Chapter 63: Ning Wenjun, Chief Clerk of Chen County, Azure Sky Prefecture, Luozhou

…Moreover, to slaughter mortals in great numbers is a grievous transgression, one abhorred by the heavens. When the time comes, divine retribution will descend in the form of thunder and lightning, reducing the living corpses to ashes, leaving them not even the chance for dissolution or reincarnation. They would vanish entirely from the world, their existence erased. It is a price far too steep, and Cao Chengyu could not believe that the grand scheme, three centuries in the making by those Golden Core cultivators, amounted to nothing more than this.

Furthermore, the Reversal Array in Longmen Village was anchored with living corpses, not dead bodies in need of resurrection, which did not match the intended effect. He could not discern the underlying issue, so he simply committed these details to memory, planning to consult with Ning Wenjun when he found her; with her official position, she should be able to uncover more profound secrets.

Longmen Village lay at the border between Liyang and Luozhou. Within a single day, Cao Chengyu successfully arrived in Luozhou. Shortly after his departure, a villager, following routine, reported the latest news and was startled to discover that Doctor Chen was nowhere to be found. Even the group of martial artists who had accompanied him had vanished without a trace. Yet, the villager was helpless, having no way to contact his superiors.

For agents like them, only their direct handler could communicate with the Celestial Surveillance Tower; there was no means to bypass their overseer. Often, they did not even know for whom they truly worked. It wasn’t until a month passed with no monthly report from Longmen Village that the covert division of the Celestial Surveillance Tower dispatched investigators to uncover the reason.

Cao Chengyu was unaware of these subsequent events, but he could easily guess at the outcome. It was inevitable that their failure to completely root out Doctor Chen’s followers would be discovered; it was only a matter of time.

Knowing his time was limited, within just three days, he managed to gather information about Ning Wenjun in Chen County, Qingtian Prefecture. This individual was, in fact, quite renowned—known as the Jade-faced Clerk.

Holding the position of Registrar, a humble ninth-rank official, she shared responsibilities with the magistrate’s deputy over provisions, taxation, census, and law enforcement. True to her nature, Ning Wenjun focused especially on law enforcement, and within two months of her appointment, the crime rate in Chen County plummeted significantly.

Praised enthusiastically by the people, she was a figure of awe—especially when contrasted with the previous, lackluster deputy. Compared to his ineptitude, she seemed a veritable goddess of war, which inevitably provoked his resentment. In matters of social nuance, she still showed her inexperience.

Having learned the general situation, Cao Chengyu did not intend to offer assistance. After all, she had vanished without a word for four months—he’d nearly thought she’d abandoned him. Yet, to rise to Registrar in two months and, in another two months, bring order to the county with such efficiency, she must have faced considerable hardship.

Outside the county office of Chen County, Cao Chengyu sat at a roadside stall, sipping cold tea as he waited for his wife to finish work. He waited until a quarter past the Shen hour; only when the stall owner was about to chase him away did the person he awaited finally appear.

Her once striking figure was now bound tightly with special bandages, though the curves were still evident. Her skin was white and lustrous as mutton-fat jade. Her hair was tied up and adorned with a jade-inlaid ribbon at her forehead, and her handsome features made her every inch the famed Jade-faced Clerk. Surely, she was the object of many a young woman’s daydreams in Chen County.

Likewise, Ning Wenjun immediately spotted Cao Chengyu amid the bustling crowd. He stood out like the rising sun; his extraordinary bearing could not be concealed by the masses. Handsome and suave, with a touch of roguish charm, he lounged with one leg crossed over the other, smiling at her. Her face flushed red at once.

She shot him a glare and turned back toward the government office.

“Hey, don’t go! What’s the rush?” Cao Chengyu abandoned his pretense of composure and hurriedly called out, realizing that his carefully planned entrance had little effect.

Hearing this, Ning Wenjun finally stopped, her tone slightly disgruntled. “Why are you here? I don’t need your help.”

“Help? No, I didn’t mean—”

“Uh…”

Cao Chengyu, well-practiced in the arts of diplomacy, sensed something amiss and quickly changed his approach. “With your abilities, you can surely handle things without me. I came for another reason.”

“Another reason?” Ning Wenjun eyed him with suspicion. She had lived nearly a century; though lacking in social finesse, she was by no means a fool. In her mind, Cao Chengyu wanted to use her to escape Luo Yuzhu’s entanglement—one of the reasons why her goodwill toward him had never surpassed ninety. By her nature, she would have cut ties cleanly, never to see him again. Her earlier silent departure had been influenced by this very factor.

Human emotions are complex. Though she sensed Cao Chengyu’s motives were impure, she had been the one to approach him first. Recalling their first encounter, she bore full responsibility. Apologies, ideals, recognition, encouragement, solutions—these were things she had never received before. Hearing them from his lips meant the world to her.

Thus, upon realizing the truth, and with Cao Chengyu offering her a path into worldly affairs, she took the opportunity to escape. Ning Wenjun had never expected to fall in love so quickly, and with a man so much younger than herself. Her feelings for Cao Chengyu grew ever more complicated.

Yet the esteemed Manager Cao remained oblivious. Confident in his own skills, he believed his little boat had already become an unsinkable Titanic, steady as ever.

“This is how it is…” Cao Chengyu explained all his suspicions and thoughts to her without reservation.

Unlike Luo Yuzhu, Ning Wenjun was a member of the Ning family, with a heart for the greater good; she was sure to aid him. As expected, the moment Cao Chengyu finished speaking, Ning Wenjun slapped the table, barely restraining herself from shouting the classic rallying cry of “Why should only nobles and generals rise to greatness?”

He had chosen to wait for her after work, knowing the office would be empty, making it easier to bring an outsider like himself into the archives to search for information. Cao Chengyu did not need three hundred years of the Great Yue Dynasty’s history—just the local records of Luozhou, or even just Chen County, would suffice.

Such is the logic of formations: if one glimpses a corner, and knows the design, it is easy to deduce the whole. Upon learning why he had come, and that he had defected from the Celestial Surveillance Tower, Ning Wenjun expressed her concern.

“Cao Chengyu, won’t Luo Yuzhu come after you? You are, after all, her greatest asset on the path to immortality. No one else possesses your Poison-Eye constitution.”

“And while I have entered worldly affairs, it’s only been two months. My cultivation has improved, but it will be at least a year before I reach the next stage.”

Cao Chengyu scratched his head awkwardly. Indeed, the Poison-Eye technique could fuse unique toxins, greatly aiding Luo Yuzhu in her venom arts. Moreover, he had advanced the Poison-Eye method to new heights, making it even more effective for her, possibly even beneficial to her cultivation at the Purple Mansion stage.

He had been quite confident in himself, but after Ning Wenjun’s words, he was no longer certain whether Luo Yuzhu valued him for love, or simply could not bear to lose her living cauldron.