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

Chapter 85 Enemies meet on a narrow road
Pretending to be dead? You're kidding!

The Salt Inspector looked at them coldly, thinking that these clerks and runners were colluding to scare him and deliberately delay time.

Shaking off the hand of County Magistrate Dong, the Censor, along with several salt officials, strode into the official courtyard.

"You're just being mysterious! I think you're rebelling!"

The Salt Inspector walked towards the morgue cursing.

County Magistrate Dong still doesn’t know what exactly happened, and he is so anxious that he is sweating coldly!

Pulling Wang Lingyuan forward, County Lieutenant Dong asked as they approached, "Lingyuan, what's going on?"

Wang Lingyuan had already handed over his future and even his life and property to Xu Qing. As for the details, he was completely unaware of them.

According to his junior brother, he only needs to lie down, and the win or loss depends entirely on his junior brother.

Wang Lingyuan laughed dryly and said, "Didn't the officials say it was a resurrection? Then it must be a resurrection. Lord Dong, don't worry too much."

What the hell is that? How can you make pretending to be dead sound like drinking water?
County Magistrate Dong raised his eyebrows and glared, and was about to say something when the Salt Inspector who had entered the official courtyard first suddenly ran out of the courtyard, rolling and crawling.

"Quick! Stop those corpses for me!"

County Magistrate Dong frowned, but Master Tang Zhou, who had been following him, leaned over to take a look behind the second door.

It would be better if I didn't look at it, but once I looked at it——

Well! I saw old lady Cao with dead eyes tilting her head and sticking out. A living person and a dead person met at the corner and almost bumped into each other!

Ouch! My dear grandma!

Master Tang slumped to the ground. Captain Zhao was quick to grab the back of Master Tang's collar and drag him back.

At the second door leading to the morgue, Cao Xiuying was walking in a strange way, as if she was learning to walk for the first time, her steps were crooked and weird.

She was still talking as she walked.

"I died a tragic death! The Taoist priests from the Qingshui Huotian Wu Temple killed my entire family! My lords, please help me!"

With her shrill voice and pale face, Mrs. Cao was clearly an old lady, but her voice at this moment sounded like a child. The contrast between the two was so creepy!

Xu Qing had come behind Wang Lingyuan without him knowing. He reached out and patted the other person's shoulder, luckily Wang Lingyuan didn't get scared enough.

"Junior brother, what are you doing?"

Xu Qing spread his hands and said, "Brother, don't ask me. I just went to the toilet. How could I have pretended to be dead?"

Wang Lingyuan looked at Xu Qing who was pretending to be confused, and then glanced at Old Lady Cao who was crying out for justice.

For a moment he couldn't really tell which was real and which was fake.

Fortunately, the morgue corpse-pretending incident came and went quickly.

After Old Lady Cao led a group of men, women, young and old from the Cao family to make a commotion in the yamen for a while, they were subdued by Zhao Zhonghe and others.

Strangely enough, after the people in the torture room brought iron chains and shackles to tie up all the corpses, Old Lady Cao suddenly began to twitch all over. Everyone only saw a puff of black smoke passing over the courtyard wall, and then Old Lady Cao's body became completely still.

Everyone in the yard looked at each other.

At this moment, someone suddenly spoke up, "Did this old lady just reveal the true culprit behind the Cao family's massacre?"

Upon hearing this, the salt inspector, who had just recovered from his shock, reacted immediately.

"Investigate! We must investigate thoroughly! Go to Qingshuihuo immediately and capture those Taoists from Tianwu Temple. Whether they are right or not, we will know the truth in the first trial!"

County Magistrate Dong was a shrewd man. Seeing that he was about to escape from the vortex of the salt case, he was unwilling to continue to dive into it blindly.

He stepped forward and said, "Sir, the cause of death for the entire Cao family is mysterious and difficult to explain, most likely related to witchcraft. This matter is beyond the reach of a patrol officer like me. In my opinion, it would be better to hand this case over to the Demon Hunting Division."

After this incident, the Imperial Censor of Salt's impression of the Inspection Office had plummeted to the bottom. When he heard that County Magistrate Dong wanted to leave, it was exactly what he wanted.

After everything was done, Xu Qing took Xuanyu out of the yamen.

At the door, Wang Lingyuan, who had been holding it in for a long time, finally couldn't help but say: "Junior brother, those corpses..."

Xu Qing smiled slightly and said, "These are just some minor corpse-driving tricks, not worth mentioning. Take care, Senior Brother. I have guests coming to my house tomorrow, and I need to go back early to prepare for the banquet."

Wang Lingyuan stood at the gate of the yamen, looking at the leisurely back of the young man leaving with the cat, feeling quite touched.

His junior fellow apprentice already had a certain air of being otherworldly and detached.

A lot of things happened in Linhe in just one day.

The captain of the demon-hunting team went to Qingshuihuo to question the culprit. The Taoist water engineer of Tianwu Temple thought that he had done a perfect job, but he never expected that the day would come when he would be exposed.

"You said this is really mysterious. Even the government couldn't solve this unsolved case, but in the end, it was the deceased himself who revealed the truth."

"She's truly worthy of being called the Queen of Hell. She must have someone in the underworld. Otherwise, how could she return to the world to seek justice?"

After hearing the news, Xu Qing smiled and said to Xuan Yu:

"See? This is called using magic to defeat magic."

"It's a fairy magic, not a demon magic."

Xuan Yu corrected Xu Qing's wording seriously.

"Xu Xianjia, how do you know the murderer is a Taoist priest from Tianwu Temple?"

"Do they really have a spell that can make corpses vomit small fish?"

Looking at the curious little black cat, Xu Qing smiled at it and said, "You want to know? That's not the right attitude to ask."

"Ok?"

Xuan Yu looked at Xu Qing, who was rubbing his hands with a smile, and suddenly became alert.

"I suddenly don't want to know anymore. If Xu Xianjia ever wants to tell me, remember to tell me."

You know what, this cat is really worldly-wise.

Xu Qing smiled slightly but did not respond.

Outside the coffin shop on Jingxia Street.

A grandfather and his grandson stopped driving a donkey cart.

"Xiao Yun, this is Jingxia Street. According to what Grandpa said, the Qingqing Lady's hall was established here."

The little girl with two long braids said helplessly, "Grandpa wanted to attend the immortal banquet, so he could just come by himself, but he asked Grandpa to take the trouble to come with him."

"Don't say such disrespectful words to Grandpa. You don't know the real situation. That immortal is a cat immortal with profound Taoism, and Grandpa is a gray immortal. How could it come to the meeting alone?"

"Everyone has settled in Tianjin. Grandpa and the cat fairy have met and recognized each other, so they can stay in Tianjin with peace of mind."

"Otherwise, you and I might have to go back to Beijun and get involved with those bandits."

Hou Xiaoyun jumped off the donkey cart, followed the map, and finally stopped next to the paper-making shop.

"This should be it. It's a funeral parlor. No wonder they have a cat fairy."

In Hou Yuan's arms lay an old rat. Before the grandfather and grandson even entered the shop, the rat turned into a puff of gray smoke. When it landed again, it had transformed into a standing rat spirit. Dressed in human-like clothing, it bowed at the shop door and uttered the squeaking sounds of a rat.

In the coroner's shop, Xu Qing, who had already prepared a banquet, heard the noise outside and went out with Xuan Yu to greet them.

When they arrived at the door, the scene immediately became chaotic as soon as the people from the two gangs met.

There is no other reason, it’s just because the people are familiar and the immortals are also familiar immortals.

"It's you!" Hou Yuan almost blurted out.

He would recognize the young man in front of him even if he turned into ashes. It was he who had abducted and interrogated him outside the White Horse Temple, and later forced him to take several pills of unknown origin.

Although he has become much stronger since then, he can even go to the toilet three feet away without getting his shoes wet.

But this did not change the bad impression he had of young people.

Hou Xiaoyun, who was only fifteen or sixteen years old and still a little girl, drew out a sharp knife and stood in front of her grandfather, ready to fight him if they had a disagreement.

At this critical moment, Gray Grandpa suddenly stretched out his claws to press back the knife that Hou Xiaoyun had pulled out, and then bowed to Xu Qing in a flattering manner, as if to apologize.

"It's been a long time since we last met. Fellow Daoist, you look even better than before. Congratulations."

Xu Qing was stunned for a moment, then he made way as if nothing had happened and invited the grandfather and granddaughter to the banquet together.

After the two entered the shop, Xu Qing saw Hou Yuan's eyes fixed on the tablet at the hall, and he said with a smile: "It was thanks to your generous teachings that I was able to learn so much and establish this immortal hall."

Hou Yuan had a stern face and glanced at Xu Qing with an extremely unfriendly look.

If he had known in advance that the person sent by Cat Fairy Hall was such a rude young man, he would never have come here!

Even now, Hou Yuan is still occasionally awakened by nightmares because of the shadow cast by the White Horse Temple.

Not to mention Hou Xiaoyun. When her grandfather was kidnapped, she ran to report to the police. When the officer heard that criminals were kidnapping people on the street, how could he sit idly by!

So he asked Xiaoyun who was kidnapped?

Everyone thought they were sisters or brothers, or a mother who still had charm, or a father who didn't pay back his debts.

Upon investigation, it turned out that the grandfather, who was in his early sixties, had been kidnapped.

The chief officer was stunned at that moment.

After further questioning, it was found that Hou Xiaoyun's grandfather did not owe anyone any debt, was not a rich man, and had never offended anyone. How could such an old man with no knowledge of these three things be kidnapped for no reason?
Are you after his gap teeth?
The chief officer immediately made a decision and asked Hou Xiaoyun to wait patiently at his residence. Maybe it was just a misunderstanding. Either there was no kidnapper at all, or the kidnapper had kidnapped the wrong person.

No matter what the result is, I think it will not harm the old man's life.

If something unexpected happens at that time, it will not be too late to report to the government office.

Hou Xiaoyun waited for a whole day and night, until the next day, when his grandfather returned to the inn with a dazed look on his face.

She asked her grandfather what had happened? What evil deeds had the criminals done that had infuriated the people?

Fortunately, the criminals only asked the spirit medium about the practice method and fed my grandfather a few pills of unknown origin.

Hou Xiaoyun will always remember what happened that day. She took her grandfather to the clinic for a thorough check-up, but she was still worried, so she prescribed some detoxifying medicine, and only then did she feel at ease.

Now she saw that the instigator had used her family's method of becoming a spirit medium, set up a shrine, and even invited the grandfather and granddaughter to be witnesses.

It would be strange if Hou Xiaoyun had a good face.

Xu Qing lit up a few yellow sticks and handed them to a few people and two immortals to smoke, but Hou Yuan raised his hand to refuse.

"I don't smoke this. This is something only immortals use."

Seeing that the atmosphere was becoming tense, Xu Qing turned his attention to Hou Xiaoyun.

"Is this your granddaughter? She's quite pretty."

Hou Yuan became alert, but he never expected that the young man in front of him was like a woman, asking him about family matters for a while.

How old are you this year? Have you ever been to school? Fifteen or sixteen, eh! Not too young, according to Dayong's marriage rules, it's time to choose a husband.

After being asked a series of random questions, Hou Xiaoyun felt dizzy and almost fainted.

"Does Daoist Hou's granddaughter still not have her own immortal family?"

Xu Qing glanced at the clepsydra, coughed lightly, and said, "I'm inviting the immortals to be my guests today. I have a wild immortal who has never had a disciple who can perform rituals. If you are interested, you can talk to each other and maybe you will fall in love with him."

"If you have anything to ask of me, please speak directly."

Hou Yuan was an old and experienced man, so he could see Xu Qing's ulterior motives.

"It's nothing serious. Fellow Daoist Hou, have you seen the two coffins at the west wall?"

Xu Qing poured Hou Yuan a cup of red water and said, "That coffin was left by my master before he died. There are some mysteries inside. I dare not touch it lightly, so I thought of asking fellow Taoists to help me use the method of seeing through walls to see what is inside."

Hou Yuan followed Xu Qing's gaze and saw that the two coffins were covered with funeral banners, and were tied with animal skin strips in three horizontal and two vertical lines. The surface of the coffins was also sealed with densely packed cinnabar and yellow talismans, and they swayed back and forth when the cold wind blew.

"Friend Xu, those are just some tricks in the martial arts world, they can't be taken seriously." Hou Yuan was about to refuse when a strange wind suddenly blew in from outside the coroner's shop.

When the yellow sand and dust settled, there were two big rats, one yellow and one gray, on the dining table.

Xuan Yu looked at the offerings on the table, then looked at the two new fat rats, and subconsciously licked the tip of his nose with his soft tongue.

When Huang Haozi saw Xuanyu, he hurried forward and bowed, "I am Huang Laoxu from Xijing Mountain, and I have come specially to congratulate you on opening the hall."

As he spoke, Huang Laoxu pinched his fingers and chanted an incantation, using a method of moving money and objects, and he took out a basket of eggs.

"Fifty pairs of chickens, just as a gift, please don't despise them, fellow Taoist."

Xu Qing looked at the weasel that spoke like a human, and he knew that the Yellow Immortal's Taoism was also extraordinary.

"You are too polite, fellow Daoist. Immortal Xu and I have prepared many offerings, you can enjoy them." Xuan Yu was obviously in a good mood. With an old immortal like Huang Laoxu coming to visit, his hall was completely legitimate.

Hou Yuan and Hou Xiaoyun stared at the two talking fairies in amazement, thinking that they had met their ancestors!
In the business of going out to perform rituals, most of the immortals to whom the disciples belong cannot speak and can only communicate through possession and thought.

And those who can speak are all immortal ancestors with hundreds of years of Taoism experience, who are capable of founding a sect and establishing a headquarters.

Now that there are two immortal 'bosses' here, Hou Yuan has become the junior.

Also coming with Huang Laoxu were the Yexian family and Gray Lady.

This is a gray mouse, with more than fifty years of Taoist practice. Although his skills are not high, he can still do some of the common tasks.

At the banquet, the lights were on and the cats and mice were chattering, making it very lively.

After drinking a little, Xu Qing kindly acted as a pimp for Hui Niangzi and Hou Xiaoyun, and Huang Laoxu acted as a middleman, thus forming a pair of prostitutes.

After the good deed was done, Xu Qing asked Hou Yuan again about the coffin inspection.

At first, the old man wanted to fool people, but who would have thought that the old man's immortal was a sensible person.

When he heard that it was needed, Gray Taigong jumped onto the table drunkenly and volunteered.

Hou Yuan had no choice but to get up and walk to the two coffins, ready to inspect them.

(End of this chapter)