Chapter 80: That, Too, Is an Unforgivable Thing!

A nauseating, fishy stench permeated the back hall of the Leping County government office.

Thick, viscous slime had already begun to ooze from the edges of the Spring Immortal's corpse, and its vacant eyes had lost all luster; Hu Qiubai, the Commandant of the Xijiang Prefecture Imperial City Division, took a pair of gloves that resembled fist-blades and began to probe the Spring Immortal's body.

Soon, as if he had fished something out, he pulled hard, and a black, mud-like pellet resembling an Inner Elixir landed in Hu Qiubai's hand.

"It is indeed a Great Demon," Hu Qiubai said with a heavy expression.

Regardless of whether it is a demon like the Spring Immortal that has been recorded since long ago, the true proof of a demon's strength still lies in observing this kind of Inner Elixir.

However, after a demon dies, the Inner Elixir within its body is of little use, serving at most as a tonic for ordinary people.

This is merely a means of identifying the grade of a demon.

"How many people died?" Hu Qiubai turned his head to ask.

Lu Yufeng, the Magistrate of Leping County, confessed honestly, "Counting those who went missing in the past few days, it should be eleven."

"Seven people from the government office were injured."

"You have good luck," Hu Qiubai glanced over; encountering a demon of this sort usually meant the entire county would suffer, and eleven deaths could hardly even be considered a major incident.

Currently, the local Imperial City Division only stationed guards in Xijiang Prefecture; when problems arose in the subordinate counties, most of them could only arrive at the second opportunity after receiving the news.

If it weren't for the help of a Daoism expert yesterday, the Imperial City Division would likely be here today to perform the task of collecting corpses.

"My Lord, the fatal wound on this Spring Immortal does not look like a sword wound to me," a hoarse voice spoke up. "Look at these sword wounds; although the gashes are deep, none of them struck the Spring Immortal's vital points."

He pointed to several wounds.

Hu Qiubai examined them carefully, and he frowned.

"The Spring Immortal is, after all, a demonic creature recorded in ancient texts. To be honest, this is my first time seeing the true appearance of a Spring Immortal. The sword-user was clearly in the same situation as us; although his strength was a cut above ours, he was clearly unfamiliar with this type of demonic creature."

"Judging solely from the signs of the struggle, one can actually conclude that the two sides were in a stalemate," the man continued slowly. "In my view, there was a force that completely disrupted the balance between the two."

"What do you mean by that?" Hu Qiubai mused.

"Magistrate Lu, did you see with your own eyes that the Spring Immortal was killed?" The man who spoke walked out; he was somewhat short and thin, and judging by the sound of his voice, he seemed to be an elderly man with a certain amount of experience.

"Yes," Lu Yufeng did not dare to hide anything from the people of the Imperial City Division.

The Imperial City Division took orders directly from the Dajing Emperor and was not subject to the control of the ministers; furthermore, they also possessed the authority to monitor the ministers.

Lu Yufeng had previously heard that the Imperial City Division was in charge of these demonic and evil affairs, and now that he saw their methods were so professional, he had no other thoughts.

He described how Xu Qingyun killed the demon at the time in vivid detail, and even mentioned that Xu Qingyun had a large white tiger as a mount.

The two of them joined forces and executed the Spring Immortal on the spot.

"Still not right," Hu Qiubai followed the line of thought and had already sensed where the problem lay. "Demonic creatures like tigers, even if they have taken human form, mostly rely on brute force."

"Look at the claw marks on the Spring Immortal; they aren't even as deep as the sword wounds."

"The Spring Immortal's fatal wound was clearly caused by a special technique that induced damage from the inside out."

"But..."

"This method of killing a demon sounds a bit too fantastical."

"How many people in this world could achieve such a feat?"

"This couldn't possibly be the Dao Venerable of Mount Shu, who once shook the world, coming back from the dead, could it?" Hu Qiubai thought back and forth, but could only give up. He gestured and said, "First, carry the Spring Immortal's corpse away. When the time comes, ship it to the capital and let those lords have a headache over it."

As the words fell.

Gu Jiangming walked out holding the Deed.

Hu Qiubai glanced at him, feeling he looked somewhat familiar; he remembered that there seemed to be a scroll hanging in his home that looked very much like the person before him.

But that was an old painting from seventy years ago. The person in the painting was said to be a famous master of poetry and prose in Xijiang back then, and a close friend of his own grandfather.

His grandfather had been very fond of this person's temperament back then, gifting poems and paintings, which was how this portrait came to be passed down.

He heard that his father had even been held by this scholar when he was a full month old.

Tracing it back, that would be his grandfather's generation.

Perhaps it was just a resemblance.

Hu Qiubai walked away quickly.

In Gu Jiangming's mind, the information for Mie Changsheng popped up again.

【The people from the Imperial City Division have already conducted a preliminary investigation into the death of the Spring Immortal. In their investigation, they believe that the Spring Immortal did not necessarily die by Xu Qingyun's sword; it is possible there was outside help, and someone used a technique to cause the Spring Immortal's death from the inside out.】

【And through your careful observation, there are two people in this Imperial City Division team worth your attention: one is named Hu Qiubai, the Commandant of the Xijiang Prefecture Imperial City Division, who seems to have some connection to your past; the other is named Wei Xu, who has had a Photographic Memory since childhood and also possesses excellent Keen Observation. It was he who discovered the anomaly in the Spring Immortal's death.】

Observe my foot!

I clearly just glanced at them, and that counts as observation?

Detailed profiles of Hu Qiubai and Wei Xu appeared in Gu Jiangming's mind, though their backgrounds were hidden and required further exploration.

But two words appeared on Wei Xu.

【Photographic Memory】, 【Keen Observation】.

The former was of purple quality, and the latter was of blue quality; many people carried such words, which could be considered the manifestation of certain talents.

For example, Gu Jiangming currently had 【Born with an Arrogant Bone】 and 【Heart of an Innocent Child】, a straight-man golden body forged in double gold.

He had been tricked quite a few times.

But while he lacked other traits, the stats were truly strong.

Gu Jiangming observed two character cards unlocking on his interface.

The borders of Hu Qiubai's and Wei Xu's character cards were both light blue, which seemed to represent the strength of their current fate and their current influence on this world.

Based on Gu Jiangming's previous research, he had already discovered that the characters within the character cards were also graded according to the colors on the border patterns.

This was the same grading model as the words.

They were white, blue, purple, and gold, respectively.

The color of a character card represented the strength of a person's fate; the higher the color grade and the more vivid the luster, the greater the influence that person could bring.

Basically, people with Golden Words had character cards that were light gold in their initial state, and their future trends and influence would not be small, unless they died prematurely at the start.

According to existing information, the Imperial City Division appears to be an agency specifically tasked with dealing with demons and evil, subordinate to the Dajing Dynasty.

Being able to oversee a small place like Leping County also proves that the Imperial City Division occupies a very important position within the Dajing Dynasty.

It might be that in one of his reincarnations hundreds of years ago, a casual move of his became the ceiling of this world, splitting the world line with a single slash, causing those who went to Mount Shu back then to fail to leave behind their heritage, indirectly causing cultivators everywhere to lose their lineage, and allowing the influence of imperial power to reach its peak.

In fact, from the perspective of an ordinary person, this is undoubtedly a good thing; the Imperial City Division serves the Imperial Court, while cultivators are more often than not individuals.

Whether a cultivator descends the mountain to save mortals depends on their own Morality.

Some are happy to help the world, but others may not be so inclined; they might ignore everything in pursuit of so-called Dao and longevity, and there are even those cultivators who are simply afraid of death and are even willing to work for demons.

The Imperial City Division cannot stand by and watch people die, because this is their duty, and there are powerful laws to constrain them.

Of course, this also depends on the ability of the Emperor.

Regarding the current reality, Gu Jiangming still has to explore bit by bit, and he discovered that his Reincarnation Deduction for Mie Changsheng is constantly pushing forward.

In the last reincarnation, what Gu Jiangming was actually most concerned about at the end was a hidden thread within the reincarnation—the Heavenly Dao.

He has not yet figured out the full truth of this thread, and it currently looks like he must continue to push back to know the ins and outs of the entire context.

But from the fragmented information, it is not difficult for Gu Jiangming to conclude that he must have died quite miserably in that reincarnation; otherwise, there would not have been a Heavenly Dao with a completely distorted mindset, where everything was solely for a final goal.

Mie Changsheng concerns Gu Jiangming's own reincarnation and his future personal safety, so he has to put more effort into this aspect.

However, as a simulation of reincarnation where his original body travels through, the fact that things on his person are actually preserved is an unexpected joy for Gu Jiangming.

He had previously had suspicions in this regard.

Because his cultivation speed was ridiculously fast, Gu Jiangming felt that his body had become the Four Thousand Bureau, and the Taiyi Stone, as the Array Eye, naturally landed inside his body.

This is, in disguise, bringing some things back from past reincarnations.

Then, could he use this method to bring back things from the Reincarnation Deduction in Mie Changsheng?

These are all things worth thinking about.

For Gu Jiangming now, the most urgent task is precisely to improve his cultivation as much as possible to keep his life safe.

Because he still has a wife named Jiu Jiu who has not yet come looking for him.

That is his proper, legitimate wife.

If she were to see the situation here, wouldn't he be dead for sure?

Just then, Long Xi suddenly threw herself onto Gu Jiangming, her hands resting on Gu Jiangming's shoulders and the back of his neck, "Are you done?"

The Dragon Race's way of showing intimacy always gives Gu Jiangming a sense of inexplicable déjà vu.

Today, there was actually nothing necessary for Gu Jiangming to do; County Assistant Li gave him the Deed and had the tone of someone who couldn't wait to send away a god.

Gu Jiangming took the opportunity to overdraw his wages, asking for a few taels of broken silver, preparing to buy something good to eat.

Having traveled here for so many days, Gu Jiangming had never had the chance to eat meat, and his mouth was almost losing its sense of taste.

Moreover, Princess Long Xi is much clingier than Gu Jiangming imagined.

In Mie Changsheng, she looked like a cold, untouchable persona, but in reality, this filter was shattered directly.

But her trait of not speaking had not changed.

"Don't mess around, this is the yamen, there are so many people watching right now." Gu Jiangming felt it necessary to teach Long Xi what dignity is.

As a dragon, you have to put on that kind of air.

Just like those old Dragon Kings with their sky-high momentum, they walk with their heads held high, looking at the sky.

What's more, this is the feudal era; Long Xi leaning on him like this is just too easy to attract attention.

"Lord Gu, your relationship with your noble wife is truly good." Chang An complimented him unobtrusively.

Hearing Chang An's words, Long Xi smiled happily; she seemed to like hearing others say that her relationship with Gu Jiangming was good.

As she spoke, she wanted to reach out and take something out.

Gu Jiangming was just about to explain the principle that wealth should not be exposed when he saw a gold ingot already thrown out by Long Xi.

"Take it, I'm rewarding you."

Seeing the gold ingot fall to the ground, Chang An was dazed for a few seconds before he started to stutter.

No.

He could work for most of his life and might not even earn the wages of this one gold ingot; although he couldn't tell the quality of the ingot, looking at its luster, he could tell there was something extraordinary about it.

"I can't, I can't." Chang An picked up the gold ingot and handed it straight back; he truly hadn't expected that a casual remark of his could earn such a reward.

But it was precisely this kind of reward that made Chang An feel bad; if it had just been a few copper coins, he would have taken them.

In fact, the tone Long Xi used just now was not very pleasant; listening closely, there was a kind of high-and-mighty "superiority," but the problem was that what she did and what she said presented a strange effect.

You wouldn't even feel the slightest bit of anger because of this tone, because the gold ingot she casually gave was worthy of her speaking like that.

And County Assistant Li, who had just stepped half a foot out of the hall, looked straight at Gu Jiangming.

And at that gold ingot lying on the ground.

His eyes were full of confusion.

And even some doubt about life.

Because just a moment ago, someone had borrowed a few taels of broken silver from him, saying that he hadn't eaten meat for a long time and wanted to have a good meal, overdrawing his wages.

And County Assistant Li was about to leave Leping County.

Could this silver "borrowed" before leaving be anything other than a robbery?

But what about now?

The wife of that Gu Jiangming who was "crying poor" and borrowed silver from him had generously thrown out a gold ingot, saying she wanted to reward someone else.

What does he mean by this?

County Assistant Li couldn't quite understand.

Could it be that these few taels of broken silver were my life-buying money?

Could it be that he had long ago seen that the courtyard I gave was a haunted house, and used this to test me... if I hadn't been willing to give him those few taels of silver...

In a very short time, many different scenarios appeared in the mind of Assistant Magistrate Li.

Because other than this, he truly could not think of any other situation that could cause one party to be extremely wealthy while the other was reduced to such a destitute state.

A husband and wife are one body, after all.

It makes no sense.

Could it be that he is a matrilocal son-in-law?

But that would be too exaggerated!

Gu Jiangming decided to give up on explaining this matter.

From the moment he let Long Xi follow him to the yamen, he should have realized that he was destined to have this kind of comedic effect.

【Effect of "Born with Proud Bones" triggered.】

Gu Jiangming gritted his teeth, took the broken silver given to him by Assistant Magistrate Li and handed it to Chang An, then took back the gold ingot and placed it in Long Xi's hand.

He dragged Long Xi and walked toward the outside of the yamen.

"Right now, while we are outside, I am your husband. You must listen to me. You need to pay attention to my cues regarding what should and should not be done, and don't just go doing strange things at every turn."

Gu Jiangming was very angry; in one fell swoop, he had been swindled by Long Xi out of a sum of silver meant to improve their lives.

"I am teaching you how to do things, not scolding you."

"You need to first clarify exactly what our relationship is."

"In Leping County, we are in a husband-and-wife relationship because there is no way to explain this clearly anymore, but at home and in other places, we are in a friendship relationship. Can you sort out the logic?"

Gu Jiangming felt that a man must stand firm and not go soft just because Long Xi acts cute or plays the victim.

The few times he went soft, he never once gained any benefit!

Long Xi nodded thoughtfully.

"I can."

"Good, then say once what our relationship is."

"Husband-and-wife relationship."

"In Leping County it is a husband-and-wife relationship, in other places it is a friendship relationship," Gu Jiangming added again; he had to emphasize this point.

"Since it is a husband-and-wife relationship in Leping County, why is it a friendship relationship in other places?" Long Xi pondered for a moment and asked: "Can't it always be a husband-and-wife relationship?"

This dragon is beyond saving.

It was all caused by that one sentence from Wang Qinghe.

Long Xi had clearly already identified the husband-and-wife relationship as some kind of mysterious contract of life and death, so she had a psychological resistance to any contract lower than this relationship.

She was saying it like that on purpose.

It was definitely her little schemes at work.

Don't think Gu Jiangming couldn't tell!

"Here—"

Suddenly, a gold ingot landed in Gu Jiangming's arms.

"I don't want what has been given to others as a reward," Gu Jiangming hummed.

"No, this one is the brightest piece in my treasure vault," Long Xi immediately retorted; she didn't like Gu Jiangming saying she wasn't good enough to him.

After all, Gu Jiangming was her only Believer.

As for others, it didn't matter.

"I always give away the ugliest ones first so they don't take up space," Long Xi said, calculating in her head right in front of Gu Jiangming: "Look, I'm good to you, right?"

Gu Jiangming was just teasing her a bit, but Long Xi always spoke in such a sincere tone.

Instead, it left Gu Jiangming with no opportunity to lecture her.

After thinking for a moment, Gu Jiangming said: "Fine."

"Then I won't scold you today."

"Why do you still want to scold me when I'm being good to you?" Long Xi glared fiercely at Gu Jiangming.

This was likely the most facial expression change she had ever had.

But because she was so good-looking, there was no sense of ferocity at all.

"Because you made a mistake, it's already a mercy that I'm not scolding you." Gu Jiangming naturally wouldn't give up this chance to pursue the matter just because Long Xi was good-looking.

As a person, one cannot let their values follow their aesthetics.

And just at this moment.

The breath of a demon that had been spat out by Long Xi earlier was drifting and wandering, seemingly searching for something.

Jiu Jiu had a dark expression.

According to the lock her demon breath had on Gu Jiangming's location, she should be able to find where Gu Jiangming was staying before daybreak.

"Gu Jiangming—"

"I've had such a hard time looking for you."

"I didn't expect that you would actually get together with that dragon from ten thousand years ago."

What is so good about that dragon?

In what way am I inferior to her?!

Gu Mingyue, hanging on Jiu Jiu's shoulder, had fallen into a sweet, light sleep.

Mingyue was still a spirit body that was in danger at any moment, and might even dissipate because of it.

I must hold you accountable!

Even if you have no cultivation now.

That is still an unforgivable matter!

Woke up late, eating dinner first, will try to write one more chapter.

(End of this chapter)