Secret Records of the Leader of the Beichen Sword Sect
Chapter 100 - 99 Backdoor

Chapter 100: Chapter 99 Backdoor

Under the system of the Immortal Palace, the administrative body managing rituals and music has two branches: one is the Taiwei Yuan Tai City Temple, responsible for the worship of heaven and earth, national ceremonies, and court rituals.

This part is extremely formal, consisting of old scholars past their prime, who play Do, Re, Mi, Sol; sing in archaic, convoluted language, specializing in vassal tributes, vassal alliances, great sacrifices to heaven and earth, and grand assemblies of the Three Constellations. Every step, every movement has precise guidelines, ancient rituals passed down from generations of Immortal Venerables. If anyone dares to sing off-key, expose a chest, or show a leg, believe it or not, those old scholars might just lift a bronze chime and throw it at you.

The other is the Imperial Court Music Bureau of each country, directly subordinate to the Ziwei Constellation and the Twelve Royal Families, essentially private property of the royal family, managed by eunuchs and palace maids. This is purely for entertainment, primarily providing entertainment services such as music, theater, singing, dancing, performances, and acrobatics for the Imperial Family, Merit Nobles, and Gate Valve Nobility.

Since the personnel of the Imperial Music Bureau are mainly selected from the finest and most renowned artists from the common people, as well as chosen from the families of criminals who must meet certain criteria, their standards and performance levels are naturally far superior to any grassroots performers from the private sector.

Apart from occasionally participating in fixed palace sacrifices, ceremonies, and welcoming guests, the main function of the Imperial Music Bureau is to carry out sideline activities, providing paid, customizable services for the nobility, which helps to enhance the inner treasury of the King, while also promoting unity and harmony among the ruling class.

After all, when you are a victor in political struggles, enjoying your spoils, and watching those noblewomen, whom you once could not even approach and could only gaze upon from the ground, now crawling at your feet, it does make one reflect. Should you go against the King’s wishes, do you want your own family members, wives, and daughters to also fall into such a miserable state of being trampled upon?

Of course, the losers couldn’t all be slaughtered or wiped out, nor would they willingly let their families be humiliated within the Music Bureau, hence there are always desperados attempting to break into the bureau to rescue people.

Naturally, the court can’t let them succeed, so although theoretically the Music Bureau isn’t a military institution, it’s usually directly controlled by the Inner Court Eunuch and constructed along with the Forbidden Army camps like the Imperial Stables, Yulin Army, Imperial Guard, etc. This arrangement facilitates tight supervision and also helps to draw the Forbidden Army into indulgence, thereby preventing them from gathering for salary demanding or staging coups during idle time.

To break into such a perilous place, Tie Dan wasn’t very confident. He thought to first have a look since it’s a place you can enter by spending money. He originally wanted to find Manager Qiao, borrow some money to visit the Music Bureau, and meanwhile leave his burden with him.

However, Zhen Baiyu insisted on following him to see her mother one last time, and she provided a reason Tie Dan couldn’t refuse.

She could take a backdoor route.

Well, the so-called backdoor route was indeed... a literal backdoor.

"There’s a secret passage in Tongguan Palace that leads straight to the Music Bureau."

Tie Dan was puzzled,

"Isn’t the Music Bureau the King’s private property? Why use a secret passage stealthily?"

"It wasn’t constructed by the King; it was secretly dug by the palace maids."

Although at first, with legs being groped and buttocks being patted, which made Zhen Baiyu nervous for a while, upon realizing the man beneath her was merely escaping with her for survival, her fear abated somewhat.

However, this Brother Tie, his muscles are really hard as iron, devoid of a bit of extra flesh, tight and rigid like a steel hoop, chafed against Baiyu’s thighs causing pain, so she no longer bothered about propriety, wrapped her arms around Tie Dan’s neck, pressed closely against him, adjusted her posture for comfort, and softly whispered into his ear,

"Decades ago, a group of palace maids couldn’t endure the King’s abuse and planned to assassinate him and then escape through a secret tunnel. They couldn’t leave the palace at will, yet they were able to regularly go to the Music Bureau for errands and use celebration procurements as an excuse to fetch funds from the inner treasury. This allowed them to secretly begin digging the escape tunnel at the Music Bureau."

Truly deserving the title of a noble family’s daughter, she casually divulged an incredible scandal.

Tie Dan frowned,

"Isn’t it uncertain that one can even break through the main gate of the Music Bureau? Why use the secret route to the King’s sleeping chamber?"

Zhen Baiyu explained,

"When the King was assassinated, that side hall has long been used as a cold palace, inhabited only by old, faded palace attendants and with hardly any guards left.

Now, with chaos reigning, once the King fled, palace attendants have long scattered, and the Forbidden Army is either escorting the King southward or guarding the city gates and arsenal. Who would be guarding the cold palace?"

"Even so, are you sure a secret passage from decades ago is still there? What if it has long been blocked?"

"It must be there; the matter back then was handled by my Zhen family ancestors who hid this secret passage affair. Later, my family occasionally used this passage for palace communication.

On the day I entered the palace for consort selection, my mother particularly told me that in case of unexpected events, I could use this secret passage to escape. Surely, she wouldn’t lie to me."

Tie Dan sighed.

"Brother Tie, what is it?"

"Pity these women, cunning and courageous, yet they failed ultimately."

Zhen Baiyu shook her head,

"No, they succeeded."

"...They succeeded?"

"Yes, it’s documented in our family records; back then, it was my grandfather who served as Magistrate in Ye Capital. One night, his subordinates captured several palace attendants who had secretly left the palace, covered in blood. Not realizing they had committed any transgressions, once interrogated, they confessed to something earth-shattering. They said they had united together and strangled the King with steel wire. They planned to behead him but found his neck too hard, and the wire, grinding against it, couldn’t cut through, so in haste, they escaped and were eventually seized by the Six Gates Bureau.

They didn’t even last a night before eunuchs from the palace stormed into the jail and killed them all. The next day, the King attended court as usual, showing no signs of distress. My grandfather assumed it was simply the mad talk of palace maids gone insane, having escaped the palace, hence didn’t pursue the matter. Later, when someone from our family went to serve in the palace, they indeed found the secret passage, even the blood-stained steel wire was there.

Thus, this bizarre tale has been kept by our family as a secret legend, fearing the calamity it might bring, not daring to reveal the heavenly secret. Even those who know, including me, are less than five."

Oh, the neck so hard the wire couldn’t sever the head, and the King showed up normally at court the next day, huh?

Apparently, that’s also one of those Chicken Qi Persons...

Then the Kun leaped out of the Mingming and jumped in front of Tie Dan, brandishing two signs, one said ’Mechanism’ and the other ’Device’...

"You’re really annoying..."

"Brother Tie... is that your fish?"

Zhen Baiyu was dumbfounded.

"You can see it?"

Tie Dan was also surprised and turned back abruptly, nearly bumping into Zhen Baiyu’s face.

Zhen Baiyu was startled, blankly staring at the young man so close, only feeling his hot breath touch her face.

"Yes, an Immortal Beast and Spiritual Bird; I’ve been able to see them since I was little..."

Tie Dan’s eyebrows knit together,

She can see the Kun...

Previously, when she mentioned having gained significant Immortal Fate, he assumed it was because those Divine Beasts wanted to curry favor with noble families, revealing themselves and sending gifts during holidays, speaking propitious words, and establishing good relations.

Being aware that Tie Dan had guarded notable families before, naturally, he knew those noble ones all boast commercially, claiming phenomena of the sun and moon entering dreams during conception or auspicious Lingzhi accompanying, or strange celestial events, Phoenix and White Snake descending upon them, were mostly exaggerations to gain reputation. For later on, it helps earn a good acclaim, rank as a top-grade talent, and enter government service.

Unexpectedly, she really had the ability to see?

Elder and martial brothers couldn’t see, and yet this woman’s Immortal Fate is so strong...

Tie Dan thought a bit, reached into his chest to take out the Blood Jade, waved it before her,

"Can you see this?"

"Yes, it’s the same Blood Jade."

Zhen Baiyu wore a look as if saying, ’and you claim to be from the Mystic Sect.’

"But my piece is different from Brother Tie’s; mine has a woman carved on it, presumably a transmission jade made by the Holy Daughter of the Divine Sect."

Tie Dan glanced at the face on the Blood Jade, gave her a sidelong look,

"This is also a woman. Perhaps it’s another Holy Daughter."

Zhen Baiyu shook her head,

"This one is more beautiful than a Holy Daughter, evidently the Divine Lord."

Tie Dan was a bit surprised, "The Divine Lord? That of the Three Venerables?"

Though it seemed this Tie Senior didn’t recognize the Divine Lord, Zhen Baiyu wasn’t at all taken aback,

"Yes, the transmission Blood Jade is crafted by successive Generations of Sect Hierarchs of the Divine Sect, meant for imparting Heavenly Book Divine Skills to those with distinguished merits.

Since the first Divine Lord, since the establishment of the sect, consistently wore a mask, rarely revealing his true appearance,

the later Sect Hierarchs also wear masks, and the Blood Jade they create is always engraved with a ghost face, symbolizing the Sect Leader’s presence, also termed as ’Divine Lord Jade’, the highest token within the sect.

But originally, the Blood Jade was personally crafted by the Divine Lord, into nine pieces, for his nine Direct Disciples to transmit skills.

Sadly, the earlier Dharma King Venerables mostly lacked natural talent, their fates insufficient, thus they couldn’t fully obtain its skills, couldn’t hold onto such Immortal Fate, and successively lost them.

Eventually, only one remains in the Divine Sect, guarded by the generations of Holy Daughters."

"Really now, he looked like this..."

Tie Dan lowered his head to take another look, alright, indeed, this face is even prettier than the Zhen Baiyu on his back.

No wonder he wore a mask consistently; being a grown man with such delicate, captivating features, it’s really not something openly displayable.

Tie Dan glanced at Zhen Baiyu,

"This is also what the shadow told you?"

"Yes," Zhen Baiyu nodded, "such inside stories and more were told, probably inviting me to become some Candidacy Saintess for the Divine Sect."

Tie Dan looked at her,

"If you become a Holy Daughter, I shall kill you."

Just keep pretending...

Zhen Baiyu rolled her eyes at him without much annoyance,

"Understood, Brother Tie~~ Baiyu remembers it~~"