Babel Novel
Chapter 17
Chapter 17
Chapter 17: The Emperor Is Old
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Even though news of Zhou Yi’s death spread, no one made things difficult for him when he came back.
The prison guards cheered when he showed off his technique.
Warden Liu praised, “Old Zhou is a nostalgic person. Little Yu, you don’t have to escort prisoners. You
can just deliver food with Old Zhou.”
Little Yu’s name was Yu Jie, a 17 or 18-year-old youth. He had not been tainted by the gloomy aura of
the Sky Prison for a few months. Just like when Zhou Yi first came to the Sky Prison back then, he
stood obediently behind the prison guards and said little.
Zhou Yi smiled. “He’s been in the Sky Prison for too long and am used to the smell here.”
“We’ll welcome Old Zhou at Spring Breeze Tower tonight.” Lieutenant Zhu put his arm around Zhou Yi’s
shoulder and said in a low voice, “The prison hasn’t been peaceful recently. People keep seeing ghosts
at night. Old Zhou, you’re a great expert now. Keep an eye out!”
“I’ll do that.”
Previously, Zhou Yi had been cautious. Now that he had advanced to the Connate Grandmaster realm,
he could let go a little. His day went without any troubles.
Nightfall came.
The Sky Prison’s guards changed their clothes, and they went straight to Spring Breeze Tower.
Zhou Yi asked, “Old Feng, I heard you say that you have a fierce wife at home. Have you become
more carefree now?”
“Old Zhou, you still don’t know?” Lieutenant Zhu winked and said, “This fellow bought a pair of twins at
the brokerage and secretly raised them in the Divine Capital. I don’t know who let out the news, but his
wife from the county came and caused a scene…”
“I originally saw that the woman had some money at home, so I tolerated her.” Feng Qiao said in
embarrassment, “That money is nothing now. So I found an excuse and divorced her!”
The benefits of the Sky Prison were more than ten times or a hundred times higher than that of the
county prison. If they found an opportunity to escort an exiled criminal, they would earn more money
than the county prison could earn for a few years.
Zhou Yi did not persuade him to abandon his wife. He only has a shallow relationship with him, it’s best
not to say anything. He knew that Feng Qiao would not have an easy time in the future when he saw
his colleagues’ disdain hidden in their eyes, even though they were smiling. After becoming rich, he
divorced his wife. Who dared to work with him?
“How are the twins?”
“Young and very smooth!”
Feng Qiao was not blind. He could naturally tell that his colleagues despised him. But so what? As long
as he did not care about his reputation and future, it really did not affect anything.
After not coming for half a year, Spring Breeze Tower had changed its Flower Queen again.
When the procuress saw Zhou Yi, she immediately beamed. “Master Zhou, you haven’t been here in a
while.”
He was an old customer for 21 years. Although Zhou Yi did not fight for the Flower Queen and did not
casually reward people, the money he spent in Spring Breeze Tower over the years was enough to buy
a residence in the capital.
These loyal customers were the foundation of the Spring Breeze Tower!
Zhou Yi smiled and said, “What is the program today?”
“Of course it’s Master Zhou’s favorite!”
The procuress summoned the clerk and gave him a few instructions. She took down the current
program, replacing it with Drunken Spring.
The new Flower Queen was a big-chested woman. Her red lips were slightly parted as she sang softly,
“… Gently push the boy, it hurts… Arms around each other, move…”
In a private room on the second floor.
Zhou Yi and Lieutenant Zhu took the lead, while the other colleagues sat on the left and right.
The waiter served the dishes without any instructions. They were all ordered by Zhou Yi. The wine was
50 years old pear blossom white.
“Master Zhou, you don’t have to pay for anything today.” The procuress made a few more wisecracks,
causing the prison guards to laugh before leaving.
Lieutenant Zhu said, “If you’re coming to Spring Breeze Tower, you have to call Old Zhou over. If we
come alone, we’ll always be sitting alone in the lobby, and we’ve never enjoyed such meticulous care!”
“Lord Zhu, you can enjoy the treatment if you spend ten thousand taels of silver here.”
Zhou Yi roughly calculated that the annual expenditure was at least a few hundred taels. In twenty
years, it had already exceeded ten thousand taels.
…
Lieutenant Zhu muttered, “Old Zhou, why don’t you learn from Old Feng and buy a few to raise at
home? You won’t need so much silver in your lifetime!”
His colleagues looked at each other. No matter how profitable the Sky Prison was, they could not make
money like this.
10,000 taels for the Spring Breeze Tower, money for body tempering, not to mention that the Body
Tempering Soup was filled with 100-year-old medicinal herbs, and there were priceless treasures, and
other expenses. It was simply difficult to calculate.
Moreover, Zhou Yi only delivered food. He never went to escort prisoners. Where did he get so much
money?
“I have many friends in the martial world. There are always people coming to the door to offer money.
The kind that can’t be refused.”
Zhou Yi did not earn much money in the Sky Prison. In recent years, when many prisoners saw him
carrying wine and meat in, they would be so frightened that they promised to give him gold and silver in
exchange for their lives, but he had never gone to retrieve it.
The silver that was distributed in the prison was only the extra money for the prisoners’ meals. After
deducting the portion for colleagues and officials, it was far from enough to spend at Spring Breeze
Tower.
“I see!”
The prison guards suddenly remembered that the old Zhou Yi was a martial arts expert.
A first-rate expert in the Visceral Tempering Realm could have a position in the Uniformed Guards. He
could also make a name for himself in the martial world. For example, the Flying Rainbow Swordsman
could dominate Yuzhou, and the Twin Bears of the North Desert could shake the Northwest.
Lieutenant Zhu said, “In the future, the money for the prisoners’ meals will all belong to Old Zhou. You
can discuss how much of the leftovers you want.”
“Thank you, Sir Zhu.”
Zhou Yi did not explain that most of his income was actually from the thieves that trespassed his
courtyard.
Initially, they were just some petty thieves. Later on, he gained the nickname of Old Demon of Blood
Prison. Some of them wanted to take revenge for their friends and family, while others wanted to
subdue the demon, and they left behind many jade rings and banknotes.
Zhou Yi could not be bothered to distinguish between good and bad. Since he had entered the martial
world, he was prepared to die. The soil in the courtyard was three feet higher. Zhou Yi was not
surprised if a zombie crawled out one day.
“Has anything major happened in the Divine Capital in the past six months?”
“Hehe, Old Zhou, you missed the show!” Lieutenant Zhu smiled and said, “A few days ago, when the
Grand Marshal returned to the court, tens of thousands of people in the Divine Capital watched. His
Majesty beheaded the prince in front of the envoys of Great Yong and offered him to the Imperial
Ancestral Temple.”
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“Then why the peace negotiations?”
After Zhou Yi came out of seclusion, he heard a few words. It seemed to be about making peace with
Great Yong and returning the five cities to them.
“War is dangerous. No one can always guarantee victory. It’s better to quit while you’re ahead.”
Lieutenant Zhu’s tone changed. “In any case, the Ministry of War issued nine consecutive military
orders to recall General Li from the northern border with this reason!”
Zhou Yi shook his head slightly. “Lord Zhu, do you think General Li can continue to win?”
Lieutenant Zhu said affirmatively, “Of course! General Li is a famous general that only appears once in
a thousand years. Ever since he pacified the Long Rebellion, he has never tasted defeat.”
Zhou Yi looked at his colleagues and asked, “Do you guys think so too?”
“Is there something wrong? General Li knows his subordinates’ abilities well enough and has promoted
several generals who are not that successful. Now, they are all generals who are powerful. General Li
is still a Connate Grandmaster. Since he could kill someone in a ten-thousand army, it’s possible for
him to destroy Great Yong!”
His colleagues chimed in, agreeing that Zhu had a point.
“Then let me ask you guys—” Zhou Yi said faintly, “How old is His Majesty now?”
Lieutenant Zhu calculated silently in his heart. The current emperor was twelve years old when the late
emperor ascended the throne. Chongming Dynasty ended in its 46th year and the current emperor has
been on the throne for twelve years. He was already seventy-two years old this year.
Although the emperor enjoyed glory and wealth, it was not easy for him to live to 70 years old except
for Emperor Chongming, who was pure-hearted and did not care about government affairs.
Emperor Hongchang was already old!
Although the prison guards were the lowest level of officials and could not even be rated, they were
usually guarding criminals. They had heard about the struggles in the imperial court and naturally
understood the dangers.
Zhou Yi asked, “Does General Li have any rewards for recovering lost territory, defeating the enemy
country, and expanding our territory?”
Immediately, a colleague replied, “The Emperor bestowed nine bestowments and a fake gilded battle-
ax, his name would not be announced and he did not need to walk fast when he saw the Emperor, in
addition, he was conferred the title of a Duke!”
“Ahem, ahem, ahem!” Lieutenant Zhu coughed and interrupted the conversation stiffly. He shouted to
the clerk beside him. “Call the girls over. How can we just drink when we’re at Spring Breeze Tower?”
Due to the topic, the originally lively atmosphere suddenly became boring. After a few more rounds of
drinking, they dispersed and went home.
…
Cell C-9.
Zhou Yi sat cross-legged in the inner room, using the Heaven Devouring Demon Technique and
practicing the Nameless Mantra.
The spiritual energy in the prison was sinister and cold. He gathered them in his meridians and refined
them. It became colder and colder, incompatible with the warm true essence in his dantian.
“Cultivation needs to be relaxed. I’ll rest for the next few days and find the thief in the Sky Prison first.”
Zhou Yi lay on the bed with his ear pressed against the brick bed. His Connate True Essence circulated
along his meridians.
In an instant,
Snoring, grunting in pain, berating, walking, drinking, prison guards drinking and playing rock-paper-
scissors, snakes and rats burrowing and squeaking, all kinds of sounds mixed together like countless
ants crawling around his ears.
Earth Communication Technique! Text © by N0ve/lDrama.Org.
An unknown grave robber had exchanged this method for a roasted chicken before he died.
Grave robbers knocked on the ground and used the Earth Communication Technique to determine if
there was any space a few feet underground. Then, through other methods, they deduced that it was a
tomb or a hole in the ground.
Zhou Yi used it with his Connate Realm, and he monitored the entire prison. He distinguished and
blocked out useless sounds.
No matter how good one’s qinggong was in the world, there would still be the sound of wind and
vibration when one moved. If one was not proficient in qinggong, it would be difficult to distinguish it
from the noisy and chaotic sounds.
Zhou Yi learned Qinggong from many prisoners. There were many famous thieves in the martial world,
and there were thieves who walked on the eaves and walls. It could be said that they were very
knowledgeable. As long as someone in the prison used Qinggong, they would not be able to escape
the Earth Communication Technique.
The first half of the night passed without accidents.
At dawn.
The warden on duty was exhausted. He was either dozing on the table or resting in a corner.
The night wind howled as a shadow entered the prison. The prison guard on duty at the door looked up
groggily. Seeing no one, he continued to drift against the wall.
The oil lamp in the aisle of the cell flickered. Shadows were reflected on the wall, swaying with the light
like struggling ghosts.
The shadow went straight into the depths of the prison.
Prison A2.
It was empty and there were no prisoners checking in for the time being. The shadow used a key to
open the iron lock and entered with familiarity.
The shadow looked around, not leaving any gaps.
Crack!
The steel door moved without wind, shutting the shadow in the cell.
“Who?” A crisp cry sounded from the shadows. The shadow subconsciously wanted to pull open the
cell door, only to see a seemingly corporeal sword energy stabbing over.
Swish! The sword energy struck the cell door. The steel bars snapped.
“Senior, spare me!” The shadow retreated in fear. The gray-black fog that enveloped him quickly
dissipated, revealing the person inside.
“Hehehehe…” A series of strange laughter sounded in Yu Jie’s ears.
“Kid, what are you doing in the Sky Prison?”
The voice was ethereal and untraceable.
Yu Jie’s forehead was covered in sweat. He kept bowing to his surroundings, thinking that he had
encountered a rare old demon.
“I, Yu Shitou’s grandson, came to the Sky Prison to obtain my ancestor’s inheritance. I have no
intention of offending you!”
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