Wait a minute, where is my master?

Li Mi had no idea that Jin Xu was also in this prison.

No, he didn't even know that the young Taoist had come to the Capital City.

So it was only when he heard Xu Qian's words that his gaze showed a reaction. After all, in Li Mi's heart, he held great respect for this mysterious and powerful Taoist, who appeared to be an exiled immortal and had saved the entire Gusu City.

Seeing that Mr. Li's eyes lit up after he finished speaking, Xu Qian was about to open his mouth again.

Then he was suddenly silenced by Li Mi who had rushed to the front of the bars and covered his mouth with his hand.

"Mmm... Mmmmm!"

"Where is Jin Xu, the young Taoist?"

"Mmm... Mmm. Mmm..."

With his mouth covered, Xu Qian simply couldn't answer the question.

Fortunately, at this moment, Jin Xu and the others had already approached.

"Jin Xu, the young Taoist!"

Li Mi released his hand from Xu Qian's mouth and grasped the bars of the cell.

"Mr. Li."

The young Taoist politely called out, then frowned as he looked at Li Mi. Even though Jin Xu wasn't versed in Chinese medicine, he could tell that something wasn't right with Li Mi's state at that moment.

His eyes were feverish, his hair was disheveled, his facial expression was agitated, and his behavior was bizarre. He didn't even know where he had dropped the scrolls he usually held. He looked like either a madman whose ideals had been shattered, or a cultivator whose spirit was unstable. Indeed, the words that followed from Li Mi were those of a madman, "Jin Xu, the young Taoist, please save Great Xia! Emperor Min he..."

"Outrageous! Calm your mind, focus your spirit!"

A voice filled with a vast authority came, interrupting what Li Mi was about to say next.

All present, except for the young Taoist, felt their minds involuntarily calm, and then their spirits became utterly serene.

Xu Qian, who had just been released, felt that he was in this state every time he came out of Yingchun House.

At the entrance of the prison, stood an elderly cultivator dressed in vermilion court robes, with a square face, broad mouth, and white hair and beard.

It was he who had issued that thundering shout.

After the sound dissipated, the white-haired elder walked toward the crowd.

The previously disturbed and strangely behaving Li Mi had by then returned to a normal state. He offered an apologetic smile to the crowd, then turned to Jin Xu with a look of desolation, "Did you come to see me, young Taoist?"

"You could say I happened to do so, for I too was captured."

Jin Xu honestly answered.

Li Mi: "???"

He had many questions in mind, but there was no time left for him to ask any more.

The white-haired elder in vermilion court robes had already walked up to them. Ignoring Xia Yunzhao and Xu Qian's respectful salutes, he pulled out a wooden ruler, smashed open the cell door, and glared at Li Mi, "Stretch out your hand!"

Mr. Li, already beyond the age of confusion, held out his hand to the elder as if he were a young pupil just beginning his studies, and then the elder swung the ruler down hard onto the palm of Li Mi's hand!

"Hiss~~~"

Xia Yunzhao, standing next to Jin Xu, sucked in a breath of cold air at this scene.

The young Taoist looked at her, puzzled. It wasn't you who got hit, so what are you yelping for?

The Seventh Princess whispered to the young Taoist, "That is Prime Minister Qin, the left counselor of the present emperor. He opened my mind when I was a child, and that ruler has often struck the palm of my hand."

Hearing this, Jin Xu nodded in understanding. It was a dark and fearful childhood memory, left from encountering something unpleasant in his youth.

Commonly known as—childhood trauma.

In the prison cell, the old man was waving a ruler while scolding, "I raised you to confront the Emperor Min in Shangjing City? And have your subordinate come to me saying you had died, playing that whole return from the dead routine with me, did you? Questioning is one thing, but to have your own Taoist beliefs collapse! Have you been stuffing the Confucian classics into a dog's belly?"

Prime Minister Qin didn't give Li Mi any face at all, berating him in front of everyone like he was a small child.

The little Taoist and the two women watched the scene with relish.

Jin Xu felt that the Cultivators in the Nine Provinces managed their students with a rhetorical style not much different from his previous life. Yu Yaoer and Little White were purely in it for the spectacle.

"Slap!"

Li Mi suddenly grabbed the ruler, puzzled, "Teacher, I indeed had my subordinate come to Shangjing City to find you, but I never had him tell you I was dead."

"And now you've learned to argue back, haven't you!"

"Teacher, think about it, have I ever lied to you since I became your disciple!"

Mr. Li, with a reddened palm, tried hard to defend himself.

Prime Minister Qin had already pulled the ruler from Li Mi's hand, raising it high as if to strike again. But seeing his student's earnest expression, which did not seem fake, and considering that Li Mi was right—he had indeed never lied since he entered the tutelage—he hesitated.

Then, the Left Chancellor directed his gaze toward Xu Qian, who was still in sage mode.

Everyone, following Prime Minister Qin's gaze, also turned to look at Xu Qian.

At the edge of the bars, the newly-promoted Sixth-Grade night watchman of Great Xia chuckled twice while holding his meal.

"Eh~cough, that... Left Chancellor, cough, Mr. Li, listen to me explain, it really was a desperate measure I took in an emergency," Xu Qian said as he backed away, and by the end, he took off with his meal, still shouting over his shoulder, "Everyone, the food's going cold, I'll go warm it up for you and explain when I'm back!"

Watching his retreating back as he ran out, no one tried to stop him. They exchanged glances and then all started laughing.

After the laughter subsided, Left Chancellor Prime Minister Qin put away the ruler, chatted with the crowd for a few more moments, and prepared to leave. His status was delicate, and it was not appropriate for him to linger. If not for the shocking news of his disciple's "resurrection," he would never have come here.

Before departing, he gave Jin Xu another look. This little Taoist had no spiritual power fluctuations at all, yet he seemed to be respected by everyone present, piquing their curiosity. But Prime Minister Qin was not a gossip, so he did not inquire further and walked away.

...

Night had fallen in Shangjing City.

The Xu Qian who had said he would warm up the food for everyone ambled onto a street filled with the sound of orioles and the sight of blooming flowers and willows.

It was the same street the little Taoist had stubbornly run through earlier.

"Phew~ I knew I would be exposed, but I didn't expect it to happen so quickly," he muttered to himself as he walked down the street, his gaze continuously scanning over the diligent female Cultivators. As an old hand at flirting, he could quickly discern where the bargains were and where prices were inflated.

Even though he had just advanced to a Sixth-Grade night watchman, the pockets of this night watchman of Great Xia were still lacking in Spirit Stones, and with the overpriced goods in Shangjing, he had to find a place that was cheap yet not too shoddy to spend the night.

With a scrutinizing gaze, he quickly found a suitable "gentle homeland."

Then Xu Qian slipped into a deserted alley to change out of his official attire, preparing to engage in his usual nightly pursuit of brothel courting and music.

However, just as he had taken off his uniform and before he could put on his casual clothes, a silver rope shot out, binding his limbs.

He instinctively tried to activate his Spiritual Power to resist, but from the darkness, two black steel spikes an inch long flew out, embedding themselves in his shoulder blades.

"!!!"

The sudden, excruciating pain made Xu Qian almost cry out. That's when a black-clad elder put a spherical object with chains on both sides, a magical artifact, over his mouth.

This left Xu Qian unable to make a sound.

The Sixth-Grade night watchman of Great Xia, Xu Qian, was defeated in one round!