I was forced to cultivate immortality when I just wanted to lie down

Chapter 225 The Nine-Lives Spirit Cat Bears a Heavy Favor, The Heartless Old Demon Devours Bone-Chilling Cold

Night, in the coroner's shop.

Xuan Yu watched Xu Qing with unease as Xu Qing packed its bags in front of it.

Water-repelling beads, insect-repelling jars, and even a shuttlecock and a pair of collectible walnuts were included.

Xu Qing put all those things into the Huguang Cup, which has a space of about three feet square. Although it's not big, it's enough for a cat to go out.

Xuan Yu felt uneasy, and his tense expression was nothing like that of a great demon who had lived for hundreds of years.

Instead, they seemed like children whose books were being forcibly packed by adults, who were then forced to go to a private school for their early education.

Its instinct is to escape, so it wanders to places like flower and bird markets or fish markets to temporarily avoid the brunt of the attack.

But unexpectedly, its proud speed was like a tortoise crawling in front of the human in front of it!
Xuan Yu charged left and right, even transforming into eight figures to escape in all directions, but was still held by the cruel hand by the back of his neck.

The way it did it so casually was just like how it usually catches mice!
But after all, it is a spirit cat with nearly five hundred years of cultivation. Even if a human survives the lightning disaster, how could he so easily overwhelm it in terms of speed?
Isn't it shameless?
With its Dao heart shattered, the cat had no choice but to sit obediently to the side and let Xu Qing help it pack its luggage.

"Don't always think about running away; some things you'll have to face sooner or later!"

Xu Qing placed the Huguang Cup in front of Xuan Yu. Through its semi-transparent, glass-like texture, he could even see various objects inside, shrunk to the size of a fingertip.

"Tell me about your past, about your life."

Xuan Yu did not respond, but remained silent, seemingly trying to play dumb and get away with it.

The cat also had its own little scheme in mind. As long as it didn't tell Xu Qing where its enemies were or who killed it, Xu Qing wouldn't be able to take it to seek revenge.

In this way, they can still keep this little shop and live their lives carefree in Tianjin.

Xu Xian's family will not be harmed because of this.

However, the next moment, Xuan Yu heard Xu Qing utter a string of place names that made it furious.

"Quyang County, Yunmeng Mountain, Bailong Village, Ruyi Temple."

"—Old Taoist Baiyun!"

Xu Qing's voice wasn't loud, but when Xuan Yu heard these words, it was as if thunder had exploded in his ears, leaving the cat somewhat dazed.

How do you know everything?

"I didn't know; someone told me about it the day before yesterday."

"Who?!"

Xu Qing did not hide anything and recounted in detail how Jing Xinghuang had tried to curry favor with Emperor Longping by sending people to obtain the elixir of immortality.

"As for who told me, you should have heard of the old eunuch from the Mirror Bureau."

"Old eunuch?"

"The one who broke the merchant's son's leg."

Xuan Yu understood now.

"So it was that old eunuch."

At this moment, Xuan Yu's tail was swishing back and forth, clearly showing its dissatisfaction with the old eunuch who had secretly informed on it.

“He is already dead.” Xu Qing seemed to know what Xuan Yu was thinking.

Xuan Yu stared wide-eyed at Xu Qing.

"What did you do?"

Xu Qing did not deny it.

Xuan Yu was truly panicked. The old eunuch who was ordered to fetch the medicine was already dead. So who would Xu Qing's next target be?
Is he the prince who sought the medicine back then, now the ruler of the country, or the demonic Taoist priest of Yunmeng Mountain?
Each of these two goals was like a mountain to Xuan Yu, impossible to overcome.

"Can I not go?"

Seeing Xu Qing look up, Xuan Yu mustered its courage and said a lot of things, roughly meaning that it had nine lives and losing one was nothing, but Xu Qing only had one life.
Xu Qing stared at the black cat in front of him, which only thought of others, and suddenly asked, "Why did you go to the Taoist temple on Yunmeng Mountain in the first place? Was the reason you were captured really just because of the evil Taoist priests of Ruyi Temple?"

Xuan Yu avoided eye contact, refusing to give a direct answer no matter how Xu Qing pressed it.

Xu Qing wasn't angry when he saw this. He stood up, turned around, and walked out of the shop.

"Where are you going?"

“I’ll go to the capital. Since you won’t tell me, I’ll go to the palace and ask the dog emperor what’s going on.”

"However, I'm definitely no match for that dog of an emperor right now. He's hiding deep in the palace, protected by the nation's fortunes, and the 80,000 imperial guards in the capital aren't just for show. If I go there, I'll definitely come back in pieces. Xuan Yu hasn't learned how to sew corpses, so she'll probably sew me up in a particularly ugly way."

"But none of that matters. I just hope that Xuan Yu can burn incense for me and tell me the truth so that I can die in peace."

Xu Qing, a dead man and a zombie, could lie without even blinking an eye.

Xuan Yu believed it to be true, and after hearing these remarks, the whole cat was in a bad mood.

"You can't go!"

The black cat jumped off the coffin lid, darted to the shop door, stood upright, and stretched out its short paws to block Xu Qing.

"Xu Xianjia just wants to know the truth, right? I'll tell you everything, but you can't go to the capital, and you can't come back piecemeal!"

Cats are nowhere near as cunning as Xu Qing, who has been a human before. With this series of moves, he completely outmaneuvered the cat.

Inside the coroner's shop, a single lamp flickered dimly.

Xuan Yu sat in front of Xu Qing, and his reflection on the wall was completely obscured by Xu Qing's tall figure.

Xu Qing acted as a listener, quietly listening to Xuan Yu recount the past that was buried deep in her heart.

From the first contact with humans, to the first time being fed, to the first time being abandoned by humans.
Xu Qing then realized that the first human Xuan Yu followed was an old temple keeper, and a reclusive old woman with an eccentric temperament who never liked to interact with outsiders.

But this old woman was lured to Ruyi Temple by Xuan Yu when he met her for the second time, and fell into the trap set by the evil Taoist priest to capture him!

Xu Qing remained silent for a long time. According to Xuan Yu, the old witch who lived alone was originally a compassionate person. She would not only give rice porridge to disaster victims and poor families, but also go out to provide free medical consultations for patients who could not afford the consultation fees.

But this seemingly kind-hearted person betrayed Xuan Yu repeatedly, abandoning him once and causing Xuan Yu to lose his life the next time.

Xu Qing was deeply confused. He had exorcised quite a few corpses, some of whom were fickle, some who violated morality for profit, and some who repaid kindness with enmity and betrayed trust.

But as Xuan Yu said, a person who had been very kind from beginning to end suddenly betrayed the spirit cat that accompanied her to a complete stranger, a demon.

Even though Xu Qing was used to the complexities of human nature, he couldn't figure out the reason behind it.

Xu Qing initially speculated that the old woman might be nearing the end of her life, so she deliberately adopted Xuan Yu in the hopes of one day refining a longevity-enhancing pill.

But Xuan Yu told Xu Qing that although the old woman lured it into the trap, she did not ask the old Taoist Baiyun for the longevity pill. Instead, she asked for a thousand taels of silver and a hundred taels of gold. A widowed old woman who usually lived a life of hardship and gave away all her earnings to others, yet she acted as if she was greedy for worldly money.

No matter how you look at it, this matter exudes an abnormal, absurd, and bizarre feeling.

"Perhaps they want to wait until the elixir is successfully refined before turning back to collect it."

Upon hearing Xu Qing's guess, Xuan Yu became even more depressed, clearly unwilling to recall these past events.

"Does the Xu family also desire the elixir of immortality?"

"Immortality?" Xu Qing curled his lip. "I'm interested in everything, but not this!"

Zombies have no lifespan; they are born immortal. Why would they need any so-called elixirs to extend their lifespan and slow down aging?
Only living people need these.

The next day, Xu Qing had just finished dealing with things at the shop and was about to visit the elderly people who had signed up for the iron certificate memberships when the clueless Shang Shaoyang suddenly appeared at the shop.

At this moment, the young master from a prominent family looked melancholy, and his words revealed a sense of helplessness.

"Brother Xu, you've really gotten me into trouble!"

"What do you mean by that?" Xu Qing asked, puzzled.

Shang Shaoyang sighed, "The other day I boasted to Brother Xu that I would go and have a showdown with the old eunuch of the Mirror Bureau."

"Has the decision been made yet?"

"."

Shang Shaoyang said angrily, "If he had faced me head-on and lost, I would have praised him for his toughness. But that old bastard actually ran to Tianjin overnight and died at Baishui Ferry under the iron cannons of the Cangyi rebels."

"Isn't that infuriating?!"

"Isn't this a good thing? He broke your leg, you should be happy."

"Don't even mention it!" Shang Shaoyang sighed. "Brother Xu, you don't know this, but when I went to cause trouble for that eunuch, I happened to run into Miss Gu coming out of the yamen. I was going to avoid her and turned to head towards the Mirror Bureau, but that little wench just followed me and insisted on asking me why I was avoiding her."

"Can I tell the truth? I can only tell her the whole story you told me. You have no idea how wicked this little woman is. She made a bet with me that if Governor Liao dies today, she wants me to marry her."

"."

Xu Qing focused his attention on his nose and his mind, listening quietly without offering any comment.

"Later I learned that the old eunuch had died in Tianjin the night before. Only the government knew about it. She happened to be looking for me at the government office that day and somehow heard the news."

"Sigh!" Young Master Shang lay on the armchair, utterly dejected, and said, "Brother Xu, I'm doomed for her. After today, I'm going to go back to Qianzhou with her to get married."

"No one is willing to listen to my story, so I can only come to Brother Xu to pour out my heart."

Xu Qing's eyelids twitched slightly: "You came here hoping I would comfort you?"

Seeing that Shang Shaoyang did not deny it, Xu Qing's anger flared up instantly.

He'd been fuming for the past two days with nowhere to vent his anger, and Shang Shaoyang, having gotten a good deal, was now coming to him to act all innocent. If it weren't for the fact that the other party was a member of the shop's iron coupons, Xu Qing would have put this guy in a body bag and buried him!
After driving away the spoiled brat who was inexplicably falling ill, Xu Qing left the shop, drove a horse-drawn cart loaded with oil, rice, and eggs, and began to visit the elderly widows and widows who had previously done business with the shop.

Nowadays, the funeral parlor is a large and successful business, with no fewer than a hundred people having signed up for iron certificate memberships. Xu Qing originally planned to visit these people on the first and fifteenth of each month.

With a few days to go before the expected date, Xu Qing made a preliminary visit so that he would have no worries when he went to Quyang County.

Since these elderly people have chosen to trust him and entrust him with the care of their final days, he naturally has to take good care of them.

Xu's Shop has always prioritized its customers.

While Xu Qing was busy these past few days, Xuan Yu was also busy. In the area from Xijing Mountain to Linjiang County, almost all the prominent rats suffered righteous suppression from the Cat Immortal Hall.

Many rats, under pressure to survive, were forced to join the Cat Immortal Hall and become subordinates of Gu Zixu. Some, unwilling to be granted amnesty, had no choice but to move their families away from Linjiang County and go to nearby Wanshou County, Baisha County, or Tianjin Prefecture to make a living.

In no time, the reputation of Cat Fairy Hall spread throughout the fairy circles of Tianjin.

However, the bigger the tree, the more the wind blows. Some established deities felt that the younger deities of the Cat Deity Hall were arrogant and didn't deserve so much incense offering.

Yuehua Mountain, outside Baicao Cave.

A long-armed red-tailed monkey was holding a dragon-trapping stick and was being jealous.

"How can a mere kitten, who hasn't even survived a single calamity, have such a grand reputation?"

"Back then, even the big cats of Laotaishan would avoid me. But now, after finally coming back, my descendants of Monkey Immortal Hall can't even compare to a little cat."

Hearing the Red-tailed Monkey's resentful words, the White Fairy said strangely, "The incense offerings of the Cat Fairy Hall are the result of the efforts of the sect leader and the Cat Fairy in helping people to overcome disasters and difficulties. Otherwise, where would the thousands of incense offerings come from?"

You've been away from Xijing Mountain for many years, and your monkeys and their offspring have been left unchecked, stealing and robbing from village to village. The fact that people haven't demolished your Monkey Immortal Hall is out of consideration for past favors. How can you now have the audacity to blame others?

The red-tailed monkey was both ashamed and angry upon hearing this, but it had no words to refute him.

However, the monkey secretly memorized the Cat Fairy Hall.

With over six hundred years of cultivation, how could a little kitten not be allowed to bully it?
Linjiang County.

On this day, a notice was suddenly posted outside the coroner's shop on Jingxia Street, announcing that the coroner was out handling funeral arrangements and that his return date was uncertain.

The employees of Cat Fairy Hall, unaware of the situation, assumed that the sect leader and the seated Cat Fairy had gone out together.

At the Tianjin port, Xu Qing and Xuan Yu boarded a ferry and headed south along the waterway.

Throughout the journey, Xu Qing acted like a student traveling around, showing no sense of urgency to seek revenge or travel thousands of miles just to attend someone's funeral.

At first, Xuan Yu was quite nervous, but after it came into contact with the local customs and scenery outside Tianjin, it gradually forgot about it.

Cats are always easily attracted to new things.

Sure enough, the zombie and the cat had just arrived in Qianzhou when they heard that the young master of the merchant family was going to marry the young lady of the Gu family. One of them was a young master from a thousand-year-old family with profound heritage and both literary and martial skills, while the other was a young lady from the Gu family of Huainan Daobing, with a family tradition of learning. Their marriage became the talk of the town in just a few days.

Upon inquiring, Xu Qing discovered that it really was the Shang family that Shang Shaoyang worked for!

What a perfect coincidence!

Back when he was in Linjiang County, Shang Shaoyang had invited him to attend his wedding banquet in Qianxi.

At the time, Xu Qing ignored this spoiled brat, but little did he know that Quyang County, located in the southwest, was adjacent to Qianzhou.

"Would the Immortal Xuanyu like to attend the banquet?"

Fate is a mysterious thing, and since Xu Qing had happened to encounter it, he figured he might as well take a detour and go check it out.

Xuan Yu's eyes lit up when he heard about the banquet.

The zombie and the cat hit it off immediately, as if this trip was truly for meeting friends and having fun!

(End of this chapter)