Evil Master and Disciple

At dusk, Princess Changning left, and Wen Liangong finished his shift. Two renowned scholars from the Imperial Academy took over the night shift to guard the most important Jiaotai Hall in the court.

Wen Liangong did not return to his residence, but instead took a carriage and, after leaving the palace, turned onto the Hanlin Academy.

He was the last to arrive at the Sage's Tower.

The other several sub-saints, as well as Ye Feng's adoptive father Lu Yunshi, were already on the seventh floor of the Sage's Tower.

"Old scoundrel Wen, why are you so late today? You made us old folks wait for half an hour. Do you think you've already reached the Saint Realm? Shameless!"

There is a saying that in literature there is no first place, but in martial arts there is no second.

Although these six sages were good friends, they also disliked each other.

In the eyes of scholars across the land, they were revered as near-sages, the six most learned men in the world, and even His Majesty the Emperor treated them with utmost respect.

They should all be morally upright gentlemen, known for their kindness, respect, frugality, and humility.

But the situation was quite the opposite.

They were the most knowledgeable about Confucianism, yet they seemed to be ignorant of the most basic Confucian etiquette. They didn't seem like highly learned sages at all, but rather like old men squatting at the village entrance smoking pipes.

You call me an old scoundrel, I'll call you an old codger.

Of course, this title is only used among the six of them.

"Old scoundrel Li, you work at the Imperial Academy, where you spend your days reading books, writing a few sentimental poems, and instructing a few students before taking a break at the beginning of Shen Shi (3-5 PM). I, on the other hand, work at the Hall of Union and Harmony from the hour of Si (9-11 AM) until the hour of You (5-7 PM)!"

“Oh, if you find working at the Hall of Union too tiring, how about we switch places? I’ll go work at the Hall of Union, and you can go to the Imperial Academy to teach those princes and princesses.”

"Well, let's forget it. I'm good at painting, but not at poetry and prose. Besides, those princes and princesses have terrible tempers. I can't handle these little ones."

"That settles it... You only see me leaving get off work at 3 PM, but you don't see my suffering while I'm at work. It's like every day is an eternity."

Dean Qiu waved his hand and said, "You two stop arguing. Now that Elder Wen is here, let's discuss the next steps."

As the leader of the six sub-saints and the one with the best chance of reaching the saint realm in his lifetime, Qiu Yuanshou enjoys high prestige among the people.

Once he opened his mouth, Wen Liangong and Li Ling stopped arguing.

On the seventh floor of the Sage's Tower, two huge maps are hung.

First, they drew the diagram based on the dragon vein formation left by the Confucian sage, which they obtained from the jade sundial.

The locations of all 9,999 array points have now been marked on the map.

The furthest of the dragon vein array eyes is nearly five thousand miles away from the capital.

This shows how much effort the Confucian sage put into sealing the dragon vein.

The other map is a detailed map of the capital and the imperial city.

Wen Liangong asked, "Headmaster Qiu, what's the situation now? Are we going to reinforce the seals on those dragon vein array eyes outside the capital?"

Headmaster Qiu shook his head and said, "The reason I summoned everyone here this time is not for the array core outside the capital, but for the one inside the capital."

Wen Liangong was taken aback and said, "In the capital? Haven't we old folks been busy all this time, reinforcing all the array points in the capital and the imperial city? Could there be a problem? Or are there any omissions?"

Qiu Yuanshou said, "Nothing has been missed. The array points that we recently reinforced have also been fine. However, it seems that there are some problems in other aspects."

Wen Liangong frowned slightly upon hearing this.

Qiu Xingchuan said, "Mr. Lu, please speak."

Lu Yunshi nodded, took a few steps forward, and walked to the map of the capital. He picked up a thin wooden stick, pointed to a location, and said, "Although we have dealt with the dragon vein array eye of the capital recently, I have recently discovered a problem. There is a very intense dragon vein fluctuation in this area of ​​Chongning Ward in the outer city."

Before Wen Liangong arrived, Lu Yunshi had already told the other five Quasi-Saints about this matter. At this moment, apart from Wen Liangong showing surprise, the other five Quasi-Saints did not react.

Wen Liangong stepped forward and examined it carefully. He said, "I remember there was indeed a key point of the array in Chongning Ward, in the backyard of the Liu residence. That seal was very strong and was not affected. Even so, we reinforced the seal again. How come there are dragon energy fluctuations in Chongning Ward all of a sudden? Old Lu, are you sure?"

Lu Yunshi said, "I cultivate the energy of the dragon vein, and there is absolutely no mistake about it. As early as six or seven days ago, I sensed that a dragon energy suddenly appeared in the capital. Although it was very brief, the fluctuation of that dragon energy was very short-lived, lasting only about half an incense stick's time. Although I tracked it down immediately, the dragon energy suddenly disappeared when I finally tracked it to the vicinity of Chongningfang."

I have great confidence in my abilities and believe I was not mistaken.

I've been busy with the dragon vein sealing project these past few days, so this matter has been delayed.

But the more I think about it, the more something seems wrong. I've been wandering around Chongningfang for the past two days, but I haven't found anything.

"Until today, while examining the dragon vein map at home, I discovered something unusual."

As he spoke, Lu Yunshi walked to the map of the dragon veins of the world opposite him and said, "According to this map of the dragon veins, the capital city is the place where the dragon veins of the world converge, with a total of 317 dragon veins meeting here."

However, based on the location of the reinforcement of the array's core during this period and the direction of the dragon veins in the capital, I discovered that of the original 317 dragon veins that converged from the outside, 28 were missing after reaching the capital. The map of the dragon veins in the capital only shows 289.

After careful study, I discovered that the twenty-eight missing dragon veins all ultimately lead to Chongningfang… I suspect that the dragon vein aura I sensed some time ago is related to these twenty-eight missing dragon veins on the map.”

After listening, Wen Liangong immediately used the method of military strategy to quickly count the number of dragon veins on the two maps.

As Nouwenhe said, twenty-eight of the dragon veins in the capital city are missing from the map.

Because the capital city has too many dragon veins, people had only counted the number of dragon veins on the world map before, and no one paid attention to the number of dragon veins in the capital city.

Wen Liangong pondered for a moment and said, "Could it be that we overlooked something when we were drawing the array diagram left by the Confucian sage in the sundial ceremony?"

Lu Yunshi said, "Impossible. The array diagram left by the Confucian sage clearly marks the specific locations of the nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine array eyes. That array diagram is very complete."

I suspect there are two possibilities. One is that the Confucian sage overlooked these twenty-eight dragon veins at the time.

Secondly, the Confucian sage deliberately concealed these twenty-eight dragon veins, rather than sealing them away.