42: A guest official in the Prime Minister's Mansion, a former guide

The Great Xia Dynasty, its capital, Tianyong City.

Unlike the immortal mountains and Spiritual Veins of the cultivation world, there was no soaring spiritual light here, nor were there Cultivators flying on swords.

What there was, was people.

It was the clamor of human voices, crowded streets, and a thick, inseparable scent of everyday life, a mixture of charred flatbread, rouge and powder, and the stench of horse manure and sweat.

When Jiang Chen walked through the city gate, he felt the invisible, sticky sense of restraint on him significantly lessen.

Although it was still there, it had transformed from "iron chains" into "spider silk."

At least, when he drank tea, the tea would no longer inexplicably turn bitter.

He found a window seat on the second floor of a teahouse facing the street and sat down.

Little Gold was placed in a specially made cage, covered with a black cloth, and was currently dozing peacefully.

Outside the window, traffic flowed like a river.

An old man selling candied hawthorns had his shouts drowned out by the sound of a nearby gong; he shook his head helplessly.

Several Young Masters dressed in silk brocade, fanning themselves, made comments about a flower girl on the street, their laughter frivolous.

Jiang Chen's gaze swept over these scenes without much focus.

His Eye of Insight, which had seen the long river of destiny, now viewed these Mortal scenes with a strange sense of detachment.

It was like an astronomer accustomed to precise star charts suddenly watching a group of ants move house.

"...What a turn of Luck! Who would have thought that Mr. Qian, who used to cower at the entrance of our 'Duobao Pavilion,' is now a favorite in the Prime Minister's residence!"

"Exactly! I heard that the Prime Minister's only son contracted a strange illness, and all the imperial physicians in the city were helpless. He was on the verge of death, but Mr. Qian saved him with a Medicinal Pill!"

"Tsk tsk, he really hit the jackpot. Now everyone respectfully calls him 'Mr. Qian,' and he has a carriage for his comings and goings. He's quite impressive!"

Several merchants at the next table were chatting in hushed voices.

Mr. Qian... Jiang Chen's hand, holding the teacup, paused.

He remembered the rat-whiskered attendant whom he had saved at the Tianji Pavilion branch.

He seemed to be named Qian.

A coincidence?

Jiang Chen's gaze retracted from the window and fell on the merchants.

The 'Mr. Qian' they spoke of had a destiny line that appeared unnaturally twisted by an external force, a vibrant purple, and one strand of its origin was vaguely connected to himself.

It was him.

Jiang Chen put down his teacup; the remaining half of the tea had already cooled.

He stood up, dropped a few copper coins, and walked down from the teahouse.

He needed a guide.

A guide who knew this capital city like the back of his hand and was absolutely reliable.

And someone he had pulled back from the brink of death, and who deeply understood his terror, was undoubtedly the best choice... The Prime Minister's residence was not at the foot of the imperial city, but located in a quiet district in the south of the city.

At the entrance of the mansion, there was no bustling crowd as imagined; instead, it was somewhat deserted.

As Jiang Chen reached the street corner, he saw a blue cloth carriage driving out from the side gate of the Prime Minister's mansion.

The coachman's expression was arrogant.

Jiang Chen's Eye of Insight penetrated the carriage curtains.

Inside the carriage, a slightly fat middle-aged man sat upright, holding a scroll of books, his brows tightly furrowed, seemingly pondering some difficult problem.

It was indeed the rat-whiskered attendant.

Only now, his clothes had been replaced with fine brocade, his whiskers neatly trimmed, and the timid air of a small person he once had was largely diluted by a comfortable, well-fed appearance.

Jiang Chen did not go forward.

He just stood quietly under a locust tree at the street corner.

The carriage drove past him.

Mr. Qian in the carriage seemed to sense something and subconsciously glanced out the window.

Just one glance.

His pupils suddenly constricted!

He saw a young man standing in the shade of the tree, dressed in coarse linen clothes.

His face was as calm as an unchanging glacier of ten thousand years.

His eyes were so deep they seemed capable of devouring one's Soul.

"Stop the carriage!"

Mr. Qian's voice was sharp, distorted, and carried a hint of panic that he himself hadn't noticed.

The coachman was startled and quickly reined in the horses.

Before the carriage could stop steadily, Mr. Qian scrambled out of the carriage with both hands and feet, not even bothering about losing one of his shoes.

He rushed to Jiang Chen in a few steps; passersby around them cast curious glances.

But he didn't care at all.

He looked at the young man in front of him, his lips trembling, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down, but he couldn't utter a single word.

He wanted to kneel.

This thought grew like wild grass in his mind.

His life, from that day on, had deviated from its original track.

And the source of all this was the seemingly ordinary young man before him.

Jiang Chen looked at him in this state, his eyes showing no fluctuation.

"Find a place to talk."

His voice was very soft, as if stating something self-evident.

Mr. Qian jolted, instantly snapping back to his senses. He then realized his gaffe (loss of composure), his forehead covered in cold sweat.

"Yes... yes! Benefactor! This way, please, this way!"

He scrambled to pick up his shoe, personally lifted the carriage curtain, and bowed repeatedly, inviting Jiang Chen into the carriage. His respectful attitude was a hundred times more exaggerated than when he met the current Prime Minister... Half an hour later, in the most secluded private tea room in the city.

Mr. Qian personally brewed tea for Jiang Chen, then stood respectfully to the side, not even daring to sit.

"Benefactor... You, you came to Tianyong City, is there anything you need this humble one to do?" he asked cautiously.

"I need to know all the 'unusual' things in this city," Jiang Chen said indifferently.

"Unusual?"

Mr. Qian paused, then immediately understood.

He pondered for a moment, then lowered his voice, almost whispering:

"Speaking of the most unusual, it would be none other than the current Emperor, and that... Grand Imperial Advisor."

"In recent years, the Emperor has neglected court affairs, wholeheartedly indulging in cultivating immortality and seeking the Dao, spending the national treasury to requisition ten thousand acres of fertile land in the west of the city, and is currently building a towering pagoda called the 'Praying to Immortals Pagoda.'"

"And the one responsible for overseeing its construction and 'preaching and resolving doubts' for the Emperor is that Grand Imperial Advisor who suddenly appeared three years ago."

A look of reverence mixed with fear appeared on Mr. Qian's face.

"No one knows the origin of that Grand Imperial Advisor, only that he possesses heaven-defying abilities, capable of summoning wind and rain, and turning beans into soldiers... The Emperor is utterly obedient to him."

Grand Imperial Advisor?

Jiang Chen held his teacup, his gaze penetrating the walls of the tea room, looking towards the direction of the imperial palace.

In his Eye of Insight.

Above the imperial palace, the thin purple Qi that should have belonged to a Mortal emperor had now converged into a thick, almost solid... pure golden Luck Dragon!

And at the head of this golden Dragon, a pure golden, incredibly brilliant thread of destiny was connected.

This thread was not connected to any living being at its other end.

Instead... it directly connected to the Heavenly Dao Law Net that enveloped heaven and earth!

This Grand Imperial Advisor was no simple Child of Destiny.

He seemed... to be a new agent that the Heavenly Dao had propped up in this world.

A gatekeeper who fed on the Luck of the entire Mortal Dynasty to maintain the stability of the "cage."