Chapter 1222: Chapter 1221: The County Magistrate Position is Vacant Again

"How is this Mountain Suppressing Seal used?" Lu Yang weighed the Seal in his hand and asked the Dry Corpse.

"There’s a corresponding mantra; as long as you know the mantra, you can control me..." The Dry Corpse didn’t dare to play tricks and truthfully recited the mantra.

Lu Yang read it once, and when he had recited half of it, he saw the Dry Corpse painfully clutching her head.

"Can you two believe me now?" After finishing the incantation, the Dry Corpse asked cautiously. She still couldn’t understand why her Human Tribulation was so powerful.

Worried that the Dry Corpse was acting, Lu Yang silently recited the mantra in his mind again. The Dry Corpse reacted just the same, and only then did Lu Yang believe her words.

"So, you’re saying anyone who knows the mantra and holds the Mountain Suppressing Seal can control you?"

"Holding the Mountain Suppressing Seal and reciting the mantra can only give me a headache and cannot truly control me. To really control me, you need to drop blood to recognize the master and make a contract with the Seal."

Lu Yang and his companion nodded; it didn’t sound like a lie.

"Let’s go, let’s take her to the Corpse Chasing Sect."

...

"Why hasn’t the Sect Leader returned?" Zhao Po anxiously waited at the entrance of the Corpse Chasing Sect.

The Sect Leader not returning all night long was not a good sign.

Whether the Sect Leader had fallen or the Drought Demon had escaped, either would cause great turmoil.

Three specks rapidly moved across the sky, catching Zhao Po’s attention.

Zhao Po squinted hard to see. Finally, he recognized who the three specks were.

"Senior Brother Lu! Senior Brother Meng!" Zhao Po waved his hands excitedly and called out. He didn’t recognize the shabbily dressed woman sandwiched between the two men.

"So, it’s Junior Brother Zhao." Lu Yang landed with a smile. The last time they came to the Wild State, the first powerful sect disciple they met was Zhao Po. Zhao Po had accompanied them all the way to the Corpse Chasing Sect and even joined them on a mission to eradicate a Water Ghost; they had shared quite a bond.

Back then, Old Meng and he were both at the Golden Core Stage. So many years had flashed by.

"Why are you here? And this female Daoist, how shall we address her... no, now is not the time for this. A Drought Demon has emerged, disaster has struck, and the Sect Leader went to deal with it. He hasn’t come back all night. Please, Senior Brothers, go help!" Zhao Po hastily spoke. Now was not the time for reminiscing.

The Dry Corpse panicked upon hearing this: "Don’t spout nonsense, the Drought Demon is perfectly safe!"

She had to rush; to save her life, she had given up all the means to control herself. If this youngster blabbed more, causing the two esteemed ones to form a bad impression of her, how could she survive?

"How could I talk nonsense about such a serious matter? I stayed up all night looking through ancient texts and sought advice from every person I could find!"

"How could I talk nonsense about such a serious matter? I am the Drought Demon!"

"Even if you are the Drought Demon... wait, who did you say you are?"

Zhao Po finally noticed that although the Dry Corpse’s clothes were tattered, they were indeed the garments of their Corpse Chasing Sect.

"You, you are that Drought Demon?!"

Zhao Po’s eyes widened as he looked at Lu Yang and the other man, seeking a reasonable explanation.

Lu Yang scratched his head, somewhat vexed. This matter seemed pretty straightforward; there wasn’t much to explain: "Uh, it’s just that we happened to encounter her. Seeing that she was wearing the clothes of the Corpse Chasing Sect, we thought we should bring her to you for handling."

"We can’t handle her at all," Zhao Po said quickly. Even the Sect Leader, the first under the Transcendance Tribulation Stage, had less than a thirty percent chance of victory against the Dry Corpse. If it caused chaos in their custody, what could they do?

"No need to worry about that; we have the Mountain Suppressing Seal." Lu Yang explained how to use the Seal, and Zhao Po finally breathed a sigh of relief.

𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"Then when the Sect Leader returns, shall we have the Sect Leader hold the Seal?"

"We both have business to attend to, so why don’t you take the Seal and drop blood to recognize mastery? After all, you’re at the Void Refinement Stage and lacking life-saving methods."

Zhao Po could not win against Lu Yang and reluctantly accepted the Dry Corpse, taking the Seal and performing the blood rituals to recognize mastery.

To make Lu Yang and his companion feel at ease, the Dry Corpse even sweetly called out "Master."

"Junior Brother Zhao, strive hard in your cultivation; we’ll catch up another time." Lu Yang and his companion waved goodbye.

"By the way, the Grand Elder seems quite interested in the Drought Demon, we could write him a letter and ask him to come over and have a look."

After Lu Yang and his companion left, a worried Lu Baqian flew back to the sect.

He had searched all night and had not found any trace of the Drought Demon.

"The Drought Demon is so secretive and patient, it must be tough to deal with."

There was some good news, though; he had stumbled upon the heir of the Divine Craftsman Wang family, but unfortunately, his cultivation level was too low to refine the Mountain Suppressing Seal that could pose a threat to the Drought Demon.

But with the blueprints for the Mountain Suppressing Seal in hand, Lu Baqian could use the drawings to unleash part of the seal’s power and catch the Drought Demon off guard.

In high-level cultivator combat, a single oversight could lead to total defeat!

"Sect Leader, you’ve returned safely!" Zhao Po was still waiting at the sect entrance for Lu Baqian, his smile beaming with joy.

"Unfortunately, I didn’t find the Drought Demon... I’m going to face the Drought Demon?!"

Lu Baqian noticed the female Dry Corpse standing obediently by Zhao Po’s side, like a human puppet, and was startled.

Seeing that the Sect Leader was scared and about to take action, Zhao Po hurriedly stepped forward to explain the situation clearly.

Although he was also unclear about the specific details.

"So it was Senior Brother Lu and Senior Brother Meng Jingzhou who took action."

"Wait a moment, does this mean you are now the master of the female Dry Corpse, and she is controllable?"

"Let’s see who is stronger between us!" Lu Baqian said excitedly, having thought about how to deal with the female Dry Corpse all night, he didn’t want that effort to go to waste.

After seeking Zhao Po’s agreement, the female Dry Corpse willingly accepted Lu Baqian’s challenge.

The two Half-step Transcendence Tribulation Stage cultivators quickly engaged in battle, with entire mountain ranges crumbling as easily as paper punctured by a probe.

With Lu Yang and his companion no longer there to restrain her, the female Dry Corpse revealed her dominant and invincible side, and Lu Baqian was soon at a disadvantage.

The female Dry Corpse was even more excited than Lu Baqian. Right, this is the Human Tribulation I should be facing.

"Indeed tough to deal with..." Lu Baqian wiped the blood from his mouth; with the female Dry Corpse releasing her Death Qi domain, he was distracted fending off the Death Qi and was overwhelmed by her relentless attacks.

"But there is a way, Mountain Suppressing Seal!"

Lu Baqian executed the Mountain Suppressing Seal with his magical spells and divine abilities, but the female Dry Corpse casually released her own seal mantra against it, resulting in both mantras exploding in the air.

"How come you’re not scared of the Mountain Suppressing Seal?" Lu Baqian asked, perplexed. This shouldn’t be the case.

The female Dry Corpse said faintly, "What could be scarier than being ambushed by Sword Cultivators and Pure Yang Transcendence Tribulation Stage cultivators the moment you come into existence?"

...

An emergency meeting of the higher-ups in Wild State.

"Why did Zhang Tongheng get captured by Man Gu right after we just officially announced his promotion to County Magistrate?" When the upper echelons of Wild State heard this news, their reactions weren’t much better than before, remaining stunned for several seconds before accepting the reality.

"It’s outrageous, it’s like they are completely disregarding our resolve!" Mr. Song slammed the table in anger, having served as an official for centuries, he had never encountered such an absurd situation.

"What you’re saying, it was Zhang Tongheng himself who couldn’t control his greed and had to take bribes, can you blame Man Gu?"

"If you ask me, we should be thanking Man Gu for rooting out the troublemaker."

"What do you mean rooting out the troublemaker, he’s just acting recklessly because he’s an Immortal Sect disciple!"

Seeing the group divided into two fervently disputing factions, Governor Lv frowned with dissatisfaction, "Enough, let’s set aside Man Gu’s case for now. The position of County Magistrate of Zhongshan County is vacant again, who should take the position?"

"How about selecting another one from among the County Magistrates under Zhongshan County?"

"That won’t work, the rest lack the seniority to command respect."

"What does Lord Lv suggest, then?"

Governor Lv stroked his chin, pondering the appropriate candidate, and slowly said, "We could assign an internal official from the state to take over as County Magistrate of Zhongshan County. I find Gong Cao Zhou Hai to be sharp-witted, able to read people and situations, and skilled at managing personnel, suitable for this position."