"Guarding the Imperial Prison?"

"We do have such missions. But we're obviously more than just jailers. Besides guarding the Imperial Prison, we also have a special mission: capturing superpowered criminals, primarily Qigong practitioners. But there are also those from Rome who come in, and we've captured them as well and detained them in the Imperial Prison. I went there this morning because I received another crime warning letter, a long-standing unsolved case."

"Ah, that one." Lu Liang knew this person.

"Which one? Is it famous? Is it in the newspaper?"

"We don't allow this news to appear in the newspapers—this criminal is called Jack the Ripper. He always commits murders in the most brutal way, disemboweling his victims. The Romans had the habit of eating while lying down and gluttonously, and they continued to do so after arriving in Yujing. This criminal specifically targets such diners, and the scenes are always shocking. His methods of committing crimes are extremely strange, and he can even appear in various parts of the world in a single day. He once committed crimes in Cairo, Pontianak, and Guangzhou in a single day. This speed can only be achieved by taking the Lan Fang rocket. But as you know, that rocket can only land at four airports."

"Is it possible that this was a gang crime? You must have investigated it, right? How did you rule it out in the end?"

"We used some Taoist methods to compare with the Romans, and we confirmed that it is the same person. I don't know what grudge he has with the Romans, why he kills people everywhere in various ways."

"Is he in Yujing now?"

"Maybe he was there this morning, but who knows where he is now? He might be in Pontianak. Forget it. We'll catch him one day. Your business is more important."

He looked at Lu Liang and said, "Actually, I shouldn't have told you this, but since everyone already knows, I won't hide it from you."

After saying this, he solemnly said to Shangluo, "The Taoist Master will see you before noon tomorrow. There's no set time, and he could be summoned at any time before noon. I'll escort you to the gate. Besides you, the only person inside the gate is the emperor himself, and he'll be there whenever he's free. So from now on, don't leave my sight. You'll stay at my house tonight. A car will pick you up tomorrow morning, and I'll escort you to the gate."

"I understand." Shangluo nodded.

"Also, it's something related to your studies."

Lu Huaiyang opened the briefcase he was carrying and took out a stack of papers and handed them to Shangluo:

"Fill out the form after dinner. I don't know much about student affairs, so if you don't know how to fill it out, ask Lu Liang to teach you. There are only three months left until the end of your studies, so there is only one thing that is most important to you: the National Formula One Championship for Middle School Students."

"Cough. Cough. Cough!" Shangluo was choked by a mouthful of juice.

"You do not know?"

"No. Ahem. I just thought, this is finally going to happen to me one day. Captain Lu, don't you think this competition is a bit ridiculous? Letting a group of ten-year-old middle school students build a Formula One car, and then finding an unlucky person to drive it. Is there really no chance of something going wrong?"

What struck Shangluo as most outrageous was that this wasn't even a driving competition, but a car-building competition. Ultimately, victory wasn't determined solely by the skill and courage of the drivers, but also by the technical prowess of the professional team. Even talented drivers could master a race car, but having a group of teenagers form a "professional team" to build a car meant ensuring everyone on the team was talented—and then, ultimately, finding someone to drive.

"They even have chariot races at their training academy, and they actually fire cannons at each other. But you have to understand, we're all professionals who've been training since we were six, for over ten years. While our bodies may be those of children, our minds are those of adults. You should assume the responsibilities of professionals regarding safety, responsibility, and performance. The future of the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty rests on your shoulders. In the future, you'll be building something even more powerful than chariots, something even greater. Courage and ambition must be cultivated now. So you must win this race."

"But why should I train these? I don't have to participate."

"Well, that's exactly what happened. Participation is voluntary. But Daozu has other plans." He stared at Shangluo. "Although I'm also surprised, if you can win the tournament, Daozu will give you a prize that will satisfy you and is irresistible. It's an extra gift for you, and only for you. You'll find out what it is when you meet Daozu tomorrow. Work hard and win the prize."

"Has there ever been such an example before?"

"That's why it's strange. Many people claim to be Daozu's second-generation disciples, but have never seen him in their entire lives, even those celestial beings are no exception. And you can not only meet Daozu directly, but he will also give you a gift. We have never heard of Daozu giving any gifts to the emperor. Every emperor passed away normally. You are the only exception, so I advise you to be careful. You seem to be the last to know this news, so I asked you not to leave my sight. Lu Liang."

"I'm here." Lu Liang nodded.

"Be careful at night, and sleep with one eye open. I've asked your mother to take shelter at your grandmother's house. You must ensure his safety before you meet Daozu. This may be the second Dao event since Daozu opened the temple, so we must all be prepared."

Chapter 63 Competition

Until lunch, Shangluo was looking through the documents the school had printed for him. They included information about his family, academic performance, and a personal statement. There was also a note about the "most important thing" Lu Huaiyang mentioned: the Middle School Formula One Championship.

The scope of the competition is limited to the capital. All training schools in the two capitals and thirteen provinces must participate. Other schools can also sign up, but not all teams will come to Yujing to participate. After all, the cost of deploying an entire racing team is too high. This is different from the ordinary examination in the capital. When racing, it is necessary to bring a lot of heavy machinery such as vehicles, maintenance equipment, and a racing team of up to 20 people. Including one driver and one co-driver, twelve tire changers, two oilers, and two body maintenance personnel. There is also an agent responsible for the operation of the team and a technical director responsible for the construction of the car.

While post-match treatment varied slightly, the honor of the competition was shared by the entire team. The top-placed team received an invitation from the Imperial College and was directly awarded the title of "Wu Juren." These were the only two awards granted by the imperial court, but they were truly significant. With an invitation from the Imperial College and the title of "Junren," one could apply for admission to virtually any university in the capital. Returning to each province would also receive additional rewards, each of which varied.

The list also included a "Heroes List," and Shangluo glanced at it.

The list of heroes records the names of the strongest teams of all time, with their shining points marked in bold red letters.

"Huh? Taihe 29, Guangzhou Neptune Team, a tire pit stop in just 1.4 seconds?"

Lu Huaiyang, who was sitting opposite him, put down the newspaper and said, "Because the four screwdrivers that year were all Qigong practitioners. Later, all four of them joined the Jinyiwei, and they are still here now."

"So, how did the Shuntian Yanshan team below achieve a top speed of 320 kilometers per hour?"

"That year they mixed their own secret fuel, apparently jet fuel and alcohol, and the whole car was emitting blue flames. They stopped using it later, probably because they added too many strange things. They had to tear the engine apart after every run to clean out the corrosion caused by the fuel, and it was too much for those guys. Their lap times on regular fuel were pretty good, though. It seems to be related to the overall design of the car."

"What about us?" Shangluo asked.

"We..." Lu Huaiyang fell into deep thought, "Hmm"

"Have we ever won?"

"We are the Jiangning Longjiang team. When I was a kid, we made it to the finals once, and sometimes we were able to qualify in the qualifiers, but in the end, we never won."

"Isn't the Wutaishan Training Institute impressive enough?"

"No. Wutaishan Training School is undoubtedly the best training school in the country, and it produces the most Grade 8 fitters in the country. But—did you notice the team names? Guangzhou Neptune Team, Shuntian Yanshan Team. Our team name is Jiangning Longjiang Team."

Shangluo discovered the problem. Guangzhou and Shuntian were both names of prefectures, but Jiangning was Jiangning County.

“Why are they competing as prefectures, while we are counties?”

"You see, that's the problem. Almost every county in Nanzhili can organize its own team to participate in the competition, resulting in the Nanzhili qualifiers being like a battle of the gods, which is extremely entertaining. Taken individually, each team has its own highlights, and sometimes they are very outstanding, but when you look at it as a whole, wow."

He shook his head. "After the actual selection, our overall strength is not as good as theirs. They gather the strength of a dozen counties in a prefecture and select the best. We are, after all, just a county. No matter what, we can't be stronger than the combined strength of a dozen counties, not even Jiangning County. For example, why did the Guangzhou team have four Qigong practitioners that year? Of course, they gathered them together."

"How many Qigong practitioners participate in the competition every year?"

"Well, not many actually. Did I tell you about the percentage of Qigong practitioners? An average of 2000 million newborns are born in Kinai every year. We can ensure that 93% of them eat the Immortal Root Radish. We have done our best. Although everyone can temper their bodies by eating the Immortal Root Radish, becoming healthier, taller, faster, stronger, and living longer, only a little over 10 of them can truly be tempered into innate bodies. Among these 4 people, only those with spiritual roots can become Qigong practitioners. Sometimes there are less than 0.29 people in the entire country in a year. That year, the Guangzhou team gathered 0.29 Qigong practitioners to fix the screws, just to get out of the station seconds faster than the others. Yes, only seconds faster, because everyone is so good, everyone is a genius."

"How are we going to play this? How are we going to win? This game isn't just about me, it's about 20 people! The Longjiang team hasn't won in decades, how come they managed to win here?"

"Then I'm at my wit's end. I can't interfere with the competition. Daozu has high hopes for you—though I'm not sure if winning a game counts as 'high hopes,' but Daozu must have a deeper purpose. On the bright side, Daozu might be trying to see if you have the ability to transform decay into something magical. Of course, the Jiangning team is also very strong, and definitely not 'decayed.' It's just that they're still a hair's breadth away from winning the championship. Don't you have a mind of seven orifices? Perhaps you can fill in the last piece of the puzzle."

"Then I'll try. I can only try. But does everyone else know that Daozu wants me to win the game? Except for the Jinyiwei."

"Um"

Lu Huaiyang stared at the newspaper for a while. He thought a lot and was also considering whether to tell Shangluo directly. After thinking about it, he sat up straight:

"Actually, the Jinyiwei can keep this secret, I'm assured. Only a few know of Daozu's existence, and the only ones who can directly meet him are you, the Emperor. However, I have something rather serious to tell you. You must understand the nature of this matter. After the ancient Emperor Zhuanxu achieved 'Unbreakable Connection Between Earth and Heaven', the Emperor became the sole intermediary between Heaven and Man. The same is true today; the sole intermediary between Daozu and all living beings is the Emperor himself. And now, there's also you."

"."

Shangluo had actually considered this matter before. This was actually very dangerous because it intruded into the realm of the emperor himself, and could even be said to share the emperor's divinity.

Thinking of this, he felt a chill on his back.

"Tianzi, what kind of man is he? How old is he?"

"The Emperor is 28 years old, a generation older than you. But he's a bit of a loner and a bit strange."

It's over. He's so lonely and weird, he's definitely going to take revenge.

"But you don't have to worry about him doing anything to you. I don't think he has the time to care about you."

"Huh? Is he busy?"

"Yes, he is very busy, but the key is that I don't know what he is busy with all day long, I just feel that he is very busy. He is very much like the late emperor. The late emperor didn't attend court, but at least we can still see the late emperor at the chuiwan court, and the elders can go and play with him. The late emperor was really good at chuiwan. He shot 18 strokes on a standard 54-hole chuiwan, just one stroke away from the world record of 53. Moreover, the people before and after him in the qualifying were all Qigong practitioners. But this guy now, he appears and disappears mysteriously. I even suspect that the Taoist Ancestor has given him some kind of shrinking magic, so we can't find his shadow at all. We just don't know what he is doing."

Chapter 64 Lunch

"Ah, this. It's okay if the emperor doesn't attend court, right?"

"You should be asking which emperor attends court—because no one does. The emperor rules the country with tranquility, and court affairs are naturally handled by the cabinet ministers and the councilors. I don't know when this became a routine. This wouldn't be a big deal, but it's very troublesome for us, the Jinyiwei of Nanzhen. We're on imperial errands, and the reason we're short on funds right now is because there are no imperial errands, and naturally, no funding."

"I'll let go of half of my worries for now."

He hadn't yet decided to let go of his other half. After all, he hadn't met the emperor in person, and he didn't know what he was thinking.

"Don't think too much about it for now, let's eat. Put away the documents on the table and call Lu Liang in for dinner."

When Shangluo sat back, Lu Huaiyang had already placed four dishes and a soup on the table.

Braised beef, braised spare ribs, braised eggplant, and braised lion's head. All four dishes have the same flavor and color, and look like they came from the same pot.

There was also a bowl of clear radish soup. However, the radish soup was not placed in a separate bowl, but was served to Shangluo and Luliang respectively.

"Captain Lu, don't you want to eat?"

"Radish is used to maintain the innate Dao body from a young age. It becomes more difficult to maintain as you age. At my age, eating radish is useless. You should eat it. Come, try the dishes I made. You can help yourselves. I won't serve you any food."

"Is this the dish you made yourself, Mr. Lu?"

It was unbelievable. This person was a fifth-rank official after all, so how could he have the time to cook for himself at home? He didn't look that free.

"You don't know? My dad can stir-fry 800 servings of shredded potatoes in half an hour. He's a professional."

"Professional. Very professional." Shangluo took a bite of the braised pork.

It truly is the taste of professional braised pork ribs. It's melt-in-your-mouth tender and soft. It's not overly sweet, but has a subtle saltiness that enhances the overall flavor. While nothing spectacular, it's textbook standard.

The same goes for the other dishes. Although they all look the same, each one has its own unique flavor and texture.

"Captain Lu, where did you learn this?"

"Forget it, forget it. I don't even want to talk about my youth. We were a bunch of Qigong practitioners, doing odd jobs all day long, covered in dust. I don't even know what I was doing back then. It was probably like, 'Before enlightenment, I carried water and chopped wood; after enlightenment, I carried water and chopped wood.' Oh, and this braised dish was just for practice. Try the radish; the radish is the most important thing."

Radish appeared in front of Shangluo again.

This was the dish he'd eaten every day for the past few years. As the birthplace of the immortal root radish, Yangzhou had nothing but an endless supply of radishes. Now that I think about it, while the conditions there weren't great, they always saw some impressive figures. I guess they went to Yangzhou just to eat the radishes.

The radish arrived in Yujing, but the cooking method remained the same. High-end ingredients were cooked using the simplest method—peeled, cut, and stewed directly, without even a sprinkle of salt. Because the radish's odor was much stronger than that of ordinary radishes, a little rock sugar was added to remove the odor.

"Is the medicinal power of this radish in the soup or in the radish itself?"

"In the soup, the radish has become medicinal residue. But the immortal root cannot be wasted, so I serve it out to you to eat."

"Thank you." Shangluo thanked him. Although he ate radishes every day, the radish in front of him was bought by Lu Qianhu at his own expense, so it had a completely different meaning.

He lowered his head and took a sip of the radish soup. It wasn't tasty at all. Even the rock sugar couldn't suppress the radish flavor, and it even tasted a bit bitter.

Glancing across at her, Lu Liang also ate her carrot soup first. She didn't frown at all, having become completely accustomed to the taste.

He had already finished the radish soup, and he ate the radish along with it. A warm current spread from his stomach. He didn't know if it was the temperature of the radish soup or something else. The warmth gathered in his abdomen, at the Dantian point, and then slowly dissipated.

It was exactly the same as before, no difference. He also had a bowl of soup for every meal in San Francisco, and then started eating.

Each person gets two braised lion's head dishes. After trying the braised spareribs, he knew that this braised lion's head dish wouldn't be bad.

"Oh~~ As expected, I can actually taste the texture of lean meat. The fat and lean are just right. Captain Lu, your cooking skills are really good."

When he raised his head, he found Lu Liang opposite him looking at him.

"Don't you need luck to digest it?"

"Digest? Digest what?"

"You just ate the Immortal Root Radish. This is the Immortal Root. A normal person would get bloated if they ate a bowl at a time. Even that unlucky guy would need ten minutes to digest it before he could eat. Why did you start eating right after you ate it? Are you that hungry?"

"Huh? So this makes me look hungry?"

Lu Huaiyang nodded. "In theory, yes. It's like you have two stomachs. After stuffing them full with fairy root radishes, you can still fit a lot more. As expected, what the three old fitters said was right. They thought you were like a starving ghost reincarnated, and they were afraid you would be hungry again, so they fed you a lot of fairy root radishes. There were probably about two in total, but you took them all and ate them directly, just like you would eat ordinary radishes."

"Ah! So that's why you asked me to come to dinner, Captain Lu?"

"I really want to see where all the fairy root radish you ate went. Do you mind if I take your pulse?"

"Yeah, yeah, thank you for the trouble." Finally finding someone who could explain the situation, Shangluo hurriedly stretched out his hand for Lu Huaiyang to hold.

Lu Huaiyang closed his eyes.

"Well, as expected, there really isn't anything at all."

"If it were someone else, what would happen at this time?"

"If it were Lu Liang, her Qi would be scattered around right now. Because Lu Liang has no spiritual roots, the Qi can't flow through her meridians. She has to practice external exercises after meals to achieve the effect of tempering her body. Your situation seems to be in even greater trouble than hers. If you don't have any Qi at all, you won't be able to practice either internal or external exercises, and you'll never reach the Qi Training Stage, let alone advance to the Foundation Establishment Stage."

"Ah." Lu Liang sighed across from him, "Another one. Is your father also a Qigong practitioner?"

"probably."

"He is," Lu Huaiyang added, "not only is he a Qigong practitioner, but he's also very powerful. It's just that he doesn't practice thunder magic."

"As expected, the children of us Qigong practitioners are all cursed by heaven, one unlucky after another. But I've never seen anyone as unlucky as you. It's like taking an exam, you can get a few questions right by guessing, but getting a zero like you is just as outrageous as getting a perfect score. However, you don't seem to have tried any remedial measures. Dad, how about I teach him a set of exercises?"

"Okay." Lu Huaiyang took a sip of water, "But don't teach him our martial arts for now. Wait until we meet the Grand Ancestor tomorrow. You can teach him a set of Grand Ancestor Long Fist."

Chapter 65 Hope

"The third move is the horizontal strike from horse stance. Horse stance, thrust horse stance! How can you strike without thrusting from horse stance?"

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