Chapter 20: Confucian Nobility

Chapter20: The Confucian Aristocratic Clan

After Wuya Hua properly settled the still unconscious Wuya Duoduo, he turned to the surprised Li Jun with a fawning smile: "This little old man is just a lowly baseborn, unable to afford offense, I can only play dead. My Lord, please do not take offense."

Li Jun keenly detected the change in the other party's address towards him in his words, and the corner of his mouth couldn't help but reveal a trace of a bitter smile.

"Since you heard it all, then don't call me 'My Lord' anymore, it grates on my ears."

Wuya Hua sighed; at his age, he had already lived through two dynasties' emperors, seen no small amount of the world's storms and the warmth and coldness of human relations.

Compared to Li Jun, his own situation was indeed quite a bit better; at the very least, he didn't have to risk his life with his head in his hands at every moment.

A man in the jianghu, his body not his own.

Wuya Hua sighed endlessly in his heart, but on his face he dared not reveal the slightest anomaly.

For the weak to sympathize with the strong beset on all sides, that is truly courting death.

Li Jun looked at the silent old man before him, fished out a card from his trouser pocket bearing three golden characters 'Rising Sun Prosperity', and handed it over.

"This draft card holds three hundred thousand Great Ming Treasure Notes, redeemable at the draft bank at any time. Consider it compensation for dragging you into this."

Wuya Hua's face changed, he hurriedly waved his hands in refusal.

But Li Jun forcibly stuffed the card into his hand, saying blandly: "Don't worry, this isn't hush money. If I don't die, I'll surely need treatment later anyway; consider it a prepaid consultation fee."

Li Jun had already anticipated tomorrow would be a vicious battle; the bandits certainly wouldn't be as simple as the 'unruly civilians' Yu Kou claimed.

A joke; even if a man is driven mad by poverty, it is only to survive that he goes mad.

A situation with one hundred percent certain death, no one would still fight with their life, unless they had sufficient assurance.

Robbing Clearwater Robe Brother's goods on Nine Dragons Street might offer assurance, but these bandits were at least Sequence people.

Moreover, the other party's identity was likely sensitive; otherwise Yu Kou wouldn't have fobbed him off with such a lame explanation.

Thinking to this point, Li Jun once again meticulously combed through every single word Yu Kou had spoken.

Alas, the information in his grasp was too scant; he fundamentally couldn't analyze anything more, so he simply tossed it to the back of his mind and thought no more of it.

He raised his eyes, and saw Wuya Hua still standing before him, wearing an expression of anxious unease.

But in Li Jun's mind, a certain detail suddenly surfaced.

Yu Kou was a genuine Sequence Follower; the hypnotic ripples emitted by that engraved talisman made even him feel irritable, so how could an ordinary person like Wuya Hua possibly withstand it?

And he could play dead for so long under Yu Kou's very nose without being discovered?

Under Wuya Hua's nervous gaze, the foot Li Jun had just lifted settled back down, and he cut straight to the chase: "How could you withstand Yu Kou's Soul-Driving Talisman?"

Wuya Hua's face showed a 'you figured it out after all' expression; he smiled bitterly: "Though this old man hasn't entered a Sequence, to gain a foothold on Ghost Street, everything on my body that could be modified has been modified, and I've tried quite a few Sequences."

"It just so happens I also tried that Lord's Daoist Sequence. Though I didn't succeed, I did temper my Spiritual Sense for a time, so I could endure it."

Yu Kou was actually a Sequence Follower of the Daoist Orthodoxy, one of the Three Teachings; though he had guessed as much upon seeing the talismans, confirmation from Wuya Hua's mouth still left him quite shocked.

You must know, the Embroidered Uniform Guard is an organ subordinate to the Imperial Household; by Great Ming law, officials in government offices cannot be Sequence Followers of the Buddhist or Daoist Teachings.

The reason is well known; the unlocking rituals for these two Sequences are held in the hands of the oligarchic groups of the two Teachings.

Unless one wishes to stagnate for a lifetime, sooner or later one will become entangled in inextricable ties with the two Teachings.

When supply and demand are imbalanced, all laws and regulations must yield to monopoly status.

Li Jun's mood was currently rather heavy; even the Embroidered Uniform Guard had been infiltrated by the Three Teachings' people, proving the Zhu Ming Imperial Household's decline was even more severe than the rumors among the populace.

This iron rice bowl he had just gotten his hands on, it seemed, wasn't stable either.

"Can you confirm his Sequence rank?" Li Jun asked.

Wuya Hua answered very affirmatively, "Able to use engraved talismans, at least a Dao Rank Eight 'Venerable Daoist'."

Venerable Daoist? 'Lustful Daoist' would be more like it; where does Yu Kou's body of fat flesh touch the words 'Venerable Dao'?

Li Jun's face showed suspicion, "Are you sure you didn't see wrong? Wouldn't Sequence Followers of other paths know how to use talismans?"

Wuya Hua shook his head: "Common talismans even commoners can use, but engraved talismans are the Daoist Orthodoxy's exclusive technique; other Sequences won't use them."

"Even if they could, they wouldn't dare, unless they want to turn hostile with the Daoist Orthodoxy." Wuya Hua added, "It involves the Daoist Orthodoxy's patent; those Dao Grandpas kill without mercy."

Looks like Yu Kou really is a damn Daoist.

The Daoist Gate has no pure rules, drawing talismans uses engraved plates; this world is damn absurd!

Li Jun felt the anger at the bottom of his heart showing signs of surging again.

"Master Li, you best be careful tomorrow."

After saying this, Wuya Hua fell into silence, his facial expression struggling, wanting to speak but stopping.

Li Jun saw the other's worry; he also knew his current situation was like sitting on the mouth of a volcano about to erupt; the closer one leaned, the more likely to be scorched.

Wuya Hua had Wuya Duoduo as his vital weakness; naturally he couldn't be without scruples like himself.

"Many thanks for the warning."

Li Jun didn't intend to press Wuya Hua further either; he strode outward.

Behind him, Wuya Hua's messy white whiskers on his lips kept twitching, his gaze drifting back and forth between himself and Li Jun's retreating figure.

In his mind, he kept recalling Yu Kou's evaluation, and Li Jun's motion of catching Wuya Duoduo.

Glancing once more at the still comatose Wuya Duoduo, this Ghost Street doctor who always adhered to the philosophy of self-preservation hesitated no longer; a rare look of determination appeared on his aged face.

"Damn the immortals! Daring to set their sights on my granddaughter, I'll fight you with my life!"

"Actually, the person Yu Kou had you approach isn't just Clearwater Robe Brother; he is also one of Chengdu Prefecture's Ten Outstanding Youths, the boss of the Shu Dao Logistics Group."

"What else?"

Li Jun's steps paused; he turned back to fix Wuya Hua with a stare. If it were merely this mundane information, it wouldn't be worth Wuya Hua's such hesitation.

Wuya Hua gritted his teeth: "He is also a scion of a cadet branch of the Yizhou Gu Clan!"

Li Jun turned back in shock, enunciating each word: "The Confucian Aristocratic Clan?"

"Precisely."

Man is a social animal; besides money and women, the topic they love to discuss most is power.

And standing at the pinnacle of power over the tens of millions of Chengdu Prefecture's populace, two mountain peaks are the most majestic.

One is named the Qingcheng Group, the Shu Region Daoist Orthodoxy's oligarchs.

The other is the Confucian Aristocratic Clan; the Yizhou Gu Clan is one of the giants among the Shu Region Clans.

Confucian Third-Rank Aristocratic Clan, reserve member of the New Donglin Party.

"Yu Kou is an Embroidered Uniform Guard Centurion, and has a Daoist identity. Him sending you to approach Gu Yong, naturally isn't to curry favor."

"If approaching a man isn't for his power, then only one possibility remains: to take his life."

Wuya Hua's words were sonorous and forceful, deafeningly awakening, "The Embroidered Uniform Guard is moving against the Gu Clan!"

Master Li suddenly realized; he finally understood why Yu Kou would develop a muddy-water Robe Brother like himself into an informant.

He wanted to use the Robe Brother connection, to push himself to Gu Yong's side, following the vine to the melon until approaching the Gu Clan Aristocratic Clan.

Yu Kou's plan was already clear, but there was one point Li Jun still didn't understand: that was Yu Kou's motive.

Yu Kou was a man of the Daoist sect, locked in a conflict of interest with the Confucian aristocracy; Li Jun could understand why he would seek trouble with the Gu family.

But to act so brazenly under the banner of a Chief Banner Officer of the Embroidered Uniform Guard—that implied the Chengdu garrison had tacitly sanctioned the move.

With the imperial house's decline now a foregone conclusion, for the Embroidered Uniform Guard to wade into the feud between the Confucians and Daoists at the height of its power... wasn't that like shining a flashlight in a latrine, courting one's own doom?

Li Jun voiced his confusion bluntly. Wu Ya Hua did not answer directly, instead producing a tablet computer and handing it over.

The screen displayed a series of highly condensed intelligence briefs, all concerning the court upheavals within the first ten years of the current Emperor's accession.

The content was sparse. Li Jun read it word by word, then let out a long breath, his gaze turning vacant as he muttered to himself:

"No wonder the Embroidered Uniform Guard is dead set on a fight to the death with the Confucians... this damn grudge runs deeper than the sea!"