Chapter 176: Peach and Divine Flesh

Two days later, Xuanyangzi was beheaded at the Wu Gate.

His head was severed, rolled on the ground, then picked up by an old man who wept and gnawed at it in furious hatred.

The old man had originally been from Fuxin Village, but after growing wealthy, he moved his household registration out of the village and settled in Yulin County, thus escaping death.

Yet all his brothers, sisters, nephews, grandchildren, and relatives perished there.

How could he not harbor such hatred?

Moreover, Li Lin used his authority as County Constable to issue a wanted notice.

He branded the Zhu Xian Society as a heretical sect: anyone who discovered them was to report them to officials or keep far away from these madmen.

Yes, in Li Lin’s eyes, these people were madmen.

If two monks endlessly draining human qi and killing people for so-called “cultivation” was already absurd, then Xuanyangzi’s indirect role in the deaths of hundreds in Fuxin Village was vile beyond measure.

If everyone in the Zhu Xian Society was like this, then wherever they went, disaster would follow.

Before any so-called Outer Realm Demons even appeared, the Zhu Xian Society might already have decimated half of Da Qi’s population.

Li Lin had no intention of indulging such an organization.

He even used his position as County Constable to draft a memorial.

Of course, his memorial would not be submitted directly to the Zhongshu Men; it would first be reviewed by the County Magistrate, then passed to the Prefect, who would review it again, and only after approval would it reach the Zhongshu Men, undergo further review, and finally appear on His Majesty’s desk.

Submitting memorials was a tedious process, so normally, a County Constable would never write one.

Li Lin never expected his memorial to reach the Zhongshu Men—he merely felt it was his duty as an official, so he wrote it anyway.

He only sought peace of mind.

After all, he knew the current Emperor was busy refining elixirs and cultivating the Dao, barely managing court affairs.

At this time, Jiang Jili was temporarily acting as County Magistrate; he glanced at Li Lin’s memorial, smiled, stamped it with his seal, and sent it to the government office of Jincheng.

Li Lin did not know this—he assumed Jiang Jili had suppressed it, so he returned home and resumed his cultivation.

Dual cultivation. Qi Refining.

Practicing the Thunderfall Spell, the Stealth Technique, paper-folding… Li Lin had no spare time at all.

Huang Qing and Hong Luan felt deeply sorry for him and constantly prepared nourishing dishes for him.

Time flew by swiftly; ten days passed in an instant.

On this very day, Jiang Chen returned.

Li Lin, at his invitation, came alone to his home.

Jiang Chen now looked weary from travel.

Seeing Li Lin enter, he bowed and said: “I have fulfilled your request, my lord—I have retrieved three catties of White Elephant Divine Flesh.”

Saying this, he opened a square box.

Although autumn had arrived, the climate of the Southern Frontier remained hot.

Logically, after a round trip of over ten days, even if the meat had been chilled with ice, it should have begun to stink.

Yet the meat inside this box… showed not the slightest sign of spoilage.

On the contrary, it looked fresh, emitting a peculiar fragrance.

“You’ve pickled it—it smells amazing.”

Jiang Chen shook his head: “I did not. This meat naturally smells like this.”

Li Lin extended a finger and lightly pressed it.

His brow furrowed slightly—the meat was still warm.

Not the warmth of a hot day, but a living warmth.

These two were different.

He even felt the meat pulsing faintly.

Its nervous system seemed still active.

“The White Elephant is dead, isn’t it?” Li Lin asked Jiang Chen. “Why does this meat feel alive?”

“The meat is indeed still alive,” Jiang Chen said. “I watched General Tang’s guards cut it from the giant elephant’s body. Every cut made the flesh tremble.”

Such tenacious vitality—did that mean the White Elephant was still alive?

Seeing Li Lin’s puzzled expression, Jiang Chen said: “But the White Elephant is dead—that’s what General Tang said.”

Li Lin nodded slightly and asked: “Thank you. How shall we settle this?”

Jiang Chen licked his lips and said: “My lord, I don’t need silver. I only ask you to restore my family’s household registration to normal status.”

Oh?

Li Lin looked at him with curiosity.

“My wife is a Southern Barbarian woman. Only our eldest son counts as a citizen of Da Qi; the others are all classified as Southern Barbarians,” Jiang Chen knelt on one knee and said. “I have two more sons and a daughter—I wish to have them all reclassified as citizens of Da Qi.”

Li Lin nodded: “That’s easy. Anything else?”

“I dare not be greedy. This is enough.”

“Very well. I agree.”

Li Lin closed the box, took it in hand, and placed a silver ingot beside it: “But silver must still be used.”

Saying this, Li Lin left.

Jiang Chen looked at the silver ingot and smiled: “This County Constable is just as the rumors say—a good official.”

Li Lin brought the box home; as soon as he entered the back courtyard, Li Yanjing appeared before him.

“I smelled something incredibly fragrant.”

She stared at the box in Li Lin’s hands, her eyes blazing with hunger.

Li Lin walked into the main hall and opened the box.

Before them appeared a substance like lapis lazuli, yet textured like flesh.

“Truly divine flesh.”

Li Yanjing inhaled deeply, her face filled with ecstasy: “It’s only slightly inferior to your blood-qi. But this is far more suited to our kind’s taste.”

Li Lin was astonished: “Only slightly inferior to my blood-qi?”

“Yes.”

Li Lin found it unbelievable: “This is the god of the Southern Barbarians. I’m just an ordinary person—how could I compare?”

“Still, you surpass it,” Li Yanjing thought for a moment. “The White Elephant God may indeed be vastly stronger than you, but his body may not be particularly delicious. Do you understand? If not for his divine beast status, he’d likely be worse than you.”

“Do you want to eat it?”

Li Yanjing nodded vigorously.

Li Lin sliced off a piece with a short dagger hidden in his sleeve.

It cut as smoothly as jelly.

Li Yanjing clutched the piece and immediately vanished into the altar.

Li Lin paid her no mind; just as he was about to close the box, the Tree Immortal Lady appeared.

She remained cold and detached, gazing at the box, then at Li Lin.

“It’s been some time since I last saw you, Tree Immortal Lady,” Li Lin lifted the box toward her. “Would you like a taste?”

The Tree Immortal Lady’s eyes showed disdain, and she gave a slight shake of her head.

She clearly disliked this thing.

"Strange. We're both demons—why does Yanjing love it so much?"

The Tree Immortal Lady glanced at the altar beside her, then gave a haughty sniff.

Then, from behind her, she produced something and held it out with both hands before Li Lin.

Li Lin saw it was a peach, fist-sized, pink in color.

“Huh? Your peach has ripened?”

Li Lin instinctively glanced at the peach tree illusion outside—but nearly all the peaches were still green.

“Peach. Early ripening.”

The Tree Immortal Lady whispered.

Li Lin took it.

“Eat the peach. Do not eat this meat. It stinks.”

Saying this, the Tree Immortal Lady vanished again.

Li Lin looked at the White Elephant flesh in the box, then at the peach in his hand, and smiled.

Since the Lady had instructed him, he would eat only the peach.

He had originally planned to taste a bit of the meat—now, he’d use it only for experimentation.

He hoped the White Elephant Divine Flesh might give him some… surprises.

Thinking this, he bit into the peach—and his eyes widened.

So delicious!

Never before, in past or present, had he tasted a fruit so exquisite.

(End of Chapter)