Chapter 78: The Change at the Banquet

“Where is Lu Xingzhou?” Outside the prefectural governor’s mansion gate, Sheng Yuan Yao looked at the empty carriage, her face pitch black. “He said he came to help me, but he just wanted to join my caravan, right? This old lady even specially arranged a carriage for these two cripples! If they hadn’t dragged us down, we would have already arrived on horseback!”

In fact, after entering the middle three grades, Dao cultivators could already control some flying instruments, but such instruments were quite precious and generally couldn’t be bought. It was even more troublesome for martial cultivators to control sword flight; at least Sheng Yuan Yao couldn't.

Sheng Yuan Yao sometimes suspected Lu Xingzhou's wheelchair could fly, but she hadn't seen him fly so far and wasn’t sure.

The suspected flying scoundrel was still sitting in a carriage dragging everyone's speed, and in the end, he slipped away, and she couldn't even find him! Sheng Yuan Yao was so angry she wanted to kill her way back to Xia State and put a seal on Tianxing Sword Sect.

“Forget it, I’m visiting the prefectural governor, the visiting card has already been submitted, and I’m already here……” Sheng Yuan Yao said in a bad mood, “Go in, don’t wait.”

Just as she was about to lead the group in, she saw a Town Demon Division official in uniform running from the street corner. Sheng Yuan Yao turned her head and saw an unfamiliar face. Then she looked carefully and detected traces of a human skin mask. The mask was covered with a spell, making it very difficult to see through to the true appearance.

Sheng Yuan Yao stared wide-eyed, and the person quietly transmitted sound: “It’s me.”

Sheng Yuan Yao also transmitted sound: “Your feet……”

“I can stand and walk, but fighting will be a bit worse,” Lu Xingzhou said. “You are attending the prefectural governor’s banquet, bringing a cripple who isn’t from your sect by your side, what is that? Of course, I need to cover it up a bit. At the same time, it’s also to cover up the fact that I can stand up. I, a wheelchair person, will still need to plot against people later…… City Lord, please don’t reveal the secret.”

Sheng Yuan Yao was both angry and amused: “Then you are willing to let me know?”

Lu Xingzhou’s eyes slightly contained a smile: “I, Lu Xingzhou, like to plot against people, but that does not include friends.”

Sheng Yuan Yao tilted her head to look at his ugly mask face and “snorted”: “It’s really not easy to be considered a friend by someone like you.”

Saying so, her mood actually improved a lot.

From the first day they met, she was used by him, and now she can actually hear the word ‘friend’ from his mouth…… And it was clearly not just saying, even the important secret of his legs healing was exposed in front of her, just to accompany her to attend the banquet.

Even though she clearly knew Lu Xingzhou’s subsequent purpose was not so pure, Sheng Yuan Yao still had a feeling of “it’s not easy ah,” and she tossed her ponytail, held her head high and chest out, and entered the prefectural governor’s mansion: “Go in. Right, what about A Nuo?”

“How is a child suitable to come here? He went to Shen Tang’s place,” Lu Xingzhou followed behind her by half a step, his voice low: “Powerful demons are very skilled at restraining their demon qi from being detected. Do you have any special preparations for this?”

Sheng Yuan Yao’s eyes did not look sideways: “I carry a treasure with me for sensing demon qi. As long as it’s not an upper three grades great demon, it should all not escape the treasure’s reaction.”

“Then what if it’s really upper three grades?”

“If it deliberately hides, that’s difficult…… But if it gets angry or fights or something and leaks even a trace of demon qi, it should all be detected. Speaking of which, if there really is an upper three grades great demon, why would it run to this broken place? The prefectural governor is only four grades.”

“Who knows, a four grades demon is not weak, and it’s still not the same as hiding in a small place like Xia State, where the city lord is only five grades…… No, the current city lord is six grades.”

Sheng Yuan Yao: “……I’m almost breaking through!”

“Congratulations.” Lu Xingzhou said, actually somewhat surprised. Sheng Yuan Yao was not yet twenty this year, the same age as himself. Six grades upper level cultivation was still not bad, whether on the new show list or not was fine, if she broke through to five grades, she would surely get a not low position on the new show list. He didn’t see that this melon girl’s cultivation talent was still okay ah…… Much stronger than that waste Huo Yu.

Although not comparable to the stunning talent of little white hair breaking through to four grades at eighteen years old, that little white hair was a direct descendant of a holy land, a one-in-a-million world-class genius on the whole continent, not good to compare. Generally speaking, having the qualification to be on the new show list is already a one-in-ten-thousand talent; the establishment of the new show list’s meaning is for this.

A few sentences of casual chat, they had already crossed the outer courtyard and arrived at the prefectural governor’s mansion main hall.

Prefectural Governor Hao Jingchuan, along with some prefectural officials, was already waiting inside——Sheng Yuan Yao had sent people to submit her visiting card in advance, and given her identity as the City Lord of Xia State and the daughter of the Sheng family, Hao Jingchuan still gave her extremely high specification treatment, not treating her as an ordinary subordinate official.

Seeing Sheng Yuan Yao lead the crowd in, Hao Jingchuan stroked his palm and laughed: “I have long heard that Chief Capturer Sheng’s daughter is heroic and valiant, and seeing her today, it is indeed so.”

Sheng Yuan Yao cupped her fist in salute: “Originally, when I first took office as City Lord, I wanted to come and visit Prefectural Governor Hao, but various matters were delayed, and I have only just come now…… Prefectural Governor, please don’t blame me.”

“Not late, not late.” Hao Jingchuan laughed very forthrightly: “It’s just mealtime, might as well set the seats directly, we can eat and talk.”

Sheng Yuan Yao also did not stand on ceremony, cupping her fist: “Then I will disturb Prefectural Governor Hao.”

The banquet was divided into several tables in the inner and outer halls. Sheng Yuan Yao brought her Town Demon Division subordinates to sit in the outer hall, where prefectural governor’s mansion clerks accompanied them to dine. Sheng Yuan Yao only brought one “confidant” and sat at the same table as the prefectural officials.

Hao Jingchuan looked at Lu Xingzhou’s expressionless face and asked with a smile: “This is……”

“Oh, this is my confidant general, surnamed Gou. Prefectural Governor, you can just call him little Gou,” Sheng Yuan Yao introduced seriously.

Lu Xingzhou: “……”

Melon girl, I’ll remember you.

Hao Jingchuan of course wouldn’t call him little Gou, and he chuckled: “Capturer Gou is also a young talent.”

Look at how good Prefectural Governor speaks. Lu Xingzhou smiled very low-key: “I wouldn’t dare.”

Soon, servants served the dishes. Hao Jingchuan was also not long-winded and directly asked: “Sheng City Lord, are you here purely for taking office and visiting, or do you have other official business to discuss?”

Sheng Yuan Yao smiled and raised a cup: “Mainly to visit Prefectural Governor, my father also told this subordinate official to find the adult more often to report and seek advice…… Of course, there are also some small official matters, hoping to get the adult’s help.”

Hao Jingchuan laughed heartily, raised his cup, and toasted: “Easy to say, easy to say.”

The two drank up. Hao Jingchuan laughed: “I don’t know what official business? Sheng City Lord, just say it. Everyone present is a very experienced colleague of the prefecture…… Well, on your right is Vice Prefectural Governor Mu, his governance is extremely refined.”

Vice Prefectural Governor Mu Feng sat on Sheng Yuan Yao’s right side and smiled very politely: “Sheng City Lord, just speak if you have something.”

Sheng Yuan Yao smiled slightly: “Then this subordinate official will say…… Everyone knows about the Xu Bingkun demon-raising case in Xia State. This subordinate official has mainly been investigating clues about where this demon came from in the past few days.”

In fact, everyone in the prefecture knew early on that this person didn’t come to ask about governance, mostly just for this topic. Hao Jingchuan’s smile remained unchanged: “Wandering demons outside are not rare. Sheng City Lord doesn’t need to be too obsessed, otherwise, how much work still won’t be done……”

Sheng Yuan Yao shook her head: “Even if it wandered here, we should clarify the source. Suppose it is a new demon born within Da Qian, we need to trace the origin, figure out where it was born, why that place would give birth to demons, and handle it in a timely manner to avoid new demons being continuously born later.”

The seat was silent for a while, and Lu Xingzhou coldly observed each person’s expression, quietly sipping wine.

Sheng Yuan Yao did not get a response and continued on her own: “Suppose it is an infiltration by the northern demon race, we should also distinguish where it infiltrated from, what loophole in the defense that place had, and timely make up for it to avoid further invasions later. Seemingly just a wandering demon, but the connection is not small. Prefectural Governor has been stationed locally for a long time, with rich experience, and must have something to teach me.”

The seat was silent like cicadas in winter, and the expressions of the originally smiling prefectural officials all stiffened.

Sheng Yuan Yao’s words seemed polite, but in reality, they were no different from saying that the prefectural governor held his position without doing anything, not only not managing this important matter but instead advising the one who wanted to manage not to be obsessed. It was just short of directly scolding him……

Lu Xingzhou sighed inwardly. In fact, even many people in Xia State didn’t understand why Sheng Yuan Yao was so entangled with one demon. Wasn’t the case finished after it was concluded? But this melon girl’s sense of responsibility was far beyond what ordinary mediocre officials could understand.

Hao Jingchuan’s stiff face awkwardly laughed for a while, put down his wine cup, and sighed: “The Sheng family has a tiger daughter ah…… It is also Da Qian’s fortune. So Sheng City Lord is here to cooperate with the prefecture to investigate this case?”

“Frankly,” Sheng Yuan Yao secretly grasped a piece of jade stone in her left hand and said word by word: “This subordinate official has obtained some clues and feels that the demon possibly came from the prefecture.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the jade stone lightly shook, and a small pointer seemed to lightly scrape her palm, pointing in the direction of…… Vice Prefectural Governor Mu Feng sitting on her right side.

That was the prefectural governor’s assistant official, the number two figure!

Lu Xingzhou did not lie; she indeed came to the prefecture to investigate the demon case! Just one sentence, just enough to shake the demon in his heart and leak demon qi.

In fact, it was still such a high-level figure, even higher than himself in official rank…… From the grade of demon qi, it was about five grades.

Now Lu Xingzhou was sitting on her left side, and this demon Mu Feng was sitting on the right side, a position not too suitable for a pincer attack…… Should they try to incite a sudden attack now or discuss the matter later?

Just as she was thinking, her left hand was lightly pinched a bit; it was Lu Xingzhou signaling not to act rashly for now. Sheng Yuan Yao suppressed her impatience, and on the other side, Hao Jingchuan had already sunk his face: “Sheng City Lord is young and vigorous, such words cannot be spoken randomly. What do you mean ‘demon from the prefecture’?”

Even if you said it was from the mountains outside the prefecture, it would be better. What is the meaning of saying it’s directly from the prefecture? If these words spread, his responsibility as prefectural governor would be huge.

Sheng Yuan Yao was about to speak when Lu Xingzhou suddenly stood up, laughing and raising a wine pot: “Our City Lord is young, and her words are not so precise. Prefectural Governor, please be magnanimous…… Come, come, on behalf of the City Lord, I toast to the various prefectural adults, everyone be magnanimous, be magnanimous……”

Saying so, he picked up the wine pot and left his seat, crossing over Sheng Yuan Yao and smilingly going to the main seat to toast.

When passing by Mu Feng, he seemed to have tripped over a stool and accidentally fell towards Mu Feng. Mu Feng subconsciously supported him a bit: “Hey, Mister Gou, be careful……”

Lu Xingzhou顺手搭住他的手臂，一枚跗骨钉无声无息地刺进穆风手肘。

功法散了，东西可还在呢。

穆风“嘶”地一声，还没来得及反应，左侧刀光如练，盛元瑶的腰刀已经劈向他的脖颈。

之前说补挂件不是玩笑话，如果两个月内能冲到三万订就能补的，那么我爆更、大家订阅，一起冲一冲如何？

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