Chapter 4

Jiang Yuxun made no immediate move and instead took a nap upon returning home.

When he awoke, the steward of the manor had already placed the account books on his table.

"...So, all these years, the repairs and maintenance of the manor have been sustained by my father’s salary?"

Jiang Yuxun's tone was particularly strained.

The accounts of the manor showed not a single penny of surplus, and there was even a significant deficit each year that needed to be filled with silver.

Good heavens, how am I even poorer than I thought?

The steward chuckled awkwardly, nodding earnestly: "The Grand General of the Southern Expedition is preoccupied with warfare and has no time to manage the manor. The crops we grow each year are barely enough for daily sustenance."

This is outrageous!

In future times, manor economies are highly developed.

During times of war, they become self-sufficient fortresses, enduring one chaos after another.

Jiang Yuxun had thought he could emulate this.

Who knew that his dream would be shattered by reality within minutes.

As the child of a meritorious official, he was entitled to three years’ worth of salary.

Now, even that money had been confiscated as a penalty.

The idea of weathering the chaos from the safety of home is pure folly.

...Ying Changchuan, you are ruthless.

Jiang Yuxun set aside the account book, pressed his temples, and looked out the window: "The rain seems to have lessened. Perhaps it’s a good time to visit the ancestral hall."

The General of the Southern Expedition was buried in Lanzhe County, but in Zhao Du, a ceremonial tomb and ancestral hall were also built for him.

Both sentimentally and morally, I ought to pay a visit.

"Yes, yes," the steward took the account book, quickly instructing his son, also a family servant: "Liurun, take the young master to the west manor."

A young man dressed in a blue robe immediately grabbed an umbrella and jogged over: "Young master, this way—"

The manor, though poor, was much larger than Jiang Yuxun had anticipated.

Besides the fields and gardens, there were also extensive ponds and a deserted hill.

As they neared their destination, the rain intensified again.

"Young master, should we find a place to shelter from the rain?" The sudden downpour had soaked the young man through. Liurun hurried forward to shield him, "Catching a cold wouldn’t be good."

The young man shook his head: "It's okay, aren't we almost there?"

As soon as Jiang Yuxun finished speaking, a loud rumbling noise came from not far away.

Instinctively turning around, he saw large chunks of stone and mud tumbling down the hillside.

Even saplings were uprooted and rolling about.

"Be careful, young master!"

A muddy youth, looking no more than fourteen or fifteen years old, suddenly rolled down the slope, landing heavily not far away.

"Who is that?" Jiang Yuxun asked instinctively.

"Oh no, oh no," Liurun murmured in a low voice, growing tense, "To answer the young master, that's a servant confined in the ancestral hall."

"Confined in... the ancestral hall?"

"Young master, you might not be aware. This servant before us was one of the general's former subordinates, secretly prepared by him for sacrificial burial."

What the heck, sacrificial burial?!

Jiang Yuxun's breath caught in his throat.

The ancients valued the concept of “treating death as life,” and before the “Extermination of Gods by Emperor Zhou,” high officials and nobility would often have servants killed for burial with them.

The Southern Conquering General was buried with military honors, and all arrangements were made by his subordinates.

Jiang Yuxun understood that such deep-rooted beliefs couldn't be changed overnight.

But he never expected that the original owner's father's loyal subordinates would engage in such acts behind the scenes.

"...Indeed, it is so."

"Witchcraft, divination, sacrifice, and ritual, enduring for a millennium."

"Perhaps Ying Changchuan, intent on eradicating the gods, is the anomaly of this era."

"Over there—"

"He rolled down from the mountain!!!"

As they spoke, several household officials, armed with knives and clubs, pursued them.

The youth glanced back and, with a determination to perish together, suddenly charged towards Jiang Yuxun's position.

In a moment, mud splattered everywhere, creating utter chaos.

Logically, Jiang Yuxun should have dodged.

But instead, he gritted his teeth, dropped the umbrella, stepped forward, and shielded the youth behind him, shouting sternly, "Everyone, stand down!"

"...Young, young master?"

Recognizing him, the officials hesitated, guiltily hiding their weapons behind them.

"Human sacrifice? Is this what the general taught you before?"

Jiang Yuxun's voice was exceptionally cold, piercing through the curtain of rain, and clearly landing on everyone's ears.

"His Majesty has decreed a strict ban on divination and sacrificial burial. The general was loyal and never disobeyed the imperial commands in his lifetime. Yet you, after his death, engage in such acts. If he knew in the afterlife, he would surely be ashamed of you—"

The torrential rain in the mountains blurred the vision.

Jiang Yuxun felt that everything before his eyes was absurdly ridiculous.

In the silence, someone couldn't help but mutter, "But traditionally..."

"Traditionally?" Jiang Yuxun glanced coldly, "Times and circumstances have changed. Whether it lasted for a thousand years or a hundred, it is destined to end in the Great Zhou, to end with this generation."

His voice wasn't loud, but it instantly overpowered the pouring rain.

People had long been accustomed to divination and sacrificial burial, even now viewing the 'eradication of gods' as a mere whim of the emperor.

But Jiang Yuxun was utterly convinced that all this would eventually become reality.

The mud-covered youth stared at Jiang Yuxun without blinking.

His gaze, at some point, no longer appeared hollow and numb like dead water.

"Thud."

A long stick slipped from the hand of a family servant, falling into the mud, breaking the silence.

Jiang Yuxun turned back and bent down to ask the youth, "Are you hurt?"

"No, no..."

"That's good," Jiang Yuxun sighed in relief, "What's your name? Were you always at the manor, or were you bought here by them?"

After speaking, he picked up the umbrella from the ground, holding it over the youth's head to shield him from the rain.

The other person looked deeply at Jiang Yuxun and finally, as if making a bold decision, bit his lip, "My name is Gu Yejiu. You can call me A-Jiu, young master."

Gu, Gu Yejiu?

...Is he the Gu Yejiu I know of?

The hand holding the umbrella trembled slightly.

After the fall of the Great Zhou, the world plunged into chaos, with various forces taking turns to rise to power.

The Xuan Yin Monitor, originally a secret service organization, also emerged from the shadows during this period, becoming a dominant force.

Gu Yejiu was the future supreme leader of the Xuan Yin Monitor...

So, in history, Gu Yejiu didn't bump into me while escaping; he managed to flee from Jiang's manor and joined the Xuan Yin Monitor by a twist of fate?

"I was... secretly sold here," Gu Yejiu suddenly took a deep breath, knelt down with a thud, and kowtowed three times earnestly to Jiang Yuxun, "Young master, my parents are still detained there, at any moment they could be sold as sacrificial victims! Please, save them!" After speaking, he instinctively clutched at the hem of the person beside him.

His eyes were full of pleading, clearly seeing Jiang Yuxun as his last hope.

Before Jiang Yuxun could speak, Liurun became anxious: "Young master, don’t forget, you're still under house arrest."

Unlike the "forfeiture of three years' salary," "reflecting behind closed doors" was just a symbolic punishment.

However, leaving the house so soon after returning, no matter how it's viewed, seemed disrespectful.

At this point, the other family servants also realized the situation and began to dissuade him:

"Yes, young master, if His Majesty finds out, it wouldn't be good."

"…Those who traffic humans for sacrifice always have powerful backers. You can't fight against them!"

Raindrops the size of soybeans pattered against the umbrella.

The hope in Gu Yejiu's eyes gradually faded, and his grip on the hem of the clothes loosened.

Until the next moment—

"Stand up." Jiang Yuxun suddenly relaxed his clenched palm and helped the youth to his feet.

As if he hadn't heard those dissuasions, he looked down and asked, "Do you remember how to get to the place where they kept you?"

"I remember," Gu Yejiu nodded blankly.

Jiang Yuxun patted his shoulder, smiling, "Good, then lead the way."

With these words, he turned and headed straight out of the manor.

"Young master, please reconsider," Liurun hesitated for a moment, then hurriedly followed, "Rushing there recklessly is no different from courting death!"

But Jiang Yuxun's steps never faltered.

Are you kidding me? How could I possibly be heading to my death?

-

On the outskirts of Zhao Du City, on the official road.

A horse burst out from the woods, galloping towards the imperial carriage.

The horse rider, holding a token, passed unobstructed all the way.

Until he rode alongside the imperial carriage.

"...Reporting to His Majesty, the former subordinates of the General of the Southern Expedition privately purchased human sacrifices, which were delivered to Jiang's manor this morning."

The messenger's voice, piercing through the rain, reached inside the imperial carriage.

As he moved, the dark seal hanging at his waist swayed lightly.

"The human sacrifice escaped from the ancestral hall and, during the escape, encountered Jiang Yuxun."

As he spoke, he wiped a lacquered box containing letters with a cloth, then handed it through the window into the imperial carriage.

Every whisper of the wind and movement in and around the manor, every word and action of Jiang Yuxun, was recorded.

"Did you kill him?" Ying Changchuan asked indifferently.

He was asking both whether Jiang Yuxun had executed the human sacrifice.

And whether the Xuan Yin Monitor had killed Jiang Yuxun.

According to 'The Laws of Zhou,' those who privately kill a human sacrifice are to be executed immediately.

No matter how useful Jiang Yuxun, the "bait," was, there was no room for negotiation in the face of 'The Laws of Zhou.'

"No, no... He took a few family servants, left Jiang's manor, and tracked down the place where the human sacrifices were sold," the Xuan Yin Monitor, with large beads of sweat forming on his forehead, continued, "We had no choice but to follow."

After all, their task was to stay close to Jiang Yuxun, the "bait."

Inside the imperial carriage, Ying Changchuan's action of opening the letter paused involuntarily.

Since the establishment of the Xuan Yin Monitor, this was the first time he had received such an unexpected response.

The Xuan Yin Monitor, gritting his teeth, continued: "The ones who sold the human sacrifices are extremely vicious. Jiang Yuxun went there with just a few family servants. We initially thought he would undoubtedly perish, but unexpectedly..."

At this point, the Xuan Yin Monitor suddenly stopped.

Ying Changchuan, who had set the letter aside at some point, asked with a half-smile, "And then?"

On the official road, the rain fell like arrows.

The sound of horse hooves and the pitter-patter of rain mingled, creating an especially harsh noise.

The Xuan Yin Monitor took a deep breath and reported truthfully—

The traffickers of the human sacrifices were hiding in an abandoned temple.

From a distance, it looked inconspicuous.

"Young master, all the doors and windows here are nailed shut with wooden boards, maybe we should reconsider..."

"Rushing in recklessly might also disturb the spirits!"

Upon reaching the door, the family servants Jiang Yuxun had brought with him still hesitated, too scared to get close.

But he seemed unsurprised by this.

The young man took a deep breath and slowly clenched the long knife in his hand.

Realizing what he intended to do, Liurun's eyes widened in terror: "Young master, don't rush—".

His words were cut off by a loud crash.

Jiang Yuxun had slashed open the wooden boards with his sword.

In an instant, dust and smoke spread everywhere.

"Cough, cough, cough..." The young man instinctively covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve.

Amidst the settling dust, the figures inside the hall gradually became clear.

— They were all armored and armed, evidently well-prepared.

Seeing the scene outside, the desperados suddenly burst into mocking laughter.

"Hahaha, such tender skin and flesh, this young master looks even more suitable to be a human sacrifice than they do."

One of the thugs jumped out through the broken hole, sword in hand, advancing: "You think you can handle us with just these family servants? How overconfident."

"Impossible?" As the dust settled, Jiang Yuxun also lowered his arm, "Cough, cough, I came to rescue, not to die."

Although it looked very much like it...

Laughter erupted again inside the hall.

The young man also smiled faintly, slowly lifting his gaze to meet their eyes, asking with utter sincerity, "The family servants might not suffice, but what about the Xuan Yin Monitor, meticulously trained by His Majesty?"

With that, he slowly turned around.

"Xuan Yin Monitor?" The laughter abruptly stopped.

The Xuan Yin Monitor members, who had followed Jiang Yuxun, also exchanged puzzled looks.

What did he mean by that?

A hush fell inside and outside the temple.

This is bad!

After a few seconds of stunned silence, the Xuan Yin Monitor suddenly realized: Jiang Yuxun hadn't rashly gone there.

"Eradicating the gods" is the sacred duty of the Xuan Yin Monitor; they cannot stand idly by.

It seemed that Jiang Yuxun had known he would be there and had calculated everything in advance, planning to use himself to eliminate these men!

The author has a message to convey:

"On the first day of confinement for introspection, did the lady admit her mistake?"

"In response to Your Majesty... not only did she not admit her error, but she also shook off all your people."