Walking by the Abyss on Thin Ice

Chapter 206 – I'm your brother

As they went higher in Dongdu, the more prosperous it became, and the more nobles and officials there were.

Su Yun observed that there were indeed many foreigners from overseas, some doing business and others teaching at private schools for prestigious families, all dressed in fine clothes and riding spirited horses.

Dongdu did indeed give preferential treatment to foreigners, who were given priority in everything.

However, there were also those in Dongdu who hated foreigners and saw the New Learning as heretical.

"I haven't been here long enough to see anything," Su Yun thought to himself. "I will observe for a while longer."

They arrived at the fifth level of Yuhuang Mountain and stopped outside Xianliang Courtyard.

The steward hurried over to greet them and register their names and origins before leading them to their lodgings in a small courtyard. "This is the Emperor's feet, not Shuofang. You must be careful," he warned. "If you offend anyone, even if you are an official, you could lose your life."

He raised a finger and said, "The first group you cannot offend are foreigners. The second group you cannot offend are Dongdu officials. The third group you cannot offend are the upper class of Dongdu. Even if they are just a janitor, they could be a fifth-rank official in the Prime Minister's family. Be careful not to offend them! As for the lower class of Dongdu, you don't need to worry about them."

Su Yun thanked him and sent him away.

Ye Luo said, "What the steward said is true. To the people of Dongdu, we are just country bumpkins. Even if we are officials who have achieved great things, we are still looked down upon."

Li Muge asked curiously, "Ye Luo, I heard you lived in Dongdu for a while. Did you develop the habit of scavenging everywhere while nodding and bowing there?"

Ye Luo smiled bitterly and said, "Let me tell you seriously. Dongdu is home to the most powerful clans in Yuanshuo. Their power is beyond your imagination, and they can control your life and death with ease! We also come from powerful clans and are considered wealthy and powerful in our hometown, but in Dongdu, there are countless clans like the Li and Ye families, and there are also hundreds of clans that surpass us. So we must be careful!"

Su Yun didn't take it seriously and said with a smile, "We didn't come to Dongdu to cause trouble. Muge and Zhuxian came to take the exam at the Tian Dao Academy, Wu Tong and Jiao Shu came to absorb the demonic energy here for cultivation, you and I came to pay our respects, and Dao Saint came back to report. Who would cause trouble for no reason?"

Ye Luo looked worried and said, "Let's hope nothing happens."

They settled down.

Dao Saint said with a smile, "I have a Taoist temple in Dongdu, so I won't disturb you here. Goodbye, goodbye. Su Master, if you have time, you can come to my Qingxu Temple to enjoy some tea."

As soon as they arrived outside Xianliang Courtyard, they suddenly heard people banging gongs and drums and running around, shouting, "The Emperor has changed the era name! The Emperor has changed the era name!"

Dao Saint looked surprised and stopped in his tracks, murmuring, "Changed the era name? Isn't it supposed to be changed on the first day of the new year? It's almost summer, why change it now?"

"The Emperor is blessed with heavenly fortune, has obtained immortal techniques, and has achieved eternal life. He has changed the era name from Yuanshou to Yuanshi! From this year on, it will be the first year of Yuanshi! "

Su Yun and Dao Saint saw people running around the streets and alleys, and they looked at each other in confusion.

Ye Luo, Wu Tong, and the others heard the commotion and came out to watch.

"The demonic energy here is so abundant that it can condense into water," Wu Tong said, wrinkling her nose and closing her eyes, looking intoxicated.In her Li Yuan, the rolling demonic energy was constantly shaking, extremely terrifying.

Dao Saint had a worried expression and whispered, "In the beginning of time... hehe, Your Majesty, do you plan to continue sitting on the throne even after becoming an immortal? It's one thing to rule the world for thousands of years, but if it's all done by one person, the royal family may not be able to sit still, let alone other clans and factions. The Emperor's immortality may not be a good thing..."

"Old Dao, this is precisely why the demonic nature is growing stronger."

Wu Tong said softly, "This is not caused by me, nor is it caused by my arrival. I was drawn here by the demonic energy and nature. Don't confuse cause and effect."

Dao Saint sighed and walked away.

Su Yun looked up at the highest point in the capital, the direction of the imperial palace, and silently thought, "Divine arts? Did Mr. Shuijing teach Emperor Di Ping the advanced levels of the Honglu technique and did Saint Xue pass on the Seven-Faced Heaven's Gate to him?"

He shook his head immediately, "It's impossible. Both of these people are old foxes and wouldn't just hand it over. They must be keeping an eye on the Emperor. Besides, Saint Xue only has the Seven-Faced Heaven's Gate. The eighth side is in my hands..."

He suddenly laughed and shook his head, turning to walk into the Xianliang Courtyard, thinking to himself, "Why am I bothering with these things? The first thing I came here for was to find the pen monster that Senior Lingdao had turned into, and the second thing was to see my parents. As for the rest, it's none of my business!"

This time, Emperor Di Ping summoned him to the capital, presumably for some reward, but Su Yun didn't care at all.

He took out a wooden box and gently urged it. The wooden box trembled slightly, and a green brick on the ground outside the Xianliang Courtyard quietly changed, revealing the pattern of the wooden box.

After doing all this, Su Yun yawned. They had traveled a long distance and arrived in the capital after many days of exhaustion. Everyone needed rest.

Late at night, Su Yun suddenly woke up and saw a paper man squeezed in through the window under the moonlight, standing on the windowsill and bowing, "Master, what are your orders?"

Su Yun looked at the small paper man in surprise, but still told him Su Ye's information, "Someone said they came to the capital from Shuofang seven years ago. Su Ye was arranged to study in the Imperial Academy. Can you find out?"

The paper man nodded, "This is simple. It can be found in the Ministry of Household. The Tongtian Pavilion has people there."

Su Yun relaxed and said again, "One hundred and fifty years ago, the Saint Cen in the Four Great Myths bought a pen monster that should have followed him in his cultivation. It's not a nameless person. Please also investigate the whereabouts of this pen monster."

The paper man agreed and left through the window, disappearing.

Su Yun lay down again.

On the way, Dao Saint told him about the origin of Lord Cen, but he didn't know much about the book monster that Senior Lingdao had turned into, so he could only ask the Tongtian Pavilion to investigate Senior Lingdao's whereabouts.

Su Yun woke up to bright daylight, washed up, had breakfast, and saw that Wu Tong, Li Zhuxian, Li Muge, and others had already left to explore the city.

Although he also wanted to go out and play, he had not yet received any news from the Tongtian Pavilion, so he had to stay in the Xianliang Courtyard.

He used his spiritual sense to observe the Tianmen Town imprint in his eyes, repeatedly urging the Seven-Faced Heaven's Gate to observe the imprint, and tried to deduce the unified technique of the Yuanling realm on his own.

The Honglu technique's transformation method for the Yuanling realm had already been taught to him by Qiu Shuijing, but he still needed to integrate the sensing chapters of the other twelve types of divine demons to truly master the unified technique of the Yuanling realm.

During these days, Su Yun had been working hard and had no time to complete this task.

On the way to the capital this time, he finally had the chance to calm down and try to create a new sensing chapter."He learned his foundational cultivation techniques from the scholars of the Heavenly Dao Academy. For Su Yun, studying the sculptures on the Chao Tian Terrace and comprehending the techniques was a first.

However, over the past few days, he had already roughly established the framework for the twelve new sensing techniques.

These twelve divine creatures were the Tian Peng, Da Kun, Jiu Feng, Zheng, Ning, Fei Yi, Bai Ze, Bi Xie, Zhu Yan, Lei Shen, Xiang Liu, and Gui Che.

He had to slowly study the forms of each divine creature, speculate on their physical structures, simulate the flow of their blood and qi, and even try to turn their forms into runes.

Transforming the forms of divine creatures into divine abilities was extremely difficult, but turning them into runes first made it much simpler.

Stamping the runes onto his divine abilities' Great Yellow Bell could greatly enhance their power.

In fact, to achieve all of this, he needed a mentor's guidance and assistance from fellow students to progress together. Trying to explore on his own would be an arduous and even painful task.

Fortunately, Su Yun had Ying Ying by his side, who he could consult with at any time.

Ying Ying had memorized all the books in the Heavenly Dao Academy's Wen Yuan Pavilion, and she could find a solution to any difficult problem in cultivation.

However, for Su Yun, Ying Ying's knowledge was limited to the Heavenly Dao Academy's books. Compared to Qiu Shuijing, who had witnessed the world's greatest techniques from ancient to modern times, Ying Ying was still lacking.

"If I have time, I should go see Mr. Shuijing. Even if I have to spend money, I must ask him to guide me with my new techniques."

After organizing his new techniques, Su Yun thought to himself, "East Capital is so big. Where should I go to find my parents or the leader of the team? I wonder if the Tong Tian Tower can help me find their whereabouts in East Capital?"

Although Su Yun was the leader of the Tong Tian Tower, its members were elusive, and he, as the leader, did not know the whereabouts of the others.

But fortunately, he knew how to contact the powerful members of the Tong Tian Tower!

He was contemplating when suddenly he felt something and opened his eyes, seeing a paper person standing silently in front of him.

"Master, I have found out."

The paper person bowed and said, "Seven years ago, Su Ye moved in with his family. Su Ye was arranged to take the entrance exam for the third-ranked East Capital Academy. This year, he plans to take the exam for the Heavenly Dao Academy..."

"East Capital Academy is ranked third in the world?"

Su Yun was surprised and said, "Mr. Shuijing told me that the Heavenly Dao Academy is first, the Tai Xue Academy is second, and the Wen Chang Academy is third. Mr. Shuijing shouldn't lie to me. Why do you say that East Capital Academy is ranked third?"

The paper person hesitated for a moment and said, "It is well known that there are more than a dozen third-ranked academies in various places in Yuan Shuo. But in East Capital, it is an accepted fact that East Capital Academy is ranked third."

Su Yun frowned and reluctantly said, "Okay. Then do you know the whereabouts of the Pen Monster from Master Cen?"

The paper person said, "Master Cen is a great sage of Confucianism. A fellow daoist of the Tong Tian Tower is in Confucianism and has informed us that Master Cen did have a Pen Monster, which later turned into a human and became Master Cen's disciple, Dan Qing."

Su Yun was greatly excited and laughed, "Knowing his whereabouts is good!"

In his spiritual realm, the book monster Ying Ying was also greatly excited.

"...Twenty years ago, Dan Qing was killed." The paper person continued.

Su Yun and Ying Ying were stunned. "Dan Qing is dead?"

"He suspected that Emperor Ai's death was not natural, so he investigated and died under suspicious circumstances."

Su Yun frowned. "Who killed him?"The paper man shook his head and said, "The headless case still has no result to this day. But since then, Cen Sheng has left the capital and his whereabouts are unknown."

Su Yun was lost in thought. Cen Sheng's immortal charm was still in his sleeve, did he leave the capital to investigate Dan Qing's death?

But why did Cen Sheng choose to hang himself under the crooked-necked willow tree outside Tianmen Town?

He clenched his fists, then slowly relaxed them. "I should go see my parents and my younger brother first, and fulfill one wish."

Soon after, he arrived at the bottom of the capital and found his parents' residence. He saw that the elderly couple did not live the wealthy life he had imagined, but were struggling financially.

Qu Jinq and Qu Taichang gave them a lot of money back then, but they were still fishermen without any skills. They were barely making a living with Su Ye's help.

Su Yun walked past them without being recognized. He arrived at the gate of the Imperial College and waited for a long time. Su Ye finally finished class.

He watched the young man who looked somewhat like him walk past him, and suddenly his hatred towards his parents vanished.

"Hey!" Su Yun called out to Su Ye and threw a bag of Qing Hong coins at him before turning and leaving.

"Who are you? Why are you giving me money?" Su Ye was stunned.

"I'm your brother!" Su Yun waved his hand and walked into the crowd.