A life of idleness in the world of demons

Chapter 37. In-depth
瀚州
Inside General Qin's residence.

On a moonlit night.
The scholar was pacing back and forth, anxiously waiting in front of a tightly closed secret room.

He had been waiting for General Qin for over a month, but General Qin still hadn't come out of the pass.

The general always went into seclusion for a very long time.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps behind him, and it was a tall, burly, armored soldier.

"Scholar, the First Madam is waiting for you in the front hall. Please follow me."

The scholar followed the soldiers to the front hall.

The First Madam sat regally in a luxurious chair, with two maids behind her gently fanning herself with round fans, and another maid beside her mixing incense. The sound of the golden mill grinding incense creaked and groaned, accompanied by a comforting fragrance that wafted out.

The scholar took a light sniff and felt his agitation lessen considerably. He couldn't help but praise, "Pure and ethereal, like the fragrance of a secluded orchid or the swirling wind in a pine grove, it calms the mind without one even noticing!"

The First Madam waved her hand.

The maids and servants understood and all withdrew.

They retreated into the hall, leaving only the two of them.

The First Madam then got straight to the point: "Scholar, internal strife is a big no-no. It's fine if it's not public and there's no evidence. But in your case, it's been brought into the open and there's evidence."

The scholar didn't explain further; what he needed to explain was already known to everyone else, so why bother explaining?
He cried out directly, "Please, mother-in-law, save your son-in-law!"

The First Madam said, "The date set for the marriage alliance was the day you became the prefect, which now seems to be a long way off. Where did you get your words, Mother-in-law?"

"It was my fault, son-in-law," the scholar said, bowing his head in apology.

The First Madam said, "You are the top scholar of the imperial court. If you want to admit your mistakes, you don't need to do it to a woman like me."

The scholar gritted his teeth, then suddenly fell to the ground, knelt down, and bowed deeply, saying, "It was my fault, I know I was wrong."

The First Madam looked down at the kneeling scholar, his posture bent low, and she was very pleased. A smile of pleasure crept onto her lips. She thought for a moment and asked, "Who is Ning Xuan?"

The scholar said, "This man is violent and tyrannical, his actions are like those of a tiger or wolf, and his fierce gaze is terrifying, as if he were eating blood and finding it sweet."

The First Madam's eyes lit up.

The scholar carefully raised his eyes, instinctively using his ability to "read between the lines," and just then he saw the light in the First Madam's eyes.

He was shocked.

He was belittling Ning Xuan.

He was saying that Ning Xuan was a savage, barbaric, and bloodthirsty.

But why do the First Madam's eyes shine?
What was she thinking?
The scholar's thoughts raced, and he continued, "This scoundrel is ferocious. Even the Taoist Qinglan, known for his benevolence, was brutally murdered and reduced to a pile of minced meat! And the young Taoist boy too. Their flesh and blood were completely intertwined."

The First Madam listened quietly.

As the first wife of General Qin, she was not like an ordinary wealthy woman who stayed at home, eating melon seeds and drinking tea.

She was away for several months and has only just returned.

She went to collect fragrant wood. General Qin has a great need for calming incense and has very high requirements for its quality. Rare and precious materials are often found in dangerous places, so she had to personally lead people there. She has only just returned.

As soon as she returned, she heard about her future son-in-law.

This top scholar represents the dragon energy of the entire prefecture, and will further strengthen the "private celestial master army" of General Qin's mansion. All of this power was earned by the general through his numerous military achievements.

Taking over the Wangyue Mansion, whose term had already expired and was already settled, should have been a sure thing, but something went wrong.

That's when she started to understand.

Then I learned about Ning Xuan.

She heard about it from the scholar, and then sought out Steward Zhao to find out more.

Afterwards, she went to the General's Mansion, a place where she was specifically to gather external intelligence. She soon learned that Ning Xuan had been appointed as the General of Anyuan, and that the Ping'an Prefecture under his jurisdiction was suffering from a demonic disaster.

After learning about the situation, the First Madam pondered for a moment and made a decisive move. She summoned a Taoist priest from the General's Mansion and said, "Take a demon-slaying guard and go to Ping'an Prefecture to help General Ning."

There are prefects in the general's mansion, and these prefects are naturally also people of the general's mansion.

Of course, this is the "general system" of the old era.

Back then, in order to eliminate demons and monsters, the generals enjoyed many benefits. Now, the "General's Mansion" can be considered a small imperial court, or a "military governor" before the demons appeared.

As for the Demon-Slaying Guards, they are a powerful military force composed of demon-infested warriors, with a unit of thirty people, making them quite valuable.

The Celestial Master was not surprised by the First Lady's orders, and without even waiting for the General's command, he immediately agreed and then respectfully asked, "How can I help?"

The First Madam said, "Do I need to teach you this?"

The Celestial Master said, "Please enlighten me, Madam."

The First Madam said, "It's good to add flowers to brocade, but not good to provide charcoal in the snow. If we can help, we'll do our best; if we can't, then a few people will die, but not too many. While we're at it, please help me see what kind of heroic figure this young general is."

"Yes."

The Celestial Master understood.

Originally, he could have traveled underground with only one guard, but now that he has thirty, he has to ride a horse along the official road to Ping'an Prefecture.

Even if they rushed there day and night, it would still take two or three days to reach Ping'an Prefecture.
After he left, the First Madam rested her chin on her hand and began to ponder which of her daughters was more skilled in teasing, which was love-struck, which was carefree, and which could single-handedly go out of the city to fight General Ning.

Being the wife of a great general was no easy task for her.

Although she was the first wife, she was not the first wife.

She had two wives before her.
But both of those wives are dead. One died of old age.

One died under mysterious circumstances.

The Great General is shrouded in many mysteries: the mystery of his cultivation, the mystery of his immortality.

She might not dare to understand her husband, the general, but at least she could study her son-in-law, right?

midnight
Post
The boundary marker reads "Blackwater Village".

However, the character "黑" (black) in "黑水村" (Blackwater Village) was obscured by the thick night fog and appeared blurry.

The sound of drums booming echoed from the Drum Tower.

The post station was bustling with people, and drums were needed to beat it.

Ning Xuan stopped in his tracks.

Blackwater Village was the meeting place agreed upon in the letter of appeal from Ping'an Prefecture. There, someone would introduce the situation to them and guide them.

Soon, a postmaster hurriedly came out from inside, followed by a strong and ferocious man.

"Is the visitor General Ning?" The postmaster hurriedly bowed, a hint of nervousness on his face.

Ning Xuan nodded and asked, "What happened here?"

The postmaster said with despair, "They're all dead. If the general had arrived two days later, the young Taoist and I would have died too."

Ning Xuan glanced at the two forks in the road behind the post station and asked, "The letter requesting aid says that Ping'an Prefecture is investigating the source of the demonic disaster, and that someone will contact us when we reach Blackwater Village. Is that person you, the postmaster? Or..."

He then looked at the strong, ferocious-looking man beside him and asked, "Taoist boy?"

The postmaster sighed, "It's a long story, a long story. Let's go into the post station first and I'll explain in detail later."

Ning Xuan said, "Speak frankly."

The postmaster said fearfully, "General! The demonic disaster is more serious than we thought! We haven't found the source of the disaster at all, and Prefect Tang has already died in battle, as has the Celestial Master! They're all dead! We should leave here immediately, report to the court, and then make a decision."

As the last word "sever" fell, a blade of light also descended.

The blade flashed and slashed past the postmaster. Before the postmaster could react, his body made a strange sound like tearing silk. The ripped opening was empty; it was just a piece of skin.

Ning Xuan took a step forward, spun his blade again, and continued to slash at the Taoist boy beside the postmaster.

This cut was even faster.

However, the young Taoist boy actually reacted. He grabbed the axe handle behind his buttocks, pulled it up sharply, and blocked the knife.

when!
The knives and axes clashed and collided, producing a soft clang.

The young Taoist priest arrived late and managed to block the attack.

Ning Xuan gripped the knife in one hand and looked down at him, while the Daoist boy bent his knees and knelt down, then gripped the axe with both hands, struggling to bear the blow with the weight of his shoulders and kneeling.

Ning Xuan increased his strength slightly.

Bang!
The boy's tiger's mouth split open, and the axe sank.

Wow! !
With a single slash, the knife cut all the way to the axe handle, cleaving the young Taoist boy in two.

Wow! !

Wow! !

The two ruined human skins made strange noises and fell to the ground with a soft thud.

As the two sounds rang out, the nearby post station seemed to have been disturbed, with thick black smoke billowing out and wisps of smoke shooting out like tentacles of a deep-sea monster, reaching out to grab Ning Xuan.

Ning Xuan was about to go forward when Yao Zhen Fairy stepped in front of him, her fair hands forming a hand seal. Suddenly, a transparent and invisible golden mountain appeared beside the two of them, completely surrounding them.

The black smoke that crashed into the mountains suddenly slowed down to an extremely slow speed, as slow as a snail crawling, and thus seemed to be displayed in a shop window for people to admire.

They seem somewhat different here than they do outside.

From the outside, it was just a cloud of black smoke.

But here, they actually revealed themselves to be grievous and malevolent human faces.

Ning Xuan said, "These ghostly things take the skin of whoever they are and become like that person, and they can even lie and deceive people according to the situation. Moreover, they can even inherit some of the power; that Daoist boy's power is clearly stronger than that of the postmaster."

After thinking for a moment, he added, "It seems that we are already very close to the center of the demonic calamity."

These ghostly things are quite concentrated here; they cannot go far away because the farther away they are, the more they will dissipate.

Unless, of course, they come into contact with human skin, or find a human body and slowly gnaw on it. Even so, while terrifying, they wouldn't truly wipe out an entire prefecture.

Fairy Yao Zhen was taken aback and said, "Could it be that you already guessed it, which is why you had those soldiers stationed on the outer perimeter instead of going deeper with us?"

Ning Xuan was also taken aback.

What was he thinking?

He wanted to receive a lot of compensation, but it was a meaningless sacrifice, and the large sums of compensation were pointless.

But just because he thinks that way doesn't mean that Ping'an Prefecture will think that way.

If so, he might encounter an entire army of human skin here.

These strange things are nothing compared to the human skin army.

(End of this chapter)