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Chapter 471 Captain
"Under Commander Yin Shuai's Bird Beak, Patrol Battalion, Border Patrol Soldiers, Eleventh."

Mr. Feng rubbed the underworld official's ivory tablet between his fingers, his eyes darting back and forth between Jia Zongdao and the fake village.

And there's something strange about this:
The three parts of "Zhou Jue Yin Tian Gong" do not include "Patrol Camp".

The "Six Heavenly Palaces of Luofeng" is the domain of the ruler of the underworld.

King Zhou's Yin Heaven Palace was the foremost of the six heavenly palaces. It commanded three divisions of Yin soldiers, the elite of the elite.

The patrol battalion... was just a ragtag army.

Their usual task is to patrol various parts of the underworld, much like the constables in the mortal world, only organized into a battalion.

In addition, in this day and age, the patrol battalion also has a duty to "assist the City God".

The City God also has ghost soldiers under his command, which can be collectively called "Sheling soldiers," and their numbers vary depending on the size of the city.

In a typical small county town, there are no more than three hundred people.

However, the City Gods of both the Northern and Southern Capitals were said to have commanded over 100,000 ghost soldiers back then!

The City God Temple is now deserted.

The local government's method of controlling the underworld was to return the golden seal to the City God, who would then summon ghost soldiers to garrison there and cleanse the underworld.

However, since the City God had no local troops under his command, he could only rely on the ghost soldiers of the "Patrol Battalion".

The three characters on the ivory plaque, "巡界丁" and "周绝阴天宫", do not match.

Moreover, although only underworld officials can retrieve a soul from the underworld and reseal it into the body, not just any underworld official has this ability.

To be brought back to life is a grave act that defies the laws of nature.

How could a mere patrol officer numbered "eleven," who doesn't even have a name in the underworld, possibly accomplish the great feat of "resurrecting a soul"?

Clearly, there are other "big fish" in that fake village.

Mr. Feng was somewhat conflicted:

Should we stay or leave?

There was something here that really appealed to him.

However, it is neither a matter of divine intervention nor a secret about Jia Zongdao—the teacher will eventually figure these things out, so we can just wait for him to teach us.

What Mr. Feng was interested in, of course, was the valuable material hidden among the evil spirits of the fake village!

That's top-grade material from the underworld!

Craftsmen... they all have this bad habit.

However, my junior sister is recuperating in Champa.

Although they are not far apart and can arrive in an instant by taking the "Sky-Soaring Machine," if someone plots against his junior sister... he would regret it too late.

Another minor concern is that he might not come to Champa again.

There will never be another chance to have such a pleasant "discussion" of our views with Lin Wanmo as we are now.

So I'd like to take this opportunity to chat as much as possible.

Then Mr. Feng had a sudden inspiration: I'll go back and bring my junior sister and Lin Wanmo over here...

But Mr. Feng quickly realized: what if a fight breaks out, and his junior sister's injuries haven't healed yet...

"Alas..." Mr. Si sighed inwardly, "It's impossible to have both."

Xu Yuan seemed to have noticed the old man's predicament and took the initiative to say, "Fourth Master, you should go back first. Taking care of the Master is the most important thing."

Mr. Feng was puzzled, then saw Xu Yuan secretly glance at the treacherous village and then wink at him.

Mr. Feng suddenly realized: That's it, with me here, this fake village won't dare to act recklessly.

If it remains hidden, or simply disappears into the turbid realm, there's nothing I can do about it.

I will leave first, and then keep in touch with Jinxi. I will come over at the critical moment and be able to break into this fake village and find the best material!
Mr. Feng immediately took a more favorable view of Xu Yuan.

To be honest, the old man didn't have any particular opinion of this kid before.

It's neither good nor bad.

Xu Yuan may be exceptionally talented, or he may be a highly sought-after cultivator by prominent families, or he may truly have a bright future—but for Mr. Feng Si, a disciple of the Supervisor, none of these things matter.

To him, Xu Yuan was merely "the stepson of his close female friend".

So as long as I don't die, I can explain things to Lin Wanmo.

But now he thinks the kid is quite clever and a good kid.

“Very well,” Mr. Feng nodded with his hands behind his back, “I’ll head back now.”

He then gave Jinxi a wink.

Jinxi blinked her bright, sparkling eyes to indicate that she understood.

Mr. Feng walked up to Xu Yuan and whispered about the problems with "Zhou Jue Yin Tian Palace" and "Patrol Camp".

Xu Yuan frowned, also feeling puzzled.

However... Xu Yuan actually knows quite a bit about the underworld.

Lin Wanmo mentioned some of these things back then, and her father also brought them up a few times later.

After people from Hegong Lane die, they all have to walk back from "Huangquan Road". They are probably the group of people in the mortal world who understand the underworld the most.

"Zhong Die," Mr. Feng called to his student, "go and prepare the Tengtian Machine."

"Ah?!" Zhong Die's face immediately fell, and she racked her brains to find a way to refuse: "Teacher, you see, I still have to maintain this fire curtain..."

Mr. Feng snatched the incense burner away and tossed it to Di Youzhi: "You take her place."

Holding the incense burner, Di Youzhi couldn't help but tremble, not daring to say "good" or "bad".

I felt as if I was involved in some major incident, such as "internal strife within the Imperial Censorate."

"But it was always the senior students who prepared it before, I'm not familiar with it..."

"It's all about going from unfamiliar to familiar. Just try it a few more times and you'll naturally become proficient."

"But, but..." Zhong Die was still trying to come up with an excuse when Mr. Feng Si flew into a rage: "You think I can't order you around anymore? Do you expect me to personally go and make the preparations?"

"Yes, sir." Zhong Die reluctantly accepted the order and left.

Apart from Miss Jinxi and the other four, everyone else was puzzled: Was this "preparation" difficult or dangerous? Why was Zhong Die so reluctant?
Mr. Feng, with his hands behind his back and his head held high, looked at the disobedient student with a reproachful expression.

Zhong Die began preparing "Tengtianji".

First, some parts of this artifact were disassembled, and strange changes began to occur inside.

It developed a dense cluster of tiny fleshy growths.

It's extremely uncomfortable to look at, giving me goosebumps.

Zhong Die used a special knife to scrape these off.

In other places, some "mouths" grew out, making all sorts of strange noises, which gave Zhong Die a terrible headache.

She used a fire-breathing craftsman's tool to burn them all.

After the examination was completed, the most painful part for Zhong Die began:

She opened a hatch, and a strange smell wafted out.

It's hard to describe exactly what the smell is; it's a mixture of stench, fishy odor, sourness, and so on.

With a mournful face and pinching her nose, Zhong Die pulled out a chamber pot-like object from inside and emptied it some distance away.

After covering all the compartments, he washed his hands several times with the water in his water bag, then came to the teacher with a pout: "All done."

Mr. Feng nodded and finally praised, "Well done."

Then he walked towards Teng Tianji and said, "I'm off now."

He entered the Sky-Soaring Machine, and a moment later, the artifact emitted a loud sound similar to the cry of a phoenix. After sliding along the ground for a while, it suddenly extended two "claws" and pushed off the ground, propelling the massive artifact into the sky.

It flew towards Champa after circling once in the night sky, trailing a long tail of flame.

Zhong Die was still pouting, muttering complaints: "Stinky old man, bad old man, heartless old man..."

Miss Jinxi covered her mouth and chuckled.

Zhou Leizi, being bold and curious, approached Zhong Die and asked, "What exactly is going on with Teng Tianji's preparations?"

Zhong Die looked utterly dejected: "That artifact is too enormous. After each use, it needs to be repaired before it can be started again."

Besides eliminating the strange occurrences everywhere, the most important thing is to…

Zhong Die's face darkened, and after a pause, she reluctantly said, "Pour out Teng Tianji's metabolic waste."

Otherwise, the celestial machine would feel uncomfortable, and on its next flight, it might simply drop the person off the sky.

Everyone understood.

"Metabolites"...

No wonder the taste was so strong and strange.

No wonder Zhong Die was so resistant.

Zhong Die let out a miserable scream: "My senior brother used to do these things; I've never done it before."

"That'll be terrible later. Once it happens once, it'll happen again and again..."

Zhou Leizi spoke without thinking: "Fourth Master is too heartless towards his students. How can he make a girl do such a thing? He could have prepared it himself."

No one dared to interrupt, and behind their backs they were gossiping about a third-rate person?

How many heads do you have?

Zhong Die huffed, "The teacher has never done such a thing. The teacher has a severe case of mysophobia."

"Didn't you smell the perfume on the teacher?"

This reminder made everyone remember.

Mr. Feng always carried a sandalwood scent with him whenever he appeared.

No wonder he insisted on forcing his students to do this.

Xu Yuan chuckled to himself.

Mr. Feng Si had been castrated.

I've heard that many of the eunuchs in the palace don't urinate completely, which is why they always have a strange smell.

It is highly likely that Mr. Feng Si went to the other extreme because he disliked this smell, and developed "germaphobia"!
After becoming a student of the Imperial Academy, his abilities grew, and he naturally came up with many ways to solve the problem of body odor.

But he also came from the ranks of "little eunuchs," and he must have had a strange smell when he was young.

However, it is reasonable that such a large-scale artifact as the "Tengtianji" needs to be repaired after each use.

Xu Yuan had also heard his stepmother say that although large artifacts were incredibly powerful, they were indeed troublesome to use.

Xu Yuan instructed Di Youzhi: "Go and bring back the Thousand Arrows Crossbow."

Mr. Feng Si left, but he left the Thousand Arrows Crossbow to Xu Yuan.

Di Youzhi quickly returned the incense burner to Zhong Die and went out to drag the Thousand Arrows Crossbow back.

Xu Yuan then looked at Jia Zongdao.

Jia Zongdao stood alone in the corner. All these events started because of him, but he couldn't get involved at all.

Unable to provide any assistance.

This made his sense of guilt grow deeper and deeper.

It's almost dawn.

Xu Yuan then used the Observation of Fate and the Yin-Yang Guillotine to examine Jia Zongdao.

There was still nothing unusual; Jia Zongdao was clearly a living person!
Xu Yuan couldn't help but wonder: Are the abilities of the underworld messengers really that great?

It can bring people back to life, with their soul and body perfectly integrated, leaving no trace of the deception.
Just before dawn, a rooster crowed in the village.

Xu Yuan then saw the fake village sway slightly and separate from the real Pingquan Village.

The mysterious yellow flame disappeared from the smoke-like "fate" of the evil spirit in the fake village.

The fake village began to move away into the distance along that path.

But the part outside Pingquan Village begins to disappear.

Once the fake village is completely separated from Pingquan Village, the entire fake village will disappear.

At that moment, the sky brightened, and golden light burst forth from the eastern horizon as the sun rose.

The villagers breathed a sigh of relief and said one after another, "Can we go home now?"

"No!" Xu Yuan said in a deep voice, trying to stop him.

The village head immediately said, "Stop shouting! Listen to Lord Xu!"

After last night's events, Xu Yuan's prestige among the villagers soared.

The villagers immediately nodded and said, "Okay, we'll listen to Lord Xu."

Xu Yuan instructed Di Youzhi: "You first arrange for everyone to go to Champa and find a place to settle down."

Then, he loudly addressed the villagers, saying, "Go with peace of mind, all expenses will be covered by the government."

"Once I have thoroughly cleansed this place of evil spirits and ensured there is absolutely no danger, I will bring everyone back."

The villagers naturally expressed their gratitude once more, and then obediently left. Di Youzhi sent two of his men to take them back to Champa.

The villagers were still somewhat uneasy. What if the village was destroyed and the fields were contaminated in the final battle against the evil spirits? What would they do if they were homeless and had no means of livelihood?
Although Lord Xu is kind and righteous, the government office can't support us for life, can it?
But the children were overjoyed, clapping their hands and laughing: "Let's go, let's go, let's go to town..."

None of them had ever been to Champa, and they were filled with curiosity and longing for the bustling city.

Not to mention them, apart from the village head, very few people in the village have ever been to the city.

This is the norm for the residents of Huangming Township.

Xu Yuan watched the departing villagers and touched his chin, feeling a pang of regret.

We distributed the money yesterday, and today we still have to cover the cost of settling the villagers in the city.

Furthermore, it's unclear whether additional expenses will be incurred.

What the villagers could think of, Lord Xu could naturally think of as well.

The Exorcism Bureau would never pay that amount.

The government's budget is limited.

Despite Lord Ma Tianshou's compassion for his subordinates, he himself was short of money.

The amount of money allocated by the imperial court each year is limited.

The money was distributed layer by layer by various government offices, and by the time it reached the southern part of Jiaozhi, there wasn't much left.

In places like the Three Offices of Ghostly Affairs, the salaries of the lower-ranking officers were never paid in full.

If it weren't for the extra income everyone had, they wouldn't be able to survive at all.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty's finances over the past hundred years have relied entirely on foreign aid.

They were constantly fighting against the Snow Demons, the Red-haired Barbarians, and others.

After several battles, the maritime ban became virtually ineffective.

In the end, I simply let go.

Customs offices and tax bureaus in various places, as well as those in the East and South Seas, are raking in profits, while the imperial court only gets a small share.

However, it also greatly alleviated the court's financial crisis.

If the government office has no money, then this sum of money will have to come from the private treasury of the Champa government.

But the money in his private treasury... even Lord Xu was a little reluctant to part with it.

So Lord Xu's eyes darted around: He needed to think of a way to get Young Master Wei to pay for it...

There is no doubt that the Wei family is wealthy.

Young Master Wei spent most of his money on frivolous pursuits.

Instead of wasting money on those courtesans, it would be better to spend it on these poor villagers.

This official is helping Young Master Wei accumulate merit and do good deeds.

Yes, that's exactly right!

Xu Yuan then instructed Di Youzhi to mount the Thousand Arrows Crossbow on the roof of the "Dream Come True" vehicle.

Di Youzhi was having some trouble on his own, so his men came to help, and Nan Zhenchuan also volunteered to lend a hand.

Martial arts practitioners are perfectly suited for this kind of physical labor.

"Dreams come true" is something to be reluctantly accepted.

But it's barely acceptable.

After all, we are all "of the same kind".

"Dream Come True" even wanted to actively integrate the Thousand Arrows Crossbow.

But as soon as it was put on the stand, Dafu stared wide-eyed and wobbled over.

Even flapping its wings, it wanted to jump up.

"Dreams come true" is not an option for them.

The car body swayed, sometimes high and sometimes low.

Dafu couldn't get up there, and he yelled and screamed in frustration.

If the craftsmanship is acceptable, why can't my Dafu be?
Xu Yuan grabbed Dafu by the neck to stop it from making a fuss.

Dafu cursed loudly for a long time.

Di Youzhi stepped forward and volunteered: "Sir, I'll take the brothers into the village to take a look."

Xu Yuan waved his hand: "Let's not rush this. Let's go and take a look at the place where the fake village was yesterday."

"Yes."

Xu Yuan divided the group into two teams, and then led his men and Jia Zongdao back to the place where the fake village had been yesterday.

The rest of the people stayed behind to keep a close watch on the village.

Wei Shi took out a "Harmony Wheel" and handed it to Lord Xu: "You can contact me at any time."

Xu Yuan accepted it without hesitation.

When we arrived at the place where the fake village was yesterday, it was completely deserted.

The fishing boats along the riverbank were nowhere to be seen.

After inspecting the area, they found it to be a wasteland.

The degree of infection is slightly higher than in other places.

Xu Yuan gave an order, and his men spread out in a row, spaced a zhang apart, meticulously searching for any clues in the area.

Jia Zongdao was discovered at the entrance of the government-run charitable estate in Champa.

The evil spirits of the fake village are not far from Champa.

No further evidence is needed to confirm that if there is any "conspiracy" behind this, it must be related to Champa.

The evil spirits in the fake village mysteriously disappeared after dawn.

But Xu Yuan didn't believe that such a large evil spirit wouldn't leave any trace.

It disappeared at dawn—it couldn't be that the evil spirit was afraid of sunlight.

It appeared before the sun had set yesterday.

This habit does align with the habits of some "harbinger birds".

Although it is not afraid of sunlight, it does not like it, so it often appears in the evening.

Halfway through the search, the brothers of the Exorcism Division had not yet found it, but Xu Yuan had already located the evil spirits of the fake village.

Pilong quietly lay prone in the silt at the bottom of the river.

Only his eyes were visible.

The riverbed was dimly lit, but one could still vaguely make out that a village lay silently submerged in the water about thirty feet ahead.

Pilong's origin is that of a pig-like dragon.

The pig dragon in southern Jiaozhi lies in ambush in the mud and water, and when prey carelessly passes by, it suddenly leaps out, bites, and drags it into the water.

So Pilon is particularly comfortable in this position.

It can even lie there motionless for seven days and seven nights.

"So this evil spirit hides in the canal during the day?" Xu Yuan thought to himself. Then, with a thought, a command was sent through the lice to the mind of the canal supervisor at the canal dock.

The river supervisor then ordered his subordinates to retrieve accident data from the Champa section of the canal over the past three years.

Looking through these documents, it is easy to see that the number of boat capsizing accidents in this section of the canal near Pingquan Village has increased significantly compared to the past.

In the last six months, or more precisely, the last eight months, a total of twenty-one boats have capsized in this section of the canal!

In the other 28 months, the total number of ships that capsized in this period was three.

Of these three, two were caused by evil spirits in the water.

On the contrary, all the ships in the last eight months have capsized due to "wind and waves".

Xu Yuan sneered inwardly, "I really thought you could resist eating people!"

The two evil spirits that capsized and ate people earlier have been wiped out by the canal administration.

You're openly causing trouble on the territory of the Canal Dragon King, so the Canal Administration has no choice but to take action.

On the contrary, twenty-one ships have capsized in the last eight months, but the canal administration only made a brief mention of it in its official report.

Not even a patrol team was sent.

It has a very distinctive Ming Dynasty style.

That's not entirely accurate either. Xu Yuan once talked to Asmru about it, and the same goes for our Great An Elya...

Even more than that.

Inside the canal administration office, the canal supervisor slowly flipped through the records, and the louse relayed everything it saw to Lord Xu.

Suddenly, a name flashed through my mind.

Xu Yuan immediately gave the order, and the River Supervisor, who had already turned the page, turned it back to look at it carefully.

The above records:

On the 14th day of the sixth month of the ninth year of Xingyou, the merchant ship "Shunda" capsized in a storm at a point 40 li east of Champa on the South Jiaozhi Canal.

No one survived on board.

Boat owner: Jia Zongdao!

The ship was launched from Yueyang Prefecture, Hunan Province.

Xu Yuan still remembered the first time he met Jia Zongdao, who said that he had fainted outside Yizhuang Gate half a year ago.

When he woke up, he remembered nothing except one name: "Jia Zongdao".

This name should be real.

In June of the ninth year of Xingyou, it is now February of the tenth year of Xingyou.

But Xu Yuan first met Jia Zongdao in January.

Six months ago was July of the ninth year of Xingyou.

The timing actually matches up.

But this is strange, because according to Jia Zongdao's memory, he drifted in the canal as a "zombie" for a long time, probably more than a month.

Xu Yuan then called Jia Zongdao over: "Yesterday we found the fake village. Is this the end of your memories as you float along the canal?"

Jia Zongdao tried hard to recall, but his head was throbbing with pain.

"My memories are too jumbled; I can't quite make out the order..."

Xu Yuan then asked, "If you can't figure it out, that's fine. But can you roughly tell how long you've been floating in the canal?"

The question is much simpler: "I can't quite put my finger on it, but it feels like an eternity. There are some very vague memories of celebrating the New Year in the riverside village, which have been going on for several years."

Xu Yuan slowly nodded.

Could the Jia Zongdao standing before me be the same Jia Zongdao who owned the ship?

The timing doesn't match.

The boat owner, Jia Zongdao, only drifted on the canal for a maximum of one month.

Moreover, it's unlikely that we'll see villagers celebrating the Lunar New Year.

By this time, the brothers of the Exorcism Division had searched most of the area when Zhou Leizi suddenly kicked something out of the weeds as he waded through a patch of weeds.

"My lord!" Zhou Leizi immediately called out.

The crowd gathered around, and Zhou Leizi picked up the object and handed it to Xu Yuan.

This is a nail plate.

It was eerily cold and incredibly ancient.

It looked as if it had been used for tens of thousands of years.

But just as Xu Yuan picked up the armor plate, the leather dragon at the bottom of the river suddenly saw that the fake village had moved.

In the village, a pair of cold, dark yellow eyes opened in the void.

Its eyes were enormous, like two suns hanging over the village.

His eyes moved stiffly for a moment, glancing in Xu Yuan's direction.

But it did nothing more, and then slowly closed its eyes.

Xu Yuan then realized that the armor plate was left behind in the fake village.

"Could it be the armor of the officers in the 'Patrol Battalion'?"

However, it is impossible to determine the other party's identity based on just one piece of armor.

Xu Yuan thought for a moment and then gave another order to the river supervisor in the Grand Canal Administration: Investigate whether the golden seal had actually been handed over to the City God in various places in southern Jiaozhi to cleanse a certain turbid place.

(End of this chapter)