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Chapter 506 Grandmaster Toad Jinye

Mr. Wenqi had clearly expended a great deal of mental and physical effort to help Xu Yuan subdue these four third-rate artifacts.

If he truly didn't seek anything in return and was only doing it to vent his anger... Xu Yuan felt uneasy about it.

I doubt whether everything he said is true or false.

But now Mr. Wenqi is asking for benefits very directly, which is very much in line with his personality.

Xu Yuan calmly raised one hand and said, "Please speak, sir."

Mr. Wenqi shook his head and said, "I gave you third-rate benefits, so naturally I should repay you in a third-rate way."

Let me think about it... Hmm, in a few months, your family will be reinforcing the restraints on Master Ruan Tian's body..."

Xu Yuan's expression changed, and he was about to speak...

Mr. Wenqi glanced at him dismissively: "You criminal from Hegong Lane, since His Highness is coming, of course someone will investigate everything about you thoroughly beforehand..."

Xu Yuan asked coldly, "Just who are you?"

Mr. Wenqi did not answer; in that instant, the eccentric, cynical, and unrestrained temperament that came with the "eccentric scholar" vanished.

It was as if a thick cloud had suddenly dispersed, revealing the true dragon hidden within!
"Under Master Ruan Tian, ​​there are nine masters with the title 'Master' and fifteen masters with the title 'Father.' I want a wisp of 'resentful aura' from the 'Grand Master Toad Gold Master' among them."

Just as Xu Yuan was about to ask what "Yuan Tai Qi" was, Mr. Wen Qi said, "When you actually meet the Grand Master Chan Jin, you will naturally understand what it is."

"Grandmaster Chan Jin, ranked eighth among the nine masters, is indeed only a third-rate figure. I won't make things difficult for you."

Xu Yuan frowned and waited a while longer. When Mr. Wenqi stopped talking, he finally spoke up: "You knew all along that Song Weiming and the Shanhe Division relied on 'pregnancy,' but you didn't give us any hints."

So, they waited for me to kill Du Jincheng, then bestowed favors upon me, and then used those favors to seek revenge, wanting this 'resentful aura'?"

Mr. Wenqi gave a thumbs up: "Good lad, I knew I hadn't misjudged you!"

"Are you so sure that I, a fourth-rate craftsman, can defeat Du Jincheng, who is dressed in third-rate craftsmanship?"

Mr. Wenqi gave him a deep look and said, "There are no mediocre people among the six surnames of criminals!"

Xu Yuan looked directly at Mr. Wen Qi, his gaze direct and his words even more direct: "What are your true intentions in hiding by His Highness's side?"

"Trying to trick me?" Mr. Wenqi sneered. "Kid, you're still too green. Even your father, Xu Huanyang, wouldn't be enough..."

Mr. Wenqi's expression suddenly turned as if he had eaten shit.

Why did the name "Xu Huanyang" come out so fluently and naturally?
I've clearly become wary; could this kid trick me into revealing something?!
Xu Yuan knew that this was the effect of his destiny "ruling the world".

"You know my father?"

Mr. Wenqi narrowed his eyes slightly, realizing something: "The power of destiny? Amazing, even I was caught off guard."

Mr. Wenqi stroked his chin and suddenly realized, "That's it! Every generation of 'Du Jincheng' has been a person whose life is of utmost importance."

Du Jincheng's fate must be suppressed by Sui Wuhan in the General Administration.

Sui Wuhan's destiny is "Martial Arts Prodigy", which means that anyone who is known by him will be suppressed by him.

He sent the 'Pregnant Life' to Jiaozhi, so he must have known of your existence, but Du Jincheng is dead—even Sui Wuhan's martial arts skills couldn't suppress you!

"Good lad! What exactly is your destiny?!"

Mr. Wenqi knew that Xu Yuan was a cultivator of destiny, but he did not know the specifics of his destiny.

Xu Yuan is certain that Mr. Wenqi knows his father, but he is unsure of the nature of their relationship.

Xu Yuan couldn't possibly say.

Mr. Wenqi also refused to say.

The old man and the young boy just stared at each other, wide-eyed.

Finally, Mr. Wenqi leaned back, all his shrewdness and sharpness vanished, and he reverted to his unrestrained and cynical self.

"Never mind, just remember to bring me the resentful aura of 'Grand Master Toad Gold' in the future."

Xu Yuan, however, refused to give up easily and retorted, "If I don't give them to you, will these four artifacts in my sword pellet be controlled by your cinnabar inscriptions and rebel?"

Mr. Wenqi raised his eyebrows and shrugged, offering no reply.

……

Xu Yuan returned to his residence and carefully examined the sword pellet.

However, no restrictions left by those cinnabar inscriptions were found.

Mr. Wenqi is either His Majesty's man or the Dragon King of the Grand Canal.

But why does he know his own father?

According to my memory, my father never left Shanhe County in his entire life—of course, he might have left when I was very young, but I don't remember it at all.

But if Xu Huanyang had such great abilities that he could have sparred with the third-rate Mr. Wen Qi, how come he died in his forties?
……

As darkness fell, Song Weiming fled back to Hue.

The soldiers inside the city gate, seeing a group of people approaching on horseback from afar, exchanged glances and loudly chanted in unison, "The time has come—"

"Close the city gates—"

This is a common tactic they use: they wait until it gets dark and see that there are "fat sheep" who haven't yet entered the city.

They deliberately shouted that they wanted to close the city gates.

If the fat sheep want to enter the city, they have to pay them tribute.

But today we've run into a brick wall.

Song Weiming suffered a lot of anger in Champa.

Seeing that it was still dark, these ruffians were already trying to control him by closing the city gates—Song Weiming raised his hand:

The identity token transformed into a white lightning bolt, instantly traversing a hundred feet and striking the sergeant precisely in the face.

Snapped!
He was immediately slapped all over the face!
The corporal fainted on the spot and fell straight to the ground.

The remaining men, upon seeing the ivory plaque embedded in their sergeant's face, trembled in fear and knelt down on either side of the road, stammering and unable to even utter a complete "Welcome, sir."

Song Weiming rode past with a stern face, flicking his whip and leaving a deep welt on everyone's face!

Then, with a flick of the whip, he took the ivory token.

The group of horses galloped into the city and headed straight for the Shanhe Si (the government office of the Ministry of Natural Resources).

Chaos erupted within the Shanhe Division!

It's getting dark soon, how come the new commander has already taken office?
My lord, what you are doing is against the rules.

You must first send someone ahead to the government office to inform them of your whereabouts so that we can prepare to welcome you.

You've caught us completely off guard...

Almost all the senior officials in the government office have already left their posts.

Song Weiming only managed to vent some of his pent-up anger at the city gate.

What's the point of showing off to a few ordinary soldiers?
Song Weiming was ready to take advantage of his anger and ignite three more fires!

"Call all inspectors and above back!" Song Weiming ordered without hesitation: "Those who fail to arrive by three drumbeats will be punished with twenty strokes of the cane!"

"If the five drumbeats are not heard by the time the punishment is completed, one hundred strokes of the cane shall be given!"

He completely ignored the ugly expressions on the faces of his subordinates.

The officers hurriedly ran out of the yamen to find their superiors.

Zhu Yangping was also urgently called back.

Song Weiming was urging him on so urgently that Zhu Yangping didn't have time to change into his official robes. He could only set off first and change his clothes in the carriage.

As you approach the government office, you can hear the booming sound of drums.

Zhu Yangping sneered inwardly: "Something's definitely up to no good—this guy's been so irritable since he took office, he must have been upset somewhere else."

Zhu Yangping was very dissatisfied.

His elder brother, Zhu Yangshun, failed in his bid to become the commander of Jiaozhi.

Song Weiming was placed under pressure from above.

Zhu Yangping had made up his mind not to let Song Weiming take control of the Jiaozhi Administration.

Zhu Yangping is good at handling cases, but not at being an official.

He knew perfectly well that the imperial court had already issued the appointment and that Song Weiming had already taken office.

No matter how uncooperative he is, it will not change the outcome—on the contrary, he may become a sacrifice for Song Weiming to "establish his authority".

But Zhu Yangping just couldn't swallow this insult!

When he arrived at the yamen, he strode inside.

They had a menacing air about them.

He was accompanied by an old subordinate, who was also a member of the Zhu family.

Seeing that Zhu Yangping's attitude was not right, he quickly grabbed his arm: "Sir, don't be impulsive!"

Zhu Yangping shook off his hand: "I know what I'm doing."

The subordinate shook his head and hurriedly followed.

Inside the main hall of the government office, Song Weiming was sternly reprimanding everyone who had arrived.

"...Do you find my words offensive? Then don't embarrass the Shanhe Division!"

You all managed to remain officials so calmly after being humiliated by a mere servant from the Bureau of Purification in front of your own gates?
Don't you have the slightest sense of shame?

If I were one of you, I would have resigned long ago, shut myself away from visitors, and been too ashamed to face anyone!

Zhu Yangping stood silently at the very back.

Let's see how things go...

But Song Weiming spotted him immediately and sneered again, "The Zhu family has arrived? Hehehe, I heard that the Zhu family occupies half of the country in Jiaozhi Shanhe Division!"
But your child is said to have a very good relationship with that Xu Yuan.

"Our Jiaozhi office suffered a complete defeat, was it because of an internal traitor?"

Zhu Yangping couldn't stand it any longer. He stood up, his face full of anger, and was about to speak when suddenly someone rushed out from the back room and was about to whisper in Song Weiming's ear.

Song Weiming glared at him: "What are you hiding? What can't you say?"

The trusted aide could only whisper, "Sir, the General Headquarters sent a message to He Minglu... it's from Lord Sui."

Song Weiming's expression changed, and he hurriedly went back to the back hall, no longer bothering to reprimand the people in the Jiaozhi Bureau.

In the creaking drum, Sui Wuhan's voice was truly as cold as ice: "Song Weiming, what kind of job did you do in Jiaozhi? The 'Pregnancy' sensation has been completely lost!"

"what?!"

When Song Weiming fled from Champa at noon, he still thought it was impossible for Xu Yuan to have returned four third-rate crafts. As long as he had that fetal skin, he could get the 'pregnancy' back sooner or later.

Unexpectedly, the headquarters discovered that the fetal skin could no longer sense the four artifacts!
Sui Wuhan realized that the true owner of "pregnancy"... that third-rate woman was a madwoman!
Her mental state is no longer quite normal.

She truly treated pregnancy and childbirth as her "child"!
This time, it was only after Sui Wuhan repeatedly assured her that he would take good care of "my nephew" that "Yun Sheng" was lent out... If that crazy woman found out that her "child" was gone, wouldn't she try to kill him?!

"What exactly happened?" Sui Wuhan pressed.

Song Weiming couldn't answer.

As soon as Du Jincheng was defeated, he ran away.

"Your subordinate, your subordinate..."

Hearing his evasive answers, Sui Wuhan grew even more furious: "Where are you now?"

Song Weiming dared not conceal the truth: "Your subordinate... just returned to Hue?"

"What are you doing in Hue?" Sui Wuhan demanded, and immediately understood. He gritted his teeth and cursed, "You piece of trash! You get back to Champa right now, find out what happened, and see if there's any way to salvage the situation!"

"It's already dark..."

"Travel through the night!" Sui Wuhan left no room for negotiation: "If you dare delay even a moment, I'll skin you alive, pull out your tendons, and turn you into a mere artifact!" "Yes! Your subordinate will return immediately."

……

In the main hall of the government office, everyone was still waiting for the commander to continue his "instruction".

Several more people arrived after Zhu Yangping, and by the time the fifth drumbeat sounded, everyone had arrived.

They whispered messages to each other.

Actually, there's only one piece of news: this time it might not be easy to get through.

Everyone subconsciously distanced themselves from Zhu Yangping.

The commander seems to be intentionally targeting the Zhu family.

Let's stay away, so the blood doesn't splatter on us.

Suddenly, everyone heard a series of hurried footsteps coming from the back room.

So they quickly stood up straight with their hands at their sides, no longer daring to whisper among themselves.

Unexpectedly, the commander led his men out of the back hall and, without stopping for a moment, rushed straight out of the yamen!
"This..." Everyone looked at each other in confusion.

So he secretly gave his subordinates a signal, and the junior officers quietly followed behind their commander.

Before long, the junior officers returned, looking bewildered. "The commander went straight to the south gate without stopping, and opened the gate to leave the city!"

"This, this..." The crowd suddenly realized, "They left again?"

He inexplicably arrived to take up his post before dark.

As a result, less than an hour later, before he had had enough of showing off his power, he left the city again under the stars and moon!

Anyone could guess that the commander was in a bad situation.

It must have been during the resounding clatter of the bells that a powerful figure from the northern capital scolded him.

"Hahaha!" Zhu Yangping laughed loudly. "You think you can take on the Zhu family? You'd better protect yourself first!"

Zhu Yangping walked home smugly, hands behind his back.

Upon arriving home, he asked, "Is my elder brother home?"

This matter needs to be discussed properly with Zhu Yangshun.

The position of commander of Jiaozhi is not yet truly settled.

Brother, you still have a chance!
……

In Luhua Village, there is a famous local snack.

It is made by mixing tofu and minced meat together, crushing them, steaming them, and then eating them with a specially prepared sauce.

The most delicious combination for this snack is black bean tofu pudding mixed with minced beef.

The Ming Dynasty prohibited the killing of cattle, but this had been largely ignored for centuries.

Butchers had various connections to obtain permits to slaughter cattle from the government.

The day before yesterday, after the fox sisters retrieved the poisonous substance from the well, an old man moved into the village.

Having enjoyed this delicacy for two days in the village, he seemed to have finally had his fill and left this evening.

If Xu Yuan were here, he would definitely recognize that this old man is Mr. Wen Qi.

There is a Mr. Wenqi in Zhancheng, and there is also a Mr. Wenqi in Luhua Village.

He left the village and headed towards Xiaoyushan.

He didn't seem to be walking very fast, but before it got dark, he reached the depths of Xiaoyu Mountain.

Along the way, all the evil spirits ignored him.

It was that pack of "clever" weasels under Lord Xu's command who, despite clearly seeing a living person enter Xiaoyu Mountain at night, subconsciously assumed:
There's nothing strange about that.

Mr. Wenqi determined the direction and entered Guiwu Mountain along Xiaoyu Mountain.

Xiaoyushan is a branch of Guiwushan.

The same was true in Ghost Mountain; all sorts of evil spirits passed by him without even glancing at him.

Mr. Wenqi got tired from walking, so he picked a poisonous fruit from a nearby tree, rubbed it on his body, and took a bite to taste it.

Then he exclaimed, "Indeed, even poisonous creatures taste delicious!"

After eating a fruit, he ventured dozens of miles deeper into the mountains, where he was finally discovered by a large tree on the mountaintop.

This is an old willow tree.

Not a single willow leaf adorned the hundreds of slender, supple branches.

At the end of each branch hung a blood-stained lantern.

The lanterns turned, but they turned out to be not lanterns at all, but bloodshot eyes!
This mountain peak is thousands of feet high.

The summit was bare except for this one willow tree.

The willow tree's "eyes" monitor four directions.

Mr. Wenqi was not discovered at first.

It wasn't until the mountain peaks blew, turning more of the "lantern eyes" toward Mr. Wenqi's direction, that the old willow tree realized something was wrong and turned all its lantern eyes in this direction.

That's how Mr. Wenqi was discovered.

At the base of the thousand-foot-tall stone peak, boulders gathered and coalesced into a ten-foot-tall rock mouth: "Stop!"

Mr. Wenqi casually sat down on a rock and said, "I've come to see the Grand Master Chan Jinye and tell him that Brother Qi has arrived."

The giant rock mouth then transformed once more into two enormous stone legs, which thumped around the mountain peak and disappeared to somewhere to deliver a message.

At the summit, all the lantern eyes of the old willow tree were fixed on Mr. Wenqi.

Mr. Wenqi said with some dissatisfaction: "Xiao Jin and I are friends!"

The old willow tree couldn't speak, but its lantern-like eyes stared unblinkingly at him.

These so-called "friends"... seem to have an extreme lack of mutual trust.

Mr. Wenqi muttered to himself, "That toad still has such a temper. He holds a grudge over such a small thing."

"Just a small matter?"

The pair of stone legs came running back with a thud, transforming back into a huge mouth, roaring at Mr. Wenqi: "You almost got me captured by the supervisor and turned into a money-making toad!"

Mr. Wenqi waved his hand: "Almost is a big difference. You're perfectly fine, aren't you?"

The giant rock mouth roared, "Get out! Get out now! Don't try to fool me again! I'm warning you, my temper has been getting worse and worse over the past few decades!"
Don't push me to the point of turning against you, merging you into a vengeful spirit, and sending you to be reincarnated!

"I've come all the way from Beidu to see you, and you won't even show your face?"

The Grand Master Chan Jinye spoke through the giant rock's mouth: "There's no need to avoid meeting. Xu Huanyang has already taken that item of yours."

Mr. Wenqi was taken aback and subconsciously said, "So fast..."

What happened in between?
Xu Huanyang returned from the underworld several months earlier than planned.

Mr. Wenqi stroked his chin, head bowed in thought: "Is this a good thing or a bad thing...?"

……

At daybreak, Song Weiming and his men, dressed in plain clothes, entered Champa through the north gate.

But then they saw a small group of people, but their faces were solemn, heading straight for the Champa office of the Exorcism Bureau.

Song Weiming recognized the one who was in charge.

"The Sun family?"

Knowing that Sun Shou was under house arrest by His Highness, Song Weiming's heart skipped a beat: "These people from the Sun family are an excellent stepping stone!"

The one leading the group was Sun Shou's second uncle, Sun Li, a rare fourth-rate alchemist who was quite famous in Beidu.

He once collected a ball of "thunderbolt fire" and, after refining it, rose to the fourth rank.

This fire perfectly matched his temperament; this guy was inherently fiery.

Moreover, he never married, and there was a rumor in Beidu that he wanted to have his grandson, Sun Shou, carry on his family line.

Song Weiming followed quietly behind, guessing that Sun Li must have been doing business in Jiaozhi at the time, which was why he received the news and was able to bring his men over so quickly.

What puzzled Song Weiming was that Sun Li did not head straight for the Jiaozhi Office, but instead turned a corner and arrived at a small house.

Then, with a wave of his hand, several of his retainers dispersed the passersby in front of the gate, and Sun Li opened his mouth and spat out—

A sword pellet was shot out, transforming into a three-zhang-long fire dragon in mid-air, which crashed into the gate of the courtyard!
"boom……"

The main gate turned to ashes, and even the gatehouse collapsed.

There was only one maid and one old servant in the courtyard.

The maid screamed in fright and ran out of the side room. She saw the dragon formed from the sword pellet rushing in from the ruins of the gate tower. She was so frightened that she slipped and fell to the ground with a thud, her face pale and her whole body trembling.

The old servant clutched his chest, his face pale with anger: "Do you...do you know whose house this is?"

This is Xu Yuan's house.

Xu Yuan doesn't live here often, but his alchemy room is located here.

Sun Li walked in with his hands behind his back. The fire dragon sword pellet circled the courtyard once more before suddenly rushing down towards a house.

"boom--"

The impact caused the house to collapse again, bursting into flames, and the contents inside were quickly reduced to ashes.

The maid and the old servant were stunned—that room was Xu Yuan's alchemy room!
Sun Li then opened his mouth—and the fire dragon was swallowed into his stomach.

Sun Li said coldly, "Go tell Xu Yuan that Sun Li from Beidu wants to learn a thing or two from him!"
"I destroyed this house; whatever it's worth, I'll compensate him."

The maid got up on her own, helped the old servant, and they went shakily to the government office to report the news.

Sun Li had a fiery temper.

Sun Shou was essentially rendered useless.

He couldn't swallow this insult.

But Princess Ruicheng was living in the office—even without Princess Ruicheng, he couldn't just smash the gate of the Purification Department office.

In recent years, he has been traveling back and forth between Zhengzhou and Jiaozhi to trade goods.

He was very familiar with Jiaozhi (Vietnam).

Some of the business owners under his control were stationed in Champa, which is why they knew that Xu Yuan actually had such a house in the city.

First, they smashed Xu Yuan's door to vent their anger.

As for whether Sun Shou's fate was Xu Yuan's fault... Sun Li believed that His Highness would not have been so "heartless" towards Sun Shou if he had not met Xu Yuan.

Upon hearing the news, Xu Yuan left the government office without saying a word and headed straight for his residence.

Aunt Wang helped her set up the alchemy room.

Xu Yuan didn't care about the house; even if Sun Li smashed the gate, Xu Yuan wouldn't really get angry.

But you destroyed the alchemy room that Aunt Wang built for me, so this matter cannot be left unresolved!
Lang Xiaoba hurriedly called out, "Quick, quick, keep up!"

"Someone dared to vandalize our master's house; they're really asking for trouble."

Song Weiming led his men into a courtyard across the street, captured the family of five, and handed them ten taels of silver, saying, "Don't make a sound. We won't hurt anyone."

We're leaving; this silver is yours.

If they start shouting and yelling, our knives might just be sharp enough to catch them!

(End of this chapter)