Lady, escort the emperor! 16

Chapter 16: Ability Exchange

After sighing, Li Nuo accepted reality.

A worker is a worker, I guess. It’s better to be tired than dead.

He picked up a copy of the *Law Book*, intending to study it carefully.

The cultivation of Legalism isn’t overly complex. The first step is to carefully read the works of Legalist sages, understand their tenets, and grasp their philosophies. Of course, like Confucianism, Legalist cultivation relies on more than just rote learning.

Confucianism aims to govern the country and bring peace to the world; Legalism aims to enforce laws. Both require entering officialdom.

Li Nuo could skip this step. Thanks to his father’s status, he could judge cases even as a commoner.

Thus, the cultivation process was quite simple for him. He could spend his days judging cases in the county office and his nights studying Legalist classics. A year or two at the fastest, three to five years at the slowest, and he could truly enter the gates of Legalism.

For ordinary people, cultivating Legalism is somewhat difficult.

Although Legalists grow stronger by judging cases, the prerequisite is to judge correctly. If a case is judged wrongly, cultivation might even regress. This feedback isn’t immediately apparent but accumulates over time, leading to a qualitative change from a quantitative one.

Therefore, even Legalists can’t use changes in their cultivation to determine whether a specific case was judged correctly.

Fortunately, Li Nuo wasn’t an ordinary person.

Whether a judgment was correct or not, the *Treasured Tome* would tell him immediately.

Legalists control rules. Even at the initial stage of cultivation, they can control some simple forces of heaven and earth.

For example, the art of confinement, a capability only found in the Fourth Realm of Martial Arts. However, the Legalist art of confinement differs from the Martial Arts’ object manipulation. Object manipulation essentially uses one’s True Energy to control objects. Confinement, however, touches upon the fundamental source of heaven and earth—a power wielded only by Martial Arts masters in the Sixth Realm.

Of course, the amount of heaven and earth power each can control differs vastly.

One needs to reach at least the Sixth Realm in Legalist cultivation to contend with a Sixth Realm Martial Arts master.

“Enforce the rule of law, implement reforms, benefit the present, and leave a legacy for centuries…” Li Nuo read, copying down important passages to aid his memory. After writing a few words, however, he noticed something was wrong.

The characters on the paper, while not exceptionally ugly, were far from beautiful.

Li Nuo was all too familiar with this handwriting—his own. But during the day, he could write as elegantly as the female assassin, using the delicate *zanhua xiao kai* script (a refined, flowery cursive script), while at night, his handwriting reverted to its original form.

Li Nuo immediately thought of the *Treasured Tome*.

After bringing up the *Treasured Tome*, Li Nuo immediately discovered the anomaly.

The portrait of the female assassin had become much dimmer, like the difference between a color photograph and a black and white one. It wasn’t just her portrait; the image of the goat-bearded thief on the second page also darkened.

Of the four portraits, only the portrait of Zheng Yuanwai’s concubine remained bright.

Three dark, one bright. Differently, the portrait of the merchant named Cui Ze on the fourth page never lit up.

Li Nuo pondered. The female assassin’s portrait dimming and his handwriting reverting suggested the abilities gained from apprehending criminals weren’t permanent but had a time limit—likely a day.

He had thought it was a permanent skill; instead, it was a one-day trial. Li Nuo felt somewhat disappointed.

Her handwriting was quite beautiful and pleasing to the eye. I wish my handwriting was that nice… As soon as this thought arose in Li Nuo’s mind, he saw the female assassin’s portrait brighten again.

Li Nuo paused, then understood, picked up his pen, and wrote several characters. Unsurprisingly, his handwriting transformed back into the beautiful *zanhua xiao kai* script.

The ability returned, but Li Nuo wasn’t particularly happy.

There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Everything comes with a price.

He immediately stood up, carefully examined his body, finding no missing parts or discomfort.

Li Nuo relaxed and closed the *Treasured Tome*.

His gaze unintentionally fell upon the *Treasured Tome*’s cover, then returned to it.

“Name: Li Nuo.”
“Life Expectancy: Twenty-five days.”

Li Nuo trembled, utterly incredulous. He had twenty-six days of life expectancy just now—how did a day suddenly disappear?

It wasn’t even midnight yet; the sky outside hadn’t even darkened!

Wait, could brightening the female assassin’s portrait and regaining her calligraphy skills have cost him a day of his life?

Though only a day was lost, for Li Nuo, with less than a month to live, it was a significant blow. What good is beautiful handwriting? And it’s quite possible he’d only gained a one-day calligraphy trial, a pure waste of life.

After a quarter of an hour, Li Nuo recovered from his heartache.

He could only comfort himself that trial periods have their advantages. At least, he wouldn’t worry about accidentally picking up things and getting caught. That would be utterly embarrassing.

However, the concubine’s lover’s portrait remained dark, suggesting he possessed no noteworthy skills or talents.

As for Zheng Yuanwai’s concubine, her portrait was bright, but Li Nuo had no idea what ability he’d gained. The *Treasured Tome* offered no clues; he had to discover it himself.

Li Nuo shook his head, took a deep breath, put these thoughts aside, and continued reading.

Wu Guanjia (the steward) stood outside the window, watching Li Nuo reading intently, a look of relief and joy on his face.

He knew the son of the master couldn’t be a fool.

Compared to the previous Young Master, the current one finally resembled Li Xuanying, the Dali Temple Minister.

The master and the Young Master were both raised under his care. In these past few days, he finally saw the master’s youthful self reflected in the Young Master. They shared the same intelligence, the same diligence, and the same striking handsomeness.

People say the Young Master is unworthy of the young mistress, but now, it seems they complement each other perfectly—one literary, the other martial.

As this thought crossed his mind, a figure entered from outside the courtyard. Wu Guanjia quickly bowed, “Young Mistress…”

Li Nuo was reading in his room when a knock came.

He opened the door to see Song Jiaren standing outside, feeling somewhat uneasy. Wasn’t she here to confront him about stealing the purse?

Seeing her raise her hand, Li Nuo instinctively shielded his head.

Song Jiaren tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, saying, “Pack your things. Come with me…”

…

As dusk fell, a luxurious carriage pulled away from the Li residence.

Li Nuo sat inside the carriage. It turned out his wife hadn’t come to settle accounts. Today was the sixtieth birthday of the Song Family matriarch. Song Jiaren, as a granddaughter, needed to return to the Song residence to celebrate. As her husband, Li Nuo had to accompany her. Li Nuo had planned to go during the day, but he spent the entire day at the county office and was now quite late.

Li Nuo had heard from Wu Guanjia that the Song family was a prominent military family in Da Xia. During Da Xia’s founding, they had followed the founding emperor and made great contributions. Although not as powerful as in their heyday, they remained a prestigious family in Chang’an.

The Li family, on the other hand, came from humble beginnings. Only Li Nuo’s father had entered officialdom. Li Nuo was a true second-generation official of the Li family.

It was said that Li Nuo’s father and Song Jiaren’s father were close friends in their youth. Both their wives were pregnant at the time. They agreed that if they had two boys or two girls, they would become sworn brothers. If they had a boy and a girl, they would marry their children. And so, this marriage came to be.

This made Li Nuo sigh. For a pact made over a decade ago, the Song family was willing to marry off such an excellent daughter to a fool. Ancient people truly upheld their promises.

However, the Song family didn’t entirely lose out.

From an individual perspective, his wife marrying him was like a toad marrying a swan, or a fine cabbage being fed to a pig.

But from a family perspective, the marriage between the Song and Li families was a significant elevation in status.

Even Song Jiaren’s uncle, the current head of the Song family, was merely a Fifth-Rank military official.

Li Nuo’s father, however, was a Third-Rank official, a difference of four ranks. The power and resources they controlled were worlds apart.

Looking at it this way, it was actually *he* who was the cabbage…
(End of Chapter)

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