Chapter 271 Nine-Tailed Demon Fox
Cui Keli was silent for a long while after looking at the name list. He got up and instructed the official, “Follow me to Crying Rooster Lane for a visit with Old Mister Liu.”
Cui Keli brought a group of officials to Crying Rooster Lane, arriving at sunset. The last ray of the setting sun had disappeared from the roofs, and everyone on the streets walked briskly, eager to return home after a long day’s work. Cui and his retinue attracted the attention of plenty pedestrians.
Old Mister Liu lived in a small dilapidated house at the end of the street. He was already past 50 years of age and hunched over while carrying a pail of water with great difficulty into his house. The front step was pretty high and it was getting dark. His feet caught the doorstep accidentally and his body wobbled. It seemed as though he was about to hit the ground, and he exclaimed in fright.
A married woman who was standing nearby and witnessed the incident was already covering her mouth in shock. Old Mister Liu was not in great shape and would definitely be seriously injured if he fell while carrying a heavy pail of water. Furthermore, he had no money to visit a physician and could possible end up crippled.
However, Old Mister Liu did not fall. He was supported from the elbow by someone, and even the pail of water he was carrying, with some of its contents sloshed out, was caught in a firm grip by the same person. The old man turned his head in surprise to see a middle-aged man wearing the robes of an official standing beside him. It was the very same official who had stopped his from falling.
The married woman who witnessed the entire incident stood rooted to her spot in stunned surprise. She could see very clearly from where she stood, but she did not manage to see how the middle-aged official had stopped the old man from falling. All she saw was a shadow dart forward, and the old man steady himself.
“Are you fine, Sir?” Cui Keli asked the extremely surprised old man with great concern as he put down the pail steadily.
The old man had instinctively felt fear upon noticing Cui Keli, who was dressed in official’s robes. He began to relax immediately after, however. This was because the government of Pinglu was well-ordered now and the officials no longer harassed the citizens. There was nothing to be afraid of.
Cui Keli supported Old Mister Liu into his house. The officials who had accompanied him placed the meat and wine they brought as consolation gifts on a table. The decor of the room was simple, and there was only a table, chair and bed to be seen. Aside from another room housing a kitchen stove, there was nothing else in his house. Cui Keli arranged the meat and wine properly before getting Old Mister Liu to sit down. He chatted casually with the old man while consuming the meat and wine that they brought over with him.
At first, Old Mister Liu was extremely cautious and surprised. He did not know why Cui Keli had appeared at his house. After a few cups of wine, he began to loosen up. He felt that he was a wretched old man anyway, and there was nothing he had to be wary of this great official about.
As they began conversing, Cui Keli was the one doing all the questioning, while Old Mister Liu spoke only to answer him. As the topic of conversation turned to the old man’s sons, however, he began to speak up and he proactively told Cui Keli about how filial his sons were. He told Cui about everything they did since young, as if he was reading their biography aloud.
Old Mister Liu drank a full cup of wine and savored the taste in his mouth. “My three sons lost their mother since a young age. Back then, it was a time of chaos and unrest, and there was nothing left in our home to eat. Their mother left all the rice and food for them and only drank the left over water from boiling their rice for a few days. Finally, she got ill, and as she was too frail, she never recovered. All three of my boys have understood since young, and I never had done any chore when they grew up. However, the citizens of Pinglu have suffered these few years and could barely survive even after working from dawn to night. Our situation only got better with Prince An’s arrival.”
“My three boys enlisted and sent most of their pay back to me, so that I could retire. I understand that they’re being filial, but this won’t do. They haven’t even married and I’m especially worried about my eldest, who’s already past the prime age for marriage. Now that our living conditions have become better, he has to begin saving for marrying a wife... they joined Prince An’s expedition out of loyalty to their nation, and all three of them told me not to worry before they left. They also told me that they would achieve great deeds in the army and do our family proud...”
Cui Keli listened quietly, as if he was speaking to an old friend.
Over the next four hours, all the wine and meat were consumed, and the old man was also drunk. Cui Keli got up and sighed, his expression filled with pain and he seemed to be unable to bring himself to continue speaking. He waved his hand for a beadle to bring the consolation financial support package up.
Cui tidied the front of his shirt and kowtowed to Old Mister Liu. “Your sons served their nation and fought on the battlefield. Let me thank you, Sir, on behalf of Prince An...”
Old Mister Liu grabbed Cui Keli’s arm to stop him from going on. Cui Keli lifted his head in surprise, only to realize that tears were already streaking down the old man’s face. “I could already sense it when you invited me to drink, Great Historian. You don’t have to speak any further...”
Cui Keli was stunned and felt his heart ached suddenly. He realized that the old man must have had a foreboding sense of what had happened when he went on and on about his sons earlier on. He must have missed them and wanted more people to know about what good people they were.
Cui Keli received the money from the beadle and passed it solemnly to Old Mister Liu. “This is the financial support given by the army... your third son was only injured and will return after recuperating. According to rules in the Pinglu army, you’ll receive the rank of a Nine-class official, and there will be people sending you your salary every month. After your third son returns home, he’ll be transferred to a local government office to take up a new post...”
Old Mister Liu received the support package with trembling hands and wiped his tears away before kowtowing. “My thanks to Prince An...”
Cui Keli hurriedly supported Old Mister Liu back up on his feet.
Cui Keli lifted his head to look at the moon and let out a long sigh after leaving Crying Rooster Lane. He did not know whether he was sighing out of a sense of dejectedness or because he was feeling emotional. In such times of unrest, there would be many sad partings and joyous reunions, but Cui was extremely certain that there was meaning attached to those experienced by the citizens of Pinglu because of Li Ye’s presence.
If Cui Keli could observe the flow of Qi, he would have realized that strand after strand of luck congregating from all directions in the five provinces of Pinglu onto Li Ye’s position after his army returned victoriously, the distribution of financial support packages and the glorious return of soldiers who achieved great feats in battle.
On Huafuzhu Mountain.
The Son of God was still seated sideways on the throne in the great hall, his face, which was so handsome that it seemed devilish, nearly expressionless. Wisps of black Qi circled around him, and they sank and fell in accordance with some sort of special technique.
Pools of red Qi suddenly emerged from the floor at the middle of the great hall and congregated to form a vortex. An entirely red nine-tailed Demon Fox appeared in the Son of God’s sight and crawled out slowly of the ground. The red fox climbed up the stairs formed by red Qi and appeared before him, having transformed into a red-haired peerless beauty dressed in a red dress.
“The nine-tailed Demon Fox pays it respect to the Son of God,” said the red-haired woman as she kowtowed before the Son of God. Her voice was gentle and moving, containing a bone-chilling seductive power. She climbed toward the Son of God with all four limbs as she spoke, and traced an arm along his thighs all the way up to his chest.
The Son of God glanced at her indifferently and spoke as coldly as before, “You’re far too close to me.”
The nine-tailed Demon Fox laughed gently as she glanced amorously at him. “I think I’m not close enough, though,” she said, before leaning her entire body onto the Son of God.
The Son of God did not speak, but the way he looked at the Demon Fox had turned even icier. He did not move, but all of a sudden, the black Qi around his body amplified and erupted unexpectedly. The Demon Fox, in her form as a petite human woman, flew backward with a feminine exclamation.
She performed an agile somersault in mid-air and landed stably on both feet. She did not look angry at all, and instead her gaze grew even brighter, and her seductive aura intensified. “Your level of cultivation has increased, Son of God. You injured me so seriously that my heart is broken now!”
The Son of God did not even shift a little, indicating that he did not even look at the Demon Fox. His tone was till completely emotionless as he spoke, “If there’s a next time, you won’t have a chance to speak like that again.”
The nine-tailed Demon Fox was completely unafraid even after receiving such a stern threat and warning. Instead, she stuck out her dainty and red tongue to lick her fiery red lips and threw a coquettish glance as she replied, “I’m really looking forward to it. If you can let me feel pain, Son of God, I wouldn’t mind screaming a little louder for you.”
The Son of God finally moved and looked at the Demon Fox straight in the eye. “Speak, what have you come for?”
The Demon Fox was satisfied to receive his direct attention and stopped teasing the mercurial Son of God. She laughed gently and replied, “Your trusted subordinates, the Demon Fei and the Dragon Lady, have been slain by that Li Ye. What are you going to do next, Son of God?”
The Son of God looked at the nine-tailed Demon Fox with cheekily and asked her, “What do you think I should do?”
The nine-tailed Demon Fox smiled coquettishly as she strode up to the Son of God. She only took three steps before the Son of God’s look turned cold. The Demon Fox felt as though a mountain was pressing down upon her, and she could not take another step forward. Instead, she was forced to retract her feet in embarrassment. However, she evidently did not understand the meaning of awkwardness and continued speaking. “With your current level of cultivation, Son of God, it’ll be so easy for you to kill that Li Ye. Why aren’t you doing that? Why did you send your subordinates to their deaths instead?”
The Son of God replied indifferently, “Is sending a Yin Spiritual Master of the demon clan to deal with a Spiritual Pool Master also considered as sending her to her death?”
The nine-tailed Demon Fox blinked her eyes as she said, “But you didn’t act yourself, Son of God. If you aren’t planning to move on him yourself, why did you show yourself?”
The Son of God took a close look at the nine-tailed Demon Fox, his abstruse eyes seemingly having transformed into vortexes. The Demon Fox suddenly felt as though all of her powers of cultivation had suddenly left her, as though they had surged out of her body, as her eyes caught his gaze, and it caused her to turn pale.
The Son of God retracted his gaze slowly. “If you’re interested in this Li Ye, why don’t you take care of this issue for me? You’re surely aware that I didn’t bring many people along with me, and the only Yin Spiritual Masters I had were the Demon Fei and the Dragon Lady. If a Yang Spiritual Master like yourself was willing to act, I believe that you can deal with Li Ye easily.”
The nine-tailed Demon Fox’s gaze suddenly turned bright and did not conceal her joy at hearing his request. She could not wait to accept the task and ask for her reward beforehand. “If I succeeded, what sort of reward would you give me, Son of God?”
Her gaze was filled with lust as she spoke.
The Son of God seemed to smile vaguely as his expression remained inscrutable and not without ridicule. “If you succeed, I’ll grant you a wish.”
“No matter what sort of request I make?” The nine-tailed Demon Fox’s pupils shone like stars, and she was filled with emotion and could not wait to give her task a shot.
The corners of the Son of God’s lips twitched and arched into an expression of profundity. “Of course, I must be able to do what you wish for.”
The Demon Fox was afraid that the Son of God would regret his decision and hurriedly agreed. She knew that he always kept to his word and never regretted making any promise. Furthermore, going against one’s word was rarely heard of in the demon clan, and she believed that the task was easy but would reward her well. She was already raring to go.
The Son of God’s gaze turned to one of mockery after the nine-tailed Demon Fox disappeared in a puff of red mist, as if he was preparing to watch a good show or to witness a practical joke being played out. He got up slowly, causing his baggy and luxurious black robe to cascade down his body like a black waterfall.
He walked out of the great hall and stood at the entrance with both hands behind his back as he gazed up at the sky, seemingly deep in thought. After a long while, he broke into a smile that mocked the topsy-turvy world. “It’s time to visit the Seventh Great Sage. I wonder if he’ll be happy to see the son of his old friend.”
Li Ye obtained the Blue Ice Crystal Sword after slaying the Dragon Lady. He could sense its immense power after holding it in his hand, and he could immediately tell from his insight that this sword was ranked even higher than his own Luke Sword.
The Luke Sword was the sword of the Son of Heaven and had the right to look down upon all other artifacts. If the Dragon Lady’s sword was ranked higher than the Luke Sword, it would prove that it was no mortal artifact and was created by the Great Power of Immortal Realm power.
However, Li Ye had no plans to use the Blue Ice Crystal Sword himself. The Luke Sword was compatible with Dragon Qi and amplified each other’s power. Su Emei had a good sword too, so he planned to keep the sword for Wu You to use in future. Her Immortal Inquiring Sword was already destroyed and was lacking a weapon at the moment.
After the Dragon Lady fell, the Prawn Soldiers and Crab Generals dived into Ji River in an attempt to flee. Naturally, Li Ye would not allow that to happen. To completely eradicate the scourge of demons in the river, he and Su Emei gave chase in the waters. Even though the water-repellent spell he had learned was unable to deal with cultivators of Spiritual Master Realm in water, the Prawn Soldiers were at Qi-refining Stage and the Crab Generals were seriously wounded. With Su Emei’s help, it would not be much of a problem.
After two hours of hunting down the demons, Li Ye and Su Emei had got rid of all Prawn Soldiers and Crab Generals. They emerged from the river and by the time they returned back to the towered ship, the seafaring team of Changhe Gang had already come into order under Liu Zhiyan’s direction.
Upon watching the return of Li Ye and Su Emei, Liu Zhiyan, Liu Shibo and the others walked up to welcome them with happy faces.
The Changhe Gang had also sustained casualties in the battle against the water demons, but the body count was nothing compared to the complete annihilation of their opponents.
The slaying of a Yin Spiritual Master and Spiritual Pool Master by Li Ye and Su Emei respectively was something they had not even dreamed about. As such, they treated both of them with admiration and awe.
“Tidy up a little and continue advancing,” Li Ye told Liu Zhiyan. The Changhe Gang had entered the water again to deal with the demon scourge problem, but now that it had been dealt with, naturally, they had a responsibility to inform all parties clearly that vessels could travel across Ji River freely again.
Compared to putting up official notices, the Changhe Gang’s navigation would undeniably be more persuasive.
Liu Zhiyan accepted the task gladly, but both Li Ye and Su Emei would not continue traveling with the Changhe Gang. After the scourge of demons in Ji River had been dealt with, they needed to hurry to another place.
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