Chapter 28: Short-Lived
The four people in front of Mi Ke were naturally the four that Chen Chao previously saw in the mountain god temple.
The party of four were all qi refiners.
The person who was making things difficult for Mi Ke was naturally Guo Xi.
The temperament of this young qi refiner who came from Three Streams Manor was rather bewildering.
Chi Ganquan took a look at Yan Ruoshui who was over there. After a moment of silence, he slowly asked with inner-voice, "Fellow Daoist Yan, what is wrong with Guo Xi this person?"
The few people clearly came here for important matters and the sects behind him also viewed this with great importance. But Guo Xi did not seem to take it seriously at all. Not only did he directly shed all pretenses of cordiality prior to this, but he was also causing unnecessary problems after arriving here.
Yan Ruoshui glanced at Guo Xi before she also slowly said with inner-voice, "Guo Xi this person can't be gauged using common sense. You and I can just watch with caution."
Chi Ganquan sighed slightly, feeling somewhat dejected. None other than because the sect backing him was too small and that his cultivation realm was too low.
Even if just one of the two was slightly better, he would not have to exercise forbearance to such an extent.
Over there, Guo Xi was currently still sizing up this local magistrate. The killing intent in his eyes did not diminish in the slightest. There was no telling when he would rampage and kill people. But Mi Ke was just an ordinary scholar who had never stepped into cultivation. Hence, he completely did not know what kind of danger he was currently in. He was just thinking that even if the other party had an extraordinary background, he should not do something too overboard. He was just afraid that the other party had a noble background and that he just wanted to save face at this time.And Mi Ke was already prepared to give the other party plenty of face.
In the end, Guo Xi just walked down the steps step by step and arrived not far in front of Mi Ke as he asked with a smile, "A scholar? Have you ever entered the academy before?"
Mi Ke shook his head and said calmly, "This official is dumb and has never studied at the academy."
Guo Xi gave an oh and was immediately rather disappointed, "I thought I could bump into a scholar here."
Virtually all the cultivators in the world despised martial artists and thought that they were vulgar and boorish. But, apart from looking down on martial artists, foreign cultivators added the word scholar too. It was because they believed that the confucianism lineage scholars were cultivators too, why did they have to work for a dynasty?
After all, the word dynasty had always been trampled underfoot by them.
After saying that, Guo Xi just reached his hand out and placed it lightly on Mi Ke's shoulder. Then, he smiled slightly and said, "Let's drop this trivial matter. There's still a small matter that I'd like to trouble Lord Mi Ke with."
At the same time that the other party placed that hand on his shoulder, Mi Ke suddenly trembled. But he returned to normal again in an instant. But it was absolutely impossible for him to know that right when the other party patted his shoulder, a barely visible hint of blue light already gushed out from on top of his head. Then, it was caught by the other party in his hand.
"Sir, please speak," Mi Ke was somewhat absentminded. Suddenly, he felt inexplicably fatigued and dazed.
Yan Ruoshui and Chi Ganquan exchanged a glance again at this moment, each of them having an additional hint of surprise and bewilderment in their eyes.
As fellow qi refiners, how could they not know that Guo Xi looked like he just casually patted the shoulder of this Lord Magistrate. But in reality, he already planted an extremely vicious means. After half a year, the man in front of them was destined to lose his vitality. Furthermore, he would even suffer great agony. To the average person, it would look like he suddenly fell ill and passed away in tormenting pain.
But apart from this, out of his three spiritual and seven physical souls, Guo Xi even shattered one of his physical souls in an instant, completely cutting off Mi Ke's chance of reincarnation.
Even among cultivators, the average person probably would not perform such a vicious technique. Because it was truly too offensive to heaven and men.
Guo Xi smiled slightly and said, "I wonder where is the local warden. We're looking for him."
After taking his hand back, Guo Xi clenched his fist tightly the entire time and never opened it up.
Mi Ke had just walked out of Peach Blossom Alley over there, he naturally knew that Chen Chao had not returned home. But, he was not prepared to tell the other party about it and asked patiently, "I wonder what are you looking for Warden Chen for?"
Guo Xi did not explain things, he just said, "He knows about this. Someone must have informed him before."
Mi Ke nodded his head and virtually recalled the matter of Warden Li coming to the county government office in an instant. Thinking about it, this lord magistrate said softly, "To be honest, this official had just been to Warden Chen's residence before. Warden Chen should have gone to inspect the surrounding area at present. Who knows when he'll be able to return."
Mi Ke paused for a bit and said seriously, "Warden Chen is a genuinely good official. Ever since he came to Tianqing County, it was all thanks to Warden Chen alone that it can be peaceful here. It can be said that..."
Although he did not know these few people's identities, Mi Ke still subconsciously praised Chen Chao.
Guo Xi smiled and did not speak. Instead, he turned his head and asked with a smile, "What do you think, Fairy Yan?"
Yan Ruoshui was stunned, seemingly not expecting that this Guo Xi who was used to being arrogant and domineering would actually ask about her opinion at this moment.
After a moment of silence, Yan Ruoshui still opened her mouth to say, "Since that's the case, then we'll stop over at the county government office for the time being and wait for that warden?"
Guo Xi nodded and quickly said, "Then the three of you go over to the county government office and rest. I'll go with this lord magistrate and take a look at that warden's house. Perhaps he already came back now. Then we'll be able to set off!"
Yan Ruoshui furrowed her brows imperceptibly, but she just nodded her head and did not say anything.
As for the Chi Ganquan two people, they naturally would not have any objections.
Guo Xi glanced at Mi Ke and said, "Bring me to take a look."
Mi Ke originally planned to take a good look at this Tianqing County today. Although he just came out of Peach Blossom Alley, he had no choice but to return to Peach Blossom Alley again at this time.
It was just that on the way, Mi Ke kept guessing what the identity of the young man behind him was.
Was he a major family’s descendant from the state capital? Or was he related to some lord?
Although he could not come up with an answer after pondering along the way, Mi Ke was very clear that whether was it the former or latter, he could not afford to provoke him.
It would be best if these few people just wanted to travel to this remote place on a whim, then leave early.
As they approached Peach Blossom Alley, that young man with an otherworldly temperament suddenly stopped and began to take a closer look at the Peach Blossom Alley in front of him. The small alley that looked unbelievably normal to others, might be something else in his eyes.
He muttered words and streams of white light spread out of his mouth in strands that were hard to see with the naked eye, entering that Peach Blossom Alley. Just a moment later, those wisps of white light returned and flooded into Guo Xi's body.
Guo Xi furrowed his brows, a little surprised. He saw that this alley had good terrain and originally thought that he would glean something. But he did not expect that he made an error in judgment.
There was nothing special about the alley in front of him.
Shaking his head, Guo Xi laughed at himself and thought: Makes sense. This place is a remote hinterland. Having a special place is already something remarkable. How could there be gold everywhere?
Walking into the alley, Mi Ke led Guo Xi to the innermost house where the front door was currently still tightly closed.
Mi Ke turned around and was about to speak, but Guo Xi went past him and arrived in front of the door with a step. Extending his hand and swiping, the door lock on the door fell in response.
Mi Ke opened his eyes wide. Only at this point, did he understand something retrospectively. That was, what it meant for these four people to be able to appear in Tianqing County without any retainers following them.?
Just as Guo Xi was about to step into that small courtyard, a voice suddenly sounded out opposite, "Tsk tsk, it's broad daylight and you want to do something like trespassing a private property?"
A man carrying a large bowl walked out of his own home. While walking, he did not forget to shove a few large mouthfuls of rice into his mouth. The man munched on rice as he said indistinctly, "Isn't this Lord Mi? What's this... You, a magistrate... you're also doing this sort of thing now?"
While eating his meal, the man looked at Mi Ke and said seriously, "Lord Mi, not that I'm scolding you, but doing this sort of thing will shorten your lifespan!"
Mi Ke had a bit of guilty conscience. So even if he heard what this man said clearly, he only furrowed his brows and did not refute it. Previously, he did not want to speak up because he did not expect that the young man in front of him was going to push open the door and enter so casually.
But after he knew about the other party's cultivator identity, he did not dare to speak up even more.
Guo Xi who was originally going to push open the door enter stopped being in a hurry to enter after he heard that man's voice. Instead, he turned around and looked at the uncouth man who was holding a large bowl.
There was a look of amusement in his eyes.
The man was still carrying his large bowl as if he did not notice anything and kept gobbling rice non-stop. Finally, he plopped down on the doorstep and muttered, "Is there still any law?"
Guo Xi looked at the man and asked casually, "If I insist on going in, what can you do?"
The man spat and let loose a torrent of abuse, "Didn't your mother teach you manners when you were young?"
Hearing this, Mi Ke felt a chill run down his spine, thinking to himself that this man had already caused a terrible disaster.
He could not help worrying for the man.
But the man was indifferent and continued to gobble large mouthfuls of rice.
Guo Xi frowned. Suppressing the anger in his heart, he asked, "Have the people here always been so unsophisticated?"
The man gave a cold laugh and smacked the large bowl on the doorstep, "Your Father isn't a local!"
The implication was simple: what did the local people here got to do with Your Father?
Guo Xi gave the man a big thumbs-up and praised, "Amazing, really amazing!"
The man spat out a large blob of spit and looked disdainful.
All these filled Mi Ke with fear and trepidation.
Guo Xi was taken aback. Immediately after, he smiled brightly, then jogged over and patted the man's shoulder as he said with a slight smile, "As I said, you don't look like a short-lived person."
It was the same method as before. It was just that this time, no blue light seeped out of the man's body.
Everything was normal.
The man allowed the youngster in front of him to pat his shoulder and did not move. However, he quickly rolled his eyes and stared at the young man in front of him, "I think that you look short-lived."