Minglong

Chapter 314 Winter passes and spring comes
Winter has passed and spring has arrived, and peach blossoms are in full bloom along the Huaijiang River.

After a long winter of hibernation, ladies and young women began to emerge from their homes and enjoy the spring scenery along the riverbank, making the shipping routes much more bustling than before.

After enduring the disastrous Jingning Three Years, the Daqian Dynasty finally changed its reign title to Dingxi, ushering in the first year of the new emperor's rule.

Due to the numerous uncertainties, the court and the public underwent many changes. For example, Lu Wuzhen was reinstated as the supervisor, giving him full authority over all religions and schools of thought, in order to prevent a situation where several leaders would fight each other again.

The Huguo Temple, where the monk Wuxin was stationed, was transformed into an institution similar to the Nine Gates Admiral, responsible only for the defense of the Jingzhao Prefecture area.

Duan Yuechou succeeded Wei Wuyi as the new leader of the Southern Martial Arts Alliance. Although he was no longer granted the position of deputy supervisor, his status as the overlord of the martial arts world was enough to attract the covetous eyes of countless people.

Because it was a succession order rather than a fight for power, Zhang Jiwu of Liuhetang went to Fengshan to challenge Duan Yuechou, hoping to re-establish the martial arts rankings based on strength. However, when he fought, he discovered that Duan Yuechou was also a martial artist at the Dragon Soaring Realm. The martial arts world immediately fell silent, and the ranking of the Seven Heroes of Martial Arts was changed to: Duan Yuechou, Long Boyuan, Xie Jinhuan, and Zhang Jiwu.

Mu Yunling and his fellow Confucian scholars and martial artists were not considered part of the Jianghu hierarchy, so the remaining three were replaced by rising stars like Wei Kun from the Blood Rain Pavilion.

Wei Kun is considered a newcomer, very mysterious and almost no one has ever seen him. The reason he is ranked among the Seven Heroes of Martial Arts is twofold: first, he inherited the entire Blood Rain Tower team, which gives him considerable influence in the martial arts world; second, he was able to escape after taking a blow from Xie Jinhuan, a feat that is truly rare in the martial arts world.

In addition, Queyue Manor successfully opened a branch in the pass, located in Xiaoyao Cave. Originally, Bu Hanying wanted to change the name to 'Qianri Hall' in order to change its reputation and not appear evil.

Unfortunately, it was rejected by a unanimous vote. In the end, it was named "Nine Dragons Hall" according to Zisu's little wish. The hall master was Lin Wanyi, Zisu was the great protector, and Xie Jinhuan was an external guest, mainly doing business in elixirs, and also taking on disciples to teach witchcraft, or serving as an advisor to the immortal officials.

Because it was a unique sect in the Great Qian Dynasty, and the Witchcraft Sect was one of the five major cultivation schools, people came to become its disciples in an endless stream. In just a month or two since its opening, it had already recruited over a hundred promising students. Yang Sichen, a major medicine merchant in the East Market, even invested 200,000 taels of silver to jointly build a medicine shop and purchase the exclusive rights to the Gu Poison Sect's medicines, etc.

The incense masters of Chilong Cave and other places of the same lineage, seeing Bu Hanying openly and honestly conducting business everywhere, earning tens of thousands of taels every day, looked down on the meager profits from selling fake medicine, and were all extremely envious.

However, the imperial court only issued a license to the Crescent Moon Manor, so only the products produced by the Crescent Moon Manor are genuine, and the cultivation methods are orthodox. No matter how genuine their products are, they are still contraband that cannot be exposed to the light of day. If they dare to take them out, they will be investigated and punished by the Imperial Observatory, and they can only watch helplessly.

Faced with this situation, the various factions of the Gu Poison Sect naturally began to curry favor with the Crescent Moon Manor, hoping to obtain entry permission by "affiliating" with the Crescent Moon Manor. After all, the Crescent Moon Manor couldn't possibly contain the entire thirty-two states of the Great Qian Dynasty.

If all the sect leaders fawn over one sect, that sect's prestige within the sect will surely soar.

As the current leader of the Gu Poison Sect, Sikong Tianyuan did not go to the capital to negotiate with Lu Wuzhen in the face of this situation, nor did he suppress Queyue Manor. He even continued to fulfill his duties as leader, calling on all sects to increase the production of medicinal herbs and to transport resources to Queyue Manor through the Phoenix Port waterway. He wanted everyone to make money together, and he seemed to be determined to finish this term and let Queyue Manor take over.

Since Sikong Tianyuan showed no abnormalities, Lu Wuzhen couldn't say anything. He simply secretly interrogated Wei Jili and He Tianqi, the two survivors, to find clues about the higher-ups of the Underworld God Cult.

Wei Jili only knew that his father was colluding with the Underworld Cult, and knew nothing else; while He Tianqi was still hoping to get away with it and refused to confess. As a ghost cultivator, his soul was strong and he was not afraid of torture or drug-induced hallucinations. The Imperial Observatory had applied to use extraordinary measures, but He Tianqi had a soul and a spirit of the former crown prince in his body. The late emperor only had this one son and had carefully nurtured him for many years.

If something were to happen to Zhao Xiao, Zhao De would be unable to inherit the throne. In that case, the former crown prince could actually be appointed to take over in a time of crisis. Therefore, neither Zhao Xiao nor Lu Wuzhen wanted to completely destroy the former crown prince for a little bit of information. Instead, they asked their subordinates to brainstorm and extract confessions.

Some even suggested that He Tianqi’s only remaining son, He Can, be brought back and severely tortured in front of him, skinned and dismembered, to see how long He Tianqi could withstand it!

But Lu Wuzhen immediately rejected this terrible idea. After all, He Tianqi had gone so far as to kill his own wife and children to fake his death; wouldn't doing something like this just make him a laughingstock?

Since there was no movement inside or outside the pass, and the remnants of the Underworld Cult in the capital had been eliminated, things were relatively peaceful during this period, except for a few young ladies from the Marquis of Danyang's mansion who were suffering.

Lin Wanyi once thought that the "acting without acting" pill made by Zisu Lian would only last for a few days at most, but she later discovered that Xie Jinhuan's heart was truly as hard as iron!

Xie Jinhuan has been completely oblivious to the outside world lately, focusing solely on his pleasures. He usually gets up from Nangong Ye's room in the morning, goes to the Lin family to help Zisu with the affairs of the hall, and then drags Yuehua and Wanyi back to their room at noon, where he plays the role of a domineering CEO and bullies them in various ways. After dark, he returns to the Princess's Mansion, where he paints and drinks with the landlady, Momo. When Naido comes back, he also teases the little maid. Then he goes back to Nangong Ye's room to sleep. In his spare time, he flirts with A Piao and has almost forgotten who Meiqiu is.

As the days went by, the girls noticed that Xie Jinhuan seemed too engrossed in the pleasures of women, and even advised him to focus on his cultivation and not waste his time surrounded by women.

But Xie Jinhuan immediately showed them what a "King of Rolls" truly meant!

Although he enjoys himself all day long, Xie Jinhuan has not forgotten his principles. He has already completed the first volume of "The Joyful Heart Sutra, Part 2" and has also figured out the training methods for the Five Realms Dragon Soaring based on the Martial Arts Divine Canon.

In addition, all eight forms of the Silver Dragon have been upgraded, and the Seven Wonders of Xu Sheng have been deduced. He even managed to cultivate a bit of the Confucian "righteous spirit" by being public-spirited and having a clear conscience.

This shows that there is no necessary connection between a Confucian gentleman and female beauty. As long as one acquires women in a proper way, then no matter how many wives one has, one is still a gentleman...

In addition, he also dabbled in the Thunder and Fire techniques. The Thunder technique was a book given to him by Nangong Ye, and the Fire technique was the compensation he mentioned in a letter to Sister Guo, asking Lu Yan to give him. Although he only had the Eight Gates Burning Formation and the Flame Sparrow Counterattack, and no killing move, the Burning Heaven Fire Curse, it was already very powerful.

Aside from these, Xie Jinhuan also took the time to learn a few tricks of witchcraft and bewitching techniques. Although a martial artist's soul isn't strong enough to be of much practical use in combat, he was already deeply infatuated with everyone he looked at. With this technique, he was truly captivating. Even Sister Bu couldn't help but drool over him after just one glance...

Seeing Xie Jinhuan serving the girls all day long and even learning these skills, what could the wives say? They could only silently accept his kindness and dare not retaliate even when bullied. This situation continued until February.

The interruption was not due to any external incident, but rather because the imperial court could no longer tolerate it.

Such a righteous young hero, spending all his time at home as the Little Silver Dragon of Danyang, no longer eager to help others and slay demons. Even if there are no evil sects in the capital, he can't just sit idle. What if he gets spoiled over time?
Therefore, the Imperial Astronomical Bureau issued a notice.

On February , the dragon looked up.

At dawn, in the main hall of the Marquis of Danyang's residence, the gilded plaque bearing the inscription "Upright Gentleman" gleamed in the warm spring sun.

Xie Jinhuan, dressed in a white robe, sat down under the plaque, holding a document in his hand to examine it.

Linghu Qingmo was still driving his master's car, but he was almost used to it by now. He sat beside him with his arms crossed, keeping a small distance, and looked him over as well.
"The Imperial Observatory summoned you over, presumably to bestow upon you the title of 'Supervisor of the Army.' With such a generous reward, according to the rules, you will certainly be assigned a task. You've been idle for so long, it's time to do something worthwhile, otherwise you'll truly turn from a righteous young hero into a scoundrel."

Xie Jinhuan's heart was as hard as iron. Being a righteous young hero was his job, but enjoying life was his true calling. Upon hearing this, he gave the icy-cold man a kiss on the face.

"What's so lewd about me being intimate with my wife...?"

Stab la la...

Linghu Qingmo quickly pulled away and gave Xie Jinhuan a jolt of electricity:
"I already said you can only kiss and touch clothes. You've touched those things in Xirong, but you're innocent elsewhere. You can't touch them!"

"Okay, okay, I know I was wrong, I'll kiss you."

boo~
Linghu Qingmo knew this was disloyal and unfilial, and originally he was not allowed to touch her anywhere. However, after that time he hugged her after drinking, he also knew that he had become accustomed to being intimate with lecherous men and could not control himself unconsciously. Therefore, he made a three-point agreement.

But perhaps it was because her master's body was more mature and his desires were stronger, even just a hug with Xie Jinhuan made her drool and almost unable to move. This period of time was actually quite difficult to endure, and she even wanted to go back to being able to be intimate openly and honestly...

Thinking of this, Linghu Qingmo parted slightly, frowned, and asked:
"When can my master and I switch back? I've figured out all the tricks of the Super Grade, and I need to go back to practice and get up as soon as possible. Otherwise, I won't be able to control the wind and objects in the future, and I'm afraid I won't be able to stand it."

Xie Jinhuan had actually been worried about this, but the ghost said that the soul would be tormented for a hundred days, so he dared not take the risk and could only wait. At this moment, he put his arm around Xie Jinhuan's waist to comfort him.
"Your spirit is weak, you need to rest for a few more days, don't rush. As for practicing, even Senior Nangong couldn't stand being so weak, he has been practicing hard for the past few months, and I have also found a lot of rare and precious materials. He has now entered the second rank, and he is practicing even faster than you."

Linghu Qingmo knew that her master, using a secondary account, would definitely figure things out faster than she could, but she felt it was a bit too offensive to have her master level up for her while she was having an affair with her boyfriend. So she sighed.

"Don't try to fool me. If you can switch back, you should do so as soon as possible. I need to hurry up and practice my skills so that my master won't come back and scold me for not improving but regressing. You should go out now, I'm leaving first."

As soon as he finished speaking, Linghu Qingmo vanished in a flash, seemingly having mastered the Thousand Mile Divine Travel Spell.

Xie Jinhuan shook his head and smiled, got up and walked outside, basking in the warm spring sun, and stretched:

"Mmm...that feels so good. After resting for so long, it's time to go out and have a heart-to-heart talk with a fellow Daoist."

Ye Hongshang appeared silently from the side. Having been constantly teased by Xie Jinhuan lately, she was still somewhat aloof, crossing her arms and letting out a soft hum:

"Having achieved so much, why bother going out? Isn't it better to just stay at home and be a tyrant?"

Xie Jinhuan wasn't exactly a success, after all, the Underworld Cult hadn't been completely eradicated, the White-Haired Fairy and Sister Guo were still unaccounted for, and he was even more unclear about the situation of the ghosts. It was precisely because of this that he had taken the time to study cultivation techniques recently, and responded upon hearing the voice:
"We've already established this persona, we can't just suddenly turn them into lazy lechers. Speaking of which, when are Qingmo and the others going to switch back? This really can't go on..."

Ye Hongshang raised an eyebrow: "What? Tired of it?"

"Eh."

Xie Jinhuan quickly waved his hand: "How can you say it's boring? If Wanyi and Sister Bu were to switch places, it would indeed be a different kind of fun. But Qingmo hasn't entered the family yet. I have to know my limits when I bully anyone. If it goes on for too long, it will just become a bit awkward."

Ye Hongshang nodded slightly, pondering for a moment:

"Okay, I'll think of a way to help them recover. Wait for my good news."

Xie Jinhuan knew that ghosts were omnipotent, so he naturally believed the nonsense. After straightening his clothes, he walked quickly outside...

(End of this chapter)