April 20, 2018

When Wang Jiu left the wealthy family’s courtyard and arrived on the streets of Golden Jade City, he discovered that news about the coup in Golden Jade City and City Lord Zhao Chenlu’s soft imprisonment had already spread throughout the city like wildfire.

However, unlike the courtyard owner who was trembling and sighing, most people in Golden Jade City didn’t take this matter seriously and treated it as idle gossip over tea.

"Haha, did you hear? The former Deputy City Lord Zhao Hongwu has bribed the City Lord’s maid Zhao Lingbo to start a coup!"

"I heard, I heard, it happened the day before yesterday. They say they lured the City Lord into Golden Hall under the guise of an emergency meeting, and then that close maid, Zhao Lingbo, suddenly activated the Heaven-Flipping Golden Seal, drawing the Power of Heaven and Earth from all over the city to subdue the City Lord, and then a bunch of old geezers jumped out to seize power, announcing that the City Lord had suddenly fallen ill and would undergo vacation-like treatment, with the former Deputy City Lord and his team temporarily taking over the City Lord’s responsibilities... hahaha, it’s killing me, this story is more entertaining than a novel."

"So you’ve heard it too, I laughed until my stomach hurt. Vacation-like treatment, hahaha, those old guys may not have brains for anything else, but coming up with such a ridiculous reason is quite clever, they actually managed to think of this reason hahaha."

"Hey, hey, hey, you guys, stop joking around, this is a coup, let’s be serious... come, come, eat, eat."

"This wild pork head meat from Feiyan Mountain is really good, those remote places might not be good for much else, but their livestock industry is truly top-notch. I happen to have a friend over there planning to invest in building a large-scale farm specifically to produce high-end meat. Would any of you be interested in investing?"

"It’s definitely doable, but if you ask me, during this time, everyone should be cautious with their financial management. After all, the situation in Golden Jade City isn’t particularly stable, and it’s safer to keep some liquid money on hand."

"Hey, hey, you’re taking the coup seriously? Relax, brother, you haven’t been in Golden Jade City long enough to know the City Lord’s prowess. This so-called coup drama has played out countless times since she first took office. Think about it, a teenage girl suddenly popped up and told the old geezers they were outdated and should step down. Who could tolerate that, right? So there were almost constant coup attempts back then."

"Oh, is that so? I really didn’t know. I only heard that when City Lord Zhao first took office, she caused some controversy but quickly transitioned smoothly without any major incidents."

"Haha, that’s not wrong either. The City Lord has never taken more than half a day to quell a coup. The fastest time was when the coup plotter’s declaration of war was only half-written before the City Lord led troops to raid their home, and then she read the document aloud in front of that person, mocking their writing and typos, and then personally penned the latter half of the declaration, elevating the entire document’s level by at least a grade. If it were me, I’d be so ashamed I’d commit suicide on the spot."

"... Such a thing happened!"

"Yeah, in short, during those months, despite the continuous coups in Golden Jade City, the residents lived peacefully, and their lives were completely unaffected... Ah, the only thing worth mentioning is that there were too many elderly retirees whose homes were raided during that time, saving Golden Jade City a lot on pensions, significantly reducing administrative expenses, and thus greatly improving city welfare."

"..."

"So there’s really nothing to worry about with this kind of coup. When it comes to preventing coups, the City Lord is undoubtedly an expert in all of Xiangzhou. How can those idle old geezers possibly shake her? I see this as the City Lord having some leisure time, stirring up some big news to liven up the political atmosphere of Golden Jade City, and giving the citizens something to talk about in their free time. There’s no need for panic; we can go about our lives as usual."

---

Overall, the ordinary citizens of Golden Jade City viewed the coup on the 18th with this kind of detached amusement, with only a few showing a grave and deep expression, appearing worried.

However, for Wang Jiu, the coup in Golden Jade City wasn’t the main concern—whether Zhao Chenlu was the City Lord of Golden Jade City or the head of a government-in-exile didn’t affect their camaraderie. The key was Zhao Chenlu’s personal situation.

Judging from the current information, Zhao Chenlu was only in a state of soft imprisonment, with no immediate threat to her life, but the situation was certainly not optimistic. During her imprisonment, she couldn’t even send a confirmation message to her library, almost causing the Celestial Divine Sword to disappear from the world forever. Given her nature, she would never allow herself to appear so disheveled unless faced with genuine trouble.

Wang Jiu vividly remembered when she and Shang Lanfei fought side by side against an exceptionally fierce enemy. After a brutal battle, even Shang Lanfei, with an intelligence index of 9, was covered in wounds and her clothes were in tatters. Only Zhao Chenlu appeared radiant, although her hair was disheveled, and the corner of her skirt slightly scorched—yet in the midst of blood and fire, this disheveled appearance added to her charm. Compared to Shang Lanfei, the distinction was clear.

However, while Mr. Zhao was pridefully showing a hint of satisfaction, as a comrade, Wang Jiu clearly saw that her entire back was completely mangled, her pallid ribs moving through the rotten flesh like maggots. From her back to her waist to the buttocks Zhao always took pride in, everything had been corroded into a mess by the Demon Race’s toxin. The actual injury was at least twice as severe as it appeared on the disheveled Shang Lanfei.

This was certainly not due to a difference in cultivation, but purely because Zhao Chenlu, in battle, would rather risk twice the internal damage than show a defeated posture in front of Shang Lanfei. She fought tooth and nail to maintain her appearance from the front, leaving the fate of her back injuries to chance. Throughout the battle, she endured the pain of her Primordial Spirit tearing apart and the torment of her severe back injury, presenting the most perfect front like a two-dimensional character to Shang Lanfei, infuriating the opposition to the point of exploding.

So, given Mr. Zhao’s character, he would never let such an oversight occur unless it was absolutely unavoidable.

Therefore, her situation, even if not the worst, is already quite bad.

So, Wang Jiu’s first reaction is to rescue her, but soon he faces a harsh reality.

How to rescue her?

Her whereabouts are unknown, the number of guards is unclear, and whether there’s still time to save her is equally uncertain.

In this state of complete confusion, taking rash action is obviously unwise.

Years ago, when Shang Lanfei had a conflict with her family, there was a similar mistake. At that time, an important elder of the family was taken hostage by an evil cultivator, who presented a very troubling demand.

While the family was urgently discussing countermeasures, Shang Lanfei impulsively used the Great Inference Skill to locate the enemy, provoking them and resulting in a tragic execution, although eventually, the evil cultivators were completely wiped out, but the Shang Family also lost a respected elder.

Wang Jiu certainly wouldn’t make the same mistake, so while walking the streets of Golden Jade City, the Celestial Divine Sword was admiring the beautiful scenery of this first-class city in Xiangzhou, while also considering a rescue plan.

The simplest method would be to use the Demon-Pointing Sword to directly locate Zhao Chenlu, then go straight there, break through the prison, and rescue her.

However, some time ago, Wang Jiu used resources gathered in Shen City to upgrade the Demon-Pointing Sword, enhancing its search capabilities, making this sharp sword more intelligent and sensitive, but at the same time, making it difficult to use clothing with Zhao Chenlu’s scent to deceive it into believing it belonged to the Demon Race for precise location.

With the Demon-Pointing Sword being unusable, only the Inference Technique is available; the Celestial Divine Sword’s Inference Technique is divided into two types: one being the Celestial Net Hall that calculates all under heaven, deducing more facts from the current limited clues through rigorous logic. The other is almost mystical, directly reflecting the ultimate principle of heaven and earth, piercing the truth—the Heavenly Dao Mirror.

Given the current situation with no clues, expecting the Celestial Net Hall to deduce Zhao Chenlu’s whereabouts is unrealistic, so we can only hope for the Heavenly Dao Mirror.

As the highest essence of Inference Technique in the Sword World, the construction level of the Heavenly Dao Mirror is higher than that of the Celestial Net Hall. Even a simplified version is a superior construct to the Demon-Pointing Sword.

When Wang Jiu was in Shen City, with the help of the Shen Family, he collected a large batch of precious materials, greatly advancing the reconstruction of the Sword World, but the Heavenly Dao Mirror still lacked a crucial step, with a few key materials just out of stock in Shen City...

The Shen Family cultivator in charge of preparing materials regretfully said that Shen City, after all, is located in a remote frontier, lacking the material richness of the central cities of the continent. If it were in Golden Jade City, there would always be ways to obtain even the most precious material.

Now, finding himself in Golden Jade City, with a reasonably ample budget on hand, as long as the procurement is completed quickly and the Heavenly Dao Mirror is built, he can locate Zhao Chenlu and then find a way to rescue her.

Having determined the plan of action, Wang Jiu began searching for shops in Golden Jade City, but hadn’t walked far before hearing a familiar conversation.

"I said it’s karma! That woman is obviously headstrong and does as she pleases, deserves to be overthrown by her subordinates! I think it’s best to find time quickly to execute her publicly as an example, Golden Jade City has been under dictatorship for too long, it’s time to implement some democracy!"

"Qingming, don’t speak in anger, compared to these inexplicable Zhao Hongwu, Zhao Hongwen, etc., Zhao Chenlu, at least, is Wang Jiu’s friend, and is relatively easy to deal with..."

"I don’t want to deal with Golden Jade people! I’m just worried about Ah Jiu being tricked by that cunning woman. Now that the woman is done for, we just need to find Ah Jiu quickly and then return to Cyan Cloud together!"

Heading in the direction of the voices, Wang Jiu turned a corner and indeed saw Shen Qingming, Li Wanqing, and others at a food stall, eating Golden Jade delicacies while complaining.