Catching Monsters

Chapter 576 The Tea is Poisonous
"Pack your things as soon as possible. After returning to the Demon Kingdom, head to the Northern Desert to search for the Demon Saint's whereabouts." Hu Xinglan took a deep breath and instructed the many fox clan experts beside him.

"Yes." Upon hearing this, the many fox clan experts present nodded and turned to leave.

Jiang Yun followed the demons out of the cave. Of course, most of the fox demons did not enter the cave, but they still sensed the vast and powerful demonic energy from before.

And the figure of the demon saint who just flew out of the cave.

They all stepped forward to ask Hu Xinglan, and were initially disappointed when they learned that the one who had awakened was not their fox clan's demon saint.

However, Hu Xinglan soon said loudly, "Everyone, we are very close to success. We are only one step away. We must not lose heart. As long as our Fox Clan Demon Saint awakens, the history of our Fox Clan being suppressed by the Dragon Clan for so many years will become a thing of the past!"

Soon, the many monsters packed up their belongings at the camp and set off to leave.

Before leaving, Hu Yi said to Jiang Yun, "Brother Jiang, don't worry. Our clan leader always keeps his word. I'll deliver the meteorite I promised you later."

"Okay." Jiang Yun nodded with a smile, watching Hu Yi's departing figure, and breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

This trip was quite fruitful; they not only obtained a meteorite.

Most importantly, there was Tiger Saint's promise.

Kill someone for yourself.

As long as one is below the Saint Realm, if Tiger Saint wants to kill someone, probably no one can stop him. Of course, he only has one chance.

Just as Jiang Yun was pondering, Linglong and Heguka saw the many monsters leaving and quickly came over.

"Jiang Yun, what's going on?" Linglong asked.

Jiang Yun then recounted the situation inside the cave.

After hearing this, Linglong frowned deeply. She had certainly seen the demon saint, whose demonic aura was soaring, leave, but deep down, she did not want to see the demon saint revive.

The resurgence of the Demon Saints signifies that the power of the demon race has increased. If all four Demon Saints were to truly resurrect, would they still be willing for all the demon race to be confined to an island like the Demon Kingdom?
At that time, a war with the Zhou state would be inevitable.

Meanwhile, Heguka, who was standing to the side, could not understand the conversation between the two and simply kept his head down.

Jiang Yun glanced at him slowly, frowned, and said, "We two are preparing to return to Zhou. You can leave now."

“I won’t leave. I will follow you two lords.” Upon hearing this, Heguka hurriedly knelt on the ground and said, “My lords, I, Heguka, do not want to spend my whole life doing nothing but plundering. I want to follow you and build a great career.”

The raiding gangs on the grasslands either gradually grow stronger, forming tribes and annexing other tribes.

If a group of a dozen or so like Heguka were to continue growing to several dozen, they would soon attract a more powerful force that would devour them.

In short, this industry has no future.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yun frowned. This guy had no cultivation whatsoever. What use would he be if he brought him back to Zhou Kingdom?
Unexpectedly, Linglong stroked her chin, her eyes flashing slightly, as if she had thought of something. Then she tossed a bag of gold from her waist and said, "This is one hundred taels of gold. On your grasslands, that should be quite a lot of purchasing power. It's enough to form a team of about one hundred people."

Heguka was stunned for a moment.

"Take this money to Jinqu City and find a pharmacy owner named Pan Nangui. Claim to be a subordinate of Princess Ningyi."

“If you can develop a force of about a thousand people on the grasslands within a year, that would be quite valuable,” Linglong said slowly. “Don’t worry, if you need money, just ask Pan Nangui.”

Heguka's eyes flickered. After all, he was a plunderer, so how could he not understand Linglong's meaning? The other party wanted to support him in forming a force on the grassland.

He gripped the money pouch tightly, nodded emphatically, and said in a deep voice with a hint of determination in his eyes, "Rest assured, Lady Linglong, Heguka will swear to serve you to the death from now on."

After saying this, he placed his fists on his chest to express his loyalty.

“Go ahead,” Linglong said.

Watching Heguka turn and leave, Jiang Yun couldn't help but chuckle. He turned to Linglong and asked, "This person has no magical cultivation. Aren't you afraid he'll steal your money and hide?"

Linglong stared at Heguka's back, shook her head and said, "I used to be the leader of the Red Lotus Sect, so don't underestimate my judgment of people."

"This person has a ruthless streak, a determination to never give up until he achieves his goal."

"Even if he doesn't comply, all I'll lose is a bag of money. Do I need money?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yun nodded noncommittally, then took a deep breath and said, "Right now, we still need to go back and report the matter of the Demon Saint's revival to His Majesty."

……

The Demon Kingdom, Dragon Crystal City, behind the Dragon Palace.

In that vegetable garden, Uncle Fu held a pipe in his left hand and a recently harvested melon in his right, preparing to enjoy some tea.

Suddenly, he sensed something, slowly raised his head, and a smile gradually appeared on his expressionless face.

Soon, a soaring demonic aura descended from the sky and landed in the vegetable field with a loud bang. Tiger Saint exuded a powerful demonic aura, looked at Uncle Fu with unfriendly eyes, took a deep breath, and slowly said, "It's been almost two thousand years since we last met, Ao Tianyu."

"To be precise, it's been over 1,800 years." Uncle Fu slowly stood up, turned around and went into the house, where he brought out a rattan chair: "Sit down. Those people, demons, and creatures we knew back then have all changed beyond recognition."

"It's quite rare that we can sit down and chat now. This is a melon I grew myself. Try it, it tastes pretty good."

Looking at Uncle Fu's kind face, Tiger Saint Guard Zishan felt disgusted. He said coldly, "Stop pretending to be harmless with me. Back then, when the four of us Saints joined forces, could that human Saint be a match for us?"

"As a result, you secretly contacted the other party and had them set an ambush to frame us, while you escaped and survived until now."

"This resulted in our three saints being severely injured and forced to sleep."

Uncle Fu smiled faintly and said slowly, "It's been so many years since we last met, and you were already acting like you were there to interrogate me. It's been almost two thousand years since the world changed, and you still haven't gotten over it?"

Wei Zishan slowly stepped forward: "Do you think I can get rid of this anger?"

Uncle Fu has enjoyed two thousand years of life abroad, and has become indifferent to life and death and the struggle for power, which has led to his peaceful state of mind.

Tiger Saint Guardian Zishan had been asleep for two thousand years, and his temper hadn't changed much. "Are you going to fight me to the death?" Uncle Fu said with a chuckle, "Or..."

"I just want to ask you why you betrayed the three of us back then," Wei Zishan asked in a deep voice.

Uncle Fu took a puff of his pipe and slowly said, "It cannot be said."

"You!" Wei Zishan's anger grew even stronger, his eyes fixed on Uncle Fu, as if he were about to attack him at any moment.

“You’ve just come out, so you should think carefully about the consequences of fighting me.” Uncle Fu’s smile remained unchanged: “Two thousand years ago, you were no match for me, and you are no match for me now.”

Upon hearing this, Wei Zishan closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then soared into the air: "Ao Tianyu, you will have to give an explanation for this matter sooner or later!"

Then, it transformed into a streak of light and disappeared above the Dragon Palace.

The smile on Uncle Fu's face gradually disappeared, replaced by a serious expression. He slowly stood up and took a bite of the melon in his hand: "Are the three of them about to wake up?"

……

Jiang Yun and Linglong spent a full ten days riding non-stop to return to the capital of Zhou as quickly as possible.

The two quickly arrived outside the palace and requested an audience with Xiao Yuzheng.

Led by Feng Yu, the two arrived outside the Imperial Study. Seeing their grave expressions, Feng Yu couldn't help but ask, "What happened?"

“A demon saint has awakened,” Linglong said.

Feng Yu's eyes widened, and he sighed, saying, "The news that has come in lately has not been good."

"Is there any other bad news?" Linglong asked curiously.

The two had been away from the capital for more than twenty days and were unaware of what had happened in the capital and the Zhou Kingdom.

"We suffered a defeat in the three southwestern provinces. That area is mostly mountainous, easy to defend and difficult to attack. The Duke of Zhenguo has been besieging it for almost half a month, but he just can't break through." Feng Yu frowned and said, "That Xiao Min'er is indeed a military genius..."

"His Majesty is currently in the Imperial Study, venting his anger."

During their conversation, they arrived at the Imperial Study and, as expected, heard Xiao Yuzheng's reprimanding voice.

"You all claim to be so capable, but what's the result? You didn't even realize that the military rations being transported to the front lines were mixed with sand?"

"The stipulated pension for each fallen soldier is fifty taels of silver. I sent people to investigate, and only fifteen taels reached the families of the fallen soldiers. Where did the rest of the money go?"

The faint voice of an official could be heard from inside: "Your Majesty, military rations are urgently needed. We've collected a lot of grain from farmers to use as military rations, but it's possible that these farmers secretly mixed in sand to make it appear as such..."

"As for the pension, the Ministry of Revenue did allocate the funds, but a fire broke out during the transport of the money some time ago and burned it all."

Xiao Yuzheng angrily retorted, "The farmers mixed in sand? You're all usually so clever and shrewd, do you think you can be fooled by farmers? Do you think I'm a three-year-old child?"

At this point, Xiao Yuzheng couldn't help but laugh out loud in anger: "All that real gold and silver was burned away by the fire."

"Fine, if you two don't tell the truth, I won't hold it against you. Guards, drag them both out and execute them at the Meridian Gate. Their property will be confiscated and used to pay for military expenses."

Soon, the eunuchs guarding the door went inside and dragged out the two officials, both in their forties.

Jiang Yun didn't recognize these two people; they were probably in charge of this particular area of ​​work.

Feng Yu shook his head and said in a low voice, "This is the eighth batch of people His Majesty has killed recently. These guys have gone mad. The war in the southwest is in full swing. If things go smoothly at the front, His Majesty might turn a blind eye."

"The battle at the front is not going well, yet you still dare to reach out for help. You deserve to die."

Xiao Yuzheng naturally blames the defeat at the front on these traitors; otherwise, who else can he blame but Xu Xiaogang?

Even if Xu Xiaogang were replaced, it's not certain that a more capable person could be found in the court.

As for the officials who were beheaded, it wasn't that Xiao Yuzheng was indiscriminately killing people; in fact, none of them were innocent.

Although there were no clues before Xiao Yuzheng ordered the executions, the families of the executed were found to be incredibly wealthy.

The family's wealth couldn't be accumulated in hundreds of years through their salary alone.

And it wasn't just these two people who were killed. Xiao Yuzheng declared in court that he would thoroughly investigate corruption, and anyone who embezzled more than ten taels of silver would be executed.

He refused to believe that a clean and upright society couldn't be established.

He refused to believe that these corrupt officials would risk their lives for money!
After the two were dragged away, Feng Yu led Jiang Yun and Linglong in.

Xiao Yuzheng took a deep breath, slowly picked up the teacup on the table and drank it, then asked, "So, what good news did you two have from your trip to the grasslands?"

Seeing that Xiao Yuzheng was angry, Jiang Yun didn't dare to speak easily. Linglong, however, didn't have so many concerns and said, "The demon saint of the demon race has awakened."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Yuzheng nearly choked on his tea, coughing several times: "The Demon Saint has awakened?"

He also knew that Jiang Yun and Linglong wouldn't dare lie to him about something like this.

His expression hardened, and after closing his eyes for a long time, he slowly sighed, "A time of great turmoil, a time of great turmoil indeed."

"Jiang Yun, Linglong, the two of you..."

As he said this, Xiao Yuzheng suddenly widened his eyes and looked down sharply at the tea in front of him.

This tea is poisonous!
Then, he spat out a mouthful of black blood.

"Your Majesty!" The expressions of the three people present changed drastically!

(End of this chapter)