No taboos

Chapter 408 The Mysterious Divine Detective (Three-in-One)

When Xu Yuan led Shun Dong back to the county government office, the young lady's mouth gaped slightly in surprise. She whispered to Wei Shi beside her, "That thing... just came back with him like that?"

Wei Shi, however, was not optimistic: "It's probably not that simple. But..."

Wei Shi glanced at the young lady secretly, but still had to be cautious, so he refrained from praising Lord Xu in front of her.

"But what?" the young lady asked, turning around.

Wei Shiyi smiled and shook her head: "It's nothing."

The young lady rolled her eyes at her aunt with a coquettish expression.

What I want to say is that this Lord Xu is truly capable of bringing that thing into the county government office so easily.

Xu Yuan did indeed feel some sympathy for Shun Dong.

However, the reason why Shun Dong was able to be brought back to the county government so smoothly was because Xu Yuan had handled many cases in the six months since he joined the Exorcism Division.

For a suspect like Shun Dong, who is both a "victim" and a "perpetrator," it is essential to have an accurate understanding of his personality.

Using the phrase "every pitiful person has something hateful about them" to describe this is inaccurate and too harsh.

But people like Shun Dong are bound to be somewhat extreme and stubborn.

Once he has made up his mind, he will not think it is wrong.

So when he wanted to work and earn money, Xu Yuan used a simple excuse of hiring him to lead him all the way to the county government office.

If Shun Dong eventually walks into the county government hall.

Above the hall hangs a plaque that reads "A Clear Mirror Hangs High," and with the addition of a tiger-head guillotine, the evil spirit is doomed.

But the evil spirit was unwilling to surrender.

The instant the skin between Shun Dong's brows split open, everyone present, including the five young ladies hiding in the back room, heard a voice in their minds:
"Pedantic!"

Lord Xu released the sword pellet.

Shun Dong's prejudices became even more extreme.

The third eye, a glass bead, turned clumsily.

This time it was clearly not Shun Dong who was controlling the Third Eye, but rather the Third Eye that was controlling Shun Dong.

The third eye scanned everything around it, searching for a target that could be manipulated.

The first thing you see is the plaque hanging in the lobby that reads "A Clear Mirror Hangs High".

They then planned to transform those four large characters into evil spirits.

But then he encountered a mysterious force that was fighting against him.

It is quite difficult to turn these four words into something evil.

The third eye gave up.

It must be the power of the Ming Dynasty's legitimate succession.

There are many things around here that can be tricked, so there's no need to waste energy on this plaque.

The third eye then turned its gaze to the two sides of the hall, to the rows of fire sticks on the shelves.

The power of reversal is activated.

However, these water and fire sticks also emitted a strong force of resistance.

The third eye found it strange. This shouldn't be the case. In any county government office in the world, countless innocent people have been wrongfully beaten under the guise of water, fire, and sticks!
It should be easily manipulated.

The third eye became stubborn and put in a lot of effort—the two rows of fire sticks bounced a few times on the shelf, but eventually returned to calm.

The plot failed!
The third eye, filled with doubt and uncertainty, turned sharply and looked at the threshold beneath its feet.

The Deception

The threshold was heavy, and it was firmly stuck in the doorway.

This time, it failed without even a tremor!
what happened? !
The third eye was genuinely surprised.

Is it because this is the main hall of the county government that my power is being suppressed?

Shun Dong turned around and was about to run away.

He tripped over something and fell forward. As he fell, the thing that had tripped him spread out and wrapped around him tightly.

The third eye then fixed its gaze on the thing that bound him.

Artifacts? A trap to lure them into a treacherous scheme!
Artifacts are the easiest objects to be induced by the third eye.

After all, crafted objects are made from "materials," and they inherently possess a mysterious quality.

But the thing that bound him was a rope made of animal sinew, not a net of filth.

If it were a corrupt net, Lord Xu wouldn't dare say he could definitely suppress the craftsman's trickery.

Lord Xu had guessed this, which is why he used the Tendon Pill.

"Don't waste your energy." Xu Yuan's voice came from behind.

The animal sinew rope will suspend Shun Dong in mid-air, then twist it around and stretch its head forward.

Directly in front of his forehead, the sword pellet split in mid-air, transforming into hundreds of tiny sword needles.

These needles, finer than cow hair, pierced the edges of the glass beads.

Together they dug the glass bead out from between Shun Dong's eyebrows.

The glass beads believed that they could not seduce the things in the government hall because of the suppression by the imperial court.

That's certainly one reason, but the more important reason is that Xu Yuan secretly manipulated the "No Taboos" destiny, suppressing its power.

Xu Yuan's life cultivation is only at the seventh level.

If it weren't for the county government office, the glass beads wouldn't have been able to be controlled by simply having "no taboos."

However, combining the two can give you a slight edge.

Xu Yuan brought Shun Dong back to the county government office in order to find a battlefield that would be advantageous to him.

After all, "internal heat" is banned today.

The hundreds of sword needles cut the glass bead out from between Shun Dong's eyebrows, and then transformed into hundreds of sword hooks, firmly hooking the glass bead.

However, after pulling out the glass bead, they discovered that Shun Dong's soul was connected to the bead!
It's just like a real eyeball, connected to the optic nerve.

Shun Dong screamed in agony.

Blood tears streamed from his eyes, and his whole body convulsed uncontrollably.

The glass bead has kidnapped Shun Dong. If they want to drag me out, they'll have to kill Shun Dong!

The young lady couldn't help but worry, and turned to ask Geng Jiu, "Uncle Jiu, do you have a solution?"

Geng Jiu is a divine cultivator, and the soul is his area of ​​expertise.

Geng Jiu frowned and pondered, racking his brains for a way to peel it off.

Xu Yuan suddenly waved his hand, and a water and fire stick flew out from the hall.

Upon reaching the glass bead, it suddenly transformed into an evil spirit and attacked Lord Xu from the head!
The glass bead had just successfully induced the transformation of the water-fire staff.

But the glass beads felt something was wrong.

Because Shun Dong's soul is separating from it.

"commercial law!"

Using the trickery of the Water and Fire Cudgel, they traded Shun Dong's soul.

Shun Dong's life was worthless; he was bought with a water-fire stick in a whimsical twist.

Snapped!
The water-and-fire staff came down, but it was easily sliced ​​to pieces by the Dragon-Slaying Sword.

Just as the glass bead was searching for other strange targets, it was suddenly wrapped up in a piece of skin in mid-air.

Its "vision" was completely blocked by Pidan, and it could no longer see anything.

It could only desperately unleash its power on Pidan.

However, like the tendon pill, the skin pill is an external pill used in fifth-rate pill cultivation.

The glass bead is also of fifth-rate quality; its power cannot surpass that of Pidan.

Shun Dong was completely limp and drenched in sweat.

Suddenly, I felt a sense of clarity wash over me.

Looking back on my actions, I still stubbornly refuse to believe I did anything wrong.

But ultimately, I felt it had gone a bit too far.

For example, there were many innocent people in Yunmiao Temple.

They came from the same impoverished background as I did, and because of that vague expectation in their hearts, they went into the temple to worship Buddha, but never came out again.

Xu Yuan put Pi Dan into the carriage, adding an extra layer of security.

This thing is very strange. Xu Yuan plans to study it slowly later.

It seems we can take advantage of...

Lang Xiaoba and Ji Shuangqiu rushed out from either side of their parents and captured Shundong.

Xu Yuan put away the animal sinew rope, and the two of them put the shackles on Shun Dong.

Xu Yuan waved his hand: "Let's investigate."

Such trivial matters do not require Lord Xu to personally handle.

Lang Xiaoba looked around: none of the inspectors had come, so Lang Xiaoba looked for Yu Yunhang again.

Then I remembered: Oh, Lao Yu didn't come either.

You can't expect me, a rough man, to interrogate prisoners, can you?
Lord Xu has already gone to the backyard to rest.

The young lady was eager to try, but was held down firmly by Wei Shi and Wei Nianyi.

The county magistrate stepped forward and said, "Let me handle this."

Lang Xiaoba immediately felt that the county magistrate had been a great help.

He was ambitious and listened quietly, learning from the sidelines.

When he was in Champa, he wasn't involved in such interrogations.

But now Xiao Ba feels that he still needs to improve his abilities.

Shun Dong still doesn't think he's a bad person.

So he answered the magistrate's questions truthfully.

When he was ten years old, his father went into the mountains with others to blast rocks. An accident occurred when too much blasting powder was used, and his father and four other people were killed by falling rocks.

The owner simply ran away, and the five families didn't receive a single penny in compensation.

Two years ago, my mother fell ill from overwork and, lacking the money for treatment, passed away, leaving behind her two siblings.

Shundong does odd jobs and everything he can to raise his younger siblings.

But fate took away his younger brother and sister-in-law time and time again.

A few days ago, he went to Honglin Village to pound rice for a wealthy family. The next day, the entire neighboring village was flooded by a mudslide.

The wealthy man still had a debt in that village, so he took Shundong there to take a look, but naturally they had to return empty-handed.

Shun Dong accidentally found the glass bead, thought it was a valuable item, and hid it away.

But after working hard for the rich man for three days, the rich man didn't want to pay him. Instead, he tricked him into going to the Little Black River, hoping that the evil lion-headed toad would eat him.

Shun Dong escaped death and returned to ask the wealthy household for his wages, but the wealthy household made various excuses and in the end only paid him 30% of the agreed wages.

In Honglin Village, everyone shares the same surname.

Shun Dong swallowed his anger and left. On the way, he saw a small snake and couldn't help but think: "Let this snake turn into an evil spirit and eat him. That guy wanted the lion-headed toad to eat me, so he deserves to be eaten by the evil spirit!"

After he left, the small snake turned into a giant python.

They ate the food of a wealthy family of five.

The other evil spirits that arose because of him were in the same situation.

The magistrate then revised the case file, affixed his official seal, and handed it over to Lang Xiaoba.

Once Xu Yuan's seal is affixed to this file, it can be sent to the Jiaozhi Southern Office of the Exorcism Bureau.

……

Xu Yuan went back to rest, and of course, he secretly studied the glass bead.

This evil spirit is quite peculiar.

It was enveloped in Pidan, and besides desperately trying to transform Pidan, it had no other means. This thing's ability could be described as heaven-defying; it could turn ordinary objects and living beings into evil spirits.

It can also make ordinary evil spirits more ferocious.

But it has no other abilities besides that.

Moreover, the giant python was initially classified as a seventh-rate creature, then a sixth-rate one, and eventually it was on the verge of breaking through to the fifth-rate.

After studying it for a while, Xu Yuan discovered that this thing could transform its strange creatures into evil spirits, and it could also improve itself!
Once it can conjure up fifth-rate evil spirits, it will rise to fourth-rate!
"Interesting!" Xu Yuan immediately thought of two completely different uses.

"If we send this thing to the Guanghuo Street..."

"Those great evil spirits should know how to use this thing, right?"

"First, we can cultivate a group of capable subordinates; second, the more subordinates we cultivate, the higher the quality of this glass bead will be..."

Ruan Tianye was not alone.

After Jiao and Tian Jing arrived at Guanghuo Street, Xu Yuan learned that Ruan Tianye had nine "Master" brands and fifteen "Father" brands under his command.

It is found throughout the entire Ghost Witch Mountain.

For example, the crow's eye in Laoyakou is a "father" evil spirit, and the evil spirits on Guanghuo Street also call him "Big Father Crow".

However, Ghost Mountain is not the imperial court. These evil spirits with names and titles obey Lord Ruan Tian, ​​but they will not do things like patrolling the mountain or maintaining order.

"With this kind of assistance, will those great evil spirits still be willing to lie dormant under Lord Ruan Tian?"

"Everyone has ambitions, not to mention that evil spirits are inherently crazy and impatient."

“However…” Xu Yuan stroked his chin, “this thing is hard to control.”

"If we decide to send him to Ghost Witch Mountain, we need to plan carefully, lest we bring down Master Ruan Tian but cultivate an even more difficult monster to deal with."

The second use of this thing was for Xu Yuan to refine it himself as bait.

I've given the Dragon Ball's inner core some nourishment.

The level of alchemy cultivation will definitely improve significantly.

But what Xu Yuan was more looking forward to was what kind of trickery he could gain after taking the bait!
Honestly, Xu Yuan really wanted to take a gamble.

Which one should he choose? Xu Yuan hesitated for a moment.

However, there's no rush to make a decision.

"My lord," Lang Xiaoba's voice rang out from outside.

Xu Yuanzhong carefully put the bead away: "Come in."

Lang Xiaoba presented the case file.

Xu Yuan glanced at the file briefly and was relieved to find that it did not mention that important person.

Just as I was thinking about that "important person," the young lady appeared at the door.

Standing beside him were Wei Shi and Geng Qi.

Xu Yuan's door was open, and the young lady knocked on it from the outside: "Lord Xu."

Xu Yuan stood up and greeted her with impeccable manners: "Please come in, young lady."

The three entered, and the young lady said, "We helped you find the evil spirit in the county, but it delayed our own affairs."

Upon hearing this, Xu Yuan said in a deep voice, "I am ashamed! If there is anything I can do to help you, please do not hesitate to ask."

Wei Shi and Geng Qi looked utterly helpless.

Of course we don't need your help. It's just a boil. We're just accompanying the young lady out for a walk to clear her head.

But the young lady didn't think so...

The young lady said, "We are tracking down an evil spirit for which the Exorcism Bureau has a bounty, called Nailhead Boil. We originally had a crafting tool that we could use once a day to pinpoint the approximate location of the Nailhead Boil."

But if I let you use it today, who knows where that boil will escape to tomorrow.

Xu Yuan was certainly aware of the "rewards" offered by the Exorcism Bureau.

For example, the ferocious tree-nosed insect that killed Zhang Tong in Champa not long ago.

After escaping Champa, the Exorcism Bureau issued a warrant for their capture.

If it is Zhang Tong's relative who is determined to avenge him, they will issue a reward through the Exorcism Bureau.

Another scenario is that an evil spirit commits a serious crime, such as devouring an entire village. Even if it escapes, the Exorcism Bureau will never let it go.

We must get to the bottom of this.

Such a reward was issued by the Bureau of Purification itself.

Not only can they hunt evil spirits, but they can also receive a bounty for providing accurate clues.

However, the Exorcism Bureau had too many bounties, and Xu Yuan didn't usually pay much attention to this, so he didn't know what kind of evil spirit this nail-head boil was.

The young lady then began to explain: "This evil spirit is no ordinary creature. It is the result of our dynasty's suppression of the rebellion in Siam at the end of last year."

A great plague broke out during this time, turning one of the cities in Siam into a dead city.

Subsequently, many plagues and evil spirits arose in the city, and the nail-head boil was one of them.

Xu Yuan's heart stirred; he remembered this matter.

Last year, a man named Qiu Ningtai fought a magical battle with a raven in Ghost Mountain.

They wanted to get the antidote from the raven to save the people of this city.

Qiu Ningtai ultimately failed and died in Ghost Mountain.

It turns out there was more to this story.

"This nail-head boil is different from other plagues and evil spirits. It parasitizes the human body and then continues to reproduce, and its offspring can then parasitize other people's bodies."

Moreover, many of the methods available to us now cannot determine whether a person has been parasitized by a carbuncle.

We tracked this evil spirit all the way here, and along the way we've dealt with more than a dozen people who had been possessed by it.

Xu Yuan tentatively asked, "Does the young lady mean that I should help you catch this boil?"

“Exactly.” The young lady clapped her hands lightly. “Throughout our pursuit, although we’ve always managed to find this evil spirit thanks to that artifact, for some reason it always manages to escape at the last moment…”

The young lady suddenly realized that she had let something slip.

The excuse given earlier for needing help was that the craftsman had helped Xu Yuan that day, and thus lost track of the nailhead boil.

But even if we use that artifact to pinpoint the location of the nailhead boil again today, the evil spirit will probably still escape in the end, just like before.

The young lady came to Xu Yuan hoping to use his abilities to try and catch that nail-head boil.

Behind the veil, the young lady secretly stuck out her little tongue.

Fortunately, Xu Yuan seemed unaware of this and was preoccupied with his own thoughts.

"Is this young lady out here to be a 'mysterious detective'?"

The young lady clapped her hands again and exclaimed cheerfully, "Exactly!"

Geng Qi and Wei Shi exchanged a glance, both feeling helpless.

Originally, the Ming Dynasty did not have a profession called "mysterious divine constable".

However, in recent years, the Ming Dynasty and the foreign tribes have fought many battles, and their exchanges have increased.

Some things were passed down from the foreign lands, which caused the artisans to split into two factions: "new artisans" and "old artisans," demonstrating the far-reaching influence of these ideas.

Similarly, it is said that among the barbarian tribes, there is even a large number of so-called "enlightened people" who are loudly calling for self-reflection and learning from the Ming Dynasty.

The vernacular stories told in the Ming Dynasty are called "novels" by the foreign tribes.

Some novels written by foreign barbarians were translated into Han Chinese by the Ming Dynasty.

In the foreign lands, there is a profession called "bounty hunter," and novels featuring bounty hunters as protagonists are very popular.

About seven or eight years ago, one of the books was translated and introduced to the Ming Dynasty.

It became unexpectedly popular.

Consequently, a group of "mysterious and divine constables" emerged in the Ming Dynasty.

Miss was a loyal reader of this kind of "novel".

After watching too many videos, I started to immerse myself in the story, so a few months ago I suddenly begged my father to let me go out and be a "mysterious detective".

The master couldn't resist the young lady's coquettish pleas and agreed.

But of course, he was very concerned about his daughter's safety.

They not only assigned four of them to provide close protection.

Moreover, he specifically consulted with the young lady's teacher and gave her a map showing the southern part of Jiaozhi.

That map was a godsend for hunting down the supernatural.

However, this also limited the lady's movements to the southern part of Jiaozhi.

Because Ma Tianshou is here, and he has a close relationship with the family, he will definitely take care of the young lady in secret.

Everyone was just accompanying the young lady out for fun; they weren't really interested in tracking down that nail-head boil.

Unexpectedly, the young lady sought help from this lawyer, Mr. Xu.

This is not good...

In the Northern Capital, they heard countless stories of noble ladies and gentlemen. It was through unexpected encounters with some outstanding figures from the lower classes that they began to get acquainted out of curiosity and gradually became hopelessly entangled.

So even though the young lady had always been very sensible and said she would never have any special feelings for Xu Yuan, the four of them still felt they had to be on guard!
Xu Yuan had already made his decision and said, "Since the artifact in your possession can track the nail-head boil, use it again tomorrow to find the evil spirit's whereabouts. I will try to help you catch it."

The young lady nodded in satisfaction: "It's settled then."

“But…” Xu Yuan continued, “After all, I am the head of the Exorcism Bureau, and I have many official duties to perform. If you help me today, I will help you tomorrow.”

Whether or not I can catch that thorn in my side, I'll be returning to Champa the day after tomorrow.

The young lady pouted slightly behind her veil: "Alright."

Gengqi and Weishi both breathed a sigh of relief.

This young law enforcement officer is a smart man who knows when to advance and when to retreat.

That's good.

Geng Qi even felt a bit of admiration for the talent, secretly thinking that when he returned, he would mention this young law master to his master.

For the young law master to mention the name "Xu Yuan" on certain occasions is a great blessing.

After finishing her business, the young lady did not linger.

Xu Yuan also changed into plain clothes and went out to secretly supervise how the county magistrate would resettle the disaster victims.

The magistrate worked very hard. After finishing the trial of Shun Dong, he took his yamen runners to the streets and first went to the homes of the local gentry to beg for alms.

They managed to secure a sum of money to resettle the disaster victims.

Xu Yuan was quite satisfied.

Then they returned to the county government office.

After entering the yamen, they went to the young lady's courtyard.

Geng Jiu stood guard at the courtyard gate. When he saw Xu Yuan coming over, a hint of anger flashed across his face.

The family dislikes any young men who try to get close to prostitutes.

However, Xu Yuan did not enter the courtyard. Instead, he gestured to Geng Jiu, asking him to come outside to talk.

After the two walked a little further away, Xu Yuan said, "I'm here to see Uncle Qi."

Geng Jiu was a little confused, but he still went back and called out to his seventh brother.

Xu Yuan said bluntly, "I wanted to discuss with Uncle Qi the matter of chasing Nailhead tomorrow. You deliberately didn't catch Nailhead, right?"

Geng Qi glanced at Xu Yuan in surprise: "How did you figure that out?"

Xu Yuan smiled slightly: "Miss just said that you chased after him all the way. Although the details are unclear, I can tell from your voice that this 'Nail Head Boil' sounds fierce, but he is actually very cowardly."

Realizing it was being chased, it focused solely on escaping.

So you all stay with the young lady and slowly catch up.

Once the young lady has had her fill of fun, everyone will work together to capture the evil spirit and let her collect the reward from the Exorcism Bureau.

This experiential trip has come to a successful and fulfilling conclusion.

On the contrary, having caught this nail-headed boil, the young lady hadn't had enough fun yet. If she were to chase after some even more ferocious evil spirit, it would ultimately be dangerous for her.

Am I right or wrong?

Geng Qi smiled wryly and admitted, "That's right."

(End of this chapter)