296: Chapter 294 Ten Years Pass in the Fleeting Moment of Life

Ning Yuanzhou's case was overturned very quickly.

But it did not bring down the Left Vice Minister of Works as he had expected.

The evidence Ah Yuan brought back was irrefutable; the Dali Temple also found that those ledgers and letters were all forged, and the confessions of Clerk Qian and Courier Ma were clear.

But the Crown Prince stood behind the Left Vice Minister of Works, and with a casual remark that "the Left Vice Minister of Works was deceived and was not the mastermind," the case was closed.

The Left Vice Minister of Works was fined a year's salary and transferred out of the capital to serve as an idle official in the provinces.

The real scapegoat was an aide in the Left Vice Minister of Works's residence, who was pushed forward to take all the blame and beheaded in public.

Ning Yuanzhou knew this full well but was powerless to change it.

Since the Crown Prince had spoken, no one in the court dared to pursue the matter further.

However, Ning Yuanzhou's innocence was proven.

The forged ledgers and letters were publicly destroyed, and Clerk Qian and Courier Ma were sentenced to exile.

Your Majesty summoned Ning Yuanzhou to the Golden Hall, praised him for being "honest, self-disciplined, and loyal," and promoted him to Right Vice Minister of Works, a rank of the third grade.

Ning Yuanzhou knelt in the Golden Hall, kowtowed to express his gratitude, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

He knew how he got this position—not because of how capable he was, but because Your Majesty needed someone to keep an eye on things in the Ministry of Works for him. Now that the Left Vice Minister of Works had fallen, the position of Left Vice Minister of Works became vacant; his promotion from Right Vice Minister to Left Vice Minister was only a matter of time. But he was in no hurry.

When the news reached Linan City, Ning Wanqing finally breathed a sigh of relief. The Old Madam still didn't know her son had been in trouble, only that he had been promoted, and she was so happy she ate an extra half bowl of porridge.

Ning Yuanzhou wanted Ah Yuan to stay in the capital.

Ah Yuan refused.

She chose to stay in Linan City, living in the small courtyard next to the Qingzhu Courtyard, guarding that door that had never been opened.

Yun Ming was in seclusion; she could not leave.

Ning Wanqing and the Old Madam didn't go to the capital either; the Old Madam was old and couldn't handle the long journey, and Ning Wanqing had to stay to take care of her mother.

Ning Yuanzhou served as an official in the capital alone, returning once every two or three months, staying for a few days before leaving.

Ah Yuan wasn't idle either.

Ning Yuanzhou had many rivals as an official in the capital. Some were jealous of his position, some held grudges because he had exposed them, and some tripped him up behind his back. Ning Yuanzhou could not always cope. Ah Yuan used her own methods to help him. As a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, her various methods were like those of an immortal to a Mortal. She knew exactly which official had hidden corrupt ledgers in their mansion, which general was privately corresponding with the Northern Di, and which minister was spreading rumors before Your Majesty. She would not give those ledgers or letters directly to Ning Yuanzhou—that would be too conspicuous and hard to explain the source. She simply sent word to Ning Yuanzhou, telling him, "Someone's study has a secret ledger hidden in the interlayer of the east wall," or "Someone's secret letter is locked in a study drawer, and the key is under his pillow." Ning Yuanzhou would then send a confidant to "accidentally discover" them and report it. Gradually, Ning Yuanzhou's Foundation in the court became more and more stable; his opponents were cleared out one by one, and his allies grew in number.

The Crown Prince's regard for him also grew day by day.

The Crown Prince also discovered that Ning Yuanzhou always managed to "coincidentally" find his opponents' weaknesses and could provide solid evidence every time. The Crown Prince was not stupid; he knew Ning Yuanzhou had someone behind him, but he did not know who that person was, nor did he care. He only knew that Ning Yuanzhou was useful and reliable. Thus, Ning Yuanzhou rose from Right Vice Minister of Works to Left Vice Minister, then from Left Vice Minister to Minister, and finally entered the Grand Secretariat as a Grand Secretary of the Wenyuan Hall. A rank of the second grade, he reached the pinnacle of officialdom. Any higher would be the first grade or junior first grade, which was the Domain of titled nobility and imperial relatives, not something an official from a humble background could reach. He was content.

The undercurrents in the imperial court never subsided.

The old Emperor's health declined year by year, and the Crown Prince managed the court affairs in an orderly manner. But that Prince in the Northern Border remained a thorn in his side. He held tens of thousands of elite troops and had an ambiguous relationship with the Northern Di; the court had sent people to investigate several times but could find no solid evidence. Someone impeached him in court, but the Crown Prince suppressed it. It wasn't that he didn't want to move against him, but that he didn't have full certainty. He was also waiting for someone to send him information.

Several young princes were respectful on the surface, but no one knew if they had hidden motives. However, the Crown Prince's power was too great, so great that no one dared to act rashly. He was the eldest son of the legal wife, legitimate and without flaw. Even if those princes had ideas, they could only suppress them in their hearts, waiting for an opportunity that might never exist.

Ah Yuan didn't care about these things. She woke up early every day, Cultivated for an hour, and then went to the side hall to treat patients. The people of Linan City no longer called her "Miss Ah Yuan"; they called her "Teacher Ah Yuan." Her medical skills grew better and better, and her reputation grew wider, with some even traveling from hundreds of miles away to seek treatment. She never refused, seeing patients for three hours every day; once the time passed, she ignored everyone, and anyone who wanted to cause trouble had to consider that this was the Ning Mansion.

Then every day was just Cultivation, reading, and sleeping.

Ten years of time had polished a young girl into a peerless beauty.

Her features were more delicate than in her youth, and there was a composed air between her brows, like deep pool water—calm on the surface but with undercurrents beneath. If Yun Ming hadn't cast the Fuli Heaven-Concealing Record on her before his seclusion to hide her true appearance and aura, her walking out would likely have caused a sensation throughout the city. Even now, the patients who came for treatment often lost themselves for a moment upon seeing her. But she didn't care about that. She only cared about two things: Cultivation and waiting for someone.

Her Cultivation didn't slacken. The Spiritual Qi in Linan City was thin, but Yun Ming had left her many Spirit Stones before his seclusion. High-Grade Spirit Stones and Top-Grade Spirit Stones were piled in her Storage Pouch, enough for her to use for a long time. She absorbed the Spiritual Qi from the Spirit Stones to Cultivate every day; although her progress was not as fast as in Tianyuan City, it was a steady improvement. Ten years passed, and she had already broken through from the Foundation Establishment Early Stage to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage. She could now exert seventy to eighty percent of the power of the array-breaking sword, xuanming heaven-covering umbrella, and blood-transforming eerie glow needle.

But what she cared about most was not her own cultivation, but that door in the Qingzhu Courtyard that had never been opened. For ten years, that door had remained tightly shut. The sound-insulating formation was still running, and the Spiritual Qi fluctuations seeping from the cracks of the door and windows were weak and stable, indicating that Yun Ming was still in seclusion and no accidents had occurred. But Ah Yuan didn't know when he would come out, or if he could successfully Breakthrough to the Nascent Soul. She didn't dare to disturb him, nor did she dare to leave for too long. Every time she went to the capital to help Ning Yuanzhou investigate matters, she went and returned quickly, never lingering.

This evening, after Ah Yuan saw the last patient, she packed her medicine box and returned to the Qingzhu Courtyard. She sat on the stone steps at the courtyard entrance, gazing at that tightly shut door. The sun set, and the twilight deepened. The wind blew through the bamboo leaves, making a rustling sound. She sat for a long time, until the moon rose and the stars brightened, until the dew dampened her dress.

She whispered, "Master, when will you come out?"

No one answered. There was only the sound of the wind and the bamboo leaves in the Qingzhu Courtyard. The clock tower in the distance rang, the sound heavy and long, echoing over Linan City. Ah Yuan stood up, brushed the dust off her dress, and turned to return to her room. She lit a lamp and sat at the table, flipping through a medical book. The lamplight flickered, reflecting her calm profile.

Within the map of mountains and rivers, Yun Ming sat cross-legged on the open ground in front of the small log cabin. Five Golden Cores rotated slowly in his Dantian, their five-colored radiance interlaced, the light more solid and brilliant than ten years ago. The fusang divine tree at the very edge of the map emitted golden light; the Sun Law had been completely perfected, and the temperature within the map was much more stable than ten years ago. The Kunpeng egg was still half a person tall, with no changes on its greyish shell.

Yun Ming closed his eyes, his Divine Soul sinking into his Dantian. The Bottleneck of the Golden Core Great Perfection had loosened significantly under the power of the Enlightened Dao Fruit. He could feel the threshold of the Nascent Soul Stage right before him, within reach. He took a deep breath and steadied his mind. He had reached a critical moment.