Chapter 101: Nonsense Comes Right Out of the Mouth

Tang Yuansheng, male, one hundred and two years old, a cultivator of the Nascent Soul Stage, currently held the office of Inspector within the Immortal Sect.

Having received a message from Branch Master Chu urging him to arrive earlier, he decided to advance his schedule, arriving first in Qinghuai County, separated from Yanjiang County by only a single mountain.

"Cross this mountain, and I shall reach the location Little Chu spoke of."

"Hmm?" Suddenly, Tang Yuansheng sensed a peculiar ripple of aura. "What manner of presence is this?"

Following the sensation, he arrived at the stables of a courier station, where an old horse with dragon scales upon its brow and a small brown mare snuggled together, appearing deeply devoted to one another.

A stable boy carried over an armful of choice grass feed and tossed it into the manger; the old horse cast a disdainful glance at it, possessing absolutely no intention of eating.

Seeing the old horse in such a state, the stable boy muttered under his breath, "The white filly just left, and he’s already taken up with a new mare so quickly?"

As if able to understand human speech, the old horse glared at the boy, who dared not provoke this strange beast and hurriedly fled.

The premium grass feed left behind by this old horse’s master had long been exhausted; since the premium feed ran out, there had been no sign of the horse's owner for the longest time, leading the station tavern keeper to suspect whether the counterpart had met with some mishap, or perhaps died outright, for after all, the old horse's master had gone into Pine Mountain.

Once the premium feed was finished, the station keeper ordered the stable boy to feed it ordinary fodder, planning that if the master failed to appear for much longer, they would use this old horse to offset the feed debt.

As it turned out, the old horse disdained the station's fodder entirely, refusing to eat a single mouthful, and thus a month slipped by.

The station keeper grew struck with fear, realizing this old horse was absolutely no simple strange beast merely bearing scales on its brow, but an extremely high-ranking demonic beast that had already attained the realm of Bigu, refraining from grain!

Strange beasts were a species existing between demonic beasts and ordinary wild animals; they possessed demonic bloodlines, but the lineage was far too thin, lacking even the ability to mobilize that bloodline, manifesting outwardly only minor atavistic traits—sprouting scales, plumage, horns, and the like—with bodies stronger than wild beasts, though only marginally so.

Catching sight of the old horse, Tang Yuansheng was overjoyed; this was actually a Dragon Horse, a rarity unseen in the world, though he knew not the exact purity of its bloodline.

"Had I not happened to visit the vast Eastern Sea by chance, I truly would not have recognized it," Tang Yuansheng thought, considerably thrilled, for this was an entirely unexpected windfall.

How exceedingly rare a Dragon Horse was, yet here one stood in the stables of this remote little county; surely the master of the Dragon Horse failed to recognize such a precious treasure, and because the Dragon Horse had not yet awakened, it remained covered in dust here.

"As a grand master of the Nascent Soul Stage, I have long lacked a suitable mount; this must surely be an opportunity bestowed upon me by the Immortal Immortal, seeing my piety!"

Tang Yuansheng prayed to the Immortal Immortal for a brief moment, then turned and leaped into the stable.

The old horse cast a backward glance at Tang Yuansheng, ignored him entirely, and continued to share tender moments with the small brown mare.

"Poor Dragon Horse, ignorant of your own noble status, trysting with a mortal horse; come with me, and I shall let you know just how powerful you truly are!"

Tang Yuansheng extended a glittering golden hand, intending to take the old horse away, but the old horse bucked its hind hooves backward, snapping Tang Yuansheng's great hand; Tang Yuansheng felt a tightness in his chest and spat out a great mouthful of blood, his aura instantly turning feeble.

He looked at the old horse with a terrified countenance, all prior excitement utterly vanished, replaced instead by boundless dread as he turned his head and fled.

There was absolutely a grand master playing at mortal life residing here, keeping a Dragon Horse as an ordinary equine in the stables!

The action just now could certainly not be hidden from a grand master playing at mortal life; he must flee immediately, hoping the counterpart would spare his life out of pity for his ignorance!

The old horse let out a loud whinny, showing off its might to the small mare.

Tang Yuansheng fled for a while, and seeing that the grand master had not captured him back after a long time, he realized the other party had not paid heed to his actions.

"Ah!" He spat out another mouthful of blood, casually found an uninhabited spot, sat cross-legged to meditate, consumed a medicinal pill, and recovered from his injuries.

Those two hooves just now had kicked him so hard they severely damaged his vital energy.

When he opened his eyes once more, he heard a rumbling sound echoing from the other side of the mountain, like some colossal object crashing down.

"Is it already night?" Tang Yuansheng was somewhat surprised to see the sky had turned dark, never expecting that recovering from his injuries would consume an entire day.

He had recovered a fraction of his wounds, sufficient to ensure self-preservation, so he crossed Pine Mountain and arrived at the site where the flying boat had crashed, only to see Branch Master Chu pierced through by Lu Yang's sword, devoid of breath.

"...Is this the surprise Little Chu spoke of?"

Whether it was joyful or not was hard to say, but Tang Yuansheng was certainly shocked.

Before coming, the higher-ups of the Immortal Sect had instructed him to look out for Lu Yang, Meng Jingzhou, and Mangu, even providing portraits.

Now, even if he wished not to look out for them, he had no choice but to do so.

"Who are you!" Lu Yang held his sword high, watching Tang Yuansheng with vigilance.

Tang Yuansheng looked at Lu Yang with a half-smile: "Lu Yang, you dare point a sword at this seat? This seat is the Inspector of the Immortal Sect, Tang Yuansheng."

Learning of Tang Yuansheng's identity, Lu Yang made hand gestures behind his back, signaling Lan Ting to leave quickly; Lan Ting's presence would be difficult to explain to Tang Yuansheng.

"So it is Inspector Tang." Lu Yang grew slightly more polite, yet he still looked at Tang Yuansheng with suspicion, clearly not believing the other's identity completely.

Disdaining to explain himself to Lu Yang, Tang Yuansheng asked, "Why did you kill Li Shouyi?"

Li Shouyi, the Governor of Yanjiang County, was Branch Master Chu's true name; Tang Yuansheng was accustomed to calling him Little Chu.

Lu Yang said in a heavy voice, "Because he nearly exposed his identity as a member of the Immortal Sect!"

"Oh?" Tang Yuansheng looked at Lu Yang with great interest, waiting to see what kind of explanation the counterpart could provide.

Suddenly, a commotion arose from the foot of the mountain; it was Fang Qingyun leading a large troop of men to inspect the crash of the flying boat, with physicians among the ranks tasked with rescue operations.

"Leave first!" Tang Yuansheng was still severely injured and unwilling to encounter the authorities; with a sweep of his sleeve, he enveloped the three including Lu Yang and fled far away.

Familiar with the path, Tang Yuansheng brought the three into the Yanjiang Branch, the safest place in Yanjiang County.

"Now speak, Li Shouyi was always rigorous in his conduct, how could he have exposed his identity?"

Lu Yang disclosed the entire matter of the Reverse Longevity Formation, then added, "Branch Master Chu... no, Governor Li's plan could not be said to be un-meticulous; first making Yizhanghong a scapegoat, then secretly deploying the Reverse Longevity Formation, so long as the small flags were destroyed afterward, no trace would remain."

Tang Yuansheng nodded; Li Shouyi had always acted cautiously, using the highly obscure Reverse Longevity Formation, so this plan was indeed flawless.

"But an accident occurred nonetheless; the three of us opened a barbecue shop here, a place most suited for gathering local intelligence, and we noticed a disciple from the Laurel Fairy Palace passing through by chance, who seemed well-versed in formations and saw through the Reverse Longevity Rune upon the small flag!"

"The disciples of the Five Great Immortal Sects must not be touched, and fearing Governor Li's exposure would implicate the entire Immortal Sect, we advised him to hide quickly, yet he claimed it was a critical period and he must use the Reverse Longevity Formation to ascend to the Nascent Soul Stage, absolutely refusing to hide; we had no choice but to kill him before the Great Xia could capture Governor Li, eliminating future troubles forever!"

"You also noticed the government officials just now, did you not? The leader was Chief Constable Fang Qingyun; why else would he bring so many men if not to halt the activation of the Reverse Longevity Formation and arrest Governor Li!"

Tang Yuansheng nodded, believing Lu Yang and the others had acted correctly; the matter of a Laurel Fairy Palace disciple being in Yanjiang County could be verified and could not deceive anyone, and Li Shouyi did indeed value ascending to the Nascent Soul Stage.

Ordinary branch masters were of the Nascent Soul Stage; only because Yanjiang County was a small county was its branch master of the Golden Core Stage; if Li Shouyi wished to be promoted to a branch master in a highly developed cultivation region, he had to ascend to the Nascent Soul Stage now.

The public identity as a government official followed the same principle; without a sufficient realm, promotion was fraught with difficulties.

Mangu looked at Lu Yang in astonishment; the plan never included encountering Tang Yuansheng after killing Branch Master Chu, and a reason for the killing had never been devised—how did Brother Lu manage to speak it so casually off the cuff?

Meng Jingzhou secretly gave Lu Yang a thumbs-up; the reason Lu Yang concocted was not much different from the one he had temporarily fabricated.

(End of Chapter)