Young master, why not become a corpse immortal?

Chapter 21 Jianghu, Oh Jianghu

Inside the Baishan County government office, the registrar looked at Zhu Mingyuan, whose body was being roasted evenly in patches under the white cloth, and wiped his eyes.

"Magistrate, how could you be dead!"

He then looked at his constables and yamen runners and said, "The magistrate is dead, and I am now acting as the magistrate."

No one raised any objections.

The chief clerk's job was to assist the county magistrate in handling official business. In fact, most of the time, it was the chief clerk who handled the cases and adjudicated them, while the county magistrate only occasionally appeared to make a show of it.

"What did the coroner say?" The registrar pointed to the magistrate's body on the ground: "He's all broken into pieces, it couldn't have been burned, could it?"

"Reporting to you, sir," the head constable said with a slightly unusual expression, "the coroner said... the magistrate froze to death."

"Huh?" The registrar's eyes widened in surprise.

You're telling me that a person fell into a fire and got roasted until they were charred on the outside and tender on the inside, but ended up freezing to death?
The head constable clearly knew that what he had said would not please the registrar, so he quickly explained:

"According to the coroner, the magistrate's body cut open in the form of frozen flesh that had been smashed. Although it had been roasted, some parts of it still retained their original shape, so it must have been frozen into pieces before being thrown into the fire."

The clerk's lips twitched.

The coroner in Baishan County was very skilled. He used to work for the imperial court and retired in his old age. He was an eccentric old man.

Normally, he's almost infallible in his judgments, but this time...

The registrar said it was hard to say.

"Has Lin Jiang's body been found?"

"No." The constable shook his head. "We walked south along the street, but when we got there we didn't see anything."

Damn it, Lin Jiang is gone too.

It was burned to ashes?

"and……"

The head constable began to hesitate again.

"Go on," the registrar said wearily as he sat down in the chair, already feeling the magistrate's wooden chair burning his bottom.

"Yesterday... someone in the county saw an unmanned horse-drawn carriage speeding along the road..."

Registrar: "..."

He is tired.

He had handled many cases in Baishan County over the years and had seen many strange and unusual things, but this was truly the first time he had ever seen anything so bizarre.

"...I've already sent the express courier to the capital. I guess they'll send someone capable down from above."

He can't control this matter.

……

The sky is a clear, bright blue, and white birds soar through the air.

The scholar and the woman were sitting opposite each other drinking.

The scholar was deathly pale, with a square scarf wrapped around his head and dressed in white. He looked like he was about to die, but he was quite handsome.

He was also holding a fan with the words "I was born with talent" written on it.

Kun Dao is even more peculiar. Her face is nothing special, but just one glance makes people feel that she is beautiful. Her age is also hard to tell. She seems to be in her late twenties, or she seems to be around thirty.

It looked as if her face was covered by a veil.

Two people play a drinking game, and the loser has to drink.

The scholar drank more, while the woman drank less.

By the end, the scholar was exhausted.
"Sis, I really can't outdrink you."

Kun Dao put down his wine cup sullenly: "You're really boring. If it were my senior brother, he could drink with me all day long."

"But your senior brother doesn't like you. He even dismantled the jar you carefully nurtured."

"Luckily you're skilled, otherwise it would be really hard to believe you've lived this long without being beaten to death."

The scholar sighed, "Zhu is dead too. I raised him for so many years, and in the end, he couldn't even muster any backbone. He tried to say my name, but he froze to death. How could he not have had any backbone?"

"If he had any backbone, he wouldn't have had to bite the rotten wood root you gave him to see the emperor back then."

"Tell me, who killed Zhu? Was it Young Master Lin? Or your senior brother? But you clearly led your senior brother away at the time," the scholar asked again.

“You don’t understand my senior brother at all.” Kun Dao shook his head: “He is a true genius, one in a million.”

"Our sect has two branches. One branch teaches eating, drinking, whoring, gambling, and prostitution, while the other branch teaches swindling and cheating. My senior brother had only been in the sect for less than two years when he realized that what our patriarch said was not right. He changed his eating, drinking, whoring, gambling, and prostitution to eating, drinking, having fun, and then he left."

"He reached the sixth level of the Heavenly Realm at a young age, but then it seems he got stuck there because of a mental block. Since then, he has become decadent. He is clearly only in his forties, but he acts like he knows his destiny. He always says, 'If you don't get a star, you're a waste!'"

At this point, Kun Dao was so angry that her teeth itched:

"Where are there so many stars? Countless people spend their entire lives and still can't even reach the third level of heaven, yet he's only forty! He's already at the sixth level of heaven at forty! He's a waste, so what are we?"

The scholar fell silent.

"As for that young master Lin, he came back from the dead and has a secret that the general wants. I'm not sure about his current abilities. It's also possible that he killed Zhu."

The woman asked the scholar again:
Who do you think it is?

The scholar thought for a moment:
“We haven’t reached the county yet. All we know is that Zhu wanted to say my name and then died. We don’t know anything else. We can’t figure it out no matter how hard we try. It would be better to send someone over to check. It’s better than guessing.”

"That makes sense." Kun Dao nodded. "Shall we play another round of rock-paper-scissors?"

"No, no," the scholar waved his hands repeatedly.

"How boring," Kun Dao sighed, calling out into the shop:
"Waiter! Bring the wine!"

When there was no response, she slapped her forehead:
"Look at my brain, how could a dead person drink alcohol?"

He got up, carefully stepped over the corpses on the ground, afraid of getting blood on the edges of his shoes, and went to the back of the deserted camp to get some wine.

A white bird, soaring high, landed on a tree not far away, curiously observing the location of the desolate traveler.

Inside the shop, the shopkeeper, who looked like a bandit, was lying dead all around, his broad-bladed knife lying haphazardly, blood flowing all over the ground.

……

Lin Jiang's body doesn't actually need to sleep much.

If he doesn't rest for a long time, his body won't feel tired, but the golden Qi within him will slowly be depleted.

Like fuel for a stove, it fuels his actions.

They drove the carriage all night, and by the time the sun rose in the distance, Lin Jiang had already left the area of ​​Baishan County.

Taking advantage of the daylight, Lin Jiang woke up Xiao Shanshen, boiled a kettle of water, and gave Xiao Shanshen a bath. After drinking the ginseng, Lin Jiang's mental state improved considerably, and he felt ready to work another day.

Under Lin Jiang's guidance, Xiao Shanshen has learned to dress herself. After taking a bath, she took out her own little towel, dried herself off, and put on her clothes.

After finding a sunny spot to sit, Little Ginseng was clearly very happy.

Having read many comic books, Xiaoshan Shen has always longed for the world of martial arts depicted in them.

I wasn't so drawn to it when we were on the mountain, since it was just a few pages of comic books that I was tired of seeing.

After Lin Jiang gave her several books, she had always wanted to see the world inside them.

I wonder if there are any chivalrous heroes who drink and eat heartily, and if there are any female knights-errant who ride horses and sing.

After thinking for a moment, he turned to look at Lin Jiang:

"Where's the thief? Where's the thief?"

"A thief?" Lin Jiang, who was preparing breakfast for Old Master Lin, was slightly taken aback.

"I read in a comic book that when a great hero enters the martial world, he'll definitely rob people, shouting something like... 'This...this mountain...'"

"I opened this mountain and planted this tree."

"Yes, yes! It's a toll!" Little Ginseng nodded happily, then looked around in confusion:

Where are the people who tolled the toll?

Lin Jiang chuckled, utterly at a loss for words, unsure how to explain this to Xiao Shanshen.

The mountain spirits are unaware of worldly affairs; all their knowledge comes from picture books. Of course, they don't know that this place is still within Baishan County, under the jurisdiction of the county government, and there's no way someone would be touting for passage.

Even shady shops are rare.

She couldn't possibly know that once they left Baishan County, there would be more than just one group of people demanding tolls.

Lin Jiang is now only grateful that these short stories about chivalrous heroes are full of good deeds, which prevents the little ginseng from being raised in the wrong way.

What if what was scattered on it was a dirty joke...

I don't even want to think about it.

Lin Jiang patted the little ginseng's head:
"It will come later."

Little Ginseng said "Oh," and trotted back to the driver's seat of the carriage, swinging his little legs:

"Toll for the road! Toll for the road!"

Lin Jiang shook his head helplessly.

While Xiaoshan Shen was carefree, Lin Jiang had many things to think about.

He knew very well that the journey south would not be peaceful.

Six or seven years ago, the emperor fell ill and has not been involved in much affairs since. Several princes in the capital are eyeing the throne, but none of them dare to make a move.

Officials of the sixth rank and above were busy choosing sides and examining the political landscape, hoping to secure a good position for themselves.

Because of this situation, most local officials are distracted; they're lucky if they can manage their own small area well, and they become indifferent to anything outside their jurisdiction...

That's hard to say.

He wasn't with a martial arts troupe, he didn't have a martial arts flag or a large halberd, nor did he have a mixed-race flag with slogans. In addition, he only had this one horse-drawn carriage, which was quite luxurious and elegant in appearance.

It looked exactly like a big, fat piece of meat walking on the road.

If the bandits don't suddenly appear and take a bite, nobody will believe it.

Lin Jiang wasn't afraid of the bandits. According to Gong Xuan, there were only those who had been given a star rating that he couldn't handle, and those who had been given a star rating were very few, all of them were Grandmasters. Grandmasters shouldn't be going to such a godforsaken place to become bandits.

I may not be afraid, but it's still troublesome.

Nobody wants to be eaten alive the whole way.

Well, things will work themselves out. When you're new to the world, be careful and try to avoid getting scammed.

If I really get scammed...

Then I'll just have to fight back with my fists.

Having made his plans, Lin Jiang got up and returned to the carriage. Amidst Xiao Shanshen's cheers, the carriage continued along the official road.

We left Baishan County.

……

The carriage had traveled some distance by afternoon.

Lin Shengfeng slept most of the way. When he woke up, he would ask Lin Jiang for a bowl of water and then eat some dry biscuits. After he was full, he would stare blankly out the window.

Lin Jiang hadn't eaten anything along the way, but the ginseng soup from Xiaoshanshen provided him with enough vital energy to sustain him for several days.

If we eat, our cultivation will progress faster, but since we don't know how long the journey will take, we should leave the food for the old man.

Finally, they saw a small village with smoke rising from its chimneys ahead. There was also a restaurant by the roadside next to the village. Lin Jiang thought for a moment and then parked the car on the side of the road.

He brought a wooden box to store some fresh food, planning to buy some later.

Upon entering the restaurant, I saw many farmers eating inside, enjoying simple, coarse grain dishes.

After Lin Jiang went in, he ordered two servings of coarse rice and a plate of green vegetables, and immediately started eating them.

Lin Jiang quickly finished cooking two bowls of rice, then took out a wooden box and waved to the waiter.

"Please add two more bowls of rice and some greens for me to take away."

"Alright!" The waiter quickly filled Lin Jiang's rice bowl, then smiled and said to him:
"Thirty taels of silver in total."

"How many?"

Lin Jiang blinked.

A typical farming family can only earn about ten taels a year even with all their hard work. This village is a bit remote, so it's estimated that they can earn even less.

You ask me for thirty taels of silver the moment you open your mouth to have a meal?

“In our area, a grain of rice costs one coin, and a stalk of vegetable costs one tael of silver. The amount of rice you're eating will definitely exceed that, but we won't cheat you. We'll give you thirty taels and let you pass.”

As the waiter spoke, everyone in the shop turned to look at Lin Jiang.

Lin Jiang sighed helplessly.

Fine.

This is Jianghu.

(End of this chapter)