In the private room, Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao were still engaged in their “group activity,” their faces lost in ecstasy, completely immersed. The female ghost’s illusion was powerful; its effects hadn’t worn off yet… I only regretted not having a phone in my pocket. Otherwise, I would have recorded their postures—a lifetime’s worth of embarrassing history…
Xu Qi An didn’t disturb his two colleagues’ “sweet dreams.” Instead, he lit a paper inscribed with the Aura Observation technique and walked to the window, slowly scanning the street to search for suspicious individuals. To his surprise, all he saw were streams of white aura, which in the definition of Aura Observation, signified commoners.
“Huff…” Xu Qi An exhaled deeply, returned to the table, sat down to drink tea, and quietly waited for the illusion’s effects to end.
After about ten minutes, Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao suddenly froze, as if time had stopped. A few seconds later, they collapsed straight to the ground with satisfied sighs.
Looking at the two sleeping men, Xu Qi An had a sudden thought and came up with a bold idea.
He carried Song Tingfeng to the adjacent private room and gave him two quick slaps. Song Tingfeng mumbled an “Mmm” as if in a dream and opened his tired eyes.
“Ning Yan?” Song Tingfeng was shocked, suddenly sitting up and looking around, searching for something. “Where’s… where’s Miss Susu?”
“She left!” Xu Qi An said “confusedly”: “I was coming back from the latrine and happened to see her leaving, her face flushed, walking with a limp. Of course, I tried to stop her, but she hurried away, ignoring my calls.”
“…I must find her, I must marry her.” Song Tingfeng jumped up suddenly, then staggered, feeling dizzy.
The illusion directly affected the primordial spirit, causing dizziness as an after-effect.
“Damn, why do I feel weaker and weaker?” Song Tingfeng pushed Xu Qi An: “Ning Yan, quickly help me chase her, she’s my bride-to-be.”
Your bride-to-be, you mean the pillar in the next room? Xu Qi An coughed and asked, “What exactly happened between you two?”
Well… Although Song Tingfeng was a lecher, he was still conservative at heart. Engaging in such activities could only happen at night and in bed. Doing it in broad daylight in a teahouse was something he found difficult to admit.
“Don’t panic, sit down and rest for a bit. I’ll go outside and look around, I’ll bring her back,” Xu Qi An said as he left the room and returned to the adjacent one.
“Slap! Slap!”
Two slaps woke up Zhu Guangxiao.
Zhu Guangxiao’s reaction was even stronger than Song Tingfeng’s. Upon seeing Xu Qi An, his expression became extremely flustered, and he instinctively covered his crotch, only to realize he was wearing pants.
He looked around in confusion and asked, “Where’s… where’s Miss Susu?”
Xu Qi An said, “She just left. I even met her downstairs. No matter how I tried to persuade her to stay, she insisted on leaving. I wondered if you had upset her.”
Zhu Guangxiao’s expression turned strange: “When she left, did you notice anything unusual?”
Xu Qi An “recalled”: “Her face was very red, she was sweating lightly, and she was walking with a limp. Maybe she twisted her ankle.”
Walking with a limp… Upon hearing this, Zhu Guangxiao’s face fell: “Ning Yan, I… I’ve done something terrible… I don’t have the face to return to the capital, nor to face my fiancée.”
“What happened? Tell me,” Xu Qi An quickly consoled him.
Zhu Guangxiao then recounted what had just happened, his face turning pale with remorse:
“I don’t know what came over me. In a moment of weakness, I did such a beastly thing to Miss Susu. I already have a fiancée. She… she was still a virgin. What am I to do now?”
Although he frequented the pleasure houses now and then, the women there were different from respectable ladies.
Hmm, only children want it all; adults know what they can’t afford. Guangxiao is quite rational… Xu Qi An nodded: “You need to think this through carefully.”
Zhu Guangxiao looked up: “You don’t seem surprised at all.”
Why would I be surprised? Old Song next door has the same idea… Xu Qi An sighed: “What’s done is done. What else can we do? Perhaps this Susu was just a passerby in your life.”
Hearing this, Zhu Guangxiao became despondent.
…Oh my, it’s so hard to hold back, haha! Seeing Zhu Guangxiao’s dispirited look, Xu Qi An almost had to cover his mouth with his hand.
If he told them directly that the so-called Miss Susu was a female ghost, Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao would at most feel embarrassed, and curse a bit, and that would be the end of it.
In the future, they might still feel awkward when talking about it, but the impact wouldn’t be too great.
Now it was different. The more remorseful they acted, the more they said in front of Xu Qi An, and the more ashamed they would feel when they learned the truth later, to the point of wanting to roll on the ground.
This was an inspiration Xu Qi An got from his own experience of bragging in the Earth Book chat group, occasionally fearing the embarrassment of his identity being exposed.
In the future, when my identity is revealed and I can’t show my face, thinking about Old Song and Old Zhu will make me feel much better… This is what brotherhood is all about.
…
After leaving the teahouse, Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao were unusually quiet.
Old Song regretted that he had finally thought about settling down, only for it to turn out to be a fleeting affair. His heart was filled with melancholy. In his self-imagined scenario, he had built up Miss Susu to be a one-of-a-kind extraordinary woman.
“I must find her and marry her…” Song Tingfeng secretly vowed.
Zhu Guangxiao was even more depressed because he had to choose between his childhood sweetheart and this heavenly beauty who had suddenly appeared.
Upon returning to the post station, both Zhu Guangxiao and Song Tingfeng chose to take a bath without even asking the attendants to prepare hot water. They went straight to the bathhouse at the post station.
Something doesn’t feel right. Why is everything in my pants… Song Tingfeng, soaking in the cold water, slowly began to realize.
Miss Susu is as beautiful as a celestial maiden, but I already have a fiancée… Zhu Guangxiao was still struggling with his choice.
…
In the room, Xu Qi An sat at the desk, concentrating his energy on his finger to scrape off a corner of the “Spirit Sealing Talisman.” Instantly, a gust of yin wind rushed out from the mouth of the wine jug, causing the room temperature to drop suddenly.
A wisp of green smoke rose gracefully from the jug’s mouth, like an eel with its tail trapped, darting left and right, unable to pull its tail out of the jug’s mouth.
With no other choice, the green smoke transformed into a breathtakingly beautiful woman, floating above the jug’s mouth, looking pitifully at Xu Qi An with “tearful” eyes.
“Young Master, what has this servant done wrong for you to treat me like this?” she asked.
It looks just like a 3D projection… Xu Qi An slightly raised his head, examining the female ghost from bottom to top.
“Oh my, Young Master is peeking under this servant’s skirt.” The female ghost coyly pressed down her skirt, biting her lip. Her charming face revealed a teasing expression that seemed to say more than words could express.
…Still trying to seduce me. Come to think of it, this kind of paper wife is truly an otaku’s blessing… Xu Qi An snorted and took off his jade ring, placing it on the desk:
“Miss Susu, keep trying!”
The jade ring flashed with a clear aura.
The female ghost cautiously examined the jade ring: “The aura of the Confucian school?”
After receiving Xu Qi An’s confirming nod, she immediately dropped her coquettish demeanor. Standing gracefully in mid-air, she looked down at Xu Qi An from above and said in a crisp voice: “Do as you wish, kill me or flay me.”
Xu Qi An said, “Alright! I’ll throw the ring into the wine jug.”
Miss Susu immediately softened: “Master, let’s talk this over, shall we?”
Quite sensible… Xu Qi An put away the jade ring, leaned back in his chair, and asked, “Who sent you?”
Miss Susu put on a fawning, pleasing expression: “This servant’s master is called Li Miaochen, the Holy Maiden of the Heavenly Sect of the Dao School. She’s nineteen years old and not yet married. It was she who instructed this servant to seduce you, Young Master, to extract information about the Zhou Min case from you. To ensure whether it would threaten the Commander-in-Chief Yang Chuannan.”
There were too many points to criticize; Xu Qi An didn’t know where to start. First, this female ghost was sent by Number Two. When they met, he only suspected it, but after she inquired about the Zhou Min case information in the teahouse, Xu Qi An was almost certain she was Number Two’s person.
Number Two’s execution is quite strong. Last night she just said she wanted to seduce, and today she immediately took action. As expected of a military sister… Is this female ghost the “Enchantress”?
So “Enchantress” refers to a female ghost.
Secondly, Number Two is the Holy Maiden of the Heavenly Sect. Hmm, it’s reasonable, because among the various systems, apart from the Witch-God Cult, the Dao School is most adept at raising and controlling ghosts.
He harbored a bit of hope that this was a female ghost sent by the Witch-God Cult, but things rarely go as one wishes.
Lastly, Number Two’s ghost-raising skills are too poor, isn’t it? Is this even raising a ghost? This is raising a traitor. I didn’t even use the “stick,” and she confessed everything.
“You’re quite loyal,” Xu Qi An said sarcastically.
“This servant had a short life, dying so young. Now that I’m a ghost, of course, I have to cherish my existence,” Susu sighed. Her bright eyes turned, and she added:
“This servant was still a virgin when she died.”
And then? Because you didn’t taste the pleasures of men, your resentment didn’t dissipate, so you became an “Enchantress”? Xu Qi An asked again:
“How did the Holy Maiden of the Heavenly Sect become the Flying Swallow Heroine, and how did she come to Yunzhou to suppress bandits?”
“The Heavenly Sect cultivates the Heavenly Way. To reach the highest realm, one must forget emotions like the Supremely Venerable. To transcend the world, one must first enter it. To see through the mortal world, my master followed her teacher’s orders to travel and experience life.”
And then she became a chivalrous heroine with a righteous heart, someone everyone would give a thumbs up to and call “good” when mentioned? I wonder if the elders of the Heavenly Sect knew about this, would they cough blood in anger?
“…Pfft!” This time, Xu Qi An couldn’t hold back and laughed out loud.
He felt that Number Two was full of contradictions from head to toe.
The female ghost glared at him coquettishly, “Master, is there anything else you want to ask? Hurry up and let this servant go after you’re done asking.”
“Was Zhou Min killed by Yang Chuannan?”
“This servant doesn’t know.”
“Was Li Miaochen involved in this matter?”
“This, this servant knows. She wasn’t involved. This servant has been by the master’s side the whole time.”
Susu’s words had no evidence, but Xu Qi An chose to believe them. From the feedback he got from the Earth Book chat group, Number Two was a righteous companion, and trustworthy.
However, whether Commander-in-Chief Yang Chuannan was a wolf or a good person remained to be verified.
“What’s Li Miaochen’s cultivation level?”
“Fifth grade.”
What was the fifth grade in the Dao School again? Xu Qi An nodded, “She sent you to seduce me, what was her follow-up plan? I mean, in that aspect, was she also planning to use illusions to confuse me?”
Susu immediately showed an expression that all men would understand, giggling: “Young Master, this servant’s physical body has long since perished, so I can’t accompany you in the joys of the fish and water. But I can possess other women’s bodies. If you see any woman on the street that you fancy, just give the word, and this servant will possess her for you, hehe.”
“I’m not that kind of person,” Xu Qi An said sternly. “Also, what’s her relationship with Yang Chuannan?”
“A few months ago, the Commander-in-Chief and my master worked together to suppress bandits. They have a very good relationship.”
No longer a novice in officialdom, Xu Qi An immediately guessed Yang Chuannan’s true intention for suppressing bandits—to deal with the imperial inspection.
“One last question.”
“Please ask, Young Master.”
“Are you interested in following me?” After saying this, Xu Qi An explained, “Whether we can engage in the joys of fish and water doesn’t matter. Mainly, your possession ability is quite good.”
Miss Susu was quick to adapt, immediately adopting a posture of being at his disposal: “This servant is willing to follow Young Master. Please, Young Master, remove the seal.”
“Very well!” Xu Qi An picked up the jug lid. “From now on, follow me. The wine jug will be your home.”
“Young Master, please remove the seal. Young Master, Young Master… You bastard, I’ll drain you dry one day.”
As the jug lid was put on, Susu’s voice disappeared, and the yin energy in the room dissipated completely.
…
In the capital, at the Night Watchmen’s Office.
Under the warm sunlight, Wei Yuan, dressed in a green robe, was bent over his desk reading reports. South Palace Qianrou, Zhang Kaitai, and the other four Golden Gong bearers stood in the room with lowered heads, not saying a word.
Without looking up, Wei Yuan said calmly, “It seems life in the capital has been too comfortable. Twelve confidential reports from the Northeast were intercepted by people from the Witch-God Cult.
“How have you Golden Gong bearers been training your subordinates? If you’re too idle in the capital, the border regions could certainly use your skills.”
Even when furious, the Great Eunuch maintained a calm and unruffled demeanor as if nothing in the world could make him lose his composure.
The six Golden Gong bearers kept their heads down, like children who had done something wrong in front of Wei Yuan, not daring to argue or speak.
“Thump, thump, thump…”
Footsteps echoed from the stairs. A black-robed clerk, holding a letter with both hands, hurried in and stopped before the desk, bowing as he said:
“Sir Wei, there’s an urgent confidential letter from Yunzhou.”
The Great Daqi’s postal system was well-developed. Besides regular horses, there was a kind of magical beast called the Fire Feather Beast that served as a courier. This beast originated from the Southern Borderlands and belonged to the demon race. It had a gentle temperament and was skilled at running.
It could easily travel a thousand li in a day.
However, their reproductive ability was weak, and raising them was extremely expensive. Therefore, they couldn’t be widely used and were only employed for postal deliveries.
Wei Yuan used a paper cutter to slice open the letter, unfolding the parchment to read with focused attention. The confidential message had been sent by Jiang Lüzhong, informing Wei Yuan that the Governor’s team had arrived at the border of Yunzhou. The letter also mentioned that shortly after entering Yunzhou, they had fortuitously rescued Zhou Min’s concubine, Yang Yingying, and had obtained crucial information.
At the end of the letter, there was a concerning note:
“Xu Qi An is currently striving for the Refinement Realm, and the day of his advancement is near. However, I have discovered that he is simultaneously cultivating two visualization techniques. One of these comes from the yamen; I wonder if it was granted by you, Lord Wei? The other technique is the Buddhist ‘Lion’s Roar,’ and he has made significant progress in both.
“I find myself puzzled and seek your clarification. I recall that a warrior at the Qi Refinement stage struggled to visualize even a single technique before advancing to the Refinement Realm. This is due to the limitations of their spiritual strength, and attempting to cultivate multiple techniques simultaneously can lead to confusion and mental chaos.
“In my own experience, it took me quite some time in the Refinement Realm to manage multiple visualizations. The other Gold Bells in the yamen experienced the same. Yet, why is Xu Qi An so unique that he can visualize two techniques even at the Qi Refinement stage? This is something I have never heard of and find hard to believe, which is why I have not disclosed this information publicly.”
Xu Qi An is striving for the Refinement Realm… Xu Qi An is visualizing two techniques… Even someone as composed as Wei Yuan felt a sudden freeze in his gaze.
The six Gold Bells sensed the change in Wei Yuan’s expression and looked up, their hearts tightening as if faced with a formidable enemy. This confidential letter likely contained significant news, and it wasn’t good. Otherwise, why would Lord Wei show such a lapse in composure?
Just then, they heard Wei Yuan exhale, his words carrying a mix of sigh and contemplation: “Not even two months…”