114: Chapter 114 Returning Home with a Full Load

The battle in the square of the Hall of Supreme Harmony had already ended.

When Xie Feng crawled out from the secret door beside the dragon throne, the remains of hundreds of Shaggai Insects were scattered all over the square, their chitinous shell fragments hacked into tiny pieces by the saber array of the Imperial Guards, mixing with dark brown insect blood to form patches of semi-congealed jelly in the crevices of the blue-gold bricks.

The air was filled with an extremely pungent, scorched stench—a mixed scent of insect blood corroding the bricks and spiritual power burning the shells.

The Imperial Guards were clearing the battlefield with extreme efficiency.

Several Imperial Guards dragged out Ministry of Works officials who had been parasitized by Shaggai Insects from the side hall. Dark red light patterns characteristic of the insectoid mental fluctuations still lingered on those officials' skulls, but they had already regained independent consciousness.

Duke Yong stood on the steps before the hall, his old sword already sheathed, directing the Imperial Guards to carry the wounded toward the Imperial Hospital.

Several princes and princesses each led squads of Imperial Guards back from the outer streets to report, their armor stained with insect blood and dust, yet their expressions were still relatively calm.

What surprised Xie Feng the most were those elderly eunuchs.

They wore dark blue attendant robes with extremely inconspicuous dark gold piping trimmed at the cuffs. The embroidery on their chests clearly did not belong to ordinary eunuchs, and what they carried in their hands was not a whisk, but blood-dripping narrow-bladed sabers.

The insect blood on the blades was evaporating at a very fast speed, and the blade bodies were densely carved with rune circuits.

Every single one of them was in the Eighth Realm.

Eight Eighth-Realm eunuchs were standing in the four corners of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, with their hands hanging down and brows lowered, looking like old servants who had just finished sweeping the courtyard and were waiting for their master to order the next meal.

Xie Feng recalled his glorious feat of punching a eunuch on the bridge of the nose at the entrance, and silently made a mental note to himself:

"Before beating up any eunuchs in the future, check their Realm first."

Wenren Jingming was the first to rush up the steps before the hall.

Seeing Emperor Zhou Weixi walk out from the hall doors, he dropped directly to his knees at the bottom of the steps, his voice trembling a whole octave higher than when he had explained the rules of the Shituolin Swamp to Xie Feng back then:

"Your Majesty! The Shituolin Swamp has been resolved! Completely resolved! The core of the Skeletal Swamp has been purified, all residual skeletons have completely vanished, and the lower level of the Seal is now completely emptied! That thing no longer exists beneath the imperial city!"

Emperor Zhou Weixi stood on the steps before the hall, his black dragon robe fluttering slightly in the wind from the square.

After hearing Wenren Jingming's report, there was no shock or wild joy on his face; he merely nodded slightly, a faint smile curling at the corners of his mouth.

It was as if he had known this would be the outcome all along.

Holy crap, something is wrong with this emperor!

Cold sweat broke out on Xie Feng's back. Why are you acting like you already knew about this?

"We know. Dr. Wenren has worked hard; go down and rest first, and you will still preside over the subsequent archiving of the case files."

Wenren Jingming kowtowed. When he stood up, his legs were still shaking, and the excitement on his face could last until tomorrow.

Emperor Zhou Weixi turned his head, his gaze sweeping past Wenren Jingming and falling upon Xie Feng, who had just crawled out of the secret door.

Xie Feng's cloak was covered in dust from the lower level of the Seal, and his entire face—along with his head and hood—looked as though he had been fished out of an ash heap.

However, Xie Feng's mental state was exceptionally good, because he had finally turned back into a human.

The wrists he currently exposed outside his cloak sleeves were of normal human skin color, and one could even see very faint cyan blood vessels pulsing slightly beneath the skin.

Brain Matter, that damn bug, had probably been affected by Tsathoggua's blessing along with Xie Feng earlier. Its chitinous shell now shimmered with an extremely faint, lustrous black sheen, carrying a sense of smug satisfaction within its mental fluctuations akin to "following a madman brings meat to eat."

"Your Majesty." Xie Feng saluted Emperor Zhou Weixi with an extremely casual gesture somewhere between a bow and a greeting.

"I've helped you clean up the mess underground, so you don't need to invite me to dinner."

The subsequent cleanup work was very simple.

Shovels scraped across the crevices of the blue-gold bricks to scoop up the congealed insect blood jelly and toss them into iron carts, while several other Imperial Guards followed behind carrying rune buckets, repeatedly scrubbing the ground with mops soaked in medicinal liquid.

Several physicians from the Imperial Hospital set up a temporary consultation desk at the entrance of the side hall to examine the interior of the skulls of the officials who had just regained consciousness after being parasitized, checking for any remnants and dispensing herbal decoctions after each check.

Nor was Xie Feng idle.

First, he made a trip back to the lower level of the Seal to confirm that the core area of the Shituolin Swamp had been completely emptied, all residual skeletons had been sent into the N'kai caves by the Spacetime Gate, and the rune circuits on the sealing walkways were automatically resuming operation.

After all, Xie Feng was truly terrified of being backstabbed; he genuinely never knew when he might fall into a trap.

That evening, Emperor Zhou Weixi did not arrange any banquet, simply having a eunuch send a portion of plain congee and side dishes to Xie Feng's quarters, along with topical Spirit Medicine and three sets of casual clothes for changing, accompanied by a tiny note: "Rest early, attend court tomorrow morning."

Early the next morning, a grand court assembly was held at the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

In the imperial court, rewards were bestowed upon this person and gifts were given to that person.

By the end of it, Xie Feng even thought he was going to work for this dog emperor for free.

Emperor Zhou Weixi looked at Xie Feng for quite a while, then withdrew his hands from his sleeves and made a gesture to the Director of Ceremonial eunuch beside him.

The Director of Ceremonial eunuch stepped forward holding an imperial edict and unfolded it.

Discarding a massive amount of nonsense at the beginning, the eunuch finally read aloud:

"Xie Feng, Inner Sect Disciple of the Qingyun Sect, assisted the royal family in resolving the Shituolin Swamp Seal crisis and rendered meritorious service in protecting the sovereign. He is specially granted an honorary third-rank title with a stipend of three hundred households, holding no actual official position, no subordinate officials, and remaining exempt from the jurisdiction of the Six Ministries, while still staying in the Qingyun Sect to Cultivate."

After hearing this, Xie Feng silently added another point for Emperor Zhou Weixi in his heart.

An honorary third-rank title, salary collected as usual, a useful name, no need to attend court, no need to manage people, and no need to be tied down in the imperial capital as a tribute-offering figure.

When traveling outside, local officials would still have to bow and call him "Lord Xie" upon seeing him.

Even this Mortal emperor bestowed rewards so appropriately.

It felt insanely good.

After the rewards ceremony concluded, Emperor Zhou Weixi had the eunuchs prepare a minimalist farewell banquet in the side hall.

There weren't many dishes: a steamed mandarin fish, a plate of osmanthus cake, a plate of cold-dressed seasonal vegetables, and two bowls of white rice.

Xie Feng stood on ceremony not at all, sitting down to bury his head and eat an entire bowl of rice.

Emperor Zhou Weixi sat opposite him, scooped himself a bowl of rice, and said while eating that he would rearrange the expedition route to the Northern Abyss Continent.

With Liu Yanqing's original notes plus that route map, opening up the old post road was probably just a matter of time.

"When the time comes, this road will still have to be handed back into your hands. But before that, go back and rest for a while. This trip of yours to the imperial capital first cost you your heart and then almost cost you your life; you need to recuperate after all."

Xie Feng picked up the last piece of osmanthus cake in his bowl, shoved it into his mouth, chewed and swallowed it, and then suddenly recalled something.

"Your Majesty, when we were chatting earlier and talking about Medicinal Pills and Cultivating, was it intentional on your part to let Old Zhou come and give me remedial lessons?"

Emperor Zhou Weixi picked up a piece of mandarin fish meat, placed it on his rice, didn't speak, and merely curved the corners of his mouth slightly.

Xie Feng understood.

No, you bunch of bastards, don't go scheming on me too, hey!?

Before leaving, Emperor Zhou Weixi pulled a small cloth pouch out of his sleeve and placed it on the table.

The cloth pouch was not large, with no Seal whatsoever on the outside—just an ordinary blue cloth handkerchief tied up neatly.

Xie Feng took the cloth pouch and stuffed it into the inner pocket of his cloak, placing it together with the book of eibon he had just obtained from Tsathoggua.

Resting on either side of his chest, one book was payment for working for the emperor, and the other was a tip for delivering takeout to the God of Toads.

Emperor Zhou Weixi held a teacup in his hand and tilted his head to look at him:

"Unwrap the package after you get back; don't flip through it on the flying boat, or you'll get pricked by thorns again if you flip through a forbidden book."

"That joke is not funny at all, Your Majesty."

On the day he left the imperial capital, the Third Princess did not come to see him off; she seemed to be studying the route.

The Centurion stood at the entrance of the posthouse and handed over a tiny brocade pouch on her behalf.

It was a very ingenious veil that, once worn, happened to cover half of Xie Feng's face.

It could conceal the terrifying three-lobed eyeballs and empty eye sockets, exposing the normal nose and lips of the lower half.

"You know, I haven't worn one in so long, it feels a bit unusual." Xie Feng smiled and put on the veil. "Thank Her Highness for me."

Xie Feng finally took off his hood, now recovering half of his handsome young man appearance.

As for why it was only half?

Because the upper half of his face was still a bit horrifying.

As the flying boat ascended, the vermilion city walls of the imperial capital slowly shrank under the afternoon sunlight into a tiny dark red silhouette.

Suddenly, Xie Feng felt that the royal flying boat was like the skin of some living creature, breathing slowly and almost imperceptibly.

An illusion, right? After all, his mental state wasn't very good.

On this trip to the imperial capital, everything that needed to be done had been done, the remedial lessons that needed to be taken had been taken, the rewards that needed to be obtained had been obtained, and he had even effortlessly snagged an honorary third-rank title.

Now, returning home—returning to the Qingyun Sect!

Wen Heng had also prepared something for him over there.

The first thing to do after returning was to rest, have a good meal first, and talk about everything else later.

Xie Feng wanted to eat sesame flatbreads.

Right at the Qingyun Sect, however, a bit of a situation had occurred.