Chapter 434 -433: I am a Disciple of Seek Dao Sect’s Yun Zhi_1

The Governor’s mansion was located in the very center of Hanshui City, a node of power in the Wild State. The mansion had seven entrances and seven exits, and was protected inside and out by defensive array methods.

This place served not only as the residence of the Governor but also as his office. When Lu Yang was shuttling through the mansion, he saw a lot of officials with a hustling look, flying around carrying documents, very busy.

This was not figurative speed, but literal flight.

Before meeting the Governor of the Wild State, Lord An had reported the situation to the Governor. Once the Governor met Qiu Jin’an and the others, he greeted them warmly with a handshake.

As Lord An had to go arrange a city-wide search for the real Master Mong Tian, he excused himself first.

“Fellow Daoist Qiu, I’ve long heard of your great name! My surname is Lv, my given name is Ke, but people all call me Old Lv.” Governor Lv was a chatty person, and despite being kept busy around the clock by the recent ghost disaster, he was still full of vigor and showed no signs of fatigue.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Governor Lv,” Qiu Jin’an smiled, not addressing him as Old Lv.

The last person who was so familiar with him was the Ninth Son of the Seek Dao Sect, a memorable individual.

Qiu Jin’an’s father was the previous Sect Leader of the Five Elements Sect. He once accompanied his father to visit the Seek Dao Sect in his youth and met the fervent Ninth Son of Seek Dao Sect.

He was young and naive at the time and didn’t realize the cunning nature of the Ninth Son of the Seek Dao Sect. Sixth Elder Feng Ya was the only exception, an anomaly among the Ninth Sons of the Seek Dao Sect. However, she was never absent from any mischief.

Therefore, he was always wary of overly familiar people.

“The former Governor, without any reason, decided to host a birthday banquet for his daughter and invite a lot of people. Inviting people was fine, but he also asked them to bring a ton of gifts, without prior notice to the court. Now, he’s been demoted and put in jail. A few officials and notable figures from several major Sects in the Wild State are also now behind bars,” Governor Lv grumbled.

This was one of the reasons they were currently so busy. They were short of manpower, had temporary replacements in key positions, and faced difficulties coordinating. They even had to rely on the Corpse Chasing Sect, which was nearest, to help deal with the ghost problem.

“The long-absent Old Xu, ah, the Minister of Justice, has also finally ended his leave and is working on their case.”

The Minister of Justice publicly announced that he was taking a leave of absence due to the sudden death of an old friend and needed to bid him a final farewell.

“This has made His Majesty distrust the officials of the Wild State. He brought me, a man in charge of financial affairs, over to fill in, forcing me to leave the Imperial City and rush to the Wild State.”

“Right, I have been talking all the way and haven’t asked yet, who are these young fellows?” Governor Lv snapped back to reality when he noticed Lu Yang and the others.

“These three are disciples of the Seek Dao Sect, they are my junior brothers. I’ve been helping them with their cultivation. This is Zhao Po, a disciple of the Grand Elder of the Corpse Chasing Sect. He also witnessed the entire course of the fight just now.”

Upon hearing that Governor Lv was an official from the Imperial City, Qiu Jin’an did not mention that Lu Yang was a disciple of Daoist Buyu.

“Solid foundation, full Golden Core, all outstanding youngsters,” Governor Lv nodded in approval, “Please tell me about the battle just now, Fellow Daoist Qiu.”

This was the most pressing matter at hand.

Qiu Jin’an detailed the process of how Lu Yang encountered Huang Ming, defeated Huang Ming, Master Mong Tian making a move, and him defeating Master Mong Tian.

“So, you’re suggesting that Master Mong Tian has been capturing fierce ghosts from various places and throwing them into our Hanshui City?” Governor Lv was furious, having finally found the culprit behind today’s disaster.

No wonder there were so many fierce ghosts. It felt like he had captured all the ghosts in Great Xia and didn’t even spare those in the East Sea!

He’d never get them all cleared out at this rate!

“The ghost problem in Hanshui City could not have been done by one person alone. I suspect he has accomplices,” Qiu Jin’an suggested.

“They must have taken advantage of my recent appointment and the fact I can’t yet fully wield the power of State Destiny!” Governor Lv had not known about the power of State Destiny before. It was only recently, upon his appointment by Emperor Xia, that he was informed.

“Also, keep in mind the one who started over after disbanding cultivation, that Huang Ming. In the past, we only focused on the ancient cultivators in the Unification phase and overlooked the possibility that some of them might start over after disbanding cultivation.”

Governor Lv sighed, “Knowing this is useless, as starting over after disbanding cultivation is like a rebirth. It’s very hard to trace their origins.”

“Forget it, I will report the matter of starting over after disbanding cultivation to the court later. The top priority now is to deal with the ghost problem.”

“Before, I thought the ghost problem was caused by the Nine Nether Sect, as they have quite a few ghosts themselves. Now that it’s confirmed to be the work of the cultivators from Great Yu, the matter is serious. The cultivators from Great Yu don’t raise ghosts. They have gone to great lengths to capture fierce ghosts from various places and throw them into Hanshui City. The purpose should not be as simple as just causing trouble. There must be other motives!”

Governor Lv’s face was grim; he wished he could tear those cultivators of Great Yu to shreds.

“May I ask, could they possibly be setting up an array?” Lu Yang raised his hand and timidly proposed the question.

“Array method?” Governor Lv and Qiu Jin’an both looked surprised, chewing over this word as if it had sparked some sort of realization.

Back when Lu Yang was in Yanjiang County, the then Rudder Master of Yanjiang Rudder, who also served as the County Magistrate, set up an array method throughout the county in an attempt to absorb the lifespan of the entire county to enhance his cultivation.

Considering this precedent, Lu Yang raised the question.

“It could indeed be possible that they are setting up an array method!” Governor Lv slapped his thigh. He had been so busy these past few days that he hadn’t thought of this.

He moved towards a giant sand table, clapped his hands lightly, and the sand trembled. The waves rose and fell like desert waves, finally taking shape and forming a miniature of Hanshui City.

He took out a set of small flags from his pocket and threw them onto the sand table. The place where the flags fell indicated where the ghost disasters had occurred.

The type and level of ghosts were still marked on each flag.

“Hiss, looking at it this way, it really does look like an array,” Governor Lv joyfully discovered that Lu Yang’s guess was likely correct.

“No wonder you are a disciple of the Seek Dao Sect, a prominent student of a famous teacher! May I ask, which elder of the Seek Dao Sect is your master, young friend?”

Lu Yang, “…”

Before telling the truth, Lu Yang wanted to know how big a grudge Governor Lv had against his master.

“My master is Yun Zhi from the Seek Dao Sect.”

Lu Yang respected his master and didn’t dare to mention her given name while outside the sect.

Meng Jingzhou disdainfully watched Lu Yang. What a shameless act.

“Yun Zhi? The name sounds familiar.” Governor Lv thought for a moment, but he hadn’t heard of an Elder Yun Zhi in the Seek Dao Sect.

“My master seldom leaves our sect, so few people know about her.”

“I see.”

Governor Lv didn’t try to remember who Yun Zhi was. He ordered his men to bring the city’s array master to figure out what kind of array the Great Yu cultivator had set up in the city, as he and Qiu Jin’an weren’t good at array methods.

Soon enough some elderly men with white beards were brought in. They stood by the sand table, observing and deducing.

Fortunately, all of these array masters were male cultivators.

Joints efforts of these array masters soon yielded preliminary results. After hearing their initial conclusions, Governor Lv said to Qiu Jin’an, “Youngster Lu was right in guessing. The Great Yu cultivator is indeed setting up an array, but the one they are establishing is a kind that has been lost. It will take some time to deduce its purpose and how to break it. Let’s wait for the moment.”

Seeing that the timing was right, Qiu Jin’an respectfully said, “Since we have some free time at hand, could the Governor allow me and this young fellow to use the power of State Destiny together?”