Chapter 142: Only Great Qi Can Let People Live

The altar of Lady Tree Immortal was placed on a cart and pulled toward the county town.

Li Lin sat on the edge of the cart and said, "Once we reach the county town, put this altar in my house first. After some time, Taowu Zhenjun will leave; at that point, you can establish yourself in the county town."

Lady Tree Immortal floated above the altar, moving along with it.

After nodding lightly, she looked toward the county town, her eyes seeming to hold a hint of expectation.

Li Lin knew Lady Tree Immortal was aloof and disliked speaking, so he said no more, simply sitting on the cart shaft and quietly keeping her company.

Soon the caravan returned to Yulin County.

Li Lin had people place the altar inside his home.

But when Lady Tree Immortal saw another altar in the backyard, her eyes instantly shifted from a withered gray to the vertical pupils of a snake.

Her long snake tail coiled and flung Li Yanjing's altar outside.

Li Lin was stunned, then suddenly remembered that Lady Tree Immortal had an extremely strong sense of possessiveness.

In principle, it shouldn't be placed in the house, but he didn't feel safe leaving it anywhere else.

Li Yanjing had originally been sleeping inside her altar; moreover, because Lady Tree Immortal's 'aura' was concealed by Taowu Zhenjun's aura, she had no idea Lady Tree Immortal had arrived.

With the altar thrown, she tumbled out in a daze and was about to fly into a rage.

Then she saw Lady Tree Immortal floating in midair, and she immediately cowered.

She knelt down on the spot.

"Greetings to Zhenjun Liu."

It turned out Li Yanjing knew Lady Tree Immortal.

"Get out," Lady Tree Immortal said coldly.

Li Yanjing lowered her head and said, "I am already a ghost raised by the Li family."

Lady Tree Immortal suddenly turned to look at Li Lin: "She is tainted."

Li Yanjing wore an expression of being hurt.

Li Lin waved his hand and said, "There is no private affection between her and me."

Hearing this, Lady Tree Immortal's expression improved considerably.

Then, with her tail coiling around the altar, she straightened it and placed it in the corner of the room.

Her own altar was set in the very center.

"Do you understand?" Lady Tree Immortal asked.

Li Yanjing nodded vigorously.

Then Lady Tree Immortal waved her hand, and the peach tree covered in blossoms reappeared beside the altar.

Fortunately, the main hall of the backyard was built high enough for this peach tree to fit.

At that moment, Huang Qi walked over.

She had heard the commotion of the altars being thrown about.

"What happened here?" Huang Qi asked.

She could see Li Yanjing but could not see Lady Tree Immortal.

This was because Li Yanjing was a possessed ghost with a physical form.

However, Huang Qi was very clever; she saw the altar in the center—it was not the one she had begged from her father.

That altar had already been placed in the corner.

Huang Qi immediately bowed toward the direction of the altar and smiled, "Sister Yan Jing respectfully welcomes Lady Liu's divine carriage."

Lady Tree Immortal had originally regarded Huang Qi with displeasure, but after hearing these words, she nodded slightly and returned to her altar.

Li Yanjing also breathed a sigh of relief, stood up, and floated back into her own altar.

Huang Qi looked at Li Lin and asked, "How is Lady Liu?"

"She has accepted you!"

"That's good," Huang Qi said, smiling brightly.

Li Lin had taken the opportunity to tell Huang Qi about Lady Tree Immortal's matter, and she understood clearly that she could not exclusively possess Li Lin.

She had already prepared herself mentally for this.

Li Lin breathed a sigh of relief; the matter seemed resolved, though it did not look entirely perfect.

She said to Huang Qi, "I am going to the restaurant for an appointment; I will not be eating at home at noon."

"Very well, official, you have worked hard."

Li Lin arrived at Fugui Restaurant.

Going up to the second floor, he saw Jiang Jili already waiting there.

"County Commandant Li, you are a bit late."

Li Lin clasped his fists and said, "I had urgent matters to attend to; the County Magistrate should know. I offer my apologies here."

Jiang Jili was stunned for a moment, then said, "It seems you do understand propriety."

His tone was neither warm nor cold.

"I only show propriety to those who are easy to talk to."

Jiang Jili was choked up for a moment, then said, "A few days ago, two of my family guards departed from Jingcheng and then disappeared."

"Oh? What does this have to do with our Yulin County?"

Li Lin meant that since they went missing in Jingcheng, they should go to the Jingcheng government office to report the matter.

Jiang Jili snorted and said, "The two of us need not beat around the bush. We, the Jiang family, acknowledge the matter of the guards. From now on, you and I shall each remain at peace with the other; how about that!"

Li Lin immediately laughed: "You think I don't know what those two came to do? You cannot seek peace only when things turn unfavorable to you."

Jiang Jili fell silent for a while, then asked, "What do you want?"

"You should say, what can you offer!"

Jiang Jili pondered for a moment, then said, "I know you have joined forces with the Ding family of Guicheng; you are both pursuing cultivation."

Is this matter so obvious?

But thinking about it, it is quite normal; the Ding family of Guicheng's obsession with cultivation is no secret.

"And then?"

Jiang Jili smiled, "Such a vague and ethereal matter, yet you still pursue it; it is truly laughable."

"Whether I am laughable or not is none of your concern," Li Lin said in a bad mood. "If you invited me for a drink just to mock me, then I am leaving now."

Jiang Jili snorted, "Although our Jiang family does not pursue cultivation matters, we do know a bit about them; after all, we are a distinguished family of several hundred years, so we must have some foundation."

Li Lin became interested: "Continue."

"In our family, there are a few items suspected to be left behind by immortals."

"You will give them all to me?"

"Do not be too greedy!" Jiang Jili said displeasedly. "We will just get one for you, understand?"

"Fine then." Li Lin raised his wine cup. "Once the item arrives, we will live in peace."

Jiang Jili snorted, but still raised his cup and clinked it against Li Lin's.

Staying with someone you dislike makes even the finest wine and tea taste terrible.

Li Lin casually picked up a few bites with his chopsticks, drank a few more sips of wine, and then left.

When he returned home, Huang Qi immediately brought a hangover-curing soup.

"I am not drunk."

"Drinking harms the body..." Huang Qi said softly. "It is better to cure the hangover."

Li Lin took the soup, drank it in one gulp, then smiled, "How I recall it is that wine and lust harm the body... You only let me sober up, but do not let me abstain from lust! What are your intentions?"

Huang Qi immediately felt ashamed and angry: "My lord, you... you... you are bad."

Li Lin laughed heartily; this is how small couplely amusements are.

He rested at home for half a day.

By the next day, he went to the south gate of the county town.

Several captains had already led five hundred militia to assemble outside the city.

Bai Zhiwei and Zhao Hao were also among them.

Li Lin, riding a horse, waved his hand, and the army set out.

With over five hundred militia plus three Spirit-Hunters, the blood qi was magnificent; there was no need to worry about the Wild Abominations.

Marching along the road, they arrived at Bobai Military Town five days later.

Seeing the militia approaching from the rear and flying the 'Li' banner, the town's city gates immediately opened.

The five hundred militia marched in.

On the open ground in the center of the military town, over one hundred soldiers had formed a square formation, waiting for his inspection.

In front, three captains respectfully clasped their hands and bowed.

Li Lin dismounted, walked over to help the three stand upright, and smiled, "No need for this; we are all colleagues."

Seeing that Li Lin was easy to talk to, the three all breathed a sigh of relief.

One of them said, "Commandant, you have not yet met me. My surname is Xie, my name Shu You; I am the town's garrison commander and chief captain."

Li Lin nodded: "Garrison Commander Xie, the County Magistrate sent me over, saying there are some problems on your end."

"Indeed there are some problems!" Xie Shu You pointed beside the soldiers' barracks, where many obviously newly built small houses stood. "We captured a group of Southern Barbarians and locked them inside; we do not know how to handle them."

"Captured Southern Barbarians?" Li Lin was quite surprised. "How did they cross the border line and evade the Tang family army's search?"

"We interrogated them!" Xie Shu You pointed to a distant mountain peak. "They climbed over from the mountain."

"How many people?"

"Four hundred!"

Li Lin's eyes widened.

If four hundred people could climb over the mountain, it also meant that in the future, four hundred Southern Barbarian soldiers might climb over.

If that truly happened, the situation would be very troublesome.

"Take me to see them."

Xie Shu You led Li Lin to the row of connected small houses.

Before even approaching, the stench was smelled.

The smell of human excrement.

Li Lin covered his nose, casually opened the door of one house, and could see many adult men squeezed together inside.

These men were all disheveled and dirty, with tattered clothes.

Moreover, it was clearly visible that their skin was blackish-red, they were extremely thin, and obviously had been starving for a long time.

"It seems you have not fed them for a long time."

"No... we actually gave them some food." Xie Shu You said bitterly. "Commandant, you do not know; when they were captured, they were even thinner and more terrifying than now. They even ate their own... excrement."

Li Lin casually looked around these houses, then pointed to a woman whose complexion was slightly better and who clearly held a higher status: "You, come out."

This woman was also very thin, but her skin tone was at least whitish.

Not that blackish-yellow color that makes one look like they have a severe illness.

"Can you understand Great Qi speech?"

"Yes!"

The woman's hair was messy, her clothes old, and her whole body reeked.

She saw Li Lin, his face as smooth as jade, his robes magnificent, his bearing elegant, and once again, self-consciously lowered her head.

"How did you cross over? Aren't you afraid of the Wild Abominations?"

"Afraid!" the woman said in a small voice: "If there are many people, the Wild Abominations won't come over casually. But staying in the south will only... lead to death."

"What happened?" Li Lin was full of confusion: "As far as I know, although the Southern Region has a hot climate and is filled with miasma, one can always find food. Where you are from, at least bananas won't be scarce. You can fill your stomachs, and there is plenty of game; surviving there isn't difficult. Why risk danger and force your way into our Great Qi?"

Li Lin felt they were not merely simple refugees.

The woman suddenly raised her head: "Our forests are becoming fewer and fewer; they have all been seized by several Tusi Kings. Everywhere there is sand. When I was young, there were still forests in my hometown, but now they have all turned to sand. There is no water, no bananas, and the prey has all died of thirst. We could only migrate here. Now only Great Qi can let people survive."

(End of this chapter)