The Demon-Slaying Grandmaster

Chapter 184 Funeral
Li Jingxiao addressed the abbot of Yunfeng Temple, saying, "This is 1,500 taels of silver."

Of the 1000 taels of silver, 1,000 taels were used to repair and expand the temple of Yue Zhongjie, the mountain god of Yunfeng Mountain.

With the remaining 500 taels, we can use it to buy more incense and offerings to the mountain god temple each month.

You must do your utmost, and I will petition the Daolu Division for commendation on your behalf.

From now on, Yunfeng Temple can preach and accept disciples throughout the entire Siming Prefecture.

At the same time, you disciples of Yunfeng Temple also need to shoulder the responsibility of cleaning and repairing the Yue General Mountain God Temple.

After saying that, without waiting for their reply, he put away the daybed and took out the 'Wu-Yue Sword' and held it in his hand.

Its body hovered in mid-air, and with a whoosh, it shot straight into the sky.

Once you've determined the direction, fly straight to Jinling City.

The old Taoist priest and a dozen or so other Taoist priests were staring at the sky in disbelief, motionless for a long time.

After a while, the master and his dozen or so disciples realized that they had encountered a Taoist master who could be described as a deity.

Moreover, this person was dressed in a python robe, so he must be a high-ranking official in the imperial court.

I already believed to some extent that he would ask the Daolu Division to recommend Yunfeng Temple for credit.

He dared not disobey Li Jingxiao's instructions to repair and expand the mountain god temple in the slightest.

Not to mention the abbot of Yunfeng Temple and his junior brother, who not only knew Yue Zhongjie, but also knew him.

Everyone knew that Yue Zhongjie must have done something significant and had already gained the court's recognition and reward.

Forget about just expanding the mountain god temple and buying some offerings; they practically wanted to become sworn brothers with Yue Zhongjie right away.
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Two hours later, Li Jingxiao landed near a forest outside Jinling City and took out a Sanhe horse from the game.

He changed his python robe into a blue satin robe.

However, he wore a gold-inlaid jade belt around his waist, with a jade pendant adorned with a dragon design.

She was also wearing cloud-patterned court boots, just in case she encountered someone looking for trouble and was looked down upon, which would only cause more trouble.

Sure enough, when he entered Jinling City, the numerous city gate guards and captains, upon seeing him riding a tall horse and dressed in his finery, immediately drove the people entering the city aside.

He bowed and scraped as he watched Li Jingxiao ride into the city without even dismounting.

Li Jingxiao smiled and casually tossed a piece of silver worth about two taels to the city gate captain.

This immediately made the captain's smile even brighter.

After Li Jingxiao had gone far away, the captain hurriedly sent someone to inform the commander, lest someone offend this lord out of ignorance.

As for why the city gate captain was so certain, Li Jingxiao's identity must be extraordinary.
The city gate captain isn't stupid, and in fact, having good eyesight is the most important thing for him.

Anyone who dares to openly wear cloud-patterned court boots, a jade pendant with a dragon pattern at their waist, and a gold-inlaid jade belt is either mentally ill or a very important person.

The city gate captain didn't think Li Jingxiao was crazy.

However, what Li Jingxiao didn't see was that after the city gate captain watched his back leave, his gaze turned to Ningrong Street in Jinling City.

The capital city has Ningrong Street and Ningrong Mansion.

In Jinling, there are also Ningrong Street and Ningrong Mansion, and their scale is no smaller than that of the capital.

The city gate captain thought to himself, "This young master arrived quite quickly."

The letter sent to the capital seven days ago, after the eldest son of the Jia family had an accident, should not have arrived in the capital yet.

This young master has come over on horseback today.

Judging from their appearance, they must be very close relatives.

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but sigh and shake my head.

After entering the city, Li Jingxiao went directly to the ancestral home of the Ning and Rong families in Jinling City.

Jia Zhu came to Jinling to take the imperial examination, so he must have stayed there as well.

What Li Jingxiao didn't expect was that when he arrived at Ningrong Street in Jinling...

Outside the gates of two grand mansions, whose size and scale were in no way inferior to the Ning and Rong mansions in the capital, people were coming and going in a chaotic mess.

Li Jingxiao's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly rode his horse to the gate.

A group of servants and relatives of the Jia family in Jinling were furious when they saw someone riding a horse recklessly on Ningrong Street.

Xue Pan had been very upset these past few days, and in a fit of anger, he took his servants, grabbed the carrying poles, and planned to beat Li Jingxiao down.

Before Xue Pan and his dozen servants could get close, Li Jingxiao suddenly flew off his horse.

Using the Spiral Nine Shadows movement technique, his figure flashed in the air a few times, leaving behind nine afterimages.

They had already reached the courtyard wall of the Rongguo Mansion's old residence in Jinling.

The dozens of people present were stunned.

Li Jingxiao stood on the courtyard wall and looked inside, but did not see Jia Zhu and said nothing.

The dozen or so members of the Jia family's twelve branches in Jinling who had attended his and Yuan Chun's wedding all looked worried.

They even argued that the search for Jia Zhu should be expanded to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Li Jingxiao knew things were going badly.

When Xia Shouzhong came to deliver the imperial edict, the emperor bestowed upon Qin Keqing the title of a third-rank noblewoman and hinted that both the retired emperor and the emperor had tacitly approved of his marriage to Jia Yuanchun.

The old eunuch once said that Jia Zhu's serious illness and near death were not simply due to being sick.

At that time, Xia Shouzhong even hinted that he was only marrying a girl from the Jia family.

There's no need for me, as the son-in-law, to get involved in the grudges and feuds of the previous generation or the generation before that.

That's why we haven't paid attention to it.

Now, according to the Jia family members, Jia Zhu may have fallen into the water, and neither his body nor his body has been found.

He hurriedly leaped down from the courtyard wall.

He channeled his inner energy and pulled a servant towards him.

He grabbed it and asked, "Was it Brother Zhu, or someone else who had an accident?"

The servant was grabbed by the collar and lifted up by Li Jingxiao, his face turning pale with fright.

He stammered and couldn't utter a complete sentence.

Li Jingxiao frowned, but fortunately, although he was anxious, he did not lose his composure.

Release the servant and turn to look at Xue Pan, who is dressed in dark blue silk.

Xue Pan's throat bobbed, and he forced himself to step forward, clasped his hands in a deep bow, and asked, "I am Xue Pan. May I ask what your relationship is with Brother Zhu?"

Li Jingxiao looked at Xue Pan with surprise, until Xue Pan was sweating profusely.

Then he said, "My surname is Li and my given name is Jingxiao. You can just call me cousin-in-law."

Xue Pan was stunned at first, and it took him several seconds to react.

When we looked at Li Jingxiao again, this scoundrel was kneeling on the ground.

She cried loudly, "Brother-in-law, please use your magic to find Brother Zhu!"

Li Jingxiao was so angry he wanted to kick the guy away.

Suppressing his anger, he inquired carefully and learned that Jia Zhu had passed the imperial examination and it was the Mid-Autumn Festival again.

He inevitably received numerous invitations and social engagements from the Twelve Houses of Jinling, as well as many old relatives and family friends.

After spending seven or eight days in Nanjing, I really wanted to return to Beijing as soon as possible to share the good news with my parents and grandmother.

Then they took a boat across the Yangtze River and then into the Grand Canal.

Unexpectedly, that afternoon a passing cargo ship reported that a ship had capsized between Nanjing and Zhenjiang.

The officials and people on both sides of the river in Jinling and Zhenjiang, after salvaging and picking up the items, finally confirmed that they belonged to the boat that Jia Zhu was on.

Xue Pan spoke most of the story while crying. Upon hearing the news, the elders, descendants, and relatives of the Jia family from the twelve branches of the Jinling branch of the Jia family quickly came out of the mansion.

Those from the Twelve Houses who had attended Yuan Chun's wedding in the capital recognized Li Jingxiao at a glance.

Seeing Xue Pan kneeling on the ground, crying and speaking, immediately caused the Jia family's sons and women to cry as well.

But to Li Jingxiao's ears, at least most of the crying was more out of fear than sadness.

Li Jingxiao sighed, but he also understood these people.

Jia Zhu was the eldest grandson of the Rongguo Mansion, and the only scholar and hope of the Ning and Rong Mansions in the capital. It was impossible for the twelve branches of the Jia family in Jinling not to feel some fear and unease when he got into trouble.

Now everyone is hoping that Jia Zhu will be blessed with good fortune.

Thinking that although the boat had capsized, Jia Zhu had actually been rescued and was recuperating somewhere on either side of the Yangtze River.

On the contrary, Li Jingxiao suddenly appeared in Jinling City seven days after Jia Zhu's incident.

This made everyone increasingly uneasy.

Fortunately, Yangzhou is only about 160 or 170 li away from Jinling.

Upon receiving the news, Lin Ruhai arrived in Jinling the following afternoon to oversee the matter.

At this moment, he was at the Jinling Prefectural Government Office, discussing with the Prefect and other officials of all ranks the expansion of the search area.

Li Jingxiao arrived so quickly; considering he is a highly skilled master.

Many members of the Jia family and their relatives began to speculate silently.

Could it be that someone really wants to harm Jia Zhu? Li Jingxiao sensed that Jia Zhu was in danger in the capital, so he used his Taoist supernatural powers to rush over from the capital.
Li Jingxiao had no time to care what the Jia family members thought, and he bowed and exchanged pleasantries with the elders of the various branches of the clan.

He then greeted the others and, accompanied by them, entered the main hall of the central courtyard.

Then he turned to Xue Pan and said, "Brother Pan, take my Zhenfu Division token."

Go tell the commander of the Jinyiwei (Imperial Guard) and the naval commander in Jinling that I don't care how much manpower and resources they expend.

Or by some means, we must find that person today, or find...

At this point, even Lee Kyung-hyo himself couldn't bring himself to say the word 'corpse'.

But Xue Pan and the others understood that seven days had passed, and the probability of Jia Zhu being in trouble was already very high.

The only thing that gave everyone a glimmer of hope was that Jia Zhu was injured and rescued, but because he was unconscious or his injuries were too severe, he had been recuperating somewhere.

But everyone knows this in their hearts; it's a bit of self-deception.

If Jia Zhu is still alive and regains consciousness, he will definitely reveal his identity.

The person who saved him will definitely come to Jinling with great joy to report the news.

What I fear is that the person who rescued him is the one who capsized the boat.

Then the outcome is hard to say.

Xue Pan accepted the bronze plaque from the garrison commander and led his men quickly to the prefectural government office.

The dozens of members of the Jia family and the women hiding in the side hall all breathed a sigh of relief as if they had found their pillar of support.

Although Lin Ruhai was Jia Zhu's uncle-in-law, he also held a high-ranking official position.

But in terms of power, he is no match for the man in front of him.

Putting everything else aside, Lin Ruhai couldn't mobilize the Imperial Guards and the ships and soldiers of the naval garrisons.

Li Jingxiao was not only the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, but also the right commander of the Five Military Commissions.

Mobilizing the Imperial Guards and the navy was truly just a matter of a single sentence.

Even if someone impeaches him in the future, it's still better than doing nothing.

Aunt Xue and her daughter Xue Baochai couldn't help but gleam with an inexplicable light in their eyes as they secretly glanced at Li Jingxiao.

Xue Baochai wanted to give her elder brother Xue Pan a few words of advice, but then she thought better of it and decided against it.

If I were to step forward now, it would not only be a disgrace to my elder brother, but also against proper etiquette.

He could only secretly hope that his elder brother wouldn't cause any trouble.

Not long after, Li Jingxiao, who was sitting in the side hall drinking tea and learning more about the situation from several clan elders, suddenly twitched his ears.

When everyone heard the sound of hurried footsteps, several clan elders and the head of the Jia family hurriedly got up.

Li Jingxiao, however, remained seated and even picked up a teacup to drink tea.

Without even glancing at the Imperial Guards and the commander of the Nanjing Garrison Navy who had all knelt on the ground upon entering, they were completely ignored.

It wasn't until Lin Ruhai and Zhen Yingjia entered that Li Jingxiao stood up and bowed to them.

Li Jingxiao was impolite to the Embroidered Uniform Guards and their commanders because they were all his subordinates.

Lin Ruhai was not only the son-in-law of the Jia family in the previous generation, but also a descendant of five generations of marquises. He also became a third-ranked scholar in the imperial examination through his own efforts.

Both morally and logically, Li Jingxiao should treat Lin Ruhai with courtesy.

The relationship between the Jia and Zhen families was actually closer than that between the Wang, Shi, and Xue families.

The Jia family's 50,000 taels of silver were able to remain in the Zhen family's possession.

When the Zhen family's property was confiscated, the valuables they had hidden beforehand were transported to the capital, and some of them were given to the Jia family.

And the Jia family actually dared to accept it.

Either the Jia family is incredibly stupid, or they have a reason they have no choice but to help.

Li Jingxiao guessed that it was related to the fact that the second daughter of the Zhen family was the wife of Prince Shui Rong of Beijing.

However, Li Jingxiao was not fond of the Zhen family or Prince Shui Rong of Beijing.

So it was just a polite formality.

Although the Dowager Consort in the palace was not the Emperor Emeritus's legal mother, she had raised him.

Whether the Dowager Consort was actually a daughter of the Zhen family or not, Li Jingxiao did not take the initiative to inquire.

We don't know for sure yet.

However, the Zhen family enjoyed the Emperor's deep trust, and it is true that he stayed at the Zhen family's residence four times during his six trips to the south of the Yangtze River.

The Zhen family enjoyed decades of wealth and luxury.

As for the prefect of Jinling, he seemed to be invisible to Li Jingxiao.

This guy was going to be impeached and dismissed from office in the future, which gave Jia Yucun the opportunity to be reinstated as the prefect of Jinling.

Now, there's the matter of Jia Zhu, the eldest grandson of the Rongguo Mansion, disappearing in Jinling.

Once Jia Zhuzhen dies, he will be the first to suffer.

However, for Lin Ruhai and Zhen Yingjia, he was a colleague, and even the Prefect of Jinling was of a higher rank than them.

Lee Kyung-hyo can ignore this person, but the two of them can't.

Not only did he refuse to sit down, but he also pulled the prefect, assistant prefect, and vice prefect of Jinling to stand on his right.

He kept a distance of more than two meters from the Embroidered Uniform Guards, the garrison commanders, and others.

Li Jingxiao didn't try to persuade him further and sat back down in the head seat.

Looking at the commander of the Jinyiwei (Imperial Guard) in Jinling, he said, "The missing person is the newly appointed scholar of the imperial examination, the brother-in-law of the Duke of this country."

If we can't find the person, you all won't be able to explain yourselves to the imperial court.

He also couldn't explain this to scholars all over the world.

I have no way of explaining this to my wife and father-in-law. Please, gentlemen, don't make things difficult for me.

otherwise,,,."

Although the words were not finished, the worries on the faces of the several commanders, centurions, and garrison commanders of the Embroidered Uniform Guard deepened upon hearing them.

They had no choice but to bite the bullet and promise to send everyone to search along both sides of the river.

Li Jingxiao waved his hand, indicating that they should not waste any more time.

After these people left, Li Jingxiao began exchanging pleasantries with Lin Ruhai and Zhen Yingjia.

Lin He and the others breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that Li Jingxiao had to mobilize the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the garrison troops to help find people as soon as he arrived.

To be honest, Lin Ruhai has been under a lot of pressure these past few days.

He was afraid he wouldn't be able to explain it to his wife, Jia Min, and to his mother and brother-in-law in the capital.

Now that I've relaxed, and I'm really tired these past few days, I feel much better.

After talking to Li Jingxiao for a short while, she took the initiative to say that she needed to go to sleep.

With Lin Ruhai gone, Li Jingxiao naturally had no interest in spending time with Zhen Yingjia.

(End of this chapter)