Hao Xiangtong had been waiting outside this entire time. As soon as Chu Qiguang stepped out of the guest hall, she walked up to him.

She wanted to ask how he knew so much, but at the same time, she felt it was inappropriate to pry into his secrets.

Chu Qiguang assumed she was here to urge him to continue telling the story of Wu Zetian, so he said, "I'll be a bit busy over the next few days, so I won't be able to continue the story for now."

Before Hao Xiangtong could respond, he quickly walked off, leaving her standing there in a daze. She thought they had become friends, but now it seemed he had never cared much about her.

He was probably only telling me that story to get close to me just so he could use me to meet Father.

With that in mind, Hao Xiangtong shot a resentful glare at Chu Qiguang's retreating figure. She felt like an abandoned pet, and she was left punching the air in frustration.

Just then, Chu Qiguang suddenly stopped and turned back, then turned back and added, "To make up for my absence over the next few days, I'll tell you several days' worth of chapters at once when I get back."

An elated smile appeared on Hao Xiangtong's face. "Really?"

"I'm a man of my word," Chu Qiguang replied with a serious expression.

He had indeed presented himself as a man of morals, one who had no interest in money or women, so Hao Xiangtong found it easy to trust him.

"Alright, I'll be waiting then."

Chu Qiguang gave her a parting wave before turning to leave.

Given that she possesses the potential to become a Dao Comprehension-state Dao artist in the future, it would be in my best interest to maintain a good relationship with her. I shouldn't turn her against me.

***

After returning to his courtyard, Chu Qiguang began thinking about his next moves.

He noticed Chen Gang scooping poop out of the flower bed for the cat fiends. Calling him into the room, Chi Qiguang instructed him to have the dog fiends keep an eye on Hao Fulai.

"Is something wrong with him? Should we get rid of him like we did with Gu Wei?" Chen Gang asked, a hint of excitement flashing in his eyes.

"Stop thinking about killing all the time! You have to learn to use your brain!" Chu Qiguang snapped.

"Alright, should I tie him up and bring him here?" Chen Gang asked.

Chu Qiguang felt a surge exasperation and slapped Chen Gang on the head.

"When did I tell you to abduct him? Just do as you're told, and don't get any funny ideas!" 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Chen Gang massaged his sore head as he protested inwardly. But you just told me to use my brain!

From there, Chu Qiguang issued some more instructions, while Chen Gang nodded incessantly.

It looks like Chen Gang's only ever going to be useful as a henchman. Still, having someone simple-minded like him around isn't a bad thing.

"Any questions?" Chu Qiguang asked.

"Brother Chu, right now, I have to clean up after all the cat fiends, prepare food for both the cat and dog fiends every day, and brew cat wine. On top of that, I have to carry out all of your instructions, and I also have to cultivate martial arts. I'm really struggling to keep up," Chen Gang complained.

Chu Qiguang nodded thoughtfully. He had indeed been asking too much of Chen Gang.

"How about this? I'll give you ten taels of silver tonight, and you can go back to the Wang Clan Village tomorrow to fetch your two brothers to work for me as well. What do you think?"

Chen Gang was ecstatic, and he nodded eagerly. He had always thought his brothers weren't going to amount to anything in the village. If they could follow Chu Qiguang, then they would have much brighter futures ahead.

After Chen Gang left, Chu Qiguang went to find Qiao Zhi, then asked, "Master Qiao, what happens to Wu Siqi in the end? I know he will become the grand secretary soon, but you never told me what became of him and the Wu Clan."

"Over the next decade, Wu Siqi holds great power and implements various reforms, but in the end, he suffers a catastrophic fall from grace," Qiao Zhi replied. "He is stripped of his official position and executed, and his entire clan is wiped out. He brings about his own downfall by eventually overstepping with his reforms.

"He tries to cut down on the daily expenditure of the imperial clan, and more importantly, he attempts to reduce the cultivation resources available to the current emperor. After his death, a wise man goes on to say that he was nothing more than a tool that the emperor used to carry out his reforms, and a tool is inevitably discarded once it's outlived its usefulness.

"Besides, the current emperor isn't carrying out these reforms for the good of the empire and its people. Instead, he intends to use them to gather wealth to support his cultivation. He wants to accumulate as much wealth as possible in order to go beyond the Dao Comprehension state. However, that's an extremely ambitious and difficult endeavor, and it's been over two hundred years since anyone was able to go beyond the Dao Comprehension state.

“The same wise man also said that the emperor is betting on himself by gambling the entire empire. If he succeeds, the Great Han Empire will have an invincible ruler at the helm, and all of its enemies will be crushed. However, if he fails, then the Great Han Empire will fall with him."

"It sounds like he fails," Chu Qiguang said thoughtfully. "Even so, if I were in his position, I might make the same choice."

Seeing as Hao Yongtai had already applied for leave for him, Chu Qiguang decided to spend the rest of the day cultivating at home.

During the breaks that he took from his cultivation, he checked on the cat fiends, who were still undergoing military training. He noticed they were getting used to their new routine. Furthermore, after acting as accomplices in Gu Wei’s murder, they had become much more accepting of Chu Qiguang and Qiao Zhi.

Under Qiao Zhi's instructions, they formed two relatively neat rows, then repeatedly went through the same sequence of sitting, shaking hands, lying down, and playing dead.

Would these cat fiends go running around if you weren't here to supervise them? Chu Qiguang asked telepathically.

Definitely not, Qiao Zhi promised. I've trained them to be completely obedient to me, so they won't go anywhere without my instructions.

Chu Qiguang nodded and resumed his cultivation. After killing Gu Wei the day before, he felt like his cultivation today was progressing smoothly, and he wanted to make the most of it.

He cultivated his Yaksha King Fist Techniques late into the night, only stopping when Hao Fulai came to see him.

"Come with me," Hao Fulai said coldly.

Chu Qiguang was unbothered by Hao Fulai's hostile demeanor, and he followed him to the rear entrance of the county office, where the door had been left slightly open.

"Someone on the inside has been arranged to take you to the county office storehouse, where you'll be able to read the county chronicles and the statute records," Hao Fulai said. "You can read them, but don't try to make any copies, and do not get caught. If you get caught, none of us have anything to do with you, understood?"

"Understood," Chu Qiguang replied with an indifferent nod.

Before long, a man snuck his way out of the rear entrance, then gestured for Chu Qiguang to follow him inside.

The man didn't say anything and made no attempt to introduce himself.

Qiao Zhi jumped onto the roof as he asked curiously, Why did you insist on bringing me along today?

I can't shake the feeling that there's something off about Hao Fulai, so I asked you to come with me as a precaution, Chu Qiguang explained. You can never be too safe.

Chu Qiguang's guide unlocked the storehouse and let Chu Qiguang in, then stayed outside to keep watch.

Chu Qiguang let out a quiet breath as he looked around.

The history of Azure Sun County since the founding of the Great Han Empire can be found on these bookshelves.

While going through the county office's account books, Chu Qiguang's eyes had come to realize not just the severity of the wealth gap and land manipulation in Azure Sun County, but also the persistent taxation problems that had been passed down from one generation to the next.

If I recall correctly, the year I have to find is the second year of the Yong'an Era.

Chu Qiguang searched through the records on the bookshelves year by year, and it didn't take him long to find a statute record from the year that he was looking for.

This is it!

Thanks to the significantly enhanced cognitive functions as a third-state Dao artist, he was able to read through the statute record with great speed, committing everything to memory as he went.

I knew it! The problem here is severe! If I use this against the county office, He Wenyan will have his hands so full that he won't be able to deal with the Wu Clan and the Hao Clan for at least a year or two!

All of a sudden, a commotion sounded outside the storehouse.

***

Outside, the man who had led Chu Qiguang into the storehouse was yawning lazily when he heard a rush of footsteps approaching.

In the next instant, He Wenyan stormed onto the scene with a cold expression, followed by more than twenty bailiffs.

"Surround the storehouse!" He Wenyan ordered, and the bailiffs immediately moved into position.

Chu Qiguang's guide was too stunned to speak. He could only tremble and sweat profusely as he stared at He Wenyan in horror.

He Wenyan gave him a cold glare, then kicked open the doors of the storehouse and ordered, "Search this place inside-out!"