White-Robed Chief

“Plant medicine? You want to turn the Spirit Cranes Peak into a Herb Garden?” Xiao Shi’s clear eyes glimmered.

Chu Li said, “The soil properties on the Spirit Cranes Peak is much better than the blessed farmland.”

The spiritual force of the greens in the Spirit Cranes Peak was comparable to the Glory’s Will Tree. Chu Li knew how great the soil properties of the land were, the postnatal cultivation of the blessed farmland would go nowhere near to that.

As of now, the blessed farmland that they used was imitated after the soil at the Shiwan Mountain, however, it was a postnatal imitation after all, so it was far beyond the original soil properties on the Shiwan Mountain. Furthermore, other than the soil properties, the growth of spirit medicine was greatly influenced by the surrounding environment.

Just like the wild ginseng of futurity, no matter how good the soil’s properties were, without the environment of the woods, the ginseng grown would not be good enough.

It was the same for spirit medicine, many spirit medicines were only growing inadequately in the blessed farmland, so the effectiveness of the medicines was much worse after they grew. If Chu Li could turn the Spirit Cranes Peak into a Herb Garden, the spirit medicines grown would certainly be incomparable by those from the man-made Herb Garden.

The spirit medicines grown on the Spirit Cranes Peak would have shocking results for sure.

Xiao Shi understood all this as well, she supported her chin as she stared at Chu Li with deep and clear eyes that were shining. “You actually came up with such an idea, your brain is really clever!”

Chu Li laughed and said, “Now I’ll have to think about what to plant, and bring those seeds over there.”

“Can you tame the Spirit Cranes into mounts? Based on your Light-body Technique, you won’t have to be afraid even if you fall from the sky.” Xiao Shi smiled.

Chu Li shook his head. “Spirit Cranes have extraordinary minds, they’re very arrogant, it’s lucky that they don’t treat us like mounts!”

In this world, humans were not the masters, Spirit Beasts were the souls of the universe, they were the masters of the universe.

When they looked at humans, it would be the same as humans looking at monkeys.

Xiao Shi said, “With your cunning skills, I believe that you’ll be able to do it.”

“There’s really no need for that. Although they’re fast, they’re not faster than me, moreover, they can’t leave the Shiwan Mountain,” Chu Li replied.

“It’s a different feeling if you’re in the sky,” Xiao Shi added.

Chu Li laughed but remained silent.

Xiao Shi rolled her eyes at him. “Just try it.”

“Alright. But it can’t be rushed, it has to be done slowly one step at a time, feelings can only be cultivated slowly,” Chu Li said.

“You don’t even mind the trouble.” Xiao Shi shook her head and smiled.

Chu Li continued, “We can’t treat them like beasts, they’re very smart and sensitive, if you don’t change your thoughts, it’ll be very hard to get along with them.”

“I understand. I’ll treat them as important figures.” Xiao Shi scoffed.

Chu Li grinned. “Are you ready to return to the Imperial Residence anytime?”

“I’ll wait for a while longer. I don’t want to return!” Xiao Shi frowned.

Chu Li said, “That’s a good idea too, no rush.”

While the two of them conversed, Xue Ling fluttered towards them as she hopped off a small boat.

When Chu Li looked at her expression, he knew that it was not going to be good news.

Xue Li curled as she landed was dressed in a bluish-white gown. She curtsied before saying, “Young Master, Lady, two Secret Guardians from the Imperial House are looking for you, Young Master.”

Chu Li sighed. “I really don’t have time for a break, lead them to the island.”

“Yes,” Xue Ling responded then curled away.

Xiao Shi asked, “What’s going on in the Secret Guardians Hall?”

“I’m guessing that they’re rushing me to find the disciples of the Holy Church of Light. There’s not much reason to evade it this time, I’ll have to really put in an effort to look for them.” Chu Li shook his head.

“This is a matter of life and death. Can’t you delay it longer?” Xiao Shi frowned and asked.

“I was already planning to start after preparing for the Eldest Master’s marriage. I can’t drag it out any longer, or else the Secret Guardians Hall will rush me again,” Chu Li continued.

“Alright. Anyhow, you should be careful,” Xiao Shi said.

Chu Li nodded. “Although there are no disciples from the Holy Church of Light in our residence, you have to be wary of assassinations as well, try not to go out if you don’t have to.”

“Yes,” Xiao Shi replied gently.

—

Chu Li flashed and reappeared on his own small island.

After a brief moment, Xue Ling brought Dong Qifei and Yang Zongwen to the main hall for visitors on the island.

“Captain!” when the two of them entered the main hall, they gave fist salutes. Both of them looked fatigued from the long journey.

Chu Li pointed at the armchairs, while Xue Ling served them three cups of tea, then she left quietly.

After the two of them sat down, they held their teacups up and took a gentle sip.

Dong Qifei was itching to speak, “Captain, the Imperial Inspector of the Town of Clouds has gone missing, the Commander asked us to find out the reason behind it.”

“The Imperial Inspector went missing? When was this?” Chu Li frowned.

“Three days ago. We rushed over here on our horses immediately without delay. The Imperial Inspector of the Town of Clouds went missing for two days for no reason, now the mayor of the Town of Clouds is preventing the news from being spread out, it’s a piece of intelligence information that the Secret Guardians Hall has managed to get,” Dong Qifei said.

Yang Zongwen said, “The Commander intends for us to try to look for him, if we fail to do so, we should look for the reason behind it.”

Chu Li nodded slowly. “Town of Clouds… hmm, I’ll go take a look.”

“This is a secret order.” Yang Zongwen took a small wooden box and passed it to Chu Li with both his hands.

After Chu Li received it, he opened the sealed wooden box and found a folded letter. On the folded letter, it was like what the two of them mentioned, on the bottom of the letter was Fu Mengshan’s seal.

“You want to come along with me?”

“Of course!”

“You won’t be of much help if you come along, I’ll do it alone,” Chu Li said.

“Captain!” Dong Qifei widened his eyes with dissatisfaction.

Yang Zongwen looked at him as he was aggrieved too.

Chu Li continued, “It has been four days, am I right? … When the two of you make your way there, it will take another day and everything will be too late then… I’ll use my Light-body Technique to get there, you can follow behind slowly.”

Yang Zongwen said, “We can run errands or deal with odds and ends.”

“Have you looked into the background of the Imperial Inspector? What is his background like?” Chu Li asked.

Yang Zongwen quickly answered, “The Imperial Inspector has a surname Hu, Hu Yingzhao, he comes from a noble family. His father is an editor at the Clear Light Library, who has compiled collections of books at the storehouse, they were known to be a family of scholars. Inspector Hu has an outstanding reputation as an official, he was upright, noble and virtuous, which offended quite a number of associates.”

Dong Qidei added on hurriedly, “Could it be the work of the Mayor? … Maybe the Mayor was playing favoritism and committing irregularities, which was discovered by Inspector Hu, so he wanted to murder him to prevent the divulgence of his secrets?”

“Wouldn’t that be exposing himself? Mayor Guo will not act so rashly.” Yang Zongwen shook his head.

“That is not necessarily true! He can do anything if he’s enraged, so he made an impulsive move and murdered him, but it was too late to regret, so he can only cover it up as a missing case. In all likelihood, I think it was the Mayor who did it, or else why would he want to stop the news from being spread out?” Dong Qifei said.

“It might be someone else too. Moreover, a fight between the officials need not involve such extreme measures,” Yang Zongwen continued.

“What if the Mayor collaborated with the enemy and committed treason?” Dong Qifei asked.

Yang Zongwen could not help but laugh. “He’s already the Mayor of the town, why would he have the need to commit treason? Elder Dong, you have to be more reasonable!”

“Anyhow, I think that there’s something wrong with the Mayor! Captain, I’ve already looked into the Mayor, his surname is Guo, Guo Zaixing, he’s under King Cheng!” Dong Qifei scoffed and turned to look at Chu Li.

Chu Li raised his brows.

Dong Qifei added, “In case he doesn’t go against you, Captain, he’s probably purposely causing trouble! … I’m afraid that King Cheng doesn’t even care about an ordinary Imperial Inspector, so he’s purposely finding trouble with you, Captain, am I right?”

“This… We can’t let our guard down as well, based on King Cheng’s character, he’s definitely capable of doing something like that,” Yang Zongwen pondered and said.

Chu Li waved his hand and said, “I’ll know when I go take a look.”

“Captain, how about we carry this out normally and in secret at the same time? Captain, you can show yourself while both of us will come to your aid in secret, in case if anything goes wrong, you’ll have back up,” Yang Zongwen continued.

“That’s right, that’s right!” Dong Qifei quickly nodded in agreement.

Chu Li saw that they were so anxious and he understood that they wanted to achieve outstanding services, so he thought for a moment. “That sounds good too, then both of you can follow up secretly.”

The Secret Guardians Hall had eyes everywhere, so it would be much easier bringing them along.

“Then let us begin our journey now,” Chu Li said.

“Yes!” The two of them answered with high spirits.