Confucian and Taoist scholar

Chapter 72: Capturing Nightmare at Night
Lu Zheng put down the bookcase, took out two dry biscuits from it, and handed one to An Jing.

He sat on a rock, took another piece of bread, tore it into small pieces, chewed it slowly, and his mouth was filled with the aroma of wheat.

An Jing took a bite of the pancake, took out a water bag, and placed an exquisite wooden box between the two of them.

The wooden box was opened, revealing some exquisite pastries.

An Jing whispered, "This is the cake I bought at Baiweixuan in Hongzhou City. Want to try it?"

Hongzhou is the capital of Kaiyang County, more than 200 miles away from here.

Lu Zheng had heard about the prosperity of Hongzhou before, but he had never been there.

He didn't hesitate and picked up a piece of cake and put it in his mouth.

The pastries are sweet and soft, and taste much better than dry cakes.

But it’s not that amazing, after all, Lu Zheng had eaten a lot of delicious food in his previous life.

These pastries are exquisitely made, but the taste is just so-so and not particularly delicious.

Seeing Lu Zheng's calm expression, An Jing couldn't help but ask, "How does it taste?"

"good."

Lu Zheng gave a very pertinent evaluation and continued to tear the dry biscuits and swallow them with water.

An Jing smiled when he heard this, "I didn't expect Mr. Lu's taste is even pickier than mine."

Lu Zheng said leisurely, "As the old saying goes, 'You never tire of fine food, and you never tire of delicate minced meat...' The pastries at Baiweixuan look exquisite, but the taste isn't that amazing. On the other hand, these fine flour pancakes become more fragrant the more you chew them."

An Jing smiled and said, "Master Lu, are you telling me some profound truth again?"

Lu Zheng smiled and said, "I don't understand any profound principles, I'm just talking about food."

An Jing stopped talking and ate the dry biscuits like Lu Zheng. It was indeed hard to swallow at first, but the more he chewed, the more delicious it became.

Just like my own life, even though I was born in an imperial family, I have experienced a lot of hardships to achieve my current status. It is bitter first and sweet later.

For a moment, An Jing couldn't help but feel deeply moved.

Lu Zheng didn't have so many worries. He simply finished his meal and sat there to digest it, waiting for dark so that he could take action.

An Jing quickly finished the dry biscuits, and there were still quite a few cakes left in the box, so he put them back into the storage bag.

By this time, it was already dark, and the Silver Stone Village was gloomy, with faint voices being heard.

For ordinary people, lamp oil is an expensive commodity, and few people would light lamps for fun at night. They would go to bed early and get up before dawn the next day to do farm work.

Lu Zheng waited for a while, until Silverstone Village was completely quiet, then he slowly stood up.

"I'll go check out the situation." Lu Zheng said softly.

"Okay." An Jing stood up and followed. It was just a nightmare, and she didn't think she needed any help.

Afterwards, Lu Zheng walked lightly towards Yinshi Village and quietly entered the village.

An Jing watched Lu Zheng's figure disappear, reached out and took out a pearl from his waist and looked at it.

This is the dragon-seeking bead given to her by the Imperial Astronomical Observatory. Whenever there is dragon energy floating within a hundred miles, this spiritual bead will sense it.

However, she had been with Lu Zheng for such a long time, but Lingzhu didn't show any reaction.

From this, it can be seen that Lu Zheng should not be the dragon energy she is looking for.

An Jing decided to go to Jiguana Mountain and then continue to investigate the situation in other states and counties.

As for Lu Zheng, he does have some talent and ability, but now is not the time to recruit him. Lu Zheng still needs to grow.

……

Lu Zheng was walking in Silverstone Village, trying his best to restrain his aura.

Most people in the village have gone to bed, but every household still has cats and dogs.

He didn't want to make any noise and have others think he was a thief. At this moment, a tabby cat stood on the wall not far away, staring at Lu Zheng with a pair of shiny green eyes.

"Meow?"

The tabby cat called out to Lu Zheng.

Uh... Lu Zheng quickly made a shushing gesture.

The cat tilted its head, then walked away in small steps.

Lu Zheng breathed a sigh of relief, and suddenly remembered that the tabby cat looked familiar. He had seen it in the village during the day, and it had rubbed against him.

I think the other party recognized him and didn't think of him as a bad person.

Lu Zheng hid in the darkness and walked for a distance before finally discovering a trace of yin energy echoing.

He followed the direction of the yin energy and came to the wall of a house.

In the yard, the faint sound of someone's sleeping breathing could be heard.

Lu Zheng listened carefully and heard a rapid and uneven breathing sound, and even an indistinct low mumbling in his sleep.

After a moment, the sound subsided.

A hazy figure floated out from the yard.

"The people in this village are used to dreaming, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to absorb essence."

Nightmare shook his head and prepared to go to other people's homes to look for targets.

"Ok?"

Nightmare vaguely felt a breath approaching. It glanced sideways and actually found a figure approaching.

It was shocked, but it was too late to dodge.

Lu Zheng leaped and pounced, grabbing Nightmare from the air with his big hand, then his other hand, filled with righteous energy, tightly gripped Nightmare's neck, preventing him from changing his form and breaking free.

Nightmare was restrained all of a sudden. He tried to escape in panic, but found that he could not escape from Lu Zheng's palm at all.

Lu Zheng dragged the nightmare, which was as light as a feather, and quickly left the village to avoid disturbing the villagers.

Nightmare opened his mouth and spewed out a strong yin energy, trying to attack Lu Zheng.

However, the evil energy did not cause any harm to Lu Zheng.

Lu Zheng didn't even use his righteous energy. His vigorous qi and blood were enough to resist the entry of negative energy into his body.

"You, who are you? Why did you attack me? Young man, I can give you whatever you want..."

Seeing that his methods had no effect at all, Nightmare felt depressed and thought to himself that he had met a master tonight and his life was in danger, so he quickly negotiated the terms.

"I am a ghost general under the command of King Bai Jin. King Bai Jin, you should know that I am the Third Realm Great Demon King of Jiguan Mountain! I tell you, be kind and leave some room for us so that we can meet again in the future..."

Lu Zheng said calmly: "I know, so I came to find you."

Nightmare's heart skipped a beat. Was this specifically aimed at him?

"What do you want to see me for? Let me put you down and talk slowly. I won't run away. The aura on you is very harmful to ghosts."

The nightmare was humble. It found that the breath emitted by Lu Zheng was constantly burning its soul. If this continued, it would surely be burned into smoke and disappear.

Lu Zheng said: "Don't worry, I still have a lot to ask you."

When An Jing saw Lu Zheng coming back, he discovered that Lu Zheng was holding a ghost in his hand, and his eyes moved slightly.

It is said that the literary aura of Confucian and Taoist scholars can restrain ghosts, but it is not an easy task for a scholar to catch a ghost of the same realm with his bare hands and suppress it.

Is there such a huge difference between the righteous spirit and the ordinary literary spirit... An Jing's mind was turning.

(End of this chapter)