Longevity begins with slaying demons and eliminating demons

Chapter 299 Shi Lei's Question

Qianhu Shilei from Laizhou Mansion controlled the flying sword and landed slowly on the ground.

Hundreds of meters in front of him is the majestic Luojing City Wall.It is more than ten feet high, standing abruptly on the surface of the ground, like a gray-black cliff that spans half the sky.

Dense ballistas and huge catapults guard the city wall, and the soldiers patrolling on the top of the wall are as small as ants.Standing under it, it seems that you can feel the heavy pressure of the masonry and masonry towards you.

It was not the first time for Shi Lei to come to the capital.

However, no matter how many times he came, every time he saw this majestic city wall and the glittering formation on the gate, he would still feel extremely shocked.

Legend has it that when Emperor Taizu of Daqi built the "Dragon Formation", he once ambitiously stated that Luojing would become a "fortress as strong as gold" and a "majestic city that will never fall".

"If one day Luojing City really falls, I'm afraid the end of the world will come." Many people, including Shi Lei, have felt this way in their hearts.

…………

According to the rules of the Exorcist Department of the Great Qi Dynasty, officials like Shi Lei who are in charge of killing demons and exorcising demons in a family, need to come to the capital to report on their duties every six months.

Although the intelligence department can understand the situation across the country through the technique of deduction of secrets, there are still many limitations in the technique of secrets, and the information obtained is relatively vague and may be interfered.

Therefore, the headquarters of the Exorcist Division needs to use these local officials to learn more detailed information about each province and each government, so as to make follow-up work arrangements and resource allocation, etc.; assess their capabilities.

Under normal circumstances, the time for Shi Lei to report on his work would be in April - at that time, the "Luoshui Conference" had ended, and all the government offices in Luojing would return to their peaceful and busy daily work.

He originally planned to visit Shi Xiaohan at that time, see how his precious daughter is doing in Longmen Academy, and discuss lifelong affairs with the two young people by the way.

Ever since Shi Xiaohan gave Gu Xu an elixir workshop, the people around him obviously regarded them as a couple, or even an unmarried couple.

After all, under normal circumstances, how could someone be willing to give their core industry as a birthday present to an ordinary colleague?
In the recent period of time, there are always acquaintances who will come to Shi Lei, or congratulate him with a smile on finding a good son-in-law, or jokingly say, "Master Shi really loves his daughter, and he has prepared such a generous meal for her." dowry".

This undoubtedly made Shi Lei feel very embarrassed.

Because it was difficult for him to explain to others that the elixir workshop was not a dowry, but a fool's daughter's own idea.

Shi Xiaohan himself may not care about the public opinion around him.

But as a father, Shi Lei obviously couldn't ignore his daughter's reputation.

Even though Shi Xiaohan has no ladylike demeanor on weekdays, she is still the daughter of an official family. If rumors and rumors continue to spread everywhere and Gu Xu does not marry her in the end, then the Shi family will definitely become a laughing stock in the eyes of everyone.

"Oh, it's all because God was jealous of Yingcai and didn't give Gu Xu a good body." Whenever he thinks of this matter, Shi Lei can't help but sigh.

However, the letter sent by Shi Xiaohan made him change his original plan.

With Shi Lei's doting on his daughter, when Xiaohan asked him to come to the capital to watch the "Luoshui Conference", it was naturally difficult for him to refuse.

Therefore, he applied to the headquarters of the Exorcist Division, hoping to report to Beijing in advance and give him a chance to personally cheer for his daughter in the "Luoshui Conference".

The headquarters of the Exorcism Division also agreed to his request reasonably.

…………

After arriving in Luojing, Shi Lei boarded a black carriage with a silver and white astrological pattern, and drove straight to the headquarters of the Exorcist Department on the hill.

The Luojing City at this time was busier and busier than anything he had seen before.

In the streets and alleys, there were not only Luojing locals, but also young monks and their relatives and friends who came from all over the country to participate in the "Luoshui Conference".

There are also countless people who eat melons, arguing passionately about topics such as "Which Tianjiao is most likely to win the championship", "Who do you think is better than Chu Fengge, Su Xiao and Zhao Yan?" and other topics.

Daqi's Mandarin and dialects from all corners of the country converged to form a turbulent sound wave, which continuously hit Shi Lei's eardrums.

Shi Lei keenly noticed that in the conversations of these people, the name "Gu Xu" seemed to appear very frequently.

"It seems that the rumors are true," Shi Lei thought silently, "That kid really made a name for himself in the capital."

The person in charge of talking to Shi Lei was Shangguan Jin.

She is not very old, and her official rank is only the fifth rank, but as the entourage trusted by the head of the department, she shoulders extremely important responsibilities, leading the daily affairs of the Exorcism Division.Even officials with a higher rank than her did not dare to neglect her.After all, sometimes a simple sentence from her in front of the chief is enough to affect the future of an official.

But in front of Shi Lei, she still maintains the attitude of a junior just like the last time they met.

As soon as Shi Lei's carriage arrived at the yamen, she was already waiting outside the gate, with a proper and elegant smile on her face, and greeted him politely.

"It was really hard work for Shi Qianhu to come to the capital from Laizhou Prefecture all the way," she said with a smile, "Please come into the house with Shi Qianhu to rest for a while. Shiya white tea."

Shi Lei followed her up the steps, across the threshold, along the corridor, and walked towards the inside of the yamen.

Along the way, Shangguan Jin talked with Shi Lei about the customs and rumors of ghosts in Laizhou Prefecture with the introduction of the Laoshan ruins not long ago in a relaxed tone like chatting, and praised Shi Lei a few words, saying that he is a "A good official who understands people's sentiments and is conscientious and meticulous." After the two talked about the disaster in Qingzhou Prefecture that also affected Laizhou Prefecture, Shangguan Jin showed a worried expression and expressed his concern unabashedly.

Shangguan Jin's expression and words were like gentle wind and drizzle, which made Shi Lei's mood gradually relax-as if the person he was talking to was not the head of the Exorcism Department's eyes, ears, arms, but a long-lost friend.

It wasn't until the two of them arrived in a side room in the backyard of the yamen that Shi Lei realized that he had unknowingly revealed a lot of confidential information about Laizhou Prefecture and uttered a lot of psychological words.

At this moment, seeing the beautiful young face of the woman in front of him, as well as that subtle and elegant smile, Shi Lei was deeply moved——

Shangguan Jin was only a few years older than his own daughter, but he had already become an official in charge of the imperial court, with such a powerful scheming and perfect manners like a lady.

On the other hand, my daughter, who is clearly full, still looks like a child who can't grow up, her mind is full of delicious food and unrealistic dreams of being a hero.

…………

Since Shi Lei is indeed a conscientious official, he handles the affairs of Laizhou Prefecture in an orderly manner on weekdays, so his debriefing process is very smooth.

"Shi Qianhu, do you have anything else that you need help from me and the headquarters of the Exorcism Division?" Shangguan Jin asked politely, picked up the white porcelain teapot on the table, and filled a cup for Shi Lei Hot tea.

"I want to use three thousand meritorious service to exchange for a chance to ask the chief minister a question." Shi Lei said without hesitation.On the way to Beijing, he had already considered this issue repeatedly and made up his mind.

Inside the Daqi Exorcism Division, there are many things that can be exchanged for meritorious deeds—not only for pills, exercises, and martial arts, but also for asking high-level experts to answer questions, or exchange for entering the "Wen Gu" Pot” is an opportunity to practice combat skills.

Even asking questions to Chief Luo, the price is clearly marked.

It's just that the price is very expensive, and it may be difficult for ordinary officials to save enough for their entire lives. After all, they have to spend most of their meritorious deeds on urgent needs such as pills.

As for those officials who are capable of accumulating several thousand or even tens of thousands of meritorious service, they naturally have many opportunities to meet with the chief.If you have doubts, you can ask them face to face, there is no need to waste these merits.

Regarding this, Gu Xu once complained secretly in his heart that this so-called opportunity to ask questions once every [-] meritorious deeds was essentially set up by Luo Sishou to set up a person for himself to enhance his image of being insightful and omniscient.

"Is it a matter of practice?" After hearing Shi Lei's words, Shangguan Jin said with a smile, "To tell the truth, Shi Qianhu, if you want to ask the chief minister a question, I can go to the chief minister right now. My lord, ask for instructions to arrange your meeting. In this way, you can save the three thousand meritorious deeds."

"It's not a question about cultivation," Shi Lei replied after hesitating for a moment, "My question... well, it might be a little inappropriate."

Shangguan Jin did not continue to ask "why it is inappropriate".

She is very good at reading words and expressions.

From Shi Lei's expression, she could see that the other party had made up his mind and didn't want to discuss too much on this topic.

So she took out the paper and charcoal from her sleeve, and handed them to Shi Lei.

"I will pass your question on to Mr. Chief."

Shi Lei nodded and took the pen and paper.

Then he wrote a question on the paper stroke by stroke:
"What kind of cultivation realm can Gu Xu achieve in the future?"

(End of this chapter)