Chapter 176: Peaches and Divine Meat

Two days later, Xuan Yangzi was beheaded at the Meridian Gate.

His head was chopped off, rolled on the ground, then picked up by an old man who, while weeping, tore at it in hatred and bit down.

This old man was originally from Fuxin Village; he had merely acquired some wealth, moved his household registration out of the village, and lived in Yulin County, thus escaping the calamity.

But his brothers, sisters, nephews, grandchildren, and relatives all died there.

How could this not make him furious?

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

He declared the Immortal-Slaying Society a heretical organization; once discovered, anyone could report them to officials or simply stay away from these madmen.

Yes, in Li Lin's view, these people were madmen.

If it was already outrageous that two monks, for the sake of so-called "cultivation," had been sucking human blood and qi to kill people, then Xuan Yangzi's indirect killing of hundreds of villagers in Fuxin Village was even more heinous.

If everyone in the Immortal-Slaying Society were like this, wherever they went, they would bring disaster.

Perhaps before the so-called Otherworldly Heavenly Demons appeared, the Immortal-Slaying Society would have already devastated the population of Great Qi almost entirely.

For such an organization, Li Lin was unwilling to indulge them.

He even used his identity as a County Commandant to write a memorial.

Of course, his memorial would not be submitted directly to the Secretariat-Chancellery; it would first be reviewed by the County Magistrate, then handed to the Prefect, reviewed again by the Prefect, and only after approval would it enter the Secretariat-Chancellery, undergo another review there, and finally appear on the Emperor's desk.

Submitting memorials is very troublesome, so under normal circumstances, a County Commandant would not write any.

Li Lin did not expect his memorial to reach the Secretariat-Chancellery; he simply felt it was his duty as an official and wrote it anyway.

He only sought peace of mind.

After all, he knew clearly that the current Emperor was cultivating immortality through alchemy and hardly attended to court affairs.

At this time, the position of County Magistrate was temporarily held by Jiang Jili; he looked at Li Lin's memorial, smiled, stamped his seal, and then sent it to the Prefectural government office in Jincheng.

Li Lin knew nothing of this; he thought Jiang Jili would have suppressed it, so he returned home and resumed his cultivation.

Dual cultivation, Qi refinement.

Practicing the Fallen Thunder Incantation, practicing stealth techniques, practicing paper-sticking... Li Lin had almost no free time.

Huang Qing and Hong Luan felt deeply sorry for him and kept preparing nourishing supplements for him to eat.

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

On this very day, Jiang Chen returned.

Li Lin, invited by him, came alone to his home.

At this moment, Jiang Chen looked dusty and travel-worn.

Seeing Li Lin enter, he clasped his hands and said, "Fulfilling the County Commandant's trust, this humble one has retrieved three jin of White Elephant Divine Meat."

Having spoken, he opened a square box.

Although it was already autumn, the climate of the Southern Border remained hot.

Logically, after more than ten days of travel, even if the meat were kept cool with ice, it should have begun to smell.

But the meat in this box... showed no sign of spoilage whatsoever.

On the contrary, it looked very fresh and emitted a peculiar fragrance.

"You must have marinated it; it smells strangely good."

Jiang Chen shook his head: "No, this meat naturally has this taste."

Li Lin extended his finger and pressed down lightly.

Then he frowned slightly, for this meat was actually quite warm.

Not the warmth generated by the hot weather, but the 'warmth' of something alive.

These two are different.

He even felt that the meat was pulsing slightly.

Its nervous system seemed to still be functioning.

"Wasn't the White Elephant dead?" Li Lin asked Jiang Chen: "Why do I feel this meat is still alive?"

"Indeed, the meat is still alive," Jiang Chen said. "I watched General Tang's Imperial Guards cut this meat from that giant elephant. With every cut, the flesh would tremble twice."

Such tenacious vitality, or does that White Elephant still live?

Seeing Li Lin's puzzled expression, Jiang Chen said, "But the White Elephant is dead; that is what General Tang said."

Li Lin nodded slightly and asked, "Thank you. How shall we transact?"

Jiang Chen licked his lips and said, "County Commandant, I do not need money; I beg you to change my family's household registration to normal status."

Oh?

Li Lin looked at him with some confusion.

"My wife is a Southern Barbarian woman; the children born from her, only the eldest son counts as a Qi citizen; the rest are considered Southern Barbarians." Jiang Chen knelt on one knee and said, "I have two sons and one daughter; I hope to change all their household registrations to Qi citizenship."

Li Lin nodded: "This matter is easy to handle, and very simple. Anything else?"

"This humble one dares not be greedy; this will suffice."

"Very well, I agree to this matter."

Li Lin closed the box, held it in his hand, and at the same time placed down a silver ingot: "But money is also needed."

Having spoken, Li Lin left.

Jiang Chen looked at the silver ingot and smiled: "This County Commandant is truly just as rumored; he is a good official."

Li Lin carried the box home; upon arriving at the rear courtyard, Li Yanjing appeared before him.

"I smell something very, very fragrant."

She looked at the box in Li Lin's hand, her eyes full of burning desire.

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

A glass-like object with fleshy textures appeared before the two of them.

"Truly immortal flesh."

Li Yanjing inhaled deeply, wearing an expression of rapture: "It's just a bit inferior to your blood qi. But this thing suits our ghosts' tastes better."

Li Lin was quite surprised: "Just a bit inferior to my blood qi?"

"Yes."

Li Lin found it incredible: "This is the god of the Southern Barbarians. I am merely an ordinary person; how can I compare?"

"That still doesn't compare to you." Li Yanjing thought for a moment and said, "This White Elephant God might indeed be far, far more powerful than you, but his body might not necessarily be very delicious. Do you understand what I mean? If not for his status as a divine beast, he probably wouldn't even be as good as you."

"Do you want to eat it?"

Li Yanjing nodded vigorously.

Li Lin used the short sword from his sleeve to cut off a piece.

It was like cutting jelly, extremely smooth.

Li Yanjing held the piece of meat and immediately burrowed into the altar.

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

She remained cold, looking at the box, then at Li Lin.

"It's been a while since I saw you, Tree Immortal Lady." Li Lin raised the box and gestured toward her: "Would you like some too?"

The Tree Immortal Lady's eyes showed a look of disgust, then she shook her head slightly.

She seemed to dislike this thing very much.

"Strange. Both are ghosts; why does Sister Yan Jing like it so much?"

The Tree Immortal Lady glanced at the altar beside her, then snorted arrogantly.

Next, she took something from behind her back and, holding it with both hands, placed it before Li Lin.

Li Lin looked and saw a fist-sized peach, a pink peach.

"Eh, your peach has ripened?"

Li Lin instinctively looked at the peach tree illusion outside, but found that almost all the peaches were green.

"Peach, early ripening."

The Tree Immortal Lady said softly.

Li Lin took it.

"Eat the peach. Do not eat this meat; it stinks."

Having said that, the Tree Immortal Lady vanished again.

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

Since the Lady had given instructions, he would naturally only eat the peach.

He had indeed intended to taste a few bites before; since that was the case, he would just use it for experimentation.

He hoped this White Elephant God meat could give him some... surprise.

Thinking this, he took a bite of the peach, then his eyes widened.

So delicious!

Whether in the past or now, he had never eaten such a delicious fruit.

(End of this chapter)