Zheng Que glanced at the letter in Xu Houde's hand and immediately asked, "A letter to deliver?"
Xu Houde nodded, then said, "There have been more and more ghosts in town lately."
"I don't know whether something has gone wrong with the ward the Immortal Master set up at the entrance to town."
"So I want to invite the Immortal Master who used to live here to come and take a look."
"But that Immortal Master has been living in Taiping County Town for a long time and hasn't visited Changfu Town in ages."
"I heard these past few days that you've been learning magic from an Immortal Master. I don't know if you could help by going to Taiping County Town and delivering this letter to him?"
At that, Zheng Que furrowed his brows. He had heard people talk about the ward set up at the entrance to town.
In Changfu Town, as long as the doors and windows were shut tight, ghosts couldn't get inside. People said that was the ward's effect.
And during the day, if you encountered a ghost on the road, you only had to avoid it immediately, and it wouldn't be able to catch up. That was also the ward's doing...
If something really had gone wrong with the ward, it would be a major matter for the entire town!
But he was being asked to deliver a letter to Taiping County Town?
His cultivation was only at the first level of the Qi Refining Realm. Although Qing Li, who had reached the fifth level of Tongue-Pulling Hell, was protecting him, traveling through the wilderness was still extremely dangerous.
If something went wrong while delivering this letter, he might lose his life.
Thinking of this, Zheng Que immediately asked, "Town Head, my master was in town a few days ago. If something was wrong with the ward at the entrance, why didn't you ask him for help?"
Xu Houde gave a bitter smile and shook his head. "How could I not have asked? As soon as that Immortal Master arrived, I went to the temple to pay him a visit. But the moment we met, before I could even explain what was going on, the Immortal Master lined up seven bowls of wine. Six were poisoned, and he told me to pick one..."
Zheng Que's expression stiffened. This seemed to be his master's rule: choose a poisoned bowl and become his master's Corpse Puppet; choose an unpoisoned one, and only then would you qualify to become his disciple—or ask his master for help...
At that moment, Xu Houde suddenly added, "By the way, you know magic now. Can you repair the ward at the entrance to town?"
Zheng Que came back to his senses and immediately shook his head. "I've only been cultivating for seven days. My cultivation is low. How could I possibly do that?"
"I can't do anything about the ward at the entrance to town."
"Nor can I deliver the letter to Taiping County Town anytime soon."
"I'll need to cultivate for at least another year or two before I can be sure of making a long journey."
Hearing this, Xu Houde looked deeply disappointed, but he still held the heavy letter out to Zheng Que. "If you can't deliver it now, then go when you're able."
"Taiping County lies southwest of town. Follow the main road, and you'll get there in seven or eight days."
"Our town has no one else besides you who can make a long journey."
"And although you're one of our townsfolk, I won't ask you to deliver the letter for nothing."
"My ancestors passed down a Great Medicine. Their descendants have been unworthy, and we no longer know its name. But whenever anyone in the family fell ill, all we had to do was pluck a few fine rootlets from it, boil them with water into a bowl of medicine, and drink it. They would recover at once."
"I remember when I was little, while my father was still alive, there was one time when I don't know whether I fell ill or encountered some evil thing. Suddenly, my whole body started convulsing. I yelled and screamed, crawling into every hole I could find at home..."
"Afterward, I only got better once I drank a bowl of medicine made from the Great Medicine."
"If you successfully deliver the letter to the Immortal Master in the county town, I can give you one-tenth of the Great Medicine."
"The rest has to go to the Immortal Master in the county town as payment."
As he listened, Zheng Que's expression soon grew serious. A bowl of medicine made from just a few fine rootlets could cure an illness completely?
And if the Town Head wasn't making things up, this Great Medicine seemed capable of treating not only illnesses but also symptoms of possession by evil spirits!
It might not be an ordinary herb at all, but some kind of spiritual medicine!
Thinking of this, Zheng Que immediately asked, "Town Head, may I take a look at the Great Medicine?"
Xu Houde shook his head slightly and replied earnestly, "The Great Medicine is hidden away somewhere secret. If you were an ordinary person, a neighbor from our town, there'd be no harm in letting you see it."
"But now that you've learned magic, I can at most show you a few rootlets."
"It's not that I don't trust you. It's because of the lessons our ancestors learned..."
At that, Zheng Que was taken aback, then immediately understood. The Town Head was afraid that once Zheng Que saw the Great Medicine, he would snatch it right in front of him!
Thinking of this, he didn't press the matter. He only said, "All right. The rootlets will do."
He needed to find out whether this so-called Great Medicine was worth risking his life for.
Xu Houde nodded. "Wait here a moment."
With that, he hurried out of the side room.
Zheng Que sat down on a chair beside the desk and casually surveyed the room.
The side room was cramped and simply furnished. A few books sat on the shelf against the wall. He examined them closely. They were all simple texts for teaching children to read and use punctuation. There was nothing special about them. Each book had a blue cloth cover, and they seemed to be treasured very much.
The writing on the blue cloth spines was neat but stiff, as if someone from the Xu Family had written it themselves. On either side of the bookshelf hung a small, faded sachet, and the faint scent of camphorwood drifted from them. They were probably there to ward off insects.
Zheng Que took a brief look, then turned his attention away from the bookshelf. As he glanced around, his gaze fell on the desk.
There was a stack of stitched-together volumes, all smelling of old ink. Some were thin and some thick, and their spines were marked with red and green. The colors looked like the vivid, long-lasting dyes used in villages and towns to distinguish poultry.
These seemed to be records of various matters concerning Changfu Town...
Just as Zheng Que was wondering whether to leaf through them, footsteps sounded outside. Xu Houde returned, now carrying a small wooden box.
After entering, he went straight to Zheng Que and carefully opened the box. Inside lay a piece of red cloth, neatly cut. Before he had even lifted it, a rich medicinal fragrance wafted toward them!
Just the scent of the medicine was enough to make Zheng Que's spirits lift. Even the Spirit Power within him began to stir.
His eyes lit up. His master had never taught him about spiritual medicines, so he couldn't identify what this was, but he could tell for certain that it was something precious!
By then, the Town Head had lifted the red cloth, revealing three withered rootlets. They looked like the roots of ordinary plants, each only a little thicker than a strand of hair. They were unimpressive in appearance, yet gave off exceptionally pure and rich spiritual energy.
The spiritual energy was so powerful that even the yin energy in the room couldn't approach the wooden box.
Zheng Que stared intently at the three rootlets and said, "I don't recognize this medicine either. Town Head, could I take one of these rootlets home and study it?"
Xu Houde immediately replied, "You can have all three. Consider them a deposit."
He covered them with the red cloth again, closed the wooden box, and handed it to Zheng Que along with the letter sealed with wax.
Looking at the wooden box held out to him, Zheng Que understood its value very well. He hesitated briefly, then quickly accepted it. At the same time, he said solemnly, "Don't worry, Town Head. Once I've taken care of my own affairs over the next few days, I'll definitely make the trip to Taiping County Town!"
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