Chapter 369: A Night of Sweet Dreams

After the Zhu family intervened to plead on her behalf and Gao Wanli failed to become the Chief Lawkeeper of Zhan City, Gao Wanli used the "Blood Seed" to set up this entire arrangement.

At that time, she merely intended to give Xu Yuan a warning.

Once these arrangements were triggered one by one, if Xu Yuan failed to solve the case while she, the Deputy Chief Lawkeeper, succeeded... then within the Zhan City Office, who possessed greater ability would be obvious at a glance.

The greatest reason Ma Tianshou strongly supported Xu Yuan was: Xu Yuan's own ability was extraordinary.

If I solve the case he cannot, wouldn't that mean my ability is even more extraordinary?

Her "Farming Method" was not cultivated by herself; rather, it was arranged by elders in her family and plundered from a condemned prisoner.

This method required the condemned prisoner's complete cooperation.

The condemned prisoner was originally to have his entire family beheaded.

The Gao family intervened, used silver money, and leveraged connections to swap in a substitute, saving his youngest son and leaving the family with an heir.

But after Gao Wanli obtained the Farming Method, the Gao family ceased to care about that child.

They had originally promised to protect that child until he turned sixteen—the nobles of the Gao family were forgetful; no one bothered with that matter anymore.

Therefore, very few people knew that Gao Wanli had also cultivated the Farming Method.

In the pond of Dongzha Village, the water snakes, their bodies swollen to the thickness of a water vat, finally wriggled and swam to the shore.

The flesh buds growing from the ulcerated areas had already turned into pink flesh claws.

The water snakes had become thicker but also shorter.

They were only about half a zhang long, unable to even swim up the pond, but instead relied on those flesh buds to grip the ground and wriggle upward.

After reaching the shore, they rolled forward across the ground like rolling logs.

Upon entering the village, these things suddenly connected head to tail; those flesh buds fused with each other, transforming into a tough fascia layer wrapping the outside!

These water snakes had become a giant monster, the thickness of a water vat and dozens of zhang long!

It writhed its body under the night sky, and from the very front of its head, a one-zhang-wide, four-petaled maw split open.

Inside were countless sharp spikes, spreading out like a starfish, capable of swallowing an entire house in a single bite.

It had already locked onto a target.

It possessed a special vision, similar to the right-eye vision of Xu Yuan's "Yin-Yang Guillotine."

It had clearly seen that inside the house, a family of five was sleeping: parents and three children.

The four-petaled maw had reached above the house and was about to descend, when it was suddenly struck by a bolt of lightning.

The monster trembled all over, followed immediately by a blade striking down.

It appeared to be a single strike, but it employed the fighting technique from the "Dragon Form Art"; beneath the flash of the blade light, twenty-four strikes had actually been delivered!

The monster crashed to the ground with a boom, its massive body severed at the fascia.

Then, a special flame surged forth from the darkness, landed on the monster's body, and burned fiercely.

And the fire burned brighter and brighter; the monster writhed and struggled, but it was of no avail.

Before long, it was burned into piles of ash.

This flame was the "Dragon Fire" that Xu Yuan had never used before.

Everyone in Dongzha Village was awakened by the tremendous noise of the battle.

Especially that family of five inside the house.

But in such a dark night, no one dared to open the door to investigate.

The three children cried loudly in terror; the parents held them tightly in their arms, but in truth, their own bodies were trembling uncontrollably.

After resolving the anomaly in Dongzha Village, Xu Yuan rushed without pause to the next location.

The next village was named "Yellow Mud Head," where a beetle had undergone a strange transformation.

Facing this thing, Xu Yuan did not use the methods of the "Transformation Dragon Art," but instead killed it instantly with the Sword Pill.

The anomaly at the third location was a turtle.

Xu Yuan used the method of the "Transformation Dragon Art" to kill it again.

Gao Wanli had buried Blood Seeds in a total of eight villages and towns surrounding Zhan City.

Besides Xipo Village, seven remained.

To make these anomalies go completely mad and massacre the villages, Gao Wanli herself needed to personally trigger them.

Among these, the anomalies in three villages were related to the "Dragon."

In these villages, Xu Yuan employed the "Transformation Dragon Art" and also left some faint, ambiguous traces, leading the clues toward Ghost Wushan.

Xu Yuan, alone, despite moving at his fastest speed, still found the last two villages extremely perilous.

A moment later and countless casualties would have occurred.

Fortunately, since Lord Xu is now at the Fifth Flow, these evil spirits cultivated by Gao Wanli could be turned to ash with a single breath of fire once Lord Xu found them.

No technique, pure strength.

Two hours later, Xu Yuan, accompanied by two little foxes, quietly returned outside Zhan City.

Dawn was approaching; Xu Yuan did not request the city gates be opened but instead found a place to hide outside the city.

He entered the moment the city gates opened.

Then, silently, he entered through the back door of the Zhan City Office and returned to his own courtyard.

Gao Wanli slept very soundly last night, with good dreams coming one after another.

In her dream, she punished that man surnamed Xu at will, without needing to heed any worldly opinions or moral constraints.

After waking, she sat up and casually tore off yesterday's page from the almanac by her bedside.

Today is prohibited: casting spells, chanting, praying for offspring, drinking alcohol.

As long as heavy makeup was not prohibited, Gao Wanli was in a very good mood.

Moreover, today's taboo does not interfere with the Artificer Cultivators or the Farming Methods.

Gao Wanli felt that today was a good day.

After getting up, she combed her hair and put on makeup before the mirror.

Only then did she remember she had forgotten to hire a few maids to serve her.

Her personal maid back home... had been unclear with one of her lovers.

She had "accidentally" fallen into the lotus pond at some dusk and drowned.

This time, Gao Wanli simply did not bring any from home, planning to hire a few randomly upon arriving in Champa.

The maids at home were all too fresh and pretty...

Having them by her side would be an eyesore.

These past two days, Xu Yuan had made her so angry that she felt as if one Buddha had emerged and another ascended to heaven, causing her to forget this matter.

Now she could only draw water and wash herself, then carefully dress herself up.

On such a good day of "revenge with joy," she must welcome it with the most perfect posture.

Gao Wanli was truly skilled at applying makeup.

This was the only thing she could show off besides the Artificer Craft and the Farming Methods.

After she finished tidying herself up, her stomach made an undignified rumble.

Gao Wanli came out of the courtyard in a rage—her courtyard was not far from Xu Yuan's.

Over at Xu Yuan's place, the stepmother was busy crafting artificer items, but Third Sister would, as usual, send over a hearty breakfast; the aroma drifted over, and Gao Wanli's stomach rumbled a few more times.

She could also eat a lot.

People like this are generally impatient with hunger.

Gao Wanli left the yamen herself; Mr. Lu and Mr. Jiang, her subordinates, were waiting outside the main gate with two squads of men.

Lang Xiao Ba and Ji Shuangqiu stood on the left and right, pressing their swords and glaring fiercely.

They were like the two generals of Heng and Ha.

Staring at these people, forbidding them from mixing in.

Gao Wanli was in a good mood today and did not intend to argue with these two little soldiers.

"Once Xu Yuan is overthrown and I alone hold the Champa Office, I will find an opportunity to assign them a dangerous mission.

Send them into the belly of an evil spirit to become a pair of desperate lovers!

Hahaha!"

Gao Wanli thought to herself.

Afterwards, she and her subordinates ate breakfast nearby and then leisurely returned to the yamen.

"The time is about right; news of the tragic cases of evil spirits eating people in the various villages should have reached the yamen by now!"

(End of this chapter)