Chapter 3: Spring Goes and Autumn Comes

"Who is this person? To think he’s calling a favorite of the Noble Consort, Eunuch Zhang Gui, his brother—I’ve never heard of him. And a character like this is just a lowly black-robed eunuch?"

Under the awestruck gazes of many eunuchs, and led personally by Zhang Gui, Su Chen, a lowly black-robed eunuch, walked into the Martial Affairs Bureau. Behind him, the wailing of the gatekeeper eunuch still echoed.

"Godfather, Uncle, I was wrong."

"Spare me."

*Slap. Slap. Slap.*

As he spoke, the gatekeeper eunuch knelt on the ground, slapping his own face repeatedly, wishing he could beat his face into a pulp.

Su Chen hadn't wanted to stand out, but today, he had stood out in a major way.

The Library was too remote.

It was over half an hour's walk from the areas where normal eunuchs were active, so it was no wonder he hadn't heard a whisper about Zhang Gui’s promotion to manager of the Martial Affairs Bureau.

The current Zhang Gui was highly valued by Noble Consort Zhang. She had bestowed secret medicines upon him, allowing him to step into the fourth-rank cultivation realm ahead of schedule. He had bypassed the standard manager-in-training process, surpassing a group of old eunuchs who had spent years as peak fourth-rank managers, to take the position of manager of the Martial Affairs Bureau.

Surrounded by glory and favor, he was currently unrivaled in prestige; even the Grand Eunuch of the Inner Palace knew of this rising star among the eunuchs.

"The Martial Affairs Bureau... this shouldn't be a place for a black-robed eunuch like me to enter, right?"

Along the way, many eunuchs of the Martial Affairs Bureau—some with fourth-rank cultivation—bowed to Zhang Gui without exception.

Su Chen even felt a bit of that reflected glory.

"It’s fine. Rules are meant to be broken."

"My wealth and status include a share for you."

Zhang Gui called over his adopted sons to recognize Su Chen.

"Get a good look at your Uncle. Keep your eyes sharp in this palace. You are to treat your Uncle with the same filial piety you show me."

Zhang Gui stood with his hands behind his back. After speaking, he waved his adopted sons away with a cold, arrogant air, only to return to his cheerful, unrestrained self once they were alone.

He pulled two bottles of Bairu wine from a room and handed them to Su Chen.

"This heaven-sent wealth of mine—half of it belongs to you. If it weren't for your soap and perfume, how could I have ever caught the Noble Consort's eye?"

"Just say the word, and I’ll pave the way for you immediately. I’ll get you out of that Library, make you a green-robed eunuch. In the future, when I become the Grand Eunuch, you’ll be the second-in-command, even if you can't cultivate..."

Zhang Gui was still the same Zhang Gui. Even after becoming a favorite of the Noble Consort and someone the Grand Eunuch had to respect, he still spoke heart-to-heart with Su Chen.

In the Martial Affairs Bureau, Su Chen felt uneasy.

After all, he was a fake eunuch. Even though he tried his best to hunch his back, he was still terrified of being discovered.

Furthermore, he had the identity of a secret agent for a mysterious faction.

Causing such a stir—if he were noticed, he would be finished.

Right now, Su Chen just wanted to return to the Library and keep a low profile.

A tall tree catches the wind.

He shouldn't have come out at all.

Soon, Su Chen gave Zhang Gui the list of things he wanted.

"They’re all herb seeds. What do you need these for? Well, I suppose since you don't want to show your face and can't pass the time with cultivation, planting some herbs in that cold, lonely Library is a good way to kill time."

"Although it’s a bit difficult, I can get them all for you right now. It just so happens that one of the eunuchs in the pharmacy is my adopted son."

In the blink of an eye, after just a few words from Zhang Gui, the herb seeds were placed in front of Su Chen.

Before leaving, at the entrance of the Martial Affairs Bureau, Su Chen looked at Zhang Gui, who was seeing him off, and couldn't help but offer a word of advice.

"The horse runs fast in the spring breeze; one can see all the flowers of Chang'an in a day. The waters in this palace are deep; it’s better not to be too flashy."

"I know."

Zhang Gui said he knew, but his eyes showed he didn't care. It was clear he hadn't taken it to heart.

"Sigh."

Su Chen shook his head.

He was an immortal monster, a fake eunuch hiding in the imperial palace, terrified of being discovered, and thus afraid to make friends.

Zhang Gui was one of the few friends he had.

He really didn't want anything to happen to him.

But there was no helping it; people don't listen to advice. Perhaps only after suffering a disaster would he be able to calm down a little.

Back at the Library, Su Chen tried to force the seeds to mature to make poison, but his Longevity True Qi couldn't penetrate them.

Only then did Su Chen realize that he had to wait for the seeds to sprout and form a basic shape before his Longevity True Qi could accelerate their growth.

Just like when he had matured that thousand-year-old ginseng king.

"If I had known, I would have asked for younger herbs."

"Forget it."

"I won't go out anymore."

"To avoid getting caught up in more trouble."

Su Chen paced around the Library, finally choosing a spot in the courtyard. He pried up the floor tiles, cleared out a small ten-meter herb patch, and planted the seeds.

"Done."

"Once they sprout, I can mature the secret medicines."

Twenty-third year of Tianwu, December, Winter.

A month had passed.

Autumn was completely gone.

Scattered snowflakes drifted from the sky; it was going to snow.

During this time, Zhang Gui had come over a few times, looking troubled. They drank wine together, and in his drunken stupor, Zhang Gui spoke of things that left him sobbing uncontrollably.

Su Chen learned some of Zhang Gui's secrets.

The next day, after sobering up, Zhang Gui looked at Su Chen in silence and left without a word.

After that, he came less and less.

This day, December 7th.

Su Chen was in the Library, reading miscellaneous books and tending to his herb patch, when a young eunuch carrying a food box walked up.

He looked vaguely familiar, with some lingering swelling on his face.

"This servant, Xu Xiaohan, pays his respects to Uncle."

"Thank you, Uncle, for not holding my past offenses against me."

"Otherwise, given Godfather's temperament, I would have been sent to clean the stables and sleep in the pigsty long ago."

"In the future, if there is anything to be done, just order Xiaohan to run the errands."

The food box was opened.

Inside was Su Chen's favorite Bairu wine and braised chicken.

Su Chen nodded.

Zhang Gui was thoughtful; he hadn't forgotten what he said back then and had really sent his adopted son to bring him Bairu wine and braised chicken every day.

"Very well."

"Deliver food three times a day, and do not stay overnight. I don't like others disturbing my peace here."

He understood.

After his secrets were known to Su Chen, Zhang Gui was destined to never be as close to him as before.

Sending this Xiaohan over was likely also a way to keep an eye on him and ensure he didn't leave again.

"But Zhang Gui doesn't know that time flows on. The rise and fall of this dynasty, the changing of eras—what do they mean to me? Nothing but sand, stone, grass, and trees, not worth mentioning."

"Even if the dynasty rots, even if grandmasters die of old age, only I remain like an evergreen tree..."

Su Chen tended to the herb garden.

Today, it was time to harvest.

One by one, the embryonic poisonous plants were dug up by Su Chen. As streams of True Qi poured into them, century-old poisonous herbs soon appeared.

"The *Hundred Poisons Pharmacopoeia* says that poison powder made from fifty-year-old herbs can kill a peak third-rank expert and threaten a second-rank martial artist."

"My century-old ones—the toxicity will definitely be more than double. They should be able to poison a second-rank expert, or even kill a peak second-rank one."

Su Chen began to refine them.

Soon, he had harvested two large bottles of poison powder.

He chose this Heart-Devouring Poison Powder largely because it was simple to prepare and almost impossible to mess up; the only difficulty was collecting high-age herbs.

But for Su Chen, that wasn't a problem. As long as the herb sprouted, he could control its age—he could have whatever age he wanted.

If he weren't afraid that higher ages would change the medicinal properties, Su Chen would have even liked to try the toxicity of thousand-year-old Heart-Devouring Poison Powder.

"With this, I finally have a bit of self-preservation power in this palace."

"One must know."

"The few first-rank princes of the Liang Kingdom, and the purple-robed Grand Eunuchs, are only first-rank martial artists."

In the past, it was Zhang Gui who came to talk to him, telling him about the changes in the palace, but now it had become Xiaohan.

Nearly half a year had passed since the assassination three months ago, and the old Emperor's butcher knife was finally reaching into the palace.

On this day, Xiaohan was somewhat excited.

Because a Grand Eunuch of the Inner Palace had been imprisoned and executed that very night. Zhang Gui, a double peak fourth-rank with combat power approaching the third rank, had a chance to move up.

A Grand Eunuch position was out of reach, but relying on Noble Consort Zhang's favor, if he could catch the Emperor's eye, there was a glimmer of hope for the position of Deputy Grand Eunuch.

Once he rose, every one of his adopted sons would get a lucrative position, or even become a manager themselves.

Su Chen saw all of this.

He didn't care.

A Grand Eunuch wasn't even Zhang Gui's goal; a purple-robed First Eunuch would be more like it.

That night.

Su Chen was startled awake.

Cold wind, mixed with snow, blew into the quiet room. He opened his eyes, leaped up, and stared coldly at the uninvited guest in the room.

The thing he feared most had happened.

In the room, the man in black revealed a pair of cold eyes, staring at him.

"The time has come for this secret agent to be activated."

(End of chapter)