Don't farm, cultivate immortality!

Before evening, we arrived at a post station.

The officials at the post station checked Zhuang Xing's credentials, respectfully led the horse away, and fed it fine fodder.

Zhuang Xing politely asked, "Esteemed officers, do you know if there is a place to repair horseshoes at this post station?"

"Go another forty li or so, and there's a village with a blacksmith there. He's quite skilled, but the village isn't on the main road, which might delay your journey, sir. Would you like to get a horse from the post station?"

The purpose of building the post stations was to provide horses for messengers.

During wartime, messages were always delivered via official roads. Ordinary horses could not run for a full day. A horse with the stamina to run for half a day was already considered a top-notch horse. Wartime messages could not be delayed, so messengers would usually change to a new horse at each post station.

Sometimes, when people are in a hurry to get somewhere, especially with urgent dispatches that can cover 800 li (400 km), the horses may even die from exhaustion.

The official document issued by Zhuang Xingshou was a high-ranking official pass used only by officials.

After all, it was a warrant personally signed by the Prefect of Yidu, so the officials at the post station naturally treated Zhuang Xing with the same respect due to a superior, which is why they wanted Zhuang Xing to take away a new horse.

However, Zhuang Xing asked the horse hoof repairman only to replace the horseshoes of his horse, Wuzhui, and not because he was in a hurry, so he naturally rejected the suggestion.

He inquired about the route and, after hearing from the official that he would see a river forking into three branches, to follow a small path to the east and continue straight to the village, he went to the inn to rest.

The next morning, after replenishing their water and food at the post station, they hurried towards the village.

Forty or fifty miles is not a long distance for them.

After walking for half a day, before the sun was directly overhead, they saw the three-way river and turned from the main road onto a country path.

After walking for a while, we indeed saw a village.

The village has sparse houses and is a small place.

Strangely, Zhuang Xing saw villagers lying on the ground in the fields and villages, but no one was moving.

Only the village chickens came out and pecked at the ground. They were probably not being fed by anyone and had to find food on their own.

Zhuang Xing frowned, realizing something was wrong, and became alert.

Yunling helped up the woman closest to them, checked her breathing, took her pulse, opened her eyelids, and looked into her eyes.

The pupils are not focused, but the patient is still breathing.

"They're still alive, and they don't seem to be poisoned, but I can't wake them up," Yunling said after trying to circulate her internal energy.

Zhuang Xing focused his Qi into his eyes. He had previously learned a technique for observing souls from the corpse driver. Looking at the souls of these people, it seemed that they were all missing a wisp of refreshing spirit.

There must be evil spirits causing trouble here.

He drew his sword and suddenly heard voices coming from behind him.

"These radish leaves smell so good! Little horses should eat tender grass!"

Chapter 198 The Spirit of the Horse

Zhuang Xing turned around and saw Wu Zhui munching on radish leaves in the field.

"Black Steed, was that you speaking just now?"

"Speak up, who spoke?"

The black horse raised its head, still chewing.

"Yunling, you must have heard that, right? Wuzhui just said that radish leaves smell really good."

Yunling looked puzzled: "Zhuang Xing, did you hear Wuzhui speak?"

"Didn't you hear me?" Zhuang Xing asked.

Yunling shook her head: "No."

"Hey, brother, you said you can understand me now. If you can understand what I'm saying, then lift up your right foreleg. I mean your right hoof, the one you use to hold your sword."

“I don’t call this a hoof, I call it a hand.”

Wuzhui came closer: "I was just joking. Do you think I'm that stupid? Of course I know that a person's right hoof is called a hand, not a right hoof."

The black horse came to Zhuang Xing's side very enthusiastically and raised its right hoof.

"Brother, hurry up and touch me with that hoof of yours called your right hand, I've wanted to do this for ages!"

Zhuang Xing rubbed his forehead, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and calmed himself down.

When he opened his eyes again, what appeared before him was still the black horse with its right foreleg raised.

Clearly, this was not his hallucination.

He suddenly understood what Wuzhui was saying, and it seemed that only he could understand Wuzhui.

Zhuang Xing sorted out his thoughts. Before coming to this village, he had never heard Wuzhui speak.

Everything was amiss when he entered the village.

The village is shrouded in some mysterious aura, causing everything to descend into chaos.

Zhuang Xing searched his mind for what kind of demon could possess such supernatural power. None of the villagers had any external injuries, so this was probably some kind of demonic magic that could be applied to people without physical contact.

What is the purpose?

For something in the village?

For money? For food? Or something else?

"Hey bro, what are you still spacing out for? My legs are getting sore from holding them up like that!"

Okay, Zhuang Xing calmed himself down.

"I originally thought you were a quieter pony."

"Why? Do you talk to me often? As far as I know, this should be the first time we've spoken."

"You're right." Zhuang Xing still stretched out his fist and bumped it against the hoof of the black horse.

The black steed raised its head and neighed, "I know what we're going to do next, to subdue demons and monsters, right?"

"Come on up, get on my back. I can't wait to take my legendary story back and tell it to Xiao Cui!"

"Xiao Cui, who is that?"

“Although we are brothers, I will not give Xiao Cui to you. I think we should discuss something else now, such as how to find the monster and cut it in half with one sword, just like you cut those three big turtles before!”

"What are you talking about?" Yunling turned her head to look at her. "Who is Xiao Cui?"

“Xiao Cui has nothing to do with what’s happening here, so let’s not discuss Xiao Cui for now. This must be the effect of that demon’s magic,” Zhuang Xing said as calmly as possible. “Yunling, are you sure you can’t understand what Wuzhui is saying? In your opinion, what did Wuzhui just do?”

“It barked a few times and raised its hoof to touch you,” Yunling said. “Then you asked who Xiao Cui was.”

“I understand.” Zhuang Xing nodded. “That sorcery can weaken the connection between a person’s soul and body. It must be because I practiced the art of night travel that my soul and Wuzhui’s soul became entangled in some way, which is why I can understand Wuzhui’s speech. This sorcery is the reason why these people have fainted. As long as we find the sorcery that cast it and make it break the spell, the people in the village will wake up.”

"So that's how it is..." Yunling thought for a moment and agreed with Zhuang Xing's explanation.

"Let's investigate this place first. That monster knocked everyone in the village unconscious; it must be trying to do something sneaky," Zhuang Xing said.

“I guess it wants to steal money. I really don’t know what’s so good about those hard things. Everyone wants them,” said Wuzhui.

"Why do you think it wants to steal money? Did you see any fallen copper coins on the ground?" Zhuang Xing stroked the horse's neck.

“Isn’t there a fox up ahead? It’s tied the money to itself. I can smell that foxy stench on it. Ugh, it stinks.” Wuzhui gagged. “I hate foxes. I prefer the fresh scent of tender radish leaves that Xiaocui smells like.”

"A fox?!" Zhuang Xing followed the horse's gaze and searched for a while. Sure enough, he saw a furtive fox. It was a red fox with a string of copper coins tied around its waist. It was quietly walking past from the distant grass.

That was on the other side of the village. If it weren't for Wuzhui reminding him, Zhuang Xing wouldn't have seen the fox at all.

Upon realizing that it had been discovered by the Taoist priest, the fox immediately put down on all fours and frantically fled.

"That guy's getting away! Let's chase after him!" Black Steed was eager to try. "Once we take care of him, I can go back to eating my radish leaves!"

"Yunling, I'm leaving the village to you. If anything happens, use your supernatural powers to come to me!" Zhuang Xing mounted his horse.

"What's going on? Where are you going?" Yunling hadn't heard Zhuang Xing's conversation with the horse.

"Go after the fox! It's that demonic fox's sorcery!"

As Zhuang Xing shouted, Yunling finally saw the fox running very fast.

"The fox is right there, let's go, brother, hurry and chase it!"

The black horse's hooves pounded the ground; it was much more excited than Zhuang Xing.

"Bro, don't you use that one yet? You know, the one you like to use, the one that makes a whoosh?"

The sound of the black horse, carried on the wind, came through the air.

Zhuang Xing knew what Wu Zhui was talking about, but no matter what, Zhuang Xing hadn't seen the fox kill anyone; theft wasn't a capital offense.

Although he could pierce a fox with a flying sword, he was not a bloodthirsty person.

It is a matter of course that a life should be paid for a life, but it is not fair to sentence someone to death for a minor crime.

Moreover, he needed to dispel the fox's spell and wake up the villagers so that the blacksmith could get up and finish forging the horseshoes.

"If you can catch it, I won't use the 'whoosh' thing today. If you think you can't catch it, then I'll use it."

"Then you'd better not use it, brother. How could a fox possibly outrun me? Just you wait and see, I'm faster than the wind!"

The black horse immediately accelerated. Its legs were at least five times longer than the red fox's, and one of its steps was equivalent to five of the fox's steps. Although the distance between them was still far and the fox had gotten ahead of them, the distance between them quickly closed, and the fox, which had been a red dot, became clearly visible.

In an instant, the black horse caught up with the red fox.

Chapter 199 A Craving for the Human World

Just as the black horse was about to catch up with the fox demon, a wisp of green smoke suddenly appeared on the fox demon's body.

The next second, three red foxes darted out of the smoke and ran in three different directions.

The illusion was so convincing that each one looked real.

While Zhuang Xing was still trying to identify them, Wuzhui had already rushed out. It was unclear whether it had randomly picked one of the three foxes or had a unique method of identification, but it did not hesitate at all.

The one being chased by the black horse was indeed the real fox. It seemed that the horse had seen through its true form, and the red fox panicked. Its other two clones immediately disintegrated.

Zhuang Xing seized the opportunity, took out the seeds of the Heart-Protecting Vine from his pocket, and threw them out.

The seeds took root in the soil, transformed into vines, and bound the red fox.

The horse arrived shortly after and stopped in front of the fox.