Wei Haoran and Zhao Qing'er express their dissatisfaction with the Prince of Huainan in turns.
It was only because these two had strong family backgrounds that they dared to speak ill of the Prince of Huainan. If it were the children of ordinary court officials, they probably wouldn't even dare to say a word about the Prince of Huainan.
Even so, these were all private conversations. Although Wei Haoran and Zhao Qing'er were hot-blooded youths, they weren't stupid. Speaking out in front of Xie An meant they didn't consider Xie An an outsider.
Xie An felt uneasy.
When the Prince of Huainan entered the capital, dukes and ministers performed the kneeling ceremony, the Crown Prince performed the four-bow ceremony, and even the older Prince Bao had to bow with cupped hands.
Wasn't he afraid of provoking Emperor Jingtai's dissatisfaction?
Based on Xie An's experience, such princes with different surnames, even if they held great power, usually met a miserable end.
Perhaps the Prince of Huainan was blinded by his desire for power and had become arrogant.
Or perhaps the Prince of Huainan was doing it on purpose, with greater trump cards or intentions.
Xie An leaned towards the latter.
After Wei Haoran and the others criticized the Prince of Huainan, they turned their attention to the heir, Li Hao, and continued to criticize him…
"Chief Xie, you didn't see Li Hao's arrogant face. He gave us a hard time as soon as he arrived, making the Demon Suppression Division seem like his private institution."
"If it weren't for Senior Brother Chen stopping me last night, I, Zhao Qing'er, would never have accepted this punishment."
"He's already throwing his weight around like this on his first day. How are we going to live in the future…"
To prevent the two from continuing to criticize endlessly, Xie An poured them a cup of tea, "Have a cup of tea to moisten your throats and calm your anger."
Chen Tie reminded in a timely manner: "It's fine to say these things in private, but if others hear them, it will always have a bad influence. The officialdom is generally like this, with higher-ranking officials suppressing those below. This place belongs to Nanzhou, so be careful with your words."
Wei Haoran was probably more cautious, after all, his father couldn't outmaneuver the Prince of Huainan, so he stopped talking. However, Zhao Qing'er didn't conceal her resentment towards the Prince of Huainan at all, and continued to complain until her mouth was dry.
With a strong enough family background, there was no need to be timid.
Xie An didn't get involved in their criticism. After the two stopped, he asked, "Vice Chief Chen, where is Li Hao now?"
Chen Tie frowned, "He is quite diligent. After reprimanding us, he took Zhu Kun, Liu Qian, and others to survey the terrain of Mount Da Yin, saying it was to prevent demons from descending."
These three words suddenly appeared in Xie An's mind.
Could it be that Li Hao came this time, as the Eldest Princess said, to collude with the Five Old Demons?
But isn't this too obvious?
I'm afraid it's not that simple.
Xie An had a preliminary outline in his mind, and then asked Chen Tie, "Who is the Deputy Chief from Nanzhou?"
Chen Tie said: "Originally a clerk from the Nanzhou Demon Suppression Division, Zhou Xuan, a seventh-level martial artist. He also went with Li Hao to survey the terrain. However, on the grounds that they were not familiar with the terrain, I had a few Demon Suppression Guards under Liu Chun lead the way. It's also good to know Li Hao's movements."
Xie An secretly praised Chen Tie for being meticulous, and nodded, "Vice Chief Chen is meticulous. Now that Li Hao has spoken, everyone can just put on a show in front of others in the future. Just don't violate the rules and regulations of the Demon Suppression Division."
Wei Haoran and Zhao Qing'er were both speaking privately, so Xie An couldn't help but express his opinion.
Moreover, Xie An originally felt that Zhao Qing'er and the others were not lazy, and they were quick and efficient in their work. It's just that their superficial behavior was slightly unrestrained and casual, giving people the illusion of laziness.
And Xie An preferred this kind of leisurely state. If everyone in the Demon Suppression Division was unsmiling, what would be the difference between them and robots?
It would be too boring.
Hearing Xie An say this, everyone felt very relaxed.
Wei Haoran couldn't help but praise, "Chief Xie is still considerate. We are serious about our work, but what's the point of always putting on airs? Only he, Li Hao, knows how to pretend."
Zhao Qing'er also didn't forget to give Xie An recognition, "That's right. We do our work seriously, can't we be casual and洒脱 in private? If we always put on airs, what's the point of living? Chief Xie is very good like this."
Xie An said lightly: "As long as you don't give Li Hao an excuse or handle to attack, there's no need to take the rest to heart. The Demon Suppression Division relies on merit. If Li Hao continues to take excessive actions, I will personally petition the Eldest Princess to stand up for everyone."
Wei Haoran excitedly slapped the table a few times, "I only recognize Chief Xie."
Although Zhao Qing'er didn't express her opinion like Wei Haoran, she also highly recognized this superior in her heart.
Chen Tie narrowed his eyes slightly, "If we are so united from top to bottom, we won't be afraid of what tricks Li Hao plays. Logically speaking, Zhou Xuan is just a Deputy Chief, and he should have come to visit Chief Xie when he first arrived…"
"Zhou Xuan has Li Hao as his backer, so naturally he doesn't take me, the Chief, seriously. It's just some empty formalities, no need to care."
Xie An waved his hand, looking indifferent.
As the atmosphere became harmonious, everyone chatted and drank tea, leaning on the railing to enjoy the snow, returning to their usual carefree and leisurely state.
Although the Demon Suppression Division was a serious government office, dealing with important matters, the presence of these aristocratic children made the atmosphere a lot more relaxed and pleasant. There were even occasional bursts of cheerful laughter.
Xie An liked this kind of atmosphere very much.
After a chat, Xie An asked about Huang Silang's matter.
Zhao Qing'er said speechlessly, "Huang Silang is still being treated and hasn't woken up yet… But the situation is improving, it should be soon."
Wei Haoran added, "The torture was a bit too harsh before…"
Xie An: "…"
After a chat, Xie An left the seventh floor and headed to the library.
Xie An didn't take the matter of Li Hao punishing Zhao Qing'er and the others to give Xie An a hard time too seriously. The Eldest Princess was sitting at home, as long as Li Hao didn't do anything too excessive, it would be fine.
If it was excessive and broke the factional balance of the Qingwu Demon Suppression Division, the Eldest Princess would naturally subdue him.
Moreover, Xie An felt that Li Hao might not be so stupid, otherwise he wouldn't be able to become the heir.
The librarian in charge of the library was a refined middle-aged man. When he saw Xie An, he smiled and bowed.
"Welcome, Chief."
The person in charge of managing national books and records is called the Keeper of the Archives. If he holds other concurrent positions, he is a high-ranking official. However, the Qingwu Demon Suppression Division is just a small local government office. The librarian in charge of the library is a minor official. Suddenly seeing the arrival of a fifth-rank Chief, he was naturally overjoyed and hurriedly performed a grand salute.
Xie An raised his right hand lightly, "You're welcome, I'm just here to take a look."
The middle-aged man hurriedly stepped aside to lead the way, constantly reminding Xie An to watch his step, "The library has two floors in total, with a total of two thousand books. Most of them are records of past case notes of the Demon Suppression Division, as well as some martial arts transcripts, classics, history, philosophy, and various miscellaneous notes and idle articles. Which category does the Chief want to browse? This humble servant can guide the Chief."
"I'll just take a look."
Xie An's original intention was to find a saber technique to continue the Heavy Mountain Saber. After all, at Xie An's current level, the Heavy Mountain Saber could no longer satisfy Xie An. He needed a higher-level saber technique to unleash his combat power.
In addition, with the imminent breakthrough to the eighth-level martial artist, Xie An also wanted to find a method to temper his inner strength.
Before breaking through the layers of inner strength martial artists, Xie An relied on the potential energy of the Health Cultivation Technique. However, since stepping into the seventh-level inner strength, he obviously felt that the difficulty of breaking through had increased. Relying solely on potential energy was not enough, and it was also relatively crude.
By connecting the tiger-shaped Qi Gong nodes, Xie An felt that he did not have precise control over the cold and hot Qi. To break through to the eighth-level martial artist, it was best to find a method to control inner strength, which would be more appropriate.
Furthermore, if he could find a martial arts technique related to acupuncture to practice, that would be even better. To this day, Xie An still remembers the Longyuan acupuncture technique on the merit book.
As Xie An perused the texts, the librarian remained within five steps behind him, never drawing too close, so as not to disturb Xie An. If Xie An needed anything, he would promptly offer assistance.
Xie An noticed this, but didn't pay it much mind.
A fifth-rank supervisor; such treatment was nothing special.
He flipped through several manuals on swordsmanship in succession. Although they were considerably more advanced than the Heavy Mountain Sword Technique, Xie An wasn't particularly satisfied.
It was true that knowing many techniques was never a burden.
If possible, he still wanted to choose some good martial skills. If he cultivated a pile of mediocre martial skills, it would not only be a waste of time, but the end result would be the creation of a pile of trash.
Xie An had entered the Nineteen Nodes of Bright Jade, and naturally hoped that the swordsmanship he spent his energy cultivating could match his own strength.
The librarian seemed to discern Xie An's thoughts and reminded him, "The martial skills here are at most at the level of a fourth-level martial master; fifth-level ones are rare. If you need better martial skills, you need to go to the Nanyang Prefecture Office, or exchange them through merit."
Xie An had no choice but to give up.
Swordsmanship that didn't match his strength was better left unpracticed. The same went for inner strength techniques.
"Are there any martial skills related to needle techniques?"
"I haven't seen any."
Xie An continued browsing for a while, then bid farewell and left.
Even in the Demon Suppression Division, good martial skills were rare.
But this wasn't the Demon Suppression Division's fault. It was mainly because Xie An's strength had improved relatively quickly. The Qingwu Demon Suppression Division was only a fifth-rank establishment, so the level of martial arts collections within it naturally wouldn't be too high.
This led to a disconnect.
If it were in the Prefecture Office, or even the State Office, there should be martial skills suitable for eighth or ninth-level martial artists.
Looks like finding suitable swordsmanship and inner strength techniques would still depend on earning merit.
But small merits in the Demon Suppression Division weren't so easy to earn…
On the way back to the Xie residence, Xie An always felt like something was following him from behind.
Every time he turned around, he saw nothing.
"Why do I always feel like something is following me? And that thing is quite clever, keeping its distance. It's out of range of my five senses."
Xie An deliberately stopped in front of a blacksmith's shop, pretending to bargain with the blacksmith, while simultaneously opening his five senses to observe everything around him.
He didn't find anything approaching.
But when Xie An left the blacksmith's shop and continued forward, that feeling returned.
Was the other party so shrewd?
As Xie An walked, he passed an alleyway. Suddenly, he flashed into the alley on the side, then hid behind an old locust tree to watch.
Sure enough…
A white fox followed him into the alley, looked around, and, not finding anyone, gnashed its teeth in annoyance, thinking that humans were really cunning.
So it was this little fellow.
Xie An understood, then continued forward, pretending not to notice the white fox. But in his heart, he was muttering:
Shouldn't this white fox's focus be on the treasure plant?
Why is it ignoring the treasure plant and staring at me?
What's so good about me that it's惦记 (thinking about)…
Soon Xie An thought of the reason: The appraisal tool?
Thinking of this, Xie An squeezed the appraisal tool in his arms and strode towards the Xie residence.
…
When he returned to the Xie residence, He Chunli and Han Li had already returned. Everyone gathered in the kitchen to prepare dinner, chattering away.
"Miss Yuhe has recently bought a large number of precious medicinal materials, then crushed them and boiled them, using them to fertilize that broken tree stump in the central courtyard. That's too extravagant."
"That tree stump eats better than us. I don't know what it is."
"The family is going to be broke."
Just then, ten hundred-tael silver notes appeared in front of everyone.
"Chunlan, this is a thousand taels, take it to supplement the household."
This stunned everyone.
A thousand taels at once!
Even a fifth-rank supervisor wouldn't be so generous, right?
But Xie An forced the silver notes into Chunlan's hands, "Some time ago, everyone tightened their belts to raise money to buy medicinal materials. Now that the conditions are better, naturally we can't treat everyone unfairly."
Xie An didn't eat with them, but had Chunlan prepare an extra light dinner, put it on a tray, and sent it to the backyard.
Su Yuqing was still as usual, practicing calligraphy, painting, raising fish, pruning flowers and plants, living quite leisurely. There was also a red bird in the yard, Xie An couldn't tell the breed, but felt it was very magical.
Xie An placed the plates on the Eight Immortals table, and called Su Yuqing over to eat.
During the meal, Xie An talked about Li Hao and Zhou Xuan.
Although Xie An felt that this princess might know everything that happened outside, he still mentioned it.
Su Yuqing finished her meal quietly, put down her chopsticks, and gently wiped the corner of her mouth with a cloth, "The Prince of Huainan can't sit still any longer. At most six years, it will be the last window of opportunity for the Prince of Huainan to rebel. He either takes advantage of the last chance to rebel, or once he misses this opportunity, he can only lie down forever, waiting for the Emperor to weaken the fiefdoms."
The matter was of great importance, and Xie An didn't ask deeply.
Xie An didn't want to get too involved in such a major event.
Afterwards, Su Yuqing asked, "Did you go to the library to choose martial skills and inner strength techniques?"
"I went…" Xie An didn't hide anything, and told her about the problems he encountered.
Su Yuqing nodded slightly, "It's very good that you think this way. The inner strength technique is the most core method for martial masters to cultivate inner strength, and it is appropriate to choose a good inner strength technique."
"Are there any particular details about this inner strength technique?" Xie An now knew some of the ways inner strength was used.
Cultivating inner strength only meant that you possessed strength. Constantly exercising can build muscle and increase strength, but the use of strength is very crude.
The inner strength technique solves the problem of the circulation and use of inner strength.
For Xie An now, it was extremely urgent to obtain a good inner strength technique.
Su Yuqing said slowly, "Inner strength techniques encompass everything, and their effects vary. But even the top inner strength techniques are not suitable for everyone. Everyone's physique and inner strength characteristics are different. Finding an inner strength technique that suits you is especially important."
Xie An listened very carefully, feeling that he had not read enough books and did not know enough about martial arts. He secretly thought that he should learn more about martial arts knowledge in the future.
Being in the Great Qian Dynasty, it was impossible not to understand martial arts deeply. For example, at this moment, Xie An didn't know much about his own inner strength characteristics, and didn't know which inner strength technique was most suitable.
Of course, cultivating martial arts was not easy, and most people needed guidance from famous teachers to avoid detours. And Xie An had no famous teacher in this regard… It was too difficult to do it on his own.
"Some people's inner strength is strong and fierce, some are soft and gentle, some are long and continuous, some are hot, some are cold… They are all different. Your inner strength is vigorous and lengthy, like a mighty river. In fact, it is more in line with my Great River Sword Technique. It's a pity that you practice swordsmanship." Su Yuqing got up and went to a long table on the side, picked up an ancient book and handed it to Xie An, "This is an inner strength technique I chose for you, take a look."
The inner strength technique specially selected by the princess must be a good thing.
Xie An didn't immediately reach out to take it, but cupped his hands and thanked her, "Thank you for your kindness, Princess. This gift is really too precious…"
Snap.
Su Yuqing slapped the ancient book on the back of Xie An's hand, "Take it when I tell you to."
Realizing that Su Yuqing's attitude was firm, Xie An knew that it was not good to refuse, but he was very surprised in his heart.
Something was wrong.
This princess was being too nice to him.
It didn't make sense.
Xie An shook his head, thanked her, and took the ancient book in his hand.
The cover of the ancient book was written with a row of vigorous characters:
Water Drop Inner Strength Technique.
At first glance at the name, it was average… like an ordinary inner strength technique.
Su Yuqing seemed to see Xie An's hesitation, and smiled softly: "Don't underestimate this inner strength technique. Although water drops are small, if they continue for years, without rest in summer or winter, they can also wear through stone. Thousands of water drops gather, can become a small river, rushing endlessly, turning into a flowing river. If you cultivate to the limit, you can turn your inner strength into rivers, and finally achieve… all rivers return to the sea, forming the power of the sea. I relied on this inner strength technique to open the secret treasures of the human body and enter the Grandmaster Martial Dao."
