Chapter 102: Chapter 101: Talking Nonsense Comes Naturally, Part 1
Translator: 549690339
Tang Yuansheng, male, 102 years old, Nascent Soul Stage Cultivation Level, currently holding the position of Inspector in the Eternity Sect.
Upon receiving a message from Master Chu instructing him to come earlier, he decided to advance his schedule and first went to Qinghuai County, which was separated from Yanjiang County by just one mountain.
“Once I cross this mountain, I’ll reach the location Little Chu mentioned.”
“Huh?” Suddenly, Tang Yuansheng sensed a peculiar aura fluctuation, “What kind of aura is this?”
He followed his perception and arrived at a stable in a posthouse. There inside, an old horse with dragon scales on its forehead was huddled with a brown mare, their bond seemingly deep.
A stable boy hauled in a bundle of selected grass feed and placed it in the manger. The old horse glanced disdainfully at the feed, not intending to eat at all.
Seeing this, the stable boy muttered under his breath, “Has it already found a new companion so quickly after the white mare left?”
The old horse seemed to understand human speech, glared at the boy, who, afraid to provoke this unusual beast, hurriedly ran away.
The premium feed the old horse’s owner left behind had long been finished. After the premium feed was consumed, there was no sign of the horse’s owner. The posthouse’s proprietor guessed whether some mishap had occurred, or if the owner had died given that his destination was Song Mountain.
Afterwards, the boy was ordered to feed the horse regular feed. If the owner did not show up, the horse would be sold to repay the cost of the feed.
The old horse, however, scorned the feed from the posthouse and did not eat a single mouthful. This went on for a month.
The proprietor of the posthouse grew apprehensive. This horse was not just a peculiar beast with scales, but a high-level demon beast that had reached the fasting realm!
Tang Yuansheng was overjoyed when he saw the old horse; it was unexpectedly a rare dragon horse! The only uncertainty was the richness of its genetic purity.
“If I hadn’t incidentally been to the vast Eastern Sea, I wouldn’t have recognized it.” Tang Yuansheng grew extremely excited; this was a pleasant surprise.
A dragon horse, such a rarity, happened to be here in a remote small county stable. Certainly, the dragon horse’s owner was not aware of its valuable nature. The dragon horse had yet to awaken, hence its existence here remained unnoticed.
“Being a Great Power at the Nascent Soul Stage, I have yet to find a suitable mount. This must be a fortunate opportunity bestowed upon me by the Immortal Eternity in seeing my sincerity!”
Tang Yuansheng prayed to the Immortal Eternity momentarily then leaped into the stable.
The old horse glanced at Tang Yuansheng but didn’t pay him any mind. It continued to be affectionate with the small brown mare.
“Poor dragon horse, oblivious of its noble status, in love with a mortal horse. Come with me. I’ll show you your greatness.”
Tang Yuansheng extended his golden hand intending to lead out the old horse. The old horse kicked back, breaking Tang Yuansheng’s hand. He felt a constriction in his chest and spat out a mouthful of blood, his strength instantly weakened.
With a look of terror, he glanced at the old horse, all trace of his previous excitement gone, replaced by endless fear, and he turned to flee.
A Great Power residing incognito must be here, keeping the dragon horse as a common horse in the stable!
His previous actions undoubtedly would not deceive the incognito Great Power. He needed to flee, hoping the other party might spare his life for his ignorance!
The old horse growled a low rumble, showing off its strength to the little mare.
After running for a while and not seeing any Great Power capturing him, Tang Yuansheng knew the individual did not particularly mind his actions.
“Alt!” He spat out another mouthful of blood, randomly found a secluded spot, and settled down cross-legged to meditate, taking an elixir to heal his injuries.
That kick from the horse had greatly depleted his vitality.
When he opened his eyes again, he heard a thunderous sound from the other side of the mountain, as if a massive object had fallen.
“Is it already night?” Tang Yuansheng found the sky was already dark, somewhat surprised, not expecting that he had spent an entire day recovering from his wounds.
Having recovered somewhat from his injuries, able to defend himself, he crossed Song Mountain and arrived at where the flying ship fell, saw Rudder Master Chu was stabbed by Lu Yang and no longer breathing.
“…This is the surprise Little Chu was talking about?”
It’s hard to say whether he’s happy or not, but Tang Yuansheng was undoubtedly shocked.
Before coming here, the higher-ups of the Eternity Sect told him to keep an eye on Lu Yang, Meng Jingzhou, and Man Gu, and even supplied him with their portraits.
Now, he has no choice but to pay attention to them.
“Who are you!” Lu Yang held his sword, vigilantly watching Tang Yuansheng.
Tang Yuansheng looked at Lu Yang with a bemused smile: “Lu Yang, you dare to point your sword at me? I am Tang Yuansheng, the inspector of the Eternity Sect.”
Upon learning the identity of Tang Yuansheng, Lu Yang signaled behind his back, telling Lan Ting to leave quickly. Lan Ting’s presence would be hard to explain to Tang Yuansheng.
“So, you are Inspector Tang.” Lu Yang became somewhat polite, but he still looked at Tang Yuansheng suspiciously, clearly not fully believing the other party’s identity.
Tang Yuansheng didn’t bother explaining to Lu Yang, and instead, asked, “Wiry did you kill Li Shouyi?”
Li Shouyi, the county magistrate of Yanjiang, Master Chu’s real name, Tang Yuansheng was accustomed to calling him Little Chu.
Lu Yang said solemnly: “Because he almost exposed his identity as a member of the Eternity Sect!”
“Oh?” Tang Yuansheng looked at Lu Yang with interest, waiting to see what kind of explanation he would give.
Suddenly, there was a commotion from the foot of the mountain. It was Fang Qingyun leading a large group of people to investigate the crash site of the flying ship. There were even doctors in the group responsible for the rescue.
“Let’s leave first!” Tang Yuansheng was still in a seriously injured state and didn’t want to face the government officials. With a wave of his sleeve, he took Lu Yang and the others and fled.
Tang Yuansheng, familiar with the area, led the three of them into the Yanjiang Rudder. This was the safest place in Yanjiang County.
“Now tell me, how did Li Shouyi expose his identity when he is known for being meticulous?”
Lu Yang divulged everything about the Reverse Life Array, and added, “Master Chu… no, County Lord Li’s plan cannot said to be careless. First, he made Yizhanghong the scapegoat, and then he secretly set up the Reverse Life Array. As long as he destroyed the small flag afterwards, there would be no traces left.”
Tang Yuansheng nodded, Li Shouyi was always cautious in his actions, using the extremely obscure Reverse Life Array, this plan was faultless.
“But an accident still happened. The three of us opened a barbecue restaurant in this place, which is the best place to gather local information. We noticed a disciple of the Laurel Fairy Palace passing by accidentally. She seemed to be proficient in array methods and discerned the Reverse Life Talisman on the small flag!”
“We can’t touch a disciple of the Five Great Immortal Sects. We feared that if anything happened to County Lord Li, it would involve the entire Eternity Sect. We advised him to hide promptly, but he insisted that it was a crucial time and he had to use the Reverse Life Array to ascend to the Nascent Soul Stage and couldn’t hide. We had no choice but to kill him before Great Xia captured him, eliminating future trouble!”
“You noticed the officials earlier, right? The person leading them is the Chief Catcher Fang Qingyun. What could they be doing with so many people, if not to stop the Reverse Life Array from activating and capture County Lord Li!”
Tang Yuansheng nodded, thinking that Lu Yang and the others had done the right thing. The fact that a disciple from the Laurel Fairy Palace was in Yanjiang County could be investigated, and there was no way to deceive people about it. Moreover, Li Shouyi indeed attached great importance to ascending to the Nascent Soul Stage.
Ordinary Rudder Masters are at the Golden Core Stage. Yanjiang County is a small county, so its Rudder Master can only be at the Golden Core Stage. Li Shouyi wanted to be transferred to a developed cultivation area as Rudder Master, so he had to ascend to the Nascent Soul Stage now.
The reason was the same for the county magistrate. Promotion would be extremely difficult without reaching a certain realm.
Man Gu looked at Lu Yang, startled. The plan didn’t include meeting Tang Yuansheng after killing Master Chu, let alone having a reason for the killing. How did Brother Lu come up with this on the spot?
Meng Jingzhou quietly gave Lu Yang a thumbs-up. The reason Lu Yang had come up with was not much different from the one he had hastily fabricated.
