Confucian and Taoist scholar

Chapter 424 Ghost Kings of Various Villages
Seeing Qing Wan cleanly and efficiently deal with the Green-Faced Demon, Chi Mei felt a chill run down her spine.

This giant ghost was even slightly more powerful than her, yet it was utterly no match for Qing Wan.

Qingwan said, "Go and clear out the ghosts here, make sure they don't hurt the villagers. Later, I'm afraid you'll have to take care of the villagers here."

“Then he…” Chi Mei looked at the jade bottle in Qing Wan’s hand.

Qingwan said calmly, "It has committed too many evils, so naturally it cannot be kept."

Ghosts are all different.

Some ghosts are born from yin energy, and their initial nature is neither good nor bad.

Some ghosts are born from various evil thoughts and malevolent energies, and are born with the ability to do all sorts of evil.

The Blue-Faced Demon is born with evil energy and is inherently vicious and violent. It is very difficult to make it change its ways unless the evil nature within it is completely eradicated.

To achieve that level of perfection, the entire ghost would probably have to be completely eradicated.

Hearing Qingwan's words, Chimei felt inexplicably fortunate, fortunate that she hadn't committed too many sins in the past.

Otherwise, when she encountered those two before, she would not have had any chance of survival.

Without the slightest hesitation, Chi Mei rushed off to clear out the ghosts and then went to the village to appease the villagers, behaving like a benevolent ghost.

Before long, the two women went to other ghost villages.

When they arrived at the next ghost village, Qingwan found that this village was well-managed and even better built than Chi Mei's ghost village.

"Huh, here..."

Chi Mei's eyes showed surprise. This was also her first time visiting this ghost village. She had never had the opportunity to come here before, except for meeting the ghost king here a few times.

Qingwan raised her hand and cast a small spell, trying to attract the attention of the ghost king here.

A moment later, an elderly man in white came out of the village, looking at the two women with a wary expression.

"Why have you two trespassed into our village?"

The old man's tone was somewhat cold, but he still tried his best to remain kind.

Qingwan's eyes flashed with a strange light, and she couldn't help but ask, "You actually cultivate Confucian and Taoist literary energy?"

Qingwan, with her sharp eyes, noticed that the old man exuded an aura of Confucianism and Taoism.

Upon hearing this, the old man looked at Qingwan and asked, "Who are you?"

Qing Wan was very polite and cupped her hands in greeting, saying, "I, Qing, cultivate righteousness and integrity, and I am a fellow traveler with you, senior."

Seeing that this old man was a good ghost, with pure ghostly energy and a scholarly air about him, Qingwan, considering herself young, addressed him as "senior."

Qingwan released a wisp of righteous energy.

The old man felt the aura of righteousness and couldn't help but show a look of surprise.

Seeing Qingwan's upright and righteous aura, the old man's attitude changed considerably. He smiled and said, "A friend has come from afar, please come in and have a seat!"

Qingwan waved her hand and said, "We would like to invite you to Chimei's place to talk about something."

Qing Wan paused for a moment, then explained, "My young master has traveled far and wide and has learned of the Ghost Village in Ghost State. He wishes to meet you Ghost Kings. If you have time, please come in for a cup of tea..."

"I am no ghost king, nor am I worthy of being called a senior." The old man laughed upon hearing this. "Very well, I will go with you."

The old man was rather curious. This young girl was able to cultivate righteous energy, so who was this extraordinary young man she mentioned?

Since the other party invited him late at night, he couldn't refuse, so he figured it wouldn't hurt to go and see.

Qingwan couldn't help but say, "We still have to go to four other ghost villages. Why don't you go ahead first, and my young master will wait for you there?"

"Alright." The old man nodded and said, "I'll go back and prepare, and then I'll go over myself later."

The old man knew where the Crimson Demon's Ghost Village was, but he had never had much interaction with the Crimson Demon.

Although he is also a ghost, he was once a human and retains his memories from his previous life. In addition, for certain reasons, he is more resistant to other so-called ghost kings.

"Then we'll take our leave now," Qingwan said.

After saying that, Qingwan led Chimei away from this ghost village.

The old man was well-versed in literature, so Qingwan wasn't worried that he would run away or refuse the invitation, and therefore didn't use any forceful methods.

Chi Mei walked to the side, her expression shifting. She had a competitor so soon. She hadn't expected that old man to be a ghost who had cultivated Confucianism and Taoism.

"I really didn't realize that," Akame muttered to herself.

If Qingwan hadn't told her, she would still be in the dark.

That old man is a Confucian scholar, and these two are also Confucian scholars.

If she didn't try her best, wouldn't she be outshone by the other person? This immediately put her under pressure.

Chi Mei then looked at Qing Wan and exclaimed in surprise, "You actually cultivate Righteous Qi! No wonder you are so good at suppressing Yin and Evil Qi. I heard that Righteous Qi is very difficult to cultivate..."

Having been a ghost for so many years, this was the first time that Chi Mei had encountered a Confucian cultivator who embodied righteousness.

Such beings are the nemesis of their ghosts; that blue-faced demon was truly deserved to be defeated.

Upon hearing this, Qing Wan said calmly, "If you do more good deeds, you might be able to cultivate a righteous spirit."

"How could that be? I'm a ghost..." Chi Mei said in disbelief.

Qing Wan said leisurely, "Who says ghosts can't cultivate righteous energy? Heaven and earth have their own way of balance, and ghost energy and righteous energy can coexist. I'm still a demon, and I still cultivate righteous energy."

Chi Mei's eyes widened, her gaze flickering as she looked at Qing Wan suspiciously, "Are you a demon?"

"Doesn't it seem like it?" Qingwan said calmly. Chimei stared at Qingwan, but the aura emanating from Qingwan prevented her from probing closely, and she couldn't tell that Qingwan was a demon.

"What kind of demon are you?" Chi Mei asked, her heart filled with curiosity.

Qingwan said calmly, "Pea grass."

"Huh?" Chi Mei's expression froze, thinking she had misheard.

She thought Qingwan had some kind of high-level demon bloodline.

Pea grass is the most common flower and grass. How could it become a spirit and cultivate the noble spirit of Confucianism and Taoism?
If Qingwan could do it, she felt she could too.

Qingwan was unimpressed by Chi Mei's shock, saying, "Even stones can become sentient, is it strange that I am?"

Chi Mei nodded. "That's very rare. I've never seen a stone become a spirit before. Have you?"

"I've met you," Qingwan said.

She had seen a sentient stone before at the Yunmeng Sect; it was a stone demon with a little intelligence, but not as powerful as her.

However, Qingwan had read some strange tales in Lu Zheng's study, which described a very powerful stone demon.

The two women walked and talked, and soon arrived at the next place.

It was another ghost village that looked relatively nice. Qingwan politely called out to the ghost king here.

When the Ghost King met the two women and learned that they wanted to invite him over for tea to discuss the development of the Ghost Village, he immediately refused.

His intuition told him that this was probably not a good thing.

Then, Qingwan took out a jade bottle and poured out the blue-faced demon inside.

The Ghost King was startled by what he saw, noticing that Qing Wan was holding a bottle in one hand and a sword in the other.

He quickly stated that his ghost village was not well-developed and that he was willing to discuss its development with everyone.

After all, his strength was not as good as the Green-Faced Demon, and he didn't want to be trapped in a bottle as well.

……

Lu Zheng stood outside the Crimson Demon's cave, gazing at the night sky and contemplating life.

In the nearby village, the night was deep and quiet, and the villagers were sleeping soundly.

Even the refugees who had just fled were all fast asleep, showing no signs of worry.

Lu Zheng thought for a moment, then approached the village and tried to set up an array around it to prevent the yin energy from corroding the villagers' bodies.

After fiddling around for a while, Lu Zheng managed to put together a formation.

This formation reduces the yin energy, which can extend the lifespan of the villagers to some extent.

Looking at his masterpiece, Lu Zheng murmured, "Learning more things really is always useful."

An elderly man in white slowly walked in from outside.

Lu Zheng noticed the old man's arrival and turned around to look.

When the old man saw Lu Zheng standing amidst the yin energy, yet completely undisturbed, he realized that the other party was the person the young girl had spoken of.

The old man cupped his hands in greeting and said, "I am Xishan, the head of a village. I greet this young master."

Lu Zheng immediately recognized the old man as a ghost, who also possessed a scholarly aura.

The other party resembles one of the people described by Chi Mei, so they must have come at the invitation of the authorities.

Lu Zheng politely returned the greeting, saying, "Lu Zheng is from Anguo."

The old man was slightly surprised upon hearing this, "An Anguo person?"

Lu Zheng smiled and said, "I am not talented, but I have been traveling around in the style of the ancient sages. I came here because I heard that a ghost king had built a village. I have come to see for myself."

The old man nodded. "Anguo is not close to here. Young Master Lu is indeed a promising young man!"

Without some skills, how could one travel to other countries? Who knows how many dangers one might encounter along the way?

Lu Zheng said, "You flatter me, sir. I still have many shortcomings, which is why I've come out to broaden my horizons. Please come inside for a chat. To be honest, I've only been in Ghost Prefecture for a few days, and I never expected there to be so many ghost villages here. It's truly unbelievable..."

"Yesterday, I encountered some refugees coming to this village, so I followed them here..."

"I never imagined that so many people from the State of Chu would choose to leave their homes and live among ghosts..."

Upon hearing Lu Zheng's words, the old man couldn't help but feel ashamed and said, "The world is unfair; I've made you laugh at me."

He was also a native of Chu during his lifetime, and he knew some of the deeds of the gods and officials of Chu, which made him feel both saddened and complicated.

Lu Zheng shook his head and said, "The people are suffering so much, how can we laugh at them?"

The old man's expression shifted, and he said softly, "Young master is kind and benevolent..."

Lu Zheng said, "I invited the ghost kings of those ghost villages tonight to make a deal with them. I will give them a ghost cultivation technique that can be cultivated to the fourth level, so that they can protect the villagers in the future and stop draining their yang energy."

Lu Zheng paused for a moment and then said, "If you agree, old man, I can also give you a cultivation technique."

Upon hearing this, the old man couldn't help but look at Lu Zheng, his eyes flashing with a strange light. He was somewhat surprised that Lu Zheng, a man from Anguo, would actually make a deal with the Ghost Kings for the sake of these people from Chu.

After a while, the old man smiled and said, "You have a kind heart, no wonder you can cultivate a righteous spirit. But I don't need to, I'm different from those ghosts."

The old man had no interest in any ghost cultivation techniques, and he never absorbed the yang energy of others to cultivate.

Aside from reading books, he usually just received offerings of incense and never thought about improving his spiritual level.

(End of this chapter)