With Li Miao and Wang Hai's internal energy cultivation, the fatigue from two days of galloping on horseback was not a significant drain.
So, the two of them continuously whipped their horses, and along the way, they exchanged two horses with merchants, arriving at Tai'an City ahead of schedule.
Neither of them had eaten a proper meal for the past two days, having been on horseback the entire time, and both felt quite hungry now.
"Let's eat first. After we eat, we'll head up the mountain tonight. We need to see what schemes the Ming Cult is brewing," Li Miao said.
Wang Hai had no objections.
So, the two found a tavern, tied their horses at the entrance, ordered a few small dishes upon entering, and began to eat.
As he ate, Wang Hai sighed.
"Commander, this assignment is truly... I originally thought it was just Zuo Lishan's matter, at most involving a Banner Lord or something."
"Now, both the Right Envoy and the Left Envoy have come. That Banner Lord Zhou is also a character who has given the Commander headaches for many years, but now he doesn't even rank here."
"This assignment, let alone if another Jinyiwei Commander were to take it on, even if Lord Commissioner Bu came, he would get bogged down."
"And now an eunuch has also been inserted to stir things up... I don't know what exactly happened on the Commander's side."
Li Miao, however, smiled.
Wang Hai might not be clear about this matter, but he was very familiar with it.
Of course, Li Miao and Wang Hai left the capital together, and they hadn't seen the people sent by the Shuntian Prefecture, so he naturally didn't know what changes had occurred in the capital.
But eunuchs snatching Jinyiwei assignments—he was all too familiar with that.
"Execute first, report later; imperial authority granted. This, then, is the Western Bureau."
It's just that Great Shuo, after all, had many differences from Li Miao's previous life's Great Ming; regardless of whether this was the Eastern Bureau or the Western Bureau, the fact that it was only now beginning to show signs of appearing was already far later than in Great Ming.
Li Miao picked up a piece of food: "I don't really care about the eunuch's matter. At worst, I'll beat him up and take him back to the Shuntian Prefecture."
"I've been serving under the Commander for twenty years; he's always taken the blame, and I've always gone to my death."
"Since he didn't send anyone to call me back, he deliberately wants me to deal with that eunuch. By now, that old man is probably already writing a petition of self-reproach in the Shuntian Prefecture."
One could only say that Li Miao understood Zhu Zai too well.
When he arrived in this Great Shuo, he was only seven or eight years old, without parents, and woke up huddled in a pile of beggars in a corner. Because his root bone was exceptionally good, he was discovered by the Jinyiwei, taken away, and trained. After joining the Jinyiwei at fifteen, he had always served under Zhu Zai.
If one were to count his relatives in this Great Shuo, Little Four was one, Zhu Zai was one. Wang Hai could only be considered half at the moment.
After twenty years of interacting, Li Miao knew Zhu Zai's thoughts perfectly. Zhu Zai knew exactly what Li Miao would do. So, even if Li Miao didn't know the situation, he wouldn't be as hesitant as Wang Hai.
Returning to the present, the two lowered their heads to eat. After finishing their meal, Wang Hai called out, "Waiter, check, please."
The waiter then ran over, but stopped halfway, sneezed, and then hurriedly ran over.
Li Miao sized up the waiter, sniffed, and his expression suddenly darkened.
"Waiter, are you not feeling well?"
The waiter quickly replied, "Yes, honored guest. I might have caught a cold yesterday, with a bit of a headache and fever."
"But I haven't been to the back kitchen today, and others are taking orders, so the dishes you're eating are definitely fine, honored guest, please rest assured."
"Oh..." Li Miao carefully looked at the waiter's eyes; the whites were full of bloodshot veins, faintly red, indeed looking like he had caught a cold.
"I've traveled extensively and understand a bit of medicine. How about I take your pulse?"
In those days, seeing a doctor and getting medicine were very expensive, and ordinary people were reluctant to see a doctor when they fell ill. For things like colds, they would just try to tough it out themselves.
The waiter had actually been feeling quite unwell since waking up that day, but being from a poor family, with no surplus food, they lived day to day.
If he didn't work today, he would go hungry tomorrow, so he was forcing himself to come to work.
Hearing Li Miao say this, the waiter smiled awkwardly: "Honored guest... there's no need to trouble yourself. It's just a slight cold; I'll be fine if I cover up."
"It's not worth spending several strings of coins on medicine for such a minor illness."
Li Miao said, "From what I see, this doesn't seem to be as simple as a cold."
"Let me take your pulse anyway."
With that, disregarding the waiter's refusal, he directly clasped the waiter's pulse point with a backhand.
As for whether Li Miao knew how to treat illnesses?
Of course not. But he certainly wasn't acting on a whim to deceive the waiter.
Li Miao secretly channeled a trace of true qi into the waiter's pulse point.
For those who haven't practiced martial arts, their meridians will become blocked as they age, which is why disciples of most sects begin practicing martial arts around the age of ten, when their bones are initially formed and their meridians are still unobstructed; laying the foundation at this time yields twice the results with half the effort.
This waiter was not old, probably around eighteen or nineteen, and most of his meridians were blocked, so Li Miao could only channel a tiny trace of true qi to avoid damaging his meridians, while also probing the situation inside his body.
With this probe, Li Miao's expression turned cold.
The waiter himself had intended to decline, but Li Miao's grasp was too quick; he hadn't even seen it clearly. After Li Miao clasped his pulse point, he felt a warm current flow into his body, and his originally cold body recovered quite a bit.
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He was just about to open his mouth to thank him when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest.
"Wah—"
He suddenly vomited all over the floor.
Li Miao let go and dodged, then looked intently at the pile of vomit.
Inside, there were clearly several blood-red, white-ringed, hair-thin worms wriggling.
Wang Hai had been observing Li Miao's actions from the beginning, knowing that Li Miao would never act without purpose. Upon seeing the worms, he immediately stood up.
"Commander! This!"
Li Miao looked down at the pile of things, his voice cold: "Gu worms."
"Hai'er, you and Little Four have been afflicted with the Love Gu, so you know Little Four's location."
"Go find Little Four immediately, bring her and the Mount Hua Sect people here, and meet me at the State Office."
"Let Cheng Yuanzhen deal with that Five Mountains Alliance Meeting. If things here are as I suspect, it will involve at least several thousand lives, and we can't bother with those martial artists right now."
"Hurry!"
"Yes!" Wang Hai immediately accepted the order, quickly left, mounted his horse, and galloped towards the city gate.
"Honored guest! This, this!" The waiter also saw the worms at this point, trembling all over in fright, unable to speak clearly.
Li Miao grabbed him by the collar, used his Qinggong, and headed directly towards the Tai'an City State Office.
Along the way, Li Miao's acute hearing picked up continuous coughing, and even some vomiting and groaning sounds from the civilian houses on both sides of the road.
Pedestrians on the road, seeing him move like the wind, carrying a loudly shouting person in his hand, quickly got out of his way.
Li Miao scanned left and right, and in just one glance, he saw several pairs of bloodshot eyes.
A moment later, Li Miao arrived at the State Office.
Boom!!!
He kicked open the main gate, pulled out his Jinyiwei waist token, and channeled his true qi, actually using the Buddhist "Lion's Roar" technique to shout.
"This official is Jinyiwei Commander, Li Miao!"
"All officials and soldiers, come out now!"
His voice, like a great bell, spread throughout the city.