I am a fairy in Journey to the West

As the old ginseng king kowtowed and begged for mercy, Li Zhicheng and Zhang Xianzong had no choice but to turn their attention to Zhuang Yan.

Zhuang Yan's gaze fell on the old ginseng king, and he glanced at him indifferently before saying, "I don't want your life, nor do I want you to offer any ginseng treasures, but you have to repay your own karma."

After saying that, Zhuang Yan waved his hand and said, "Let him go."

Zhang Xianzong acknowledged the order, then sheathed the Fiery Thunder Blade and said to the old ginseng king, "Did you hear that? You can go now."

Old Ginseng King was overjoyed and immediately kowtowed and bowed to Zhuang Yan. Without pondering the meaning of Zhuang Yan's words, he thanked him and turned to leave.

Watching the old ginseng king depart, Zhang Xianzong turned back to Zhuang Yan and said, "Judging from what the old ginseng king said, that Marquis of Anlu seems to have some shady dealings."

Li Zhicheng's injuries had not fully healed, and he was in so much pain that he grimaced. He quickly apologized to Zhuang Yan and then sat down cross-legged to circulate his magic to heal his wounds.

Zhuang Yan then asked Zhang Xianzong, "You two have been inspecting the Southern Continent for so long, what progress have you made?"

Upon hearing Zhuang Yan's question, Zhang Xianzong immediately lowered his head and said dejectedly, "Your Majesty, it is our incompetence that we have not found anything during our inspection."

Zhuang Yan said, "Are all the earth gods of the Southern Continent upright and righteous? Are they all talented and capable? Is that why you haven't made any progress?"

Zhang Xianzong laughed and said, "Your Majesty, such a thing is impossible to even think about."

Zhuang Yan said, "Is that the Earth God of the Southern Continent an impenetrable iron plate, impervious to needles and water?"

“That’s how it is,” Zhang Xianzong said. “Everyone knows we are the divine generals of the Zhechong Divine Palace, so they are always on guard against us.”

Zhuang Yan nodded slightly and said, "I understand. The reason I came to Nanzhanbuzhou is to resolve this matter."

"Oh?" Zhang Xianzong's eyes lit up. "How will Your Majesty break this deadlock?"

Zhuang Yan smiled faintly, but said nothing. He simply raised his hand and pointed east, saying, "There is a mountain to the east of Chang'an City, a maple forest in the mountain, and a Taoist palace in the maple forest."

“We know that,” Zhang Xianzong said immediately. “It’s the Lingtai Dao Palace.”

At this point, Zhang Xianzong suddenly froze, then slapped his forehead and said, "Hey, it's like the flood washed away the Dragon King Temple—family members don't recognize each other anymore! We've been in Nanzhanbuzhou for so long, and we didn't even realize it was Lingtai Dao Palace... This..."

Zhuang Yan waved his hand and said with a smile, "I will settle down at Lingtai Dao Palace from now on. You can come with me to register first, and then heal your injuries there. After you are healed, continue to follow that old ginseng king. The key to breaking the deadlock lies with him."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Xianzong immediately bowed and accepted the order, saying, "As you command."

An hour later, at the Lingtai Dao Palace, in the Xuanqing Book Pavilion.

Zhuang Yan sat inside the pavilion, while Wu Zhao, dressed in a beautiful robe, sat beside him, brewing tea with a delighted expression.

Shu Bao'er and Hong Xian squatted by the small stove, fanning the fire, while Tieguai Li sat on a chair nearby, smiling broadly at Zhang Xianzong. Li Zhicheng greeted him.

Then Tieguai Li summoned Yan Junzhi and asked him to arrange two fine houses for Zhang Xianzong and Li Zhicheng.

Yan Junzhi bowed and accepted the order, then immediately turned and left.

Zhuang Yan picked up his teacup, took a sip, and then said to Tieguai Li, "The Lingtai Dao Palace has benefited greatly from your leadership over the years."

"Your Majesty, what are you saying?" Tieguai Li quickly rose and bowed, saying, "It is my honor to be able to guard Your Majesty's temple."

Zhuang Yan smiled faintly, then looked at Wu Zhao, who had grown increasingly beautiful and otherworldly, and said, "You have grown quite a bit. When will you attain the Earth Immortal Dao Fruit?"

Wu Zhao hurriedly replied, "Reporting to Master, I attained the Earth Immortal Dao Fruit nine years ago."

"Hmm, not bad." Zhuang Yan nodded, then looked at Bao'er and Hongxian squatting by the stove, "You two little ones, how come you haven't grown up after all these years, and haven't even attained immortality?"

Rat Baby shrank back. Even though Zhuang Yan had already restrained his divine power, the majesty he inadvertently exuded still made a little demon like Rat Baby tremble with fear.

She shrank her neck, scratched her ear, and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me, Bao'er is too stupid, that's why I haven't become an immortal yet."

"I think you're not stupid at all, you're quite clever," Zhuang Yan said with a smile, then turned to Hongxian and asked, "And what about you?"

The red line was originally a real dragon, but it was a white-scaled red dragon, belonging to the mixed-color dragon species.

Although Hongxian wasn't as fearful as Bao'er, she was still somewhat apprehensive in front of Zhuang Yan. "Your Majesty, I haven't yet purified myself of impurities, so I cannot yet attain immortality. Once I have refined all the impurities from my body, I will be able to transform into a true dragon and attain immortality."

Upon hearing this, Zhuang Yan immediately nodded and smiled, saying, "The path to transformation is fraught with difficulties. You must uphold your Dao heart and remain steadfast in your resolve to succeed. Strive for it." Hongxian bowed and said, "Hongxian will remember Your Majesty's teachings."

The Lingtai Dao Palace has accumulated a wealth of resources over the years, and all kinds of healing elixirs are of the highest quality.

With the supply of various elixirs from the Lingtai Dao Palace, Li Zhicheng's injuries were completely healed in just four days.

The first thing they did after recovering was to go back and search for the old ginseng king.

But a cunning rabbit has three burrows, and the old ginseng king obviously couldn't stay in the original cave anymore, but they were prepared.

Although Zhuang Yan released the old ginseng king that day, they had already left a magic seal on the old ginseng king.

So they quickly found the old ginseng king's trail in the Seven Gorges Stream, twenty miles north of Chang'an City. However, they did not alert him, but quietly hid.

Meanwhile, in the Yin Si Hall of the Chang'an Capital City God Temple, the two generals, Jia and Suo, brought a new soul to the hall.

In the main hall, Ji Xin, a third-rank celestial official of the Upper Yuan Dynasty and the City God of the Capital, sat high on the throne.

He is the highest-ranking city god in the underworld city god system, and is the head of the city gods in the three realms, hence the title 'Capital City God'.

Ji Xin flipped through the Book of the Underworld, checking the new soul before him. Once the check was complete, the soul's name would be removed from the register.

But at this moment, Ji Xin suddenly realized that the new soul in front of him was somewhat familiar. It wasn't the person that was familiar, but the way he died that was familiar. Both of them died from exhaustion of their vital energy.

Ji Xin immediately looked through the records in the Underworld Register and found that in the last ten years alone, there were forty-eight mortals in the entire Chang'an Prefecture who died in the same way.

But these people have neither demonic aura nor any karmic entanglements with others, so how could they have exhausted their essence, energy, and spirit at the same time?
Ji Xin realized that there must be something fishy going on here, and it might be related to a major case.

So he immediately ordered the two shackled generals to first detain the new soul in front of him and imprison him in the City God's Mansion. Then he said to the civil judge beside him, "Investigate the origin of this new soul named Suo Yan."

Judge Wen accepted the order and immediately began to investigate. He quickly found out the origin of the family and said, "Your Honor, the Suo Yan family lives in Dunhua Ward in Chang'an City. They have an elderly husband and mother, a wife and a son."

Ji Xin nodded and said, "Immediately write a document to inform the East Kitchen Master of Suo Yan's situation and ask him to go to Suo Yan's house to investigate."

"Yes." Judge Wen accepted the order and quickly wrote the document, which he immediately sent to the East Kitchen Master of Fate.

The so-called "Eastern Kitchen Master of Fate" is actually the "Kitchen God," and each prefecture has one Eastern Kitchen Master of Fate.

After receiving the document from the Capital God's Office, the Kitchen God of Chang'an Prefecture dared not delay and immediately sent down his spirit to check on Suo Yan's home.

Although the City God's Palace belongs to the Underworld, and he belongs to the Divine Firmament Jade Palace, the City God is a third-rank celestial official. In heaven, he would be on par with the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King and the Four Marshals, so he naturally has to take him seriously.

Soon, the Kitchen God of Chang'an Prefecture discovered unused ginseng roots in Suo Yan's house, which were clearly not something an ordinary person should have.

Soon, the Kitchen God of Chang'an wrote down his findings and sent them to the City God's Office. After receiving the document, Ji Xin carefully read it and then picked up the ginseng root to examine it.

"Those forty-seven people from before also seem to be related to 'ginseng'?" Ji Xin said.

The judge standing nearby quickly replied, "Ginseng soup noodles."

Ji Xin's eyes lit up, and he immediately stood up and said, "Send word to retrieve the files of the first forty-seven souls and thoroughly investigate their life stories."

"Yes," Judge Wen immediately replied.

Three hours later, Ji Xin received the investigation results: all forty-eight people had indeed died in the same way, and all of them had sold ginseng soup noodles before they died.

So Ji Xin sent the ginseng rootlets found in Suo Yan's house to the gods of Luo Feng in the underworld for verification. Finally, they concluded that the ginseng rootlets were the rootlets of the ginseng king in the human world.

At the same time, the gods of the Six Heavens of Luofeng also discovered, based on the residual aura of this root, that this Ginseng King was the same Ginseng King wanted by the Southern Mountain Divine Palace.

What more needs to be said? After receiving the results, Ji Xin immediately transferred the ginseng root and the case file to the Southern Mountain Divine Palace.

Ye Meicang, the Minister of the Southern Mountain Divine Palace, looked at the case file sent by the City God's Palace. After a moment, he looked up and said, "Issue an order that Marquis Ningxiang, Jia Yan, and Marquis Rongxiang, Jia Yuan, come to the Southern Mountain Divine Palace immediately to receive orders."

A messenger below immediately rose, bowed, and accepted the order. He then quickly left the main hall and departed from the Southern Mountain Divine Palace to deliver the decree. (End of Chapter)