Cultivating Immortality from the Book of Life and Death

Chapter 177 [The Bottle Woman] (First Update!)

As the car door opened, a faint, eerie aura wafted out.

Inside, there were rows and rows of beautifully shaped porcelain vases, each with a lifelike girl's head resting on its mouth.

The youngest of these girls was still an infant, and the oldest was no more than fifteen or sixteen years old. They were all fair-skinned and beautiful, with delicate features and neatly combed black hair tied in various buns. They also wore many pearl and jade hairpins, and colorful pearl tassels adorned their snowy cheeks, swaying gently as the carriage moved, just like pampered young ladies. However, below their heads were tiny bottle-shaped bodies that were very different from normal flesh and blood, as if they had grown out of these tiny porcelain bottles.

【Aquarius Woman】!
Upon seeing this scene, Zheng Que was immediately shocked. He had thought that the taxes being transported from the county town would be gold, silver, jewelry, spirit stones, and elixirs, but he never expected that they would be "bottle women" made by living people!
Do not!
This is just the tax levied in their "Geng" carriage. The taxes levied in the other carriages may not all be for women; they could be other similar things.

This is why none of the taxes were put into the storage bag.

At this moment, the other four cultivators also saw the [Bottle Woman] in the carriage, but they remained calm and showed no surprise.

Yuan Zhi carefully counted the number of [Bottle Maidens], and then examined their complexions. He immediately nodded and said, "There are a total of thirty-six [Bottle Maidens], eleven of which are of superior quality, twenty-five of which are of medium quality, and none of which are of inferior quality."

"The number and condition of the items match the tax list."

"He's in good shape too."

As he spoke, Yuan Zhi turned to look at Zheng Que and the others. Seeing that they had all finished counting the [Bottle Girls] in the carriage, he did not delay any longer and immediately activated the array plate to close the carriage door.

Next, he put away the array plate and continued, "From now on, until the handover of the prefecture is completed, if any changes occur, we will be responsible for protecting this 'Geng' character carriage."

"Even if other vehicles come to ask for help, we don't need to pay attention to them unless Senior Lu gives the order!"

The other cultivators nodded in agreement: "That's exactly right!"

"Indeed, the 'Geng' character car is where our duty lies..."

Hearing his companions' agreement, Zheng Que snapped out of his reverie and immediately nodded, saying, "I understand."

After explaining these matters, Yuan Zhi arranged the four men into a formation. Linghu Yuniang and Miao Xirong walked on either side of the front of the "Geng" shaped carriage, while Zheng Que and Shi Shaoshan followed on either side of the rear. The four men were on guard in all four directions, while Yuan Zhi himself stood guard on the carriage shaft, responsible for overseeing the overall operation of the "Geng" shaped carriage.

Amidst the clatter of the well pulleys, the other teams quickly completed their initial coordination and began operations, each focusing on their assigned vehicles.

They hadn't traveled more than a few miles when a strange movement suddenly came from ahead, accompanied by a surge of yin energy, clearly indicating that they had encountered a ghost.

The monks in the entire convoy immediately went on high alert.

Yuan Zhi immediately jumped off the carriage shaft and looked around warily.

But soon, the commotion subsided, and Lu Maohong's voice echoed throughout the entire team: "Keep moving forward!"

Zheng Que knew in his heart that the ghosts he had encountered earlier had been easily dealt with.

The convoy continued its journey.

Next, the convoy encountered ghosts or strange occurrences almost every time it traveled a certain distance, but each disturbance would quickly subside, and the convoy's speed was not affected at all.

The corpse puppet possessed immense strength, pulling the vehicle at breakneck speed along the desolate official road, requiring the cultivators on both sides to stretch their legs to keep up.

Before we knew it, the plains were coming to an end, and the shadows of rolling mountains appeared in the distance.

Watching this scene, Zheng Que glanced at Shi Shaoshan beside him and suddenly asked, "Fellow Daoist Shi, is this task of escorting taxes held every year?"

While observing his surroundings, Shi Shaoshan casually replied, "That's natural." "However, before each tax payment, the City Lord's Mansion observes the activity of ghosts along the way and chooses a relatively safe time to depart."

"Therefore, the time for escorting taxes each year is not fixed."

Zheng Que nodded slightly, then asked, "Then why not use the Dharma Boat? Wouldn't that be safer and faster?"

Upon hearing this, Shi Shaoshan turned to look at Zheng Que and immediately said, "Is this your first time taking on a mission to escort taxes?"

"For ordinary independent cultivators, the Dharma Boat is indeed safer."

"However, when we pay taxes to the imperial court, there are always seniors at the ninth level of Qi Refining leading the way. On the ground, we only encounter some ghosts from the [Tongue-Pulling Hell], which are easy to deal with."

"But if we travel through the air, we might be targeted by ghosts of the [Scissors Prison] level or higher."

"Moreover, traveling such long distances often involves unknown dangers lurking at high altitudes, with too many uncertainties. It's not worth taking that risk for a little extra time..."

At this point, Shi Shaoshan paused for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Fellow Daoist Zheng, what did you do wrong in the prefectural city this time?"

What did you do wrong?

Zheng Que was slightly taken aback, but after realizing what he meant, he immediately asked, "Where is Fellow Daoist Shi?"

Shi Shaoshan calmly replied, "A few days ago, in order to refine elixirs, I slaughtered a village under the jurisdiction of Taiping County."

"In a few more days, Shi's arrest warrant should reach the Gongfengfang in Taiping County."

"Therefore, I need to go to the prefectural city to avoid trouble in advance."

Upon hearing this, Zheng Que frowned. The reward for escorting the taxes was only ten spirit stones, which was practically a beggar's wage compared to the requirements of the task, yet so many cultivators were participating... Could it be that all the cultivators who accepted this task were wanted criminals?
Was everyone's real purpose simply to seek refuge in the prefectural city?

Yes, when Qiu Tingfang from the Merit Department recommended this mission to him, he mentioned that if he offended someone and wanted to go to a distant place, he could take on this mission...

Thinking of this, Zheng Que casually made up an excuse and replied, "I have offended a certain cultivation family, so I need to go to the prefectural city to hide for a while."

Shi Shaoshan nodded and continued, "The Jia family of Taishan?"

"Recently, the only people who can be considered to come from prominent families are Jia Bin and Jia Miaoniang, a brother and sister from their family, who are active in Taiping County."

"It's been quite a while since we've seen these two siblings."

"Did you kill Jia Bin? Or did you kill Jia Miaoniang?"

Zheng Que hadn't expected this person to know so much about the cultivation families in Taiping County, and shook his head slightly upon hearing this.

Although the Jia siblings were indeed dead, he didn't kill them. Of course, their souls were indeed in his summoning banner...

Zheng Que did not answer the question, but changed the subject directly: "I wonder if you know anything about Lu Maohong, the leader of this team?"

When he was in Changfu Town, the town mayor, Xu Houde, asked him to deliver a letter to a Master Lu in Taiping County. He wondered if that Master Lu was the same Senior Lu in the car with the license plate "甲" at this moment.

(End of this chapter)