Longevity begins with slaying demons and eliminating demons

The few people gathered in the teahouse - the old man with white beard, the old man with hunchback, the storyteller and the gloomy middle-aged man, are all undoubtedly clones of Kongxuan Sanren.

Ever since Gu Xu destroyed the black altar on Mount Yi a few months ago and prevented Kongxuan Sanren's plan to be promoted to become a "ghost king", Kongxuan Sanren has always held a grudge against Gu Xu and vowed to make him pay the price.

It's a pity that after the disaster in Qingzhou, Gu Xu stayed in Luojing City and rarely came out.

With Kongxuan Sanren's always cautious and scheming personality, he would not use the "Dragon Formation" to attack Gu Xu under the eyes of Emperor Daqi and the saints.

Anyway, as a ghost with an infinite lifespan, Kongxuan Sanren has enough patience to find a surefire opportunity.

And the opportunity came much sooner than imagined.

Even though Kongxuan Sanren prides himself on being resourceful, decisive, and quick-witted, he never imagined that a talented monk like Gu Xu, who has attracted so much attention, would turn into a traitor without warning in one day. thief.

But no matter what the reason is, this is good news for Kongxuan Sanren.

At this moment, Kongxuan Sanren is like a gloating spectator—whether seeing Gu Xu fleeing in embarrassment under the pursuit of the Daqi court, or seeing the Daqi court having a headache because they can't find Gu Xu, Can make him happy.

Occasionally, he would hide in the dark and use imperceptible causal spells to add a little fuel to the situation, making the situation worse and more chaotic.

Despite the negative influence of "Puppetry" and "Zhaoming Forbidden Art", the various clones of Kongxuan Sanren often disagree, and even the main body may not be able to control it.

But there is one thing, they hold a unified point of view: Gu Xu's death is approaching.

…………

When it was completely dark, Gu Xu had already left Jinyang City and came to the deep mountains several miles away.

He walked through the dense forest and came to a hidden cave, took out more than ten talisman seals, and set up multiple formations to confuse vision, conceal breath, and block divination.

After ensuring safety, he carefully took off his mask, sat cross-legged quietly, and silently waited for the recovery of his true energy.

The night was dim and dark.

The atmosphere in the forest was as solemn and silent as a funeral.The tall and luxuriant trees and the wild weeds growing under the trees seemed to be dressed in black mourning clothes, standing under the vast and dim sky.

Even if it was a rest, Gu Xu did not dare to relax his vigilance at all.

He held the "star disk" tightly in his hand, quietly brewing the true essence in his body.

Once there is a change outside, he can respond in time.

At this moment, a shrill scream came from outside the cave, breaking the deathly silence in the forest.

Gu Xu got up suddenly, turned his head, and saw a few monsters with heads like apes, lips like cinnabar, eyes like mirrors, long horns on their heads, and blue fleshy wings on their backs, surrounding a young man in a cloth shirt.

Some of these monsters were holding axes, and some were holding sticks, and they were surrounded by lightning rays, making them look particularly frightening.

Under the siege of the monsters, the cloth-shirted youth was already covered with scars and bleeding.And the breath of fresh blood further aroused the viciousness of the ghosts, making chilling growls.

Gu Xu knew that this ferocious-looking ghost was named "Reggae", its strength was "wild ghost" level, and it had the ability to guide lightning to hurt people.

And that cloth-clothed young man, who only had the cultivation base of the first level, was obviously no match for the "Reggae".

With his keen observation skills, Gu Xu also noticed that there was a jade pendant hanging from the waist of the cloth-shirted youth. Its surface was engraved with complicated patterns of formations, with occasional flashes of light—it was used by the exorcist officials to record missions. The magic weapon of the process.

"It's really strange," Gu Xu said silently in his heart, "Reggae are extremely rare among ghosts, and they usually only appear in the southern regions of the Daqi Dynasty.

"It's really unlucky for this staff member of the Exorcist Division to encounter so many 'reggaes' during the execution of the task."

This made Gu Xu extremely hesitant.

Rationally speaking, he should stay in the cave quietly, pretending to be air, and not easily interfere with the battle outside.

A huge state apparatus like Daqi must have many known and unknown tracking methods.

Once he comes into contact with the officials of the Exorcism Division, it is very likely that his whereabouts will be exposed.

However, sitting idly by a dying person and watching him being brutally murdered by ghosts will undoubtedly make Gu Xu feel uneasy.

Just as Gu Xu's reason and emotion were fighting in his heart, the little official outside the cave had clearly recognized the fact that he was bound to die.

This little official is called "Sima Chang" and belongs to the Jinyang Exorcist Department.

The mission entrusted to him by the Exorcist Division was originally to deal with a group of the weakest ghosts - "evil spirits".

With a stack of "fire characters", it can be easily solved.

According to Sima Chang's expectation, after completing this task, he will be able to accumulate enough merits to exchange for a bottle of "Jingxin Pill".

Unexpectedly, after he entered the mountain, he didn't see the slightest sign of "魑魔", but was smelled by a group of "reggae" who came out of nowhere.

Under such circumstances, Sima Chang's identity instantly changed from a hunter to a prey.

As a novice official in the Exorcism Division, Sima Chang not only has a low level, but also masters very few spells. He usually relies on the talisman seals he received from the yamen for killing ghosts.

Facing these tyrannical "reggae", he knew that he would definitely die.

Thinking of being newly married and waiting for his wife at home, Sima Chang couldn't help having tears in his eyes and muttering, "I'm sorry, Yu'e, your husband is too incompetent to be with you for the rest of his life." ..."

However, when Sima Chang closed his eyes and waited to die, the lightning controlled by the "Reggae" did not fall on him as expected.

Instead, he heard the screams of the "reggae" and felt the temperature in the forest rising sharply.

He opened his eyes suspiciously.

What caught the eye was a sea of ​​golden red flames overwhelming the sky.

The scorching flames, like countless dancing dragons, roared and leaped, treating the ferocious "reggae" as prey, and devoured them quickly.

The "reggae" were struggling in the flames, powerless to resist.

Like a ghost in hell, tortured in a frying pan.

In the middle of the sea of ​​flames, Sima Chang saw a vague figure——

The man was tall and tall, wearing a black robe and a mask, standing with his hands behind his back.

He is like a king in charge of the fire, punishing his disrespectful subjects.

The sudden change of the situation made Sima Chang suspect that he was dreaming for a while.

At first, he thought that this might be because a certain senior in the exorcism department had calculated the danger he would encounter in this mission and rushed to rescue him in time.

However, in his impression, Jinyang Exorcism Division did not have high-level monks who were good at fire-attribute spells.

After a few seconds, the flame went out.

The "reggae" who were barking their teeth and claws before have turned into a ground of black ashes.

The expert who eliminated "reggae" seemed to have a high moral character of "doing good deeds without leaving a name". As soon as the flame disappeared, he turned around and wanted to leave.

"Senior, can you leave your name?" Sima Chang shouted hastily, "Senior's life-saving grace will never be forgotten by this junior. If there is an opportunity in the future, I will definitely sacrifice my life to repay it."

The man in black looked back at him, did not speak, and continued to move forward.

However, at the moment when he turned his head, a gust of wind whizzed by, rustling the leaves like a cry at a funeral.

The black mask on the face of the man in black was blown to the ground unexpectedly.

When he saw the face behind the mask, Sima Chang was suddenly stunned.

Not because it's too young.

Nor is it because he is too handsome.

It was because he had seen this face before.

There are portraits of this person everywhere in the yamen's documents and on the arrest warrants pasted on the walls.

…………

The man in black who killed "Reggae" was naturally Gu Xu.

He hesitated for a while in the cave just now.

When Sima Chang was crying and talking about his new wife, he couldn't help thinking of the situation where he and Shi Xiaohan were forced to separate.

He thought, if there were no accidents, he should have married that gluttonous silly girl back home.

Emotion suddenly overwhelmed reason.

To be precise, there was a rush of heat rushing into his heart, driving him out of the cave.

As a person who thinks rationally and does things steadily, Gu Xu rarely feels the feeling of "impulse".

But today, he was extremely hot-headed.

Because of the "wife", empathy with the other party-this "impulse" seems reasonable.

He came in front of the "Reggae", manipulated spells, and solved them effortlessly in the simplest and most brutal way.

Then, just as he was about to leave, there came a very "well-timed" gust of wind.

Because when the wind was blowing, his attention temporarily fell on Sima Chang, and he was "reasonably" negligent for a moment.

The mask fell off.

His identity was exposed in front of Sima Chang.

According to the logic of a normal fugitive, he should immediately silence the witness to prevent the other party from reporting to the police.

However, to kill an innocent human monk, not only would it be a pity for Gu Xu's conscience, but also the Da Qi court might discover Sima Chang through divination or retrospective spells during the process of investigating the cause of Sima Chang's death.

So he picked up the mask, put it on again, and then turned around and left.

…………

Sima Chang stood there in a daze for a long time before he finally came to his senses.

After he recognized Gu Xu's identity, the first thing he thought of was not the other party's amazing cultivation talent, nor the other party's various legendary experiences, but the valuable bounty on the arrest warrant.

According to the description on the arrest warrant, if someone kills or captures Gu Xu alive, he can be promoted several ranks and advance in his official career.

Even if you just find a clue and report it to the yamen, you can get a generous amount of money as a reward—it can also be replaced with the same amount of cultivation resources.

The rewards Sima Chang received for carrying out missions through life and death many times were not worth one-tenth of that reward.

Not surprisingly, Sima Chang was moved.

He couldn't help but imagine that if he could obtain these resources, his strength should increase a lot, and he would be able to get in touch with higher-level tasks in the future, and he would have a better chance to participate in the next promotion assessment...

If he successfully passes the examination and officially becomes an official of the imperial court, not only will his salary be much higher than now, but he will also have more face when he speaks out, and Yu'e will definitely be happy for him.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that a better life was beckoning to him.

As long as he returns to the Yamen, he will truthfully report what he saw and heard today to his superiors...

"But he saved your life," a voice suddenly sounded in his mind, "Aren't you repaying your kindness by doing this?"

"But..." Sima Chang took a deep breath.

At this moment, he lowered his head, just in time to catch a glimpse of the jade pendant on his waist still flickering.

Everything that happened just now was obviously recorded by Yupei.

"No matter what, I have to hand over this jade pendant to my superior when I go back, and report the status of the mission," he thought silently, "I'm just reporting on my work, it's not really a revenge."

Thinking of this, he walked towards Jinyang City tremblingly, holding on to the tree trunk beside him with scars all over his body.

…………

Everything seems to be running quietly according to a pre-written script.

Sima Chang returned to the Yamen and handed over the jade pendant to Wei Xunjian, his immediate superior.

When Wei Xunjian saw Gu Xu in the video, he immediately reported the situation to Pu Shilong, a thousand household in Jinyang, without daring to delay for a moment.

There is just one thing that makes Wei Xunwei feel a little confused——

According to the description in the official documents of the imperial court, Gu Xu is a ruthless and unscrupulous careerist. In order to achieve his goals, he can collude with ghosts and let ghosts slaughter the people of Luojing City.

Such a person, in the process of fleeing, risked his whereabouts to be exposed, and rescued a little official whom he had never met before!

It's unbelievable.

After hearing the news, Pu Shilong, a thousand household in Jinyang, immediately stopped his practice, went straight from the underground meditation room to the attic of the yamen, and used the communication formation to inform Princess Zhaoning who was far away in Luojing City.

…………

Luo Jing, Princess Mansion.

Princess Xiao Wanjun of Zhaoning sat at the marble table, staring at an urgent document in front of her, frowning slightly.

After the disaster in Luojing City, she had already spent many sleepless nights.

As a mortal without talent for cultivation, she couldn't replace sleep with cultivation like monks.

She was undoubtedly exhausted at the moment.

She leaned forward, resting her forehead with her right hand, and the turbulent waves on her chest were also pressing heavily on the table. Her posture was lazy and casual, without the usual dignified elegance.

To be honest, up to now, Princess Zhaoning is not willing to believe that Gu Xu will do something like colluding with ghosts and harming Luo Jing.

For a genius monk like him, as long as he stays in the Exorcism Department and practices quietly, he will have a very bright future.

Why do such a risky and unpleasant thing?

But now, Princess Zhaoning didn't dare to question Gu Xu's crimes by name and name.She knew that the ruling power in her hands came from her father.If the emperor is not satisfied with her performance, he may take back these powers at any time.

"Actually, I've always wanted to find an opportunity to discuss with you and compare the depth of each other's knowledge." She stared at Gu Xu's name on the document and said silently, "It's a pity that fate tricks people, and the relationship between us The competition can only be carried out in this way."

Then she stood up and said to the maid who was guarding the door: "Use the communication formation for me immediately to contact Qianhu Pu Shilong of Jinyang, Zhu Qiuyi, the general soldier of Hedong Province, Que Juchang of Qianhu of Liaozhou Prefecture, and Qianhu of Fenzhou Prefecture." Hu Shangwei and Qianhu Shen Guangyao in Qinzhou Prefecture.

"Even if they are asleep, wake me up."