White-Robed Chief
Chapter 193: Cauldron

The lights of the small courtyard shone as if it were during the day.

Chu Li was quietly sitting at the side of the stone table, reading a book. Another stack of books was laid on top of the stone table.

The guest house of King An's Imperial Residence was quite different from the ones in Huay Public House.

The yard was sophisticated and comfortable, but not luxurious. It did not feel overbearingly rich, and the largest difference was the study room. It housed thousands of book collections.

Chu Li had used all of his free time reading all the books in the Yi Public House's Wisdom Tower, yet over half the books found in the guest house were not in the Wisdom Tower.

He acted as if he was an extremely thirsty person who had finally found the sweet spring of water. His heart itched so much that he was unable to hold on to it.

Around this time, a pretty maid in a colorful dress, who was accompanied by a delicate fragrance, gently and elegantly walked towards him. She held onto her sleeve as she bowed. "Would you like to have your dinner now, Master?"

"Yes, thank you for the effort." Chu Li smiled as he nodded.

The maid smiled. "What does Master want to eat? This is the menu. If the menu is not up to your taste, we can inform our chef," she said as she handed Chu Li a rather small booklet filled with names of dishes written on top of it.

Chu Li simply ticked a few names and smiled. "Please have Chief Zhu come here for a bit."

"Understood." The maid had a beautiful smile.

She looked like a flower when she smiled, and it added a few touches towards her delicate, charming, and moving beauty.

Chu Li smiled as he nodded. He said nothing more.

He smiled to himself. Which young lady yearned not for love? The maid must have fallen for him.

King An may be cold and vicious, but he was very good at acting otherwise. He hid his true nature deep inside and showed his kind-hearted self on the outside as his staff were treated with leniency and peace. The atmosphere of the residence was strict but lively. Chu Li had to admit that he truly had the looks of someone who was ambitious and ruthless.

Maids of King An's Imperial Residence usually do not many things to do. Guests dared not treat them impolitely either, which was why they were quite active and energetic with a wonderful longing for life. However, the maids knew not of the dangerous landscapes and people of the outside.

Chief Zhu arrived relatively quickly with his embroidered robe shining under the light.

He walked into the small courtyard and lazily fist saluted, giving off a standoffish attitude. "Scribe Chu Li, you were looking for me?"

Chu Li smiled and welcomed him to sit before he engaged himself in the conversation.

Chief Zhu was jealous of Chu Li. He looked incredibly overconfident and his expression was undisciplined. "I have many things to tend to, so tell me now if you have anything to say."

Chu Li smiled. "Chief Zhu, we're not outsiders to each other anymore. I'll be coming along with Lady Xiao Shi to King An's Imperial Residence in the near future. We should at least try to get acquainted with each other."

"You'll be coming along?" The expression on Chief Zhu's face changed ever so slightly.

Chu Li nodded. "Our Public House obviously wouldn't allow Lady Xiao Shi to come here alone. As the private Scribe of Lady Xiao Shi, it's only natural that I come along. I do hope that Chief Zhu will take care of me!"

Chief Zhu forced a smile as he fist saluted. "How is that possible? I should be the one asking for your guidance."

Rankings worked the same throughout the Great Ji Dynasty. The Imperial Court, the Public House, and the Imperial Residence all followed the same standards such that rank 2 Scribes from the Public House would still be in rank 2 even after they joined the Imperial Residence. As Chief Zhu was merely rank four, he still had to be polite to Chu Li.

Chu Li waved his hand and smiled. "Lady Xiao Shi is going to be the Empress, and I'm going to be the Scribe of the Imperial Residence. There's no need for everyone here to regard me as an outsider."

"That's certainly true. We're all the same." Chief Zhu forced a smile out as he nodded with a mouthful of bitterness.

Chu Li continued, "Oh that's right, I have a small request."

Chief Zhu concentrated his attention and smiled. "Do say it."

"I wish to stay in the residence for a few more days." Chu Li pointed at the study room as he shook his head. "I'm very fond of reading and after seeing all these books, it's quite torturing for me to not take a look at them. I'd wish to leave after reading all these books."

"About that…" Chief Zhu hesitated for a while. Then, he smiled and said, "You're not putting aside your main mission, are you?"

Chu Li waved his hand. "There are only a few books here that aren't in the Wisdom Tower of the Public House. It won't take more than a few days. In fact, my mission here is almost done. So it is fine for me to go back whenever."

"... Well, it should be fine if that's the case. Make yourself comfortable, Scribe Chu Li." Chief Zhu smiled. "As long as it doesn't compromise the main mission that you were assigned to, the residence wouldn't mind serving up a few extra meals."

Chu Li grinned as he replied, "I'll thank Chief Zhu for now, then."

"It's not much." Chief Zhu smiled as he stood up. "If there's nothing else you need, I'll be going off now. I still have many things to do elsewhere."

"Please do, and thank you for the effort you made to come over. I really do feel bad for making you walk all the way here." Chu Li stood up and genuinely sent him to the main door of the courtyard.

Chief Zhu scolded him for his disingenuous. However, it was clearly a lie that Chu Li felt bad. Throughout it all, he maintained his smile, keeping it on until the end.

If Chu Li actually joined the Imperial Residence and became the personal Scribe to the Empress, he would rank much higher than him! After all, he was only a mere treasurer! A single word would be all that was needed to give him a hard time, and that way, countless amount of people would be able to get him in trouble.

…

After Chief Zhu left, the maid served the dishes in three different times. By the last serving, the table was full of dishes.

Chu Li checked on King An in his head as he drank wine and enjoyed his dishes in leisure.

King An had spent almost his entire day in the study room reading, writing, and cultivating. The man was hardworking and self-disciplined — he was not what Chu Li thought he was. King An was not extravagant nor was he greedy. He did not spend his nights drinking, singing, or watching luxurious dances.

Instead, the King was extremely ambitious. Strict with his own self-discipline, he was also troubled with his internal injuries. If he was not careful, he would be consumed by the odd inner energy within him which rendered him unwilling to let loose his desires.

Though Chu Li was curious about the source of the inner energy. Whose inner energy was strong enough that it could restrain even King An's?

Chu Li took a leisurely walk after his meal, where he left the small courtyard and arrived at a delicate flower garden.

There were lanterns everywhere that illuminated the garden brightly albeit a little gently, as if it were a fantasy.

He looked like he was enjoying the beauty of the flowers, but in actual fact, he was trying to discover the King An's heart technique.

He circulated the energy in his body ten times and he found nothing special about the heart technique. After the twentieth body circulation, he could slightly feel the wonder of the heart technique. By the time it was his thirtieth time, the wonder was much clearer and his inner energy was oddly pure.

As he felt how unique it was, he kept the circulation going. Eventually, the feeling got stronger and clearer.

The type of heart technique was unknown to him, yet it was much better than the Infinity Azure Sea. It was just as thick but even purer. It was truly a heart technique that was transmitted among the royal household.

Despite that, learning this heart technique was something he did not want to do. After all, he was not sure about the details of the heart technique, and since the Infinity Azure Sea had become an instinct to him, he could channel it perpetually. By changing to another heart technique now, it would be a waste of too much time and effort for something lesser. So he might as well kept the first one.

However, now was a key time. If he channeled the heart technique when killing his enemies, it would allow him to hide his own identity.

After an hour of loitering around the garden, he returned to the guest house and cleaned himself. When he was done, the maid left the room while he took a book and sat on the bed.

Putting his hand into his bag, he searched for a dark-green robe before he wore it on. Immediately after, he left the small courtyard and walked along the side of the Imperial Residence.

The security within the Imperial Residence was tight as Masters were present everywhere.

As his body was set to the 'death' state of the Life and Death Scripture, even the Grandmasters were unable to sense him. He was essentially fused into nature as one, like a piece of wilted wood. The Omniscient Mirror had reflected five miles into him, which allowed him to avoid the attention of the Masters and find gaps to weave around them. He was able to scout through the entire Imperial Residence successfully, and he saw through the Imperial Residence's disguise.

There were a total of fifteen Grandmasters in the Imperial Residence, who were much greater than that of the Public House. Their abilities were nothing short of impressive.

The existence of the Public Houses was to pressure the martial art world, but the Imperial Residence did not have such responsibility. Despite the fact that the regular Protectors should possess standard skills, these Protectors here had far better abilities than the ones in the Public House. It was also apparent that the most of the Masters here directly reported to King An in private.

Lingering thoughts of assassinating King An was withheld and drawn to the back of his head.

King An himself was a Grandmaster. With the rest of his personal Grandmasters, assassinating him would not be an easy job.

He needed to rise to Grandmaster level if he wanted to kill King An.

Nevertheless, King An being at the level of a Grandmaster was odd. He should not have been able to join any factions. If all assumptions were correct, it meant that the Royal Household had a Surpassing State as well.

Chu Li's silhouette floated around the Imperial Residence twice, and he focused all of his attention on King An.

He was always alone, and he never slept with his Imperial concubine either.

During midnight, King An suddenly awakened and left his room. There were no Protectors around him as he walked into the courtyard holding his weapons.

The courtyard itself was mainly used for martial arts training. A few weapon racks decorated the sides while a training hall was placed in the middle of the courtyard.

Strangely, there were no Protectors who were guarding the courtyard by the side. Moreover, precautions or whatsoever were not taken.

King An passed through the training hall and entered the east room.

There was an ancient caldron in the east room as tall as two people and the length of one. The ancient caldron was covered with patches of green brass that were embroidered onto it, to hide the rough patterns.

Suddenly, King An leaped into it and sat in the ancient cauldron with his legs crossed.