Originally, Ji Yuan wanted to leave before dawn. The reason he stayed a little longer was mainly because he was afraid that the City God of Suiyuan County would come looking for him. Asking for directions was secondary. However, no messenger from the underworld of this county came until dawn, so Ji Yuan thought about it and decided not to stay any longer.
The situation this time was different from when he lived in Ning'an County. No matter how much people in the county spread the rumor that Ji Yuan was a strange man, it was just gossip among people in private. It had little to do with the lives of ordinary people, so it just passed by in the gossip. But you could still run into him when you went out to eat or something like that. He gave people the impression that he was still a living person.
This time, directly fighting the monster will have a greater impact. Just look at the villagers' reactions.
As for the snake demon, even if it is not dead, it must have been seriously injured. In addition, the various departments of the Suiyuan County City God must have been prepared, so it should not be a big problem.
He directly pulled over a few merchants and asked them in detail how to get to Chunhui Mansion best, where they should stop and where to turn. After asking, Ji Yuan made the excuse of going back to the cottage at the village entrance to take a nap, but in fact, after entering the house, he used a sleight of hand and sneaked away.
When the village chief came to invite Ji Yuan to have lunch at noon, he found that no one was there. When he asked the villagers nearby, they all said that they had not seen anything.
The real protagonist, Ji Yuan, had already left the village for half a day.
According to the suggestions of the merchants, it would be better to go along the current direction instead of returning to Shunbao County. After passing through Deyuan, Qianzhou and Tangshu counties, we would go over Laohua Mountain along Jiudaokou County, follow a river called Xiaoshun River and merge into Chunmu River, and then follow Chunmu River all the way to Chunhui Prefecture.
Of course, there are some small details and road signs in the middle, and the road will bypass some uninhabited places. It sounds complicated, but Ji Yuan believes that the actual action will not be too difficult, because in the deserted places and mountain streams he only needs to go straight with a good sense of direction, and he can find the right road in the counties along the way as long as he doesn't turn wrong, especially Jiudaokou County, because it is a hub and the population in the county is very dense, so it is difficult to miss it.
On the northeastern avenue, Ji Yuan controlled his speed to that of an ordinary person's jog, but it looked like he was still walking. The only difference was that his steps were not obvious, and his strides were much larger than those of an ordinary person, but his feet were very close to the ground and his speed was much faster, so he did not feel like jumping or running, but instead seemed like he was walking leisurely at a normal frequency.
In this state, with one step being about one to five meters, it would be easier for Jiyuan to calculate the distance he has traveled, so he will not accidentally go too far. He will also be able to better allocate his energy and appreciate the beautiful scenery along the way.
After climbing over a mound, there was a small forest in front of us. However, from a distance, the shade of the trees seemed too dense, giving the illusion of being pitch black.
Ji Yuan rubbed his eyes and looked carefully.
'Good fellow... Waiting for me here...'
The woods ahead were almost the border between Suiyuan County and Deyuan County. Under the shade of the trees, the City God of Suiyuan County and the chief officers of the two departments of Rewarding Good and Punishing Evil stood there, along with several soul-catchers holding large black umbrellas and a long snake soul tied to a soul-binding chain in their hands.
Ji Yuan had certainly never seen the City God of Suiyuan County, but generally the City God’s body was much taller than his subordinates, and his divine light was also conspicuous, so he was still very recognizable.
Looking at the snake demon's soul being entangled and dazed, I'm afraid it has suffered a lot. The situation is quite subtle!
"Gu..."
Swallowing his saliva, Ji Yuan quickened his pace a little and headed towards the grove.
A little further away, the City God of Suiyuan County and several others had also seen Ji Yuan, and they all looked at each other with solemn expressions as they approached.
Ji Yuan still had some self-awareness. The situation last night was urgent, but he didn't really dare to be so stubborn as to ignore the underworld of an entire county.
So when he was still not close enough to the grove, he already held his left hand with his right hand, raised his hands, and then moved his feet slightly to get closer.
"My name is Ji Yuan. I'd like to greet the City God of Suiyuan County and all the officials. The situation was urgent last night and I had no energy to pursue the snake, so I asked Suiyuan's underworld for help. Sure enough, the snake demon has been killed. Thank you, City God and everyone in the underworld, for cleaning up the mess for me!"
Ji Yuan thought that what he said was both sincere and polite, and it also told the truth about what happened last night.
Sure enough, the expressions on the faces of Suiyuan County City God and the two chief officials suddenly softened a lot.
"It turned out to be Mr. Ji. A demon appeared in our county and almost succeeded. Thank you Mr. Ji for your help. Now the snake demon has been killed. Its soul is here. Mr. Ji, please take a look!"
The officials of Suiyuan County City God also bowed slightly to Ji Yuan politely, and their eyes were mostly focused on Ji Yuan's eyes, as if he was blind.
As the saying goes, if someone respects me one foot, I will respect him one yard. Face and courtesy are mostly given to each other, and this has been the case since ancient times.
Ji Yuan's words gave enough face, and also gave the Suiyuan County underworld a comfortable way out. The more false the words "we are unable to pursue and therefore ask for help from the underworld" were, the easier it would be to step down. Even the chief official of the Punishment Department felt that he was sincere.
"Yes, Mr. Ji, please take a look, is this the beast?"
The chief officer of the Rewarding and Benevolent Department waved his hand, and several ghost messengers immediately carried the snake soul out.
"It was this demon who, before dawn today, used a sleight of hand to deceive foreign merchants. I guess he has reached the critical point of a breakthrough and wants to arouse his desire to help him achieve the fusion of yin and yang."
"Humph, Mr. Ji is absolutely right. It's a pity that this evil creature didn't have eyes and bumped into Mr. Ji's sword."
As he spoke, the chief officer of the Evil Punishment Department grabbed a soul-binding chain, pulled the snake demon's soul closer, and pointed it at its tail. The soul there felt a sense of emptiness, which was exactly the position where Ji Yuan drew his sword.
"Mr. Ji's magic is superb. The patrol envoy once said that the fire of the snake's tail was flowing non-stop, which was very magical. It is a pity that I didn't get to see the style of this sword!"
Ji Yuan looked closely at the state of the snake demon's soul, and had a deeper understanding of the Fire of People's Livelihood. However, because the snake demon was not very skilled, a more powerful one would not only ignore its tricks, but Ji Yuan didn't even dare to go up against it.
But when the chief officer of the Punishment Department mentioned the word "wonderful method", Ji Yuan's heart suddenly became active.
"Your Excellency is too kind. I am just a countryman from the mountains. I have only been practicing for a short time and I don't have any great skills. I just used a small fire control technique to ignite the people's fire and used the sword power I learned from the sword skills of mortal martial arts to injure the snake demon by chance!"
"A little fire control technique? A sword technique from the Mortal World Martial Arts?"
Several officials from the underworld of Suiyuan County, including the City God of Suiyuan County, were slightly surprised. They doubted whether mortal martial arts could exorcise demons.
In fact, those who are truly skilled in martial arts have vigorous qi and blood, and are difficult to be invaded by ordinary ghosts and evil spirits. Even if it is a monster, it is not impossible to kill it as long as they do not encounter a powerful monster. What is amazing is the effect they achieve.
"That's right. As the saying goes, the people's fire is endless. The sword moves that I comprehended were derived from the book left by a martial arts genius. It can be said that the skills are close to the Tao. The skills of the mortal world should not be underestimated either!"
This was what Ji Yuan really thought. He had always thought highly of the Sword Intent Post, even better than the two bamboo slips of cultivation that he had obtained initially, so he had always been looking forward to the true swordsmanship of Zuo Kuangtu.
The City God and the two chief officers were silent for a moment, but ultimately did not believe it completely.
"Mr. Ji's fire control skills are amazing!"
"Now that the matter here is over, we will not hinder Mr. Ji from continuing his journey. If he passes by us again in the future, just ask if you need any help!"
After the county god said this, his subordinates from all departments bowed slightly again, and it seemed that they were ready to go back. Since everyone was happy, there was no point in putting on a show.
"No! I need your help right now!"
Ji Yuan had been a thick-skinned man in his two lives, and now he didn't care about shame and quickly tried to keep her.
"Lord City God and all the officials, please don't leave yet. I do have an unwelcome request. Uh, I wonder if your county's underworld has any immortal books or spells. If it does not violate any taboos, can I take a look at them?"
After saying this, Ji Yuan seemed to have thought of something and quickly added another sentence.
"It doesn't matter how big or small it is, any book or spell will do!"
After saying that, Ji Yuan bowed once more with full sincerity. No matter if it was a repetitive water-avoiding technique or something like that, he would just take it first, without any regard for face!