April 5.
The official road leading to South Yufu.
The sky is as blue as a wash, a few white clouds hang overhead and the not-so-blinding sunlight spills onto the ground.
A carriage is slowly heading towards the South Henan province.
“There is a tea shop in front of us, with authentic herbal tea from the South Yu Province.
On the carriage, the carriage driver spoke up, this was Cheng Lidong’s men.
In these few days of contact, although Chen Xinghe was cold and arrogant and did not talk much with these two people, Xu Qingnian was a human being.
It was with this verbal conversation that the two dropped their guard against Xu Qingnian and even had a good relationship.
After all, they were only subordinates of Cheng Lidong, and they had no deep hatred for Xu Qingnian, and even if Cheng Lidong suspected that Xu Qingnian had practiced a foreign art, at least it seemed that there was nothing wrong with Xu Qingnian now.
And there’s no evidence.
“Fine, I’ve heard that the South Yu Province herbal tea is extremely famous, I definitely want to try it, but I’ll pay for the tea, two brothers escorting you all the way, and still let you pay for the tea, doesn’t it look like we are not polite.”
Xu Qingnian lifted the curtain of the carriage and said with a smile on his face.
“You’re welcome, you’re welcome, it’s just two tea money, old brother Qingnian, we’re at least a constable, our monthly salary is not bad, we’ll pay for the tea.”
The latter spoke up.
He was called Yang Bao and the other was Yang Hu, two brothers.
They had good personalities and were good talkers. Besides, Xu Qingnian and Chen Xinghe had come to the government exams, so they were at least readers, not to mention successful.
It is possible that one day Xu Qingnian will be their top boss, so it is normal to be polite.
They didn’t argue over the tea money.
Xu Qingnian smiled and nodded.
At the end of the day, Chen Xinghe was still reading, and Xu Qingnian had been reading a lot in the past few days, but he would stop halfway through and think about it.
The road construction in ancient times was average, even the official roads had some steep slopes, and when the carriage traveled a little faster, the whole thing swayed, making Xu Qingnian feel sick to her stomach.
This is still a good physical condition, if it were a normal person, he would have already vomited.
On the contrary, Chen Xinghe didn’t move at all, which made Xu Qingnian feel compelled to do so.
It was less than half an hour.
Finally, the carriage arrived at a tea shop.
However, the tea shop was very desolate, although the shop was still there, but there was not a single customer, and the outside of the shop was also clean, and there was only an old man, who was packing up his things.
“Shopkeeper, why are you packing up in the middle of the day? No more business?”
Yang Bao, who was driving the cart, saw this scene and could not help but shout out and ask the old man.
The old man who was packing up, seeing that Yang Bao was wearing official clothes, could not help but respectfully rise up at that moment.
“Your Excellency, it’s not that I don’t want to do business, but there have been some strange incidents in the South Yu Province recently, with demons eating people, and the government has posted notices, so how can I dare to continue doing business?
“But if the two officials want some herbal tea, I will get it for you now.”
Seeing the official, the old man was respectful.
“Demons eating people? What nonsense? This is only thirty miles from Nan Yu, if there really were demons, someone from the capital would have come to suppress them long ago.”
Yang Bao opened his mouth, and his first reaction was disbelief.
Although the world is full of demons, it does not mean that there are as many demons as there are cows, just like theft and robbery, there are such things everywhere, but it does not mean that there is theft and robbery everywhere, all the time.
It is only the severity of the problem.
When he heard Yang Bao open his mouth like this, the old man burst into tears and said.
“Sir, I thought so too, but I can’t help it, the notice from the government has come down, look at this is the notice, I am going to post it later and then leave this place.”
“Wait a moment, I’ll go and prepare some herbal tea.”
The old man put the notice from the government on the table, he couldn’t bear it either, everyone in the countryside knew that his herbal tea was good and that he earned at least several taels of silver a day, but now a man-eating demon was causing panic.
He couldn’t bear it either.
“Fine, I’ll bother the shopkeeper.”
Yang Bao was not the kind of person who would bully the people, but he was thirsty from the journey, and he had promised to treat Xu Qingnian to a cup of herbal tea, so wouldn’t it be a shame if he spoiled the fun?
When the old man went to prepare the herbal tea.
Xu Qingnian also stepped down from the carriage.
When he saw that there was no movement outside, he simply got off and took a look.
“Brother Pao, Brother Tiger, what’s wrong?”
Xu Qingnian stepped out of the carriage and looked at the two men with some curiosity.
“It’s nothing, the shopkeeper of the tea shop said that there is a man-eating demon in South Yu Province, and the capital has put down a notice to alert the people.”
Yang Bao said, pointing to the notice on the table.
“Man-eating demon?”
Xu Qingnian was a little surprised as he dropped his gaze to the notice.
[Notice].
The year of Wuchang.
March 25th.
The government is investigating closely. We hope that merchants and tourists will pay more attention to this.
Once you notice anything strange, report it to the authorities immediately.
Notice at the capital’s office, South Yu Province.
Seal: Li Guangxin, Prefect of the Southern Yu Province of the Great Wei.
—
The notice is very simple.
Xu Qingnian, who had been a human being for two lives, knew one thing: the fewer words, the bigger the problem.
“Demons are in chaos, it’s fine if they are in a poor and remote place, they dare to do evil around the South Yufu, isn’t that seeking death?”
Xu Qingnian withdrew his gaze, he was a little curious.
It was not an extremely rare thing for a demon to harm people, but usually the place of commission would be some poor countryside, after all, the sky was high and the emperor was far away, and it was difficult to investigate if something happened in a small place.
Although the imperial court sent troops to guard the area and set up many institutions, the results were poor.
It was still relatively rare to choose a place like the capital of a prefecture.
It was as if it was basically impossible for such things to happen in the imperial capital, and if they did it would be an insult to the state.
That’s precisely why most of the people want to go and live in the city.
“Yes, there are hundreds of counties and towns under the Southern Yu Province, and there have been many incidents of demon attacks, but the capital has never heard of it, this demon is too bold.”
Yang Bao nodded, agreeing with what Xu Qingnian had said.
“The scourge of demons will be purged by the court sooner or later, I heard from someone that His Majesty has sent someone to set up a new institution called the Jin Yi Tian Wei, which intends to select handsome people from all over the world, and it is in cooperation with the Daoist Sect.”
“It’s specifically to tackle these demons, and those who practise foreign arts.”
Yang Hu spoke out, he had heard some information, so he spoke it directly.
“Jin Yi Tian Wei?”
This was the first time Xu Qingnian had heard this kind of name, it was a bit like the Jin Yi Wei, but the Jin Yi Tian Wei sounded a bit lofty.
“En, the Jin Yi Heavenly Guards, who take orders directly from His Majesty, hold great power in the sky.”
“It is said that when the Jin Yi Heavenly Guards go to all the counties and counties and towns and villages in Great Wei, officials everywhere must cooperate fully and have the power to kill first and then submit.”
Yang Bao followed suit, spilling more information.
“Officials from all over the world fully cooperate and have the right to kill first and submit later?”
Xu Qingnian smacked his lips, this power was really outrageous.
The mere fact that they cooperated fully meant how much importance the imperial court attached to it, and this first beheading and later submission was even more extreme.
For a dynasty, justice was the backbone, and any matter, no matter how big or small, had to go through a set process.
Whether to kill or to release, it was reported by the various prefectures and eventually reviewed one by one by the Da Lisi.
The lifelong system is responsible and the names are kept at every level.
Once a case of injustice is discovered, the most unlucky person is the Da Lisi official, and then layer upon layer is unlucky.
Justice is a fundamental part of the state.
And to preempt is to override justice, it is a double sharp sword, after all, no one is perfect, really do something wrong, or kill the wrong person, you have no control.
Since ancient times, the greatest power is nothing more than to kill before you kill.
Nice guy.
If you have the chance in the future, you must deal with this kind of people, otherwise if you are targeted by such people, you won’t even know how to die.
Xu Qingnian kept a watchful eye in his heart.
He cultivated a different art, no matter whether it would be found out or not, but if someone found out something and reported it, these people were not like Cheng Lidong, who was concerned about this and that.
They would just chop him up with a knife.
While Xu Qingnian was thinking, the old man brought in a few bowls of herbal tea.
Yang Bao put a few coins in the bowl and warmly greeted Xu Qingnian to drink the tea.
The tea was clear and pale green in colour, and when Xu Qingnian was about to drink it, suddenly, his body surged with Hao Rang Qi.
For just a moment, his eyes were a little cooler, and when he looked at the herbal tea in his hand, he found a faint white mist rising up.
“Something is odd!”
“Don’t drink it.”
Xu Qingnian directly struck out, extremely swiftly, knocking the tea bowls out of Yang Bao and Yang Hu’s hands.
Bang.
The tea bowl fell to the ground and shattered.
The two were a little confused, but they were not stupid and almost instantly placed their hands on the hilt of their swords, alerting their surroundings.
Chen Xinghe inside the carriage sensed something and instantly stepped out.
“There’s something wrong with the tea.”
Xu Qingnian didn’t waste words, four words said clearly the problem.
Hiss.
Yang Bao and Yang Hu brothers were instantly stunned, while fixing their gaze dead on the old man, their eyes filled with killing intent.
“My lord, my lord, injustice, injustice, where would Old Man dare to act recklessly.”
“My lord, I personally brewed this herbal tea, there can’t be anything wrong with it.”
The old man was directly stunned and fell to his knees with a thud, terrified.
“Brother Pao, keep an eye on him, Brother Tiger, I beg you to guard my senior brother, I’ll go in and take a look.”
Xu Qingnian frowned, there must be something wrong with this tea, the Hao Rang Qi in his body sensed the weirdness and so protected himself.
If not, he would not have detected anything.
As for this old man, whether he had a problem or not Xu Qingnian did not know, at least he had to go in and investigate.
“Brother Qingnian, I will accompany you inside.”
Yang Hu spoke up, he held his long knife tightly, worried that Xu Qingnian would be in danger alone.
“No need, if the other party uses poison, it won’t be very strong, and I, Xu, have at least entered the rank, so I have no fear of evil spirits.”
Xu Qingnian shook his head, he was at least a tenth-grade martial artist now, and he even had Hao Rang Zheng Qi in his body.
If his opponent used poison, he would not be any stronger, otherwise why would he need to use poison?
Simple logic allowed Xu Qingnian to make the best judgment.
“Alright, if Brother Xu doesn’t come out in half an hour, we’ll kill this man first, then we’ll kill him in.”
Yang Bao said seriously as he drew his sword and landed on the old man’s neck.
When this was said, the old man fainted on the spot.
And Xu Qingnian nodded, not caring about anything.
“Senior brother, I will accompany you in together.”
Chen Xinghe spoke, he did not want to stay here and be protected.
“No, senior brother wait a moment.”
Xu Qingnian did not wait for Chen Xinghe to say anything further and walked directly into the tea shop.
