Imperial henchmen? My divine skills are all hacked versions.

Xu glanced at him, neither confirming nor denying.

"He was just deposed and imprisoned, but he's still living a comfortable life. As the emperor's son, I don't believe his life could be bad. He probably still gets whatever he wants..."

"I've heard that the scenery at Baita Temple is quite nice, and the air is fresh. It's much better than the dilapidated courtyard I'm in at Tiemenguan."

The bald, crippled man raised an eyebrow slightly and snorted.

"You really want to have him slowly sliced ​​to death? He's royalty, how can he be treated like us commoners? What kind of nobles are they if they don't have special privileges?"

"You've already brought him down once before since the founding of the Jingguo Kingdom. If it were any other emperor, your method of investigation would have resulted in your head being chopped off ten times over."

Xu Xian chuckled softly but remained silent.

Just then, a boy ran over, his eyes bright.

"Brother Xu!"

Xu Xian was taken aback, then chuckled, "Yan Jun, what are you doing here?"

Yan Jun chuckled, "My dad sells candied hawthorns over here. Come on, come on, I'll give you a few to take to Sister Hua Xi."

Xu Xian let him pull him through the crowd, and along the way, many adults looked over and greeted him.

"Yan Jun, you've grown so much..."

Many of these adults were familiar with each other; they had all received their children's corpses from the Inspectorate.

At this moment, they looked at Yan Jun, touching his arms and head, their faces full of kindness, their eyes seemingly glistening with tears, reflecting the face of another child.

Yan Jun is very polite, and he always calls people he knows "uncle" or "auntie".

Before long, Xu Xian arrived before Yan Jun's father, who was very excited.

"My benefactor! It's been so long!"

Xu Xian smiled and asked, "How's business, sir?"

The man nodded.

"Great! Taking advantage of the academy's grand event, I can earn some money so that Yanjun can also study in the future, and hopefully even get into the academy. I'd be burning incense in gratitude!"

Yan Jun picked off two strings of candied hawthorns and gave them to Xu Xian, "Brother, one is for you, and the other is for Sister Hua Xi."

Xu Xian took the candied hawthorn and patted Yan Jun's little head.

"Study hard, be a good person, and don't let your father's hard work go to waste."

Yan Jun nodded vigorously.

...

Xu Xian continued his patrol of the streets with his candied hawthorns in hand when the bald man approached from the side and asked, "Who was that just now?"

"The only child to survive the child poisoning case!"

  

The cripple was taken aback, turned around and glanced back, his expression complex.

Xu Xian spoke calmly.

"Those adults are touching Yan Jun, but they're looking at their own children... Every time I see these parents, I feel like tearing the Crown Prince apart! By the way, why are you chasing after me again? Do you need something?"

The lame man was silent for a moment, then broke off half of the sesame seed cake he had just swiped from the wonton stall and stuffed it into his mouth, mumbling as he spoke.

"Nothing was wrong at first, I just happened to run into an adult, and then it suddenly occurred to me... There have been a lot of unfamiliar faces in Kyoto lately."

Xu Xian smiled.

"Such a grand event as the Confucian Book Gathering, what's so strange about having more Confucian disciples or people who come out of admiration? Scholars from all over the country, including Zhengxin Academy, Bailu Academy, Yuelu Academy, and Songyang Academy, are here. Isn't it normal to have a few more people on the streets?"

"I wasn't talking about Confucian disciples..."

The cripple swallowed the sesame seed cake, licked the sesame seeds off his fingers, and chuckled.

"I've been going around lately, purely out of professional habit, you know... I've found a lot more painters, martial artists, Gu masters, all sorts of people, and they're all quite skilled. It's really lively."

Xu Xian was taken aback and turned to look at him, only to find that there was no one in front of him.

The wonton stall owner was shouting and cursing, wielding a spoon.

"Damn it! Who stole my sesame seed cake! Where's that bald guy?! You cripple, come back here right now!"

Hua Xi ran back to his side with a candied hawthorn in her hand, looking up at him.

"Brother, why are you spacing out?"

"Thinking about something."

"What is it?"

Xu Xian looked down at her, then at the turtle in her arms, which was holding a small piece of candied hawthorn crumb.

He shook his head. "It's nothing serious."

The cripple's words were not unfounded; he was probably reminding him of something.

In the distance, the sounds of vendors hawking their wares rose and fell from the night market, along with the boisterous chatter of a few drunken scholars at the entrance of a restaurant—it was indeed quite lively.

...

The day before the book fair, Mo Feichang called Xu Xian into his room.

On the table lay a floor plan of Liuzhai, drawn crookedly, but with detailed markings: the main gate, side gates, square, main altar, seats for each academy, the royal viewing platform, and even the location of the outhouse was circled in vermilion.

"Tomorrow's Liuzhai Book Fair will be attended by students from Zhengxin Academy, Bailu Academy, Yuelu Academy, Songyang Academy, and the local Liuzhai Academy in Kyoto. With so many people and so many eyes, trouble is inevitable..."

"The Inspection Division will send three hundred people to maintain order. You will be in charge of the central square and the area around the main altar, where the seats for each academy are located. The outer perimeter will be handled by Lu Jing and Feng Zangwu."

He raised his eyelids and glanced at Xu Xian. "Clean your sword properly, don't embarrass me."

Xu Xian agreed and agreed to give up the public housing. He had expected this, after all, that's what the Inspection Department does.

...

That night, he sat on a stone bench in the courtyard, circulating his qi and blood through his meridians. Just after two cycles, a sudden "ding" sounded in his mind:

[Breakthrough to the sixth level of Yi Jin Jing, cultivation speed increased to 2000/day.]

The Holy Spirit Sword Technique has reached its sixth level, unlocking Sword Six.

The Holy Spirit Sword Technique has reached the passing grade, and you have obtained a random divine skill: Lingbo Weibu!

Current available skill slots: five.

Xu Xian was stunned for a moment, then overjoyed.

He had been fascinated by the Lingbo Weibu movement technique since he read martial arts novels in his previous life. Duan Yu used it to outmaneuver various masters on Wuliang Mountain.

Now that he's being targeted by Hao Zai Lai, even though he's a fake Mo, he's still at the Golden Body Realm. If he were to fight ten of them head-on, he wouldn't even be enough to fill their teeth.

But with the Lingbo Weibu (a martial arts technique), if you can't win a fight, you can at least run away, doubling your chances of survival.

Without hesitation, he immediately activated his qi and blood, channeling it into his legs along the meridian pathways of the Lingbo Weibu technique.

Then, with a quick movement of its feet, it shot out like an arrow, and then... crashed straight into the courtyard wall!

With a dull thud, the back of his head hit the blue brick, and he saw stars.

He lay on his back against the wall, blood streaming down his nose.

"Well, it turned into a car accident..."

He turned over and stood up, wiped the blood from his nose with his sleeve, and returned to the center of the courtyard to continue practicing.

...

The next morning, Hua Xi rubbed her eyes, pushed open the door, held the turtle in her arms, her hair was a mess, and she yawned barefoot on the threshold.

My gaze swept across the yard, and I suddenly paused, noticing a person hanging from the crooked locust tree next door belonging to Old Wang.

The man lay on the tree trunk, his body dangling in mid-air, his legs still swaying unconsciously.

"Huh? Brother, why are you sleeping in a tree? Is it comfortable?"

Xu Xian jumped down from the tree, patted the bark off his robe, and

"My brother is too hot to sleep, it's cooler up in the tree."

Hua Xi looked at the snow that hadn't completely melted in the courtyard, then at the swollen bruise on Xu Xian's forehead, and remained silent for a long while.

She said "oh," picked up the turtle, and turned to go into the kitchen.

Xu Xian scooped a ladle of cold water from the water vat and splashed it on his face haphazardly. He then changed into the uniform of the Inspection Department, took the Eight-Sided Sword from the wall and hung it on his waist. Afterward, he activated the Lingbo Weibu (a martial arts technique), and with the wind beneath his feet, he floated out of the courtyard gate and in the blink of an eye, he had already darted out of the alley.

Hua Xi's voice came from behind.

"Wow! My brother runs so fast, just as fast as the lame guy!"