Minglong

Chapter 38 Hangover
At the first light of dawn, the county lieutenant's office was filled with a slight autumn chill and a strong stench that could make a coroner faint.

Yang Dabiao squatted on the steps, holding a few steaming buns in his hands, and cursed as he swallowed them whole:

"These bastards not only killed people but also dismembered their bodies. If I catch them, I will skin them alive..."

Linghu Qingmo, who had just rushed over from the Princess's Mansion, was full of energy because he had slept for several hours at night.

At this time, he stood on the steps with a sword in hand, looking at the rotten corpses on the ground and thinking secretly.

Yesterday, dozens of police officers spent half the night to dig out a human body from among countless corpses. Judging from the skulls, there were eleven victims, and some suspected poisonous insects were also found.

It is now certain that this demon bandit is very powerful. While practicing magic skills, he is also cultivating crazy corpse flowers. However, his identity and purpose remain a mystery.

Linghu Qingmo was injured and should have been on leave, but the seniors in the city were all searching for the demon bandits, so she couldn't stay idle. Seeing that there was no progress at the County Wei Division, she asked:
"How was Xie Jinhuan's rest?"

Yang Dabiao shrugged slightly: "I knocked on the door this morning, but there was no response. I only saw coal balls bouncing on the wall. I guess he was tired from fighting all day yesterday and hasn't woken up yet."

Seeing this, Linghu Qingmo turned around and walked out:
"I'll go take a look. Oh, by the way... we agreed to treat you yesterday. Let's invite Xiao Wang and the others to dinner tonight. Let's go to Yuelai Tower for dinner together. It can be considered an early Mid-Autumn Festival."

"Ouch!" Yang Dabiao saw that the female Bodhisattva remembered this incident, and instantly felt that the buns were no longer delicious: "I feel so embarrassed to let Lord Linghu spend money..."

Linghu Qingmo's eyes turned cold: "If you can't find any clues after eating and drinking, you can invite the guests back. You can figure out how to explain it to your wife yourself."

"understand!"

Yang Dabiao clenched his sandbag-sized fist in front of him and said, "Even if I have to dig three feet into the ground, I will dig out that giant monster from Zihui Mountain!"

Linghu Qingmo didn't say any more nonsense. He picked up his sword and walked out of the County Magistrate's Office and headed towards Qingquan Lane, which was not far away.

Because all the staff from other counties were recalled, there were a lot more people on the side streets than in the previous two days, and the mutton shop at the door was also full, all exchanging clues from visits to various places.

Linghu Qingmo glanced at the breakfast shop and the pork stall, and found that Xie Jinhuan was not there, so he came to the outside of the house with white walls and green tiles.

I was about to knock on the door, but I found the pitch-black coal ball walking back and forth on the wall alone, looking listless.

?

Linghu Qingmo was a little puzzled, and came up to look at him:
"Meigu, why are you staying here?"

"Guji~"

When Coal Ball saw Breakfast coming towards him, he quickly landed on Breakfast's shoulder, rubbed his head against his cheek, and then opened his beak to beg for food.

Even though Linghu Qingmo had only just met him, he could tell from his body language that he was hungry. He thought to himself, "Where has Xie Jinhuan been? Why hasn't he even fed the birds?"
"Where's Xie Jinhuan?"

"Goo."

Coal Ball tilted his head and stuck out his tongue, seemingly indicating - dead!
"what?!"

Linghu Qingmo was struck by lightning, thinking that Xie Jinhuan had been harmed by the evil bandits. He was so frightened that he quickly jumped up and landed in the courtyard.

Hula~
In the early morning, the warm autumn sun shone on the courtyard. Due to her busy work, she did not have time to fulfill her bet, and some fallen leaves were scattered on the white stone path.

Linghu Qingmo picked up his sword and walked quickly through the moon gate to the back house. He looked around and found that the main door was open, two weapons were thrown on the ground, and Xie Jinhuan, wearing only a pair of thin pants, was lying on the roof with his legs spread out, looking like he had been silenced.

"Xie Jinhuan?!"

Linghu Qingmo's face turned pale. He was about to fly up and hug Xie Jinhuan, kneeling on his knees and looking up at the sky and saying, "No~~~", but suddenly he realized that something was wrong.

The yard was filled with the rich aroma of wine. A broken wine jug lay at the bathroom door. Xie Jinhuan, lying on the roof, might have heard the noise and uttered a "hmm~~"...

?

Linghu Qingmo was stunned, his worried look turned into confusion, and he thought to himself:
what happened?

How come Xie Jinhuan, such a decent person, became a drunkard like Ling'er?

Could it be that her best friend sneaked into her house? Did Ling'er come secretly last night?

Thinking of this, Linghu Qingmo's eyes became suspicious. He searched the yard for Ling'er, who was naked, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He picked up the broken pieces of the wine jar and smelled them. He found that they were the so-called "hero's tears" that "three cups make you fall down". He couldn't help but look helpless.

Practitioners have extremely high resistance, and those who are powerful cannot be drunk by ordinary alcohol. However, traveling in the world without drinking is naturally not enjoyable.

For this reason, people who are good at brewing have developed special liquors such as Hero's Tears, which have a strong aftertaste and it is said that even masters of the art can get drunk from them. Normally, they are tasted by the cup.

Xie Jinhuan was only a fourth-rank warrior. He drank a whole jar of wine. Wouldn't he be drunk to death?
Linghu Qingmo didn't know what to say, and called out from under the eaves:

"Xie Jinhuan? Xie Jinhuan?"

Hula~
After shouting like this several times, Xie Jinhuan turned over and looked around warily!

When he realized that it was Miss Momo below him and there was no danger, his eyes lost their luster again and he fell straight forward.

"Eh?!"

Linghu Qingmo was startled. Seeing the naked man growing larger and larger above him, he was afraid that Xie Jinhuan would fall and get hurt, so he quickly opened his arms to catch him. The result was:
thump--

The extremely heavy body hit him directly on the chest.

With the big ball cushioning the impact, Xie Jinhuan was fine, but Linghu Qingmo was injured in the chest and his brows were furrowed, and he almost fell to the ground.

"You guys..."

Linghu Qingmo had never hugged a man in his life, let alone with his chest and back exposed.

Sensing the man's body temperature and the smell of alcohol coming towards him, Linghu Qingmo's face flushed red. He used his chest to support the body that had gone limp as mud and punched it on the back a few times: "Xie Jinhuan? Xie Jinhuan!"

"Gooji!"

Coal Ball hadn't had breakfast yet, so he landed on my shoulder and fanned me with his wings to express his happiness.

clap clap clap...

Xie Jinhuan was reminded by Lin Wanyi not to drink too much, but the wine was too good and the ghost wife was willing to make him drink it, so he didn't remember the doctor's advice at all. He had a blackout that night and didn't even know how he got on the roof.

At this moment, leaning on Miss Momo's arms, his consciousness actually returned to his mind, but his hands and feet were out of control. After a short rest, he patted the person in his arms:

"I'm fine..."

thump—

The vest was hit hard!

Linghu Qingmo was kind enough to help Xie Jinhuan, but was molested. His eyes immediately turned cold:
"You're pretending to be drunk, right?!"

Xie Jinhuan found that her hand was round, full and elastic, and realized that he had touched the wrong place, so he apologized:
"Sorry... this alcohol is a bit strong~~~"

Zi La La——

Seeing that Xie Jinhuan just apologized without moving his hand, Linghu Qingmo transformed into the 'Thunder King', pressed his hands on his shoulders and began to force the machine to turn on.

In the flash of lightning, Xie Jinhuan stood up straight in an instant, swaying a few times, and his eyes regained clarity. He looked around blankly:
"Uh... sorry, I drank too much."

Linghu Qingmo finally stopped, and considering Xie Jinhuan's great contribution yesterday and the fact that he was indeed drunk, he did not mention his rude behavior again.
"Who were you drinking with last night? Why did you drink so much?"

Xie Jinhuan had blacked out last night and was a little confused. After he calmed down a bit, he found that he was now full of energy and vitality, even his Qi Sea was fuller. It seemed that the Dragon Blood Pill was indeed very effective in strengthening the body.

"Yesterday, Miss Lin sent me a jar of wine. I've never drunk it before, and I got drunk on it accidentally. What's going on at the government office?"

As he was speaking, Xie Jinhuan went to the washroom on the side and cleaned up quickly.

Linghu Qingmo patted his hips and came to the door with his sword:

"All the officers and soldiers have been running around all night, finding a number of medicine shops that sold dragon beard grass and livestock. By comparing the portraits, we know that this wave of demon bandits has more than ten errand runners, and the identity of the person behind the scenes has yet to be determined. If you're not busy later, you can go and take a look. It's just the right time for dinner tonight..."

Xie Jinhuan naturally felt more at ease when he found that the government's attention had indeed shifted to the demon bandits.

By clearing out the demon bandits, he could get back the money he had lost while traveling outside. He also wanted to catch the ghost witch, so it was reasonable for him to help.

But he still has to let the demon bandit help him take the blame. If the demon bandit behind the scenes is really caught in a few seconds, won’t he be punished again?
Xie Jinhuan considered this for a moment and decided to "trust Da Biao's wisdom." After a moment's thought, he said:

"The government is investigating these things. Even if we go in, we won't be able to help. We can go investigate something else. Miss Momo, do you still remember the book 'Yang Chun Yan' that we found in the corpse cave yesterday?"

The first thing Linghu Qingmo saw was the 'train bento'. The scene from last night's sleep still lingered in his mind. How could he forget it?

"Why do you ask this?"

Xie Jinhuan didn't want to try the train bento with Momo:

"That book is from 'Jiwenzhai'. It's well-bound and expensive, and the content is quite special. If the bandits bought it, the bookshop owner might remember its appearance. You can go take a look at it later."

"what?"

Linghu Qingmo was a little skeptical: "Even if the bookstore remembers, it's impossible to know the identity and whereabouts of the thief. Is this investigation useful?"

Xie Jinhuan knew that this search was useless, and he just wanted to go to the bookstore to browse:
"We're conducting a blanket search now. We have to find out where any place has come into contact with the demon bandits. If there are any clues, we can't ignore them."

Linghu Qingmo nodded thoughtfully: "Alright. Then hurry up and pack up."

Xie Jinhuan quickly washed up, and halfway through he glanced at the icy beauty at the door, thought for a moment and asked:
"Mo Mo, where did your master, Fairy Nangong, go?"

?

Linghu Qingmo frowned, his eyes suspicious. Seeing Xie Jinhuan's innocent expression, as if he was just curious, he responded calmly:

"Nangong Fairy is a name given by the idle people in Jianghu. You should call him Nangong Sect Leader or Nangong Senior."

Xie Jinhuan actually wanted to call her "dream wife", but if he said that, he would definitely get shocked by Miss Momo:
"I'm used to traveling around the world, so I'm sorry for the offense. Where did Senior Nangong go?"

"Master is highly skilled in Taoism and spends the year slaying demons in desolate areas like Southern Xinjiang, Dragon Bone Beach, and Ghost Weeping Marsh. He returns before winter and leaves again in spring. Judging by the time, he should be back soon."

Having said that, Linghu Qingmo looked at Xie Jinhuan and said earnestly:
"Master, like you, is willing to sacrifice his life for the righteous path, but he has always acted cautiously. If there is a risk, he always prioritizes self-preservation. A cultivator must reach a high level of spiritual attainment in order to help more people. Dying young, even for the righteous path, is a reckless act in the long run.

"You discovered a clue yesterday and should have reported it to the government. If you went to investigate alone, you would have stumbled into a bandit's lair and the Danyang experts wouldn't have been able to save you in time."

Xie Jinhuan was more prudent than anyone else. He didn't report to the government office yesterday simply because he wanted to "ask fellow Taoists to help bear the thunder tribulation." However, it was difficult to say this out loud, so he shook his head and smiled:
"Life and death are determined by fate. No one can do anything about it. If I ever die, don't be too sad, Miss Momo. Please take good care of Coal Ball for me... Woo?!"

Linghu Qingmo was stunned when he heard this. He quickly stepped forward to cover his mouth, his eyes slightly cold:
"Why are you saying these unlucky things when everything is fine? Who would be sad for you?"

Xie Jinhuan had inexplicably dug up a ghost wife and was now expressing his feelings. Seeing that Momo was really worried, he didn't say anything more:
"Heh~ You haven't eaten breakfast yet? Why don't you go eat something first."

"Gooji!"

Coal Ball squatted on his shoulder and, seeing that he had finally gotten to the point, he interrupted fiercely, looking like he was saying, "Are we going to make ends meet? Do you know what it means to choose the right tree for your home?"

Linghu Qingmo rubbed the coal balls, not wanting to stare at the eight-pack abs, so he went outside to wait...

(End of this chapter)