Chapter 78: Ninth Rank

Xu Yuan found a clean and fresh room and lay down to rest.

This room was also one of the barracks, with ready-made beds, though the conditions were much the same as those at Qihetai Town back then: a hard wooden plank covered with a layer of dry straw.

Around the Hour of Hai, a piercing scream suddenly rang out in the silent night!

Xu Yuan identified the location as being within Seeing Fu Jingyu's area and did not move.

Soon after, there was a commotion outside; Xu Yuan took out the Redwood Brass Ear Shell to listen, ready to provide support at any moment if Seeing Fu Jingyu could not handle it.

About the time it takes to burn one stick of incense, Seeing Fu Jingyu's side still had not finished, but Xu Yuan heard some strange sounds again.

Xu Yuan got up, slipped out of the door without a sound, and followed the sounds to their source.

A barracks was wrapped in a layer of bubbles.

Because it had rained heavily all day, the moonlight tonight was bright and clear.

The bubbles shimmered with a faint glow under the moonlight; before even approaching, Xu Yuan smelled a stench.

Xu Yuan couldn't help but rub his nose.

Rank Dan Xiu's sense of smell is sharper than that of ordinary people, which is sometimes a torment.

Xu Yuan took off the Ear Shell; he didn't know if it was because he had worn it too long, but it stuck to his ear and refused to come off; he had to pull hard to detach it.

Putting away the Ear Shell, Xu Yuan opened his mouth and spat out the Sword Pill; with a light thrust, the bubbles shattered with a pop.

Inside the barracks, a monster was crouched on a bed gnawing on a person; startled, it immediately raised its head, saw Xu Yuan through the window, and let out a low growl from its throat.

Xu Yuan beckoned to it with a finger.

The monster crashed through the window with a whoosh and lunged forward.

The Sword Pill lying in ambush beneath the window rose up, slicing open the monster's entire belly; it tumbled out and fell to the ground, where Xu Yuan spat a mouthful of Fu Zhong Huo, burning the corpse to ashes.

This was a "Wang Liao".

A weaker evil spirit.

But it had an ability: it could spit out a "snot bubble"; anyone wrapped in it would fall into a dreamlike trance, completely unaware of everything outside.

Xu Yuan entered the barracks; twenty people were sleeping there.

One bed was empty, obviously the one that had transformed into a Wang Liao.

The person on the adjacent bed had already been eaten half away.

The others were still snoring loudly.

Xu Yuan had arrived in time; otherwise, everyone in this room would have been eaten one by one by the Wang Liao.

Then the next room, the one next to that, and so on...

The Wang Liao had an enormous appetite and could "feed" nonstop.

After eating a hundred people, a "human face" would grow on its body, granting it a new "Ghost Technique".

After eating two hundred people, a second face would grow, granting it another "Ghost Technique".

In the history of the Huangming Dynasty, the most faces ever found on a captured Wang Liao was thirty!

Human faces were densely packed along both sides of the Wang Liao's body, with "Ghost Techniques" emerging endlessly; the Quhui Si had to dispatch three Fifth-Rank officers to capture and kill it.

Xu Yuan sighed, burned this corpse as well, then left the barracks and glanced toward Seeing Fu Jingyu's side; Seeing Fu Jingyu had already dealt with that evil spirit.

Such transformations caused by the corruption of evil spirits are never too strong at first.

That night, Xu Yuan dealt with two evil spirits, while Seeing Fu Jingyu's side had four.

After dawn, Xu Yuan checked the almanac; today's prohibitions were: gazing at the moon, traveling at night, cutting wood, and getting married.

Xu Yuan's expression changed: on a night when traveling at night is prohibited, gazing at the moon is also prohibited!

Tonight is Fu Daxiong; relying solely on himself and Seeing Fu Jingyu is absolutely not enough.

Xu Yuan found Seeing Fu Jingyu in the military fortress; the latter saw Xu Yuan's expression and smiled, saying, "Rest assured, the Quhui Si's reinforcements will surely arrive today."

Xu Yuan felt even more uneasy; the more absolute the statement, the more likely an accident is to occur.

The two accompanied each other back to Huicheng to see Ma Tianshou.

Upon arriving at the inn, only Song Lu was there; her limbs had already grown back halfway, and she felt too ugly to come out and meet them; speaking through the door to the two of them, she said, "Master went to the Chen Manor early this morning."

Song Lu probably just didn't want her childhood friend and senior brother to see her ugly appearance; it had nothing to do with Xu Yuan, a poor boy from a small county town.

Seeing Fu Jingyu was puzzled: "What is Master doing at the Chen Manor?"

"To demand justice."

Seeing Fu Jingyu was even more baffled and dragged Xu Yuan to Wangjing Fang immediately.

"Although we all know Chen Liangxuan did it, we actually have no evidence. Master is not an impulsive person..."

Seeing Fu Jingyu worried all the way to the Chen Manor at Wangjing Fang, only to see white mourning clothes everywhere inside and outside the main gate, with wailing shaking the courtyard.

Yan Lao was accompanying Ma Tianshou, sitting at a breakfast stall at the alley entrance outside the main gate.

Ma Tianshou's face looked extremely grim; upon seeing Seeing Fu Jingyu and Xu Yuan, his expression relaxed slightly.

"Master," Seeing Fu Jingyu stepped forward to pay his respects. Ma Tianshou waved his hand, glanced at the Chen Manor's main gate, and gritted his teeth, saying in a low voice, "That old thing has probably committed suicide out of fear of punishment after his conspiracy failed!"

Xu Yuan vaguely guessed that Mao Sishu had done it, but he would not tell outsiders.

Ma Tianshou said, "I came today not to arrest Chen Liangxuan, but to first make the Chen family pay some silver; the food and drink for those thousands of refugees and the reconstruction of their houses all cost money—he Chen Liangxuan dares not refuse!"

Xu Yuan's eyes shifted: "My lord, then is it not a good time to bring this up now?"

Ma Tianshou glared: "Why would it not be a good time to bring this up? He Chen Liangxuan committed such great sins; does he think he can end it all with death? Dream on!"

Xu Yuan immediately raised his thumb; he truly liked this temper of the old lord.

When a person dies, they are like a lamp extinguished? What kind of daydream is that? This is a world of the bizarre; death often brings no peace.

You committed such great sins, and it's over just because you died?

Then your descendants, your wife, and your sister-in-law continue to live freely and happily in this world with vast amounts of the people's fat and marrow?

That would be far too easy on you.

Ma Tianshou and his two companions finished their morning meal, patted their hands, wiped their mouths, and stood up: "Let's go pay our respects to our Lord Chen!"

He then instructed Fu Jingyu and Xu Yuan: "You two should not go; this is a matter that will offend people, and you are still young. Go to the city gate; the support from the office should have arrived by morning. Jingyu, take little Xu to receive them."

The four parted ways there, but the support from the Southern Jiaozhi Southern Office did not arrive in the morning, and Xu Yuan and Fu Jingyu waited in vain at the South Gate all morning.

At noon, the two returned to the inn to eat. Ma Tianshou finally could not hold back and brought it up: "Little Xu, would you be willing to come to our Purification Bureau? Your merits will be rewarded by the imperial court; I can offer you the position of Jianxiao, from the ninth rank!"

The previous time it was mentioned, it was "Mountain-Moving Captain," with no rank. This second time it is mentioned, it is "Jianxiao," from the ninth rank.

The price goes up each time; the old lord is eager for talent, and Xu Yuan has proven himself worth this price.

Xu Yuan pondered and hesitated, so Ma Tianshou elaborated further: "Although both are imperial duties, there is a huge difference between having a rank and not having one..."

For the civil and military officials of the imperial court, the rank of their official position is reflected in their cultivation.

Look at Chen Liangxuan; his cultivation aptitude was actually not good, with a limit of seventh-grade originally, but since he once held a fourth-rank official position, his peak was fifth-grade civil cultivation!

If it were someone with exceptional talent, it would be at least fourth-grade level."

But after Lord Chen was demoted and later retired to return to his hometown, the imperial court's "protection" vanished, his level dropped all the way, returning to seventh-grade.

Seems like double monthly tickets?





(End of this chapter)