Dugong

Chapter 106 The Secret of the Innate
"innate?"

Li Ping'an's gaze narrowed slightly as he keenly sensed a series of sharp eyes fixed on him, as if they were starving ghosts eyeing a steamed bun.

Even with indestructible protection, I still felt surrounded by danger.

"Teacher, could you tell us what 'innate' means?"

"We don't know."

Zhou Gonggong poked his head out of the ground and looked around. His voice changed from male to female: "All I know is that the younger and stronger a person is, the more likely they are to break through to the Innate Realm."

"Damn it!"

Li Ping'an pressed down on Eunuch Zhou's head: "Even when you're about to die, you still want to bite us? Does Eunuch Zhou have no one in your family you care about?"

Eunuch Zhou sneered, "Our entire family has long since perished in the war. If Eunuch An can find us, we should thank him."

"We're seeing the teacher off on her final journey!"

Li Ping'an stomped on Zhou Gonggong's head and crushed it. He then glanced at the old eunuchs who were standing guard around him. They were all shadowy figures, some human and some ghost. He asked in a loud voice.

"Does Eunuch Xu know the secrets of the innate realm?"

"I don't know."

Eunuch Xu stood with his hands tucked in his pockets, his long, snow-white eyebrows obscuring his eyes, his face full of wrinkles concealing his joy and anger.

"All we know is that Grandmasters of the Innate Realm live longer."

Eunuch Wei served three emperors: Emperor Taizong, Emperor Wu, and the current emperor. He had a ruddy complexion and was in good spirits, looking only about fifty years old.

"We understand."

Li Ping'an dispelled his indestructible body, his size shrunk back to its original form, and his clothes were torn into tattered strips.

At this moment, dozens or even hundreds of eunuchs, young and old, emerged from the house, the roof, behind the artificial hill, and other places. Some held official hats, some held official robes, and some held official boots. They knelt on the ground and personally helped Eunuch An change his clothes.

He put on several layers of clothing, regaining his imposing crimson attire.

Xiao Yuzi said with concern, "Godfather, in the future, you can just give instructions to the children about things like fighting desperately. Please don't do it yourself."

For once, Eunuch Fei was of one mind with Xiao Yuzi and agreed, saying, "A son of a wealthy family should not sit under a dangerous roof. Godfather should be cautious and prudent."

Before arresting Eunuch Zhou, his godsons advised Li Ping'an that it was better to risk human lives than to personally engage in the fight.

After all, the wealth and fortune of tens of thousands of people inside and outside the palace depended on Li Ping'an.

Li Ping'an said, "Some grudges must be avenged personally, otherwise one's mind will not be at peace. If Eunuch Zhou dies at the hands of someone else, we might regret it for the rest of our lives."

The eunuchs surrounding Eunuch An secretly remembered one thing: never covet white flour buns.

It's worthless, yet it's still coveted by Eunuch An.

Back to the Imperial Horse Stables duty room.

Eunuch Xia brought over a large stack of official documents for Eunuch An's approval. These documents included not only those from the Imperial Horse Administration and the Beijing Garrison, but also those from the Directorate of Palace Attendants and the Palace Guard.

Li Ping'an looked through them one by one, and when he encountered something he didn't understand, he would call over the eunuch in charge to explain it.

More than twenty officials in green robes were waiting outside the duty room. They were all key officials such as the chief clerks and supervisors of the three supervisory offices, ready to be questioned by the governor at any time.

It's approaching noon.

After approving most of the official documents, Li Ping'an picked up the last one, which came from Eunuch Zhai, the Assistant Director of the Imperial Household Department.

"The Imperial Observatory has completed the site selection and surveying for the imperial mausoleum. The Directorate of Palace Attendants has requested the Imperial Treasury to approve 200,000 taels of silver for the initial mountain excavation and road construction..."

Li Ping'an instructed, "Call Xiao Zhaizi in."

Eunuch Zhai bowed as he entered the room, then knelt down with a thud and kowtowed: "Your son greets his godfather."

"No need to be polite."

Li Ping'an waved for Eunuch Zhai to come closer, pointed at the official document, and asked, "Where did this amount of two hundred thousand taels come from?"

The imperial mausoleum was a major project of the imperial court, which was carried out by conscripting laborers. The craftsmen and laborers did not receive wages and even had to provide their own tools.

Let alone 200,000 taels, I reckon we wouldn't even be able to spend 100,000 taels!
"Godfather, these are the figures calculated by the Ministry of Works, and they are well-founded..."

Eunuch Zhai paused, then added, "The Ministry of Works will return 30% to us." Li Ping'an raised an eyebrow: "Only 30%?"

"That's always been the rule."

Eunuch Zhai explained, "Our Inner Palace is only responsible for construction. After completion, the Ministry of Works will inspect it. If any errors are found, the project cannot be completed."

Li Ping'an suddenly realized that if the officials of the Ministry of Works were not fed, the mistakes and oversights would never be completely eliminated.

"So all of us who supervise and work hard, running around doing all the work, only get 30% of the silver?"

Eunuch Zhai said, "We control the procurement of materials, so we can exploit merchants and deduct laborers. Overall, it's a 50/50 split."

"..."

Li Ping'an cursed inwardly, thinking that the officials in the Ministry of Works were making money so easily, while the blame for their embezzlement and misappropriation was placed entirely on the Directorate of Palace Attendants.

No wonder the people resented eunuchs, even though the eunuchs didn't care about their reputation.

Li Ping'an pondered for a moment, then made up his mind: "We don't want a single tael of this silver. You have the Ministry of Revenue write a memorial to His Majesty, asking the Directorate of Ceremonial for the silver directly."

Eunuch Zhai asked in surprise, "What does Godfather mean?"

Li Ping'an asked, "It costs 200,000 taels of silver to open up the mountain and build the road. How much silver will it cost to build the imperial mausoleum?"

After checking the figures with the Ministry of Revenue officials, Eunuch Zhai replied, "According to the design specifications, it will cost at least two million taels."

Li Ping'an looked at Eunuch Xia: "How much silver was spent on the late emperor's mausoleum?"

In his early years, Eunuch Xia was demoted to guard the imperial mausoleum. He became acquainted with the supervisor, Eunuch Meng, and replied, "The books show five million taels, but the actual amount is three million taels."

Li Ping'an instructed, "Little Zhai, you can go ahead and coax the Ministry of Revenue into making grander plans, but at least they can't be worse than the late emperor's. Otherwise, I'll send someone to impeach him!"

Eunuch Zhai said worriedly, "The imperial treasury doesn't have that much silver..."

"That's why we can't take it."

Li Ping'an bowed respectfully towards the direction of the Imperial Study and sighed.

"His Majesty wears no more than eight sets of clothes for all four seasons, and the money saved is used to pay the army. These corrupt officials actually embezzled the money meant for repairing the imperial mausoleum. They are truly disloyal, unjust, and unfilial!"

Not daring to disobey his godfather's orders, Eunuch Zhai rolled his eyes and said...

“Officials in the Ministry of Works have always been poor, and repairing the imperial mausoleum is their biggest source of income. If we pull some strings, many officials will surely try to take more than their share.”

"Go do it!"

Li Ping'an squeezed out a few tears: "The country is in dire straits, and my family cannot tolerate any corruption."

Eunuch Xia and Eunuch Zhai immediately knelt down and exclaimed, "Your Excellency, you have worked hard!"

I'm on duty until the evening.

Li Ping'an was preparing to return to Cining Palace to attend to Empress Dowager Zhou before she went to bed. Even the closest relationships need to be maintained diligently.

It's true that you can become estranged from your own grandson if you don't see him for ten days or half a month

At this time.

Xiao Yuzi bowed as he entered, holding several books in his hands: "Godfather, we found this manual at Eunuch Zhou's residence."

The Secret Records of the Primordial Embryo.

Upon seeing the words "Innate" on the cover, Li Ping'an eagerly picked it up and opened it.

"Focus your mind on the Yellow Court, and your whole body will feel like an infant. When Kan and Li unite, your marrow and bones will feel light... When Yin reaches its extreme, beauty will arise; when Yang reaches its limit, darkness will descend..."

According to the general outline of the cultivation method, when an infant is still in the primordial embryo and has not yet distinguished between male and female, his body contains innate energy. Based on this, it can be deduced that reversing the primordial embryo can lead to the innate realm.

The Secret Record is divided into nine levels. Each time a level is mastered, the Yin and Yang energies within the body are reversed by one part. When the level is mastered, Yin and Yang transform into the Primordial Chaos Embryo.

Having cultivated numerous martial arts techniques and unique skills, Li Ping'an's vision was no longer as narrow as it had been in the past, and he quickly found several errors in the "Secret Record".

"The first few sections are in line with the essence of martial arts, but the later text becomes increasingly chaotic and insane. It doesn't resemble a cultivation method, but rather the author's imagination of immortals, Buddhas, gods, and demons!"

(End of this chapter)