The Provincial Governor's manor was situated at the very center of Hanshui City, serving as the nexus of power in Huangzhou. The estate was seven courtyards deep, lined inside and out with protective arrays.
It served as both the governor's residence and his official workplace. As they made their way through the manor, Lu Yang saw many officials with hurried expressions, clutching stacks of documents as they took off and touched down in flight, extraordinarily busy.
This wasn't merely "walking like the wind"—they were literally flying.
Before their meeting with the Huangzhou Provincial Governor, Lord An had already briefed him on the situation. The moment the governor saw Qiu Jin'an and the others, he stepped forward with an enthusiastic welcome and shook their hands.
Lord An still had to arrange the citywide search for True Monarch Mengtian, so he excused himself first.
"Fellow Daoist Qiu, your reputation precedes you! My surname is Lü, and my given name is Ke. People just call me Old Lü." Governor Lü was a talkative man. Although the recent ghost plague had kept him running around the clock, he remained high-spirited, showing no trace of fatigue.
"Greetings, Lord Lü," Qiu Jin'an replied with a smile, pointedly avoiding the overly familiar "Old Lü."
The last ones who had acted so chummy right off the bat had been the Nine Scions of the Dao Seeking Sect, leaving an indelible impression on him.
Qiu Jin'an's father was the previous Sect Master of the Five Elements Sect. In his youth, Qiu Jin'an had accompanied his father on a visit to the Dao Seeking Sect, where he met the exuberant Nine Scions of the Dao Seeking Sect.
Back then, young and naive, he had been a terrible judge of character, completely failing to see that the Nine Scions of the Dao Seeking Sect were all rotten to the core. The Sixth Elder, Feng Ya, had been the sole exception—she seemed entirely out of place among them, yet she never missed taking part whenever mischief was being done.
Hence, he was always on guard against people who acted like old friends from the start.
"Tell me, why did the previous governor have to go and throw some birthday banquet for his daughter for no reason? He invited so many people, too. Inviting guests was one thing, but they brought a mountain of gifts, and he didn't even report it to the imperial court beforehand! Look at him now—stripped of his post and thrown behind bars, dragging several supervising officials and key figures from Huangzhou's major sects right into prison with him," Governor Lü complained bitterly.
This was another reason things were so hectic right now: a severe shortage of manpower, key positions filled by temporary replacements, logistical friction everywhere, and even dealing with the ghost calamity required relying on the nearby Corpse Driving Sect for assistance.
"Old Xu, who took leave for ages—oh, that's the Minister of Justice—has finally rested enough and is currently dealing with them."
The Minister of Justice had publicly claimed that an old friend had died suddenly, taking leave to see him one last time.
"Because of all this, His Majesty lost faith in the Huangzhou officials and pulled me over from managing funds and grain to fill the gap. I had no choice but to leave the Imperial City and rush out to Huangzhou."
"Oh right, I've been doing all the talking and haven't had a chance to ask: who are these young fellows?" Governor Lü caught himself and turned his attention to Lu Yang and the rest.
"These three are disciples of the Dao Seeking Sect, juniors under my wing whom I'm looking after. This one is Zhao Po, disciple of the Corpse Driving Sect's Grand Elder, who also witnessed the entire battle just now."
Hearing that Governor Lü was an official from the imperial capital, Qiu Jin'an wisely refrained from mentioning that Lu Yang was Daoist Buyu's disciple.
"Solid foundations, plump and round Golden Cores. Truly exceptional youths," Governor Lü praised with a nod. "Now, Fellow Daoist Qiu, please recount the battle just now."
That was the most pressing matter at hand.
Qiu Jin'an recounted in detail how Lu Yang had encountered and defeated Huang Ming, how True Monarch Mengtian intervened, and how he himself had struck down True Monarch Mengtian.
"So you're saying True Monarch Mengtian traveled everywhere capturing vicious ghosts and dumped them all into our Hanshui City?" Governor Lü fumed, having finally identified the culprit behind their frantic workload today.
No wonder there were so many vicious ghosts! The bastard had probably swept up every ghost across Great Xia, not even sparing those in the East Sea!
Clearing all of them out would truly take a miracle!
"The ghost plague in Hanshui City is unlikely to be the work of one man alone. I suspect he has accomplices," Qiu Jin'an said.
"They're taking advantage of the fact that I just assumed office and haven't mastered using the power of national destiny!" Governor Lü had known nothing about the power of national destiny before; Emperor Xia had only informed him upon his recent appointment.
"Also, that Huang Ming who dispersed his cultivation to start anew warrants attention. Previously, we only kept our eyes on the Body Integration ancient cultivators, overlooking the possibility that some among them might disperse their cultivation to begin again!"
Governor Lü sighed. "Even if we take notice, it does little good. Dispersing cultivation to start anew is like a rebirth; tracking down their roots is nearly impossible."
"Never mind. I will submit a memorial to the court regarding cultivators dispersing their cultivation later. Right now, the urgent priority is dealing with the ghost plague."
"Earlier, I thought this ghost calamity was stirred up by the Nine Nether Cult. After all, the Nine Nether Cult keeps plenty of ghosts of its own. But now that we've confirmed it's the doing of Great Yu cultivators, matters become far more serious. Great Yu cultivators don't raise ghosts. For them to go through all the trouble of hunting down fierce ghosts across different regions and dumping them into Hanshui City, it can't be just to cause trouble. There must be another motive!"
Governor Lü's expression darkened, wishing nothing more than to hack those Great Yu cultivators into ten thousand pieces.
"Excuse me, could they possibly be setting up an array?" Lu Yang raised his hand, asking cautiously.
"An array?" Both Governor Lü and Qiu Jin'an froze, turning the word over in their minds as if struck by a thought.
Back when Lu Yang was in Yanjiang Commandery, the Yanjiang Branch Master—who concurrently served as the Commandery Governor—had laid an array across the entire commandery, intending to siphon everyone's lifespan to bolster his cultivation.
Recalling that incident was what prompted Lu Yang's question.
"It really is possible they're setting up an array!" Governor Lü slapped his thigh. His head had been spinning from exhaustion these past few days, so the thought hadn't even crossed his mind.
He walked over to a massive sand table and lightly clapped his hands. The grains of sand trembled and rolled like waves before settling into a detailed model of Hanshui City.
From his robes, he drew a handful of miniature flags and tossed them onto the sand table. The spots where the flags landed corresponded to the locations afflicted by the ghost incidents.
Above each small flag was a notation indicating the ghost's type and grade.
"Hiss... Looking at it like this, it really does look somewhat like an array." Seeing that Lu Yang's conjecture was very likely correct, Governor Lü was overjoyed.
"As expected of a disciple of the Dao Seeking Sect—a famous master produces a fine apprentice! Might I ask which elder of the Dao Seeking Sect you study under, young friend?"
Lu Yang: "..."
Before telling the truth, Lu Yang desperately wanted to know just how deep a grudge Governor Lü held against his master.
"This humble one studies under Dao Seeking Sect's Yun Zhi."
Lu Yang honored his master and respected the Dao: when out in the world, he dared not speak his master's name.
Meng Jingzhou glared at Lu Yang with utter contempt. *Shameless bastard.*
"Yun Zhi? That name sounds somewhat familiar." Governor Lü pondered for a moment, having never heard of an elder in the Dao Seeking Sect named Yun Zhi.
"Master rarely leaves the sect, so the outside world knows little of her."
"So that's how it is."
Governor Lü did not dwell on who Yun Zhi was. Neither he nor Qiu Jin'an excelled in arrays, so he ordered his subordinates to summon the city's array masters to investigate what sort of array the Great Yu cultivators had laid out in the city.
Before long, several elders with graying beards were escorted in, gathering around the sand table to observe and deduce.
Fortunately, these array masters were all male cultivators.
Working together, the array masters quickly reached a preliminary conclusion. After listening to their findings, Governor Lü spoke to Qiu Jin'an, looking visibly more relaxed than when they had first met: "Young Friend Lu's guess was spot on. The Great Yu cultivators are indeed laying down an array. However, it's a long-lost array, so it will take some time to deduce its purpose and how to break it. Let us wait a moment."
Seeing that the timing was opportune, Qiu Jin'an cupped his hands and said, "Since we have a moment of free time, could Lord Governor allow this kid and me to use the power of national destiny?"
Chapter 433