Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 220 There’s a ghost!

After capturing Xiangwu City, Heshilie suddenly stopped again.

Unlike the three counties of Xiangwu and Chengji, Xiangwu City, although the seat of Longxi Commandery, had long been like a state within a state, firmly held in the hands of the Li family.

It will take quite a bit of effort to wipe out Xiangwu City.

Initially, the people of Xiangwu City did not dare to identify illegal activities or file complaints like they did in Chengji County. However, after someone finally took the plunge, the situation went to the other extreme.

There are too many wrongful convictions.

Or rather, there are too many people claiming to have been wrongfully convicted.

In this era, there were no legal documents or similar things, and the literacy rate among ordinary people was less than 10%, let alone the ability to explain things clearly.

It's nothing more than a cry of "Your Honor is Right!" and a cry of "I'm innocent!" or "My life is miserable!" If there were only a few people, all you need to do is set an example, and the rest can be dealt with slowly. But in Xiangwu City, for some reason, once the door was opened, hundreds of wrongful cases suddenly appeared. There were actually far fewer cases that were actually against local powerful families. Most of them were just trivial matters about this family and that family.

"There must be someone stirring up trouble behind this!"

Ling Shuang said in a deep voice.

Ling Shuang was also one of the early disciples of the White Stone Immortal Sect who had their spiritual essence activated. She and He Shilie were both disciples of the Spiritual Cultivation Peak. They often went mining together to earn spirit stones after finishing their work at the Spiritual Cultivation Peak, so they were quite familiar with each other. When the sect leader asked him to bring some helpers, Ling Shuang was one of the fellow disciples that He Shilie invited.

Ling Shuang, true to her name, has a very cold personality. It is rare to see any emotional fluctuations in her. Therefore, she is quite suitable as an inspector to investigate backlog cases.

While in Chengji County, Ling Shuang was still able to manage her work, but after arriving in Xiangwu City, she only had two days of rest before suddenly becoming incredibly busy!
And they were all trivial cases! Even absurd "cases" like Wang Ermazi stealing two eggs from Widow Zhao were brought up, which made Ling Shuang laugh in anger.

You have to understand that ordinary people in this era were terrified of government officials and yamen. Even if there were a few oddballs who were a bit dim-witted, it was impossible for hundreds of people in the whole city to despise the government like that!
Unless someone is deliberately playing dirty tricks behind the scenes!
"What's the point? The tide cannot be turned. By creating trouble for us like this, they're only prolonging their lives for a few more days. Why bother?"

He Shilie suddenly realized that this must have been something the powerful families of Guanzhong were secretly doing, but he couldn't understand it at all: "The sect leader ordered you, Second Senior Sister, to come and help me, which clearly means he won't let them go. After all, with your cultivation and magic power, you could easily kill all the scions of the Li and Wang families. Ordinary martial artists can't compete with us immortal cultivators at all. What's the point of them using these petty tricks?"

“A ship is about to sink, but no one wants to jump ship to escape—staying on the wrecked ship, even if they die, they are still the helmsmen on the deck. But once they jump into the sea, even if they don't die, they will become ordinary passengers in the cabins of another ship. How can they bear that? Besides, this wrecked ship is, in a sense, their property, so they are even more reluctant to give it up!”

Murong Ruyan saw things clearly and understood these people's psychology very well.

Even if she were in that situation, she would find it hard to give up what she already had.

If it were her, she would abandon ship and flee before the irresistible storm arrives, just like when she insisted on becoming her master's disciple.

At this point, Murong Ruyan couldn't help but sneer: "These petty tricks may not be able to change the overall situation, but at least they have slowed us down, haven't they? It's good to delay our downfall by a few days."

He Shilie suddenly fell silent for a moment, pacing back and forth restlessly. He looked at Murong Ruyan, Ling Shuang, and the others, and asked expectantly, "What should we do?"

He had the means and strength to fight, but this kind of underhandedness was really too much for him to handle.

Murong Ruyan spread her hands: "Simple! Just use the pretext of disrupting the government's work to kill a few troublemakers as a deterrent. That's the fastest way!"

"Absolutely not!"

"No!"

Unexpectedly, He Shilie and Ling Shuang spoke almost in unison. Even the two outer disciples of the White Stone Immortal Sect who had been silent all along couldn't help but advise, "Second Senior Sister, calm down. We've finally established our reputation here. We can't just change our minds every now and then. If we continue to use such brutal methods, we'll only alienate the people here even more!"

"Yes, Second Senior Sister, let's discuss this matter further before making a hasty decision!"

Even Tang Xiaoyu, who happened to have gone inside to drink water and rest, was shocked when she heard Murong Ruyan's words: "Second Senior Sister, don't be so murderous!"

Murong Ruyan already knew that her suggestion would not be adopted, so she was not angry. She just shrugged, with an expression that said, "I knew you would disagree," and rolled her eyes disdainfully.

These disciples of the White Stone Immortal Sect are still too young. Even if He Shilie is capable of handling military affairs, they are still naive and simple-minded when it comes to politics.

In politics, how can there be no deaths? And how can there be no innocent people who don't die?

He Shilie suddenly said helplessly, "If it really doesn't work, we can just slow down and clear things out slowly. Before we left, the sect leader told me that we only have eight thousand people, and we have enough food and supplies."

Tang Xiaoyu also said, "Don't panic, wait two more days, and my teleportation station will be completed. Then we won't have to worry about losses when transporting grain!"

Murong Ruyan snorted dismissively, then adopted an indifferent attitude, tossing out a "You guys figure it out yourselves" before leaving the room.

The place where everyone was discussing matters was the county government office of Xiangwu City. Of course, after Heshilie suddenly "captured" Xiangwu City, the county government office became the "city lord's mansion." As for the city lord...

The news has probably only just reached the White Stone Immortal Sect, and the distribution probably hasn't even started yet!
The county government office in Xiangwu City was the largest and most luxurious of all the former prefectural governments. Not only were the tiles made of glazed tiles, but the walls were also made of glutinous rice mortar. The main beams and doorposts in the office were also made of the finest wood. The backyard had several courtyards, with mountains, water features, and gardens, all in the style of Southern Chu. It was obviously built by craftsmen from Southern Chu. The whole thing didn't look like a county government office at all, but rather like a private residence such as a duke's mansion or a marquis's mansion.

It is said that the backyard of the county government office was where the old head of the Li family lived, while the real prefects, like other officials in the prefecture, lived in official residences, which were very shabby.

This arrogance surprised Murong Ruyan quite a bit.

After all, in the Xiao Kingdom, although there were cases of deceiving superiors and subordinates and local tyrants governing their own territories, they would never be so brazen as to openly seize government offices for themselves!
Feeling utterly bored, Murong Ruyan wandered around aimlessly until she reached the backyard where she was temporarily staying. There, she moved two pots of licorice under the eaves into the sunlight.

These two pots of licorice are spiritual herbs. She spent a lot of spirit stones to buy the mother plants from the sect's shop. They mature every few days. She then specially planted them in flowerpots, and the soil in the flowerpots was silt dug from the bottom of Tianchi Lake mixed with ordinary soil.

She usually takes these two pots of licorice with her wherever she goes. Don't underestimate these two pots of licorice, they are very useful when placed by her side during cultivation - their effect is no less than that of a small spirit-gathering array!
Moreover, I don't know if it's just my imagination, but I always feel that since I came to the Guanzhong region, the concentration of spiritual energy seems to be higher than that of the Qin and Jin regions west of Daxing Mountain...

As she was letting two pots of licorice bask in the sun, a sudden, chilly breeze blew from behind Murong Ruyan. The breeze was barely perceptible, like an ordinary cool breeze, but Murong Ruyan, now a Foundation Establishment cultivator, immediately sensed something was wrong and turned around abruptly.

Then she stared wide-eyed at the shady spot under the eaves in disbelief—

A gray figure was floating there!

The details were very faint, making it difficult to even discern facial features. One could only barely make out that the person was wearing a wide-sleeved robe with an upper and lower garment, and one could even vaguely make out that there was an apron covering their knees...

This is not the style of clothing we wear today!

Murong Ruyan was startled at first, but she quickly steeled herself and stared intently at the figure whose features she couldn't make out. She made a hand seal, ready to strike, and began to make a guess in her mind.

Could this be the legendary "ghost"?
But didn't Master say that the concentration of spiritual energy in the world is too low nowadays, making it difficult to nurture "ghosts"? Most people's souls only linger for a short time after they die before gradually dissipating?
So what exactly is this "ghost" all about!?
My mind raced with guesses, but strangely, this gray "ghost" seemed completely unaware of Murong Ruyan's attention. It even appeared quite dazed and confused. It seemed to have drifted here only because it was attracted by the spiritual energy gathered by the two pots of licorice.

Murong Ruyan was torn between the thought of "I should just use a lightning spell to destroy it without a second thought" and "It would be such a waste to destroy this thing that might be the first 'ghost' in the world." She was undecided and watched helplessly as it slowly floated past her. The entire "ghost" ended up on the two pots of licorice, swaying back and forth like a paper kite hanging on a tree branch.

When the "ghost" passed through Murong Ruyan's body, the sudden chill made her hair stand on end. It took a lot of willpower to restrain the urge to attack this seemingly fragile "ghost".

Who is this?! And where did it come from?!

Murong Ruyan felt goosebumps rise on her skin!
She wanted to inform everyone, but she didn't dare to leave easily—what if the "ghost" left or disappeared when she left?
This is a ghost! I've never seen one before!

After staring at the "ghost" for a long time, Murong Ruyan seemed to remember something. She took out a paper bird from her Qiankun bag, whispered a few words in the paper bird's ear, and threw it into the air.

A beautiful red-billed blue magpie flapped its wings and took flight.

Soon after, He Shilie and his entourage rushed over, staring blankly at Murong Ruyan, who was intently watching the two pots of licorice.

Seeing everyone's confused expressions, Murong Ruyan asked incredulously, "Can't you see him? He's right there!"

Everyone looked in the direction Murong Ruyan was pointing, and indeed...

There were only two pots of licorice.

It's blooming quite well; the flowers are pale purple and pine cone-shaped, quite pretty.

He Shilie suddenly coughed awkwardly and asked, "Second Senior Sister, what did you see? A 'ghost'?"

"There it is! It's lying on top of two pots of licorice!"

Murong Ruyan's almond-shaped eyes widened in shock. The fact that only she could see it, which no one else could, made her hair stand on end again!

Just as everyone was still shaking their heads in confusion, indicating that they hadn't seen anything, Tang Xiaoyu, who had been hastily brought by the Red-beaked Blue Magpie, screamed in fright: "Ah! Senior Sister! Senior Sister, Senior Sister, Senior Sister!"

Despite being over three hundred years old, he looked more panicked than anyone else.

Tang Xiaoyu hopped and skipped behind Murong Ruyan, asking tremblingly, "What is that thing, Senior Sister!? A 'ghost'? This gray ball is a 'ghost'!?"

"Fourth Senior Sister, you can see this too!?"

Seeing Tang Xiaoyu's reaction, He Shilie finally believed that Murong Ruyi wasn't seeing things. He subconsciously stepped forward, blocking the crowd, and then asked, "Is it really a 'ghost'? Then why can't we see it?"

Tang Xiaoyu could also see "ghosts," which actually relieved Murong Ruyan.

She thought about it carefully and replied, "It's possible that your cultivation level is too low, making it difficult for you to distinguish the 'ghost' form with your naked eyes. When I saw it, it was just a cloud of gray mist, with no clear features. I could only tell that its clothing and appearance were different from those of this dynasty."

Seeing that everyone was very calm, Tang Xiaoyu blushed a little for her overreaction. When she heard Murong Ruyan say that she couldn't see the "ghost's" face, she quickly added, "Senior sister, I know, I can see it! It was wearing a huge crown, and there were lots of beads swaying in front of it!"

Upon hearing this, Murong Ruyan's heart stirred: "Junior Sister Tang, are you referring to the 'Crown and Tassels'?"

Tang Xiaoyu scratched his head: "What's 'crown'?"

Murong Ruyan explained, "It's the hat worn by emperors in ancient times. The front is like a beaded curtain with many strings of beads... Junior Sister Tang, can you count how many strings there are?"

Tang Xiaoyu suddenly realized: "It really does look like an emperor's hat!"

As she spoke, she counted them and replied, "Nine strings in total!"

"It's in the style of a feudal lord!"

"The layout of the former Zhao state!"

He Shilie and Murong Ruyan suddenly looked at each other and said in unison.

Before the State of Zhao unified the world, it was only then that the feudal lords used the nine-tasseled hat!
Even after the Zhao Dynasty, in dynasties like the Zhou Dynasty that still used the crown with tassels, the crown worn by the emperors all had twelve tassels!
Therefore, there is only one possibility for the nine-tasseled figure: this person was from before the Zhao state unified the world!
but……

How could people from that era... or "ghosts," appear in the present?

Before the spiritual energy revival, wasn't it said that the spiritual energy in the world was simply insufficient to nurture "ghosts"?
(End of this chapter)