Chapter 70: Join?

Did Ning Xuan use his full strength?

Of course not.

He had to summon “Tianyouzi,” and from dozens or even hundreds of li away, first use a “Heavenly Master’s Seal” to suppress, and then summon his golden body, draw his Ruyi Saber, and his body would become ten zhang, and his saber would become a hundred zhang… That was his full strength.

However, in terms of his own martial arts, he had lost completely.

It could even be said that even if he summoned his golden body and used the Ruyi Saber, he might not be Lu Xuezhi’s opponent.

The night passed, and the day came.

Unlike Xiao Jie, who would nestle in his arms at this time, Lu Xuezhi was not so fond of cuddling outside of dual cultivation. Even on the bed, if Ning Xuan wanted to touch her, she would resist with her strong long legs and gently push him away with her five fingers on his lower abdomen. If Ning Xuan still wanted to press on, she would say angrily, “Sleep.”

When the first ray of sunlight penetrated the window, Lu Xuezhi had already gotten out of bed, changed into a white martial arts uniform, and was practicing martial arts in the courtyard.

At this time, she was not in the “lady’s curl” starting posture of last night, but was squatting in a horse stance in a proper manner.

Ning Xuan had squatted in a horse stance before.

When he was with “Wind-Chasing Swallow Saber” Master Zhang Erquan, this was the first thing he learned.

If you couldn’t squat in a horse stance, your lower body would not be stable, and you couldn’t talk about any martial arts.

Ning Xuan also got out of bed and sat under the eaves, watching his wife.

Lu Xuezhi didn’t seem to be afraid of him watching at all.

She slowly squatted in a horse stance, and then slowly stepped as if she was dragging a thousand-jin shackle, and kicked and stomped in slow motion.

Sure enough, Ning Xuan didn’t understand.

Obviously, this was a secret training method that could not be seen clearly from the outside.

Finally, Lu Xuezhi finished her practice. She stood up straight, tall and graceful, and let out a long breath. This breath turned into a snow-white giant python and rushed into the cool morning courtyard of late autumn, and it circled around before stopping.

Ning Xuan did not beat around the bush and said directly, “Miss Lu, I want to learn this.”

Lu Xuezhi turned her face slightly to look at him and said, “Young Master Ning, there is an inheritance. If you want to learn, you have to enter the sect.”

Ning Xuan looked at her serious appearance and knew that in her heart, “husband” was just a martial arts partner, and martial arts was the most important thing. Lu Xuezhi might not care about secular etiquette, but she cared very much about martial arts inheritance.

Ning Xuan asked, “Then what is the name of our sect?”

Lu Xuezhi said, “If you agree to join, I will tell you.”

Ning Xuan asked again, “Then you have to tell me how many people are in this sect, and what is the development goal of this sect, so that I can have a choice, right?”

Lu Xuezhi said, “Forget it.”

After speaking, she went to take a bath.

Anyway, everyone had seen everything at night, and she didn’t care if Ning Xuan was there.

The personal guard poured hot water. She stepped on the ladder and stepped high. Her long legs were submerged in the steaming water mist. The tips of her feet touched the water surface like a dragonfly, and then she stepped into the bathtub gracefully like taking off her skirt, and her long legs were raised.

She seriously washed away the sweat and dust, and then actually sprayed a little flower dew, and then put on her favorite scarlet high-collared long dress and spotless snow-white small shoes.

She sat in front of the bronze mirror and combed her bangs neatly, but her long hair that reached her waist was not tied up, but was allowed to fall down like a long and straight waterfall.

After changing her clothes, Lu Xuezhi’s aura suddenly rose.

White as a ghost, aggressive as fire, dark as night.

Beautiful, tall, and with a hidden killing intent.

The most conspicuous long legs were her most terrifying killing weapon.

She walked to the courtyard gate like a proud crane, and then paused slightly, turned her head, and glanced at her martial arts partner, and asked, “Join?”

Ning Xuan smiled.

As soon as he smiled.

Lu Xuezhi did not wait any longer, but directly turned her head back, raised her head slightly, and walked forward.

Ning Xuan looked at his wife’s back and sighed lightly in his heart.

A person like him could know autumn from a single leaf.

Lu Xuezhi’s sect was obviously not simple, and Lu Xuezhi was also obviously “fishing” for him, fishing him into the force she was in, and then working hard for that force.

If it were a peaceful environment, it would be fine.

But after a trip in the “Tianyouzi’s nightmare,” what he saw was only the extreme chaos under the peaceful surface of this land. This was not about good people and bad people, nor was it a simple struggle for hegemony between two or three forces, but a situation where things were intertwined, black and white were hard to distinguish, and motives were unclear.

Although she was his wife, he could not listen to his wife’s blind guidance.

Seeing Lu Xuezhi go far, Ning Xuan did not follow.

He returned to the “former Great General Qin’s residence.” Madam Zhao and the Misses Qin had already taken down the “Qin residence” plaque. And at this time, Madam Zhao was arranging for people to give pensions to the families of the demonic plague martial artists who had sacrificed in the Frozen Hell.

Ning Xuan walked all the way in, and no one in the residence dared to look up at him.

Ning Xuan walked into a cultivation secret room. The wall candles were burning on all four sides. He checked it once, and then sat cross-legged on the stone platform in the center.

‘It’s time to try Tianyouzi’s Heavenly Demon Record.’

He closed his eyes slightly, and with a thought.

On the Heavenly Demon Record, the record of the [Confined Ghost] was summoned.

Ning Xuan’s nature attribute instantly changed from “12” to “28.”

The sudden and huge increase made his soul tremble, and then an extremely comfortable feeling surged out.

He instantly understood the source of this comfortable feeling—the secret room.

He felt a “swooshing” yin and cold qi in his soul.

Ghost qi.

Taiyin Ghost Cultivators used ghost qi.

His five fingers clenched slightly.

The ghost qi condensed, and many black human figures emerged. They contained the power to “suppress the soul,” and also the power to “turn illusion into reality once the law is triggered.” This was the ghost seal unique to the Confined Ghost, and the surface of the ghost seal was filled with black mist. That was the “human-headed demon.”

To put it bluntly, the “human-headed demon” was just a “small ghost.”

But just as he was trying to “investigate the surrounding land” and “earth-遁 (dì dùn – earth escape),” he found that he did not have these powers, these powers that even a first-grade Heavenly Master had.

Ning Xuan instantly understood: Taiyin Ghost Cultivators and Heavenly Masters were two different existences. The spells they mastered were completely different, and the source of their power was also completely different.

Heavenly Masters needed dragon qi, while Taiyin Ghost Cultivators only needed a suitable environment. The cultivation of Heavenly Masters could be extremely fast, but their lifespan was very short; the cultivation of Taiyin Ghost Cultivators was slow, but as long as their innate evil treasure was not broken, they would not be destroyed.

And the most important thing was that Taiyin Ghost Cultivators could possess a skin, and thus have the power of the skin.

If Taiyin Ghost Cultivators possessed a Heavenly Master, they could have the power of a Heavenly Master.

Ning Xuan sensed again.

He also found that if Taiyin Ghost Cultivators possessed a Heavenly Master, although they could have the power of a Heavenly Master, they could no longer use dragon qi to cultivate.

At this moment, Ning Xuan’s previous doubts suddenly had a guess.

Why did the Taiyin Ghost Cultivators pretend to be Heavenly Masters, stay in the Zixia Temple, and why did they resist the demons?

The reason might be very simple.

Kill demons, get dragon qi, raise Heavenly Masters, and then… possess the powerful Heavenly Masters among them.

Similarly, why could the Taiyin Ghost Cultivators tolerate generals?

Kill demons, get demon pills, raise generals, and then possess powerful generals.

Why could they tolerate a great general like Qin Shan Jun?

According to this logic, as long as Qin Shan Jun did not leave this world, then wouldn’t his every growth be a good thing?

Taiyin Ghost Cultivators themselves did not cultivate fast, but their lifespan was long, and there were many terrifying old monsters among them.

If Tianyouzi could not possess a person, there would naturally be a Taiyin Ghost Cultivator who could.

High-ranking officials, elders, temple masters, and above…

God knows how deep this water was.

One’s position determined one’s stance. After Ning Xuan summoned the [Confined Ghost] and became the [Confined Ghost], many of his previous questions suddenly had very logical answers. Although they were still just guesses, they seemed quite real, and had reached the point of “being able to explain most of the questions, but still needing verification.”

Just as he was testing the power of the [Confined Ghost], suddenly, a strong and incomparable attraction surged from the depths of his soul. He felt his source—the innate evil treasure, and also felt another existence that was “born from the same source.”

One treasure gave birth to two ghosts, and the two ghosts could sense each other. If they could devour each other, it would be of great benefit.

Ning Xuan slowly turned his head and looked somewhere.

He actually saw the other party—Tianyouzi, across time and space.

In a distant place, a sedan chair and six prison carts were wandering in the deep mountains and old forests.

The trees here blocked the sun, making the ground look very gloomy.

Suddenly, the sedan chair stopped.

The middle-aged man with a purple face and a goatee in the curtain suddenly twisted his neck, and turned his head straight, and looked behind him. His line of sight also passed through a very long distance, and landed on the black-robed young man sitting cross-legged in the secret room.

The two of them actually looked at each other from a distance.

The next moment, the black-robed young man disappeared from his line of sight.

However, although he had disappeared, greed had already appeared in Tianyouzi’s pupils. The more he thought about it, the more intense the greed became. However, when he thought that the black-robed young man was Immortal Aunt Yaozhen’s partner, the greed subsided a little.

A look of hesitation appeared in his eyes.

But in an instant, it was rekindled, and it burned more and more fiercely.

The sedan chair suddenly turned around and went in another direction.

In the secret room…

Even though Ning Xuan had removed the [Confined Ghost] Heavenly Demon Record, there was still a strong emotion shouting in his heart.

“Fuse with him, fuse with him, fuse with him!!”

Two [Confined Ghosts], but only one innate evil treasure. What would be the result?

Ning Xuan had been thinking about it before.

Now, he had the answer directly.

It was to merge into one.

He looked into the distance, and a look of thought appeared in his eyes.

And at this time, his expression suddenly moved, because a quarrel was heard from outside the Great General Qin’s residence.

He concentrated and listened carefully. The voice speaking now was actually Madam Zhao’s.

Madam Zhao said, “This person is my distant relative, it’s true, but I haven’t seen him for a long time. Why should I be blamed for what he did?”

At this time, another woman’s voice came.

Ning Xuan listened again.

Wasn’t this the voice of his martial arts partner’s wife?

Lu Xuezhi said, “Intertwined and deep-rooted, doing evil in one place. How many people in Hanzhou City have relied on your protection to act wantonly and harm the people? See for yourself! These are the good things that the bullies who rely on your Qin family have done over the years!”

As soon as the words fell, a box fell to the ground.

The bamboo slips in the box rolled out with a “clatter.”

Each bamboo slip was a list of crimes collected by Lu Xuezhi’s personal guards.

She had already had people do this when she first came to Hanzhou, but at that time, she was not Ning Xuan’s wife, so she just collected them, but did not do anything.

Now, she began to clean up the backyard.

She hated evil as if it were her enemy, and could not tolerate this filth.

The air was quiet for a moment.

Madam Zhao seemed to be picking up the bamboo slips, and as she looked, she murmured, “It has nothing to do with me, it has nothing to do with me, I don’t know, I don’t know about these things…”

Lu Xuezhi said coldly, “Qin Shan Jun colluded with the demons and has already defected. Zhao Zhi, you should also be executed.”

Madam Zhao was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, and she jumped up and said, “Qin Shan Jun has harmed me a lot! He threw me into a water prison, and many people know about it! I almost died! I…”

Lu Xuezhi interrupted, “Don’t think I don’t know. Qin Shan Jun just used this method to leave you behind, and used a smooth achievement to let you still be rooted here. If you are here, the Qin family is still here!”

Madam Zhao still wanted to argue, but Lu Xuezhi said sternly, “Take her down! When the Qin family is all here, throw them all out of Hanzhou City!”

Madam Zhao said with a trembling voice, “General Lu, you… you can’t do this. You are just guessing. No, no, I am with General Ning now. You have no right to deal with me…”

Lu Xuezhi said, “You have made a contribution. Even if this contribution was arranged, I acknowledge it. I will not kill you, but you are not allowed to appear in the territory of the imperial dynasty again.”

Madam Zhao murmured twice, “I want to see General Ning… I want to see General Ning…”

As she spoke, she began to shout, “General Ning! General Ning!!”

Lu Xuezhi did not stop her.

In the secret room, Ning Xuan quietly listened to Madam Zhao’s shouting.

His expression was extremely complicated.

He narrowed his eyes, and after thinking for a moment, he did not leave the secret room.

After a long time, the sound outside disappeared.

Obviously, Madam Zhao, and even the people of the Qin Shan Jun’s clan, and his several daughters were being forcibly “expelled” by Lu Xuezhi.

And some of the bullies and nobles in Hanzhou City were directly sent by Lu Xuezhi’s personal guards, and she found the prefect, and began to confiscate their homes. Then she invited a teacher, and with the account books, she began to “return the debts” to each household. The past bullying, robbing of women, and oppression and beating were all compensated.

On the street, the commoners were still watching quietly.

It was not until they were sure that this time, the imperial court was serious, and these bullies could not turn over, that they began to cheer and shout, “General Lu, General Lu.”

After a while, they seemed to have been pointed out by someone, and they all shouted at the same time, “General Ning, General Ning”!

High above…

The bustling red dust, the thousands of li of yellow sand, the setting sun had changed color, and was about to fall.

The sky showed a kind of emptiness and desolation after being burned, like ashes.

No matter how hot and bright the flame was, at the end of the burning, wasn’t it all dust?

The girl in the scarlet long dress was standing at the place closest to the sky.

She stood very high. This was a watchtower.

She was watching the Qin family being driven towards the west city gate.

It was not until she personally saw Madam Zhao and others all being driven out of the city gate that she withdrew her gaze.

And at this time, she heard footsteps behind her.

The familiar footsteps were not urgent or slow, and they came up the stairs and came behind her.

Lu Xuezhi did not turn her head. Her pretty face was covered with frost. This appearance was like a completely different person from the little lady who had climbed to the Nine Heavens Cloud at night and had a fierce eruption like lava.

She was silent and said nothing.

Ning Xuan walked to her side, and his hands naturally grabbed the iron railing on the watchtower. His ten fingers clenched the slightly cool railing, and he leaned forward slightly, and looked into the distance, looking at Madam Zhao, the Qin family’s daughter, and even Manager Zhao and others fleeing in panic, and running towards the Western Regions in the direction of the desert.

The crescent moon was in the sky, and the vast sea was like snow.

He suddenly said, “Madam Zhao, she is actually useless. After Qin Shan Jun’s accident, she acted smart. She used the most efficient means to pick out the remnants of the General Qin’s residence and sent them to the front line.

After that, I originally planned to send her to Star River County to eat vegetarian food and chant Buddhist scriptures with my mother, and live out her old age.”

After speaking, he paused, and then continued on his own, “However, Great General Qin has many enemies. In so many years, the families he has confiscated and the clans he has exterminated are countless.

The related people in the past swallowed their anger and did not dare to act up; the children who had escaped in the past endured humiliation and carried a heavy burden, and now they have grown up, and some… have even continued for three or four generations.

I sent Madam Zhao and the Qin family’s daughter to Star River County. I really wanted to protect them, but I don’t know if I can protect them. Maybe one day, they will fall into the water and drown, be hit by a rock and die, or die suddenly at home. And maybe, they won’t even have to wait until they get to Star River County, and they will already have an accident.”

Lu Xuezhi’s pupils shrank slightly, and her voice became cold, and she asked, “Young Master Ning, what do you mean?”

Ning Xuan said, “Miss Lu, I just want to say that you suddenly expelled them from the country, and their enemies have not reacted yet. You were worried that I would obstruct you, and you didn’t even tell me in advance.”

Lu Xuezhi said, “Don’t think too much. They went to the Western Regions, to the desert. There is only a dead end. I am at odds with this kind of old-line general. How could I help them?”

Ning Xuan nodded and said no more.

In the past, his father had let him marry into the General Qin’s residence and “marry” an illegitimate daughter. It seemed that he was humiliating her and harming him, but in fact, it was a way out that his father had begged for for more than a month with a thick face;

The Flying Eagle Tower’s master and his son had quarreled in front of him, and had even directly severed their father-son relationship, but in fact, it was just a way to protect his son;

Great General Qin had locked Madam Zhao in a water prison and tortured her day and night. It seemed crazy, but if it weren’t for this well-known torture, the Qin family would have been exterminated long ago. How could Madam Zhao have survived?

What a person said was not important.

What was important was the result of what he did.

Ning Xuan felt that the result of Madam Zhao and the Qin family’s daughter was quite good now.

Qin Shan Jun was not dead yet.

In the dark, there were still countless people chasing him.

But, after tossing and turning in the imperial dynasty for so long, they had not even found a shadow.

You say, where did Qin Shan Jun go?

Ning Xuan looked in the direction of the Western Regions, and then looked at the wife who was standing straight beside him, like a flame and a ghost. He said nothing more, and did not ask again.

He did not say or ask, but Lu Xuezhi spoke.

She looked at the place where Ning Xuan was looking, and suddenly, she asked out of the blue, “Join?”

This was the third time she had asked.

Ning Xuan sighed lightly in his heart and said to himself, ‘Dad, oh dad, you have really harmed me…’