Chapter 42 Going Down the Mountain

Qi Xuansu originally wanted to get close to his subordinates and improve their relationship, but the situation was somewhat beyond his expectations.

After Zhang Yuelu came back from the head of the hall, he immediately summoned everyone and asked them to prepare to leave Yujing within three days.

According to the original plan, Zhang Yuelu had just organized the staff and it would take at least a month to get used to each other before he could perform his duties. However, he did not expect that there was another change in the Western Region. The war in the Western Region Dao Mansion had reached a critical moment. The head of the Western Region Dao Mansion and the three deputy heads of the Tiangang Hall were leading the main forces of the Taoist sect to concentrate on the border to form a confrontation with the Shamanism. This group of monsters took advantage of this opportunity to boldly attack a Taoist temple and killed ten eighth-grade Taoist priests and three seventh-grade Taoist priests, which angered the Taoist sect and ordered them to eliminate this group of monsters within a time limit.

The head of the hall called Zhang Yuelu for this matter.

This was beyond Zhang Yuelu's expectation. According to her idea, Xu Kou would come back a month later. Although he was a troublemaker, he was also a good fighter. The fight between the two was not a life-and-death fight. If they really had to fight for their lives, it would not be so easy for Zhang Yuelu to win. With the help of Xu Kou and Lingquanzi, Zhang Yuelu thought it would not be too difficult to wipe out this evil.

But a month in advance, Zhang Yuelu couldn't break her promise, so Xu Kou could not participate. Although she was optimistic about Qi Xuansu, Qi Xuansu's cultivation was still a little low, and she was a little short of manpower.

However, Zhang Yuelu was not a person who liked to complain. She did not refuse and agreed to leave Yujing and go to the Western Regions in three days.

Since it was the intention of the Taoist high-level officials, everyone did not dare to complain and could only quickly prepare various supplies. After August 15th, it is already late autumn. The Western Regions and the grasslands are not as cold as Jiangnan and Lingnan. Snowflakes have even fallen in many places on the grasslands. Warm clothes are essential, as well as bright yarn or sunglasses for blocking light, various elixirs, marching pills and other things. You should also prepare some, which can be reimbursed later.

The so-called "marching pills" are made by refining various ingredients and medicinal materials into pills through secret methods. As long as you eat one pill, you will not be hungry for three days. It is especially suitable for marching and fighting, so it is named "marching pills". However, this thing is expensive, one Taiping coin is required for one pill, and it can only satisfy hunger. It has a rough taste and is extremely unpalatable. It tastes like soup medicine, so people in the Taoist sect usually only prepare some when they go on a long journey.

The advantage of Tiangang Hall is that weapons are uniformly distributed, and each person has two swords, one iron and one wood.

The iron sword is the top mortal object, which is not much different from the "thin tiger knife" of Qingluanwei. It is called "execution" and is used to kill people.

The wooden sword is a low-grade spiritual object, far inferior to the flying sword "Green Snake", named "Ziwu", which is used to deal with ghosts, demons and evil spirits.

In addition, with the development of firearms, Tiangang Hall has also begun to distribute hand cannons in recent decades, but not the high-end goods like "Shenlong Hand Cannon", but the second-rate "Blue Bird Hand Cannon".

The "Blue Bird Hand Cannon" is not produced by Shenjiying, but developed and produced by Tianji Hall in the 16th year of Jiushi. It has a bronze handle and the barrel is made of fine iron, plated with blue. The muzzle is as big as a bird's beak, so it is named "Blue Bird". Rear-loading bullet, firing pin mechanism, rifled, effective range of 80 steps, can break the protective aura of the innate person within 10 steps, suitable for various "Dragon Eye" series of bullets, and the black market price is about 500 Taiping coins.

Both swords and one cannon are numbered. If someone sells them for money, they will naturally be severely punished.

Qi Xuansu went to Sun Yongfeng to get his own weapons, plus his short sword, a total of four weapons, but the Taoist priests of Tiangang Hall are not equipped with armor, only the spiritual officials have them.

Because Qi Xuansu did not have the Xumi treasure, he could only carry two swords on his back, with a short sword hanging on the left side of his waist and a hand cannon hanging on the right side.

Zhang Yuelu obviously had the Xumi treasure, but she did not carry any weapons with her, let alone the legendary semi-immortal items.

Originally, Tiangang Hall had prepared a flying boat that could fly directly to the Great Snow Mountain where the Western Region Taoist Palace was located and land in Yaochi.

Speaking of the Great Snow Mountain, it was originally a holy place for shamanism, and it was also one of the four palaces of the Golden Horde Khan. However, in the eleventh year of the Great Xuan Taiping, it was conquered by the court and the Taoist sect, and the Great Snow Mountain Palace became the current location of the Western Region Taoist Palace. In order to regain the Great Snow Mountain Holy Land, the shamanism fought with the Western Region Taoist Palace several times.

However, Zhang Yuelu refused the arrangement of the flying boat and decided to go by land. One reason was that Kunlun itself was in the Western Region, and the journey was actually not far. Secondly, only by walking on the ground in person can you truly understand the specific situation through what you see and hear along the way.

On the morning of August 20, a group of more than 60 people from Tiangang Hall left Kunyujing and arrived at the last Taoist temple before leaving Kunlun in the evening of August 22.

After only two days of sleeping in the open, the difference between the two was determined. Qi Xuansu and Zhou Bai, who often traveled around the world, looked normal, while Mu Jin and other people who had been in Yujing for a long time could not hide their fatigue.

The master of the Taoist temple had already come out to greet them. Qi Xuansu came forward with the documents of Tiangang Hall, explained the identities of everyone, and pointed to Zhang Yuelu, who was surrounded by everyone, and said: "This is Zhang, the deputy hall master of Tiangang Hall. If there is a room, please take Zhang to wash up."

Because everyone was wearing casual clothes, the master of this place did not expect that Zhang Yuelu, the youngest among the crowd, was the chief officer. He thought that the older Lingquanzi was.

However, the temple master had obviously heard of Zhang Yuelu's name and did not dare to neglect him. He quickly let Zhang Yuelu and his party into the temple and entertained Zhang Yuelu according to the standards of a third-rank Taoist priest.

However, the rest of the people are not so lucky and can only enjoy the treatment corresponding to their grade, regardless of their position. Qi Xuansu, Mu Jin, Zhou Bai, Xu Zhen and others were all deacons, but their treatment was much worse because Qi Xuansu was only a seventh-grade Taoist priest.

This time he went to the Western Regions with Zhang Yuelu. Except for Sun Yongfeng and Tian Baobao who stayed behind while Xu Kou recovered from his injuries, everyone else was dispatched.

The Taoist temple here is similar to an inn, and the room is as warm as spring. Qi Xuansu had just taken off his outer robe and planned to rest for a while, when his subordinate Cao Liyou knocked on the door and said: "Deacon Qi, the deputy hall master sent someone to invite you to come over."

Qi Xuansu responded, had to put on his clothes again, and followed a Taoist priest to Zhang Yuelu's room.

The territory of Kunlun is vast and sparsely populated, so the Taoist temple occupies a large area. It is a long distance from Qi Xuansu's residence to Zhang Yuelu's residence. Qi Xuansu passed two long corridors and then came to a single-family courtyard.

The Taoist who was responsible for guiding the way stopped there. Qi Xuansu entered the courtyard, came to the outside of the study and gently knocked on the door.

Zhang Yuelu's voice came from inside: "Come in."

Qi Xuansu pushed the door open and walked in. It was warm inside. Two candles illuminated the entire study. There was a Western-style carpet on the floor. Zhang Yuelu, who had taken off his outer robe, was sitting behind the desk, flipping through the files he carried with him.

"Sit down." Zhang Yuelu said without raising his head.

Qi Xuansu sat opposite Zhang Yuelu and asked, "Miss Tantai, what do you want from me?"

Zhang Yuelu pushed a dossier in front of Qi Xuansu and said, "This is a summary of the demon troubles in the Western Regions. Take a look at it and be aware of it."

Qi Xuansu took the file and responded.

"The others have already taken their files back." Zhang Yuelu said again, "You are a seventh-grade Taoist priest. You only have one bedroom, not even a decent table, and the oil lamp is dim, so you should read it here. At least the candle is brighter."

Qi Xuansu did not refuse, but he kindly reminded Zhang Yuelu: "It's getting late. If I stay for a long time, I'm afraid there will be some rumors and ruin the girl's reputation."

Zhang Yuelu smiled slightly: "The pure will themselves be pure. I don't care. Do you still care?"

Now that Zhang Yuelu said this, Qi Xuansu had nothing to say. In addition, the Taoist sect did not pay too much attention to the defense of men and women like the Confucian sect. Qi Xuansu sat opposite Zhang Yuelu across the book case and began to flip through this not thin book. 's files.

After reading the files, Qi Xuansu realized that this group of monsters actually came from the Western countries. Judging from their appearance, they have high noses and deep eyes, which are the characteristics of Semu people. They are often active at night, have supernatural powers similar to those derived from warriors' flesh and blood, and can also use illusions. At present, it seems that they want to take root in the Western Region.

After Zhang Yuelu and Qi Xuansu read the dossier, they asked, "What do you think?"

Qi Xuansu replied: "Since the ten years of Taiping, the Western Region has not been a peaceful place. Taoism, Buddhism, Shamanism, Ancient Immortals, Rakshasa Kingdom and other forces have concentrated here. Even Taoism cannot cover the sky with one hand. The Western Region is also the gateway to the west. The trade routes of various countries are located where the population flows greatly. The composition of merchants traveling between various countries is complex. In addition, the vast territory is sparsely populated, which can be said to be a mixed bag of good and bad. If this foreign monster is allowed to gain a foothold in the Western Region, and then colludes with other forces, it will form With the power of the alliance, it will be difficult to eradicate them, so we must eliminate them as soon as possible while their foothold is not yet stable. "

Zhang Yuelu nodded and said: "Tian Yuan's words are exactly the same as those of several praise paintings in the hall. The praise paintings believe that this group of monsters have spotted the opportunity when the Taoist government in the Western Regions has no time to pay attention to, and commit crimes wantonly. Firstly, because they are short of money, and secondly It's because they also want to use this matter to establish their power, but I always feel that the matter is not that simple. It is just to take root in the Western Region. It is not a wise move to directly provoke the Taoist sect. It is very likely to cause trouble. I think this group of monsters has someone else. picture."

Qi Xuansu developed the habit of looking at the results without asking for details at the Qingping Society. He said directly: "Regardless of the motives of this group of monsters, there must be a conflict of interest between outsiders and local snakes. Can we start with local snakes and kill people with a borrowed knife?"

Zhang Yuelu said: "If this group of people had not killed those dozen Taoist disciples, this method would be feasible, but after they killed the Taoist disciples, the nature would be completely different. The Master's intention is that we must do it ourselves to clarify the canon." Punishment serves as a warning to others.”

Qi Xuansu nodded: "I understand."