Tang Yuansheng: male, one hundred and two years old, Nascent Soul stage cultivation, currently serving as an Inspecting Emissary of the Immortal Cult.
Having received a message from Branch Master Chu asking him to arrive a bit early, he had decided to advance his schedule, first arriving in Qinghuai Commandery, separated from Yanjiang Commandery by only a single mountain.
"Once I cross this mountain, I'll be at the location Little Chu mentioned."
"Hmm?" Tang Yuansheng suddenly sensed a peculiar ripple of aura. "What aura is this?"
Following the sensation, he arrived at the stable of a courier station. Inside the stable, an old horse with dragon scales on its forehead snuggled close against a little brown mare, looking deeply affectionate.
A stable boy carried over an armful of choice forage and dumped it into the trough. The old horse cast a disdainful glance at it, showing no intention of eating.
Seeing the old horse act like this, the stable boy muttered under his breath, "The little white horse barely left, and you’ve already hooked up with a new one?"
As if understanding human speech, the old horse glared at the boy. Not daring to provoke this strange beast, the boy scrambled away.
The superior-grade forage left behind by the old horse's owner had long been finished. After it ran out, there was still no sign of the owner. The station master wondered whether something had happened to him or if he had died outright—after all, the horse's owner had headed toward Mount Song.
Once the premium forage was gone, the station master told the boy to feed it regular forage; if the owner never returned, they would keep the old horse to offset the feed costs.
Yet the old horse turned its nose up at the station's feed, refusing to take even a single bite. A whole month passed like this.
The station master grew terrified. This old horse was definitely not some simple strange beast with scales on its forehead, but an extremely high-ranking demon beast that had already reached the fasting realm!
Strange beasts were a category between demon beasts and wild beasts. They possessed demon beast bloodlines, but the bloodline was too thin; they lacked the ability to channel it, only showing minor atavistic traits such as scales, plumage, or horns. Their bodies were stronger than wild beasts, but only by a limited margin.
Tang Yuansheng was overjoyed upon seeing the old horse. It was actually a world-rare dragon horse, though he couldn't tell how pure its bloodline was.
"If I hadn't chanced upon the vast East Sea once, I wouldn't even have recognized it." Tang Yuansheng was quite thrilled; this was a completely unexpected windfall.
How rare were dragon horses? Yet there was one right here in the stable of a remote little commandery. Its owner surely had no eye for treasures, and with the dragon horse not yet awakened, it had ended up gathering dust in a place like this.
"As a Nascent Soul expert, I've never had a fitting mount. This must be an opportunity bestowed by the Immortal Celestial in recognition of my devotion!"
Tang Yuansheng prayed to the Immortal Celestial for a moment, then vaulted into the stable.
The old horse glanced back at Tang Yuansheng, ignored him, and continued nuzzling the little brown mare.
"Poor dragon horse, unaware of your noble status, dallying with a mortal horse. Come with me! I will let you know just how mighty you truly are!"
Tang Yuansheng reached out with a glittering golden hand, intending to take the old horse away. The old horse bucked both hind hooves back, shattering Tang Yuansheng's golden hand. Tang Yuansheng felt his chest tighten and coughed up a huge mouthful of blood, his aura instantly plummeting.
He looked at the old horse in terror, any previous excitement utterly gone and replaced by boundless dread. He spun around and fled.
There had to be an expert wandering the mortal realm living here, keeping a dragon horse in a stable like an ordinary horse!
His actions just now could never escape the notice of such an expert playing in the mortal world. He had to run immediately, hoping the expert would spare his life on account of his ignorance!
The old horse let out a loud whinny, showing off its might to the little mare.
Tang Yuansheng fled for a while, and when no mighty figure came to drag him back, he knew the other party hadn't cared about his antics.
"Blegh!" He coughed up another mouthful of blood, found a deserted spot, sat cross-legged, took medicinal pills, and began nursing his injuries.
Those two hooves had dealt a severe blow to his vitality.
When he opened his eyes again, he heard a rumbling thunder from across the mountain, as though some colossal object had crashed down.
"It's night already?" Tang Yuansheng was startled to see the sky had darkened; he hadn't realized nursing his injuries had taken an entire day.
Having recovered enough to ensure his safety, he crossed Mount Song and arrived at the site where the flying boat had crashed, only to see Branch Master Chu pierced through by Lu Yang's sword, devoid of breath.
"...This is the surprise Little Chu spoke of?"
Whether it was pleasant was debatable, but Tang Yuansheng was certainly surprised.
Before coming, the Immortal Cult's higher-ups had told him to keep an eye on Lu Yang, Meng Jingzhou, and Man Gu, even providing portraits.
Now, he couldn't ignore them even if he wanted to.
"Who are you?!" Lu Yang raised his sword, watching Tang Yuansheng warily.
Tang Yuansheng looked at Lu Yang with a half-smile. "Lu Yang, you dare point your sword at this seat? This seat is Tang Yuansheng, Inspecting Emissary of the Immortal Cult."
Learning Tang Yuansheng's identity, Lu Yang signaled behind his back for Lan Ting to leave quickly; her presence would be hard to explain to Tang Yuansheng.
"So it's Inspecting Emissary Tang." Lu Yang grew slightly more polite, though he still looked at Tang Yuansheng suspiciously, clearly not entirely convinced of the man's identity.
Disdaining to explain himself to Lu Yang, Tang Yuansheng asked, "Why did you kill Li Shouyi?"
Li Shouyi—Commandery Governor of Yanjiang, Branch Master Chu's real name. Tang Yuansheng was accustomed to calling him Little Chu.
Lu Yang replied in a deep voice, "Because he nearly exposed his identity as an Immortal Cult member!"
"Oh?" Tang Yuansheng looked at Lu Yang with interest, curious to see what kind of explanation he could offer.
Suddenly, a commotion arose from the foot of the mountain. It was Fang Qingyun leading a large contingent to investigate the flying boat crash, accompanied by physicians for rescue operations.
"Leave first!" Tang Yuansheng was still heavily injured and unwilling to cross paths with the authorities. With a sweep of his sleeve, he enveloped Lu Yang's trio and sped away.
With practiced ease, Tang Yuansheng led the three into the Yanjiang Branch, the safest place in Yanjiang Commandery.
"Now speak. Li Shouyi has always been meticulous. How did he expose his identity?"
Lu Yang revealed the matter of the Reverse Lifespan Formation in full, adding, "Branch Master Chu's—or rather, Governor Li's—plan was truly tight. First, he made Yi Zhanghong the scapegoat, then secretly set up the Reverse Lifespan Formation. As long as the pennants were destroyed afterward, not a trace would remain."
Tang Yuansheng nodded. Li Shouyi was always cautious, and he had chosen the extremely obscure Reverse Lifespan Formation; this plan had been beyond reproach.
"Yet an accident still occurred. The three of us opened a barbecue shop here, which is ideal for gathering local intelligence. We noticed a disciple of Moon Laurel Immortal Palace passing through by chance. She seemed well-versed in formations and saw through the Reverse Lifespan Talismans on the pennants!
"Disciples of the Five Great Immortal Sects cannot be touched. Fearing Governor Li's scheme would be uncovered and drag down the entire Immortal Cult, we urged him to hide at once. But he insisted this was a critical juncture, that he had to use the Reverse Lifespan Formation to break through to the Nascent Soul stage, and absolutely could not go into hiding. Left with no choice, we could only kill him before Great Xia captured him, eliminating future troubles once and for all!
"You noticed the government authorities just now, didn't you? The man leading them was Chief Constable Fang Qingyun. Why else would he bring so many men, if not to stop the Reverse Lifespan Formation from activating and arrest Governor Li?!"
Tang Yuansheng nodded, thinking the three had done the right thing. The presence of a Moon Laurel Immortal Palace disciple in Yanjiang Commandery could easily be verified and wasn't something that could be fabricated, and Li Shouyi had indeed placed great importance on advancing to the Nascent Soul stage.
Ordinary branch masters were in the Nascent Soul stage; only because Yanjiang Commandery was small was its branch master merely in the Golden Core stage. If Li Shouyi wanted a transfer to lead a branch in an area with a more thriving cultivation scene, he had to break through to the Nascent Soul stage now.
The same held true for his official government identity: without a high enough realm, promotion was fraught with difficulties.
Man Gu stared at Lu Yang in astonishment. The plan had never accounted for running into Tang Yuansheng after killing Branch Master Chu, let alone preparing an excuse for the murder. How did Brother Lu manage to spin lies right off the cuff like that?
Meng Jingzhou secretly gave Lu Yang a thumbs-up; the excuse Lu Yang came up with was basically what he had improvised in his own head too.
Chapter 101