Chapter 88 Lord Bai, what kind of bad thing are you planning to do?
Bai Xiuming stared at A Chan for a moment before slowly answering, "No."
"Would you like to give it a try?"
"...You want me to help you kill that dragon?"
Ah Chan nodded repeatedly, her eyes sparkling.
"But why should I help you?"
“How can you say it’s helping me? This action is clearly helping the people of Yongzhou escape their suffering and eliminating a scourge for them!” Achan said righteously.
"I remember you said not long ago that I'm no longer an official, so I don't need to abide by the law, and naturally I don't need to help the people." Bai Xiuming's words left her speechless.
How can people go astray so quickly?
Ah Chan earnestly advised, "We should still help if we can. You're only suspended from your post; who knows when you'll be reinstated? That would be a great achievement."
"It's alright, I don't care."
Since serving the country and its people was not an option, Achan had no choice but to change her strategy.
She moved her chair closer to Bai Xiuming and softened her voice, saying, "Then consider it helping me, which is indirectly helping yourself too. That dragon was clearly coming for me. It didn't succeed this time, but it will definitely try again next time. Besides, you injured it, so it will definitely hold a grudge."
I don't know if it holds grudges, but you certainly do.
He can even get up in the middle of the night to plot his elimination; he really doesn't waste a single moment.
Ah Chan quickly interrupted him: "Oh, that's not the point."
"Alright, please continue," Bai Xiuming said patiently.
"If it comes to capture me again next time, given our deep friendship, are you really going to just stand by and watch me get taken away?"
A smile appeared in Bai Xiuming's eyes: "So?"
"So, instead of constantly guarding against it, it's better to strike first." Achan made a fierce throat-slitting gesture.
"That sounds reasonable."
"Right?"
Her eyes lit up immediately, but the next moment she heard Bai Xiuming's tone change: "But I have never liked doing charity."
Achan spoke with a firm tone, as if she wanted to swear an oath on the spot: "I will always remember your help today, and I will repay your kindness whenever you need it."
"really?"
"really."
"Since you're so sincere, I'll reluctantly help you this once."
Seeing that he finally relented, Achan couldn't help but think that Bai Xiuming was much more difficult to deal with than that dragon.
"That dragon is hard to find after it enters the water, and it is extremely wary. How do you plan to fish it out?" Bai Xiuming finally asked the question that he was most interested in.
"As long as we can make the bait, nothing else matters," Achan said confidently.
If it's good at water escape, then fish on land. What does it matter if it's wary? If it's a real dragon, it can't resist the desire from its bloodline.
"Like when we caught the snow needle snake last time?"
"right."
“Okay, tell me what materials you need, and I’ll have… I’ll prepare them.” Bai Xiuming agreed readily.
"I need a bucket of dragon's blood and three spiral turtle tails, and they must be fresh."
Is there anything else?
Achan thought for a moment and said, "I also need some golden moss and dragon egg fragments. That's all."
"I will have everything ready before dark tomorrow."
Seeing that he agreed without hesitation, Achan swallowed back what she was about to say.
She was also thinking that the cost of this bait was a bit high, and if Bai Xiuming found it difficult, she could study the recipe further. It seemed he was quite wealthy.
"Any other requirements?" Bai Xiuming continued to ask.
As if she had just thought of something, Achan quickly said, "Oh, we need to find a place with a pool of water and block the water source beforehand. The rest is up to you."
Anyway, all she's responsible for is setting the bait; all the hard work is for nothing.
"knew."
Having arranged everything, and thinking that she could get rid of that annoying dragon by tomorrow night at the latest, Achan was in a great mood and felt sleepy.
She yawned and waved to Bai Xiuming, "I'm so sleepy, I'm going back to sleep."
Bai Xiuming got up and opened the door for her. He only returned to his own room after she went into the next room.
Turning around, Shen Zhuo, who had just slipped away, had already returned.
"Who is this girl to you?" He could no longer hide the curiosity in his eyes.
It's quite something that Bai Xiuming could become so familiar with a girl that he let her into his room in the middle of the night.
"It's none of your business."
Shen Zhu clicked his tongue, thinking to himself that he would spread the news throughout the entire Mingjing Division and let everyone come and watch the spectacle.
"Okay, then tell me, is what she said true or false?"
Reason told him it was unlikely; the girl was just an ordinary person. How could an ordinary person know about such a strange formula that even their Mingjing Division had never heard of? And she even said it could be used to catch dragons?
But since Bai Xiuming was able to patiently listen to the other party finish speaking, it was clearly not just because the two had a close relationship.
“I can’t be sure since I’ve never seen this recipe before,” Bai Xiuming replied. “However… we can give it a try.”
Are you serious?
"You heard the materials, send them over tomorrow morning." Bai Xiuming gave him no room to refuse.
"Alright." Shen Zhuo didn't have a better way to deal with the dragon, so he could only give it a try.
But he quickly sensed something was wrong and abruptly looked up: "Wait, why do I have to provide the materials? You're making that girl so grateful to you, and now I have to provide the things?"
"Isn't it your duty to rid the people of harm? These are all achievements of yours."
Shen Zhuo remained silent: "If you changed even two words, I would believe you were sincere."
He used all the words that other girls used on him to describe himself.
Bai Xiuming showed no embarrassment whatsoever, and even reminded her, "Remember to find a pond as she requested, not too far from Yongzhou City."
"Is there anything else? If not, I'm leaving."
"Find me a knife," Bai Xiuming ordered.
"knew."
"Have someone send over two sets of clean clothes."
Shen Zhuo was too lazy to talk to him anymore. He waved his hand, and his figure disappeared into the darkness.
The next day, Achan didn't wake up until the sun was high in the sky. When she finally tried to get up, her whole body felt like it was falling apart.
She collapsed back onto the bed, utterly despondent. Suddenly, she realized that skinning and dismembering the dragon was far from enough. If she could find its ancestral graves, she would have to dig up its entire family and whip their corpses!
A knock sounded on the door. Ah Chan turned her neck and lazily asked, "Who is it?"
"It's me," came Bai Xiuming's voice from outside the door.
Come back in fifteen minutes.
The person outside seemed to chuckle: "Want some new clothes?"
"Yes!" Ah Chan immediately sat up in bed, ran to the door, opened it a crack, hid behind it, and stretched out one hand to grab at the outside. "Where are the clothes?"
Bai Xiuming grabbed her flailing hands and placed a stack of clothes in them: "Change your clothes and then come downstairs for dinner."
"knew."
Soon, Achan changed her clothes, washed up, and went downstairs.
There were still not many customers dining downstairs. She spotted Bai Xiuming sitting by the window, with food already laid out on the table in front of him.
There were three dishes and a bowl of soup, in addition to a roast chicken.
Upon seeing the roast chicken, Achan suddenly felt that even the sunshine today had become brighter.
After she finished eating and put down her chopsticks, Bai Xiuming said, "The ingredients you requested have all been prepared."
"So fast?" Achan asked in surprise, "Do you have some special connections?"
Bai Xiuming smiled without saying a word: "When will it begin?"
"We can do it now. The bait can only be made when it arrives at the location, so we need to make some preparations in advance."
She followed Bai Xiuming back to his room. As soon as the door opened, she smelled a sweet and pungent fragrance—the smell of dragon blood.
For most snakes, dragon blood holds an extraordinary attraction, and the same is true for dragons.
Under the table against the wall was a full bucket of dragon blood. Achan stretched out her finger and dipped a knuckle into the dragon blood.
Dragon blood is hotter than human body temperature, and it will feel hot at first. It is also very viscous, hence the saying that it is like mercury.
After examining the dragon blood, Achan withdrew her hand with satisfaction and went to check the remaining materials.
After verifying that everything was correct, she turned to Bai Xiuming and said, "Everything is fine. Next, we need to dry and crush the tortoise tail and mix it with the dragon blood."
Drying and crushing fresh tortoise shell tails is no quick process; clearly, this task was specifically assigned to him.
Helpless, Bai Xiuming grabbed a tortoise tail, circulated his inner energy, and soon the room was filled with the aroma of meat.
Because he needed to control the heat, Bai Xiuming was a little slower, and it took him half an hour for the spiral turtle tail to become tender and crispy.
Then, he processed the remaining two tails, crushed them into powder, and sprinkled them into the bucket containing dragon blood. Instantly, the dragon blood in the bucket began to bubble and froth.
Achan pushed a piece of dragon egg fragment the size of a washbasin to Bai Xiuming and said to him, "This also needs to be ground into powder, and poured in after the bubbles disappear."
Bai Xiuming followed her instructions and poured the dragon egg powder into the bucket. The dragon blood in the bucket became more viscous and emitted a strange fragrance, but the fragrance was very faint and difficult to smell from several meters away.
"Alright." Achan looked at the bucket of semi-finished product and said with satisfaction, "After we get to the pool, we'll put the golden moss in. The dragon will smell the scent and come over."
Then, she looked up at Bai Xiuming and said, "Now it's up to you. You're so powerful, you definitely won't lose to a dragon, right?"
"Speak your mind directly; trying to provoke me won't work."
"Oh, then remember to chop it into smaller pieces when you do it."
The two waited at the inn until evening before Bai Xiuming took Achan and left Yongzhou City.
The place Shen Zhuo found was not far from Yongzhou City, in a mountain on the outskirts. There were no villages nearby, and even before nightfall, the sounds of insects and birds could be heard incessantly.
Upon reaching the pool, Achan took out the dragon's blood and then a cloth bag containing golden moss.
The cloth bag emitted a faint golden light in the night. Achan opened the bag and poured all the golden moss inside.
The moss, radiating a halo, initially showed no reaction after absorbing the dragon's blood. After a while, once it was fully saturated with the blood, it gradually gathered together, forming blood-red spheres that emitted a faint golden halo.
It was especially conspicuous in the pitch-black night.
She scooped the spheres out one by one and threw them into the pool. As the dragon's blood came into contact with the cool water, wisps of white vapor spread out, and the suppressed scent suddenly burst forth and dispersed.
Just as Achan put the bait into the pool, the Dragon King, who had been hiding in a cave at the bottom of the Ji River to recuperate, suddenly opened his eyes.
It smelled a very strange fragrance, and its instincts seemed to urge it to quickly find the source of the fragrance and swallow it.
It must be a treasure that can enhance its bloodline, otherwise its body wouldn't be so eager!
The Dragon King, no longer caring about its still-healing wounds, leaped out of the Ji River and flew towards the source of the fragrance. Wherever it passed, rocks were crushed and giant trees collapsed with a crash.
The commotion was so loud that it startled all the birds that were roosting in the mountains at night.
At this moment, Achan sat on a broad boulder, and looking down she could see a pool of water in the distance, with fragrant bait floating on the surface, rising and falling with the ripples.
Just then, a mountain breeze blew by, bringing a chill and a familiar fishy smell.
Achan looked up into the distance. Although she couldn't see anything, she knew that the dragon had arrived.
She turned her head, and the man who had been standing beside her had disappeared at some point.
The dragon king's speed increased, violently smashing through any obstacles in its path. The closer it got to the source of the fragrance, the hotter its body became, as if its blood was boiling.
Finally, it stopped by a pool of water.
Water vapor floated in the pool, and the round spheres floating on the surface emitted a faint golden light; the fragrance emanated from them.
The Dragon King had no time to ponder where these things came from. Its massive body plunged into the water, and it eagerly opened its mouth to suck the spheres in.
The aroma that nearly drove it mad exploded in its mouth, and in that brief moment, the Dragon King's consciousness went completely blank.
In that instant, a knife plunged into its skull, piercing straight through its jaw.
"Roar!" The excruciating pain caused the Flood Dragon King to let out a deafening roar. It twisted its body and swung its long, black tail upwards with force, but missed its target.
The long knife embedded in its skull was pulled out, its blade flashing. Its proud, tough scales broke apart inch by inch until its flesh tore open and the knife wound penetrated deep into its bone marrow.
"You petty scoundrels, you only dare to launch sneak attacks. If you have the guts, come out and fight me face to face!"
"A beast dares to call itself king."
As the sound rang out, Bai Xiuming's figure appeared in mid-air.
He stood suspended in mid-air, the long sword in his hand humming.
The dragon king's body stiffened at first, then it opened its huge mouth and bit at Bai Xiuming. Bai Xiuming swung his sword, but the dragon king twisted its body and dived directly into the pool, trying to escape.
But soon, it opened its huge mouth and bit at Bai Xiuming.
However, the water source of this pool had already been sealed off by Shen Zhuo using the secret techniques of the Mingjing Division. The Flood Dragon King, like a trapped beast, raged around in the pool for a long time but could not find the water source.
It finally emerged from the pool, full of resentment, while the human stood above it, looking down at it.
"Human, if you spare me, I am willing to leave the Ji River and never come back."
Bai Xiuming wiped the knife in his hand. It was a fine knife; not a single drop of blood was on it.
Seeing that he remained unmoved, the Dragon King roared, "If you insist on killing me, I will not let you get away with it. I can make the Ji River overflow its banks right now and make everyone die with me."
"You're quite clever, but I hate being threatened!"
Bai Xiuming's figure suddenly disappeared. A ruthless glint flashed in the eyes of the Flood Dragon King. Just as it was about to activate its inner core, it suddenly felt a sharp pain in its head, so painful that it could not think and rolled around on the ground.
Amidst this frantic struggle, Bai Xiuming leaped off its head, half his body stained with the dragon's blood, clutching a blood-soaked bead in his hand.
A faint halo of light swirled around the bead, clearly indicating that it was the inner core of the dragon.
The dragon, stripped of its inner core, roared and howled, pleading with Bai Xiuming for mercy: "Please, please spare me! I won't do it again, I really won't do it again."
Bai Xiuming lowered his eyes to examine the inner core in his hand, and after a long while, he asked, "Last night, who told you to go and capture people?"
"Nobody's here."
Bai Xiuming sneered, and with a slash of his long sword, a section of the dragon's tail was severed.
“I said! It was a member of the Shen family, Shen Yingxiao. He ordered me to capture that woman and torture her to death.”
"Are you being manipulated by the Shen family?"
"Yes, they made me stir up trouble in the Ji River and force the people on both sides of the river to worship me. I... I dared not refuse."
"Did you hear that?" Bai Xiuming suddenly raised his voice.
A rustling sound came from the forest, and dozens of Mingjing Guards surrounded the area. Shen Zhuo walked out with a gloomy expression.
He gritted his teeth and said, "I underestimated the Shen family."
Thinking about how he had been running around for the past two months to get rid of the dragon, he thought it was just a monster rampage, but he didn't expect that there was someone behind it all. They were making a fool of him!
Seeing their interest in the Shen family's affairs, the dragon thought it had found a lifeline and hurriedly said, "My lord, I know many secrets about the Shen family. Please spare me, and I will tell you everything!"
Chen Zhuo remained silent, only looking at Bai Xiuming.
"I'm not interested in their secrets." With that, he crushed the inner core in his hand.
With his inner core shattered, the Dragon King, having lost all hope, seemed utterly despondent.
Its massive body lay paralyzed on the ground, tears streaming from its eyes, motionless.
Just then, Ah Chan's impatient voice came from the mountain: "Bai Xiuming, have you finished chopping yet?"
She thought to herself that she absolutely must not choose to kill demons at night next time. It's pitch black, you can't see anything, and there's no experience to speak of.
Bai Xiuming flashed twice and brought A Chan down from the mountain.
As soon as her feet touched the ground, she saw a dragon lying on the ground like a small mountain, silently shedding tears, and many Mingjing Guards who should not have been there.
Upon seeing Achan, the Dragon King finally realized why he had ended up in such a state; it was definitely related to the woman before him.
If I had known this would happen, I should have eaten this woman alive last night!
Looking at the enormous dragon before her, and its single horn, Achan suddenly said, "You seem to have impure blood."
The dragon's horns were short and blunt, quite different from the dragons she knew.
The Dragon King closed his eyes, seemingly unwilling to listen to her.
Achan suddenly asked, "Do you have human blood?"
"Of course not!" the Dragon King denied, unaware that such a reaction only aroused suspicion.
Achan didn't stop there and continued, "After you brought me back to the island, you didn't turn back into human form. Instead, you became a half-human, half-demon. At that time, I thought it was because your transformation technique wasn't good enough. Now it seems that maybe it's because you got used to that form. Were you born that ugly?"
"Shut up!" the Dragon King roared.
Having successfully angered the Dragon King, she turned to Bai Xiuming and asked, "Did you find out who wants to harm me?"
"Shen Yingxiao".
“Shen Yingxiao probably doesn’t have the ability to subdue it, so it’s being controlled by the Shen family?” Achan instantly sorted out her thoughts.
"Um."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go ransack their house!"
Shen Zhuo coughed lightly and said, "Thank you, young lady, for ridding the people of Yongzhou of this scourge. Next, I will take it back to the Mingjing Division to investigate whether it has truly been bound by a contract. If so..."
Before he could finish speaking, Bai Xiuming suddenly grabbed Achan and pulled her backward.
Shen Zhuo was a beat too slow. When the dragon's head exploded, the red and white liquid all fell on him.
He wiped his face, feeling that Bai Xiuming was his nemesis.
"Now there's no evidence left." As she was put back on the ground, Ah Chan looked at the mess, but didn't seem too disappointed.
"I will continue to investigate and will definitely give the young lady an explanation," Shen Zhuo said earnestly.
"Then I'll have to trouble you, sir."
With a smile, Achan watched Shen Zhuo go to direct the Mingjing Guards to clean up the mess. Suddenly, she turned her head, her gaze sharp.
"Didn't you say you were suspended? How did they find you?"
"Perhaps it was... a chance encounter?"
Ah Chan snorted: "Why don't you just say it's a telepathic connection! You told me that we don't need to abide by the law or help the people, yet you're giving away such a great achievement to someone else for nothing."
Her gaze shifted, and she suddenly said, "Are you afraid that people will find out about you killing the dragon? You suddenly lost your official position and now you have to hide your strength. Lord Bai, what kind of evil plan are you trying to pull?"
"You're very interested?" Bai Xiuming smiled faintly, showing no surprise at her keen observation.
"I'm not interested at all. But I'm not the kind of person who does good deeds for nothing. What benefit would I get from keeping such a big secret for you?"
What goes around comes around, and now it's Bai Xiuming's turn to repay such a great debt of gratitude.
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