Chapter 37: Going Deeper

Hanzhou…

In the residence of General Qin.

In the moonlit night…

The scholar was pacing back and forth, waiting bitterly in front of a closed secret room.

He had been waiting for Great General Qin for more than a month, but he had never been able to wait for Great General Qin to come out of seclusion.

Every time the Great General went into seclusion, it would take a very, very long time.

Suddenly, he felt footsteps behind him. It was a tall and sturdy soldier in armor.

“Zhuangyuan Gong, the First Lady is waiting for you in the front hall. Please follow me.”

The scholar followed the soldier to the front hall.

The First Lady sat on a luxurious chair, with two maids holding round fans and gently fanning behind her. On the side, a maid was mixing incense. The sound of the golden roller grinding the incense was creaking, and a reassuring fragrance wafted out.

The scholar took a light sniff and felt that his anxiety had lessened a lot. He couldn’t help but praise, “Clear and elegant, like a secluded orchid exhaling fragrance, and the wind returning from the pine valley, it makes one’s heart calm without realizing it!”

The First Lady waved her hand.

The maids and servants understood and all retreated.

Only two people were left in the hall.

Only then did the First Lady get straight to the point, “Zhuangyuan Lang, infighting is very taboo. It’s nothing if it’s not on the table and there’s no evidence. But your matter is on the table, and there is evidence.”

The scholar did not explain much. What he wanted to explain, others already knew, so what was there to explain?

He directly shouted, “Please save me, Mother-in-law.”

The First Lady said, “The date of the marriage was set for the day you became the prefect. Now it seems that it is far away. Where does the term ‘Mother-in-law’ come from?”

“It was my fault…” The scholar lowered his head and admitted his mistake.

The First Lady said, “You are the Zhuangyuan Lang of the dynasty. It’s not to me, a woman, that you should admit your mistake.”

The scholar gritted his teeth and suddenly fell to the ground, knelt down, and performed a grand ceremony, “It was my fault, I know my mistake.”

The First Lady looked at the kneeling Zhuangyuan Lang on the ground. His backbone was bent very low. She looked down with great pleasure, and the corners of her mouth couldn’t help but curl up into a pleasant arc. She thought for a moment and asked, “Ning Xuan, who is he?”

The scholar said, “This person is violent and tyrannical, his actions are like a tiger or a wolf. When he looks around, his fierce light is soul-stirring, and he is as awe-inspiring as if he enjoys eating blood.”

The First Lady’s eyes lit up.

The scholar was carefully raising his eyes, instinctively using his ability to “observe words and expressions.” At this glance, he happened to see the light in the First Lady’s eyes.

He was shocked.

He was belittling Ning Xuan.

He was saying that Ning Xuan was a savage, crude, and bloodthirsty person.

But why did the First Lady’s eyes light up?

What was she thinking?

The scholar’s thoughts turned quickly, and he added, “This fellow is ferocious. That Taoist Qinglan also had a good reputation outside, but he was tortured and killed by him until he became a pile of minced meat! And that Taoist boy too. The flesh and blood of the two of them were completely entangled together…”

The First Lady listened quietly.

As the First Lady of Great General Qin, she was not like an ordinary rich wife who stayed at home, cracking melon seeds and drinking tea.

She had been away for several months and had just returned.

She had gone to collect fragrant wood. Great General Qin had a great demand for Ningshen incense, and the quality requirements were also very high. And the rare treasures of the world were often in dangerous places, so she had to personally lead people there. She had just returned not long ago.

As soon as she returned, she heard about her prospective son-in-law’s matter.

This Zhuangyuan Lang represented the dragon qi of a prefecture, and was to add bricks and tiles to her Great General Qin’s residence’s “private Heavenly Master army.” And these were all powers that the Great General had exchanged for with his accumulated military achievements.

Originally, it was a sure thing to take over the Wangyue Prefecture, which was already due and had been decided, but something had gone wrong.

Only then did she begin to understand.

Then she learned about Ning Xuan.

She had heard from the scholar and had also sought out Steward Zhao to understand.

Afterwards, she went to the place in the Great General’s residence that specialized in understanding external intelligence, and soon learned that Ning Xuan had been appointed as General An Yuan, and that the Ping’an Prefecture under his jurisdiction was in the midst of a demon disaster.

After some understanding, the First Lady thought for a moment, made a decisive decision, and summoned a Heavenly Master who was exclusive to the General’s residence, “Lead a team of demon-slaying guards to Ping’an Prefecture to help that General Ning.”

There were prefects in the General’s residence, and these prefects’ people were naturally also the General’s residence’s people.

Of course, this was the “general system” of the old era.

At that time, in order to eliminate demons and act expediently, the generals had received many benefits. Now, the “Great General’s residence” could be said to be a small imperial court, and could also be said to be the “Jiedushi” (military governor) before the appearance of the demons.

As for the demon-slaying guards, they were powerful guards composed of demonic plague martial artists. A team of thirty people was quite precious.

This Heavenly Master was not surprised by the First Lady’s orders. He didn’t even wait for the Great General’s orders, but directly agreed, and then asked respectfully, “I wonder how I should help?”

The First Lady said, “Do I still need to teach you this?”

The Heavenly Master said, “Please enlighten me, Madam.”

The First Lady said, “You can add flowers to a brocade, but send less charcoal in the snow. If you can help, then do your best. If you can’t, then a few people can die, but not too many. By the way, help me see what kind of heroic posture this young general has.”

“Yes.”

The Heavenly Master understood.

Originally, if he had only brought one guard, he could have traveled by earth-遁 (dì dùn – earth escape). Now that he was bringing thirty people, he had to ride a big horse and rush to Ping’an Prefecture along the official road.

Even if he rushed day and night, it would still take two or three days to get to Ping’an Prefecture…

After he left, the First Lady propped up her chin slightly and then began to think about which of her daughters had higher tea art skills, who was a love-struck fool, who was carefree, and who could go out of the city alone to fight this General Ning.

It was not easy for her to be the Great General’s wife.

Although she was the First Lady, she was not the first wife.

There had been two First Ladies before her…

But those two First Ladies had both died.

One had died of old age.

The other had died inexplicably.

There were too many mysteries about the Great General, the mystery of his cultivation, the mystery of his agelessness.

She might not dare to understand her Great General husband, but at least she could study her general son-in-law, right?

Midnight…

Post station…

The three words “Black Water Village” were written on the erected boundary marker.

But the word “black” in “Black Water Village” was being obscured by the thick night fog, and it looked blurry.

The sound of drums came from the drum tower.

People coming and going from the post station all needed to beat the drum.

Ning Xuan stopped.

Black Water Village was the meeting point agreed upon in the request for help from Ping’an Prefecture. Here, there would be special people to introduce the situation to them and then lead the way for them.

Soon, a post station master rushed out from inside, followed by a strong and ferocious man.

“Is the person who has come General Ning?” The post station master hurriedly bowed, his face showing a bit of nervousness.

Ning Xuan nodded and asked, “What happened here?”

The post station master’s face showed a look of despair, “They’re dead, they’re all dead… If the General had come two days later, the Taoist boy and I would also be dead.”

Ning Xuan glanced at the two forked roads behind the post station and asked, “The request for help said that Ping’an Prefecture is exploring the source of the demon disaster, and when we get to Black Water Village, someone will contact us. Is the person who is contacting us you, post station master? Or…”

He looked at the strong and ferocious man next to him and asked, “Taoist boy?”

The post station master sighed, “It’s a long story, it’s a long story. Let’s enter the post station first and let me report slowly.”

Ning Xuan said, “Just say it.”

The post station master said in fear, “General! The demon disaster is more serious than we thought! The source of the demon disaster has not been found at all, and Prefect Tang has died in battle, the Heavenly Master has also died in battle, they are all dead! We… we should leave here quickly, report to the imperial court, and then make a decision.”

As the last word “decision” fell, a saber light also fell.

The saber light swept past the post station master. The post station master didn’t even have time to react, and his body directly made a strange sound like tearing silk. The opening was empty, and it was just a piece of skin.

Ning Xuan stepped forward, and with another spin of his saber, he continued to slash at the Taoist boy next to the post station master.

This slash was even faster.

However, the Taoist boy actually reacted. He grabbed the handle of the axe behind his buttocks, and with a sudden pull, he blocked the saber upwards.

Dang!

The saber and the axe pressed against each other, collided, and made a light sound.

The Taoist boy, who had come from behind, had actually managed to block this slash.

Ning Xuan held the saber with one hand and looked down. The Taoist boy knelt down on one knee, and then held the axe with both hands, and with the strength of his shoulders and his kneeling posture, he struggled to block this slash.

Ning Xuan added a little more force.

Bang!

The Taoist boy’s tiger’s mouth split open, and the axe sank.

Huala!!

The saber slashed all the way down, along with the axe handle, and the Taoist boy was directly cut in half.

Huala!!

Huala!!

The two destroyed human skins made a strange sound and fell to the ground softly.

As these two sounds sounded, the post station not far away was like a hornet’s nest that had been poked. Black smoke immediately whistled, and wisps of black smoke shot out like the tentacles of a deep-sea giant beast from the post station, grabbing at Ning Xuan.

Ning Xuan was about to meet them, but Immortal Aunt Yaozhen took the lead and blocked in front. She formed a seal with her plain hands, and an invisible golden mountain suddenly appeared by the side of the two of them, surrounding them completely.

The speed of the black smoke that hit the mountain suddenly became extremely slow, so slow that it was like a snail crawling, and thus it seemed to be placed in a display window for people to admire.

They were a little different here than outside.

Outside, it was just a cloud of black smoke.

But here, they actually showed the appearance of grim and resentful human faces.

Ning Xuan said, “This ghostly thing looks like whoever’s human skin it occupies, and it will also lie and deceive people according to the situation. Moreover, they can even inherit one or two of the power. The power of that Taoist boy is obviously stronger than the post station master.”

After thinking for a moment, he added, “It seems that this place is already very close to the center of the demon disaster.

These ghostly things are still relatively concentrated here. They cannot be far away, because the farther they are, the more they will dissipate.

Unless, they stick to human skin here, or find a human skin body to slowly gnaw on. It is precisely because of this that although they are terrifying, they have not yet truly destroyed a prefecture.”

Immortal Aunt Yaozhen was stunned and said, “Could it be that you had already guessed it, so you let those soldiers stay on the periphery and not go deep with us?”

Ning Xuan was also stunned.

What was he thinking?

He was thinking that he would have to pay a lot of pension money. A meaningless sacrifice, a large amount of compensation, was meaningless.

But just because he could think so, it didn’t mean that Ping’an Prefecture would think so.

If that was the case, maybe he would encounter a whole army of human skins here.

These ghostly things were all drizzle, but the human skin army was different.