【Chapter 3: What is the Tian Di Hui?】

【Chapter 9: The Tian Di Hui is a cult that has long coveted the treasures of our sect, especially the Di Shu, which can transmit messages over thousands of miles. A while ago, I received a distress call from Senior Brother Jin Lian, who had gone to the capital of Da Feng. Only by entering the capital could he evade the pursuit of the Tian Di Hui. But when I arrived in the capital, I lost contact with Senior Brother Jin Lian. So, I used the Di Shu to communicate with him and found out that he had entrusted the Di Shu to you. I imagine Senior Brother Jin Lian's situation was very dangerous, so he had to abandon the Di Shu to save himself.】

"What the hell... Who's responsible for this mess?!" Xu Qi'an was dumbfounded.

【Chapter 9: I just don't know who you are, that Senior Brother Jin Lian trusted you with the Di Shu.】

"I'm just a small Nightwatcher... no, I'm just a small Nightwatcher..." Xu Qi'an's heart sank.

【Chapter 3: Why can abandoning the Di Shu ensure one's safety? Can the Tian Di Hui locate the Di Shu?】

Xu Qi'an, a brilliant reasoner, quickly grasped this question.

【Chapter 9: This matter involves a secret of our sect, and I cannot reveal it. The Di Shu is the treasure of our sect, and I hope you can return it to me. I will reward you generously.】

【Chapter 3: Alright, how can I return it to you?】

Although Xu Qi'an was reluctant to part with the Di Shu, which could serve as a storage ring, he chose to follow his heart, considering the risks that came with it.

【Chapter 9: I am in the capital and can come to you at any time. If you don't trust me, you can choose to exchange addresses. So, what do you want?】

"I want a hot bowl of naizi..." Xu Qi'an almost blurted out.

【Chapter 3: Thank you for your kindness, but it is my duty to return the treasure to its rightful owner. However, Senior Brother Jin Lian told me that this is the most precious treasure in the world and offered to sell it to me for five hundred taels of gold. I am not asking for money, but since the treasure is returned to its rightful owner, the gold should also go back to its rightful owner. It's an exchange of equal value, right?】

【Chapter 9: ...That's only fair.】

...

Xu Qi'an put away the mirror and fell into a deep sleep, dreaming of the five hundred taels of gold.

The next day, he put on his Nightwatcher uniform, hung his badge and sword, and tied the new copper gong he had bought the day before to his chest. He climbed over the wall and went to his uncle's house for breakfast.

Leaving the Xu family, Xu Qi'an took the reins from the gatekeeper, mounted his horse, and rode towards the inner city to go to the Nightwatcher yamen.

This horse belonged to his uncle and now belonged to Xu Qi'an. To silence his aunt's complaints, Xu Qi'an gave his uncle fifty taels of silver.It was inevitable. The Nightwatcher's yamen was located in the inner city, too far from the Xu Mansion. If Xu Qian walked there, he would have eaten lunch by the time he arrived.

He hurried to the Nightwatcher's yamen and entered the Spring Breeze Hall, where Li Yuchun was drinking tea with a Nightwatcher.

"Is he your new recruit?" The Nightwatcher, who was unfamiliar with Xu Qian, asked casually.

"Yes," Li Yuchun nodded.

"What's his rank?" asked the Nightwatcher.

Before Xu Qian could speak, Li Yuchun quickly replied, "Lower Grade B."

The Nightwatcher was quite surprised and praised, "Not bad, not bad. The yamen needs young people with potential like you to be the backbone of the Nightwatchers in the future."

The second half of the sentence was meant for Xu Qian.

Xu Qian respectfully saluted and explained his intentions, "Boss, I want to go to the document library."

He didn't know where the document library was or what permissions he needed.

"If you have any questions in the future, you can go directly to the clerks," Li Yuchun said.

"Understood." Xu Qian left the Spring Breeze Hall.

When chatting with superiors, subordinates shouldn't disturb them unless it's urgent. Xu Qian had some sense.

He caught a clerk and asked where the document library was, and arrived at a large courtyard.

Handing over his waist badge to the black-clad clerk, the latter confirmed it was correct and handed it back to Xu Qian, saying:

"The document library is divided into four areas, A, B, C, and D. You can only go to the D room to check the documents."

After considering for a moment, Xu Qian asked, "How do I know which room to go to for the information I need?"

The black-clad clerk smiled respectfully and said, "Go to the 'D' room."

"A, B, C, and D" were the four library rooms, with "D" being the grassroots level and the largest, which followed the pyramid rule. The fewer confidential documents, the more there were.

Xu Qian entered the "D" room and came to the reception desk, saying, "I want to find information on the Daoist God."

The clerk behind the reception desk searched through a thick book for a while before looking up and saying, "Please wait a moment, sir."

He went into the document library.

In a moment, the black-clad clerk came out holding a scroll and handed it to Xu Qian while taking his waist badge. Xu Qian said, "A cup of hot tea."

He turned and went to the side hall with a table, where he began to read the information on the Daoist God.

The origin of the Daoist God came from the Taoist God, whose era could no longer be verified. It was said that the Taoist God was an ancient strange man who combined three Qing, namely, the Heavenly Sovereign of the Origin, the Heavenly Sovereign of Virtue, and the Heavenly Sovereign of the Divine Treasure.

This coincided with the three talents of Heaven, Earth, and Man.

This was the origin of the three sects of "Heaven, Earth, and Man" in the Daoist religion.

Among them, the Heavenly and Human sects were like water and fire, both claiming to be the orthodox sect of the Daoist religion and wanting to beat each other's brains out.The Daoist sect is the most low-key among the five sects, and they do not strive for fame or profit. Those who do not understand this think that there are only two sects in the Daoist sect, the Heavenly and the Human.

Xu Qi'an felt sorry for the salted fish.

"Nowadays, the dispute over the orthodox Daoist teachings is probably the biggest contradiction," Xu Qi'an silently added in his heart: "The elder sister is invincible."

Continuing to read, he found that the salted fish's statement about the Daoist sect was reasonable.

The Daoist sect worships the Moral Celestial Being and cultivates immeasurable merit. They travel around the world, keep a low profile, do good deeds without leaving a name, and leave after gaining merit.

"Merit..." Xu Qi'an frowned and pondered.

In a sense, merit is related to luck. People often say: "Do good deeds and accumulate merit, and good people will be rewarded."

Merit means good fortune, which is the same as luck.

So could the old Daoist of the Daoist sect see my special qualities and know that I am a lucky star? He felt justified in passing the hot potato to me... Damn it, aren't you cultivating merit? Why do you always do bad things...

Xu Qi'an grumbled in his heart.

He began to associate his strange luck with merit.

But the ancestors of the Xu family were all common people for eighteen generations. Only his second uncle's generation had a slightly better life, but the two brothers still wielded a kitchen knife to cut wires and killed many people along the way.

They didn't do much good, but they did kill a lot of people on the battlefield.

At this time, the administrator brought over a cup of hot tea and chatted, "Is the adult looking up information on the Ren sect?"

"No, I'm looking up information on the Daoist sect..." Xu Qi'an asked back: "The Ren sect?"

"Our national teacher is the current Daoist leader of the Ren sect." The official said: "Wei Daren dislikes that female Daoist leader very much."

Female Daoist leader... Ah, that legendary beauty Daoist?

Xu Qi'an suddenly realized that he had only known that the current emperor was obsessed with cultivating Daoism and seeking immortality. He had appointed a Daoist nun as the national teacher who was like a celestial being.

Unexpectedly, she was from the Ren sect!

The astrologers of the Tianjian Monitor, the Daoist sect, the Nightwatchers, the Confucian scholars of the Yunlu Academy, the Great Feng military, the civil officials of the court... The capital was like a small pond, but it was crowded with dragons.

No wonder "Number Nine" said that the people of the Tian-Di Society dared not enter the capital.

Taoist Master Jin Lian: "You can come in and try."

Tian-Di Society assassin: "Try and die."

Hahaha... Xu Qi'an's mouth twitched and he said, "Can you find me some information on the Tian-Di Society, and, oh, also the Geographical Records. Do you know about the Geographical Records? It is the most precious treasure of heaven and earth... Um, if I want to go to the first, second, and third warehouses, what channels should I use to apply?"The official smiled and said, "The B and C warehouses correspond to the gold and silver gongs, respectively. As for the A warehouse, you need Wei Gong's handwritten note to enter. But if you're looking for information on the Heaven and Earth Society and the Earth Book, the D warehouse has it."

Seeing Xu Qi'an hesitate, he explained, "The Heaven and Earth Society is a martial arts organization, and the Earth Book is a legendary ancient treasure. Neither of them is a secret. I'll check the manual to see where it is."

After speaking, he went to the reception desk.

Xu Qi'an looked at his back and was stunned for a while before he realized that he had fallen into a thinking trap, thinking that the further back in time something was, the more confidential it was. In fact, it was the opposite. The older something was, the less valuable it was... well, not that it wasn't valuable, antiques were still valuable, but it was about the level of confidentiality.

The real secrets were actually things related to the present, such as military intelligence, border layout, gunpowder formulas, siege equipment and shipbuilding drawings, and so on.

I believe that in the future, there will be a confidential file in the A warehouse called "The Secret Book of Human-Animal Hybridization."

Author: Song Qing; Xu Qi'an.

Soon, the official found the information related to the "Earth Book" and the Heaven and Earth Society.

Xu Qi'an couldn't wait to look through it. The Heaven and Earth Society was related to his own safety, so he chose to learn about this organization first.

...

There are countless organizations in the martial arts world, and there's nothing particularly worth paying attention to. They make some gray income and obey the government's control. Some of the martial arts forces with particularly deep backgrounds don't really listen to the government.

But their existence also plays a stabilizing role in the region, and they occasionally spontaneously go after bandits.

The Heaven and Earth Society is just one of the inconspicuous martial arts organizations.

Its records first appeared more than a century ago, during a drought in Yunzhou. The refugees became bandits and looted everywhere. Natural and man-made disasters were rampant.

The local martial arts forces joined forces with the government to suppress the bandits, and the Heaven and Earth Society was one of them.

"It seems to be a quite chivalrous organization... well, sometimes doing good deeds doesn't necessarily make you a good person, just like doing charity doesn't necessarily mean you're truly doing charity."

It could also be for the sake of gaining fame... Xu Qi'an drank some tea and continued reading.

The Heaven and Earth Society is not an active organization and is of a semi-secret nature, with few relevant records.

Xu Qi'an finished reading and gained little.

"It's normal to gain nothing. If it can force a master of the Di Clan to flee to the capital, it means it's a huge and powerful organization... Should I report to Brother Chun and enrich the Nightwatcher's case library?""Um...let's forget about it for now."

He didn't plan to report this to the yamen, even though it could earn him some credit, it couldn't compare to five hundred taels of gold.

To read the uncut version, go to [pawread.com].

A treasure like the Earth Book would make anyone envious. If any of the Jinluo clan members took a liking to it, they could just make him hand it over to the national treasury...

Xu Qi'an closed the book and opened the relevant information about the Earth Book.

The Earth Book was an ancient treasure with an untraceable origin, only known to be left behind by the Taoist God, whose birth date couldn't be traced.

The information didn't even mention the functions of the Earth Book.

However, there was a note that said these kinds of ancient treasures were mostly born from the nurturing of heaven and earth, and couldn't be refined by human power.

They had a common trait, which was to recognize their master by dripping blood.

Dripping blood to recognize the master...Xu Qi'an thought to himself that he understood this trick, it was just recognizing the master by dripping blood.

The magical tools given to him by Song Qing and the copper gongs of the Nightwatcher only needed to be infused with qi to be used, without the concept of recognizing the master. They were essentially just tools that could be used by anyone.

Xu Qi'an felt that recognizing the master by dripping blood didn't exist in this world.

He took out the jade stone mirror from his chest and placed it on the table, unsheathed his sword two inches, and lightly pressed his finger on the blade.

Bright red blood immediately seeped out, and Xu Qi'an wiped it on the surface of the jade stone mirror.

The smear of blood stayed on the mirror for a few seconds before slowly disappearing, absorbed by the mirror.

The next moment, the scene in front of Xu Qi'an began to blur, the book, the table, and the tea cup all faded away, replaced by chaos.

In the hazy chaos, he saw eight light spots suspended in the chaotic world.

Did these eight light spots represent other mirrors? Adding me, there were exactly nine mirrors...Xu Qi'an scanned his gaze, trying to find the [Ninth] mirror.

But he didn't know which light spot belonged to the Ninth.

Hmm...just pick one and add it as a friend!

Xu Qi'an raised his hand and tried to point to the light spot closest to him.

That light spot suddenly rippled like water, and the ripples spread throughout the chaotic world.

Xu Qi'an felt like he had just had a dream. The scene in front of him returned, and he was still in the reception hall of the archives, with the book, tea cup, and the unremarkable jade stone mirror in front of him.

But he knew it wasn't a dream, because after recognizing the master by dripping blood, he had established some kind of wonderful connection with the jade stone mirror.

A mysterious sense of belonging.

At this moment, a line of words slowly appeared on the mirror:

[Lu: Don't believe in the Ninth, don't respond, don't respond, don't respond...]

PS: This chapter is 3700 words, consider it as compensation for the late update. So, where are the recommended votes from you guys?