Chapter 49 Entering the city
The experience in memory could not be transmitted to the real self 100%, but Ruan Xing still felt dizzy and had difficulty breathing. He wondered why the Red-Headed Taoist priest seemed to be fine when he collected the souls of six people with the flag.
She could feel that absorbing three souls was no pressure for her, but absorbing four souls was a bit difficult, and absorbing six souls made her want to die in pain. Fortunately, she had never used it in reality. If the opponent was not too powerful and she really couldn't beat him, she wouldn't have thought of using the flag...
Wait, does it mean that the number of souls absorbed is related to the opponent's strength and one's own strength?
Ruan Xing decided to give it a try first. After starting the simulation, he rushed directly into the city and waved flags at the pedestrians crowded on the street. He collected more than twenty souls before he was captured by Qianling Guards of the Patrol Security Division who came after hearing the news.
As expected, it seems her guess was correct.
In this case, maybe we can save Cui Yurong by simulating it again.
……
Cui Yurong looked at the mess on the ground. Although she was so scared that her legs went limp, she still pretended to be calm and asked Ruan Xing, "What should we do now?"
Ruan Xing pulled out a strand of Cui Yurong's hair. The other party felt pain and confusion but did not dare to resist. Ruan Xing used the hair to test the wind direction.
He made a prompt decision: "Pick up some dry branches and leaves, put them on the body and light them on fire."
“With such a small fire, I’m afraid it will be put out by the blood before it even starts burning, and it won’t be able to destroy the body, right?” Cui Yurong asked worriedly.
"I didn't say anything about destroying the bodies." Ruan Xing rummaged through the small bag he was carrying, took out a bottle of powder, and sprinkled it evenly on the surface of each body. Then he picked up a dagger and sprinkled some powder on it. He handed the dagger and the black mask to the man, "Put on this, and you lie down here pretending to be a corpse. As long as you can injure two people, I can bring your daughter into the city alive, understand?"
The man said solemnly: "I understand, please rest assured."
This time the powder was different from the smoke and had a fishy smell. Ruan Xing was afraid of being discovered, so he burned part of the body first to create a variety of chaotic smells and the smell of blood to cover it up. However, the effect of this powder was relatively strong. Whether it was inhaled or contaminated, it would cause poisoning. After being poisoned, the more one used true energy, the faster the poison would flow into the heart meridian. It would only take thirty breaths for one to die from the poison.
Afterwards, Ruan Xing and Cui Yurong walked two or three hundred meters towards the city and found a place sheltered from the wind to hide.
Soon, a wounded masked horse bandit came on horseback in this direction, but he had no intention of searching. Upon closer inspection, the back of the man's hand, which was used to rein in the horse, was bruised, and there was a bloodstain on his shoulder that had not yet solidified.
His poison spread very quickly, probably because he used his true energy. I just don’t know if the others were poisoned, and why he was the only one in a hurry to return to the city?
Alas, that kid wasn't very good either. He was told to injure two people, but he tried hard but still only managed one. Ruan Xing sighed and called out in a low voice, "Sword, come."
Jian Lai was in tune with her and immediately knew what she wanted to do. He caught up with the horse bandit and attacked him from behind.
In order to delay the onset of the poison, the bandit did not use his true Qi to protect his body, so he was pierced through the chest by the true Qi from the sword and fell off his horse.
Ruan Xing asked Jianlai to take the horse aside and tie it to a tree, and then continued to wait quietly.
Not long after, the remaining five horse bandits also came over. They moved forward and searched separately. Soon someone found their companion lying on the ground in the middle of the road. With a quick whistle, the five people gathered together and seemed to discuss with each other for a moment. Two of them went over to check the body. They were extremely vigilant, but fortunately there was no trap waiting for them this time.
If she could place a [Break] spell on the corpse, it would definitely catch the two of them off guard. Unfortunately, she couldn't activate it remotely, so she missed this great opportunity.
The five of them were all wearing black masks, and Ruan Xing could only judge whether they were poisoned by looking at the exposed skin on the back of their hands. Unfortunately, they all looked healthy. Ruan Xing did not wait for them to gather together, but waved the flag to collect the souls of the three people behind him.
boom--
There were several sounds of heavy objects falling to the ground, and the two people in front immediately turned around, but they didn't see who had made the move, and they killed the three of them in an instant.
As if they felt that the idea was difficult, the two men looked at each other, and without any intention of turning back to collect the body of their companion, they mounted their horses and prepared to leave.
Ruan Xing would not give them this opportunity. She conveyed the message to Jian Lai, "Take action!"
A white figure suddenly appeared from the air like a ghost, and at the same time Ruan Xing drew out his dagger and flew forward.
After losing ten companions in succession, the two had no intention of fighting the enemy and only wanted to find a chance to escape. This made it much easier for Ruan Xing to deal with them than in the previous simulations. With multiple memories, she was very familiar with the moves of these horse bandits. Sometimes she even knew what moves the other party was going to make as soon as they raised their hands, and she could deal with it calmly, while the other party didn't know her at all.
After fighting for half a quarter of an hour, the two were finally exhausted and Jian Lai flashed behind them and killed one of them. The remaining one was also taken down by Ruan Xing after a few moves.
But her strength was not enough to leave any survivors, otherwise she could interrogate who ordered them to do this.
Calling Cui Yurong down, Ruan Xing asked, "Can you ride a horse?"
Cui Yurong nodded, and Ruan Xing led two horses over, and asked Jianlai to lead the remaining four horses to the ruins of the carriage.
Ruan Xing took Cui Yurong on horseback and found the dilapidated temple where the guards of the other caravans were imprisoned according to their memory. They slapped them a few times to wake them up and untied them. Cui Yurong quickly explained to them what had happened, and everyone thanked Ruan Xing for saving their lives.
"But, Miss, we lost the goods. Even if we enter the city, we will be sentenced to death." A guard said worriedly.
“This…” Cui Yurong frowned, “As long as we can survive, there will always be a way. Let’s go into the city first.”
"Don't you consider buying again after entering the city? Even if it's a little more expensive, it's better than not being able to deliver the goods." Ruan Xingqi asked. Cui Yurong smiled bitterly, "All the cash in the family has been used to pay for my father's prison. If I want to use the money now, I can only sell the house and land in my hometown, but where can I find the time?"
It doesn’t matter if she doesn’t have money, because she has it!
"I can lend it to you." Ruan Xing said, "And your goods are not lost, I just don't know how much of them are still usable."
According to what Ruan Xing had seen before, small items might still be well packaged, but large items were probably in bad condition. Even if they were not damaged, they were dirty and would not be suitable to be delivered to the National Master's Palace.
Cui Yurong was so moved that tears welled up in her eyes. She immediately knelt down and kowtowed, "My benefactor, I have no way to repay you..."
"Stop!" Ruan Xing covered her mouth with her hand. "You can report back."
Cui Yurong opened her eyes wide in surprise.
"Don't bother talking about working like a slave in the next life. I saved you because I need your help. Come, let's talk as we walk." Ruan Xing led Cui Yurong and her caravan's guards toward the ruins of the carriage. "I want to enter the Imperial Master's Palace. Do you have a way?"
Cui Yurong lowered her voice, "Yes. If you just want to go in and take a look, you can stay in my caravan as my sister. If you want to stay in there with a proper identity, it may not be easy."
"It's okay to get in, but it's better to stay. Can you tell me if there is any way?" Ruan Xing was not picky. As long as there was a way, it would be good. As long as he knew the method, the worst that could happen was a simulation.
"There are two kinds of people in the Imperial Master's Palace, the Imperial Master's disciples, and the maids and servants who serve the Imperial Master's disciples. But the Imperial Master's standards for accepting disciples are a bit strange. He only accepts civil servants and ministers who are over sixty years old and have retired from the court to practice in the Imperial Master's Palace. There are some exceptions, such as royal relatives or noble sons of aristocratic families, but they are very rare. If you want to go this way... it's almost impossible." Cui Yurong looked at her in embarrassment. Disguising as a man, taking the imperial examinations and serving as an official for sixty years before entering the Imperial Master's Palace, this was definitely not what she wanted.
Ruan Xing rejected this option immediately. First of all, she didn't have such high literary talent to stand out from the many candidates. Secondly, it took too long and there might be many variables in the middle. Even the simulation would not be successful every time. It was such a waste of time. She might have to try again dozens of times just to take the imperial examination without being discovered.
"What about the second one?" Ruan Xing said calmly.
Seeing that Ruan Xing had no intention of resisting, Cui Yurong breathed a sigh of relief. She was worried that someone as powerful as Ruan Xing would think that being a maid was a humiliation to her, so she was too embarrassed to mention it at first. But in Huaining City, being a maid or servant in the Imperial Master's Palace was a very popular thing.
"The second type is maids and servants. Some regular servants in the Imperial Master's Palace are arranged by the inner court of the palace for sweeping and other rough work. I can't get involved here. What we can arrange are those brought in by the Imperial Master's disciples. There is an unwritten rule that each Imperial Master's disciple can bring four or five personal servants. They will reserve one or two positions for those who want to enter the Imperial Master's Palace to buy. Once you enter the Imperial Master's Palace, you can basically never come out. Even if you die, you can't return home for burial. This part of the money is left by the disciples to their families. Generally speaking, the quotas in previous years were sold for about 10,000 taels."
"Ten thousand taels!?" Ruan Xing's pupils trembled. "Spending ten thousand taels just to be a servant? What do these people want?"
It's impossible that there are so many people in this world who enter the Imperial Master's Palace with bad intentions like her.
"This... I don't know. Even though I have been to the Imperial Master's Palace a few times, I only went to the warehouse to unload things and left. I didn't dare to look around." Cui Yurong bit her lip and said.
"Okay, it's not a big problem. It's only 10,000 taels. I can afford it." Ruan Xingxin pretended to be relaxed even though her voice was bleeding. "Then when can I get in?"
“I don’t know…” Cui Yurong’s voice became smaller and smaller as Ruan Xing looked at her with a death gaze. “Not all retired officials can be accepted as disciples by the Imperial Master. Most of them are still at home enjoying their retirement. The last one to enter the Imperial Master’s Palace was at the beginning of last year. As for this year, no official has retired yet…”
"So should I just keep waiting?"
"Yes, we can only wait like this. There should be new disciples in a few years. This is better than you waiting for the imperial examination for sixty years. Before that, I will come to the Imperial Master Palace every month to deliver goods. You can follow me in to see several times, or, or--" Cui Yurong thought of a solution in a hurry, "or if you have ministers you know well, you can wait until they are old enough to ask them to go to the Imperial Master Palace to ask the Imperial Master to become disciples."
Ruan Xing thought about it, and a person suddenly popped up in her mind. She asked, "Do you know the mayor who resigned from Jiangning City this year?"
"You mean, Scholar Cai? I heard that his granddaughter got sick so he resigned early, but he didn't retire. He is now serving as a cabinet scholar, compiling books and lecturing for the princes. However, there are no underage princes in the palace now, so this is just a sinecure. He seems to be old too. If you have a relationship with him, you might as well start with him."
As the two were talking, they had already reached the ruins of the carriage. Cui Yurong called the guards who could repair carriages to go over and reassemble the broken carriage. Jian Lai had already hidden his figure so that no one else could see him, and the horses were tied obediently to the tree next to them.
"We can only assemble four carriages. The bearings of the remaining two drum wheels are seriously damaged. Even if we repair them, we can only make them into two-wheeled carts, which cannot keep up with the speed of the carriages. Moreover, many of the goods have been damaged and cannot be used..." Cui Yurong looked at Ruan Xing with hope.
Ruan Xing asked directly: "How much do you need?"
"The total value of the goods on this trip is more than three thousand taels, but the prices in the city are relatively high, so I'm afraid it will take five thousand taels to buy all of them. Moreover, there has been a delay this time, so even if you don't blame me, it may be difficult to settle the payment for the goods... I still need the payment to persuade the officials to save my father, so I need... ten thousand taels." Cui Yurong blushed slightly, finding it difficult to speak.
"Okay, but nine out of thirteen will be returned. I'll lend you ten thousand taels, and rounding it off, you'll have to pay me back fourteen thousand taels in the future. Your family is an imperial merchant, so this money shouldn't be a problem, right?"
Cui Yurong seemed to be shocked by Ruan Xing's high asking price, but firstly, Ruan Xing was the savior of her and everyone in the caravan, and secondly, she really needed the money, so she hesitated for a moment and did not refute Ruan Xing's rounding off. She said, "Okay, but you need to give me some time to pay it back. If I can keep the title of Royal Merchant this time, I need two years. If I can't keep it... then it will take at least five years."
"Okay, write me an IOU when we get into the city, let's go." Anyway, banknotes are of little use to Ruan Xing, and it's also a good thing to exchange them for cash and return them after lending them out. She is not worried that Cui Yurong will never admit the debt in the future. When she is short of money in the future, she can come to get it herself. The twelve acquired realms can destroy the Cui family's caravan. When she reaches the innate realm, can't she take as much as she wants? Of course, she is a good person and will not do such immoral things casually, so she needs an IOU to prove her innocence.
Cui Yurong nodded. "No problem. Let's take these four carriages into the city first. I'll leave some people to bury the bodies... and collect these damaged and defective products."
Even if it was defective, it could be transported to the city and sold at a low price to recover some losses. Ruan Xing left a horse for them and told them, "The body is poisonous, don't touch it, just shovel the dirt away from it. If you want to relocate the grave of your guard, wait five days for the remaining poison to dissipate and then dig it out and take it away."
Based on a death experience at the North Gate, Ruan Xing and Cui Yurong took a big detour and reached the South Gate from a small road in the village outside the city. By then, it was already bright and the city gate was open. Following the flow of people entering the city, the convoy did not encounter any obstacles.
After entering the city, Cui Yurong first went to various stores to replenish the goods before taking Ruan Xing to the National Master's Palace.
Thanks to Feng Qing for the monthly ticket~
Thanks to Shuibusha for the monthly ticket~
Thanks to reader 20231122142907526175770 for the monthly ticket~
(End of this chapter)
