Chapter 171

Among the mountain roads, there were merchants, travelers, bailiffs, and knights-errant. Some saw the Daoist riding the wind among the mountain peaks and treetops, with a white shadow following behind, and others saw the Daoist riding a donkey on the mountain road, with a fox trotting in front, as if leading the way.

The donkey looked dull and tireless, and the Daoist also seemed to have urgent business to rush to some unknown distant place.

Lin Jue's speed was almost not inferior to the time he left Shu Village and was chased by the bear Yaoguai.

But the time and distance were much longer.

He set off just after noon and walked until late at night before resting under a tree in the mountains; he even bumped into a few ghosts in the middle of the night.

It was the time of the full moon, and a few ghosts looked like scholars, coming out together to enjoy the moon as if they were on a spring outing while alive, reciting poems and composing couplets. By accident, they saw the Daoist under the tree.

It was unclear whether the Daoist bumped into the ghosts or the ghosts bumped into the Daoist; in any case, Lin Jue was no longer afraid when seeing ghosts, but these ghosts were startled when they suddenly encountered a living person in the wilderness, and one wearing Daoist robes at that.

When they were in a panic and wanted to run, they were stopped by the fox again.

"Do not make things difficult for them," Lin Jue said to Fuyao, thinking it was a good time to ask these ghosts, so he said to them:

"Everyone, excuse me. Please do not be afraid. I am a cultivator from the Lingfa Sect. I will not hurt people for no reason, nor will I hurt ghosts for no reason. This time, I am heading to Central Prefecture for important business. Meeting you here at this time and place can be considered fate. Thinking that you all like to travel at night, I have something I would like to ask you."

The ghosts were originally a bit afraid, but seeing his expression was gentle and the demon fox blocking the way had walked away, they looked at each other and then bowed, saying:

"What does the True Man want to ask?"

"I heard that during this period, plague ghosts have been traveling from the Biluo County behind toward Central Prefecture. Have they passed through here? Have you all seen them?"

"Plague ghosts? Is there going to be an epidemic?"

"Have you all seen them?"

"We have not seen them."

"Then have you seen any strange ghosts from other places passing through here?"

"We have not seen them either."

"The True Man thinks too highly of us," another ghost said. "Central Prefecture is separated from the south by mountain gods and water gods, and every checkpoint is guarded by divine beings, plus there are day and night wandering gods patrolling. If there really were plague ghosts passing through, they would certainly be hiding their tracks. How could we possibly see them?"

"That also makes sense..."

Lin Jue thought carefully and realized it made sense.

Recalling some strange stories he had heard, in the stories, evil Yaoguai and ghosts wanting to sneak into or out of a city, if they had no other skills, were often not that easy. They even often hid in night-soil buckets. It stood to reason that passing through checkpoints and avoiding the eyes and ears of wandering gods was the same.

In that case, if there were foreign plague ghosts entering Central Prefecture and spreading a plague, it probably wouldn't be that easy.

Thinking back to the words of the Yan family grandson, those two plague ghosts indeed had the intention of hiding their tracks.

Even if the matter of the plague ghosts was true, there should still be time.

"Thank you all."

Seeing the scholar ghosts walk away hesitantly, constantly looking back at him while whispering, not knowing what they were discussing, and only continuing to enjoy the moon and recite poems after walking a bit further, Lin Jue also lay down to sleep.

Waking up early in the morning, he continued his journey.

He did not know how many cities and post stations he passed, nor how many checkpoints he crossed in between, until the twilight of this second day, he finally arrived at one of the three places of Qingchuan, Cuiwei, and Liuyun: Cuiwei County.

Lin Jue looked up and saw the city gate was ancient and imposing, the city walls full of traces left by time and sword slashes, axe chops, stone impacts, and fire scorches, quite having the momentum of an ancient city in the Central Plains region.

Above were the two large characters "Cuiwei".

Below, people were entering and exiting, not lacking carts, horses, oxen, and mules; there was no sign of any disaster.

There were also four soldiers guarding the city gate, wearing hemp clothes inside and simple iron armor outside, with long swords at their waists and long spears in their hands. In the dim twilight, vaguely, he seemed to see blurred figures wearing official robes, carefully examining the fox beside him, but they disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Lin Jue walked over.

"Stop!"

The city gate guards stopped him.

"This poor Daoist is a Daoist from Mount Yishan in Huizhou, Lin Jue. This is my ordination certificate." Lin Jue took out the ordination certificate and offered it.

"Come here..."

The city-guarding soldiers originally wanted to ask him what he was here for, but seeing that the ordination certificate was a scroll, different from the usual paper ordination certificates, they stopped their words and did not ask what he was here for, just reached out and said:

"So it is a Dharma Master, please enter."

"Many thanks."

Lin Jue took back the ordination certificate and said thanks.

Then, under the gaze of these four guards, the Daoist did not enter immediately but turned to look at the empty ground, pondered for a moment, and spoke as if talking to someone:

"May I see the city-guarding divine official?"

"Hmm?"

The four soldiers all looked over in confusion.

There was indeed no one there, and not even anyone passing by, but there was a small temple two feet wide and two feet high by the city wall, inside which were two clay statues whose appearances were almost unrecognizable, and there were also some broken incense sticks, residual candles, and some paper ash left over.

Suddenly, the paper ash was blown up by the wind.

This Daoist did not enter the city but walked over.

In Lin Jue's eyes, two divine official figures had appeared there, wearing red robes, one fat and one thin, frowning at him.

As soon as Lin Jue came over, they began to blame him:

"Where are you from, Daoist? Don't you know that to see a divine being, you must light incense, perform a ritual, and wait for the divine being's permission? How can you be so ignorant of etiquette!"

"This poor Daoist is from Mount Yishan in Huizhou and is a Daoist of the Lingfa Sect." Lin Jue was afraid of causing unnecessary panic and did not want to be heard by others, so he intentionally lowered his voice. "I have important business to report to the divine official."

"Mount Yishan in Huizhou? A Daoist of the Lingfa Sect? Can a Daoist of the Lingfa Sect just call a divine being out to see him at will? Relying on having some cultivation and knowing some magic, have you become lawless?"

The fat divine official's brow immediately frowned even tighter:

"Besides, you are a Daoist of the Lingfa Sect; why don't you hide in the deep mountains and cultivate well? What business do you have with a divine being? And you are a Daoist from Huizhou; what are you doing running to my Central Prefecture?"

"Forget it, I can't be bothered to argue with him; let's hear what business he has first," the thin divine official said.

"The matter is like this..."

Although Lin Jue frowned, he did not argue with them but carefully explained the matter of the Yan family grandson and the plague ghosts, and added:

"What I said is definitely not a lie, but we don't know if this matter is true or false. Just thinking that the matter is of great importance, I dared not be negligent, so I came ahead to check and also inform the divine beings here."

"Where would there be a plague in the city?"

"Is there not?"

"Interesting! You believe the words of such a person? If you, this Daoist, are not lying, then he is lying; if he is not lying either, then he is letting his imagination run wild and has deceived himself too!" The fat divine official said coldly. "There is no plague at all recently, and no plague has been sent down from the heavens. If a plague were sent down from the heavens and a Plague God had come here, we would naturally have received the news."

"There is indeed no plague in the city! Besides, with us guarding here, what plague ghosts and evil demons could pass through?" The thin divine official also said.

"It is good that there is none, and it is even better if this matter is false. But I also ask the two divine officials to pay more attention. It would be best to inform the City God in the city, and then have him report it, and also notify the City Gods of the other counties."

"You Daoist are really something, not cultivating your Lingfa well, but running here to worry about nothing," the fat divine official said. "Even if a plague really broke out, there is a Plague God in the heavens responsible for collecting the plague."

"If you want to enter the city, enter quickly; the city gate is about to be closed! This fox of yours is not simple, right? I see you are a Daoist who has come from afar, and it has no other evil or foul aura, so I won't make things difficult for you. Don't cause us trouble either! Rest for one night and leave tomorrow! If you don't rest, leave now!"

The thin divine official said to him:

"You must know, let alone that you are a Daoist of the Lingfa Sect, even if you were a Daoist of the Fulu Sect and an ordained Dharma Master, having offered incense and set up a ritual, the ordination granted by a Huizhou Dharma Master is not of the same lineage as ours. If you disturb a divine being at will without proper business, you will also be held accountable!"

"..."

Lin Jue bowed:

"Farewell!"

Then, with a cold face, he turned and left.

The fox also seemed to perceive that he was a bit angry, bared its teeth at the two divine officials, and then trotted to catch up with him.

The four soldiers at the gate looked at each other. In their eyes, they could only see this Daoist go over and stand in front of the small temple under the city wall, seemingly talking to the empty place in front of the small temple. They couldn't hear clearly, but they saw that there seemed to be wind swirling in front of the small temple, blowing the paper ash to rise and swirl, which was obviously unusual.

Seeing the Daoist walk over now, they naturally dared not stop him, and those who usually believed in these things couldn't help but raise their hands to bow and see him off.

Lin Jue naturally returned the salute and then entered the city.

Everything in the city was as usual, and it was quite lively.

It seemed that the matter of the plague ghosts was really false.

However, Lin Jue was still a bit puzzled—

Those two divine officials originally did not have much incense-offering cultivation; if they fought, they might not even be as good as Liu Taihou, yet they were so rude and arrogant.

Thinking carefully, what was even more puzzling was not this.

It was that divine beings should have prioritized virtue and conduct.

Although divine beings were ghosts who were officials, the most important thing was virtue. For a position like the City God, it should be assumed by a virtuous and famous local person after death, either decreed by the imperial court or spontaneously supported by the people. In short, the most important thing should be virtue, and being respected by people.

And although these divine officials did not have as high a position as the City God, usually, they should also be selected from people who had held such positions during their lifetime, or at least had held similar positions, were suitable for this position, and were also conscientious and responsible.

Yet these two divine officials were so arrogant.

Seeing the street as usual and himself being a newcomer, Lin Jue didn't say anything, just walked on the street, looking left and right.

Until the sky turned completely dark.

"It seems there is really no plague here. But we should also go to the other counties to take a look and inform the divine beings there," Lin Jue walked in the small alley and said to the side. "However, it is a bit late today. How about we find an inn to stay for the night?"

"Ying..."

The fox was focused on watching the road and responded casually, its four legs slender and elegant, walking forward quickly.

It just so happened that there was an inn ahead.

Lin Jue asked for a small room.

The room was not big, with only a bed, a small table, and two stools. Because it was late and Lin Jue was a Daoist, the inn waiter also charged cheaply.

After entering the room, Lin Jue took out the paper donkey at the first opportunity and checked it with a pained heart.

"You have suffered on this journey."

The materials for the Second Uncle's paper donkey were solid. After such a toss, Lin Jue himself was about to fall apart, and his butt hurt like hell, but the paper donkey was still fine. It was just that the residual soul of the donkey inside was tired and weak, faintly showing signs of the residual soul dissipating. If it walked like this for another two days, it would definitely dissipate.

At this time, it was necessary to borrow the method of refining bean soldiers to nourish it well for a few days.

But before that, Lin Jue first took out the wood carving.

"Are you there?"

"Here..."

A weak voice came from the wood carving, almost inaudible.

The fox felt curious and leaned over to see what was wrong with it.

Two breaths later, a wisp of thin white smoke dispersed from the wood carving, as if it had no strength, and it took a long time to gather into a ball in the air and turn into a big-headed child ghost.

"Greetings, True Man..."

"Are you okay?"

"Little one... is fine..."

"..."

How could Lin Jue not see its weakness, but at this time it was not easy to say anything. He just reached into his bosom and took out two portions totaling twenty taels of silver:

"I have made you suffer. It is really because my Master passed away some time ago, and then we went down the mountain, and my pockets were empty, so I couldn't gather your meals. This was still given to me by my Senior Brother. After gathering it, because there was no suitable opportunity on the journey, and thinking that you did not want to be known by others, I did not ask you to come out."

"This... is best..."

The Silver-Eating Ghost answered dully and woodenly, its eyes already straight, staring at the silver in his hand, and it had no time to worry about anything else in its heart.

A rich fragrance came from it.

"Gulp!"

The Silver-Eating Ghost swallowed a mouthful of saliva heavily, completely unable to control its appetite and impulse, but it was really scared of being hungry, so it said to Lin Jue: "This... there are twenty taels here! Why not divide it into two months to eat?"

"..."

Lin Jue felt really guilty in his heart.

He had to make up his mind to try his best not to let it go hungry in the future.