Tang Yuansheng, male, 102 years old, at the Nascent Soul stage of cultivation, currently holds the position of Inspector for the Undying Sect.
Upon receiving a message from Helmsman Chu to come earlier, he decided to advance his schedule. He first arrived at Qinghuai County, which is only separated by one mountain from Yanjiang County.
“Crossing this mountain, we’ll reach the location Little Chu mentioned.” (TL Note: I don’t think I’ve explained it before but in chinese, little + their surname is a way you can address someone and it’s a term of endearment. It’s usually used by seniors to their juniors.)
“Hm?” Suddenly, Tang Yuansheng sensed a peculiar fluctuation of aura, “What is this aura?”
Following the sensation, he arrived at a stable in a posthouse. Inside the stable, an old horse with dragon scales on its forehead and a brown mare were nestled together, appearing to have a deep affection for each other.Vissit novelbin(.)c.om for updates
A stable boy brought a bundle of selected forage and placed it in the manger, but the old horse glanced at it disdainfully, showing no interest in eating.
Seeing the old horse’s reaction, the stable boy muttered under his breath, “The white horse left, and so quickly it got along with a new one?”
As if understanding human speech, the old horse glared at the stable boy, who didn’t dare to provoke this exotic beast and quickly ran away.
The premium forage that the old horse’s owner had stored here was long gone. After the premium feed was finished, and there was no sign from the horse’s owner, the posthouse owner speculated whether something had happened to them or if they had died, especially since the owner had gone to Song Mountain.
After the premium feed was finished, the posthouse owner had the stable boy feed it other forages. If the owner didn’t show up, they planned to use the old horse to cover the feed costs.
However, the old horse turned its nose up at the posthouse’s feed, not eating a single bite, and this continued for a month.
The posthouse owner felt a chill down his spine. This old horse was definitely not a simple exotic beast with scales on its forehead but a high-level demon beast that had reached the state of avoiding grains!
Exotic beasts are a species between demon beasts and wild beasts. They have demon beast bloodlines, but the bloodline is too diluted, lacking the ability to mobilize the bloodline power, showing some ancestral traits like growing scales, fur, horns, etc. Their bodies are stronger than wild beasts, but only to a limited extent.
Tang Yuansheng was overjoyed to see the old horse, as it was a rare dragon horse, although he was unsure about the purity of its bloodline.
“If I hadn’t accidentally visited the vast eastern seas, I wouldn’t have recognized it.” Tang Yuansheng was quite excited, as this was an unexpected fortune.
Dragon horses are extremely rare, and to find one in the stable of a remote county was surely due to its owner not recognizing its value, and the dragon horse not yet awakened, hence it was covered in dust here.
“As a Nascent Soul stage powerhouse, I have always lacked a suitable mount. This must be an opportunity gifted to me by the Undying Being for my devotion!”
After praying to the Undying Being for a moment, Tang Yuansheng leaped into the stable.
The old horse looked back at Tang Yuansheng but ignored him, continuing to be affectionate with the brown mare.
“Poor dragon horse, unaware of its noble identity, falling in love with a mortal horse. Come with me, and I will show you how powerful you really are!”
Tang Yuansheng did not bother to explain further to Lu Yang and asked, “Why did you kill Li Shouyi?”
Li Shouyi, the governor of Yanjiang County, was Helmsman Chu’s real name, which Tang Yuansheng was accustomed to calling him Little Chu.
Lu Yang replied gravely, “Because he almost exposed his identity as a follower of the Undying Sect!”
“Oh?” Tang Yuansheng looked at Lu Yang with interest, waiting to hear what kind of explanation he would give.
Suddenly, noises of disturbance came from the foot of the mountain. Fang Qingyun had arrived with a large group to investigate the crash of the flying boat, including physicians for rescue.
“Let’s leave first!” Currently in a weakened state, Tang Yuansheng did not want to encounter the officials and, with a sweep of his sleeve, took Lu Yang and the others away.
Tang Yuansheng led the three of them to the Yanjiang Lodge, the safest place in Yanjiang County.
“Now tell me, how did Li Shouyi expose his identity? He was always meticulous in his actions.”
Lu Yang revealed everything about the Life-draining Array and said, “Helmsman Chu... oh no, City Governor Li’s plan was impeccable. First, he made Yizhang Hong the scapegoat, then he secretly arranged the Life-draining Array. As long as the small flags were destroyed afterward, there would be no trace left.”
Tang Yuansheng nodded. Li Shouyi was always careful, using the very obscure Life-draining Array for this plan, which was flawless.
“But an accident still happened. We three opened a barbecue shop here, the best place for gathering local intelligence. We noticed a disciple from the Moon Laurel Immortal Palace passing by. She seemed to be proficient in formations and saw through the Life-draining Talisman on the small flags!”
“Disciples of the five great immortal gates are untouchable. We were worried that City Governor Li’s incident would implicate the entire Undying Sect. We advised him to hide, but he said it was a critical time for him to advance to the Nascent Soul Stage using the Life-draining Array and absolutely could not hide. We had no choice but to kill him before The Great Xia could catch City Governor Li, to eliminate future troubles permanently!”
“You also noticed the officials just now, right? The leader is the chief bailiff, Fang Qingyun. He brought so many people to prevent the Life-draining Array from activating and to arrest City Governor Li!”
Tang Yuansheng nodded, believing Lu Yang and his companions did the right thing. The presence of a disciple from the Moon Laurel Immortal Palace in Yanjiang County was something that could be investigated, and Li Shouyi indeed valued advancing to the Nascent Soul Stage.
Generally, the lodge masters are at the Nascent Soul Stage. Yanjiang County is a small county, so the lodge master was only at the Golden Core Stage. Li Shouyi wanted to be promoted to a more developed area’s lodge master, so he must advance to the Nascent Soul Stage now.
The same logic applied to his official status; without sufficient cultivation level, promotions would be fraught with difficulties.
Barbarian Bone was shocked by Lu Yang’s story; their plan did not include encountering Tang Yuansheng after killing Helmsman Chu, nor had they considered the reason for the murder. How did Brother Lu come up with such a story on the spot?
Meng Jingzhou quietly gave Lu Yang a thumbs up. The reason Lu Yang came up with was not far off from what he had improvised on the spot.
(End of the chapter)