New and dark light years

Chapter 142 Only the Great Qi can keep people alive
The altar of the Tree Fairy Goddess was placed on a cart and taken to the county town.

Li Lin sat on the edge of the cart and said, "When we get to the county town, put this altar at my house first. After a while, the Four Wonders True Lord will leave, and then you can establish yourself in the county town."

The Tree Fairy Goddess floated on the altar and moved along with it.

She nodded slightly, then looked in the direction of the county town, her eyes seemingly filled with anticipation.

Li Lin knew that the Tree Fairy was aloof and didn't like to talk, so he didn't say anything more and just sat on the carriage shaft, quietly keeping her company.

The convoy soon returned to Yulin County.

Li Lin had the altar placed in his home.

However, when the Tree Fairy Goddess saw an altar in the backyard, her eyes immediately changed from a grayish color to the vertical pupils of a snake.

With a flick of her long snake tail, she threw Li Yanjing's altar outside.

Li Lin was stunned for a moment, then suddenly remembered that the Tree Fairy Goddess was very possessive.

Logically, he shouldn't keep it at home, but he's worried about keeping it somewhere else.

Li Yanjing was sleeping in the altar, and because the Tree Fairy's 'aura' was concealed by the Four Wonders True Lord's aura, she was unaware that the Tree Fairy had arrived.

She was thrown down the altar and fell, feeling dizzy. She crawled out of it and was about to explode in anger.

Then she saw the Tree Fairy floating in mid-air, and she immediately chickened out.

He immediately knelt down.

"Greetings, Lord Liu Zhenjun."

It turns out that Li Yanjing knew the Tree Fairy Goddess.

"Get out," the Tree Fairy said coldly.

Li Yanjing lowered her head and said, "I am already a monster raised by the Li family."

The Tree Fairy suddenly looked at Li Lin: "She's dirty."

Li Yanjing looked hurt.

Li Lin waved his hand and said, "I have no affair with her."

Hearing this, the Tree Fairy's expression softened considerably.

Then she curled her tail around the altar, straightened it, and placed it in a corner of the room.

And his own altar was placed in the very center.

"Do you understand?" the Tree Fairy asked.

Li Yanjing nodded vigorously.

Then the Tree Fairy waved her hand, and the tree full of peach blossoms reappeared beside the altar.

Fortunately, the main hall in the backyard is tall enough to accommodate the peach tree.

At that moment, Huang Qing walked over.

She heard the altar being thrown around.

"What happened here?" Huang Qing asked.

She could see Li Yanjing, but not the Tree Fairy.

Because Li Yanjing is a possessed ghost, she has a physical form.

However, Huang Qing was clever; she saw the altar in the center... not the one she had asked her father for.

The altar had already been placed in a corner.

Huang Qing immediately bowed slightly towards the altar and said with a smile, "Sister Liu, welcome to your presence."

The Tree Fairy Goddess initially didn't like the way she looked at Huang Qing, but after hearing these words, she nodded slightly and returned to the altar.

Li Yanjing breathed a sigh of relief, stood up, and floated back to her altar.

Huang Qing looked at Li Lin and asked, "Sister Liu... how is she?"

She accepted you!

"That's good." Huang Qing smiled happily.

Li Lin had told her about the Tree Fairy Goddess when he had time, and she knew that she couldn't have Li Lin all to herself.

I was mentally prepared for this.

Li Lin breathed a sigh of relief; the matter seemed to be resolved, though not perfectly.

She said to Huang Qing, "I'm going to a restaurant for an appointment, so I won't be having lunch at home."

"Yes, my lord, you've worked hard."

Li Lin arrived at the Fugui Restaurant.

Upon reaching the second floor, I saw that Jiang Jili was already waiting there.

"County Commandant Li, you're a little late."

Li Lin clasped his hands and said, "I have important business to attend to, as the county magistrate should know. I apologize to you here."

Jiang Jili was taken aback for a moment, then he said, "It seems you are well-mannered."

The tone was neither friendly nor sarcastic.

"I am only polite to people who are easy to talk to."

Jiang Jili was taken aback for a moment, then he said, "A few days ago, two of my family's retainers left the capital and then disappeared."

"Oh? What does this have to do with our Yulin County?"

Li Lin's idea was that since the item was lost in the capital, they should report it to the local government office.

Jiang Jili snorted and said, "There's no need for us to beat around the bush. The Jiang family accepts the matter of the family retainers. From now on, let's each go our own way and live in peace, shall we?"

Li Lin immediately laughed: "Do you think I don't know what those two are here for... You can't just think about keeping things peaceful when things are going against you."

Jiang Jili was silent for a moment, then asked, "What do you want?"

"You should say, what can you give me?"

Jiang Jili pondered for a moment and said, "I know that you have joined forces with the Ding family of Guicheng. You are both involved in the cultivation of immortality."

Is it that obvious?
But thinking about it, it's not surprising. It's no secret that the Ding family of Guicheng is obsessed with cultivating immortality.

"And then?" Jiang Jili laughed and said, "It's laughable that you would chase after such an illusory thing."

"What's it to you whether I'm ridiculous or not?" Li Lin said irritably. "If you invited me for a drink just to mock me, then I'm leaving now."

Jiang Jili snorted: "Although our Jiang family does not pursue the cultivation of immortality, we do know a little about it. After all, we are a family with hundreds of years of history, so we have some knowledge."

Li Lin became interested: "Continue."

“In our home, there are several items that seem to have been left behind by immortals.”

"You want to give them all to me?"

"Don't be too greedy!" Jiang Jili said unhappily, "We'll just get you one of these things, understand?"

"Alright then." Li Lin picked up his wine glass. "Once the goods arrive, we'll be fine."

Jiang Jili snorted, but still raised his glass and clinked it with Li Lin's.

Even the best wine and tea will taste bad when you're with someone you dislike.

Li Lin casually picked up a few bites with his chopsticks, took a few sips of wine, and then left.

When he returned home, Huang Qing immediately brought him a hangover soup.

"I'm not drunk."

"Drinking is bad for your health..." Huang Qing said softly, "It's better to sober up first."

Li Lin took the soup, drank it all in one gulp, and then laughed, "How come I remember it was wine and women that harm the body... You're only telling me to sober up, but not to give up lust! What are you up to?"

Huang Qing was immediately embarrassed and angry: "My lord, you...you...you're bad."

Li Lin laughed heartily; this was the kind of playful banter between husband and wife.

He rested at home for half a day.

The next day, they went to the south gate of the county town.

The captains had already led five hundred local militiamen to assemble outside the city.

Bai Zhiwei and Zhao Hao were among them.

Li Lin rode his horse and waved his hand, and the army set off.

With over five hundred local soldiers and three spirit hunters, their blood and energy were boundless, so there was no need to worry about the strange and dangerous places.

After marching for five days, they arrived at Bobai Military Town.

Upon seeing the local militia approaching from the rear, bearing the banner with the character "Li," the town gates immediately opened.

Five hundred local militiamen went inside.

In the open space in the middle of the military town, more than a hundred soldiers were assembled in a square formation, waiting for his inspection.

Ahead, three constables respectfully bowed and clasped their hands.

Li Lin dismounted, walked over and helped the three men up, and said with a smile, "There's no need for that, we're all colleagues."

The three of them breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that Li Lin was easy to talk to.

One of them said, “County Commandant, you should not have met me before. My name is Xie Shuyou, and I am the garrison commander and chief of staff of this town.”

Li Lin nodded: "Thank you, Commander. The county magistrate sent me here, saying there are some problems on your side."

“There are indeed some problems!” Xie Shuyou pointed to the area next to the barracks, where there were many small, obviously newly built houses: “We’ve captured a group of southern barbarians and are imprisoning them there. We don’t know what to do with them.”

"You captured some Southern Barbarians?" Li Lin was quite surprised. "How did they cross the border and evade the Tang family army's search?"

“We’ve interrogated them!” Xie Shuyou pointed to the mountaintop in the distance: “They jumped over the mountain.”

"how many people?"

"Four hundred!"

Li Lin's eyes widened in surprise.

If four hundred people could cross the mountain, then it also means that in the future, it is possible that four hundred southern barbarian soldiers could cross it as well.

If that's the case, things will be very complicated.

"Take me to see it."

Xie Shuyou led Li Lin to the side of those small, connected houses.

Even before getting close, the stench was noticeable.

The smell of human excrement.

Li Lin covered his nose and randomly opened the door of a house, where he could see many adult men crammed together.

These men were all disheveled and dressed in rags.

Moreover, it was obvious that his skin was dark red and he was extremely thin, clearly having been starving for a long time.

"It seems you haven't fed them in a long time."

"No... we actually gave them some food." Xie Shuyou said with a bitter smile, "County Commandant, you don't know, when they were arrested, they were even thinner and more terrifying than they are now. They even ate their own... excrement."

Li Lin casually looked around the houses, then pointed to a woman who looked slightly better and was clearly of high status: "You, come out."

The woman was also very thin, but her skin was at least fair.

Instead of that dark yellow that makes people look like they're seriously ill.

Can you understand the Daqi language?

"can!"

The woman had messy hair, old clothes, and smelled terrible.

Seeing Li Lin's handsome face, elegant clothes, and graceful demeanor, she lowered her head in self-consciousness.

"How did you get here? Aren't you afraid of the strange and eerie?"

"I'm scared!" the woman whispered. "If there are many people, the monsters won't come over easily. But if we stay in the south, we'll only... die."

"What's going on?" Li Lin asked, puzzled. "As far as I know, although the Southern Region is hot and rife with miasma, there's always food to be found. You at least have plenty of bananas there. You can fill your stomachs, and there's plenty of wild game. It's not difficult to survive. Why would you risk everything and force your way to our Great Qi?"

Li Lin felt that they were not simply Runren people.

The woman suddenly looked up: "Our forests are dwindling, all occupied by several chieftains. Sand is everywhere. When I was a child, my hometown still had woodlands, but now it's all sand. There's no water, no bananas, and all the prey have died of thirst. We have no choice but to migrate here. Only the Great Qi can keep people alive now."

(End of this chapter)