Chapter 59: Seizing the Advantage

Two years later.

That was the thirty-seventh year of the Gongzhi era, and Qin Yuan was seventy-two years old.

In a cramped and dark space hundreds of miles beneath the earth's surface, the temperature was absurdly high.

Qin Yuan was covered in sweat.

It wasn't because of the heat—with four hundred years of cultivation inside him, how could he possibly be affected by mere warmth?

Rather, it was from the exhaustion of refining the Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Coffin suspended above his head.

This object was undeniably extraordinary.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have spent two whole years without successfully refining it.

Suddenly, the Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Coffin sank into Qin Yuan's Dao foundation.

It wasn't because Qin Yuan had succeeded.

It was because Qin Yuan had simply given up.

Being able to use it was enough.

There was no need to achieve absolute mastery over it.

"It's time to go up and take a look."

With a single thought, Qin Yuan returned to the surface.

After tidying himself up, he mounted his beloved plump-hipped little donkey and arrived outside the Bureau of Astronomy.

"Life seems a bit dull lately."

Qin Yuan muttered to himself.

Why would he say that?

Over the past two years, Qin Yuan's daily routine had essentially consisted of the Bureau of Astronomy, his home in West Third Alley, and the private residence of a certain noble young lady.

Thinking of the noble young lady, Qin Yuan's expression turned somewhat peculiar.

Recently, Qin Yuan had grown quite intimate with Wang Jixin's granddaughter.

Wang Jixin's appearance was already exceptional, but his granddaughter was even more striking, blessed with a pair of remarkably long legs.

Come to think of it, Wang Jixin was truly Uncle Qin's favorite.

No matter the occasion, Qin Yuan always felt the urge to remind the old man of his presence.

The clitter-clatter of the little donkey's footsteps suddenly ceased.

The Star-Plucking Tower had arrived.

By coincidence, Yang Youqi had arrived as well.

"Let's go to the cafeteria together."

"I'm not going."

Qin Yuan reacted strongly.

For no other reason than the fact that the cafeteria food was simply too unpalatable.

What kind of dishes were served in the cafeteria, you ask?

Red ginseng, fleeceflower root, licorice, astragalus, sealwort, musk, rhizoma gastrodiae, snow lotus, ganoderma lucidum, caterpillar fungus...

And they were all served raw.

After going there once, Qin Yuan never went back.

As mentioned before, Yang Youqi was a dull and expressionless person.

The greatest characteristic of such a person was that whatever others said, they simply accepted as truth.

Therefore, upon hearing this, Yang Youqi merely let out a calm and undisturbed "Oh."

"You haven't forgotten to keep an eye on the frontline war for me, have you?"

Since Qin Yuan spent most of his time on cultivation and socializing with his female friends, he had no time at all to spare for the war, so he had entrusted the matter to Yang Youqi.

Yang Youqi produced a thick stack of military reports and prepared to read them one by one.

"Just tell me who is where, and how many troops both sides have!"

Qin Yuan quickly interjected.

Although he possessed four hundred years of magical power, he was completely helpless against people with such personalities.

"In Central Prefecture, the All-Hearts Army has 800,000 troops, while the Datong rebels have 600,000," Yang Youqi stated.

To think that the Datong army had only dispatched half of their forces (the Datong army numbered 1.2 million in total).

Lin Dongze was truly full of confidence.

"When did the Grand Governor and the Directorate Supervisor leave?"

"Three days ago."

That meant the decisive battle would take place sometime this month.

It was time to head over and pick up some easy gains.

Evening.

It was pitch black, making it difficult to discern figures clearly.

Qin Yuan walked through the Grand Governor's Manor.

When he spoke of going to pick up easy gains, he was referring to the Grand Governor's Manor itself.

Until both sides had fought to the point of utter exhaustion, he had no intention of showing up.

By the way, the face Qin Yuan wore was that of Old Man Sun, so even if he were discovered, the blame would fall entirely on Old Man Sun.

Qin Yuan felt not a shred of guilt about framing Old Man Sun.

It wasn't that he was cold-blooded, but rather that Old Man Sun had died last year.

He had arrived.

Qin Yuan appeared inside Zheng Sanfa's room.

A tea set sat upon the low table.

A few books rested on the desk.

The cabinets were crammed full of volumes, covering everything from astronomy and geography to historical classics and the arts of divination and medicine.

Where was the entrance to Zheng Sanfa's secret chamber?

After searching for a moment, Qin Yuan's gaze landed on the calligraphy scroll hanging on the wall.

After a brief thought, Qin Yuan channeled a surge of magical energy into it.

With a muffled sound, the scroll began to emit mist, and an illusory entrance appeared.

Qin Yuan stepped right inside.

He was merely using a divine avatar; even if there were traps, at worst he could simply detonate it.

Before long, Qin Yuan found himself in an underground world.

What met his eyes were mountains of exotic beast meat, a large number of cultivators locked inside cages, and a bone staff planted amidst a strange array that was currently draining the power of other Dao soldiers.

Qin Yuan instantly understood what was going on.

While marveling at Zheng Sanfa's greed, he summoned the Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Coffin and smashed it directly toward the bone staff.

With a loud crash, the bone staff snapped.

Qin Yuan struck a few more times, completely shattering the bone staff into pieces.

Then, he slipped away.

Not long after, Zheng Sanfa rushed back in a towering rage.

Seeing the bone staff shattered all over the floor, he let out a vulgar curse: "Damn your mother!"

"Why did you suddenly withdraw from the battlefield?"

The Directorate Supervisor walked in, complaining.

Then, a flicker of surprise crossed his eyes.

Zheng Sanfa muttered incantations under his breath.

A moment later, the artifact spirit of the bone staff manifested.

Looking at the bone staff, which was now nearly transparent and seemed as though it would vanish with a puff of wind, Zheng Sanfa felt the urge to curse again.

"It was... it was Sun Old Man who smashed it using the Hea... Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Coffin," the artifact spirit reported in a disjointed voice.

"Old Pockmarked Sun, damn your mother!"

Zheng Sanfa roared in fury.

The Directorate Supervisor furrowed his brow; it seemed this ally of his would never break the habit of cursing at every turn in this lifetime.

He coughed lightly and said, "A Dao soldier is ruined, so be it. We should return to the battlefield as quickly as possible."

"You speak lightly of it; it wasn't your precious treasure that got destroyed."

Zheng Sanfa glared back at the Directorate Supervisor.

The Directorate Supervisor merely smiled with casual detachment.

Then, his composure broke.

"What is it?"

"Someone broke into my secret chamber."

The moment the Directorate Supervisor finished speaking, his figure vanished.

Zheng Sanfa hurriedly gave chase.

One right after the other, the two appeared on the twelfth level of the Star-Plucking Tower.

Outside the secret chamber.

The array inscriptions, which the Directorate Supervisor had boasted were unbreakable by any magic, had been forcefully blasted open.

Inside, a massive alchemy furnace had been smashed to pieces.

The unformed pills within had all been reduced to powder, losing their divine properties entirely.

The Directorate Supervisor was so angry his hands were trembling.

All his accumulated efforts of so many years had been destroyed in an instant.

"It's just a furnace of pills; since they're ruined, so be it. We should return to the battlefield as quickly as possible," Zheng Sanfa taunted deliberately.

The Directorate Supervisor glared at Zheng Sanfa.

Even now, motherfucker, he was still holding a grudge.

"This Old Man Sun truly deserves to die," Zheng Sanfa cursed.

"If you hadn't killed his son, would he have sought this kind of revenge?"

The Directorate Supervisor snapped angrily.

Zheng Sanfa merely offered a dry laugh and remained silent.

After a brief silence.

The Directorate Supervisor said, "If we leave Old Man Sun to wreak havoc in our rear, it will sooner or later lead to a major disaster."

With that, he produced a straw effigy, yellow paper, and two lamps.

He wrote Old Man Sun's name and birth characters on the yellow paper and pasted it onto the straw effigy.

He placed one lamp at the head of the effigy.

And another lamp at its feet.

Then, he bowed three times.

"That's all it takes?"

Zheng Sanfa asked skeptically.

"It takes twenty-one days."

"That's far too long."

The Directorate Supervisor glared at him.

At that moment, in the suburban estate of the young Miss Wang, Qin Yuan was embracing the young lady as they slept.

Suddenly, the divine avatar returned and merged back into Qin Yuan's body.

Qin Yuan opened his eyes, then closed them once more.

Unlike others, Qin Yuan's use of his divine avatar had always been maintained under a single shared consciousness.

As someone who favored a cautious path of survival, one should always maintain a high degree of vigilance toward their own divine avatars.