Chapter 107: Just Like When I Was Little

Luo Weiran looked at the dark sky outside and couldn’t help but laugh. “How do you think Hou Wenji is going to explain himself to His Majesty?”

Zhuo Buyi was sitting in the room and drinking tea, and he smiled and didn’t answer this boring question.

Zhuo Buyi and Luo Weiran didn’t know that Hou Wenji was having a secret meeting in Guest-Prosper Dwell. When Godly Eye Liu Duxiu came back to move 300 royal guards, they guessed that Hou Wenji was inside that restaurant.

Even though they guessed that Hou Wenji was there, they didn’t know what Hou Wenji was doing. However, they could look at Guest-Prosper Dwell and figure it out.

When Zhuo Buyi saw Luo Wen who wanted to hide but had to kneel in front of the Emperor like everyone else, he knew that Hou Wenji was here to meet with this young man. Out of everyone here, only Luo Wen could be connected to Hou Wenji.

This was a simple thing to see, but Zhuo Buyi and Luo Weiran didn’t know why Hou Wenji wanted to meet Luo Wen.

Luo Weiran asked with a smile, “Do you think… the other group of assassins was sent by Luo Wen?”

Zhuo Buyi looked over and nodded. “Probably.”

Luo Weiran asked again, “Guess why Hou Wenji wants to meet with Luo Wen in secret.”

“He is probably trying to get to Senior General Luo.” Zhuo Buyi’s response was concise.

“Haha!” Luo Weiran laughed, “Hou Wenji is a smart guy, but he is a little forgetful. Although he only trusts you to a certain degree, he still forgot that I led you into the Intelligence Department. Regardless of what happens, the relationship between us would be closer than the relationship between you and him. The Royal Guard has been divided into two by that short wall, but the mind of the agency has also been separated.”

He walked into the room and sat down before saying melancholily, “Hou Wenji always wants to move the Intelligence Department from the dark into the public domain, and he wants to separate the Intelligence Department from the Royal Guard. In his mind, the Royal Guard should be responsible for the safety of His Majesty, and the Intelligence Department would handle all the rest. Although it seems like we have the same goal of making the Royal Guard stronger, he wants to separate the Intelligence Department away from the Royal Guard and even suppress the Royal Guard.”

“On the surface, he is only the Deputy of the Royal Guard; how could someone as proud as him accept this?” Zhuo Buyi looked at Luo Weiran and said with a smile, “Jealousy.”

Luo Weiran froze for a moment and said with a bitter smile, “You are always so mean.”

Zhuo Buyi sighed, “That is what you imply. If you are under him all these years, your mind would change too.”

“Yeah,” Luo Weiran sighed, “I’m only a nobody from the martial arts circle, yet he is from a big family. Working under me for about ten years must be hard on him.”

Zhuo Buyi shook his head and said, “Now, you should think about how to react when Hou Wenji comes back. Should you act kind or be petty? Should you comfort him or fight with him?”

“You!” Luo Weiran rolled his eyes and said, “You have been in the political circle for several years now; how come you are still acting like an outsider? It feels like everything is irrelevant to you.”

“This is irrelevant to me.” Zhuo Buyi shook his head, drank some tea, and said, “When you brought me into the Royal Guard years ago, I told you that I can’t get involved in internal conflicts. I could be a labor, but I would hide when I must take a position.”

“Now thinking back…” Luo Weiran sighed, “When you first entered the Royal Guard, you already guessed that Hou Wenji and I would be like this one day, so you said those words to avoid this.”

“It would be strange if there isn’t a fallout.” Zhuo Buyi stood up and stretched while saying, “Just wait here. I need to go back to sleep. I’m tired today; my entire body is sore.”

“When you drew on the ground and created the prison, have you thought about trapping Hou Wenji?” Luo Weiran asked when Zhuo Buyi got to the door.

Zhuo Buyi paused before continuing walking. “I’m not interested in meaningless things. It seems like you two care more about if my technique can trap you guys compared to me.”

Luo Weiran laughed and said, “So mean.”

Zhuo Buyi replied, “Big Face!”

Luo Weiran’s face was long. Since a long time ago, Zhuo Buyi called him this nickname.

“The last question,” Luo Weiran said to Zhuo Buyi, “Did you plant a prison heart in that kid?”

Hearing this question, Zhuo Buyi didn’t even stop or respond before disappearing into the night.

Although Luo Weiran didn’t get an answer, it was more relieving than getting one. No response meant no.

Prison heart was a terrifying thing. Zhou Buyi said that he might not be able to obtain this through cultivation in his lifetime, but Luo Weiran was still worried that Zhuo Buyi might be inspired one day and obtain this technique. Anyone would be afraid if he obtained this insanely powerful method.

When Zhuo Buyi was in prison, he had a discussion with Luo Weiran who went to visit him. He said that one’s heart would be tempered in prison; it was torture but also enjoyment. He suddenly got a bizarre idea for a technique. If there was a technique to plant a prison in someone’s mind, all this person’s thoughts would be obtained by the caster, regardless of how far apart they were.

This must be an interesting technique.

Although Zhuo Buyi seemed to be joking when he said this, Luo Weiran memorized it. He understood Zhuo Buyi; this man would try everything that he thought of.

The terrifying thing about the technique that Zhuo Buyi mentioned was how stealth it would be. No one would know if their minds were altered and all their thoughts were known by someone else, having no secrets left. Different from mind-reading, after planting the so-called prison-heart in someone, there would be a terrifying direct link between these two people.

It was a terrifying spell.

Luo Weiran knew that Zhuo Buyi was a genius among geniuses. Even when he was trapped in prison, he got inspired and created the technique of drawing on the ground and creating a prison. If Zhuo Buyi wasn’t monitored, who knew what kinds of terrifying things he would come up with.

Therefore, Zhuo Buyi was restricted inside the Royal Guard all these years.

The Emperor had once asked Luo Weiran how to get people like Zhuo Buyi to work for the government. After a long silence, Luo Weiran said that these people needed to be trapped by emotions, making them unable to think of anything else.

Then, the Emperor asked how to make people like Zhuo Buyi less threatening. Again, after a long silence, Luo Weiran said that they needed to be bothered by worldly affairs and not be able to concentrate on cultivation.

As long as Zhuo Buyi had to deal with errands all the time, he couldn’t cultivation with concentration, and his cultivation progress would be slowed or put on a pause. This was the only way to make Zhuo Buyi less scary.

At the time, the Emperor nodded and said, “Zhuo Buyi created the technique of drawing on the ground and creating a prison, but now you drew another prison for him.”

The name of this prison was called the Royal Guard.

In reality, Zhuo Buyi had to deal with many errands in the agency, and it seemed like he didn’t have the energy to focus on cultivation. After all these years, it seemed like his cultivation strength didn’t increase at all. He was terrifyingly powerful back then, but it seemed like he was lagging years later.

The night was extremely dark like ink that couldn’t be diluted.

Fang Jie leaned against the bed and looked out the window, feeling comfortable as he sensed cool breeze blowing in through the window.

He was in less pain; at least he could move a little now. This was the second time that he experienced such excruciating pain.

Fang Jie didn’t really think and reflect on what happened last time, but he had to carefully think about this issue.

Why was there abrupt and irresistible pain?

When he saw Mu Xiaoyao walking over, he suddenly thought of one thing. On the way to the Capital, he asked Mu Xiaoyao what cultivation felt like, and she only responded with one word – pain!

“Pain?” Fang Jie heaved a long sigh and asked himself, “Am I… cultivating?”

Mu Xiaoyao walked to the bed and sat down on a chair. She grabbed a grape and peeled it before feeding Fang Jie.

After Fang Jie ate it, she wiped his lips with her hand habitually and asked, “You can’t fall asleep?”

“Eh.”

“Still painful?”

“Eh.”

“How much pain?”

“So much pain that I can’t sleep.” Fang Jie’s response was a cunning lie. He couldn’t sleep not because of the pain; he couldn’t think through many things.

“Then let’s talk for a bit; maybe you will feel less pain when you are distracted,” Mu Xiaoyao said.

Fang Jie nodded and said after thinking for a while, “I think I know who else wanted to kill me that night. I saw Luo Wen in Guest-Prosper Dwell today. If I’m not wrong, he should be in the same private room as that man who could move freely under Mr. Zhuo’s technique. That man was clearly familiar with Mr. Zhuo’s technique; he wasn’t alarmed at all. He must be someone from the Royal Guard.”

“Tell me what he looks like,” Mu Xiaoyao said, “I have seen Hou Wenji before.”

Fang Jie described how that man looked, and Mu Xiaoyao nodded. “It is him.”

“It seems like the Intelligence Department Head was having a meeting with Junior General Luo in secret.” Fang Jie couldn’t help but sneer.

Mu Xiaoyao fell silent as she didn’t know what she should say.

Fang Jie smiled and didn’t want to pursue this topic.

“Sister Xiaoyao.”

“Huh?”

“I want to sleep, but I can’t. What should I do?”

“I… don’t know.”

“What did you do when I couldn’t sleep as a kid?”

“Huh…”

Fang Jie moved to one side of the bed and said earnestly, “Can you soothe my pain?”

Mu Xiaoyao hesitated for a while, but she didn’t end up rejecting it. She lied down beside Fang Jie, but her body was tensed up for some reason as she looked anxious.

Fang Jie got into Mu Xiaoyao’s arms and smelled her scent while saying, “I remember that when I was little, in order to sleep, I always…”

“No!”

“Just once, ok?”

“No!”

“I’m injured! I’m feeling a lot of pain!”

“No!”

“The entrance exam of the Martial Arts Academy is in two days. If I can’t sleep, I wouldn’t have energy.”

“…”

“Sister Xiaoyao…” Fang Jie said in a begging tone.

Mu Xiaoyao bit her lips and suddenly waved her hand, blowing out the candles in the room.

In the dark, the beauty’s breathing got rapid.

“Through clothes,” she said. She was so quiet that Fang Jie almost didn’t hear her.

“Ok!” Fang Jie smiled in the dark and reached out his hands, resting them on her chest.

Since it was summer, people’s clothes were thin. Through the moonlight, Mu Xiaoyao’s alluring figure could be vaguely seen on the bed.

This was a special moment.