Confucian and Taoist scholar

Chapter 86 The Flower Demon Confesses
The Mandragora Flower Demon fell silent for a moment after hearing Lu Zheng's words.

After a while, another sound came from underground.

"I'm just cultivating myself, absorbing a little of the essence of young men and women. I haven't harmed them in any way... Besides, they often come to pick my flowers for medicine, and I never stop them. It can be considered as compensation to them."

When Lu Zheng entered Dali Village and observed the villagers, he found that some of them were not in good mental state. They had some deficiency of vital energy, but it was not serious.

At least these villagers looked much better than the women, children and youngsters in Silverstone Village.

The people in Silverstone Village will not only have their energy sucked away by nightmares, but they will also have nightmares and have trouble sleeping, and their energy will be depleted, causing considerable damage to themselves.

The Mandragora flower demon here can use the fragrance of flowers to make people fall into a deep sleep when they are sleeping, and then quietly absorb some of their essence.

Even if the villagers' energy is depleted, it is difficult to detect and easy to recover.

After Lu Zheng's observation, he found that what the Mandragora Flower Demon said was true.

Lu Zheng said calmly, "But you are ultimately harming people, otherwise why would you have evil spirits and impure demonic energy?"

"Someone forced me!" said the flower demon.

"Who?" Lu Zheng asked.

The flower demon's tone was not calm. "The White Rat Demon of Jiguan Mountain, I was originally a newly awakened demon in the mountains, but was discovered by Bai Jin. He planted my true form here and asked me to collect the essence of the villagers at the foot of the mountain... My cultivation is shallow, and I will not live long if I abandon my true form. I am no match for him, so I can only let him do what he wants."

Lu Zheng's expression changed slightly. Bai Jin had never done such a thing with him before. He only said that there was a flower demon here who was his subordinate.

After hearing what the flower demon said, is there such a past grudge between the two?
The flower demon continued, "If you really want to rid the people of this evil, why don't you go find Bai Jin instead of making things difficult for me?"

"Bai Jin is dead." Lu Zheng said slowly.

"Bai Jin is dead? How is that possible!" the flower demon said in disbelief.

Lu Zheng said calmly, "I killed Bai Jin, otherwise how would I know you were here?"

The flower demon was silent for a moment, then burst into laughter. "Well, well, what a good death! It's really the law of nature, and no one can escape it!"

Lu Zheng said calmly: "Bai Jin is dead, but your affairs are not over yet."

There was another moment of silence.

"Sir, do you really want to get rid of me?" asked the flower demon.

Lu Zheng looked at the mandala in front of him. It was very difficult for plants to become spirits.

This flower demon must have gone through countless years of wind, frost, rain and snow before it gained a bit of spiritual energy and gradually became intelligent.

At first, it would take a hundred years of growing up in the mountains to achieve Taoism, and perhaps only a few years of practice would be possible.

The locust tree in the Wang family compound could have grown into a spiritual tree to protect the Wang family, but it was nourished by the flesh and blood of demons and ghosts, and without any spiritual intelligence, it became an evil tree.

Lu Zheng had no choice but to eradicate it to avoid future troubles.

Lu Zheng slowly said, "If you sincerely repent, I can give you a chance."

"A glimmer of hope?" The flower demon didn't understand what he meant.

Lu Zheng raised his hand and released a wisp of righteous energy, explaining, "You have evil spirits within you. I can remove them for you, but your cultivation will be damaged, and you may even die... If you can survive, you will cultivate here and protect this land."

Lu Zheng paused, then continued, "Of course, you can also choose to escape and seek another chance of survival... I can give you a quarter of an hour to think about it."

For a moment, the Mandragora Flower Demon did not respond.

In less than half a quarter of an hour, a ray of light flashed under the mandala.

A half-foot-tall little man wearing a flower-petal dress appeared.

A demonic aura emanated from his entire body, and his facial features looked like a miniature version of a young man.

The flower demon bowed solemnly to Lu Zheng and said respectfully, "I, the little demon, would like to have this slightest chance. If I am lucky enough to survive, I will turn over a new leaf, protect the villagers of this village, and atone for my sins."

The flower demon knew that her life was not in her own hands, but depended on Lu Zheng. Lu Zheng nodded slightly and said, "Good, let's return to our true form!"

The flower demon bowed again, feeling uneasy, and then sank into his true form.

Lu Zheng raised his hand, and a stream of righteous energy poured into the mandala.

Suddenly, a scream came from the tree.

The leaves and flowers of the datura fell one after another, the aura of the whole plant became weak, and the evil spirit disappeared.

After a while, Lu Zheng slowly withdrew his hand.

The whole plant of Datura became sickly and half-dead.

Lu Zheng raised his hand and touched the flowers and trees. He could faintly feel a faint trace of demonic soul remaining in them. He didn't know whether the flower demon could survive.

The fact that it was able to survive the cleansing of the righteous energy without completely dying also shows that this flower demon still has good intentions.

Lu Zheng thought about it, took out two spirit stones and buried them in the roots of the mandragora.

"God is merciful, so take care of yourself." Lu Zheng whispered softly, "I will come back later."

The mandragora plant trembled slightly, as if responding to Lu Zheng's words.

[You purified a second-level flower demon, eliminated one evil, and gained +10 Wen Qi!]

Lu Zheng turned around and returned the same way, leaving the datura flower bush.

Not far away, a man looked up and saw Lu Zheng coming out, and hurried to meet him.

"Scholar, you're finally out. I thought... you were lost!" said the man.

Lu Zheng smiled slightly and said, "I just took a walk inside. I'm sorry to have made you worried."

The man whispered, "Is there something strange about this flower?"

Lu Zhengdao said, "There's nothing special about it. It's just that it's rare to see such a large area of datura flowers... Let's go somewhere else."

The man said, "Do you want to go to the village and look at the tiger skin? The Zhang family has one. If you like it, you can buy it and put it in your home."

"Then let's go and take a look!" Lu Zheng said.

The two of them walked slowly along the way, took a walk around the farmland outside the village, looked at the crops, and then went to Zhang's house.

When Lu Zheng saw Zhang Da, he found that the other party was still a warrior of the first level.

In the martial arts world, it is not difficult for ordinary people to become a martial artist of the first level, as long as they have enough energy and blood and a strong physique.

If you want to practice further, you will need manuals on skills and medicinal herbs to assist you.

Zhang Danai is a hunter in the village. His ancestors practiced martial arts, so he has a good physique and became a warrior.

When Zhang Da heard that the two wanted to see the tiger skin, and learned that Lu Zheng was a scholar, he hurriedly greeted the guests respectfully and politely took out a complete tiger skin.

Lu Zheng took a look and found that it was the skin of an ordinary tiger, but it was also an adult tiger.

Even for a warrior of the first level, it is not easy to deal with him.

Lu Zhengdao said, "The skin is intact. I wonder how Brother Zhang killed the tiger?"

Zhang Da grinned and said proudly, "I beat him to death with my fists!"

As he spoke, Zhang Da shook his bowl-sized fist, his bronze skin shining and full of strength.

The man next to him said, "Brother Zhang knows a set of boxing techniques called the Tiger Subduing Fist, which is specially used to beat tigers. He also teaches the children in the village to practice boxing!"

(End of this chapter)