I am the Ruler of the Kingdom of Mysterious-Chapter 146 - 120: Female Taoist
The Evil Suppression Bureau’s Day Traveling Envoy was highly efficient. Kou Yushan had just joined in the afternoon, and by dusk, he received the keys to a small courtyard. The courtyard was in the west of the city, near the Evil Suppression Bureau. This entire area was filled with such courtyards, mostly vacant and quite desolate.
The small courtyard was free for Kou Yushan to live in for the first three months. After three months, regardless of whether he formally became a Day Traveling Envoy or continued as a regular constable, as long as he was alive, this set of courtyard would be his.
In addition, he received a sword and a set of dark brown uniform, with the character ’巡’ (patrol) on the front and back. Later, when he became an official Day Traveling Envoy, the uniform would be dark red.
Including Exorcism Talismans, vermillion, black dog blood, and glutinous rice — such commonly used items — starting from the next month, there would be fixed supplies available for collection, along with the monthly salary.
With a job and a place to live, Kou Yushan settled in Wangshan City. After that, as long as he worked hard and carefully handled all kinds of eerie cases, every day alive was a profit.
Sang Que was still in the assessment period, not only without any benefits but also having to pay for her own travel expenses to Bailong County.
Kou Yushan exchanged the gold bars he got earlier from the bandits into silver and copper coins, giving half to Sang Que.
Sang Que only accepted one thousand coins, equal to one thousand cents, as she had troubled Kou Yushan too much since Black Mountain Village and could not take more of his money.
After she formally became a Night Traveler, she would also have a salary to collect.
Money earned through one’s own efforts brings peace of mind.
By the time it was late, Sang Que helped Kou Yushan tidy up the courtyard and temporarily set up home, planning to head out for Bailong County early the next morning.
After Xia Chan went to sleep in the evening, Sang Que went back to inform her mother about the situation, asking her to take a few days off for Sang Que. For the three days she would spend in Bailong County, she decided to stay on this side.
Primarily, she was worried that He Buning and the others might follow her, so she decided to be cautious.
Returning from home to the small courtyard where Kou Yushan lived, Sang Que found the last remaining soul candle, lit it, and quickly entered the Nine Netherworld to check on her current status.
Currently, she was at the third layer, 350 steps in the Nine Netherworld, with last month’s Heart Lamp matching the strength of the third layer, 120 steps. With her mother’s novel being updated daily, the number of Heart Lamps fluctuated daily but showed a general upward trend.
Because of the events at the Purple Cloud Mountain Bandit Village spreading throughout Wangshan City in the past few days, her Heart Lamp count...
Sang Que calculated and found that it currently corresponded to the third layer, 375 steps in the Nine Netherworld.
It exceeded her current level in the Nine Netherworld!
No wonder she felt extremely stable emotionally today, not getting angry even with Qin Ze and the others’ taunts and leaving calmly.
Once the number of Heart Lamps exceeded the Nine Nether Level, her soul could stably remain in place, allowing her to choose whether to continue downward.
Above the Nine Nether Stairs, black iron thorns spread all around Sang Que, constantly growing towards her when not illuminated by light.
These black iron thorns from the Vajra Prison on the third layer of the Nine Netherworld could bring extreme pain and fear if they pierced her soul, becoming nourishment for the Yin Child.
When the Yin Child first faced village resentment, it was such that its strength was extracted.
At this moment, the Heart Lamp glowing on Sang Que’s chest shone, causing the black iron thorns to slowly retract. Sang Que tried taking two steps downward; as long as the Heart Lamp was present, the thorns would avoid her.
Descending into the Lower Nine Netherworld was not difficult; the challenge was in accumulating Heart Lamps.
Once the Pinghu Village ghost mist incident was resolved, she could obtain the Night Traveler’s incense burner, and her next step would be to advance towards the Ghost Level.
The Ghost Opera Troupe was still searching for her. Just Wan Xiangtou, whom she had seen, already had the strength of the fifth layer of the Nine Netherworld. She had no idea about the other members of the Ghost Opera Troupe, and in case her identity was exposed in the future, there might be an inevitable confrontation.
She still needed to go to Shengjing to investigate her background and to find Nine Songs’ storyteller... all these required her to become stronger first to handle.
The Night Traveler’s incense burner was something she absolutely needed!
*
Early the next morning, before heading to the Evil Suppression Bureau to check in, Kou Yushan helped Sang Que feed the donkey, harnessed the newly bought cart, and laid out a soft mat.
Sang Que had already gotten the map to Bailong County from Yu Da yesterday, and during the day, there would be some merchants heading that way. Sang Que could travel with those merchants.
There were two post stations along the way, and as long as they followed the official road, they would not miss them.
After checking the Evil Suppression Bureau documents given by Yu Da, Sang Que set off from Wangshan City toward Bailong County with Xia Chan and Xuan Yu.
The autumn air was crisp, and Sang Que accompanied Xia Chan in eating and drinking, almost like they were on a picnic, chatting and petting the cat, enjoying the scenery along the way.
The road was crowded with slow-moving travelers and merchants, with occasional horses galloping by, stirring up large clouds of dust.
The entire trip was uneventful, and by dusk, they reached the first post station. After securing the donkey cart, Sang Que led the way as Xia Chan held Xuan Yu, who now sported a flower crown weaved by Xia Chan.
Xuan Yu didn’t like it and had scratched it off several times, but seeing Xia Chan near tears, it nudged it back up, drooping its eyelids as Xia Chan broke into a smile.
Just as Sang Que reached the entrance of the post station’s main hall, she suddenly heard a dull thud, and a person came flying straight toward her.
Sang Que quickly pulled Xia Chan aside to dodge, watching as the person tumbled into the courtyard.
Crying and exclamations emerged from the hall, accompanied by a straightforward female voice.
"If you can’t keep your mouth clean, then get out. Disturbing others’ enjoyment of their meal. Waiter, the bill, I won’t eat anymore!"
A twenty-something green-clad female Daoist tossed a few copper coins, holding an iron sword as she walked out. The light from outside cast on her face, and those who hadn’t yet entered the post station hall gasped and backed away.
Half of the female Daoist’s right face was covered by a large red birthmark, which looked a bit terrifying at first glance.
Sang Que overheard the people inside talking and found out that the drunkard had drunk too much and tried to harass the girl at the adjacent table, overheard by this female Daoist, who responded with a kick, sending him flying outside.
She had the chivalrous demeanor that Sang Que admired.
Because Sang Que had previously encountered the two sinister Daoists Yan Daozi and Su Liangyuan, her impression of the Taoist Sect was very poor. However, seeing this righteous female Daoist this time slightly improved her view of the Taoist Sect.
"This sister has a flower blooming on her face~" 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎
Xia Chan suddenly spoke up, and the female Daoist who had just passed them stopped in her tracks, turning to Xia Chan with a bright smile, "Sister has good eyes. Where are you heading? Need sister to protect you?"
This rogue-like way of speaking made Xia Chan blush, grabbing Sang Que’s arm and hiding.
The female Daoist was just making conversation and glanced at Sang Que before heading to rest in the guest rooms at the back courtyard of the post station through a side door.
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She said while walking, "Let me find out who wiped out the bandits of Purple Cloud Mountain, and I’ll make them pay!"
She was following the Taoist Sect’s orders to aid the Evil Suppression Bureau and planned to eradicate the corpse-raising mountain bandits of Purple Cloud Mountain. However, just before reaching Wangshan City, she heard from the post station people that the Purple Cloud Mountain bandits had been eradicated by some mysterious Yin Walker, which infuriated her.
Then she heard the inappropriate drunken babbling beside her and decided to take action against him.
The Purple Cloud Mountain bandits had a lot of money! Enough to tear down and rebuild her destroyed Taoist temple, which was indeed uninhabitable.
How could she recruit disciples without rebuilding?
Sang Que, unaware of the cause and effect between her and this female Daoist, entered the post station with Xia Chan. The main hall was bustling, and Sang Que spotted Qin Ze and his two companions, who had arrived earlier.
She ignored them and directly booked a room, asking the waiter to deliver food and hot water to the room.
Due to the unspoken agreement among the people of the Deceit Dynasty to only discuss positive events, many people outside were discussing the eradication of the Purple Cloud Mountain bandits, while nobody dared to mention a word about problematic places like Pinghu Village.
Finding no useful information, Sang Que had to practice some enemy-facing moves with Xia Chan and Xuan Yu in their ground-floor room, continuing to develop the uses of Xia Chan’s hair.
With another uneventful night, the next day, Sang Que got up early to train, dragging the lazy Xuan Yu and Xia Chan out of bed. Xia Chan cried, and Xuan Yu called.
After a noisy morning and breakfast, they were preparing to set off when Sang Que saw the female Daoist from the previous day standing by her donkey cart, feeding it a leaf of cabbage.
"Is this donkey yours? It’s a top-quality black donkey! You could stop a Jumping Corpse with a hoof wedged in its mouth," she said.
Upon hearing this, the black donkey got so scared that its cabbage leaf dropped to the ground, braying as it struggled back, pulling on the rope.
The female Daoist tossed away the remaining cabbage leaf, clapped her hands clean, and smiled at Sang Que and Xia Chan, "You’re heading to Bailong County, right? Mind giving me a ride for a bit? I can protect you, free of charge."
