Chapter 36: 36. The Daoist Lineage of Immortal Alchemists (Seeking follow-up reading and votes!)

36. The Daoist Lineage of Immortal Alchemists (Seeking follow-up reading and votes!)

Ouyang Rong was awakened by the disappointed eyes of others.

He lay on the table used as a temporary bed, opened his eyes, and stared at the dark beams of the public hall for a while, feeling a bit dazed.

During the college entrance examination, because his foreign language was really too poor, he fell into that ordinary university, but in fact, Ouyang Rong was quite satisfied with it.

It had many outdoor basketball courts; there was a gap in the wall next to the dormitory that was more lively than the back door; on the way to the classroom, there was a row of ginkgo trees with autumn leaves, and you could ride a bicycle and fly through the apricot leaves; the Parkinson's of the cafeteria aunt hadn't reached the late stage yet, and a bowl of rice was only five cents, so he wouldn't eat dirt; the most critical thing was that the major in the School of Humanities had more monks and less meat, and sitting in the classroom was like opening a harem, and there were many beautiful girls, although none were as wealthy as Xiao Shimei, but they were generous...

Okay, stop pretending. Actually, he was the class grass, so he naturally missed the territory he had conquered, missed the girls who blushed when they talked to him, and missed his roommates who played games and ate skewers with him passionately...

However, his family and friends were not satisfied, feeling that his talent should have gone to a better place, but unfortunately, he wasted it, lay flat, and rotted.

Ouyang Rong didn't agree with their disparaging words about his college days at all. Perhaps his self-esteem was too strong, or perhaps he was stung by a certain disappointed look, so he decided to take the postgraduate exam. He wanted to get into a school that could slap all of them in the face.

Isn't it just reading books? It's just the simple mode of life.

Sometimes people live just to fight for a breath.

Magistrate Ouyang Rong, who was now flipping the table and copying the family, was also fighting for a breath called "justice."

These days, he found that the poor common people who crowded around him in the disaster relief camps looked at him, the magistrate, with a completely different look than the family and friends in his previous life.

This was a look of hope that Ouyang Rong couldn't describe.

They seemed to trust this radish magistrate who "wandered around and meddled in other people's business" in the disaster relief camps very much.

But Ouyang Rong thought that he hadn't made them live very well: the porridge and rice distributed every day weren't enough to be completely full, just filling their stomachs so they weren't hungry, and the sheds built were just to avoid wind and rain, not cold.

And their original houses, original fields, and even original relatives were all gone.

Having lost so much, Ouyang Rong only gave a little bit of things to survive.

Why were they so grateful to him?

It seemed to be because... finally, there was a ruler who regarded them as humans.

After figuring out this world, a fire in Ouyang Rong's chest suddenly burst out, and it was hard to come down again.

In the dark main hall, Ouyang Rong couldn't sleep no matter how he turned, so he turned over and got off the table, put on a single garment, and went to the east warehouse again.

Tonight was a crescent moon, and the light was a bit dim.

But the east warehouse was brightly lit by hundreds of torches.

Captain Qin held his waist sword and blocked the door, and the armored soldiers on all four sides were performing their duties, and there were also sentries hiding not far away, holding strong bows, ready to guard at any time.

Inside the east warehouse, Old Cui was working overtime with his apprentice clerks.

Xie Lingjiang pulled a wooden stool and placed it horizontally in front of the door. She sat upright, her white, pointed chin slightly raised subconsciously, holding her sword and looking straight ahead.

Both inside and outside were tight.

Except for the abacus sounds of the clerks, the whole scene was quiet, and everything looked fine.

Ouyang Rong felt slightly relieved, walked over to inspect, greeted everyone, and asked about the progress of checking the accounts.

He also went to check the buckets of well water prepared in the courtyard. This was to guard against some people jumping over the wall in a hurry and setting fire to the house.

However, there were so many account books in the east warehouse, it was impossible to burn them all at once without being discovered by everyone, so this path was considered blocked by him.

Ouyang Rong breathed a sigh of relief, looked at the sky, it was still the third watch, which could be considered half the night. He thought for a while, and returned to the public hall not far away to continue resting. Tomorrow, after checking the accounts, there was serious business to be busy with.

However, just as he went back, he ran into Banxi outside the public hall door.

This Silla maid wore a veil and held a small box in both hands, walking up happily, "Young Master, the young lady asked me to send some late-night snacks."

Ouyang Rong looked at it and nodded:

"Hard work. How is Aunt doing?"

"Not hard, the Meilu Pavilion is very good, the young lady is just a bit worried about you."

"It's fine, I'

Ouyang Rong shook his head, opened the box, lowered his eyes to inspect it, and then shoved the late-night snack to the few government office runners who had brought the Slender Girl over.

"Send her back to Meilu Yuan. Also, send this food to the east storeroom for Old Cui and Xiao Shimei Xie to taste. Tell them that it's fine to rest if they're tired; there's no need to rush."

"Yes, my lord."

The government office runners left with the Slender Girl, who looked somewhat reluctant. Ouyang Rong first thanked the soldiers standing guard openly or in secret outside the main hall, chatted for a few moments, and then returned to the public office.

This time he did not lie down to rest again; instead, he extinguished the fire, sat alone in the chair, lowered his head, closed his eyes, and pinched the bridge of his nose to recuperate.

In fact, this public office, located not far from the east storeroom, was also heavily guarded. There were many traps set in the courtyard, and people were keeping watch on the roof, just waiting for someone to take a desperate risk.

After all, even a dog will jump over a wall when driven to desperation.

Sitting alone in the darkness, Ouyang Rong began to feel drowsy. Just then, several crisp sounds of a wooden fish suddenly reached his ears.

He was slightly stunned.

In the middle of the night, why did his merit suddenly increase?

The young magistrate was somewhat puzzled, but no matter how he thought about it, gaining merit should be a good thing.

He nodded and closed his eyes in the darkness to rest.

……

Xie Lingjiang looked at the late-night snack sent by her senior brother, then turned to look at Commandant Qin outside the door. The latter nodded gently, signaling that he had already sent someone to check it and the food was fine.

Xie Lingjiang turned her head back and continued to sit upright.

She stared into the storeroom without eating anything.

"The Magistrate treats us well." Old Cui distributed the late-night snack to his apprentices and glanced at the sky. "You only have a quarter of an hour to rest after eating. Don't go too far if you need to relieve yourselves, and come back early."

Everyone nodded, stood up one after another, stretched to relax, and went out to relieve themselves. However, they were all searched and checked by Commandant Qin and the others before leaving.

Only Old Cui didn't move; he continued to sit in his original spot, organizing the account books. He even reached out to take the account books from the desks of other clerks, lowering his head to flip through and check them. Others were long accustomed to this.

Only Xie Lingjiang and Old Cui remained in the east storeroom.

Xie Lingjiang spoke up: "Old gentleman, you should rest for a while too. I will keep watch here."

Old Cui shook his head and only murmured: "It's almost dawn."

"Have you discovered anything in the Liu family's accounts?"

Old Cui sighed and pointed to the stack of confidential account books on the table: "No wonder they can be so wealthy every year, despite the floods every year."

Xie Lingjiang frowned and stood up to check. Just then, she smelled a pungent odor different from the late-night snack. She immediately held her breath, and as if by telepathy, she suddenly raised her head:

She saw a large black gecko on the ceiling of the storeroom... no, it wasn't a black gecko; it was a person wearing a black robe and a bronze beast-faced mask, their entire body pressed tightly against the stone bricks of the ceiling.

Who knows when they had snuck in!

Xie Lingjiang made a prompt decision, grabbed several writing brushes from the table, and threw them like flying daggers.

The beast-faced monster flipped their body three times to dodge, while simultaneously waving their large sleeve and dropping something.

Xie Lingjiang, who had already picked up her longbow below, bent it like a moon. Before the naked eye could see the string move, an arrow had already left the string, "whooshing" as it nailed the object dropped by the beast-faced monster firmly to the ceiling.

With a loud "bang," a fireball three meters in diameter immediately exploded where the arrow was nailed, sparks flying in all directions.

Fortunately, a desk was kicked up from below just in time, catching most of the falling debris and flames.

All of this happened in just a single breath.

The beast-faced monster seemed wary; they climbed like a gecko toward the only narrow skylight at the top of the storeroom.

"Want to run?"

Xie Lingjiang's willow eyebrows stood up. The next second, she stepped on the edge of the desk, soaring like an eagle spreading its wings to the blue clouds, leaping lightly onto the rafters, and drawing her sword to keep them there.

The beast-faced monster didn't look back and threw another object, but it was deflected ten meters away by the back of Xie Lingjiang's sword and fell down; this time, it didn't explode.

Xie Lingjiang didn't pay it any mind and took the opportunity to close in. With a flash of sword light, the beast-faced monster was severed in two from the middle.

But the next second, a bizarre thing happened: the severed lower half fell lightly, revealing itself to be an empty black robe; the "upper half" continued to crawl out through the skylight, squeezing through the head-sized opening.

"Sorcery! A Daoist lineage of immortal alchemists?"

Xie Lingjiang gritted her teeth, landed swiftly, and without a word, rushed out the door. She threw a single sentence to Commandant Qin and the others who were gathering alertly outside: "Seal the doors and windows, don't let anyone in," and then went in pursuit of the monster.

In just a few moments, the clash between the two Qi practitioners had greatly shocked the soldiers. They checked the room, saw that Old Cui, who was in charge of the audit, was unhurt, and then all retreated, closing the doors and windows.

But what Commandant Qin and the others, who were guarding the perimeter and strengthening security outside, didn't notice was that inside the east storeroom behind them, Old Cui, sitting alone in his seat, silently bent down and picked up the cylindrical object called the "Burning Heaven Thunder" that the monster had thrown last but hadn't exploded.

Old Cui calmly unscrewed the small cylinder and slowly poured the fluid mixture of ointment and black powder inside onto the stack of account books on the table, and then poured some onto his gray hair and body.

Having done this without anyone noticing, the quiet old man reached out and picked up the oil lamp from the neighboring table.

But the next second, a man's voice familiar to the old man sounded from outside the door:

"What are you doing?"