Simultaneous travel: I am rampant in the domestic area

Logically speaking, Cheng Jushu's fighting style, combined with his physique, should be perfectly fine.

With his burly physique, even a ninth-rank official would have to avoid him.

But his opponent was Bertrand Russell.

If you want a head-on confrontation, then Russell is naturally willing to do the same.

With his stats high enough, what he enjoys most is this kind of brutal, hand-to-hand combat.

So when Cheng Jushu swung his fist down at Russell's head, Russell did not choose to dodge, but instead raised his hand, clenched his fist, and swung it out in one smooth motion.

Two fists, one large and one small, collided, producing countless shrill sounds. Countless fine streams of true energy rippled around the two, tearing the fluttering paulownia leaves in the air to shreds.

Russell, who appeared to be at a disadvantage, remained unmoved, while Cheng Jushu uncontrollably retreated further and further, his entire arm twisted in a contorted state.

Before he could even regain his footing, Russell grabbed his dislocated right hand and twisted it. Cheng Jushu roared in pain as his massive body spun around with the rotation of his right arm. During this process, Russell kicked his ankle, sending him flying high into the air before crashing down heavily.

He struggled to break free, and then a size 42 shoe sole came into view.

With a thud, Cheng Jushu's head was stomped into the ground and he fell silent.

On the other side, Fan Xian quickly dealt with the two female swordsmen, walked up to Russell, looked at Cheng Jushu on the ground, and asked, "Dead?"

Russell shook his head: "I'm dizzy."

“Alright, take him with you, let’s head to Zuixianju.” Fan Xian grinned, confirming that Cheng Jushu was temporarily unconscious. He dragged Cheng Jushu by one leg, and together with Luo Su and Teng Zijing, they paraded through the city, attracting countless onlookers along the way.

Before long, the Crystal River came into view.

Near the Sili Flower Boat stands a newly built pavilion, where three men and one woman are.

When Li Hongcheng saw Fan Xian and the other two approaching from afar, he was about to greet them when his gaze fell on Cheng Jushu, who was being dragged along by Fan Xian.

"What is that?" Li Hongcheng asked, squinting his eyes in surprise.

"It looks like Cheng Jushu." Xie Bi'an, holding his sword, asked curiously, "Why would Cheng Jushu appear in the capital?"

Upon hearing this, Li Chengze's face stiffened, and the melon seeds in his hand suddenly lost their flavor. He quickly got up and walked to the railing to look out.

By this time, Russell, Fan Xian, and the others had approached, and the dust on Fan Xian and Teng Zijing was clearly visible.

"Young Master Fan, what's going on?" Li Hongcheng asked hurriedly.

"It's nothing serious. Someone tried to assassinate me in Niulan Street, but thanks to His Highness the Crown Prince and the Second Prince, the person survived. I saw that it was still early, so I hurried over to the banquet."

With a bright smile on his face, Fan Xian casually tossed Cheng Jushu aside and instructed Teng Zijing to keep a close eye on him, as he was an important witness. Only then did he lead Russell onto the pavilion.

In the pavilion, Si Lili was brewing tea when Russell sat down next to her, which reassured her a lot.

Suppressing his surprise at Fan Xian's composure after surviving an assassination attempt, Li Chengze looked at Russell and asked, "And who is this?"

"Russell is a friend from the countryside, and he doesn't know any manners. Please don't take offense, Your Highness," Fan Xian said, casually picking up a handful of melon seeds from in front of Li Chengze.

Li Hongcheng watched from the side, his lips twitching. To be honest, Fan Xian, you're not exactly known for your manners either.

"Ha." Li Chengze opened his mouth, smiled awkwardly, exchanged a few pleasantries with Fan Xian, and then left with Li Hongcheng and Xie Bi'an.

It was he who invited Fan Xian here, but they were assassinated on the way. It goes without saying who is the most suspicious.

"What to do next?"

As Li Chengze's figure receded into the distance, Si Lili couldn't help but whisper a question.

She is now in the capital and has no way out.

“No rush.” Russell looked at Si Lili: “Let’s go back to the Fan residence first, and then we just need to wait for Chen Pingping to return.”

Si Lili nodded slightly.
The attack on Fan Xian on Niulan Street was undoubtedly the most shocking news in Kyoto this month, while Qing Kingdom had been at peace for a long time.

In Kyoto, the capital city, the capital was heavily guarded, and even ordinary murders were extremely rare, let alone assassinating the eldest son of Fan Jian, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, in broad daylight.

Although this eldest son has not yet been recorded in the family genealogy, the assassins brazenly attacked him, and even used archers and assassins from Northern Qi. In the capital, a place of great importance, the fact that assassins from Northern Qi were able to sneak in undoubtedly crossed the bottom line of the court's rule.

In addition to being the eldest son of the Fan family, Fan Xian also holds the position of Director of the Censorate, which is why the Censorate attaches great importance to this matter.

Cheng Jushu was detained by the Control Yuan, but he kept his mouth shut and did not utter a single word despite all the torture.

As for Si Lili, it seems that the entire capital has forgotten the existence of this courtesan.

On this day, outside the Prime Minister's residence, Prime Minister Lin and Lin Gong intimately saw Fan Xian off onto the carriage.

Inside the carriage, Russell looked at Fan Xian: "Is this all we're going to do? Putting aside Lin Gong, I don't believe Li Yunrui will ever lay a hand on you again."

"What can I do? After all, she is Wan'er's mother." Fan Xian sighed.

If this person were the Crown Prince or anyone else, he could have asked Uncle Wuzhu to help him take revenge when he returned. But this person just happens to be Wan'er's birth mother.

"What did the dean say?" Russell was clearly not interested in this topic and asked instead.

"Don't worry, I've already spoken to the dean about your courtesan. As long as she doesn't leave the capital, no one will do anything to her," Fan Xian said with a smile.

"Alright." Russell nodded, but his expression remained somewhat serious.

"What's wrong? Why are you so gloomy?" Seeing Russell's unhappy expression, Fan Xian asked.

“I was wondering why your Uncle Wuzhu hasn’t returned yet, since Dean Chen has been back in Beijing for half a month,” Russell said.

He has reached a bottleneck in the past two weeks.

With all the meridians in the body opened up, the internal energy is nearly saturated, reaching a point where further progress is impossible.

Although he has almost reached the pinnacle of the ninth rank, and can defeat three of his past selves in one go, he is still far from being a grandmaster.

Even if we go a step further and find ourselves full, it's still just progress within the realm of humanity.

The gap between a Grandmaster and a Ninth-Rank Master is definitely greater than the gap between a Ninth-Rank Master and an ordinary person.

If you can take this step, you'll be a god among men; if you can't, you'll have to keep a low profile.

Therefore, he urgently needs to find the key to unlock the treasure.

"It should be soon." Although Fan Xian didn't know what relationship Uncle Wuzhu had with Dean Chen, judging from the pattern of Uncle Wuzhu disappearing and reappearing in Danzhou in the past, he should be back by now.

For many days afterward, Russell also gave up his plan to continue trying to break through the barrier. He either fought with Ye Ling'er in the mansion or listened to Si Lili sing and dance in his room.

Until this day, a clap of thunder in the sky marked the arrival of summer.

In the height of summer, people stroll freely, enjoying the peace and prosperity brought about by this golden age.

Fan Xian has officially established himself in the Censorate, serving as its Director and a disciple of Fei Jie. He also enjoys the favor of Chen Pingping, and Emperor Qing has issued an edict appointing him as the Assistant Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. However, this has led to a halt in the updates of *Dream of the Red Chamber*, causing considerable anxiety among the noble ladies of the capital.

Even Si Lili, while dancing, couldn't help but ask Russell to urge this habitual procrastinator to finish his work.

In other words, you can't ask for leave if you're reading a physical book, otherwise readers of Dream of the Red Chamber would probably receive a "Requesting a day off, muah!" every day.

And so, a letter urging an update from the Northern Qi Dynasty arrived in the capital of Daqing, carried by Zhuang Mohan, a great literary figure of the Northern Qi. It was then delivered to the Minister of the Court of State Ceremonies by a certain saintly lady who looked like a village girl.

Inside the Court of State Ceremonial, Fan Xian stared in astonishment at the article written by the Emperor of Northern Qi, urging him to update his work.

Meanwhile, in a courtyard not far from the Fan residence, Russell was yawning as he lay on the table.

At this moment, his face was sallow to gloomy, his eyes were dark and bluish, his brain was throbbing with pain, and his blood vessels felt like they were about to burst. This morning while eating, he even had a slight hallucination, and in his perception, he thought the steamed bun on his right was his cell phone.

If you want to know why he has such dark circles under his eyes, you should ask Haitang Duoduo, who is catching up with Si Lili.

There's a song that goes, "At three in the morning, you see the crabapple blossoms still awake."

This woman arrived in the capital before the Northern Qi delegation last night and secretly sneaked onto Russell's roof in the middle of the night.

Two and a half months ago, when they parted, Russell might not have noticed the girl's infiltration, but today, even though the Holy Maiden deliberately used the Heavenly Dao Heart Technique to conceal her aura, Russell still discovered her the moment she stepped into the courtyard.

The two fought fiercely all night. Haitang Duoduo was repeatedly defeated, but she kept fighting and couldn't believe that Russell could have made such great progress in such a short time.

"No, is it really necessary? You've already reached the ninth rank, what's wrong with staying up all night?"

As Russell let out a yawn, Haitang Duoduo finally couldn't hold back any longer.

I just stayed up all night with her, and she didn't sleep either.

“What’s one night for you has been fifteen days for me,” Russell said, trying to sound cheerful.

He could have held on, but then the crabapple blossoms clung to him all night, causing him another wave of mental exhaustion.

"?" Haitang Duoduo was stunned and looked at Si Lili beside her.

Si Lili nodded slightly, testifying for him: "That's right, Russell hasn't rested for the past two weeks."

"Are you... sick?" After staring at Russell in silence for a while, Haitang Duoduo blurted out.

Russell immediately retorted, "Get lost."

"Then why don't you go to sleep?" Haitang Duoduo asked curiously.

“Isn’t this an attempt to break through to the Grandmaster level?” Russell said.

Since Wu Zhu hadn't returned for a long time, he couldn't just wait idly like that; he had to find a way to try it himself.

Now that he knew that the key to breaking through to the Grandmaster level lay in his spirit, he naturally began to work towards that goal.

Not sleeping is to push one's mental limits.

In addition, he is also trying methods such as meditation.

Yes, these methods came from the various novels he had read.

"Tsk, you really are sick." Hearing this, Haitang Duoduo was even more certain: "Where did you get this folk remedy? If it were that easy to break through this barrier, everyone would be saying that grandmasters are everywhere by now."

"Don't worry about that. Just wait for me to break through quietly and amaze you all," Russell said, yawning again.

"Tsk, I'm really afraid you'll die in front of me." Haitang Duoduo clicked her tongue before continuing, "By the way, I have some good news for you. There's someone else coming with me to the capital this time."

"Who?" Russell asked.

"Marquis Changning," Haitang Duoduo said, "He's the one who helped you resolve the case of the Prince of Nanchang's heir. You should thank him."

"I thank you, Second Uncle," Russell said irritably.

Who is the Marquis of Changning? He is the current Empress Dowager's elder brother.

He is a true genius; asking him to solve cases is like sending Xie Baoqing to attack the Soviet Union.

Rather than saying his case was overturned, it's more accurate to say that Zhan Doudou and the Empress Dowager had achieved their goal and no longer needed him as a scapegoat.

"Speaking of which, since you've come all this time, does Miss Lili want to leave with you?" Russell then asked.

"You can't bear to part with her?" Haitang Duoduo chuckled, but her smile froze under Si Lili's reproachful gaze. She coughed and then said, "Not yet. Lili is, after all, a captured spy. It will probably take some effort this time. Anyway, you don't have anything to do here, so there's no need to rush back to Northern Qi."

Si Lili nodded; she had been mentally prepared for this.

Just then, the sound of horses' hooves came from outside, followed by a knock on the door.

Russell winked at Haitang Duoduo through the black silk, but Haitang Duoduo glared back at him. Nevertheless, she got up to open the door.

"Luo... Oh, who is this?" Fan Xian opened the door and went inside, taking a moment out of his busy schedule to glance at the person who opened the door.

I looked at him and saw that he was someone I didn't recognize.

"Northern Qi, Haitang Duoduo," Haitang Duoduo introduced herself, then looked Fan Xian up and down: "You're the author of *Dream of the Red Chamber*? Cao Xueqin..."

“Cao Xueqin,” Fan Xian reminded him.

"Oh, right." Haitang Duoduo remembered, and then said to Fan Xian, "Write more often, whether you have something to do or not, don't always procrastinate."

"I know, I know," Fan Xian replied casually, wondering if this counted as being exposed to reality. He strode into the room and immediately saw the listless Russell: "Whoa! What's wrong with you?"

"It's from staying up all night," Russell said.

"No, do you know what you look like right now?" Fan Xian couldn't help but tease.

He's been so preoccupied with the affairs of the Court of State Ceremonial these past few days that he hasn't come to see Russell in a long time.

"Like what?" Russell asked back, though he knew Fan Xian wouldn't say anything nice.

"A spoiled brat whose body has been hollowed out by wine and women." Fan Xian laughed for a while, but then continued, "His Majesty is hosting a banquet at the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests tomorrow and has specifically requested that you attend."

"Me?" Russell was taken aback, but chuckled inwardly.

He was finally going to meet this person face to face, which was quite a novel experience for him.

"There's another piece of news," Fan Xian continued.

"explain."

Fan Xian glanced at Haitang Duoduo and Si Lili out of the corner of his eye and said, "The person you wanted to see has returned." (End of Chapter)