Longevity begins with slaying demons and eliminating demons

Chapter 203
Qi Yan was not in the mood to enjoy the festival.

After saying goodbye to Gu Xu, he boarded an unmarked carriage and drove along the Luo River.

The lights dimmed and the crowd gradually thinned out.

When the surrounding people celebrating the festival were completely replaced by neatly arranged guards, Qi Yan finally arrived at his destination——

Princess Zhaoning Mansion.

He went straight up the stairs, crossed the threshold, and walked along the long corridor to the neat and elegant study.

He sat on the chair behind the desk, took off the white jade bracelet on his wrist, and put it back into the wooden box.

At this moment, colorful illusion lights lit up on his body.

After a while, the light faded.

The handsome young man in white disappeared.

In its place, there was a young woman with snow-skinned and beautiful face, red lips and white teeth.

It was Xiao Wanjun, Princess Zhaoning.

As a mortal with no cultivation, she got up early to deal with government affairs, and at night to watch the group arena, she stood in the crowd for more than an hour, and she was already exhausted.

Fortunately, there was no one else in the room, and she didn't have to pay too much attention to her own image, so she simply untied her bun, rested her elbow on her chin, lay lazily by the table, and yawned.The black hair was scattered freely, like a hanging waterfall.

And her eyes fell on the stack of memorials related to Gu Xu on the table again.

"interesting."

Thinking of what she saw and heard tonight, she chuckled and sighed silently.

After a short rest, she picked up the brush, dipped it in the red ink, and began to complete the "red critique" work as usual on behalf of the Daqi Emperor who was addicted to cultivation.

First of all, she opened Luo Sishou's memorial proposing to promote Gu Xu to the sixth-rank head of the Exorcism Division, and wrote the word "agree" on it without thinking.

Then, she brought back the memorial from the National Teacher recommending Gu Xu as a guest lecturer at Longmen Academy—there were many voices of opposition within Longmen Academy.

The solution given by the cabinet is: bring Gu Xu and all competitors together to compare the skills of drawing symbols, and whoever is better will win.

"This is a good show." This was the first thought that popped up in Princess Zhaoning's heart.

She has long heard that Gu Xu's talisman skills are superb.

Gu Xu's talisman and dao attainments displayed in the arena tonight really surpassed the proud students of Longmen Academy, which made countless people admire.

Although Longmen Academy is known as the "No. [-] school for Daqi practitioners", in recent years, there have been few outstanding geniuses like Gu Xu and Su Xiao.

The Taoism, talismans and seals taught in the academy are almost the same as decades ago, and have not been updated for a long time.

On the contrary, the exorcist who is fighting on the front line of killing ghosts often has people improving or creating new spells.

Princess Zhaoning, as the temporary ruler of the Daqi government, naturally knows the reason behind this very well——

On the one hand, Longmen Academy pays attention to seniority, which makes it full of old guys who are just waiting to die; on the other hand, the number of students in the academy is scarce, and most of them are controlled by the rich and powerful in the capital, making it difficult for talented children from poor families to enroll.

Princess Zhaoning speculates: As the honorary dean of Longmen Academy, one of the reasons why the National Teacher recommended Gu Xu, who is only 17 years old, as a guest lecturer is to change the status quo.

"Actually, I have long since disliked the group of professors in Longmen Academy who are self-styled and do not seek to make progress," the princess thought silently, "I am looking forward to it. If Gu Xu shows his talents in front of them and smashes their proud capital Smash, how wonderful the look on their faces will be."

Thinking of this, she also wrote "agree" on the draft of this memorial.

In the end, Princess Zhaoning's eyes fell on the memorial that proposed to ennoble Gu Xu.

This is a relatively tricky question.

Because there was a rule in the Daqi Dynasty that "all nobles who do not have military merits in the country cannot be awarded", under normal circumstances, merits are evaluated according to the number of ghosts killed.

Although Gu Xu saved tens of thousands of people in Qingzhou Prefecture, the Kongxuan Sanren and Jiuying Snake Demon were solved by the sages—there was no precedent for her to refer to such things.

Princess Zhaoning pondered for a moment, thinking of Gu Xu's astonishing performance tonight, she just felt that such a rare talent should try her best to win him over, and she must not chill his heart because of stingy rewards.

Then she swiped a pen and quickly wrote down her opinion:

"The Exorcist Department of Yishui County has experienced Gu Xu, great talent, erudition and strong learning. Zhou Bailu devoted himself to the people in order to improve the country. He encountered difficulties and wiped out evil spirits. Wisdom can last forever, sincerely It can be judged by the gods. It can be sealed as Jinyangzi, and the iron certificate of Danshu can be given. The master will implement it." (1)

…………

The headquarters of the Exorcist Division.

After Gu Xu returned to the yamen, relying on his understanding of the Lantern Festival night and the medicinal power of "Du Er Dan", he climbed the more than one hundred steps of "Sixiang Ridge" without any effort.

The dense fog surrounding the mountains and the terrifying resistance before were no longer obstacles to his progress today.

When he finished his practice, it was already noon.

He stretched himself, walked out of the "Qingxiang Pavilion", and decided to try the lunch in the kitchen of the headquarters of the Exorcist Division.

On the way, he saw Shangguan Jin wearing a linen blouse with his long hair tied up high, practicing sword in an empty courtyard.

She didn't use her true energy, nor did she practice the unfathomable high-grade swordsmanship of "Cloud Sea and Galaxy Sword", but repeatedly practiced the basic sword techniques such as pointing, stabbing, chopping, and sweeping.

It's not like practicing swords, it's more like exercising.

Although it was a cold winter, her hair and clothes were soaked with sweat, as if she had just crawled out of a pond.

"Gu Daoyou, are you going to eat?" As soon as he saw Gu Xu, Shangguan Jin stopped what he was doing and greeted him with a smile, "Sister Xiaohan is also in the public kitchen!"

Gu Xu nodded, and then asked politely, "Have you eaten, Fellow Daoist Shangguan?"

"I'm not going to eat today."

"why?"

"Because I ate too much last night. There are lion heads, thousand pieces of meat, fish-flavored eggplants, and sugar people." Shangguan Jin laughed at himself, "You may not know, but my physique is like that of a pig. Gaining weight is fast...

"I really envy little sister Xiaohan, who has supernatural powers like the 'Glutton Seal', and never has to worry about gaining weight."

Gu Xu did not respond immediately.

He glanced at Shangguan Jin's slender waist and thought: Before, he only knew that she loved beauty and was keen on dressing up, but he didn't know that she put so much sweat behind her back.

Then he looked down at his thin self again.

Ziwei's fate robbed him of his lifespan, and also gave him a physique that won't make him fat—of course, for a man, being too thin is actually a kind of distress.

It's just that Gu Xu is busy with training and has no time to lift weights, and he doesn't know what to do in order to grow muscles.

Maybe some more snow ginseng?

Or do you have to wait until you become a saint and reshape your body?
PS: It took a total of four hours to write this chapter, of which three hours were written in classical Chinese QAQ
…………

Notes:

(1) Refer to Tang Xuanzong's "Adding the First System of Wei Zhigu Luxiang" and "Adding the System of Liu Youqiu Reality", among which:

"Difficult and dangerous": difficult and worrying;

"Not waiting for the end of the day": act immediately when you see the opportunity, without delay;

"Grand in the sky": touch the sky;

"The master executes": The court decree is sent to the competent department for execution.

(End of this chapter)