Chapter 118 A Long Journey, A Letter from Jiaozhou…
Near Wuqing Mountain.
The sound of horses' hooves rang out. Wen Chuan sat in the driver's seat, and the young man reined in the horse, looking around as he pondered the direction.
The carriage door was already open. Zhang Xuan and Qin Tianshu were playing chess facing each other on the daybed. Seeing the carriage stop, Zhang Xuan leaned out the window to look and asked...
"Where is this? Is this really Jiaozhou?"
Qingyu lay on the long couch, feigning sleep, her voice flat but tinged with weariness.
"No mistake, Wuqing Mountain is quite special. Apart from the proper exit of Qianshan, this is the only other exit from Qishan."
Lin Fanxiang sat at the medicine table reading a book, while Cai Cai nestled in the corner, dozing off. The woman closed her book, gently closed her eyes, and sensed something. Then, she frowned in confusion.
"There's no wind here?"
What a peaceful place... How could it be, not a whisper of wind...
Upon hearing this, Qin Tianshu quietly examined the area for a moment, then smiled and said, "That's true, perhaps it's due to the terrain."
It was supposed to be a windy day, and they had mentioned earlier that the wind made them want to sleep, but here it was surprisingly calm... It's still strange, though, since this mountain isn't some deep valley or dense forest, how can there be no wind...?
Qingyu lay on the long couch, resting with her eyes closed. Her battle with the Mountain Lord had drained much of her spiritual energy, and she was only feeling better today. At least she had the strength to tell jokes and stories—
"This place is called Wuqing Mountain, and the wind will not reach here."
Legend has it that in ancient times, the wind god and the mountain god had a bad relationship and often fought over trivial matters, once resulting in very serious consequences—
The gale destroyed many trees and houses, swept away countless lives, and even darkened the sky, but the mountains remained unchanged, standing calmly forever.
That battle resulted in the deaths of many innocent people. A terrifyingly long queue formed in Fengdu. Lord Taishan went directly to Heaven to complain, and divine punishment came. In the end, both the Wind God and the Mountain God paid the corresponding price.
It is worth mentioning that since then, the wind god and the mountain god have never fought again, and they even refuse to meet again. There are mountains all over Kyushu, and the wind often passes through them, but only Mount Musei is special.
This place, this mountain, will never be windy.
Those were the last words spoken by the Wind God in ancient mythology.
...
Zhang Xuan: "...I've never heard this story before."
Qingyu yawned and casually said, "Yeah, I was just making it up."
Everyone: "..."
"Oh, that's not important. At least we've reached Wuqing Mountain... Hmm, we should be able to get out of the mountain in another half a day. Then we'll take the back paths, and we should be able to reach Jiaozhou in a few days..."
As Qingyu continued speaking, she felt a little sleepy again. The woman turned over and gently leaned against the long couch, falling asleep.
Gently, as if a breeze was blowing, Qingyu first felt a little cold, and then she understood.
They have already left Wuqing Mountain.
...
On the first day of the fifth lunar month, somewhere in Jingzhou.
"hiss……"
Zhang Xuan sat by the car door, tilting his head back. He used a palm-leaf fan to shield his eyes from the sunlight, squinting as he looked up. The sweltering sun beat down relentlessly, and the young man couldn't bear it any longer. He abruptly pushed the car door open—
Accompanied by the tinkling of wind chimes, a refreshing breeze whistles by, and the glowing lights fill the car with a cool and pleasant atmosphere, offering endless comfort in this gradually warming early summer.
Qingyu, sitting on the swing chair by the car door: "..."
As soon as the car door opened, Zhang Xuan was hit in the face by a cool breeze, while the hot air outside instantly enveloped Qing Yu's face as well...
Before Qingyu could speak, Zhang Xuan said indifferently, "It's so hot."
That expression was so calm yet tinged with sadness that Qingyu couldn't help but laugh again. "The lottery was going so well yesterday, but the weather was too hot to stop it."
Not far away, Qin Tianshu and Wen Chuan were drinking tea by the daybed, and the scholar said with a smile, "It's May already."
Before they knew it, they had passed through Jiaozhou and Jingzhou, and soon they would be in Xuzhou. If they thought about it carefully, their current location was actually very close to Shengjing, and everything seemed to be the same as last year.
Zhang Xuan remained calm. "Yeah, why wasn't it hot yesterday, but it's hot today..."
Why did the weather get so excited when he was chosen to drive in the lottery...?
"Aren't you in a hurry to get going? If you wait any longer, it will be evening. Hang in there."
Qingyu smiled, sighed, and stood up. The woman got off the swing chair by the car door and ran to the recliner next to the bookshelf.
There was no way around it; the sunlight near the car door was too harsh and hot for her to bear. The Spirit Flame Lamp was on the small table of the daybed, just in time. Qingyu lay leisurely on the recliner, quietly enjoying the cool air not far away.
"Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish."
Zhang Xuan swung his palm-leaf fan so loudly, as if he wanted to blow all the heat from outside into the carriage. The noise was so loud that everyone laughed helplessly.
Qingyu yawned, and the woman smiled with her eyes closed, "If all else fails, let's find a shady place to rest. It's too hot today."
She didn't know where she had gone, but the temperature in May suddenly rose several degrees. When Fan Xiang mentioned it last night, she didn't think much of it, but as soon as she came out of her room today, she was stung by the scorching heat in the air... So Qingyu immediately went back to her room to change into a light summer dress.
"despair,"
The soft sound of her pen being put down rang out, and Fan Xiang had finished another piece of calligraphy. This had been her habit since the beginning of summer: practicing calligraphy related to medicinal herbs every day, which she considered both calligraphy practice and spiritual cultivation.
The woman glanced at the sky outside the window and smiled gently at the medicine table. "It's almost evening. Why don't we stop for now and continue our journey after sunset?"
Qin Tianshu put down his teacup, and the scholar looked up and smiled at Zhang Xuan, who was covering his face with a palm-leaf fan by the car door, and said, "Alright, let's find a shady spot to park."
Wen Chuan smiled as well, and the young man said calmly, "If you travel with your eyes closed, you won't know where you're going."
As if understanding its owners' words, the chick wandered around on the ground, clucking and quacking.
Zhang Xuan removed the palm-leaf fan from his face, and the young man waved it up and down in front of the open car door.
Okay, okay, okay!
...
They rarely traveled on official roads during that month, mostly taking side roads, going straight from Qishan to Jiaozhou, and then from Jiaozhou to Jingzhou.
Speaking of Jingzhou, they had just passed by the Yunlan River in Dingyuan City a few days ago. They bought a lot of things and quietly watched the ripples on the river. For a moment, it really reminded people of the scenery of Shengjing at that time.
"Speaking of which, Shengjing is not far away. Aren't you going back to take a look?"
Qingyu sat by the car door eating cherries with syrup. The woman, while enjoying the sweet snack, spoke to Zhang Xuan, who was sitting under a tree enjoying the shade.
Zhang Xuan leisurely fanned himself with a palm-leaf fan and shook his head. "You came back from Qingzhou, right? No rush."
Lin Fanxiang also sat under the tree, gently leaning against the branch as she ate her shaved ice. The woman put down her wooden spoon and said, "Anyway, my mother also said that if you leave, you shouldn't come back too often, it's best if..."
Ideally, we should wait until after my uncle passes away...
Qin Tianshu sat not far away, unusually speechless. "What Your Highness said is truly..."
Speaking of the eldest princess, we must mention what happened in Jiaozhou a few days ago—
They passed through Jiaozhou and happened to encounter Yin Da, the Jiaozhou Demon Suppressor, capturing several ground rat demons. Relying on their cultivation and the ability to dig burrows, these demons had joined forces and harmed countless people before fleeing east and west.
Just then, Qingyu grabbed the five ground squirrels from the ground to prevent the rat demon from escaping again. She waved her hand, sending them airborne, then turned to ask Yin Da…
"How do you plan to kill this demon?"
Yin Da was a cold-hearted woman, dressed in a dark black dress, with a "three-knife" style hairpin at the back of her head. The hairpin was flat like a sword, carved with flowers and inserted into her temples. The main hairpin was pointing upwards, while the secondary hairpins were crossed, exuding a cold and aloof aura.
Looking at the five giant ground squirrels thrashing in the air, the woman said expressionlessly, "...Kill them however you like."
Qingyu: "Then, I'll kill him?"
Yin Da nodded coldly, "Okay."
In the blink of an eye, the five evil rat spirits entered Qingyu's formation. Before they could speak again, Yin Da pursed her lips as she looked at Lin Fanxiang behind Qingyu.
"Please wait, everyone."
As soon as she finished speaking, Yin Da turned around and called out to Da Bai in the distance. A very large carrier pigeon fluttered its wings and obediently landed on her shoulder.
Yinda turned around, took a letter from the carrier pigeon, patted the pigeon, and the pigeon flapped its large wings and flew away again.
Her movements were quite casual, but Qingyu found it quite interesting. She had been wondering why she had heard a demon greeting her when she passed by this place earlier—not the groundhog, but this Thousand Spirit Carrier Pigeon.
This pigeon is so big, it must be a truly enormous, monstrous pigeon...
Not far away, Qin Tianshu and Wen Chuan whispered to each other, "This demon-suppressing envoy from Jiaozhou doesn't like to talk much, and his cultivation is only at the Heavenly level, but he keeps quite a few spiritual creatures, especially large ones, like this pigeon which is as big as an eagle..."
Yin Da looked at their sighs with a cold face, "Your letter."
Yours? Whose?
Oh, Lin Fanxiang's.
Lin Fanxiang took the letter from her hand, and the woman looked up and asked, "Is it... my mother?"
Yin Da remained expressionless. "I don't know."
After saying that, the woman turned and left, quietly without the slightest hesitation.
...Well done, Yin Da, the Demon Suppressor of Jiaozhou...
Although it was somewhat inexplicable, the princess's letter did reach Lin Fanxiang.
Yin Da had once received a favor from the Eldest Princess. The Eldest Princess's spirit pigeon, Da Bai, was very powerful and could detect auras and then deliver messages. So the Eldest Princess entrusted Yin Da with delivering the message. Unexpectedly, they met in Jiaozhou, which was quite a coincidence.
The letter didn't say much, just a long, rambling account of how the princess was eating and sleeping well, and how she had personally overseen the construction of the Grand Preceptor's tombstone—a magnificent and comfortable structure, complete with a coffin inlaid with star-shaped diamonds… In short, they were both doing quite well…
The second-to-last line reads: "I heard you're doing quite well outside. Your deceased father and I are very happy."
The princess in the last row said: Your uncle has been very confused these days and is sick every day. I think he is about to die. You should wait a little longer. This period is the most dangerous time for those who work for the emperor. You can go back after he is gone.
A line of smaller print: Zhang Xingwen said Zhang Xuan is sick, spending so much money on a knife made by his own uncle, what an idiot—get the money back from Li Suheng immediately—Zhang Xingwen is doing quite well, just poor… Zhang Xuan! Bring the money back!!!
(The above is a direct translation of the Princess's letter.)
...
Qingyu laughed, "The Princess's letter came at the right time. After all, you all know how they are doing in Shengjing."
Lin Fanxiang pursed her lips and smiled, "My mother has never been stingy with herself. Since she has said so, let's go back to Shengjing another day."
Zhang Xuan chuckled, "My dad said I should ask my uncle for money, but the problem is... I don't even know what my uncle looks like, so how am I supposed to make connections with him..."
The boy covered his face with a palm-leaf fan and shouted, "Still fifty thousand taels..."
Wen Chuan smiled, and the young man said quietly, "It's fifty thousand—".
The scholar smiled and said, "Eight thousand taels."
"……ah……"
Cai Cai: "Coo coo coo~"
-----------------------
A note from the author:
In summary: This story is about how money is extremely valuable. Zhang Xuan maxed out his card that time [okay], and used a lot of spiritual items as collateral. In the end, he only managed to raise the money thanks to Fan Xiang's help.
(An auction of a cloud boat can really make a fortune [shy], oh, by the way, it's impossible for a cloud boat to actually fetch that much money, and cultivators aren't that rich either; most of them use spiritual items as collateral.)
The demon-suppressing envoys of the eight states mentioned:
Zhu Mengfeng, sword cultivator from Danzhou
Jizhou Daoxiu Muke
Jiaozhou Silver Hairpin Knife Cultivator Yin Da
Murong Wanzhi, the music master of Youzhou
Liangzhou Danxiu Cheng Wanbai
This will be mentioned later:
Lan Xuancheng, a swordsman from Xuzhou
Qingzhou Xinxiu Fang Buyan
Forgot to mention:
Wu Zan, a sorcerer from Yizhou
(That's the Western Clan's Grand Elder, but our Grand Elder always keeps his work and personal life very separate, so very few people know about his dual identity.) (I didn't write it, but Wu Zan and A Zhi are a couple, hehe.)
(The premise is that there are eight people, five men and three women)
The Eight Provinces Demon Suppression Pavilion branch consists of one Demon Suppression Envoy and two Deputy Envoys.
Jingzhou Shengjing Demon Suppression Pavilion Headquarters: Three Pavilion Masters.
Each state's Demon Suppression Pavilion is a trio, hehe, but I don't want to focus on them because they're busy with their own things. A state is huge, huge, huge, and they have to arrange and capture all the demons. Occasionally, they also have to help the government solve cases, keep an eye on the movements of some cultivator families, and even travel on business. They're very, very, very busy! [cat paw]
Regarding Wuxin and Tianshu: This couple is given very little attention in this story, and even seems somewhat rushed, because... I have my reasons. [Dog head with rose in mouth].
There are 100,000 words left, all drafts have been uploaded, and the book will be completed on November 26th. [Heart]
Finally, here's a random character: [Noob Dog]
...
Ding ding ding, we have arrived at Qishan. Passengers who need to get off or transfer, please take note. Thank you for your support and cooperation. We wish you a safe journey.
A beauty whispers, a demon hides.
New passengers and passengers who have not yet reached their destination, please hold your breath and do not investigate further.
Next stop, Qingzhou.
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