Chapter 37: Ruyi Pavilion

For the next two days, Lin Jiangnian instead found himself with quite a bit of leisure.

When he woke in the morning, the servants waiting upon him had been replaced by the two maids from before. From their lips, he learned that Xiaozhu did not dare to come.

He heard she had been summoned away by Zhiyuan.

Lin Jiangnian naturally understood the reason. Zhiyuan was clearly shielding that little maid, and at the same time, was this a sort of... provocation toward him, the Heir of the Prince of Lin?

Presently, Lin Jiangnian's status and foundation were unstable, and he lacked the qualification to lock horns with her for the time being. Therefore, he did not plan to bicker with her further.

He would ledger this debt down for now!

Changing clothes, washing up, and dining!

After finishing breakfast, Lin Jiangnian strolled casually within the Prince's Estate. While walking, he memorized the routes of the large and small buildings throughout the estate. Nestled against the foot of the mountains, the Prince's Estate was not only massive and densely populated, but its scenery was also uniquely striking. Even with a sweeping glance, it was among the most magnificent within the entire Great Ning Dynasty. After walking a full circle, Lin Jiangnian had not even managed to cover half of the estate.

However, Lin Jiangnian did manage to subtly probe and discover the location of the estate's Pavilion of Scriptures from the lips of a resident maid.

Situated between two mountains beneath towering ridges, high mountains and flowing waters formed several rivers. The rivers ultimately converged to form a huge deep pool. A thousand meters deep and bottomless, it was named the Sun and Moon Pool.

Suspended above the pool sat a pavilion. The pavilion had a total of seven floors, decorated with breathtaking beauty, rising high and solemn. Outside the pavilion, guards and martial arts experts were deployed all around to watch over and guard it.

Here lay the location of the Scripture Pavilion of the Prince of Lin's Estate.

The Ruyi Tower!

The name of the Ruyi Tower, so the story went, was chosen because years ago when the Prince of Lin, Lin Hengzhong, was traveling through the jianghu, he encountered an exalted master and gained a sudden flash of insight under the master's guidance. Later, when building the pavilion, he named it Ruyi Tower, signifying everything going according to one's desires!

Within this Ruyi Tower were collected the jianghu martial arts manuals, supreme arts, peerless weapons, rare medicinal herbs and elixirs, stratagems of civil and military strategy from across the world, and even military tactics and treatises on statecraft amassed by the Prince's Estate over the years...

The entire tower was all-inclusive, functioning like a treasury containing everything one could possibly imagine, preserving countless treasures from every corner of the world.

There had always been rumors in the world that the Ruyi Tower housed unimaginable, rare medicinal herbs and treasures!

Fifteen years ago, the Prince of Lin led an army to suppress a rebellion and annihilate the region of Miaojiang, destroying the imperial family of Miaojiang and sweeping away all the treasures stored within the Miaojiang imperial palace.

It was rumored that the soil within Miaojiang was fertile, growing and cultivating all kinds of exotic treasures and nearly extinct rare medicinal herbs from across the world. Moreover, the imperial family of Miaojiang excelled generation after generation in medical arts and poison-making.

When the nation of Miaojiang fell, the heart-blood treasures of the entire Miaojiang imperial household naturally fell into the possession of the Prince of Lin's Estate. Rumor had it that after plundering these exotic treasures, Lin Hengzhong stored them within the Ruyi Tower.

Learning of this news, Lin Jiangnian felt somewhat moved.

Aside from martial arts manuals, Lin Jiangnian was equally interested in those rare medicinal herbs!

At present, the Gu poison planted by the woman in red still lingered inside his body, threatening his life at any moment. This Gu poison was hard to detect and difficult to remove.

Ordinary antidotes were probably completely useless. If the Ruyi Tower truly was as rumors described, housing the world's exotic and rare medicinal herbs and elixirs, perhaps he could find the cure for the Gu poison there?

However, after a brief burst of excitement, Lin Jiangnian quickly calmed down!

Even though he knew of the Ruyi Tower's existence, another difficult problem lay right before his eyes.

How to enter the Ruyi Tower?

As the Heir of the Prince of Lin, entering and leaving the Ruyi Tower naturally should not have been difficult.

The trouble was...

The former Heir of the Prince of Lin had never been interested in this Ruyi Tower. To that heir's eyes, the treasures collected inside the Ruyi Tower were not even as interesting as those few banned books in his bedchamber.

Therefore, for all these years, the former heir had practically never set foot in the Ruyi Tower.

This point was ferreted out by Lin Jiangnian from the estate maids. Because of this, matters became somewhat tricky.

The Heir of the Prince of Lin had virtually never gone up to the Ruyi Tower. If Lin Jiangnian were to head there rashly, it would be hard not to attract attention. Especially that Zhiyuan... she would probably suspect something at the very first instance.

Therefore, although his heart was urgent, Lin Jiangnian knew he could not rush things.

If he wanted to enter the Ruyi Tower openly and aboveboard, he needed an excuse—a perfectly reasonable justification that would not arouse suspicion!

***

Temporarily unable to enter the Ruyi Tower, Lin Jiangnian did not idle about either. He used the past two days to thoroughly familiarize himself with the estate, memorized the faces and appearances of many people within the household, and likewise gathered more information.

Information concerning the Prince of Lin's Estate, and information concerning the current political landscape of the Great Ning Dynasty.

The situation within the Prince's Estate was rather simple: the Princess Consort had passed away early, and the Prince of Lin had not taken any other wives or concubines. The Heir of the Prince of Lin had no brothers or sisters. As the sole son of the Prince, he enjoyed every advantage of heaven, earth, and man, standing at the very peak of life from birth.

Barring any accidents, if the Prince of Lin were to pass away in the future, this heir would logically inherit the title through hereditary succession, continuing to inherit the territory of the Lin family in Linzhou just like the Prince of Xu in Xuzhou up north.

Unfortunately, that former heir's life was simply too short, which instead ended up benefiting Lin Jiangnian.

As for the current landscape of the Great Ning Dynasty, it could be described as extremely complex!

Nominally, the dynasty was unified within its borders, but strictly speaking, the excessive power of local authorities severely hindered centralized imperial power.

In particular, the two different-surnamed princes of the north and south held the greatest power: the Prince of Lin, entrenched in Linzhou, and the Prince of Xu in Xuzhou up north, jointly referred to by the people of the world as the Northern and Southern Princes. The two different-surnamed princes maintained their own armies and posed a tremendous hidden danger to the dynasty.

In recent years, the imperial court had consistently and eagerly sought to weaken the military power in the hands of the two men, and even pursued the abolition of the vassal states.

Yet the effect was negligible!

The reason boiled down to the fact that, aside from the immense power of the two different-surnamed princes which could not be easily shaken, it was also heavily tied to the internal affairs of the imperial court.

Several years ago, the Emperor of the Great Ning Dynasty suddenly fell gravely ill and failed to recover after prolonged treatment. After ordering the Crown Prince to supervise the state, the Emperor went into seclusion deep within the imperial palace and rarely showed his face in recent years.

Within the imperial court, although the Crown Prince possessed decent competence, his foundation was ultimately weak and he was unable to hold together the grand situation. Various factions within the court surged with undercurrents, finding it difficult to unite in a single heart.

Furthermore, when the Emperor went into seclusion, he had an immensely trusted eunuch by his side responsible for transmitting the imperial decrees. Palace eunuchs inherently possessed no political power, but perhaps out of fear for his own safety, or perhaps to monitor the court, the Emperor handed over the supreme authority of the dynasty's Heavenly Mystery Department to him before entering seclusion.

Armed with the authority over the Heavenly Mystery Department, the eunuch's power grew day by day, gradually beginning to influence the situation of the imperial court.

Thus, eunuchs were gradually throwing the state into chaos!

Presently, the political landscape of the imperial court could be said to be divided into three parts: headed by the Crown Prince's faction, the aged eunuch controlling the Heavenly Mystery Department, and the officials of the two dynasties mutually checking, confronting, and engaging in covert struggles with one another.

The landscape of the Great Ning Dynasty had nothing to do with Lin Jiangnian; the only person he cared about was the dynasty's Eldest Princess.

After all, she shared an engagement with the Heir of the Prince of Lin.

Regarding the background of that Eldest Princess, Lin Jiangnian did not know much, having only caught wind of a tiny fraction from Xu Lan's previous words.

The Great Ning Dynasty engaging in a political marriage, marrying the Eldest Princess to the Heir of the Prince of Lin, was evidently a form of appeasement and co-optation.

However, whether it was genuine co-optation or harbored other motives remained unclear. Political marriages usually carried profound underlying meanings!

What interested Lin Jiangnian was not that Eldest Princess, but rather something Xu Lan had mentioned... that Eldest Princess was an expert of the Second Grade Heavenly Mystery realm?

Just how strong was the Second Grade Heavenly Mystery realm?

Lin Jiangnian had no concept of it, but he figured it was definitely something bottom-feeders like the ninth-grade Xu Lan had no business trying to provoke.

Lin Jiangnian harbored a desire to learn more, but he found that no one here could resolve his doubts.

The woman in red still had not returned, and the maidservants in the estate knew nothing about martial arts. As for going to ask Zhiyuan?

That was entirely unrealistic!

The only person who might perhaps resolve Lin Jiangnian's doubts was probably... Xu Lan?

However, ever since the incident that day, Xu Lan had not shown her face for two days.

It seemed that day's affair had left a considerable psychological shadow on her; she no longer came to the Prince of Lin's Estate, but she had not broken her word either, keeping Lin Jiangnian's identity a secret.

A delicate balance was maintained between the two of them, each holding the other's weakness and preserving a tacit understanding.

Still, this was for the best!

Just when Lin Jiangnian thought that girl wouldn't dare to come again for a short while—

After an absence of two days, Xu Lan paid another visit.

***

Seeing Xu Lan once again, Lin Jiangnian was somewhat surprised.

"Why have you come?"

"Can't this young lady come?"

Xu Lan crossed her arms, casting a sidelong glance at him with a disdainful look in her eyes, alongside the arrogance of *this young lady comes and goes as she pleases*.

The familiar expression, the familiar savage tone.

"Fine, of course you can."

Lin Jiangnian spread his hands, glanced at her, and chuckled slightly: "Then Eldest Miss Xu, what brings you the honor of your presence today?"

"Naturally, to settle accounts with you!"

Xu Lan sneered, her gaze falling upon Lin Jiangnian as a flash of complicated emotion seemed to cross her mind.

Staring down at Lin Jiangnian from her superior height, she sneered: "You wouldn't think what happened a couple of days ago is just going to be let go like this, would you?"

Lin Jiangnian was stunned. He raised his eyes to look at Xu Lan's persistent expression, feeling somewhat blank: "A couple of days ago? Did something happen?"

"Bang!"

In a fit of anger, Xu Lan slammed a hand down onto the table and fumed, "Stop playing the fool with this young lady!"

"This young lady is here today to settle accounts with you!!"

***

Side courtyard.

Zhiyuan sat beneath the eaves, quietly flipping through the intelligence reports sent over by the servants.

Although she was merely a maid of the estate, nearly all decisions regarding major and minor affairs within the estate rested in her hands.

A few days ago, the Prince's Heir was assassinated, implicating quite a few factions within Linjiang City. Yet as the investigation unraveled behind the scenes, it revealed that the matter was far from as simple as it seemed.

"Ultimately, who could it be?"

Zhiyuan fell silent, her eyes turning slightly cold.

Her duty and mission were to safeguard the safety of the Heir, and this time the Heir had been assassinated and frightened—it was her dereliction of duty.

Dragging the mastermind hiding behind the scenes out into the light had become the most important matter at hand for her. Nowadays, the imperial court's cries for abolishing the vassal states were growing louder day by day, and the gazes of those people had naturally locked onto the Heir.

The Heir was the Prince's only son; if any mishap befell him, the massive family enterprise of the Prince of Lin's Estate would likely be left with no one to inherit it.

Thinking of this, Zhiyuan lowered her gaze, saying nothing.

At that moment, a maid hurried into view beneath the eaves.

"Miss, Miss Xu has arrived. She went to find the Heir..."

Zhiyuan raised her eyes slightly, pausing for a moment: "What business does she have with the Heir?"

"Un—unclear, but... Miss Xu seems very angry, saying she's come to settle accounts with the Heir..."

The maid lowered her voice: "Just a moment ago, Miss Xu dragged the Heir out of the estate, saying she was going to, going to..."

Zhiyuan's eyes constricted: "Going where?"

"The brothel."

***