Longevity from Liao Zhai

Chapter 133 Then tonight
Zhou Pingan walked out of the secret book safely, and the ghost bride immediately floated to his side.

Wu Da Ge breathed a sigh of relief. Both Xiao Qing and the ghost bride were difficult to deal with, and he didn't want to fight with them.

Yue Yunfeng was relieved when he saw Zhou Ping leaving the secret realm. He smiled apologetically at Zhou Ping. He thought Zhou Ping was a good person, but if he had not prepared to enter the secret realm, he would have died.

Yue Yunfeng didn't allow himself to die, because he still had people he cared about and things he needed to do.

So Yue Yunfeng knew that Zhou Ping was going to save him, but he couldn't save him.

"I'm glad you're okay." Fan Shiyi breathed a sigh of relief.

Xiao Qing also said: "Zhou Ping, it's so dangerous, why are you going in? If you go to save others, they won't be willing to save you."

Zhou Ping immediately understood the situation and knew why he felt that the two groups were about to fight as soon as he came out.

The secret realm does not allow seventh-grade people to enter, but allows eighth-grade people to enter.

Fan Shiyi, Xiaoqing, the Ghost Bride and Wu Dage are all unable to go in, and the strength of the others is too weak. Only Yue Yunfeng can go in to help him.

But Zhou Ping did not blame Yue Yunfeng. Helping you is a favor, not helping you is my duty.

What's more, he entered the secret realm because he received Wu Dage's treasure.

After Zhou Ping came out, he told everyone what happened inside. No one asked about Fa Yuan's situation. Fa Yuan did not come out, and everyone assumed that he was killed by zombies.

This made Zhou Ping feel relieved. He thought Wu Dage would ask whether Fa Yuan was alive or dead.

I didn’t expect that Fa Yuan was not important at all in the eyes of everyone.

Qinghe County.

Zhou Ping and Fan Shiyi left the ancient tomb.

They stayed there just to watch the fun. After they watched the fun and learned about the relationship between Yue Yunfeng and the female zombie, there was no point in staying there.

Zhou Ping didn’t have many thoughts about the secret realm. He already had a storage jade and there was enough space, so having one more storage jade wouldn’t be of much use.

What's more, a zombie is so difficult to deal with.

At that time, Zhou Ping understood the situation in the secret realm through his perception range.

The place where the zombies are seems to be an altar. Beyond the altar is a cave entrance, and the real tomb should be on the other side of the cave entrance.

Zhou Ping perceived that there were many skeletons deep in the cave.

The risk and reward are not proportional, so Zhou Ping is not going to go in.

Yue Yunfeng and Wu Dage were not prepared to go in when Zhou Ping and others left. According to their discussion, they needed more preparation.

To enter the secret realm, not only people are needed, but also various things that can enter the tomb.

On the city gate of Qinghe County, yamen runners were posting notices.

Fan Shiyi glanced at it and then looked at the notice.

"Zhou Ping, the Tongsheng examination is coming soon, do you want to give it a try?" Fan Shiyi asked.

The examinations in the Wei Dynasty were divided into tongsheng, xiucai and jinshi.

The Tongsheng examination is held every year in various counties.

The scholar examination was held every two years in nine counties.

As for the Jinshi examination, it was held every three years in Kyoto.

Autumn is coming soon, so the examination for students of higher learning will be held soon.

Zhou Ping shook his head, indicating that he had no interest.

"The imperial examination does not conflict with your other practices."

“Many people practice Confucianism alongside other spiritual practices.”

"For example, Yan Chixia, he is a Confucian and Taoist practitioner."

Fan Shiyi introduced: "Taking the imperial examination and practicing to enter the officialdom can also help people achieve breakthroughs in their cultivation."

Yan Chixia! Zhou Ping's heart was slightly moved. He knew that this was the world of Liao Zhai. Pudu Cihang had already appeared, so Yan Chixia must also exist.

Zhou Ping didn't expect Yan Chixia to be so famous. Even Fan Shiyi knew this person.

But Zhou Ping didn't know that Yan Chixia was a Taoist priest. In Zhou Ping's memory, Yan Chixia was definitely a Taoist priest.

"What is the level of Confucian cultivation of this Yan Chixia?" Zhou Ping asked.

Fan Shiyi gently waved his paper fan: "Confucianism has ten ranks, Taoism has four ranks."

Zhou Ping said with a sigh: "Fourth-grade Taoist, amazing!"

Fan Shiyi smiled and said, "Do you know how he became a fourth-rank Taoist?"

Zhou Ping shook his head.

Fan Shiyi introduced Yan Chixia's situation to Zhou Ping.

Yan Chixia was just a Confucian scholar at first, and he did not practice Taoism. His idea was to rectify the administration of officials and rule for the people.

However, after serving as an official for many years, he found that he was simply powerless to fight against the darkness of the times.

Disillusioned, Yan Chixia gave up on literature and reached the fourth level of Taoism in just one year.

"So, passing the imperial examination and entering the world is helpful for cultivation." Fan Shiyi advised Zhou Ping again, "Besides, the Wei Dynasty keeps a record of all the scholars. If a scholar dies, the government must find out the cause of death, so ordinary people rarely take action against scholars."

Zhou Ping was somewhat tempted. If, as Fan Shiyi said, taking the imperial examination and entering the world would help one's cultivation, then taking the imperial examination would not be a bad thing.

Moreover, the Wei Dynasty valued civil service over military service, and once one passed the examination for a scholar, he would enter the talent pool of the Wei Dynasty. Anyone who dared to attack a scholar would have to think twice.

This would give Zhou Ping an extra amulet.

If you can’t pass the exam, then you can’t pass the exam.

"What are the tests about?" Zhou Ping became interested.

Fan Shiyi smiled and said, "One is a poem, and the other is a policy paper."

After listening to this, Zhou Ping nodded and said, "Forget it, I won't take the exam."

I can copy poems, but I don’t know how to write policy essays.

Fan Shiyi wanted to persuade him again: "I am confident that I can teach you well within a month and let you pass the examination to become a Tongsheng."

"Forget it, I know nothing about policy theory." Zhou Ping decided to give up. From childhood to adulthood, the thing he feared most was writing essays.

Seeing that Zhou Ping really had no idea about the imperial examination, Fan Shiyi stopped trying to persuade him.

However, Xiaoqing turned into a human and came to the city gate.

There were several yamen runners at the city gate, registering people for the Tongsheng examination.

"Excuse me, excuse me." Xiaoqing squeezed through the crowd and wrote the words "Zhou Ping" on it.

Inside the ancient tomb.

A man escaped from the secret realm, but he was pulled back as soon as he got half of his body out.

Wu Dage sneered and crossed his legs with his short body.

Yue Yunfeng was wiping his coffin, and the female zombie was inside the coffin.

In fact, there is not only an adult female zombie in the coffin, but also a little zombie. If you look closely, the little zombie looks a bit like Yue Yunfeng.

"This is the seventh wave of people going in, and they're all dead." Wu Dage said with a sinister smile.

The rules of the secret realm are similar to those of the tomb.

The Wu family is professional when it comes to tomb robbing, and Wu Da Ge is the best among the best. Even he doesn't have the confidence to go in, let alone others. Wu Da Ge has already learned the basic situation of the secret realm from Yue Yunfeng.

When you first enter, you see an altar with a tripod on it and a soldier zombie guarding the tripod.

When they first went in, the warrior zombies had not yet awakened, so Yue Yunfeng led his men into the secret realm.

Inside, deep in a mountain, is an ancient tomb filled with traps.

However, before Wu Da Ge could open the door, the younger brothers around him died and the soldier zombies also woke up.

"The zombie guarding the gate alone has a sixth-grade cultivation level. The tomb owner must be of very high status." Wu Dage licked his lips, his eyes full of greed.

Unlike ordinary treasure hunters, Wu Dage has experienced many life and death situations in ancient tombs, so he knows better the dangers of ancient tombs in secret realms.

The gatekeepers are all sixth-grade, and there may be fifth-grade and fourth-grade people inside. The tomb owner’s cultivation is likely to be above third-grade.

The mortality rate in such a secret realm is very high, and it is impossible for Wu Dage to possess it alone. He must rely on the power of his family.

So Wu Dage sent his men back to Qianzhou City to report the news. According to the time calculation, it would take at least a month.

During this month, Wu Dage was not worried that anyone could enter the secret realm and break into the ancient tomb.

In the entire Qianzhou County, there are only a few people doing business in tombs. Wu Dage himself doesn't have the confidence that he can pass the customs smoothly, let alone these people who do business in tombs.

Among his peers, he dared to say he was second to none when it came to visiting tombs, and no one dared to say he was first.

Yue Yunfeng nodded: "That escort is very powerful!"

No one knew the dangers of the tomb, especially the power of zombies, better than Yue Yunfeng. He didn't expect Zhou Ping to walk out of the tomb as if he was strolling in the garden.

"Yes, he was accompanied by a seventh-rank ghost bride, and he was not at all panicked when he left the secret realm, which means he was able to handle it with ease." Wu Dage said with a serious expression.

After the two finished talking, they stopped talking. They didn't expect that Zhou Ping, who was an eighth-rank cultivator, could survive the zombies without even getting hurt.

"I think no one in the Wu family with cultivation below the eighth rank can surpass the little escort. We can hire him to go to the tomb." Yue Yunfeng said.

Wu Da Ge laughed and said, "If we talk about fighting, the younger generation of the Wu family will definitely not be able to beat him. Even I don't have the confidence that I can beat him. But when it comes to going to the tomb, he can't do it."

Every profession has its own expertise. Wu Dage thought it was pointless to ask Zhou Ping to do the tomb-destroying task, even though Zhou Ping was very powerful.

The two stopped talking, and another group of people, about a dozen or so, came over because they admired the place.

These dozen people came to Qinghe County and Qingyuan County to look for treasure. Among them, five were of the eighth rank, four were of the ninth rank, and three were of the tenth rank.

These people were a little surprised when they saw Wu Dage and Yue Yunfeng.

Wu Dage is a dwarf, and Yue Yunfeng carries a coffin on his back. Ordinary people would find it strange to see them.

"Hey, shorty, why don't you enter the secret realm?" One of them said proudly. He was an eighth-rank cultivator and the leader of these dozen people.

Although he was only an eighth-rank warrior, he relied on his family's spear skills and was not at a disadvantage even against a seventh-rank warrior.

A trace of anger flashed in Wu Da's eyes. He hated it most when people said he was short, but he suppressed his anger and said in a flattering way, "We went in before, but we got hurt so we retreated. The zombies inside were too powerful and we couldn't handle them."

The group learned from Wu Dage that there were zombies inside and they were very satisfied.

"Besides zombies, what else is there?"

"I don't know about that. Our skills are low and we couldn't even defeat the zombies, so we escaped."

Wu Dage still looks very humble.

"Hey, you can't even beat zombies, you two are really weaklings." The leader of the dozen or so people looked at Wu Dage and Yue Yunfeng sarcastically, then waved his hand and led his men into the secret realm.

"Boss, there are only two of them, and they look like they are only at the tenth rank, so they are definitely not as good as us."

"Yes, we have five eighth-grade, four ninth-grade, and three tenth-grade. With this kind of power, no zombie is afraid of it."

When they heard that there was a secret place here, they rushed here in a hurry, fearing that someone else would get there first.

These people ignored Wu Dage and Yue Yunfeng, and began to enter the secret realm.

"Old Yue, how many of these people do you think can survive?" Wu Dage asked with a laugh.

Yue Yunfeng hesitated for a moment and said, "Maybe three or four can escape."

Wu Da Ge laughed: "I think they all have to die."

About an incense stick of time later, someone poked half of his body out of the secret realm. His face was covered in blood and his eyes were filled with fear.

This man was the leader of a dozen people. He and a dozen of his brothers encountered zombies.

However, this zombie was too strong, and even a dozen of them were no match for it. After a short while, only five of the dozen brothers were left.

The boss saw that the situation was not right and quickly called for people to escape. He really didn't expect that the zombies in the secret realm would be so powerful.

"Damn dwarf, he didn't even tell me that zombies are so powerful!" The boss cursed Wu Da Ge secretly. If Wu Da Ge had said a few more words, they would have been more cautious, at least so many people would not have died.

The boss escaped halfway from the secret realm, but was greeted by Wu Dage's fist.

Wu Da Ge had been waiting at the entrance of the secret realm. He punched the man back into the secret realm.

In the secret realm, there were still three people standing there, all of them lining up to flee frantically. They couldn't beat them, they couldn't beat them at all.

The warrior zombies are too powerful, even five eighth-grade ones can’t defeat them!

However, on their way to escape, their old man was kicked out from the entrance of the secret realm. Several of them had no time to dodge and were knocked to the ground.

During this time, the warrior zombies killed three more people. Their boss was also killed by the warrior zombies.

The remaining two people had no intention of fighting. They struggled to get out of the secret realm, but Wu Da Ge beat them back at the entrance of the secret realm.

This time, the only two remaining people were also killed by the warrior zombies.

About a cup of tea later, Wu Da Ge took out the toad from his arms, tied a string to it, and threw it into the secret realm.

As soon as it was thrown into the secret realm, Wu Dage pulled the toad back.

"How about it?"

"They're all dead. The zombies are eating human flesh."

Wu Dage learned about the situation inside through the toad.

"Old Yue, see, I was right, they are all dead." Wu Dage said with a smile.

Yue Yunfeng lowered his head and said nothing. He knew that Wu Dage hated it most when people looked down on his height. You could say anything about him, but you couldn't say he was short.

Yue Yunfeng has followed his master since he was a child, and he is also the uncle of Wu Dage, so he is familiar with his peers in the Wu family.

Wu Dage is very strong, but because of his dwarf stature he is often bullied by his peers.

However, since his lover turned into a zombie, Yue Yunfeng did not cremate her, but kept her with him. He violated the Wu family's taboo, so he was not tolerated by the Wu family.

If other members of the Wu family met Yue Yunfeng, they would definitely try to steal his lover's zombie body for cremation.

Wu Dage and Yue Yunfeng are in similar situations, so their relationship is better, and he will not attack Yue Yunfeng.

"More than a dozen people died, including five eighth-grade ones. Could it be that the young escort master's cultivation was stronger than those of the five eighth-grade ones?" Yue Yunfeng no longer cared about the lives of these people, but thought of Zhou Ping again.

Wu Da Ge's expression changed slightly. "That's true. It was very difficult for me to deal with these dozen people. They couldn't beat the zombies inside, but the escort came out safely."

The two men stopped talking and they had the idea of ​​hiring Zhou Ping.

In Qinghe County, Zhou Ping's face changed over a dozen expressions in an instant, including expectation, struggle, entanglement, worry, etc.

The ghost bride said, "My husband, I can't suppress my desire any more."

Zhou Ping was silent for a long time: "Okay, then tonight!"

(End of this chapter)