Chapter 177: Lord Xu Boosts My Fortune

The tofu seller was sliced in half by Shi Bading's "Box Sword Qi"; the dough-like skin on his face twisted grotesquely and sucked the corpse dry.

By the time Xu Yuan went to pursue the Fate Cultivator, Shi Bading had already led men to deal with this anomaly.

Upon returning now, there were no anomalies left in the courtyard.

The Captains searched the entire courtyard again.

Three corpses were dug up beside the donkey stable.

The dough-like skin had been peeled off all the corpses.

However, it was easily confirmed that the deceased were the courtyard's original owner, Qin Taichen, and a middle-aged woman.

The other Captains also rushed over, knocking on doors house by house to search.

It was quickly discovered that the middle-aged woman at the end of the street had died in her home.

Like Old Fourth, she had been sacrificed to Heaven by the Fate Cultivator.

Afterwards, the Captains found a carriage in that woman's home.

This was enough to prove that the information provided by the Iron Boat Gang was correct; indeed, four people had hired a carriage and traveled from Champa to Qingyu Township.

Yet these four were clearly not the four little thieves impersonating the Sin-Erasing Bureau.

Xu Yuan muttered, "Where exactly have those four guys hidden themselves?"

Had they not discovered those four impersonators, who might have been the four of them, Xu Yuan would not have pursued them so relentlessly.

"Were the souls of these people captured?" Xu Yuan asked Jia Yi.

The latter shook his head and said helplessly, "The tofu seller's soul was eaten along with that dough-like skin. Old Fourth and that woman were sacrificed to Heaven by the Fate Cultivator, and their souls were sacrificed along with them.

As for the Fate Cultivator himself, after the anomaly occurred, his soul was also tainted and had become utterly turbid; Di Jianxiao could only burn him with fire."

With no way to interrogate the souls and no other traces left in the courtyard, there was no way to ascertain the origins of these four or their purpose in coming to Qingyu Township.

Seeing Xu Yuan appear somewhat regretful, Shi Bading advised, "Don't think too much. Let alone strange cases, even many ordinary cases in this world end up classified as unsolved mysteries.

This time, being able to track down and execute these four villains, preventing them from continuing to cause harm, counts as a success."

Xu Yuan nodded, but his mind was on returning to ask Elder Qu to calculate something, to see if any new clues could be found.

The Qin family's sky had collapsed; Qin Taichen had actually been harmed by villains without him even realizing it.

The entire family, old and young, wailed with cries that shook the heavens.

Part of the Sin-Erasing Bureau had been staying at the Qin family, and now it was no longer suitable to remain there.

Xu Yuan ordered, "Clean up both crime scenes; we will stay here tonight.

First thing tomorrow, find a guide, and we will set off directly to search those four village temples."

The Captains under his command immediately sprang into action, using their Stomach Fire to cleanse the tofu seller's and that woman's courtyards, resting separately in the two courtyards for the night.

The rooms were not large; the Captains squeezed together to clear out one room for Xu Yuan and Shi Bading.

Even the two Patrol Inspectors, my lords, could not each have a room; there simply was no space.

Xu Yuan did not mind these things, and Shi Bading, a Wu Xiu, was even more carefree.

Before sleep, Shi Bading said somewhat embarrassedly to Xu Yuan, "Brother Xu, you sleep first. Hehe, old brother here snores a bit loudly; if I sleep first, I'm afraid you won't be able to sleep."

As a result, by midnight, Xu Yuan was still woken up by Shi Bading's snoring.

Xu Yuan gave a bitter smile and simply began cultivating.

He circulated the "Five Cauldrons Boiling" and cultivated for more than an hour.

Xu Yuan then checked his own level as a Fate Cultivator.

After Qin Ze condensed his Fate, Xu Yuan discovered his own level as a Fate Cultivator had improved slightly.

Today, after absorbing the remnants of that Fate Cultivator, there was another obvious improvement.

"I am about to advance to Seventh Rank!" Xu Yuan secretly cheered: "I am about to obtain my third Fate!"

"But it seems something is missing, and it is a very crucial something."

Because Fate Cultivators are scarce and mostly supported by great surnames and noble families, very little information regarding Fate Cultivators circulates in the Jianghu.

Therefore, among the seven major sects' lore that father told Xu Yuan back then, there was not much about Fate Cultivators either.

How to cultivate, how to advance—these were only scattered fragments of words.

Xu Yuan still had to figure it out himself.

The Fate Cultivator encountered today, when emerging from the donkey skin, was completely naked, obviously not carrying cultivation methods or the like for Fate Cultivators.

Later, Xu Yuan had people search the courtyard again, hoping to find notes or the like from the Fate Cultivator.

Unfortunately, nothing was found.

Unknowingly, dawn broke.

Hearing that Shi Bading was still snoring like thunder and sleeping soundly, Xu Yuan felt unbalanced and shook him awake with one hand: "Patrol Inspector Shi, it is time to rise."

Shi Bading was of the constitution that allowed him to fall asleep the moment he lay down and be energetic the moment he opened his eyes.

Almost all Wu Xiu are like this.

"Oh, let me check today's taboos."

Shi Bading climbed up, rubbed the sleep from the corners of his eyes, and pulled out a yellow almanac.

It was not the pocket-sized version like Fu Jingyu's, but a regular yellow almanac.

He was tall, so the almanac in his hand was roughly the same proportion as the pocket-sized version in Fu Jingyu's hand.

Today's Taboo:

Night travel, detours, shouting at the mountain, daytime dreams.

"Yo-ho, today's taboo is daytime dreams; luckily, Brother Xu woke me up early," Shi Bading said, quite grateful.

He secretly felt in his heart that everything went smoothly when he was with Brother Xu; Xu boosts my fortune. I should associate with him more in the future.

Xu Yuan said solemnly, "This foolish younger brother was indeed worried about taboos like 'daytime dreams' and specifically woke Brother Shi. We, the public servants of the Sin-Erasing Bureau, must be even more careful."

"Old brother speaks with reason."

Xu Yuan opened the door and came out. Lang Xiao Ba had been waiting outside, quickly stepped forward, and poured the well water he had drawn earlier into the wooden basin.

"Hot water is being heated. My lord, would you like to wait a while?"

"No need." Xu Yuan washed his face and rinsed his mouth with swift efficiency.

Lang Xiao Ba added, "There is a breakfast stall on the street. I have already sent someone to buy some."

The food in the village restaurants would not taste very good, but it was still better than what the Captains of the Pollution-Dispelling Office could make.

After Xu Yuan and Shi Bading had finished breakfast, Di Youzhi had already found a guide.

"Hired for one tael of silver." Di Youzhi thought it was expensive, but no one else was willing to go.

Xu Yuan then leaped onto his horse: "Set out!"

Besides Huangya Village, Qingyu Township had four other villages.

Only one village was truly sacrificing to its ancestors and spirits.

This village was the farthest from Little Yu Shan; outside the village there were only two earthen mounds, and the natural conditions were the best.

In the other three villages, the temple keeper in one village temple was an old woman who was fat and moved slowly.

She constantly wore a triangular floral headscarf on her head.

If one pulled off that headscarf, she would immediately reveal her true form: a Ghost-Talking Toad.

Her mouth was full of ghostly lies, quite capable of deceiving passing travelers and merchants.

On her back were over a hundred disgusting warts, each imprisoning at least three wronged souls.

In the village temple of the second village, a Yin-Energy Earthworm was hidden underground.

Ten zhang long, it ate everything.

Within a three-li radius around the temple, the ground had turned into a swamp; whatever stepped onto it could never get out again.

In the last temple, a den of weasels was kept.

(End of this chapter)