The Sword of the Taoist Priest

The sky was still dark when Changqing opened his eyes. He stretched his body and exhaled deeply. Picking up the wooden stick, he began to practice the Qingyun Sword technique, his feet moving gracefully in the Qingyun Step. After only half an hour of practice, he started a fire to cook breakfast. The Qingyun Sword, with its myriad forms and intangible presence, and the Qingyun Step, with its elusive and traceless movements, had no fixed patterns. Changqing's practice seemed somewhat awkward. However, Dongfang Lan, who had watched him all night, was already numbly stunned by the side of the courtyard wall. Having cultivated the same techniques, she now realized that Changqing's proficiency far exceeded hers! It seemed as if he had been practicing for decades, if not centuries. Even watching Changqing's practice, Dongfang Lan felt a faint sense of enlightenment.

"Why don't you continue practicing? Lighting a fire to cook is such a waste of time," Dongfang Lan walked up to Changqing.

"It's enough."

"Enough?"

"Practice should become second nature, but it must be gradual. It's not something that can be achieved in a day. Over-practice can be counterproductive. Besides, I don't need this to strengthen my body. The main focus should be on improving my cultivation level."

"???"

Dongfang Lan blinked in confusion, feeling a strange sensation. Who was teaching whom here?

"Would you like to have some breakfast?" Changqing had prepared porridge and set out two plates of pickles.

Dongfang Lan replied irritably, "Do you think I can eat?"

Changqing chuckled. After breakfast, as the sky began to lighten, he got ready to leave.

"Where are you going?"

"The West Gate vegetable market."

"To slaughter chickens again?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Life is a journey of cultivation."

"..."

In the town hall of the mayor's residence, the mayor, Li, stood respectfully to one side, his head bowed, not daring to look directly at the two young men seated at the head of the hall. Both were dressed in black robes, one of which was embroidered with a fierce beast in gold thread. A middle-aged man, looking disheveled and travel-worn, kept giving Mayor Li meaningful glances. He was the doctor, Zhang Qin, who had fled in the middle of the night. Faced with Zhang Qin's glances, Mayor Li was puzzled. In fact, he still didn't understand the situation.

"This is the Town Jail Envoy I brought all the way from the city. The envoy, despite his busy schedule, has taken time out to come here and eliminate the evil spirits for our town... Mayor, we must show our appreciation," Zhang Qin said directly.

"There are no evil spirits in our town," Mayor Li replied.

"Mayor, perhaps you are unaware that Little Wang's widow has actually been dead for some time!" Zhang Qin was about to explain further.

The young man in the black robe without the gold embroidery sneered, "It seems you really need to see a coffin before you believe. The spiritual tides of the past never reached here, so your Purple Bamboo Town has been peaceful. But last year was different..."

"Sun Lin, explaining all this to him is a waste of time. Let's go," the young man with the gold embroidery, who was the Yellow-Level Town Jail Envoy, stood up impatiently and was about to leave.

Doctor Zhang Qin quickly bowed and blocked their way, his face full of worry. "People in our remote area have little knowledge. Please, Envoys, do not be angry!"

"I'm just a laborer from the Town Jail Office. My cousin, Sun Ju, is the actual Yellow-Level Town Jail Envoy. I don't mind, but my cousin came here personally, and you treat us with such indifference. What's the reason for that?" Mayor Li wanted to explain but couldn't get a word in.

Zhang Qin quickly smiled and said to Mayor Li, "This matter is too serious. If that Little Wang's widow had harmed someone, our Purple Bamboo Town would have been in great trouble! Fortunately, nothing happened, and it's still not too late."

"No, that Little Wang's widow..." As soon as Mayor Li opened his mouth, Sun Ju and Sun Lin realized he was being imprudent.

Sun Lin pushed Zhang Qin aside, and Sun Ju walked away. "Mayor, you're going to be the death of us!" Zhang Qin's face turned pale.

Sun Lin turned back and said, "When you come to beg us, I hope you don't regret it." The two had already walked out of the hall and into the courtyard.

Zhang Qin felt weak all over, planning to really run away this time and never come back.

Mayor Li finally had a chance to speak, and he slowly said, "The matter of Little Wang's widow has already been taken care of."

Zhang Qin was taken aback.

In the courtyard, the Yellow-Level Town Jail Envoy, Sun Ju, and the laborer, Sun Lin, gradually slowed their steps.

"Mayor, you don't understand..."

"It's just a case of a corpse rising. If it had been delayed any longer, it would have turned into a malevolent ghost, something like the Spirit-Awareness Stage?" Mayor Li had no cultivation and was just an ordinary person. Changqing had mentioned it in passing, and he wasn't sure if he remembered it correctly.

"You know?" Zhang Qin's eyes widened. "And then? What about Little Wang's widow now?"

"She's been buried."

"What do you mean?"

"Burned to ashes and then buried."

"..."

In the courtyard, Sun Ju and Sun Lin looked at each other.

A corpse rising is a concentration of grievances and attachments, and the ghost has at least the combat power of the Qi-Condensation Stage. In a real fight, even Sun Lin, who was only at the Physical Training Stage, might not be its opponent. Even if it didn't become a malevolent ghost and ascend to the Spirit-Awareness Stage, it wasn't something the ordinary people in the town could deal with. Just one point, ordinary people can't use magic. Even if they could hurt the corpse, they couldn't hurt the evil spirit at all. This remote place has sparse spiritual energy. Even if there are cultivators, why would they stay in such a desolate place?

"Changqing? That Chicken Conqueror?" Zhang Qin was confused.

He knew Changqing was very strong, but this was beyond the realm of ordinary people.

"Yes." Mayor Li nodded and whispered, "Now you have to call him the Chicken Conqueror Taoist."

"Taoist?"

Sun Ju and Sun Lin were equally puzzled.

What is a Taoist?

No matter what it was, at this moment, Sun Ju and Sun Lin's faces were burning with embarrassment. The more arrogant they had been just now, the more awkward they felt now.

"The two envoys came for the safety of our town. We can't let them leave empty-handed," Zhang Qin sighed in relief but still gestured to the mayor.

The mayor was furious inside, disliking how these two had first demanded benefits upon arrival. If it weren't for Changqing, if something really happened, these two would probably take advantage of the situation even more. But after all, the two were from the Town Jail Office and were cultivators. Although the Qingyun Kingdom had laws, these two were not someone a small town mayor could afford to offend.

"It's too hasty, and we haven't prepared anything. How about the two envoys have a simple meal first..." The mayor spoke respectfully.

"Are we here to eat your food?" Sun Lin snorted angrily.

"Where is Changqing now?" Sun Ju asked.

"West Gate vegetable market, live poultry area..."

Before Zhang Qin could finish, the two left immediately.

...

"Do you really just charge one copper coin for slaughtering a chicken all the time? Xiaoqing, what are you really after?" The vendor next to Changqing was very puzzled, but he couldn't stop smiling. He was, after all, a chicken seller.

The vendor joked, "You're not really afraid that the chickens will become spirits and come to settle accounts with you, are you? Are you trying to slaughter all the chickens in our town?"

"I'm not afraid of seeing ghosts in the daytime, let alone chickens becoming spirits."

Changqing dismissed the idea, his feather-plucking speed so fast it left a trail of afterimages. Everyone around him was in awe, not being able to see clearly didn't matter; as long as it looked impressive, that was enough. Watching Changqing slaughter chickens now felt more like watching a performance.

Dongfang Lan rolled her eyes in exasperation, about to retort, when she noticed two figures in black approaching from a distance.

"The Town Jail Office people are here, and they seem to be coming for you."

Changqing finished plucking the chicken, placed it on the chopping board, and swiftly gutted it. In just a few breaths, he had chopped the entire chicken into neatly sized pieces.

Seeing this, Dongfang Lan felt even more frustrated. She had actually sensed the essence of the Qingyun Sword from Changqing's chicken-chopping knife skills...