Longevity from Liao Zhai

Chapter 147 Face Tree

Qinghe County.

Mrs. Chen Li was cracking melon seeds while the blind old man was playing the erhu cheerfully.

There hasn't been much happening in Qinghe County recently, because everything has been overshadowed by the news that Zhou Ping passed the imperial examination.

In the Qinghe County examination for students of higher learning, Zhou Ping took first place, and that was only by writing one poem.

Zhou Ping didn't finish any of the questions, but he still got first place!
Although ordinary people don’t understand how good “Spring River Moon Night” is, they know that Zhou Ping got first place in the exam.

"Zhou Ping, I think this kid has been smart since he was young!"

"You're right! I've always felt that Zhou Ping is a talented person since he was a child."

Everyone who knows Zhou Ping is praising him.

"Aunt Chen, your Erdan has a very good relationship with Zhou Ping. My daughter is only sixteen years old, look."

"Aunt Chen, the daughter of the old Li family is not good enough. Look at how thin she is. Look at my daughter, she is so strong and will definitely give birth to a son."

"Aunt Chen, these are the eggs my chickens have just laid. Please accept them. My daughter is very good and can even read."

The onlookers all wanted Chen Li to be a matchmaker for their daughters.

Zhou Ping was a bodyguard, had his own house, could write poetry, and was proficient in both literature and martial arts.

Chen Li looked around and didn't even take the eggs that others had given her.

"You guys, stop being a toad and want to eat swan meat."

"Who is Zhou Ping? The county's chief constable calls him his brother, and he also protects the He family's medicine shop."

"Besides, the two-hundred-year-old immortal Meng Daru wants to take him as his apprentice."

"That's nothing. Do you know why Master Fan Shiyi came to Qinghe County? He came to Qinghe County to take Zhou Ping to the Beijing Academy."

"Zhou Ping is from the capital now. He is no longer from Qinghe County."

Chen Li had no intention of matchmaking for Zhou Ping, nor did she intend to accept gifts from others, as she knew that the girls from these families were not worthy of Zhou Ping.

"Oh, I didn't expect Zhou Ping to be so powerful."

"That's right. I heard that Captain Leng has a very good relationship with him."

"I also heard that Zhou Ping has shares in the He family's medicine shop. He earns at least a hundred taels a year."

"Over a hundred taels!? Less than a thousand taels is more like that."

The crowd still didn't give up, they still wanted Chen Li to act as a matchmaker. After all, Chen Erdan and Zhou Ping had a good relationship.

As long as Zhou Ping can marry his daughter, it would be a step to heaven!

Not only the daughter enjoys the blessing, but the whole family also enjoys the blessing!

"Auntie Chen, look at my daughter. She can be Zhou Ping's mistress."

"Yes, yes, yes. In our family, being the third or fourth concubine is fine."

Chen Li didn't want to pay any attention to these people at all. She waved her hand and quickly hid back home.

But there were still a bunch of matchmakers blocking the Chen family’s door.

On the outskirts of the crowd, several scholars headed by Chen Chao had livid faces.

Chen Chao had never expected that Zhou Ping could write such a good poem as "Spring River, Flowers, Moon and Night"! He had never expected that the scholars' disturbance would cause Meng Jiusheng to stop accepting scholars from Qinghe County for ten years.

This incident had little impact on other people, but it had a greater impact on Chen Chao. After all, he had already obtained the qualification to study at Qianzhou Academy.

However, because of the riot caused by the scholars he instigated, the scholars of Qinghe County would not have the opportunity to enter the academy for ten years.

No more enrollment! Who told you to make trouble without any evidence?
"If I had known earlier, I shouldn't have let the scholars cause trouble." said a scholar who had entered the imperial court.

The scholars in Qinghe County were able to cause trouble because of a few of them spreading the news.

Chen Chao told several scholars about the transaction between Zhou Ping and Meng Jiusheng, and the scholars passed it on to the candidates, which led to what happened later.

They originally wanted to expose Zhou Ping's cheating to the world and then put him in jail.

However, no matter how much they planned, they never expected that Zhou Ping would actually write "Spring River Moon Night".

A song "Spring River Moon Night" helped Zhou Ping win the first place among the Tongsheng students with his strength.

"I heard that Miss Mingyue has been going to Zhou Ping's house when she has nothing to do recently."

"That's right, Miss Mingyue is already a seventh-rank official. She became a seventh-rank official thanks to the Spring River, Flowers, and Moonlight."

"What? Miss Mingyue is actually a seventh-rank?"

"No wonder, Brother Chen and I wanted to discuss poetry writing with Miss Mingyue, but she didn't agree."

"Hey, they are already at the seventh rank, we are only at the tenth rank, and Brother Chen is only at the ninth rank, which is much worse than Miss Mingyue."

The scholars who were admitted to the imperial examinations in Qinghe County felt deeply frustrated.

"Hey, Brother Chen, what's wrong with you? Why are you vomiting blood?"

"Hurry, hurry, take Brother Chen to see a doctor."

In the secret realm.

A foggy place with many dead trees.

On some of these dead trees, there are people lying on them.

Zhao Tiancheng, Wu Dafu, Pu Ren, a dozen soldiers, and three monks.

They hugged the tree, looking very happy.

If you look closely, you will find that they are not wearing pants on their lower body, and at the corresponding tree position, there is a human face, lying on their waists and sucking.

These people are thin and have sunken eyes.

After a while, three dishevelled figures rushed in.

Behind the three people is a female zombie.

The people who came were Zhou Ping, Wu Dage and Yue Yunfeng.

The three of them went through several levels before finally arriving here.

Zhou Ping's face was slightly gloomy. When he was trying to pass the level just now, he had triggered the Lingxi Finger three times in total, which was equivalent to wasting three years of his life.

The reward for this mission is only two years of life span!

By this calculation, it is definitely a loss.

When you enter this level, the panel will show that the two red dots have merged, and the life bonus has also arrived.

The three of them looked at this level cautiously.

"Zhou Ping, thank you very much." Wu Da Ge said sincerely, "The girls in our Wu family are all very beautiful. Are you interested in marrying into our family?"

After this trip, Wu Dage deeply felt that if it weren't for Zhou Ping, they would have died long ago.

The secret realm is not dangerous, but many levels test one's IQ, which is somewhat different from ordinary tomb-diving. Fortunately, Zhou Ping is quick-witted, so the few of them were able to walk through it safely.

Zhou Ping looked at the female zombie next to Yue Yunfeng and shook his head: "I still like escorting!"

Yue Yunfeng said: "Be careful, we seem to have found them."

Yue Yunfeng came to Zhao Tiancheng and pulled him down from the dead tree.

After Zhao Tiancheng was pulled down, his eyes were still cloudy and he was still in a daze.

"It seems like they've been hit by an illusion." Yue Yunfeng frowned. He wanted to rescue everyone else from the trees.

Zhou Ping looked at these strange dead trees and couldn't help but take a step back: "You two, my mission is over. I'm ready to leave."

Wu Dage was a little surprised, but Yue Yunfeng said: "No, you have to stay here."

Neither of them wanted Zhou Ping to leave. Along the way, Zhou Ping's strength amazed the two. Although Zhou Ping was an eighth-grade warrior, he was extremely powerful, especially with the ghost bride and ghost baby by his side. In addition, the Vajra was also very powerful.

Zhou Ping said: "My purpose is to rescue people and deliver things. Now that the mission is completed, I don't want to go on. The secret realm is too dangerous."

Zhou Ping entered the secret realm after making a deal with Wu Laosan and Meng Jiusheng. As long as he came to rescue people, Zhou Ping would obtain the qualification of a student.

According to Fan Shiyi, as long as Zhou Ping had the qualifications of a tongsheng, he would have the minimum qualifications to enter the Kyoto Academy.

Zhou Ping plans to go to the academy to find a backer, because his skill of Tianya Zhichi has been exposed, and he doesn't know whether he will be targeted by the Taoist Tianzong, that is, the Zhang family.

So now that the goal has been achieved, Zhou Ping doesn't want to stay in the secret realm any longer. It is too dangerous.

Yue Yunfeng didn't want Zhou Ping to leave like this, so he thought about it and the female zombie stood behind Zhou Ping.

Zhou Ping raised his eyebrows, and the ghost baby and the ghost bride appeared on both sides of him: "I really want to know which one is more powerful, your family or mine."

If Yue Yunfeng really wanted to stop him, Zhou Ping wouldn't mind fighting with him.

Wu Da Ge quickly said, "Old Yue, this is what you are wrong about. I asked Wu Lao San to invite Zhou Ping here. What qualifications do you have to let him stay here?"

Wu Dage's words left Yue Yunfeng speechless, and more importantly, he didn't have the confidence to deal with Zhou Ping.

Yue Yunfeng had no choice but to let the female zombie get out of the way. Wu Da Ge then said, "Zhou Ping, I'm willing to pay to keep you here!"

Zhou Ping shook his head: "We are not short of money, it's too dangerous."

Seeing that they couldn't keep Zhou Ping, the two men had to let him leave.

However, the three of them did not notice that the fog in the forest was gradually increasing.

Zhou Ping only felt a flash before his eyes, and then everyone around him disappeared.

"Illusion!" Zhou Ping immediately realized that this was an illusion. He quickly closed his eyes and opened the perception range of the Heavenly Spirit Method.

Even so, within the perception of the Heavenly Spirit Technique, there was still no Ghost Bride, Wu Dage, or Yue Yunfeng.

"What a powerful illusion." Zhou Ping was shocked and then looked at his own hands.

The Thousand Blades Demonic Sword and the Vajra were no longer in his hands.

At this time in the secret realm, Wu Dage, Yue Yunfeng, the ghost bride and the ghost baby were all trapped in the environment.

Small saplings began to grow where the few people were, and then grew into towering trees!
The towering trees began to wither, and then strange human faces began to grow on their trunks.

Whether humans, ghosts or zombies, they all walked towards the human-faced tree unconsciously.

Then Wu Dage and Yue Yunfeng started to take off their pants, and they were stuck in the face.

Zhou Ping was just about to take off his pants when the Ruyi robe on his left hand wrapped around his arm and then around his body.

Immediately afterwards, Zhou Ping was surrounded by the Ruyi robe like a rice dumpling.

But even so, Zhou Ping's spiritual energy was sucked away by the human face technique.

Zhao Tianben had originally been pulled down from the human face tree, but a tree with branches growing out of it pulled him back to his side.

A human-faced tree also grew next to the female zombie and the little zombie in the coffin on Yue Yunfeng's back.

The ghost bride and ghost baby were also held on a human face.

Everyone was trapped in an illusion, and all the spiritual energy in their bodies was absorbed by the human-faced tree.

If a few people walk inside, they can see many human-faced trees.

There are mummies from various eras on the human face tree.

Qinghe County.

Fan Shiyi, Liu Ruyan and He Yunqing were playing mahjong when Engineer Yuan knocked on the door and came in.

"Miss He, I can't protect you these days. The escort agency wants me to enter the secret realm." Yuan Gong said.

When they heard what Yuan Gong said, they were all shocked because Zhou Ping had also entered the secret realm.

Mr. Yuan knew what several people were worried about, he said.

"Because the son of the Qianzhou County Magistrate has entered the secret realm and is now trapped in the secret realm, the County Magistrate has ordered to rescue him!"

"The cultivators from the county offices of Qinghe County and Qingyuan County, as well as the cultivators from the escort agencies, are all on the list of those being recruited!"

All the cultivators of the Yan Family Escort Agency who have reached a certain level must go to the secret realm. After all, no one dares to disobey the order of the county governor.

Not only Yuan Gong is going, but also Captain Leng, Captain Wang Cheng, Zhang Sheng, Uncle Lame, Chen Erdan and Scar are all going to the secret realm.

After hearing what Yuan Gong said, Fan Shiyi frowned. He didn't expect that the governor of Qianzhou County would force so many people to die. She heard that many cultivators died in there these days.

The secret realm is very dangerous!

"I don't know how Zhou Ping is doing?" Liu Ruyan said worriedly.

Xiaoqing also said: "Fan Shiyi blames you. Who told you to force him to take the examination? With his talent, he could have entered the academy even if he didn't take the imperial examination."

Fan Shiyi waved his paper fan and spread his hands: "Who knew he could write Moonlight on a Spring River?"

One is "Spring River Moon Night" and the other is "Quiet Night Thoughts". One is written with gorgeous words and the other is written without gorgeous words but is very widely circulated.

These two poems are good enough to be admitted to the academy.

These two poems not only allowed Zhou Ping to enter the academy, but also allowed Fan Zhongfu to teach him personally, making Zhou Ping Fan Zhongfu's direct disciple.

Of course, the premise now is whether Zhou Ping can come back alive.

"It is said that the county magistrate has summoned thousands of cultivators below the eighth rank, ready to enter the secret realm at any time." Yuan Gong said again.

Several cultivators from the escort agency, led by Uncle Bo, are ready to set off immediately.

"I don't feel like playing anymore. I want to go to the secret realm and take a look." Xiao Qing said irritably.

Fan Shiyi sighed: "Okay, let's go to the secret realm together."

Fan Shiyi and Xiaoqing followed Engineer Yuan to the tunnel entrance.

A lot of people have gathered here.

Hundreds of people were divided into several groups.

The first part is the people from the county government, led by Leng the captain and Wang Cheng. In addition to the people from the county government, there is also Uncle Lame from the escort agency.

County Magistrate Lu also had a gloomy face, he didn't want to enter any secret place. But according to the county magistrate's request, he had to go in too!

There were several people including Chen Chao around County Magistrate Lu.

Not only that, even Mingyue was inside. Mingyue was wearing men's clothes at this time, which made her look less noticeable.

According to the county magistrate's request, anyone who is qualified must enter!

The second part is some martial arts practitioners.

They were not under the command of the county magistrate, but were hired by him! Money can make the devil work, let alone people.

The third group consisted of some independent cultivators. They came in groups of three or five, or alone, and their clothes were also different.

The independent cultivators want to enter the secret realm on their own, but they are prepared to follow the main group and take advantage of any gaps.

After Fan Shiyi arrived, County Magistrate Lu rushed to Fan Shiyi as if he had seen a savior and said, "Master Fan, you see, the county governor is forcing us to enter the secret realm! We are scholars."

Fan Shiyi sighed: "Let's go."

She knew that Magistrate Lu wanted her to save him and prevent him from entering the secret realm.

It’s just that although Fan Shiyi was famous, he did not hold an official position, so he could not influence the county magistrate’s thoughts at all.

There was sadness in County Magistrate Lu's eyes, and then he waved his hand.

Wang Cheng gave the order to set off, and the group marched into the tunnel in a mighty manner.

(End of this chapter)