Above the Great Dao
Chapter 390 - 193: A Gentleman’s Revenge Is Bloody

Chapter 390: Chapter 193: A Gentleman’s Revenge Is Bloody

The few people closely followed behind Chen Shi’s wooden cart, keeping a keen eye on him. Among them, a woman wearing a red top and a Huanhuan skirt was activating a Thousand-Mile Communication Talisman, contacting someone unknown.

Their tailing was cleverly done. When they reached a fork in the road, one person left the main road and entered the side path, while in front of Chen Shi’s wooden cart, a woodcutter resting there stood up, picked up his bundles of firewood, and continued on his way, his gaze still on Chen Shi.

At the next fork, beside a town, a scholar who was eating noodles at the market saw Chen Shi’s wooden cart passing by. He didn’t bother to finish the noodles in his bowl but slurped the noodles at the corner of his mouth, stood up while taking out money, left it on the table, and quickly headed towards the provincial capital’s post road.

Along the way, those tracking Chen Shi changed shifts two or three times, each with different faces, except for the woman in the Huanhuan skirt, who never changed.

Chen Shi sat in the cart, seemingly unaware, but in fact, he had observed all these scenes intently, feeling a chill in his heart.

"This Yudou gentleman can mobilize so many people to monitor me in Xin Xiang, his power is unimaginable!"

By evening, the wooden cart entered the city of Xin Xiang Province.

Chen Shi had been to the provincial city once before, when the Qianyang Mountain Lord revived, occupied his body, and flew him over Xin Xiang Province. At that time, he watched from a small temple. This visit to the city was naturally quite different from the last.

Xin Xiang Province City was built along the coast, with towering city walls on the east side near the sea, standing tall, creating an oppressive feeling.

The steep city walls had a huge copper mirror mounted on top, occasionally emitting the creaking sound of gears turning. The mirror moved, shining over the sea, repelling demons.

Below the east side city wall was the slum area, where the poor of Xin Xiang Province lived. There were various shacks, muddy streets, narrow and crowded. The people here were a mixed bunch from all walks of life. Besides people, the most numerous were the Xin Xiang rats, particularly large, occasionally coming out from the sewers to steal food, and sometimes even stealing children to eat.

To the west of the city was the wealthy district, where officials, merchants, and landlords often resided.

North and south of the city were the common areas, bustling with trade and a dazzling array of goods.

Living in the city, one didn’t need to worry about Evil Spirits, for the city was guarded by the Ten Thousand Soul Banner and the Earth Book. Any Evil Spirit that snuck into the city was immediately discovered and directly eliminated.

If someone died in the city, they also had to be immediately cremated to prevent the corpse from turning evil.

However, this was Xin Xiang, after all, and there were many Xin Xiang rats that sometimes died. Moonlight could turn them into Evil Spirits that harmed people. Sometimes the Ten Thousand Soul Banner and Earth Book couldn’t detect them, causing quite a stir.

These creatures were difficult to eradicate and would hide in the sewers. At such times, a Talisman Master hired by the government office would enter the sewers to exterminate the Evil Spirits.

Chen Shi’s wooden cart entered the west side of the city. His mansion was in the west, and Governor Xu Jian had someone send him the house deed and a map of the house’s location. Chen Shi followed the map to his residence, seeing that the house was quite spacious, with a high doorway flanked by two book-shaped drum stones and three sets of steps.

Chen Shi walked forward, knocked on the door, and the door opened. Inside, a beautiful girl opened a palm-wide gap in the door, her eyes twinkling as she blinked, glanced at Chen Shi, and burst into joy, hurriedly pulling the door wide open.

"Master is back! Juan Zi, Xiao Feng, come quickly! Master is back!"

She swung the door completely open, welcoming Chen Shi inside, overjoyed as if she had long known him, and laughed, "Master, we sisters have been longing for you to return home, and now we’ve finally welcomed Master back!"

Chen Shi was stunned, feeling the overwhelming warmth, yet he had clearly never met this girl before.

Several more young girls, hearing her, ran out from the courtyard like colorful little birds, gathered around Chen Shi, chirping and chattering, saying things about how hard the master had worked and how it had been many days since the master was home. This enthusiasm was indeed hard for Chen Shi to bear, but at the same time, his heart felt wonderfully at ease.

A girl brought over a copper basin, inside which was hot water at just the right temperature, and a maid warmed a clean white towel to wipe Chen Shi’s hands, face, and neck.

There was also a servant who took the dog and the wooden cart to the back gate, opening it to let the dog and the cart into the house.

The Black Pot was unhappy, barking twice, complaining about the unequal treatment.

But immediately, a servant came over, groomed its fur, and another servant brought Exotic Beast Meat, sliced it into strips, and fed it one by one, serving it like a lord.

The Black Pot turned from anger to pleasure, very satisfied.

Even the wooden cart was taken care of, with someone cleaning off the dust, oiling, and waxing it.

Chen Shi didn’t know when he had sat down on a Taishi Chair, nor when he had picked up a teacup, drinking fragrant tea, and even less when these girls had helped him out of his restrictive clothes and into a set of comfortable everyday clothes.

There were also girls half-kneeling, half-squatting at his feet, rubbing his calves, then their little fists moved upwards, pounding, and another girl behind him massaged his shoulders with the perfect pressure, neither light nor heavy.

"Master’s joy is unimaginable to others," Chen Shi set down his teacup, feeling emotional.

At that moment, the door opened wide, the doors being taken down, and the opposite theatre hall was exposed without obstruction, silk and bamboo music started playing, and a flamboyantly dressed singer stepped onto the stage in small steps, gracefully dancing.

Her voice opened, akin to a songbird, melodious and pleasing to the ear.