"Little eunuch, just do me one favor. I'll teach you the Bone-Cleansing and Marrow-Refining Technique right away. I guarantee that within two years, you'll have opened up another meridian..."
Even as Noble Consort Li ate, her voice continued to echo in Li Qing's mind, using voice transmission to disturb him.
"Your Highness, if you've finished eating, this little one will take his leave now."
Seeing that she wouldn't stop talking, Li Qing didn't bother checking if she was truly full. He grabbed the food bucket and walked straight out of the Dingyou Iron Wing.
Once outside, the whispered voice in his ear disappeared.
Something was clearly off about Noble Consort Li. She held a high rank, yet was locked away in a cold palace inside a reinforced iron chamber. Her tongue had even been cut out to stop her from speaking nonsense. Li Qing would have to be out of his mind to trust anything she said.
Sure, getting a technique to cleanse his meridians and improve his physical foundation would be an incredible stroke of luck for him. But it wasn't essential.
What Li Qing had plenty of was time. He didn't need to rush his training.
Let a hundred years go by. Let's see what tricks you can still pull then.
Ever since he'd acquired the Seven Forms of Flowing Water internal technique, not even during the seven empty years after the death of the Grand Empress Dowager had he considered seeking out another consort to beg for a martial arts technique.
In this first life, stability was the goal. He would let time pass, steadily building his inner strength.
As long as time moved forward, he kept getting stronger.
If this were his final life, maybe he'd let loose and go wild.
...
Night fell.
In the Cold Palace eunuch's duty room, a faint candle flickered.
"Little Gong, in Go, there are black and white stones. Black moves first, then white, and you take turns placing them. If a stone wants to survive, it must first have room to breathe..."
The elderly eunuch Wang Li was seriously and carefully teaching young eunuch Gong Yue how to play Go.
Most cold palace eunuchs learned the game like this. Few were experts, but nearly all could play.
Having just come back from delivering food, Li Qing sat off to the side and watched Wang Li give his lesson.
Wang Li didn't forget to remind Li Qing, "Once I'm out of the palace, teaching Go will be your job, Xiao Li. Don't forget it. Life is like a game of Go."
"Of course," replied Li Qing with a smile. "I'm just waiting for the younger ones to take over my night pot duty."
Ever since two new eunuchs arrived at the Cold Palace, Li Qing had been cleaning chamber pots far less often. In a few more years, maybe he wouldn't have to do it at all.
"Little Gong, when you brought food at noon, did Consort Li say anything to you?" Li Qing suddenly asked.
"How could she? Her tongue was cut out," Gong Yue answered casually.
"What about Little Yong?" Li Qing called out to Zhang Yong, who was off to the side playing dominoes.
"Huh? No, no... Three! Give me a three!"
Zhang Yong's noisy shout was the only answer he gave.
After asking around, Li Qing was sure that Consort Li had only used voice transmission on him.
She had been locked up for five years and chose to use the technique today of all days. Li Qing had a vague guess: maybe her ability only worked on martial artists who had opened at least one meridian.
Li Qing had just advanced to the third tier a few days ago.
...
Two years passed in a flash.
Winter of the 19th year of the Taikang era.
The annual eunuch health inspection had just wrapped up.
Wang Li, now fifty-two, had failed the exam. He was being released from the palace.
On the day of his departure, Li Qing, Zhang Yong, Zhang Bai, Gong Yue, and eight other eunuchs gathered at the palace gate to see him off.
Wang Li had entered the palace at age eight and moved into the Cold Palace at thirteen. He had spent a total of thirty-nine years there.
In the five years before that, he had served under a senior eunuch in charge of affairs, from whom he learned to play Go. After that old eunuch lost favor and was expelled from the palace, Wang Li ended up assigned to the Cold Palace.
He'd had a chance to transfer out and serve a consort, but he turned it down.
"Old Wang, what are your plans now? Heading back to your village, or staying in the capital?" Zhang Bai asked, steadying Wang Li by the arm.
"Back to the village," Wang Li said softly. "The clan sent word. They're arranging for me to adopt a son. At least I'll have someone to carry on my name..." As he spoke, he carefully wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes.
After spending a lifetime in one place, it was hard not to feel something when leaving.
"If you had the chance," Li Qing suddenly asked, "would you stay in the capital?"
Wang Li gave a bitter smile. "Of course I would. But it's not that simple. The capital's a big place, not easy to live in."
Li Qing pulled out a slip of paper he'd prepared in advance and tucked it into Wang Li's hand. "If you're serious about staying, you might want to try the business on that note."
Wang Li could read, thanks to his years playing Go. After scanning the paper, his eyes went wide. "This business... is there really money in it?"
"Offal is cheap and looked down on," Li Qing explained. "But with the right recipe and prep, it can be delicious. There's real potential here." He nodded. "You're a eunuch from the Inner Palace. As long as you smooth things over with the eunuchs at the city market bureau and give them a twenty percent cut, you can make a decent living."
The paper Li Qing gave included a recipe and detailed steps for braised offal. In this era, nobles didn't eat offal and commoners didn't know how to cook it well. Done right, it could sell.
Cold Palace eunuchs were still eunuchs. Though they were low-ranked in the palace, once outside, they were part of the same brotherhood. With some profit-sharing, getting support from market officials wouldn't be hard.
"If this really works," Wang Li murmured, "it wouldn't just be enough to live on…"
He looked up, voice filled with hope. "It could become a real family business."
"Little Li, I can't accept something this valuable for nothing. If this braised offal business takes off, you'll have a share in it."
Li Qing nodded. "That's only fair." He also handed over the wages he'd saved up over the years, to count as his investment.
It was an unplanned move.
If it made money, great. If it didn't, that was fine too.
After Wang Li left the palace, the Household Department sent over a new thirteen-year-old eunuch named Wei Yang. There were now three junior eunuchs in the Cold Palace.
Once the health checks were over, it was officially Twelfth Month.
On the day of the Laba Festival, it was once again Li Qing's turn to deliver food to Consort Li.
Over the past two years, he'd been constantly harassed by her.
Every time he brought her food, she tried to tempt him with all kinds of enticing promises; instant ascension to the Xiantian stage, immortality, even the rebirth of his eggs.
Li Qing had never believed a word of it and always ignored her.
And indeed, Consort Li's voice transmission only worked on martial artists who had opened at least one proper meridian. The other Cold Palace eunuchs were never affected.
Carrying the food bucket, Li Qing pushed open the Dingyou Iron Door and delivered the meal with his usual mechanical routine.
As Consort Li ate, that familiar voice slipped into his ear once again.
"It's been over two years now, and you've still only opened a single meridian. If you'd accepted my Bone-Cleansing and Marrow-Refining technique, you'd have opened two long ago…"
Just as she was getting into her usual pitch, Li Qing picked up the bucket and turned to leave. But then he heard something unexpected.
"Fine. You win, little eunuch. For two years you've ignored my every offer. Nothing's worked. I've run out of patience. I'll give you the Bone-Cleansing and Marrow-Refining technique now. Once you practice it, you'll understand. Listen carefully: all things are born of yin and yang. Gui corresponds to water…"
To Li Qing's surprise, this time she actually began reciting the technique.
Only two years, and she was already this impatient?
No… she had already been in the Cold Palace for seven years…
Time really flew.
Could it be a trap?
Still, no harm in listening.
He didn't say a word. Keeping his posture as if he were leaving, he began inching his feet forward, moving slowly, inch by inch.
By all logic, someone with Li Qing's aptitude shouldn't have been able to memorize an entire cultivation technique after hearing it just once. But Consort Li's words had somehow taken root in his mind like an old tree sinking deep roots into the earth.
"This technique is called the Great Lotus Marrow Cleansing Sutra. It can raise your physical foundation by one tier; perfect for someone like you, with such low-level talent. It's a secret never passed outside our sect.
"The Emperor and I are one. My being thrown into the Cold Palace is nothing less than the Empress Dowager's doing. She has the Emperor under house arrest in the Great Sorrow Hall.
"The commander of the Left Battalion of the Imperial Guards, Ke Daoling, is a loyalist. If you can spread the word that the Emperor is imprisoned in Great Sorrow Hall and I'm locked away here in the Cold Palace, Commander Ke will surely lead his troops to restore the Emperor's power. If you help rescue His Majesty, your future will be limitless.
"Once it's done, I'll pass on to you the secret of the Twelve Golden Needles Meridian Technique. That one can raise your physique by yet another tier…"
Even though he was moving at a snail's pace, Li Qing still eventually stepped out of the Dingyou Iron Wing. He couldn't hear anything beyond that.
Great Lotus Marrow Cleansing Sutra…
Li Qing ran through the contents in his mind. The full technique was only about 180 words. No one had explained it to him, yet somehow, he understood every word. He grasped the meaning fully.
She must've used some kind of special mental transmission technique on me, he thought. That's terrifying. Even if she's not at the Xiantian stage, she must have fully opened the Eight Extraordinary Vessels. She's a true master.
Still, even though Consort Li had impressive cultivation, she couldn't threaten his life. Her power had long been suppressed. She only had a few strange techniques left to work with.
As for her talk about delivering messages to Ke Daoling?
Li Qing had already tossed that idea to the back of his mind.
Getting all this for free. What's not to love?