Chapter 52: Chapter 50: Watching Flowers Bloom and Fall, Clouds Gather and Scatter
Du Youqian didn’t play any games like going on an inspection tour in disguise. Instead, with great fanfare, he piloted his Flying Boat with Little Fatty Guo Mingsheng aboard and flew directly to the City Lord’s Mansion in Wenzhe City.
The City Lord and a contingent of administrators, having received the news in advance, were already waiting outside the mansion with a hundred beautiful maids.
As Du Youqian’s Flying Boat slowly descended, hundreds of people, led by the City Lord, bowed down in unison.
"We respectfully welcome the Upper Envoy!"
A Cultivator who had only focused on arduous cultivation and had little experience with the world, upon encountering such a spectacle, would likely be struck by the sweet taste of power. They might become arrogant, and even their Dao Heart might begin to waver.
Du Youqian, naturally, was not like that.
In that lifetime, he had wielded absolute power in the Wu Kingdom.
It would be an understatement to say he was second only to one, because even the Emperor was the ruler of the Wu Kingdom in name only.
If he had wished, dethroning and enthroning emperors would have been a trivial matter.
In that lifetime, he had already seen through it all. He no longer clung to such things, aspiring only for the Great Dao.
Let alone now.
Power and wealth were nothing but passing clouds to him.
Du Youqian gave a faint nod. His gaze swept over the crowd, piercing through their expressions—be they respectful, fawning, indifferent, or feigning seriousness—to see the thoughts churning in many of their minds.
Not that seeing through them had any real meaning.
He wasn’t here to fight for power or profit, after all.
So what if the flags of rulership on the city walls changed?
He only needed to sit in his courtyard and watch the flowers bloom and fall, to gaze at the sky and watch the clouds gather and disperse.
"All of you, rise. I am a man who pursues quiet Cultivation. If you have no business, do not disturb me. If something comes up, report it to the City Lord. If the City Lord cannot resolve it, then you may come to me. But if you disturb my Cultivation, then regardless of whether you are right or wrong, I will punish you."
With that one statement, he set the tone.
I’m not here to solve your problems.
Those of you who are ambitious shouldn’t even think about using me as a banner to eliminate your rivals.
Play your games amongst yourselves. Don’t waste my time.
And if you piss me off, I don’t care if you’re righteous or evil—I’ll punish you both all the same.
Was this a good thing?
For Wenzhe City, of course not.
For certain administrators with their own little schemes, it wasn’t a good thing either.
But it was good for Du Youqian.
He hadn’t really come here to be a babysitter.
He was just using the opportunity of serving as a Garrison to escape his burdensome Alchemy and Artifact Refining duties.
The City Lord, Civil Servants, and Officers exchanged glances, but they weren’t particularly surprised.
After all, over the past few thousand years, many Garrisons had behaved this way. It was nothing new.
They had long since developed a formula for dealing with Garrisons.
Regardless of whether the Garrison was greedy or lecherous, a power-monger or a quietist, focused on arduous cultivation or fond of pleasure...
...they had a way to handle them.
In short, each side would get what they wanted. The Garrison would get what he desired, and the administrative officials would get what they desired.
The Garrison would be satisfied, and so would they.
As for the city’s residents? They had to be satisfied, too.
Even if they weren’t, they had to be.
Everyone was satisfied.
It was just that this time, some people were causing an outrageous amount of trouble.
They had actually been secretly hoping for a stronger Garrison this time, one who would clean things up for them.
But... alas, it was all up to fate.
The Lord Guardian had already made such a blatant threat; they truly didn’t dare disturb his peaceful cultivation.
They had no right to ask the Zhongxuan Sect to send a different Garrison.
And it was even less possible to make the Lord Guardian have an "accident" like a Mortal, such as "slipping and falling into water," "succumbing to a long illness," or "dying suddenly in his sleep."
They could only think of another way.
* * *
Two months had passed since he arrived in Wenzhe City, and Du Youqian still hadn’t set foot outside, single-mindedly focusing on arduous cultivation... Cultivation my ass.
Back at the Sect, he had spent every day on arduous cultivation and Alchemy. Now that he had finally escaped his cage, it was natural to go a little wild.
Of course, for someone who had lived for over two hundred years, the hardest thing to find in this world was a sense of novelty.
All the extravagant pleasures the world adored and envied—beautiful women and fine wine, passionate love affairs, fancy carriages and fine steeds, thrilling hunts... none of it held any novelty for Du Youqian anymore.
In this world, where the existence of Cultivators had caused societal and technological development to be surprisingly slow, time sometimes felt as if the pause button had been pressed.
Du Youqian even suspected that if he went into seclusion for a thousand years, he wouldn’t see anything new when he opened his eyes.
Thus, Du Youqian’s version of "going wild" was merely dismantling a few interesting Arrays and studying several types of Elixirs that, while not cost-effective enough for the Sect to have him mass-produce, were still somewhat interesting.
It also involved sneaking past the large group of male and female servants waiting at the entrance to his residence, ready to serve him at a moment’s notice, as well as the spies from various factions mixed in among them.
He would disguise himself and meet up with Little Fatty, who would then lead him around the city to get a basic understanding of the situation and avoid being duped like a fool.
Little Fatty, on the other hand, loved those simple pleasures. Like a fish back in water, he had even started neglecting his Cultivation.
If Du Youqian didn’t seek him out, the ultimate social butterfly would probably spend his days snuggled in the arms of beauties in the brothels, eating and drinking at old, famous restaurants, or drinking and boasting with newly-met street thugs, watching plays and playing cards for days and nights on end.
As a friend, Du Youqian offered him a few words of advice about this.
When he didn’t listen, Du Youqian couldn’t be bothered to persuade him further.
If the opportunity arose, Du Youqian wouldn’t hesitate to give him a rude awakening. If it didn’t, then that was simply his fate—to have no affinity with the Dao.
Seeing Little Fatty so lost in a life of debauchery and pleasure, Du Youqian grew a bit annoyed.
Deciding it was a case of "out of sight, out of mind," he soon stopped having Little Fatty act as his guide and began to move about on his own.
One day, Du Youqian arrived at the City Lord’s Mansion and walked right between the two soldiers at the gate.
The two soldiers happened to look up at a crow flying by and didn’t see him at all.
He passed through the garden, followed a covered walkway, and headed deeper into the complex.
He was clearly just strolling along, yet every time the gaze of an overt or hidden guard was about to fall on him, they would invariably look away for one reason or another.
Even when he brushed past a sentry, the other party remained completely unaware.
Just like that, as if moving through an uninhabited land, he made his way to an unremarkable small building, then leaped lightly onto its roof.
He casually set up a small Array to conceal his aura.
With a slight circulation of his energy, the sounds of conversation from within the small building became clear to his ears.
He then sat down with a flourish and took a palm-sized Jade Gourd from his Storage Treasure Pouch.
He uncorked the red Warm Jade stopper, and the aroma of wine immediately filled the air.
Thankfully, the Array concealed it; otherwise, the fragrance might have been strong enough to get the people inside the building drunk.
Du Youqian’s mouth began to water. He smiled, tilted his head back, and took a few big gulps. GULP, GULP, GULP. A sense of tranquility immediately washed over him, from the inside out.
He stilled, savoring the feeling of complete relaxation as his ears caught the conversation coming from the small building.
Listening to stories as an accompaniment to his wine was a habit he had developed many years ago.
Only after the conversation in the building ended and everyone had left did Du Youqian sway to his feet, dismantle the Concealment Array, and leave the City Lord’s Mansion.
As he walked, he mused to himself, ’Some people are getting a little too out of line. It’s time to clean them up. Otherwise, if things really blow up, I, the Garrison, will have to take the fall. Although the Sect won’t be too harsh on me—even if something major happens, they’ll probably just give me a slap on the wrist—it would still be a loss of face.’
’According to their description, it seems some other power is pulling the strings from behind the scenes. Who should I get to test the waters and walk into the minefield? Hmm, Little Fatty would be perfect. He’s tough, and I hear that place is full of beautiful women. That should make him happy.’
