"Supervisor Fei must have told you that you could leave?" Li Qingxian asked.
"Yes. But we wanted to wait for you. Now that you’re safe, we’ll continue on to survey the mines. Until we meet again!"
Shen Xiaoyi cupped her fist in her palm toward Li Qingxian, then left with Xiaohua.
Qiu Ye also cupped his fist in his palm and said with a smile, "Thank you for your help, Brother Li. Once we’re back in the Divine Capital and have the chance, I’ll host and treat you to a meal to express my gratitude."
Li Qingxian was about to refuse, but then he remembered this man knew Zhou Henn and was from the lineage of a Founding Prince. He smiled faintly. "Alright."
Shen Xiaoyi and Qiu Ye left ahead of him. Li Qingxian watched Shen Xiaoyi’s retreating figure, lost in thought for a long while.
Before long, Fei Yan’s shrill voice rang out from nearby. "Master Xiaoli, you made it out? Thank heavens, thank heavens! I’m so glad to see you!"
Fei Yan hurried over.
Li Qingxian turned to look at him. Fei Yan’s hair was a mess, his face was grimy, and his body was covered in dust and sand. Mud caked both his legs.
Li Qingxian said, "Lord Fei, personally digging in the dirt... If Duke Lu saw this, he would surely praise your diligence."
Fei Yan gave an awkward smile. "That’s just for show. Between us, there’s no need for such talk. I knew you’d be alright. I didn’t want to trouble you, but these are our brothers from the Factory Guard. Every life we can save counts, and we still need your Fate Skill."
"It’s my bounden duty," Li Qingxian said.
Li Qingxian followed Fei Yan up the mountain, using his Fate Skill to find the safest route while the Daoist and Puppet Cultivators cleared away the rubble.
They worked nonstop for three full days, digging out one person after another.
None of the Middle Grade experts died, though most suffered injuries from the collapse.
Some of the Lower Grade experts died, as did more than half of the Ungraded personnel.
For three days, the Imperial Court sent no Upper-Grade Daoist Cultivators or Upper-Grade Puppet Cultivators, making the rescue efforts excruciatingly slow.
After the last living Factory Guard was pulled from the rubble, all the Daoist and Puppet Cultivators involved in the rescue withdrew. The work was then handed over to Civilian Laborers, who would continue to excavate slowly, as if it were a mine.
While on the mountain, Li Qingxian received piecemeal updates from Zhou Henn about the situation in Divine Capital City.
Due to the Celestial Prison break, Emperor Taining flew into a rage. Officials from various major factions seized the opportunity to besiege the Ministry of Justice.
In the end, both the Left and Right Vice Ministers were replaced, and the majority of officials in the Ministry of Justice’s Prison Department were dismissed from their posts.
A new post, Supervisor, was established within the Prison Department overseeing the Celestial Prison, with the appointee to be chosen by the Internal Factory.
The Night Guard had suffered grievous casualties, yet no one seemed to care. It was as if, in the eyes of the Imperial Court and its ministers, attacking the Ministry of Justice and celebrating the Emperor’s birthday were more important.
Li Qingxian did not withdraw. Instead, he relied on his Fate Skill, first locating the bodies of all their fallen comrades. Then, using Inference, he plotted out safe excavation routes and drew a detailed map marking them.
The Internal Factory issued one order after another, demanding Li Qingxian lead his men back to the Divine Capital to ensure its security during the Holy Emperor’s birthday celebrations.
Li Qingxian stalled for three days.
Only after three days, during which the Civilian Laborers excavated along his designated routes without a single collapse or incident, did Li Qingxian finally depart.
Li Qingxian and the remaining men of Class A set out, a lonely contingent on the road. Passing through Beichang County, they picked up Yu Ping and his men.
Class A had arrived with over a hundred men. They suffered no casualties in battle, yet half their number were killed by the Ministry of Justice.
They had arrived on horseback, and on horseback they returned.
But at the rear of their column, the saddles were empty.
As they journeyed back to the capital, dark clouds gathered, and the sky grew dim.
When the Class A contingent reached Night Guard Street, they found it lined with people on both sides.
Rows of anxious, ashen faces stared back at them, like withered sunflowers standing at attention.
The crowd surged forward.
The men of Class A quickly dismounted to find their families. But the rest of the crowd, a sea of family members, craned their necks, their gazes fixed on the end of the road, trying to look past the city walls, toward Changg Mountain.
"Sir, why hasn’t my Li Wa come back? They said you were the last group to return. Is he in Beichang County, recovering from his injuries?"
"Has anyone seen our Dazhuang? He’s big and tall, the one with the really dark eyebrows."
"Father..."
"My son... my son... my son..." a blind old woman mumbled over and over. She grabbed hold of anyone who came near, felt their face, then moved on to the next person, felt their face, and moved on again...
The blind woman came to Li Qingxian, first grabbing his sleeve, then expertly reaching up to feel his face.
Li Qingxian bent down, letting the woman’s rough hands trace the features of his face.
"My son..." The blind woman’s hands left Li Qingxian. Tilting her head back, she reached for Han Anbo.
Han Anbo bent down.
Her hands moved to Zhou Henn, who bent at the knees and waist.
Then she reached for Yu Ping, who hastily bent down.
"This child has a blessed face. That’s good..." the blind woman murmured. Her hands left Yu Ping’s cheeks and moved on to the next person.
Yu Ping clenched his jaw as two lines of tears streamed silently down his cheeks.
Li Qingxian walked slowly forward. When he reached the entrance to the Night Guard Office, he turned to look back at the families lining the street. They remained like two rows of withered, yet upright, sunflowers, a dense crowd gazing northward.
Li Qingxian clenched his fists, walked into the Night Guard Office, and entered Chunfeng Inn.
Zhou Chunfeng sat behind his desk, his brush flying across the paper.
Li Qingxian stepped across the threshold. "Have the Imperial Censors not impeached the Ministry of Justice for burying our men at Changg Mountain?"
Zhou Chunfeng looked up. His once-fair face was covered with a faint, ashen pallor, his eyes webbed with fine, red veins.
Zhou Henn said, "Lord Zhou has not slept in days."
Li Qingxian nodded. "Uncle Zhou, please take care of yourself."
"Ahem..." Zhou Chunfeng suppressed a cough, his voice even hoarser than usual. "I am copying the list of the fallen."
With that, he lowered his head and resumed writing.
Chunfeng Inn fell silent.
After a long while, Zhou Chunfeng set down his brush and looked up.
"The Holy Emperor’s grand birthday celebration is imminent," Zhou Chunfeng said, picking up a porcelain cup to take a sip of water. "All inauspicious memorials to the throne have been suppressed."
Li Qingxian froze for a moment. His eyes darkened, and he said without expression, "That’s right. Far too inauspicious. We can’t let the Emperor be tainted by the slightest misfortune. His Majesty and the great lords are the kindest of hearts; they can’t bear to look upon such filth."
"Tell me what happened," Zhou Chunfeng said, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes.
Li Qingxian nodded and recounted the events in detail.
By the time he finished, Zhou Chunfeng was breathing heavily, a soft snore escaping his nose.
Li Qingxian and Zhou Henn exchanged a glance and waited in silence.
After a long while, the eyeballs beneath Zhou Chunfeng’s lids twitched. He opened his eyes, the bloodshot veins in them having faded slightly.
"Did I fall asleep?" An apologetic expression crossed Zhou Chunfeng’s face.
"What do you make of this matter?" Zhou Chunfeng asked.
"The Demon Sect harmed our Night Guard. We cannot let this rest." Li Qingxian’s words rang with conviction.
"You have a way?"
Li Qingxian took a ledger with a cyan cover from his Qiankun Bracelet and placed it on Zhou Chunfeng’s desk.
Zhou Chunfeng seemed to recall something. "No one must ever know what happened in that cave," he said as he flipped through the ledger. "Handle it with discretion."
Li Qingxian nodded.
Zhou Chunfeng looked through the ledger for a good while before heaving a sigh. He continued to flip through the pages. "I never imagined the Demon Sect elements within the Ministry of Justice were so thoroughly infiltrated by Nether Mountain, especially those from Demon Transformation Mountain. But you’ve seen the Demon Sect’s methods for yourself. This is something I can handle, but you cannot be seen to be involved. Rest assured, though. With your merits from Beichen City and Beichang County, it will be enough to grant you the rank of Qi Fortune Seventh Grade."
"Can I at least go with you to the Ministry of Justice to make the arrests?" Li Qingxian asked.
Zhou Chunfeng’s brow furrowed slightly. "I’ll discuss it with Lord Yan. Once everything is arranged, the two of us will personally go to the Ministry of Justice to take them into custody. You can follow along in the crowd. Just don’t be the one to stick your neck out."