Seeking Truth with a Sword

"I just need to narrow the scope further..."

Li Ang muttered to himself, steadied himself on the corner of the desk, took a deep breath, and waited for the pain to subside slightly before reciting again, "The Way generates one, reaching into the nameless void, inheriting the chaotic Netherworld, creating clarity from turbidity, tempering the great harmony..."

He repeated this step continuously, and the stabbing pain became more and more intense and distinct. After several instances, his clothes were thoroughly soaked with sweat, and he appeared as if he had just been fished out of a lake. Chai Cuiqiao bit her lip and said nothing, only dipped the towel in a basin of warm water and silently helped Li Ang wipe his sweat-drenched face.

The frontal lobe region, most likely just below the superior sagittal sinus.

Li Ang leaned back, sank into the chair, let out a breath of turbid air, and closed his eyes, the structural diagram of his brain seemingly reflecting before him.

Is it here?

The last obstacle on the path of cultivation.

Li Ang raised his hand as if to grasp the unreal structural diagram of the brain.

The frontal lobe is an important part of the cerebral hemispheres, located anterior to the central sulcus and above the lateral sulcus of the brain. It houses the primary motor cortex, premotor area, frontal eye fields, motor speech area, writing centers, and prefrontal cortex.

Injury to this area could cause minor neurological impairments, such as motor aphasia and ocular fixation disorders. Severe cases could lead to mental derangement or even death.

"Skull-interrupted Sword, it's really a broken sword..."

Li Ang murmured to himself, stood up, took the towel Chai Cuiqiao passed him, wiped the sweat from his body, and changed into fresh clothes.

"Young Master, are you going out?"

"Yes, I'm going to find Brother Ding Jingshan in Yining Square." Li Ang stretched. "I now have a rough idea of which area of the brain is problematic. I need him to go to the Academic Palace on my behalf to borrow some books; maybe there's a solution."

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!

A knocking sound arose from outside the courtyard. Li Ang frowned slightly, gestured with his eyes for Chai Cuiqiao to put away the pen and paper, and he himself pushed the door open and walked to the courtyard, opening the gate. "Who is it?"

"Risheng, it's us." Four classmates from Yizhou stated anxiously, "Shao Yuan has been taken away!"

"Brother Song?" Li Ang exclaimed. "What happened? Explain clearly."

The four Yizhou classmates spoke all at once, providing their explanation. They had wanted to visit Zhai Yiming and Song Shaoyuan in the morning to console the two who had failed the exams—both of whom normally resided in the same courtyard. When they arrived at the courtyard, they only saw Song Shaoyuan talking about something with a group of men with tattoos on their faces and bodies, clearly of the bad sort.

The four Yizhou classmates tried to approach and inquire. However, several tattooed men shoved them away, telling them not to meddle. From a distance, Song Shaoyuan reassured them not to worry and definitely not to report to the authorities, stating he was leaving with the others willingly.

The four Yizhou classmates could only go inside and wake up Zhai Yiming, who was dead drunk. They found that Zhai Yiming, disheartened by his failure, had spent the night drinking and was completely oblivious to the events. The four could only feed Zhai Yiming some hangover soup, let him rest well at home, and then went out to seek the most capable Li Ang.

"Men with tattoos on their faces and bodies?" Li Ang furrowed his brows. "A gang from Chang'an City? Since when did Brother Song get involved with them? And he told you not to report to the authorities?"

"We don't know." The Yizhou classmates shook their heads and asked, "Risheng, what should we do now?"

Li Ang inquired, "Where's Ji Linglang?"

A Yizhou classmate replied, "She went out of the city with other female students to attend the Chang'an Women's Society."

"...Let's go. First, we find Yang Yu." Li Ang immediately made up his mind, instructed Chai Cuiqiao to lock the courtyard door and watch the house carefully, and went with the four Yizhou classmates to find Yang Yu.

Yang Yu unfailingly went to Granny Tang's place at the West Market entrance every afternoon to drink a bowl of sweet rice wine. When Li Ang and the others found him, he had just sat down.

"Shao Yuan was taken away? Who did it? Who dares to abduct a student in broad daylight?" Yang Yu slapped his chopsticks down in shock. After pondering for a moment, he asked, "Wait... the tattoos on their faces, what did they look like? Was it the Feiyun Pattern, or the Wave Pattern?"

"A tattoo..." After pondering for a moment, one of the Yizhou classmates replied, "Neither. The leader had a caged bird tattooed under the bangs on his forehead."

"A caged bird?" Yang Yu's pupils constricted. He took a deep breath and said to a servant beside him, "Go to Chang'an County. Tell them to find Wu Shiqi of the Bad People. Ride a horse, and be quick."

"Wu Shiqi? Wasn't he the guide for us Three States students when we entered Chang'an? Yang Qilang, you mentioned before that he used to be part of the Shuai Ran Gang." One classmate asked doubtfully, "Could it be the Shuai Ran Gang who took Shao Yuan?"

"No. The Shuai Ran Gang's base is the Land Transport Mansion, and their tattoo pattern is a bull tattooed behind the ear. The ones with the caged bird tattoo, there's only one group." Yang Yu slowly said, "Pingkang Square, Jiao Cheng."

The sound of returning horse hooves announced the servant's return, accompanied by Wu Shiqi, who was wearing the uniform of the Bad People.

"Just happened to be patrolling the West Market." Wu Shiqi smiled at Li Ang and the others and cupped his fist towards Yang Yu. "Seventh Master of the Yang Family, you were looking for me?"

Yang Yu nodded. "Yes. A friend of mine, Song Shaoyuan, the one you showed around Chang'an, was taken away by Jiao Cheng's men. I want to know what happened."

"Jiao Cheng... How did Student Song get into trouble with him?" Wu Shiqi furrowed his eyebrows in surprise. Seeing the expressions of Li Ang and the others, he quickly explained, "You students might not know, but Pingkang Square is divided into North Qu, Middle Qu, and South Qu. Inside are Lotus House, Zuifang Building, and Lin Yue Building, collectively called the Three Curves Three Buildings. These three buildings are top-tier brothels where gold flows like water, and both Lotus House and Zuifang Building have intricate connections with Jiao Cheng.

"The Three Curves Three Buildings are a land of love, and every night countless dignitaries go there to enjoy themselves. Even though pillow talk is mostly false, with only three parts true, those three parts of truth, when pieced together, become tremendously frightening."

Wu Shiqi lowered his voice. "No one knows how much scandalous information about important figures Jiao Cheng controls, or how many secrets capable of ruining someone. That's why Jiao Cheng is able to live so securely—on one hand, he always has several cultivators protecting him, and on the other, the people above don't want him dead. Seven years ago, a Standard Eighth Rank Imperial Censor tried to eliminate Jiao Cheng on the grounds of suspected trafficking in women. However, the very next day, that Imperial Censor was expelled from Chang'an. The stated reason was for allowing his family members in far-off Zhuangzhou to forcibly seize property and act tyrannically. Even after the matter was settled, nobody knew who had intervened to smooth things over for Jiao Cheng."

"Jiao Cheng of Pingkang Square is the dog of many people."

Yang Yu spoke softly, "But only he knows to whom exactly the leash on his neck belongs."