Chapter 56: The Introduction Dice Finally Succeeded

The old monk spoke calmly and kindly, but given what had happened earlier, even those who didn’t know him understood he was not someone to provoke; the room, which had just relaxed, fell silent once more, as the old monk continued:

“The one sent to exorcise the ghost was my disciple—he has been initiated into the Dao for over a decade, and his magical power ranks among the finest among Daoist cultivators. Yet yesterday morning, during my morning recitation, I found his life lamp extinguished. I inquired at the rice shop, then went to Yangyang Village to investigate, only to discover the entire village had been wiped out. All the villagers died in their sleep, with no signs of struggle. But my disciple’s death was different—he was killed by fangs clamped around his throat and claws piercing his heart.”

“Zombie?” Many in the room thought this, some even murmured it aloud; the old monk nodded in response, and the county magistrate seized the opportunity to regain the floor:

“Upon receiving the report, I immediately dispatched men to handle it, but we found neither the malevolent ghost nor the zombie. We planned to alert nearby villages to increase vigilance, but last night the county’s protective talisman suddenly stirred. This morning, after investigation, we confirmed two more deaths—both with their vital energy and blood drained. We suspect the ghost and zombie have now entered the county seat, which is why I’ve summoned you all here. As for Daoist Chen, he has gone to pursue the ghost.”

The magistrate spoke plainly, but many in the room exchanged uneasy glances.

He called it a meeting, but in truth, it was an act of distrust.

Among those present—Wu Xiu and Daoist cultivators alike—excluding only the monk and priest beside the magistrate, fewer than two handfuls were truly initiated. The rest, even if they knew some spells or martial techniques, could only handle weak wild ghosts or shambling corpses; this entity that had slain an initiated Daoist was beyond their capacity.

Thus, the real reason was likely that the magistrate suspected the malevolent ghost and zombie were bred by evil cultivators, so he summoned every new and old Daoist, and every Wu Xiu capable of channeling vital energy, hoping to spot someone carrying evil aura.

But it seems no flaws were found—if they had been, the magistrate would have smashed his cup as a signal, demonstrating his grand strategy.

Yet no one spoke out, even if they resented the magistrate’s actions; all simply waited silently for his long-winded rambling to end.

Yes, rambling.

In the end, whether zombie or malevolent ghost, the methods to deal with them are fixed. What’s called “discussion” is merely setting up defenses, increasing patrols, installing alarms, raising alert levels, at most preparing talismans and holy water for those capable, or buying glutinous rice, dog’s blood, cinnabar, and such.

Feng Xue glanced over his shoulder and saw the magistrate couldn’t see his position; he lowered his head, just as he used to sneak-read novels in class, and pulled out a book to study.

The magistrate didn’t notice, but many nearby did—yet any Daoist who saw Feng Xue’s “jeweled splendor” would know this was no ordinary man.

After all, even an initiated Daoist owns at most one or two magical artifacts. Yet this man carried at least a dozen glowing artifacts—such a person must either belong to a powerful sect with vast treasures, or have many senior mentors who dote on him so much they gift him an artifact each time he leaves home, or else he’s kept a band of death-servants who sacrifice their lives to nurture his artifacts.

Whichever it is, he’s a dangerous man not to be trifled with. As for killing him to steal his treasures—never mind whether the karmic cost is worth it, first you must ensure that after you kill him, neither his earthly sect nor his ancestral spirits in the netherworld can find you.

Thus, most Daoists glanced at Feng Xue once and turned away. Some Wu Xiu, seeing the book in his hand bearing the Hua Family Martial Arts Hall mark, simply ignored him. Only the master of the Hua Family Martial Arts Hall, standing not far from Feng Xue, felt a complex mix of emotions—curious about this young man’s true identity, yet worried the magistrate might notice and make things difficult for him.

…

After a long string of rambling, the Daoists and Wu Xiu returned home, but the magistrate stayed in the private room.

Once everyone had left and he confirmed no one was eavesdropping nearby, the magistrate finally spoke:

“Two masters, have you noticed anything?”

The priest hesitated, about to speak, then remembered he was not in his homeland, and shook his head, closing his mouth. The magistrate turned to the old monk:

“Master Yijing?”

Hearing the magistrate call his name, the old monk could only sigh and shake his head:

“There are indeed a few who keep spirit ghosts or living souls, but none carry malevolent aura or blood aura—they have no connection to the malevolent ghost or zombie.”

“What about the man who entered the county yesterday?” the magistrate pressed again. Master Yijing thought for a moment, then still shook his head:

“That young master comes from an illustrious background—I cannot discern his sect. But with his cultivation level, even with a malevolent ghost or zombie aiding him, he would still be no match for Zhenxin.”

“Sigh, then let’s hope Daoist Chen achieves something.” The magistrate, hearing Master Yijing’s certainty, could only shake his head. But the priest in the clerical robe finally couldn’t hold back:

“In my view, we should douse the entire city with holy water—any evil presence would surely be revealed.”

“No!” Master Yijing spoke at once:

“Jingjiao holy water is far too intense. In this county, officially, there are yin officers and ghost soldiers; privately, there are spirit ghosts and phantom deities. If we follow your suggestion, we won’t even find the malevolent ghost before the city descends into chaos.”

The priest suppressed his resentment, thinking: In my country, these ghosts would long ago have been cast into the fiery hell—how could they dare steal miracles meant for the gods in the mortal realm?

But he understood he, as an outsider, must not provoke public anger; if the magistrate opposed, he could not force the issue.

He did not know the magistrate opposed not because of the ghosts, but simply because he couldn’t afford it.

Jingjiao’s divine grace is begged for—and begging always carries a price. If it were just one house or one street, he could grit his teeth and pay, even raise donations from wealthy gentry. But the entire city? Even if he taxed the people eighty years into the future, he still couldn’t raise the funds!

…

Leaving the magistrate’s turmoil aside, Feng Xue had finally returned home and, following the postures in “Physical Forging,” began attempting to stretch his sinews and bones.

The “Mausoleum Secret Manual” also contained physical training sections, but since Feng Xue’s Qi extraction naturally overflowed, and since these past few days since his transmigration had been spent either traveling or practicing spells, he hadn’t had time. Now that he intended to cultivate both magic and martial arts, he naturally had to train.

Dynamic stances require static stances as foundation, and static stances require abundant blood and Qi. Feng Xue decided to begin with the “Physical Forging” and “Nourishing Primordial Qi” techniques, as outlined in the general preface.

But…

“You look like a person!”

Liu Yunxi landed steadily, as Feng Xue’s order followed:

“Make me some hearty dishes.”

“Huh?” Liu Yunxi blinked, glanced at the wall clock, then asked puzzled: “It’s only three-something?”

“Just do it!” Feng Xue rolled his eyes, then pulled from his pocket a jade tablet engraved with the character “Eat,” smiling:

“Cultivating both magic and martial arts? That’s how you overtake on a curve!”

(The prototype of Mo Ying: my wife Xi Bao. I really wanted to use AI to generate one myself, but my stupid [BEEP—] AI can’t handle ink-wash style. Net image used, copyright removed.)

You see the protagonist training step by step, but you don’t know he’s already skipped four or five introductory nodes…

Qian Daochang returned to hear his ancestral master say his two wastrel disciples had sold their techniques, so he went looking to warn them about taboos—but couldn’t find them, and accidentally missed Qian Daochang’s zombie thread.

Buying a spirit ghost led to direct expulsion by the Port Gang.

Following the railway, choosing a place to rest among three options—he picked the only village that passed the night safely.

Lucky this one worked—I was worried this guy would keep failing the introduction and drag a whole long line of bosses behind him, forming a boss-tian-tuan (boss heavenly team)… (laughing)…

PS: When buying a pillow for the New Year, I noticed a problem: Tuti, ranked number one on the Xiangcao list, has almost no decent pillow designs…





(End of chapter)