Heavy snow fell like goose feathers outside.
The apothecary was cold and deserted.
Su Chen had built a simple coffin. He placed Chen Ge's aged body inside, along with the earthenware pot containing three hundred taels of silver. After a three-day vigil, he would bury him.
"Master Xu, our condolences."
"All these years, we lowly folk have received so much care from you and Elder Chen. This is a small token from us. If you bribe Steward Li, you should be able to get Elder Chen buried outside the city..."
Several little eunuchs placed a small bundle in front of Su Chen. After offering a few words of comfort and helping with some arrangements, they prepared to leave.
The bundle was heavy.
It was clearly full of copper coins and loose bits of silver, all saved up by these palace maids and eunuchs who scrimped and saved while enduring constant exploitation.
In the Imperial Palace, life was worse than death if you didn't have silver for bribes and tributes.
"I don't want the silver."
"I just want to know what happened a few nights before Elder Chen died, when I went to the Library Pavilion."
Elder Chen's illness was suspicious.
He should have had ten years left to live, but his lifespan was completely drained. He fell ill overnight, and then he died.
The stench of a decaying body.
He had withered and aged in an instant.
It was all too similar to what had happened to Zhang Gui.
"This..."
The little eunuchs looked at each other, clearly knowing something.
In response, Su Chen slowly closed the coffin lid. His eyes were calm as he poured each of the little eunuchs before him a cup of hot tea.
"Ning, three years ago, you were beaten until your skin split open just for breaking a noble's wine cup. If Elder Chen hadn't applied medicine and taken care of you, you would have died that night."
"And you, Li. You stole a jar of Elder Chen's medicinal wine. It was the aphrodisiac baijiu a Grandmaster Imperial Guard wanted. If Elder Chen hadn't covered for you, that Grandmaster Imperial Guard would have found an excuse to beat you to death long ago."
As Su Chen spoke, the two little eunuchs lowered their heads in shame.
Then, Su Chen turned to the last little eunuch, who still held his head high. Su Chen's eyes deepened as he continued.
"Jiyun, it's true you don't owe Elder Chen anything."
"But you owe me."
"I saved your life, and you still owe me silver!"
The three little eunuchs were filled with shame, but they still gritted their teeth and tried to persuade him.
"Master Xu."
"We're just little eunuchs. We can't fight the stewards."
"Besides, the steward has people above him."
"You're a Black-robed Eunuch, and everyone might call you Master Xu, but you can't really act like you're a master in this Imperial Palace. You may not care about your life, but we brothers do..."
"Don't ask anymore. Elder Chen just caught a cold and died from his illness..."
After speaking, Jiyun finished the tea on the table and, leading the other two little eunuchs, prepared to take his leave.
"Three... two..."
The next moment, the three little eunuchs collapsed, their expressions dazed.
Su Chen had added something to the tea.
Soon, the full story came tumbling out.
In fact, old eunuchs like Elder Chen who died so suddenly were not uncommon in the Imperial Palace recently. Everyone assumed that the heavy snow had simply caused more of the old eunuchs to freeze to death.
But Jiyun knew something.
Before their sudden deaths, all these old eunuchs had been summoned by one person: the Blue-robed Steward in charge of the eunuch registry, Li Xi.
Su Chen let out a long, mournful sigh.
Wooden Beard-like tentacles writhed across his body.
In an instant, he transformed, once again taking on the appearance of the nameless Third Grade nobody who had startled the Emperor a few nights prior.
'A Black-robed Eunuch?'
'I am, but I'm also not.'
'Elder Chen was sharp-tongued but soft-hearted. He looked after me in this apothecary for three years, taught me how to cultivate herbs and the principles of medicine. I saved up three hundred taels of silver, intending to give it to him for his retirement when I left the palace, to repay him for being my master...'
'But why couldn't things just go my way...?'
'Why did I have to witness the death of someone I knew...?'
At that moment, Su Chen stepped out of the apothecary.
WHOOSH—
The cold wind blew relentlessly.
Su Chen glanced at the cold sun, obscured by the wind and snow, and rubbed his palms together.
'Someone is going to die today!'
'Maybe just one. Or maybe, many people will die.'
...
...
「Imperial Case Library.」
The lamplight flickered.
An aged eunuch in a blue robe sat cross-legged on a cushion, breathing in and out plumes of black and white Qi. In an instant, the Qi inside him surged violently.
His aura, which had been at the late stage of the Fourth Grade Violent Qi Realm, instantly broke through to the Peak of the Violent Qi Realm.
"It's working!"
"The effect is too strong!"
"Eunuch Mu, this mysterious scroll fragment, combined with the Life-taking Secret Technique, actually works! In just three short days, I've climbed all the way from Early Fourth Grade to Fourth Grade Perfection..."
"If I can just devour a few more people, I might even have a shot at reaching Third-Grade Gang Condensation..."
Li Xi was ecstatic, unable to stop himself from crying out in a low voice.
One must understand, to go from Early Fourth Grade to Fourth Grade Perfection would take even a Martial Arts Prodigy at least three months.
And he had done it in only three days.
The only price was the lives of a few old eunuchs.
"Thank you, Eunuch Mu, for granting me this technique."
"I will be sure to serve you with utmost loyalty!"
Li Xi said with devotion.
PFFT!
The next instant, his eyes widened. He looked down in disbelief at the hand that had just pierced through his chest. Before him stood Chief Steward Mu Xuan, clad in a red robe, his hair snow-white. He was covering his mouth and nose with a silk handkerchief, his face a mask of disgust.
"I was just using you for an experiment."
"Do you know what this is? This is the Heaven-Devouring Demon Technique, obtained from the Demon Monster Mountain Range by the world's number one Purple Robe, Zhang Gui. Even if this is just a fragment, it's not something trash like you can even dream of touching..."
Li Xi was dead.
'This Life Borrowing Secret Technique is useful...'
'It seems what that person said was true. The deal with him can continue.'
Mu Xuan took the secret technique fragment from Li Xi's body. With a cold smile, he turned to leave.
Just then, a gust of cold wind swept in from the window.
Somehow, the window had opened.
"Who's there?"
Mu Xuan's gaze darkened. He looked to the side and was startled to see a black figure now standing in front of the dead Li Xi.
His eyes were like ice, his spine straight as a sword. With his hands clasped behind his back, he radiated an air of wild arrogance.
"It's you?!"
"A mere Third Grade White Marrow dares to appear before me? You're courting death!"
"When did you get here?"
Mu Xuan's expression instantly turned sinister.
This mere Third Grade White Marrow, a thing no better than a dog, had actually caused him to lose face in front of the Little Emperor and be mocked by the red robe for a long time.
Worse, his secret had been discovered.
'Today, I absolutely have to kill this guy!'
"I was the one who wanted to kill Li Xi, but you just had to go and kill him first."
"So..."
"How are you going to compensate me?"
Su Chen turned to face the number one red robe of the Inner Palace.
"Compensate you?"
"I'll send you to Hell!"
Mu Xuan's robes billowed as a powerful Anger Gang erupted from him, forming an Azure Dragon palm strike that shot forward with killing intent.
'I refuse to believe it.'
'Even if this brat is strange, he's still just a Third Grade White Marrow. Could he really defeat a master of my caliber, someone in the Second-Grade Fury Gang Realm?'
"Why are you in such a hurry to die?"
Su Chen sneered.
"You're just bluffing!"
"If you could really defeat a Second-Grade Fury Gang, why did you run away last time?"
A mocking look appeared in Mu Xuan's eyes.
'Run?'
Su Chen shook his head. Facing the Anger Gang Azure Dragon Palm, he stood perfectly still. He gazed at the wind and snow outside, closed his eyes, and recalled the Wind Snow Sword of that Purple Robe.
"You dare close your eyes?"
"Such audacity!"
BOOM!
The Anger Gang Azure Dragon surged forth.
However, in the next instant, the raging blizzard outside surged wildly. Ten zhang of wind and snow gathered in a flash, shattering the roof of the Document Library and cleaving down toward the number one Chief Steward of the Inner Palace.
"This technique..."
"Ah!"
"You're the red robe... Su..."
Mu Xuan's eyes filled with terror as he instantly recalled Su Chen's true identity. By the time he thought to beg for mercy, it was already too late.
The headless corpse slumped to the ground.
It soaked the snow that covered the floor.
'Why did I run last time?'
'Because killing you would have exposed my identity. It simply wasn't worth it.'
'Idiot!'