Chapter 17, Young Master.

At the moment when the door opened, Ji Mu finally stopped in his tracks.
Behind him, it was empty and quiet, with no signs of anyone's presence.
Ji Mu didn't turn around or have any thoughts. He was just a little bit unsettled in his mind. Until not long ago, Ji Mu thought that today was just a normal meeting, a normal day.
He stood alone silently for a moment, did nothing, and then continued to walk out like this.
……
……
After a simple wash to remove the bloodstains, changing into clean clothes, tying up his hair, Ji Mu looked no different from the former young master of the Fengtian Mansion, Ji Xiaogong.
Still, the silent black-armored warrior led the way, and Ji Mu followed calmly, holding his qin. He had no intention of escaping in this opportunity and didn't care about what awaited him next. He just followed them, gradually ascending one floor after another from the underground.
He has been here for a long time. Ji Mu does not believe that they can come up with any unexpected new means.
The higher up you go, the brighter the light becomes. Until a certain moment, the narrow stone steps came to an end. Leaving from the northwest corner of the main hall, he closed the final stone door behind him and walked past the heavy pillars, and suddenly his field of vision opened up.
They walked into the main hall of the Great Peace Palace.
Ji Mu squinted his eyes slightly, readjusting to the dazzling sunlight.
It must have been shortly after noon, as there were faint voices coming from near and far. The Great Peace Palace was one of the most commonly used main halls by martial artists. Practitioners from different sects occasionally came here to handle business. Although the number of people was not large, there were still some coming and going through the main door. Ji Mu was dressed in the typical black martial uniform of a disciple, and from afar, he didn't stand out. It was only when they brushed past each other that people suddenly recognized Ji Mu's face, their expressions either surprised or curious. Ji Mu didn't know any of these people and couldn't be bothered to pay them any attention. He just pretended not to see them and walked straight past them.
They continued to walk up the spacious wooden staircase. The surroundings gradually quieted down until they reached the top floor.
Taiping Palace's top floor only had three rooms. Two doors were tightly closed, with only a slight opening for the closest room. The Black Iron Warrior raised his hand and lightly tapped on the door, and a calm voice from inside said, "Please come in."
Ji Muwei raised an eyebrow.
It was a voice of a woman that was not unfamiliar.
Pushing open the door, the scene inside came into view. It was a spacious yet simple study.
The first thing that caught the eye were three tall bookshelves nearby, reaching from the floor to the ceiling. It was evident that initially there was only one bookshelf built against the wall, but later more were added as it became insufficient. Countless jade slips, wooden slips, and paper scrolls were neatly arranged and classified on them, although the number was extremely large, there was no sense of disorder.
The line of sight continued to move forward, and then I saw the woman standing up from behind the desk.
She appeared to be in her thirties, with a round white face and a relaxed and gentle look in her eyes. The woman was wearing the usual attire of a disciple of the Martial Arts Hall, with slightly different embroidery and a heavier fabric. When she stood up like this, she looked like an ordinary senior sister to Ji Mu, or perhaps a senior disciple who was not much older.
And the Black Armored Warrior stopped respectfully in front of her, bowing to her.
"Young Master, the person has been brought here."
……
If one only heard her name or reputation, few would imagine that the Martial Ancestor's Young Master Hua Shi is such an ordinary-looking woman.
"Okay, thank you very much."
Hua Shi shifted her gaze from the documents in front of her and looked up. "Could you please close the..." But when her peripheral vision caught the two people, she suddenly stopped mid-sentence and changed her words at the last moment. "Ah! Wait a moment."
The Black-armored Warrior turned around, waiting for her orders.
The woman picked up a paperweight and pressed it onto the pages of the book. She tapped her finger on Ji Mu's forehead and sighed heavily, saying, "You—you!"
Ji Mu noticed her and couldn't help but chuckle with boredom.
Hua Shi couldn't do anything about him either, so she simply saved herself the effort of lecturing him. She ignored Ji Mu and strode over, lightly patting the shoulders of the two people at the door, skillfully dispelling the hidden force that Ji Mu had left in their bodies.
The two black-armored warriors only just realized what was happening, and immediately glared angrily at Ji Mu.
"Forget it, forget it. You guys know him, after all... sigh," Huashi patted their shoulders and pushed them towards the door, coaxing them along. "We'll settle this later, we'll settle this later." With that, he closed the door.
Turning around, Ji Mu had already started rummaging through her bookshelf without any courtesy.
The woman took a deep breath.
"...Remember to put them back in their original places," she said.
Ji Mu glanced at her, then turned his gaze back to the bookshelf. He walked slowly along the marked timeline on the wooden lattice, and his fingertips finally paused on the jade slip representing six months ago.
--- Over six months ago, after the ancient battlefield ended.
Ji Mu was about to pinch it out and take a look, but he heard Hua Shi throw something over. He casually raised his hand and caught it, only to see a small round-bellied porcelain bottle.
"It's throat lozenges inside, for my personal use."
Hua Shi has sat back in her armchair, fingers massaging her temples, casually saying to Ji Mu, "The taste is not bad - you can try."
Ji Mu sneered.
"Are you bored?" he sarcastically quipped, enunciating each word clearly, "I just don't feel like talking, not that I'm mute."
"Alright, alright," Hua Shi only looked at his actions and laughed, "You don't need to return it to me, then?"
Ji Mu opened the lid and chewed on two of them, saying, "Once it's in my hands, it's mine."
Indeed, it was a throat-soothing candy with the taste of autumn pear paste.
After feeling it for a while, Ji Mu felt a little strange and said, "There's really no drugs in it."
“我？”女子指着自己的鼻子失笑，“怎么可能。”
确定了瓶里的丹药确实没有被她动手脚，季牧就彻底失去了兴趣。他随手把瓷瓶放在架子上，低头继续阅读玉简中的信息。
"You go ahead and take a look." Hua Shi moved aside the paperweight and continued with what she was doing before, "I'll just finish this up."
Of course, Ji Mu wouldn't object.
Although he still didn't know what Hua Shi wanted to do, he had been cut off from the outside world for too long. Now he had a chance to find out what had happened in the divine realm over the past six months, so of course he would look first and then decide.
The room quickly quieted down. Ji Mu started flipping through jade scrolls one by one from six months ago, while Hua Shi occasionally moved the papers, sometimes pondering a few words with a pen, and all was peaceful for a while.
Hua Shi's timing was very accurate. By the time she put down the pen and neatly stacked the papers on the left corner of the desk, Ji Mu had already finished reading all the jade slips on her bookshelf in the past six months.
"And then what?" Ji Mu asked.
The woman raised her eyes and looked at the back of the young man without speaking.
"I didn't expect it to be you this time." Ji Mu put the latest jade scroll back into its slot and turned around. He leaned his back against the bookshelf, looking idle.
"I am looking forward to it," Ji Mu slowly recited, "How can you judge me, Senior Sister?"
Hua Shi smiled slightly, "It's been so many years since you called me that."
……
Ji Mu and Hua Shi certainly know each other.
Not only Ji Mu, but also the younger generation of disciples from almost all sects under Emperor Wu, when they see Hua Shi, they have to call her Master Sister. Hua Shi is much older than them. Disciples such as Ling Zi from Dream Palace, Xun Guan from Yue Lu Academy, and Jiang Shou from Wuji Sword Sect, who are now famous in the region, all started their cultivation here by following Hua Shi.
Ji Mu was no exception; or rather, Ji Mu was originally meant to be an exception. Ji Wu Xiang never allowed him to practice outside.
He naturally found an excuse to decline when Ji Mu was invited. Or maybe it was because Hua Shi vaguely felt something out of the ordinary and specifically called for Ji Mu. Although Ji Mu ultimately spent a short time by her side, there was still this karmic connection.
Memories came flooding back, and the woman's smile gradually disappeared.
During the time that Jimo spent with Wuzong when he was young, among the children who came at the same time as him, Huashi took care of him the most. But at that time, she didn't think too deeply. Her mentality was more or less like seeing a naughty troublemaker and thinking about how to straighten him out. So she couldn't help but keep him by her side and remind him from time to time.
Afterwards, Ji Wuxiang used the excuse of taking Ji Mu away. At first, Hua Shi was still inquiring about him from time to time, but later she realized that her father didn't like it, and as time went by, she gradually lost interest. She had too many daily affairs to handle, and the minor incidents that happened to Ji Mu would not be reported to her by the subordinates.
Until the ancient battlefield is over, Wu Zong shifts his attention to Ji Mu, and Hua Shi starts to review the complete records of Ji Mu in the clan.
...It's really tricky.
If it is said that Ji Mu committed an unforgivable crime, but he was living in such a situation. If it is said that there is some understanding for Ji Mu's feelings, but the fact is that he brought this upon himself. Moreover, the significance of the Eternal Silence Platform is extraordinary, and Wu Zong has sufficient reason to eliminate hidden dangers and firmly grasp the Eternal Silence Platform. She has no reason to oppose it.
"What happened again?"
久久等不到华释下一句，季牧不耐地抬眼瞥了她脸上神情，声音里讥诮更浓：“别给我玩怀柔这一套。”
"...I won't."
Hua Shi came to his senses and shook his head slightly. "I haven't said a word for you these past few months, of course I won't have the audacity to chat with you about our past acquaintance."
Ji Mu's expression relaxed slightly, but his heart grew increasingly restless for no apparent reason.
He summoned the Everlasting Silent Platform and toyed with it in the palm of his hand, his gaze shifting back and forth between the woman, as if considering where to start later for maximum convenience.
"Forget it, I won't fight with you."
Hua Shi smiled again and said, "I invited you to come today on my own, without telling them."
Ji Mu narrowed his eyes, stood in place, and continued to watch her without putting away the lotus platform.
Hua Shi didn't pay attention to his guard and casually asked him, "Have you unraveled all the restrictions on your body?"
Ji Mu revealed a wicked smile.
He walked over, placed the qin in position, pushed aside the items on the table to clear a space, sat down, and then extended a hand towards the woman, dangling it in front of her, eagerly staring at her.
"Not reassured? You can check it yourself." Ji Mu said with a smile.
Before his words even fell, the woman had casually placed her fingers on his wrist and naturally used her spiritual power to scan through it.
"It's all solved."
Hua Shifei nodded and said, "I will take you away later."
Ji Mu paused, his brows slowly furrowing.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"This may not be a good thing for you," Hua Shifei released his hand and leaned back on the chair. "I'm letting you go, but I can't protect you forever. If you have the ability, do as you please. If your skills are inferior and you become a target of revenge, you can only blame yourself. In the future..."
"Who asked you this?" Ji Mu interrupted. "What do you mean, anyway?"
"Are you talking about the reason for letting you go?"
Hua Shi smiled. If I had to find a "correct" reason for letting Ji Mu go, "I haven't actually figured out how to explain it to them yet... but it's not a big problem. I'll wait for me to come back alone and think of a set of excuses."
Ji Mu simply doesn't believe it.
"To be honest, I think it's meaningless to continue keeping you locked up," Hua Shi looked at the spinning lotus platform at the young man's fingertips and suddenly asked, "You know that the Bureau of Heavenly Worship is no more, right?"
Ji Mu just chuckled and showed no emotion.
"Some people helped your father before because they hoped he could control you. I believe you are aware of this. But he can no longer control you, and you will not be swayed by anything anymore. If we continue this deadlock, the only outcome may be to kill you and completely abandon the Eternal Silence Platform. That would be even more meaningless, everything would be in vain."
A girl's expression reveals a slight tiredness, as she sighs and says, "So, I genuinely think, let's just forget it. It's just an incomplete artifact, right? Everyone before never had this thing, and they all got by just fine, didn't they?"
As Ji Mu listened to her, he asked indifferently, "Do you pity me?"
Hua Shi then asked, "Do you need it?"
Ji Mu plucked a string without any emotion.
"Ji Mu, you are actually not innocent."
Hua Shi reached under the cabinet and pulled out a thick stack of papers and threw them in front of him, creating a dull thud.
"I have thoroughly investigated your life in the past few months. Apart from the people you killed on your father's orders, most of the lives that were taken by you were impulsive acts. As for what you did on the ancient battlefield and whether the Phoenix Clan will spare you, you should know that yourself. Pity you? I pity those innocents you killed."
季牧却来了些兴致，好奇地伸手去翻看自己资料上面的记载。
Hua Shi let him take a look.
"...But if we delve deeper into the roots of this, in your situation, even if anyone else grew up in such an extreme environment, it would be impossible for them to become a normal person." When he reached this point, Hua Shi raised his hand and brushed away the qi attack directed at her. "No need to get angry, you know I'm not mocking you - I seriously thought about it and even if it were me, I couldn't do better than you, and I might even go further."
Ji Mu stopped and looked at her without expression.
"What do you want to do?" Ji Mu asked again.
"I want to do nothing," Hua Shi shrugged slightly. "Since I cannot even do it myself, there is no doubt that I do not have the qualifications to judge you."
Ji Mu continued to lower his head and flipped through the stack of paper, and no one could tell what he was thinking. After a long time, he smiled and said, "Just say it, who do you want me to kill for you?"
"I've already said it earlier," Hua Shi shook her head. "There is really no one, and I don't need it either."
Ji Mu mocked, "Do you think I would believe you?"
"I won't hide it from you, I did consider it." The woman smiled calmly, "In the past few months, I've observed that in terms of determination, you can be considered the strongest I've ever seen in my life; and if it really came down to a fight to the death, even I wouldn't be completely confident of defeating you. Ji Mu, you are indeed no longer the child you were back then, you are already very strong. If I could get your help, that would certainly be a good thing."
"But then my thoughts changed."
"Especially recently, Hua Shi has been constantly observing the situation on the other side of the stone room through the water mirror, and at that time she thought to herself—"
"To be honest... sigh, forget it." The woman sighed and shook her head. She said, "There are other Martial Ancestors as well. Do you have to constantly be at odds with Ji Mu? If that's the case, you will be so unlucky, and this will never end in your lifetime."
Ji Muchui looked down at the lines of text on the paper, turned the page, and then turned another page.
Finally, he commented indifferently, "After so many years, you're still the same, always nagging to yourself."
"Oh... I almost forgot, I have one small request." Hua Shi said.
Ji Mu nodded indifferently.
"In return for my small favor, please don't turn around and go kill those who interrogated you earlier. They were just following orders," Hua Shi smiled wryly, "If I release you here and you immediately seek revenge, then I won't be able to explain myself."
Ji Mudao: "It's a matter of time."
Hua Shi sighed with folded palms and said: "I'm really counting on you!"
Ji Mudao coldly asked her, "Do I look like a fool to you?"
Hua Shi finally breathed a sigh of relief and repeatedly thanked him, returning Ji Mudao's Buddhist ring to him.
Ji Mu took it over and subconsciously scanned it with divine sense, falling silent for a moment.
None of the original items were missing. Among them, most were various types of spiritual materials for healing injuries, which he had collected for Lu Qiming at that time. Some of them had been used up back then, and some were only halfway through the processing. More were recently snatched by Ji Mu and had not yet been refined into medicine.
Now it could be used on himself.
……
Ji Mu put the Nazhe back on his ring finger, and also put the Qixianqin in it.
When he lifted his hand, the sleeve touched the scattered stack of paper, revealing the bottom sheet with a noticeably different color from the previous ones. At first, he thought it was still the boring victim list, but when his peripheral vision unintentionally swept over it, Ji Mu's gaze suddenly froze.
He used two fingers to separate the paper and carefully read every name from top to bottom.
The edges of the paper had creases and there were ink marks in between the lines. It was evident that someone had pondered over this paper for a long time, but couldn't make a firm decision.
After reading it, Ji Mu casually shook the paper and smiled, asking, "What is this?"
Hua Shi was completely taken aback by his unexpected reaction.
For a moment, she even doubted whether Ji Mu had recognized the name on it, but she knew that was impossible. So when Hua Shi spoke again, her voice sounded a bit hesitant.
"This is... the guest list for the Penglai Seven-Day Feast."
"The Penglai Palace of Ji Wuxiang has been in existence for decades, and they hold such events every once in a while," Ji Mu casually threw the list back in front of the woman and sneered, "You just managed to find these few people?"
Hua Shi was speechless for a while.
Of course, there is more than just that. After the incident in Fengtian Prefecture, Emperor Wuzong sent people to clean up the mess. Many rumors that previously lacked evidence now have written confirmation, including the Penglai Feast.
Many years ago, there was a rumor that Ji Wuxiang built an extremely luxurious secret palace, with unimaginably valuable "guests" and exquisite "offerings" inside. During the banquet, the palace doors remained tightly closed, and the invited guests arrived through hidden teleportation arrays while wearing masks. The attendants inside were all blind and mute, except for a pair of ears to follow orders. Such banquets were held periodically, ranging from a year to as short as half a month. They lasted for seven days and nights without rest, and the pleasure surpassed that of immortals. Hence, it was called the Penglai Seven-Day Banquet.
Hua Shi had secretly investigated a long time ago. However, Ji Wuxiang had an extremely suspicious mind and only invited individuals deeply connected to his interests. Those individuals were also extremely cautious. She tried several times to verify, but encountered great resistance from top to bottom. Even the elders of the sect openly or secretly advised her to stop and wait for a better time.
The annihilation of the Fengtian Mansion is the perfect opportunity.
The incident happened suddenly, and Ji Wuxiang did not have time to destroy those records - or perhaps he deliberately left them behind, precisely to let them see. Regardless of the reason, Emperor Wu ultimately verified the various dark secrets and secrets within the Fengtian Mansion. Hua Shi looked at the information, and everything that happened and the people involved were all horrifying. Due to the extensive implications, they immediately decided not to disclose this matter to the outside world for the time being, but to slowly plan for it in the future.
Hua Shi took the page and handed it to Ji Mu, taking a great risk. She couldn't tell him the complete list.
"These people are..." she whispered, "I know you have been searching for these people for many years."
"'Do you know?'?"
Ji Mu's expression became dangerous. He moved his fingers slightly, instinctively wanting to touch the knife hilt, but then he remembered that the knife had already been buried with Ji Wu Xiang, so he could only regretfully give up.
"What do you know?" Ji Mu laughed again, as if in an extremely good mood. He asked, "Did Ji Wu Xiang write anything? Did he mention my name?"
Hua Shi replied, "No."
Ji Muchang sighed and said with a smile, "So you think these people have something to do with me?"
The woman looked at him silently for a moment and finally smiled gently, with a somewhat relieved expression.
That's true. She thought to herself.
Ji Mu had killed two of them a few years ago, and with his methods, it was not difficult for him to force out the identities of the remaining people. It turns out he had known all along.
这一刻华释意识到她并不像她以为的那样了解季牧。
“挺好的。”她忽然没头没尾地说，“这就好。”
季牧重新拿起那页纸，手指一捻，纸片散为湮末。
"Do you expect me to be grateful or to kill for you just because of this?" He smiled, "You miscalculated."
"Not really."
华释已经重新放松下来，又舒舒服服地靠回柔软的椅子背上。
“我便问你，”她轻笑说，“就算我借此给你下令，你就真的会按照我的计划去一步步地做？”
季牧道：“你想得美。”
“那不就结了？”华释没好气地瞧了少年一眼，笑道：“就你这无法无天的德性，我敢用你？随便一想都是数不清的麻烦。要真是为了方便，我自会找我用得顺手的人去做，那才是真的后顾无忧。实话告诉你，我恨不得你不知道才好。”
这也是真心话。
华释将这份记录放在最末，就是因为心中始终仍有犹豫，担心今后会因为这个决定后悔。不过既然季牧早已靠自己查清了，那她就毫无压力了。
“所以呢？”季牧忽然问。
华释看向他，“嗯？”
“不是嫌我麻烦么？”季牧冷淡地别开视线，道：“又何必特地拿给我看。”
华释笑意转淡，沉默片刻，又笑道：“我要说了你可别笑话我。”
“你说，”季牧道：“我先听听好不好笑。”
但华释却没有说原因。她说的是另外的话。
“我现在只要一想到你的事，我这心里就堵。”华释按了按胸口，语气自嘲。
她道：“当年我稍微关心了你一段时间，却没有关注到底。非但如此，就因为当时我那些所谓的‘帮助’，反倒惹你父亲生气，害你受累。所以我总是忍不住想，如果那时我再多一丝用心，只需要稍微分出些精力去查一查，哪怕是以势压人，就硬要留当年那个孩子在身边好好养着……那今日就是截然不同的结果。”
“又是这一套，听都听烦了。”季牧却毫无感触，道：“这些都是你以为。我可没觉我有哪点不好，怎么看不比你强多了。”
华释就笑。
季牧跃下桌面，淡道：“走吧。”
华释便也跟着起身，片刻后又喊了他声。
“季牧。”
“……又怎么了？”
“我看你只要不面对你父亲，心里就清楚很多。”华释低声劝道，“今后没有奉天府，没有季无相，你也不需再像以前那样了……再做什么事的时候，你好好想想，何必再越陷越深？”
季牧只问她：“有用吗？”
The woman remains silent.
季牧道：“那就不要说。”
他早已在这条路上走了太远，没人会允他回头了。世上本不存在什么放下屠刀立地成佛。他若回头，必死无葬身之地。
……
……
这年九月十三日，季牧孤身一人自武宗离开，不知所踪。