Catching Monsters

Chapter 431 Poqing Town

According to records from the Jinyiwei (Imperial Guard), the Demonic Spirit Cult first appeared more than 300 years ago, which happens to be close to the time when the founding emperor of the Zhou Dynasty established the country.

The archives also subtly mention that in the early days of the Zhou Kingdom, during the process of overthrowing the previous dynasty, there was some cooperation with the Demon Spirit Cult.

It was precisely for this reason that when the Zhou Kingdom was first established, a large-scale purge of demonic sects and heretical cults was launched, but the Demon Spirit Sect was the only one that survived.

Perhaps for this reason, although the Demon Spirit Cult has been developing in secret, it tries its best to have direct conflicts with the Zhou Dynasty court.

Because the imperial court turned a blind eye to the Demon Spirit Cult, its influence spread throughout the country.

The entire Demon Spirit Cult is composed of the cult leader, four elders, and eight hall masters as its high-level members. The eight hall masters are scattered in various places, and its followers are scattered in various states and prefectures of the Zhou Kingdom.

Its headquarters were located in Nanjin Province in the south-central region of the Zhou Kingdom.

As Jiang Yun perused the information about the Demon Spirit Cult, he became increasingly uncertain. He couldn't help but whisper, "Eunuch Feng, does His Majesty mean that I should completely eradicate the Demon Spirit Cult?"

Feng Yu stood to the side, a smile on his face, and nodded slightly: "Dealing with the Demon Spirit Sect is the responsibility of the Eastern Garrison Command. If you're not allowed to go, am I supposed to go?"

Jiang Yun could only force a smile and touch his hair: "Then Your Majesty will have to give me some time. I need to think about it carefully..."

"Row."

Feng Yu also knew that the Demon Spirit Cult was deeply rooted in various places and could not be easily eradicated, so he did not urge Jiang Yun.

They left the place quickly.

Jiang Yun sat on the ground, slowly flipping through the documents.

The more I look at it, the more overwhelmed I get.

Just then, the copper pillar token hidden inside Jiang Yun's clothes suddenly vibrated slightly.

Jiang Yun's eyes flickered slightly, and he quickly took out the bronze pillar token. At this moment, the bronze pillar token emitted a faint glow.

Jiang Yun knew that someone from the Mirror of Retribution was calling to him.

He picked up the bronze pillar token, pondered for a moment, and then sat down in a quiet place. He then used his magic to infuse the bronze pillar token with his power.

Soon, his divine sense entered the space within the token.

It was the same familiar environment: in the pitch-black land, a campfire burned that seemed to never go out.

The flickering firelight illuminated the eighteen stone statues surrounding the area.

The bronze pillar statue where Jiang Yun was standing slowly opened its eyes and looked around.

At this moment, a stone statue with a ferocious face, as if it came from a demon from hell, was staring at him.

Clearly, it was the stone statue calling out to itself.

Jiang Yun slowly spoke, "Who are you? Why did you summon me here?"

"I am the Blood Pool." The stone statue spoke slowly, its eyes flashing with an eerie green light. It stared at Jiang Yun and said slowly, "You've been a member of the Mirror of Karma for some time now. I heard you're from the capital?"

Jiang Yun remained silent, not wanting to say too much before figuring out the other party's background.

After chuckling, Xuechi lowered his voice and said, "We people of the Niejingtai have always helped each other and been united and friendly."

"I've run into some trouble. I've heard that you hold a high position in the capital, so I wanted to ask if you could help me save someone?"

Jiang Yun slowly asked, "Whom do you want to save?"

The voice emanating from the Copper Pillar Hell where he resided was somewhat hoarse, making it impossible to discern his own voice.

Blood Pool: "Shan Wuling, the young master of the Demon Spirit Cult."

Jiang Yun fell silent, then stared at the other person and said, "You want to save him? Do you know what he did in the capital? He attacked and killed the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion. With my abilities, it won't be easy to rescue him."

Xuechi paused for a moment, then said, "If the matter weren't so serious, I wouldn't have so easily asked you for help."

"Of course, I won't let you work for nothing. You can make any demands you have, and I will do my best to fulfill them."

Hearing the other party's words, Jiang Yun did not continue to refuse, but instead asked, "Who are you? Who are you with the Demon Spirit Sect?"

"I need to know if you can provide what I want."

A flicker appeared in the eyes of the other deity: "Our rules at the Mirror of Karma are that we do not inquire about each other's identities."

“That rule doesn’t exist anymore,” Jiang Yun said calmly. “Of course, if you don’t want to talk about it, then we don’t need to chat.”

After saying that, he made a move to leave the place.

Upon seeing this, Xuechi hurriedly said, "I am an elder of the Demon Spirit Sect."

Although Xuechi didn't know Tongzhu's specific identity in the capital, he knew that Tongzhu held a high position and wielded great power, and that perhaps only he could help with this matter.

Jiang Yun said, "Meet me at noon tomorrow on the third floor of Zuichunlou. My surname is Li. Just say you are Mr. Li's guest, and someone will bring you here."

After he finished speaking, the light in the bronze pillar statue's eyes gradually disappeared.

Jiang Yun did not give the other party a chance to refuse.

After listening to the story, Xuechi looked at the now motionless bronze pillar and stone statue, and fell into deep thought. He muttered to himself, "Surname Li? He wields immense power in the capital?"

"Could it be that this Copper Pillar Hell is..."

……

After waking up from the Mirror of Misfortune token, Jiang Yun couldn't help but take a few more glances at the bronze pillar token in his hand.

He paced back and forth, pondering his next move.

The elders of the Demon Spirit Cult are probably quite powerful.

He walked towards the archives room. Before leaving, he saw the elderly man surnamed Qu lying in a rocking chair drinking wine.

He squatted down beside him and said with a chuckle, "What's your name again?"

The elderly man surnamed Qu was quite drunk. Upon hearing Jiang Yun's voice, he quickly sat up and respectfully replied, "Reporting to you, sir, my name is Qu Lanyu."

"Qu Lanyu?" Jiang Yun asked after hearing the name, "How strong are you?"

"Me?" Qu Lanyu chuckled upon hearing this and said, "Sir, are you joking with me? I've been working here guarding the archives for almost thirty years. If I really had any power, would I be worried about money for drinking?"

Listening to Qu Lanyu's words, Jiang Yun still felt that something was not quite right. He stroked his chin and said, "Tomorrow you will come with me to Zuichunlou."

"Buying you a drink."

Upon hearing that she was invited to drink, Qu Lanyu's eyes lit up, and she quickly and respectfully thanked him, "Thank you, sir."

...In the coastal area, there is a market town called Poqing Town.

Because of the previous disturbances by the rebel army, the wealthy people in this town had long since fled, and the poor, knowing that the rebel army had committed numerous atrocities of burning, killing, looting, and murder, had also sought refuge in the countryside outside the town.

The once prosperous market town is now desolate and impoverished. The only people you can see occasionally are elderly people who are reluctant to leave their homeland and have chosen to stay here.

However, this town was captured and occupied by the Zhenchi Army two days ago.

A building that was originally a restaurant has been temporarily used as the headquarters of the Zhenchi Army.

Xu Xiaogang, dressed in armor and looking somewhat tired, sat in the main hall, discussing the next plan with his subordinates.

"General, I'm afraid we'll have to rest here for three to five days before we can continue our attack," a general said from the side. "There's no way around it; the battle is going much, much better than we expected."

"The supplies and provisions that were originally planned are not keeping up with us."

The army's marching route and supplies were all planned in advance.

Xu Xiaogang did not underestimate the Zhenchi Army's arrival.

They carefully planned their marching route.

But who knew that this group of rebels was utterly vulnerable; they couldn't even be called an army in front of the Zhenchi Army.

Instead, it was a group of refugees dressed in armor and carrying weapons.

In plains warfare, a single cavalry charge can completely rout the enemy formation, with soldiers scattering and fleeing.

Even when attacking a city, the Zhenchi Army could always easily capture it.

Xu Xiaogang's strategy should have taken at least a month to sever the connections between these rebel groups.

The expectation is that it will take about six months to completely recover the territory lost by the rebels.

But plans can't keep up with changes, and the rebels' abilities were greatly overestimated.

Of course, this is not Xu Xiaogang's fault.

Because this group of rebels conquered cities and seized territories at an extremely fast pace, like a gust of wind, they occupied most of the coastal areas of the Zhou Kingdom in an instant.

Many cities were quickly captured.

In addition, there was the previous incident where Xiao Jingfu led 50,000 troops and was defeated by the enemy.

Xu Xiaogang's appearance of this group of rebels might have been a misconception, perhaps due to their well-trained nature.

Xu Xiaogang couldn't help but curse inwardly, thinking how rotten these rebels had become.

They were even able to conquer cities and seize territory all the way.

The garrison troops in these provinces and prefectures of the Zhou state were in terrible condition.

Of course, these southern cities have been neglecting military preparedness for many years and have been developing peacefully.

This situation is quite different from the frequent attacks by nomadic tribes in the north.

Xu Xiaogang took a deep breath and said, "It's good to take a break. The soldiers below have worked hard for the past half month."

"We will launch an attack once the supplies have been fully delivered."

"Yes."

Soon, the generals went to arrange for their respective troops to be stationed around the town, to be wary of surprise attacks from nearby rebel forces.

The entire town of Poqing is like a military town, and the vast majority of it has been occupied by soldiers.

At the entrance to the town, an old man, leading a child, was walking towards Poqing Town.

The two looked travel-worn, and it was unclear how long they had been walking.

The town gate was already fortified with barricades, and many soldiers from the town's garrison were guarding it.

"stop!"

At this moment, a soldier saw the two approaching, drew his sword, and shouted, "What are you doing?"

The old man and the eleven or twelve-year-old child were clearly startled.

The old man said, trembling, "Sir, we are both from Poqing Town. When the rebels came, I took my grandson and went to the countryside to take refuge."

"Not long after, I heard that our royal army had arrived and driven away the rebels, and that's when I thought of returning to town to live."

Hearing the old man's words, the soldier frowned. Soon, a centurion in armor came over and asked, "What's going on?"

"Commander Chen, these two claim to be from Poqing Town..." The soldier quickly explained what had happened.

The centurion, with a thick beard, looked the grandfather and grandson up and down and said, "General Xu said that these people are all suffering. If they want to go home, don't stop them after the search. We can't deny them a way to survive."

Hearing what Commander Chen said, the soldier nodded repeatedly, quickly stepped forward, and carefully searched the two men.

Nothing unusual was found, except that a handful of brown rice was found hidden inside the child's pants, probably for emergencies in case he went hungry.

After confirming that there were no problems, the soldier kindly said, "Where would you two stay? I'll take you back."

"It's not far ahead."

The soldier nodded and led the two men into the town.

"After we find your lodgings, I'll get you some coarse rice," the soldier said as he walked ahead. He was from the north and had often been kidnapped by the nomads when he was young, and had often fled with his family. He knew that this grandfather and grandson had a hard life.

Soon, they arrived at a secluded alley where no one was around. The soldier was about to turn around and ask where the grandfather and grandson lived.

Suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my back.

His eyes widened, and he slowly turned his head to look behind him.

The little boy was holding a sharp blade in his hand, and he had a strange smile on his face.

"You, you guys, there's something wrong with you..." The soldier's eyes widened, not expecting these two to have any problems.

With a thud, the soldier fell to the ground, but in his dying moments, he suddenly took out a whistle from his waist and blew it forcefully.

The sharp, piercing whistle echoed through the two nearby streets.

In an instant, the soldiers patrolling nearby heard the commotion and quickly gathered in this direction.

(End of this chapter)