Essence The Prohibition Book: Revised, Chapter 15 – Danger?! Dog City Lord!?

On the western city wall of Qingtian City, the city guards patrolling in shifts paced back and forth, monitoring the activity inside and outside the city. A shadow dashed from within the city, leaping over the wall without pausing, and silently vanished into the night. Yet the guards on the wall seemed not to notice anything unusual.
However, shortly after the shadow disappeared, the captain of the guard responsible for the western city wall suddenly left the wall and headed quickly toward the Lord's Mansion.
Inside the Lord's Mansion, Gou Chen, who was already preparing to sleep, quickly put on his clothes and went to the backyard hall upon receiving the report. After hearing the captain's briefing, he frowned and asked,
“Are you certain it was the pale-faced scholar who followed the Long family tonight?”
The captain slightly bowed and said firmly, “Absolutely. Although his speed was extremely fast, the traces he left cannot be removed. Perhaps he didn't expect that I am actually a high-level beast master.”
“I see…” Gou Chen leaned back in his chair, lightly tapping the armrest with his fingers, squinting as he fell silent for a moment. Then he suddenly asked, “According to logic, Long Zongzheng shouldn't be this impatient. He endured for seven years without making a move, and tonight a few of my words shouldn't make him lose control either. His move is indeed very ruthless; whether it succeeds or not, it is enough to ensure that his nephew will never rise again. As expected of the head of Qingtian City's most powerful family. Heh, as for his third son, Long Shang, Long Zongzheng truly is someone who eradicates his enemies completely!”
The captain raised his head slightly and asked, “My lord, should we take action?”
Gou Chen reached up and rubbed his temples, sneering, “Take action against what? Kill that pale-faced scholar? Or tear the mask off Long Zongzheng and let him know I've been watching him all along? That won't benefit me at all. I've been waiting for him to make a mistake, but he's been putting on that facade of being unconcerned not just in front of me, but in front of all of Qingtian City. His reputation is impeccable. All the families in Qingtian City follow the Long family. Unless I am absolutely sure, taking down Long Zongzheng would mean opposing all of Qingtian City.”
The captain frowned, somewhat puzzled, asking, “But if we don't act, wouldn't the family in Qitan Town be doomed anyway? My lord has secretly protected them for seven years. Are we just going to give up?”"Gou Chen remained silent, still lightly tapping the armrest. After a long while, he finally asked, 'Have you found anything about that Miss An?'
The reply came: 'No.'
'Then that's fine.'
Gou Chen opened his eyes, smiled inexplicably, and said lightly, 'The harder it is to find, the more mysterious the background. In the entire Nanluo Kingdom, there is no place other than the Xuanzong Hall that the Secretive Agency cannot trace.'
The captain of the guards asked with some doubt, 'If Miss An has a background from the Xuanzong Hall, then it doesn't make sense why her child would have been allowed to die six years ago. I just can't understand this point.'
Gou Chen crossed his hands over his abdomen and spoke softly, 'Since she didn't die, it's not a point of doubt. The Long Sect has endured for seven years; how could they not worry about this? Actually, I'm also very curious to see exactly what world-shaking secrets are hidden behind Miss An.'
The captain of the guards opened his mouth, then closed it again. He seemed to not know what to say.
'Keep someone watching that pale-faced scholar, but don't act. If he dies, report the entire process to me immediately. If his family dies, then I'll have to consider the long-term strategy.' Gou Chen, with some exhaustion, dropped these words, stood up, and walked toward the inner hall. The captain of the guards bowed slightly and quietly left the hall.
'You don't know until you become a corrupt official; it turns out being corrupt is harder than being upright, especially when you've been at it for ten years.'
In the night, one could hear the heartfelt low sigh of the city lord, hated to the core by the entire Qingtian City, nicknamed the Dog City Lord.
At the break of dawn, Long Qian, who had only slept four or five hours, got out of bed. For him, the amount of sleep didn't matter much, as long as the primal energy in his body recovered to a certain level, that would be enough to relieve the brain's fatigue.
The early morning air was naturally very fresh. Long Qian enjoyed this slightly cool and slightly damp feeling. He was already over six years old, and after a previous conversation with Long Yan, An'an's control over him had relaxed considerably, allowing him to manage his own time and only requiring him to return home on time for meals.
Regarding the primal energy in his body, Long Qian had spent several years studying it, trying to find ways to recover it quickly, but the results were minimal."The only method that can recover slightly faster than normal is to roam around under controlled conditions during the one or two hours just before the sun rises in the early morning and just after sunset as night falls, crossing the legs at a certain constant speed. It seems to stimulate certain acupoints, which can slightly accelerate the recovery of the internal mysterious energy.

This recovery speed is about twice that of the normal state, but in a day, there are only about four or five hours in total when this effect can be achieved. Although the effect isn't very significant, it still has some effect.

Of course, the old, tattered book recorded several methods to accelerate the recovery of mysterious energy, but most of these methods rely on external substances for recovery, such as magic stones, spiritual medicines, and rare herbs or fruits... These are things that Long Qian cannot obtain at present. As for the few methods that rely on supernatural abilities for recovery, he is even further removed from them.

In Qitan Town, there are roughly ten children of about the same age as Long Qian, but only Shu Zi can have a few words with him. Ordinary six- or seven-year-old children are still living in a kind of confused and muddled days. After being influenced by Long Qian for two years, Shu Zi's thoughts and behavior have gradually surpassed those of ordinary children, barely keeping up with Long Qian's pace.

Having mingled with Long Qian for more than two years, Shu Zi has benefited a lot, learning several new and curious terms, such as television, computer, and telephone. Although he doesn't really understand what these three electronics actually are, he knows words that ordinary children wouldn't, which makes him feel that following Long Qian is promising.

In general, when Shu Zi is with Long Qian, Long Qian is ahead race-walking while Shu Zi runs behind trying to catch up. Long Qian jumps over obstacles, and Shu Zi follows, clumsily stumbling and crawling. After persisting for two years, Shu Zi's body has been extremely well trained. Not only is he half a head taller than Long Qian, but his jumping ability, endurance, and speed have surpassed the level of ordinary children by one tier. Of course, he is still far inferior to Long Qian.

Seeing his son's body getting healthier and bad behavior decreasing, Uncle Qin felt more at ease letting Shu Zi be with Long Qian, which also meant that Long Qian could never shake off the follower trailing behind him.Although there was a significant gap in their psychological ages, physically, they had grown up wearing open-crotch pants together. After spending so many years together, Long Qian reluctantly accepted the fact that Shu Zi was indeed his friend, though this friend definitely deserved the qualifier 'little.'

After walking several laps around Qitan Town, the thin mist covering the town gradually dissipated, and the sun slowly rose. Long Qian's small face was somewhat rosy as he leisurely walked home. Meanwhile, Shu Zi, who had come out from home to follow him from behind, was already out of breath but still had a very satisfied smile on his face.

Shu Zi had always believed that Long Qian must have some secret training method to run faster and jump higher than him. So, except for sleeping, he followed Long Qian almost all day. Over these two years, following him seemed to have had an effect, further solidifying Shu Zi's belief.

As they were about to reach Long Qian's home, Shu Zi suddenly asked, “Long Qian, are you going to school in the future?”

“School?” Long Qian was slightly taken aback, then smiled and said, “Maybe.”

Shu Zi blinked, “Will you go to a regular academy, or a Mystical Academy?”

Long Qian stopped walking and said casually, “If I can pass, I'll go to the Mystical Academy; if not, I'll attend a regular academy.”

On the Sea Continent, there are two types of academies: one type is established by the empires, which includes town-level academies and provincial-level academies, as well as the capital's advanced academies and military academies, all selecting talents skilled in governing and military affairs.

The other type is the Mystical Academies, supervised by the six major sects. Currently, only four empires are qualified to establish Mystical Academies, essentially the three major empires of the Sea Continent: the Qi Domain, the Jade Shattered Nation, and the Perfect Sun Nation.

Mystical Academies have priority admissions, and in reality, anyone eligible to enroll would rather attend a Mystical Academy than an imperial-established academy.

Parents across the Sea Continent all hope their children can be admitted to a Mystical Academy, as it is seen as a step through the Dragon Gate. Even if one does not ultimately qualify to work at a sect, graduates are highly sought-after talents in the empire.

Everyone knows that the real power controlling the fate of the Sea Continent isn't the four main empires, but the Mystical Sects. With just one command from the Mystical Deity Hall, any of the Qi Domain, Jade Shattered Nation, or Perfect Sun Nation could potentially vanish from the Sea Continent in an instant.\After saying goodbye to Shouzi, Long Qian, standing at the doorstep, directly pushed open the wooden gate wedged in the fence. The moment the gap between the two wooden doors opened, her eyes were suddenly dazzled! Her chest was violently struck by a dark shadow, and her whole body was sent flying backward... (What exactly happened to Qian? Please see the next chapter!)\—Chapter Fifteen End.