Chapter 45: Breaking the Deadlock

“General.”

“General…”

“General!!!”

The high-pitched and lingering voice had sounded for who knows how many times.

Ning Xuan had a soft and fragrant jade in his arms, changing one after another. There were those who sang, those who danced with swords, those who seduced with soft words, and those who boldly seduced. He did not refuse anyone, and they took turns again and again. It was as if he was throwing heavy punches again and again in a nightmare, each time with all his strength, leaving no room for reservation.

It was not until there was no woman left in the entire Wenxiang Thatched Cottage who could fight, and no woman who dared to approach, that he stretched his body in the most comfortable posture, without any human form, and leisurely slumped on the large wooden chair of acacia.

Even though he had not summoned the Heavenly Demon Record, his constitution had reached 3.5, which was far beyond the limit of a mortal. So even if he was having fun, he was far superior to ordinary people.

The creaking chair no longer made a sound. He looked up at the blue sky and white clouds in a daze, his mind empty.

Around him, all the women were holding onto the walls and carefully avoiding him.

They were all very happy when they first knew that they were going to serve the General today.

General An Yuan was handsome, rich, powerful, and influential. He was almost the dream lover of all the unmarried women in Wangyue Prefecture, let alone them, the women of the brothel. If they could be taken out by General An Yuan, their lives would be completely changed.

So, before they came, they were all full of energy, and they had fought for the quota to come here for a long time.

Even when they were serving the General just now, they had all shown their own special skills.

But now, all their strength had been exhausted, and only horror remained.

They quietly looked at the young general in the distance. He was like a monster carefully wrapped in human skin.

The fierce means made each of them almost faint. They had gritted their teeth and clenched their fists to get through it. Now, each of them was either red or blue. However, they could also see that the young general was actually quite restrained, otherwise… a few of their colleagues would have died on the spot today.

Ning Xuan lay on his back, lazily opened his eyes, and happened to meet the eyes of a red-robed courtesan.

The red-robed courtesan was so scared that she quickly shrank back.

Ning Xuan beckoned.

The red-robed courtesan braced herself, lowered her head, and carefully moved her steps towards Ning Xuan, and then said timidly, “General, what… what are your orders?”

Ning Xuan said, “Bring me wine.”

The red-robed courtesan hurriedly nodded.

Ning Xuan added, “And chisel a bucket of ice from the cellar.”

After speaking, he lazily closed his eyes again.

The red-robed courtesan hurriedly went to do it.

Ning Xuan did not touch those women again, but just drank leisurely. Soon, the wine went to his head, and he yawned and felt sleepy.

He lay on the large chair of acacia.

The red-robed courtesans still had some quality. After their stamina had recovered a little, a musician began to play decadent music on the side.

Ning Xuan finally fell asleep comfortably.

He slept until noon the next day.

He got up again and ate and drank a lot. After eating, he had fun again, and then slept again.

The Chenxiang Pavilion was closed that day.

Someone came to ask, and the old madam only said that it was reserved for the General.

A dandy disciple asked fiercely, “Which general?”

The old madam said, “General An Yuan.”

Immediately, no one spoke.

Perhaps only a very small number of people in the entire Wangyue Prefecture knew the true meaning of Ning Xuan’s “General An Yuan,” but it did not prevent this very small number of people from telling their sons and nephews at home, “Don’t provoke General An Yuan, never provoke him. Even if he shits on your head, you have to shout ‘Thank you, General, for bestowing wealth and honor’!”

The entire Chenxiang Pavilion revolved around Ning Xuan.

Immortal Aunt Yaozhen, who was still reflecting in the mansion on whether she had hurt the General, suddenly found that the brothel opposite had closed. After some inquiries, she found that it had been reserved by her partner.

Immortal Aunt Yaozhen’s face, which had no worldly air, was once again stained with anger.

She had not yet sent out Ning Xuan’s “memorial to request a reduction,” and at this time, with a single earth-遁 (dì dùn – earth escape), she directly came to the Wenxiang Thatched Cottage where Ning Xuan was.

“Ah!”

Immortal Aunt Yaozhen saw something she shouldn’t have seen and hurriedly ran away again.

A long time…

She came back again, and with another “ah” scream, she ran away again.

It was not until a long time later that she came back again and saw the young man who was sitting by the pond, feeding the fish with bait on one hand, and drinking on the other.

The young general was wearing a wide black robe, his hair was disheveled, and his eyes were filled with a deep and quiet look. He actually had a bit of the handsome feeling of a graceful young master, but the decadent atmosphere around him made Immortal Aunt Yaozhen flick her horsetail whisk fiercely, and then said, “This poor Taoist privately thinks that the General does not need to give up on himself because of a small matter!!”

Ning Xuan looked at her in surprise.

What did she mean by giving up on himself?

In these two days, he had recovered very quickly.

He was now refreshed.

The pain of being gnawed by the demon and the pain of self-mutilation and killing had all faded.

His heart, which was about to be twisted, had also been filled with light again because he had felt the beauty of the human world.

He smiled faintly, his smile very calm, and then he grabbed another piece of bait and threw it into the green duckweed of the deep pool.

Immediately, a brocade carp jumped out to compete for the bait. For a moment, the surface of the water splashed, and the water droplets were splashed everywhere by the fish’s tail, rolling on the duckweed leaves like crystal beads, naughty and cute.

“Has it been sent out?”

Ning Xuan asked.

Immortal Aunt Yaozhen was immediately dejected and said in a low voice, “There is no need to request a reduction.”

Ning Xuan said, “Send it out.”

Immortal Aunt Yaozhen hurriedly said, “General Ning, you are already very promising among the generals. I… although I am a second-grade Heavenly Master, you have to know that a second-grade Heavenly Master is actually not as precious as a first-grade martial artist. But you are only sixteen years old, right? You are one year younger than me!

A sixteen-year-old first-grade martial artist, this is already very powerful. I… I am preparing to request the demon-revealing mirror for you, and to prepare resources for you to refine the demon pill of the incense fire demon with dragon fire.”

Ning Xuan said, “Send it out, and then refine the pill.”

He had thought that he could train his constitution by “letting the strong lead the weak,” but he could not find a way to improve his spirit no matter what. Since the dynasty had a relatively complete cultivation system of “generals consuming pills,” he might as well use “consuming pills” to improve his spirit.

When Immortal Aunt Yaozhen heard him take the initiative to mention “pill refining,” she knew that he still wanted to make progress and had not given up, and she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

As for the matter of “requesting a reduction,” if she had not seen Ning Xuan’s decisive martial prowess and his courage to seal the border, she would have really thought that her partner was afraid of the “Frozen Hell,” and that was why he was willing to give up a prefecture.

Suddenly, she seemed to have thought of something, and her eyes lit up, “General Ning, this poor Taoist has forgotten to tell you something.”

Ning Xuan said, “What?”

Immortal Aunt Yaozhen said, “The General’s tiger tally is ordered by the Son of Heaven to command the two prefectures. This is not a nominal empty talk, but has practical significance.”

Ning Xuan said, “What significance?”

Immortal Aunt Yaozhen said, “The tiger tally can gather the land of the two prefectures and nurture important resources. The more territory it commands, the more and more precious the resources it can nurture, and these resources will be directly related to pill refining.”

After speaking, she added seriously, “This statement is absolutely not false.”

Ning Xuan was silent for a moment, and then said, “Send it out.”

First, “consuming pills” was just a preparatory method for him, not the main method;

Second, if he needed important resources, he could obtain them through trade. Why did he have to cultivate them himself? Although cultivating them himself was indeed not bad, if he had to risk his life to protect some places that were not his Ning family’s, then forget it.

When Immortal Aunt Yaozhen saw his insistence, the argumentative feeling in her heart began to surge again. But after thinking about it, she still didn’t argue, but just said angrily, “Before this poor Taoist came, I had already investigated the surrounding area. The envoy of the Qin family is already very close to the prefectural city. General, you should still think about how to deal with it.”

Ning Xuan lay down leisurely and beckoned to the young lady next to him.

The young lady was on a shift, and at this time, she came over timidly.

Ning Xuan pulled her into his arms.

Immortal Aunt Yaozhen turned her face to the side, her cheeks cold.

Ning Xuan said lightly, “If the envoy arrives, tell them I am here.”

Immortal Aunt Yaozhen was stunned when she heard this, and then she became happy.

She was a person sent by the Son of Heaven, a person who cooperated with the generals below to implement the “Divine General Plan.” She naturally hoped that her partner would be close to the Son of Heaven and become a divine general… Now, Ning Xuan’s words were actually a disguised rejection of Great General Qin, which really made her ecstatic. She decided to report this matter as well, so that the Son of Heaven would also understand General Ning’s good intentions.

So, the reason why General Ning was in the Chenxiang Pavilion was not for debauchery, but for this.

That’s right, General Ning was a young hero. How could he like to linger in such a brothel?

Immortal Aunt Yaozhen’s expression when she looked at Ning Xuan was suddenly full of apology and joy, and then she lowered her head and said mysteriously, “This poor Taoist understands the General’s deep meaning. This poor Taoist will go now.”

After speaking, she waved her hand, and with a flash of golden light, she disappeared from the spot.

Ning Xuan: …

He didn’t understand what this dead woman was thinking.

What he meant was…

He had rejected the Son of Heaven’s gift and requested a reduction of one prefecture, so he also had to block the marriage of the Great General Qin’s residence once, otherwise how could the Son of Heaven tolerate him?

The reverse was also true. He had blocked the marriage of the Great General Qin’s residence once, and had also rejected the Son of Heaven’s grace. This was also to let the Great General Qin understand his meaning.

At the same time, without Ping’an Prefecture, he would not be directly adjacent to the “Frozen Hell,” and he would not have to worry about the matters there, thus pulling himself and the Ning family out of danger.

He didn’t want to be the vanguard in the messy affairs of the Son of Heaven and the old-line generals.

As for the Divine General Plan, he had no interest in risking his life for it either.

There were as many heroes in the world as there were fish in the river. How could he be short of a dandy who was lazing around and indulging in sensual pleasures?