Chapter 41: The Third Refining of the Record

Ever since he had Immortal Aunt Yaozhen, Ning Xuan no longer needed a horse.

The qualitative change of a first-grade Heavenly Master compared to an ordinary Fangshi was that “the consumption of mountain-moving spells is greatly reduced, and they can be cast instantly.” Previously, Ning Xuan had seen that Fangshi. In order to lock down a Mountain-Crashing Bear demon that had no magic treasure, the Fangshi had exhausted all his strength, and only then did he barely manage to entangle the third king with the earth-surging golden snake. But if it were Chou Nu or Immortal Aunt Yaozhen, they would just grab the Heavenly Master’s Seal and smash it around simply and crudely. If they couldn’t smash it, they could even directly turn the Heavenly Master’s Seal into a golden mountain and smash it again.

And the qualitative change of a second-grade Heavenly Master compared to a first-grade Heavenly Master was that “the consumption of low-level earth-遁 (dì dùn – earth escape) spells is greatly reduced, and they can be cast instantly.” This was reflected in the fact that Immortal Aunt Yaozhen walked by floating, because it didn’t take any effort at all. Of course, it was not realistic to ask her to use earth-遁 (dì dùn – earth escape) continuously or many times a day.

But a second-grade Heavenly Master could still patrol a prefecture.

Since they had roughly figured out the types of demons inside and the truth about the black smoke, the two of them began to solve it.

Immortal Aunt Yaozhen took Ning Xuan to the original place to collect the flesh and blood of the Incense-Stealing Mouse, and put it in a special jade bottle for subsequent pill refining.

Afterwards, she took Ning Xuan and quickly fled, sweeping several li in one go, perceiving the earth veins for more than ten li in the surrounding area, and designated the location and general distribution of the “human-headed black smoke” and “human skin demons,” and then Ning Xuan went to kill them.

The two thousand government troops and more than one hundred people from the martial world that had been brought before came into play.

One by one, forbidden tokens began to be erected.

And when it was dawn, the two of them also began to encounter the scattered soldiers and martial artists of Ping’an Prefecture.

Although those people were not qualified to recognize Ning Xuan’s identity, they knew about “Zhenren” (True Person). After seeing the two’s divine means, they naturally understood that these two were “powerful Zhenren” sent by the higher-ups, so they chose to cooperate.

Three days later…

Ning Xuan finally met Tang Chuan.

Tang Chuan was of course not dead. The “human skin demon” at the post station had lied.

When Tang Chuan saw Ning Xuan’s General An Yuan’s tiger tally, and then saw Immortal Aunt Yaozhen next to him, he chose to obey without saying a word.

He was originally a person of the Son of Heaven, and he knew a little about the reform. His daughter was still in the Divine Weapon Camp of the imperial capital. At this time, when he saw the emperor’s decree, he of course understood that the emperor still recognized him as one of his own, so he naturally would not cause any trouble.

After the two exchanged a few words, Tang Chuan also understood the characteristics of the “human skin demon.” This was really “cold water poured on his head, and he was half cold.” He had sent many people to suppress the demon disaster before.

Now it seemed that the more people he sent, the more human skins he was sending to the other party.

Thinking that those “human skin demons” could also seize the power of the other party before death, Tang Chuan wished he could slap himself.

He had almost sent more than half of the strong people in the prefecture over.

After knowing Ning Xuan’s “blockade plan,” Tang Chuan also cooperated with all his strength.

He was originally the true prefect of Ping’an Prefecture. With him mobilizing, many things did not need Ning Xuan to worry about.

But he was still short of masters.

At this time, a purple-robed Heavenly Master leading thirty demonic plague martial artists appeared in front of Ning Xuan.

That Heavenly Master was naturally sent by the First Lady of Great General Qin. After he arrived, he found that he did not need to fight to the death, but only needed to assist in the defense, so he decisively led everyone to appear.

“General An Yuan, it is the duty of Great General Qin to patrol the surrounding area of Hanzhou and even the entire Jiuzhou Province. What’s more, our two families will soon become even closer.” The Heavenly Master smiled and was quite polite to this young general.

After the Heavenly Master of the Great General Qin’s residence left, Tang Chuan’s eyes were deep, and he stroked his beard and said in a deep voice, “General Ning, you must be careful with the Qin family’s daughter.”

Ning Xuan’s head began to ache when he heard this.

Tang Chuan didn’t need to say it, he also knew that the emperor’s “Divine General Plan” clearly conflicted with the “old-brand generals.”

Now that he had participated in the “Divine General Plan” and was enfeoffed by His Majesty, he had to avoid any further contact with the “old-brand general faction” in order to maintain the way of a pure minister, so that he could last for a long time.

To put it more deeply, how long could the emperor live? As a young general, he should now be conserving his strength and making his camp clear. If he really wanted to cause trouble, he should wait for the next, or the next emperor.

Tang Chuan’s words seemed to be considering for him as an old and experienced statesman, but in fact, wasn’t he also pushing him to the front line of the conflict?

It would be fine if he took the initiative to ask for a marriage and was rejected. But if the Qin family took the initiative and was rejected by him, and he was slapped in the face, hehe… what would be the result, he could know just by thinking with his feet.

He had inexplicably made a powerful enemy, and the people around him, everyone, would be in danger because of this.

Immortal Aunt Yaozhen obviously also thought of it.

But… she might have thought a little differently from Ning Xuan.

Immortal Aunt Yaozhen said, “The old-line generals listen to orders but not to announcements. They are deeply entrenched below, and have long been the country’s…”

Ning Xuan covered her mouth.

Tang Chuan chuckled, “The country’s vermin, a country within a country, right?”

Ning Xuan said, “Uncle Tang, if you fan the flames again, I will marry Bingbing, and then tell the Qin family that I rejected them for Bingbing’s sake.”

Tang Chuan laughed out loud, looked at Ning Xuan and nodded, “Nephew is able to see things clearly, and is not arrogant or impetuous. He is really not bad.”

When Immortal Aunt Yaozhen heard others praise Ning Xuan, she became more and more sure that she had not misjudged him, and she was also happy in her heart. Although her face was still cold and tense, like a frost-covered peach blossom, there was already a bit of a smile in her eyes.

“The Qin family’s daughter is not easy to deal with, nephew… you have to play this move well.” Tang Chuan gave him a deep look, and then said, “I have to go and deploy the troops and seal the border. Now, this support from Great General Qin is not to be taken for granted, and what’s more, it is tacitly approved by General An Yuan, hehe…”

As he spoke, the old fox ran out of the hall.

Ning Xuan didn’t want to think about anything.

He now just wanted to go back to the Chenxiang Pavilion and ask the madam if there were many refugees recently, and if she had taken in a few more pitiful beauties.

Then, while listening to music, he would drink and make merry, and listen to the beauties tell stories. When he heard a wonderful part, he would throw out an ingot of silver and praise, “This should be rewarded.”

After a night of passion, he would wake up and go to find dogs and look at horses…

Forget it, dogs and horses were already boring.

Ning Xuan sighed lightly.

Loneliness.

After becoming stronger, he could no longer play those old tricks.

He quite missed the days of “holding a yellow dog on the left, a goshawk on the right, and calling friends.”

When Immortal Aunt Yaozhen saw him sigh, she thought he was worried about the current situation, so she comforted him, “The General does not need to worry. No matter when, this poor Taoist will always stand with the General.”

Ning Xuan looked at her in astonishment, and it took him a moment to react.

Immortal Aunt Yaozhen said with a firm expression, “When I go back this time, I will start refining pills for the General. This poor Taoist will definitely do my best to assist the General.”

Ning Xuan sighed, “He who knows me is Yaozhen.”

More than ten days later…

The work of defining and sealing the border was almost done.

Ning Xuan and Immortal Aunt Yaozhen were walking in the last section.

Although it was already summer, it was cold here.

In the distance, it was still snowing.

Pale white snow.

The towering iceberg was also pale white.

This was the northernmost border of Ping’an Prefecture, so they could already see the iceberg that did not exist before.

“I have already reported it. The Zixia Temple in the imperial capital has given this iceberg a name to summarize the intelligence.”

“What name?”

“Frozen Hell.”

“It’s quite descriptive. Those frozen corpses also look like frozen ghosts.”

“Indeed. Now, Zixia Temple has sent more people to investigate and solve it. The higher-ups have told us not to worry about it for the time being, saying that this matter has exceeded our capabilities.”

Ning Xuan nodded and said in agreement, “Well said.”

He liked the way the higher-ups put it.

This meant that he didn’t have to worry about this iceberg anymore.

However, Ning Xuan suddenly felt Immortal Aunt Yaozhen’s small fist clench by his side, and then she closed her eyes tightly and murmured, “I am not reconciled… I will definitely break through to the third grade as soon as possible.”

Ning Xuan was happy in his heart, but he still kept a straight face and clenched his fist, “Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river.”

He believed that this sentence could provide emotional value to the dead woman next to him, so as to extend the period of “no more talking back.”

However, after the word “west” fell, he waited for a few breaths but did not get a response.

He glanced to the side.

Immortal Aunt Yaozhen had disappeared.

He glanced again, and the soldiers who were following to seal the border had also disappeared.

He looked up…

A dark, bright moon was hanging high in the sky, casting a bright light, illuminating the eerie Frozen Hell in the distance.

Thud!

Ning Xuan slapped himself hard.