Chapter 212

"Boom—"

A thunderclap on flat ground, smoke filled the air. With the straw paper figure as the center, the tops of the graves within half an acre were blown off. Some ghost soldiers who were close didn't even have time to react before they turned into fly ash in the smoke.

The Ghost King's Mausoleum had never been so lively!

Deep in the Ghost King's Mausoleum, the majestic body lying in a four-layered coffin, eight inches thick, suddenly sat up in shock.

"Where did the sound of thunder come from in my royal city?"

The earth-shaking, mountain-quaking roar just now almost made the Duo'e Ghost King think he had returned to the days of trembling in the face of lightning disasters.

Could it be that a ghost general had broken through five hundred years of cultivation and attracted a lightning disaster?

That couldn't be! Although there were no written rules in the royal city, no matter who was crossing a disaster, they would run far away. Which blind person would dare to hide from a disaster in the ghost city?

The Duo'e Ghost King, who had been in seclusion for more than two years, came out of seclusion for the first time because of shock.

Below, scouts reported that strange thunder had fallen thirty miles south of the Ghost King's Mausoleum. That thunder was extremely rigid and yang, extremely explosive. Graves within several miles had collapsed to varying degrees, and many ghost soldiers were homeless and could only wander on the ground...

"Where is General Guitan?"

The ghost generals and soldiers were all silent, not daring to speak.

On the throne above, the Ghost King wore a crown and a yellow dragon robe, asking again:

"Where is General Guitan?!"

Below, four ghost soldiers carried a coffin lid and cautiously arrived in front of the hall.

The Duo'e Ghost King took a look and saw that the ghost general who had previously been at the center of the iron fire-cannon had already turned into smoke-blackened bones pieced together here and there.

And there was a strange smell of gunpowder smoke lingering on those bones.

Just when all the ghosts thought the general was dead, the skull placed at the top of the bone pile on the coffin lid suddenly opened its jaw and spoke in a human voice:

"My King, forgive me. I fell into a thief's trap and failed to protect the royal mausoleum..."

"Who did this?"

"I don't know. The invaders of the royal mausoleum were twelve paper figures. I don't know who was manipulating them from behind. I only saw one paper figure light a black ball. That black ball was extremely rigid and yang, naturally restraining us, and its sound was like heavenly thunder. I was defeated by this ball in just one round!"

The Duo'e Ghost King was silent for a moment and said: "You all need to strengthen your guard from now on, patrol day and night. If there are any suspicious people, you must stop them and not let them get within half a step of the royal city."

After saying this, the Ghost King ordered an attendant to take an incense jar and send it to the fallen-apart ghost general.

The attendant turned the jar over, and as the glowing white powder sprinkled onto the bone pile, the fallen-apart ghost general's bones actually returned to their places, and it "lived" again!

"My King's holy grace! I will surely protect the stability of the royal city and will never allow any petty thieves to invade the royal city again!"

Mortician's shop.

After setting off firecrackers at his neighbor's house, Xu Qing turned around and ran back home.

The power of this iron fire-cannon both surprised him and made him feel the limitations of the iron fire-cannon.

Gunpowder is heavy in yang and fierce in nature, having a natural restraining effect on ghost objects. Sulfur, saltpeter, and other things were also common items. The Materia Medica lists them as medicine, saying they can remove sores, kill insects, and ward off filth and detoxify. Just these two words, "ward off filth," already indicated the attributes of gunpowder.

The iron fire-cannon was precisely a concentrated form of gunpowder. Heavy yang controls yin; for yin-evil objects, it was no different from a flood or a wild beast.

But the flaws were also obvious. Such things were ultimately just mortal objects. For practitioners who hadn't undergone a lightning disaster, they were extremely explosive and lethal weapons. But for those with profound cultivation who didn't fear yang fire, the iron fire-cannon didn't pose a fatal threat.

Moreover, such things were ultimately dead objects, couldn't be used as one wished, and weren't hidden enough. If one were in a tangle with someone, these things that didn't distinguish between friend and foe were hard to use.

However, Xu Qing didn't give up learning. Li Erleng shut himself away to build his cart and was beaten back to his original form by a "big flower umbrella" from a talented person in Liuxian.

Xu Qing, as a zombie who had evolved in virtue, intelligence, physique, and aesthetics, naturally wouldn't make such a low-level mistake.

In the morgue, Xu Qing kept pace with the times, gathered the strengths of many, and spent most of the day finally tinkering with a uniquely shaped iron fire-cannon.

This iron fire-cannon was also made of an iron ball, but it had the firework effects of Liuxian. The outside of the iron ball was wrapped in seven-colored woven flower ropes and flower cloth, looking just like the embroidered ball used in lion dances.

When Xu Qing came out of the room tossing the embroidered ball, it instantly attracted Xuan Yu's attention.

Cats had always had no resistance to such spherical objects.

Seeing Xuan Yu come over, wanting to trade the walnut in its hand for his flower ball to play with, Xu Qing didn't even think about it and directly refused.

This thing wasn't for playing!

Cats were all curious. If it blew up the shop later, that was a small matter, but if it blew up their friendship, that was a big matter.

"This isn't a flower ball; this is an 'Evil-Warding Pill' I refined, specifically to restrain demons and evil paths..."

The Evil-Warding Pill heals the body externally and combines with the Dao of alchemy internally. This object is still until it moves, and once it moves, it is shocking, fitting the Daoist mystery of "stillness within movement, life hidden within killing."

After this pill is dismantled, external application can not only treat malignant sores and toxic lumps but also stop bleeding and kill insects, secretly matching the Dao of "heavy yang controlling yin." It is truly an essential medicine for walking the pugilistic world and traveling at home.

The next morning, Xu Qing returned from the Shuimen Bridge villa with a brand-new embroidered ball in his hand. Its appearance was much more exquisite than the cloth-wrapped iron "Evil-Warding Pill" in his hand.

This made the little cat very happy. The Wang family's younger sister, who came to deliver incense and candles, saw this scene and said with some emotion: "Mr. Xu is really good to Xuan Yu, buying it such a beautiful embroidered ball. Things like this are only prepared by young ladies of wealthy families when they throw the embroidered ball to choose a husband..."

Embroidered balls of this time were mostly embroidered with gold and silver threads, decorated with colorful tassels, tied with five-colored ribbons at the top, and filled with precious spices in addition to cotton wool.

And Xuan Yu's embroidered ball was produced by Xiuniang; its quality and texture were better than those made by the imperial tailors in the palace's Shangyi Bureau specifically for the concubines.

Hearing the Wang family's younger sister's words, Xu Qing's gaze fell on Xuan Yu, who was staring at him, and he said out of the blue: "This little cat doesn't know the taste of sorrow; it doesn't know how many good days it has left. Anyway, from now on, whatever it wants to eat, it can eat, and whatever it wants to play with, I will try my best to satisfy it!"

"..."

Xuan Yu looked at Xu Qing in shock. The other party's words always gave it an inexplicable sense of unease. The physicians in those medical halls liked to say this to people suffering from terminal illnesses.

The Wang family's younger sister blinked and said: "Xuan Yu is so well-behaved. If Mr. Xu doesn't want to keep it one day, I'll take it over and raise it."

The two of them were better at talking than the other, leaving Xuan Yu suspicious and feeling that the embroidered ball in front of it didn't smell good anymore!

After the Wang family's younger sister left, Xuan Yu took small steps and quickly came to Xu Qing, chasing him and asking: "Immortal Xu, what did you mean by those words just now?"

Xu Qing didn't look back and said: "How old are you this year? How high is your cultivation? I can take care of you for a while, but can I take care of you forever?"

Three questions in a row left Xuan Yu standing in place, the entire cat's demeanor visibly becoming nervous.

"You don't want me anymore?" Xuan Yu gathered its courage and asked back.

"..."

What kind of "cat talk" was this?

Xu Qing turned his head and said irritably: "You already have five hundred years of cultivation. When the lightning strikes one day, do you want me to take an ash urn to collect your corpse?"

Xuan Yu breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this: "So it was this matter; you scared me to death."

Look at this silly cat; it wasn't afraid when the lightning was about to strike, but it was afraid that Xu Qing wouldn't want it one day. Who knew what was in its little head all day long.

This made Xu Qing laugh with anger: "Do you have any plans at all?"

Xuan Yu went back to playing with the embroidered ball, looking as if it didn't care: "In the days when Immortal Xu wasn't here, there was a lot more incense in the Dharma Realm. That incense is enough for me to resist the disaster..."

Speaking of this, Xuan Yu stopped playing with the embroidered ball, walked lightly to Xu Qing's feet, hesitated, and finally rubbed against him gently. Tsk, this clingy little demon.

Xu Qing seized the opportunity and was just about to bend down to realize his "cat-petting" ambition, but the next moment, the sound of a duck quacking came from outside the door.

Xuan Yu ran away nimbly, leaving only a wisp of the herbal scent carried by the embroidered ball in place.

"So Shopkeeper Xu really keeps a black cat. Our family originally thought it was an excuse Shopkeeper Xu made up because he wanted to release the fish."

Zhang Jun walked off the carriage with a smile. When he arrived inside the mortician's shop, he reached out and held a handkerchief under his nose, as if he didn't like the smell of the funeral shop.

But when he found that there was no strange smell in the shop, but rather a peculiar fragrance, he put the handkerchief down.

"Eunuch Zhang, did you come here specifically to see the cat today?"

Eunuchs all had small minds. If you coaxed him to be happy one moment, he might pick on you the next, and Zhang Jun was no exception.

He laughed "ga-ga," and even though he was exposed by Xu Qing to his face, he didn't feel embarrassed at all: "Seeing the cat is only secondary. Our family mainly has proper business to attend to this time."

"Oh? Then please come in, Eunuch. I was just worrying that business was cold. Now that you're introducing business, I couldn't be happier!"

"Eh, eh!" Zhang Jun said hurriedly: "Our family isn't here to take care of your business; our family has other things to ask you."

As soon as Zhang Jun finished speaking, the action of Xu Qing pulling him inside immediately turned into turning him outside.

"Brother Xu! What are you doing? Besides your funeral business, can't our family have other things to look for you for?"

"Eunuch, I'm just a small Licentiate, the most honest and least ambitious person on this street. If you have business, you shouldn't come to me. I think Constable Zhao in the government office is good. If you put in some effort, Eunuch, maybe you can take him to the palace to be a companion."

"Zhao Zhonghe?" Zhang Jun's voice became several degrees sharper upon hearing this: "Our family doesn't want him! That rough man is full of foul language and doesn't know how to bend to please or understand the superiors' intentions. When we were in the government office, our family saw him being pointed at and scolded by his superiors more than once."

"Now our family is already a sixth-rank Seal-Attending Eunuch. How is that Zhao Zhonghe now? Isn't he still a poor, unranked constable?"

Xu Qing didn't respond. After these eunuchs lost some things, they became particularly concerned about other things they didn't have—or fame, or power and wealth—and they also liked to compare these with others. After all, besides these, they had nothing else worth praising.

They couldn't be like half-grown boys, taking off their pants to see who could pee further, and they couldn't compare whose wife was more virtuous or whose family had more children...

Zhang Jun sat on the grand armchair as if he were at home. As soon as he sat down, he felt something different: "This chair of yours is not bad. Which skilled craftsman made it? Our family has never sat in such a comfortable chair."

While saying words of endless praise, Zhang Jun's hands didn't stop. He lifted his hand wearing a white jade thumb ring and stroked the armrest back and forth with great affection, as if he were treating the armrest like a girl's soft hand.

It was a pity he was a eunuch and could only like chairs and stools.

Xu Qing saw Zhang Jun's purpose and heard the meaning behind his words. This was clearly wanting him to open his mouth and give him the grand armchair!

"Eunuch Zhang really knows his stuff! This chair is indeed unusual. It was sent as a dowry by a young lady of a merchant family in Qianxi, given to the son-in-law to sit on. Now, isn't that son-in-law our Linjiang County Magistrate..."

Zhang Jun frowned upon hearing this: "How could an official chair from the government office be here with you?"

Eunuchs who had been in the deep palace struggles for a long time were used to chewing everything over before spitting it out to see. Only when they felt there were no doubts or problems would they feel at ease swallowing it.

He clearly didn't believe Xu Qing's words.

"Eunuch Zhang, you don't know. The County Magistrate's cousin-in-law, the eldest son of the Qianxi merchant family, is a 'Golden Ticket' member of my shop. He likes to run to my place when he has nothing to do, and he moved this chair here."

"Merchant family son? Are you talking about the Merchant Young Master who came to the Mirror-Reflecting Division to provoke trouble two months ago, had a leg broken by Supervisor Liao, and was thrown into the government prison?"

Had a leg broken? Even Xu Qing was surprised to hear this.

Would anyone dare to break the leg of a second-generation ancestor from a thousand-year-old family?

On the side, Zhang Jun bared his teeth and said: "This person is not decent. If the Division hadn't been well-informed and known his identity early, it would have caused big trouble for the Supervisor."

"Why was his leg broken if his identity was known?" Xu Qing was even more surprised.

"The Mirror-Reflecting Division was just established and came to Jinmen for the first time. It was the time to establish authority. At this juncture, someone came to the Division's gate to cause trouble. Could the Supervisor just ignore it?"

"Breaking a leg was a last resort. Fortunately, the Supervisor is resourceful and took out an item bestowed by His Majesty as a trigger to resolve the grudge..."

Speaking of this, Zhang Jun smiled sinisterly: "That Merchant Young Master came to cause trouble without revealing his true identity. His original intention was to make the Supervisor embarrassed. The Supervisor returned the favor in his own way and didn't state it to his face. The jade belt he used to dismiss him was an imperial gift..."

"..."

The rest was simple. Shang Shaoyang stepped on the jade belt bestowed by the Son of Heaven in public. Liao Jinzhong, in order to maintain the royal dignity, had no choice but to break the other party's leg as a warning to others.

This matter seemed serious. On one side was the crime of offending the imperial majesty and being disrespectful; on the other was breaking the leg of a direct descendant of the Merchant family. What was the difference between this and slapping the Merchant family in the face?

But the coincidence was that the jade belt Liao Jinzhong took out... This old eunuch broke Shang Shaoyang's leg and didn't forget to continue to give the imperial jade belt to Shang Shaoyang.

Emperor Jingxing learned of this, blamed Liao Jinzhong for being too aggressive and lacking stability, and ordered him to be fined one year's salary.

The Qianxi Merchant family learned of this and reprimanded Shang Shaoyang for his unprovoked behavior, which lost the Merchant family's face, and released word that they would let the Son of Heaven deal with him.

How could this be dealt with? In the end, each side was given a beating. Shang Shaoyang was locked in the government office and served well. For this reason, the government office even expanded a small, elegant room, and even his injured leg was re-examined by an imperial physician.

"Eunuch Zhang, if you really like this chair, I'll talk to the Merchant Young Master another day..."

"No need!"

Zhang Jun instantly felt that the grand armchair under him was a bit hot. He stood up, only to find that there was no other place to sit in Xu Qing's shop besides coffins.

Having no choice, Eunuch Zhang could only stand.

"Xu Qing, our family is here today to ask you about something important."

"Please ask, Eunuch."

"Our family asks you: before the Jinmen Gang had trouble, were there your goods among the confiscated items?"

Xu Qing raised his eyebrows and said without any hesitation: "There is indeed such a thing, but they were all coffins and burial money. Eunuch, you have seen it too. I do funeral business and can't avoid dealing with these things. Some customers just like to use five-zhu coins, horseshoe gold, and unicorn-hoof gold for burial."

"Besides these, I also bought plenty of incense, candles, and coffins. As long as the customer needs it and is willing to spend money, these are not problems."

"Is that really so?" Zhang Jun asked, squinting.

"That is exactly so. I still have some burial money and a few coffins here. If you like them, Eunuch, I can give you a special discount of twenty percent as an acquaintance."

"..."

In the end, Zhang Jun didn't make a purchase in Xu Qing's shop, but a sentence he said before leaving caught Xu Qing's attention.

"It's just because you and I are from the same hometown that I'll tell you the truth: this time, Supervisor Liao came to investigate the Jinmen Gang case. Back then, General Feng's godson, Long Engui, died in Linjiang County, and Supervisor Liao's godson, Lou Xiaowu, died inexplicably in Wanshou County."

"The Supervisor is very angry. If it weren't for our acquaintance, if someone else had come, regardless of whether you were suspicious or not, you wouldn't have been able to avoid some trouble..."

After seeing Zhang Jun off, Xu Qing thought for a moment and decisively got up to rush to Flower Bird Street.

Back then, the ones who were openly the most hostile to the Jinmen Gang weren't him, but Second Master Feng of Flower Bird Street, the young master of the Tai'an Escort Agency, and the big shopkeepers of the tooth-brokerage.

If Liao Jinzhong wanted to use this matter to make trouble, no one could be sure what would happen next.

After all, that old eunuch even dared to break Shang Shaoyang's leg; what else was there that he wouldn't dare to do?

(End of chapter)