Chapter 2 Lantern Monster? [Thanks to the leader "Yuxian Qitian" for the reward! ]

"Ahem...it was definitely a ghost! I saw it with my own eyes!"

Thanks to the joint efforts of the neighbors, the fire was finally prevented from spreading and was put out in the backyard where it started. The entire yard was almost burned down, but fortunately there were no casualties.

Such a fierce fire was only saved thanks to its timely discovery.

In the charred fire scene, the owner of the hospital was miserably searching for the remaining items, and Pang Chun was helping him with his great strength.

Liang Yue was observing the surroundings, looking for traces of the fire source, while also listening to everyone's discussion about the fire.

Hearing someone say with certainty that it must be a ghost, he looked over and asked, "Did you see the true form of the ghost?"

"Yes!" The man began to narrate, "I was relieving myself at the foot of the backyard wall when I saw a ball of green light suddenly burst out from the backyard of the tavern next door. I was so scared that I stumbled and almost fell to the ground. I heard that in the past, there were often resentful souls in the mass graves outside the city who turned into lantern monsters to look for substitutes. If you were hit by one of them, you would be possessed!"

"Thinking about it now, I'm really scared. My legs keep going weak." The man's expression was exaggerated, and the listeners seemed to be in the situation. He held on to the shoulders of a neighbor and said, "Give me a hand. I'll continue."

A kind neighbor nearby immediately supported him.

"The ghost appeared out of nowhere, followed by a puff of thick smoke, and then a huge fire broke out." The man said with a little pride, "If it were an ordinary person, wouldn't they be scared to death? But I was brave enough to fasten my pants and call for help. If I was any later, the shop in front would have been destroyed!"

"You're lying!" someone shouted back, "I clearly saw you didn't pull up your pants when I came out."

"Hey!" The man waved his hands in anger, "People are talking about evil things here, why do you care whether I pull up my pants or not?"

"You can't lie..." The neighbor refuted weakly, "I clearly saw it... a small one there..."

"Yes, yes, yes, do you really want me to tell you that I didn't have time to pull up my pants?" The man was immediately angry. "And do you also want to tell you that I didn't have time to wash my hands because everything was soaked? Do you also want to tell you that I can still smell the odor now? Don't I have any dignity?"

"Alas--"

The neighbors all stepped back in disgust.

Only the neighbor who was supporting him shuddered, looking at him rubbing his arms with excitement, with an expression of disbelief, as if to say: "Is this how you treat kind people?"

Liang Yue didn't care whether his trousers were pulled up or not. He had already lowered his head and continued searching around, when he suddenly made a discovery.

He leaned over and saw a patch of burnt earth mixed with traces of white. He lifted up the burnt earth with a piece of cloth and examined it carefully.

His expression was thoughtful.

Until a middle-aged woman in the crowd said, "I heard that the tailor shop across the street also caught fire the other day. What a pity that most of the fine clothing materials were burned. The shopkeeper tried to save some, but half of his body was burnt! How come our Linmen Street suddenly suffered from Tai Sui?"

An old man who looked like he was talking nonsense continued, "I heard that there are many wronged souls from the past dynasties buried under our street, and now they have transformed into lantern monsters to seek revenge."

"Ah?" There was a sudden panic among the people around: "What should we do?"

Liang Yue, who had been squatting on the ground rummaging through things, finally stood up straight at this time. He put a package of things into his arms, cleared his throat, and his tall figure and handsome face suddenly stood out in the crowd.

"cough!"

Everyone looked over.

"Neighbors, the government will investigate the cause of the fire. Don't panic or believe in some groundless rumors." Liang Yue said loudly, "Don't worry about the lantern monster. Even if it is true, it is not a powerful demon. It is easy for the court to deal with it."

"If the court can solve this problem, please do it quickly." Someone immediately said in a sad voice, "Otherwise, the fire will rage every day, and we don't know whose family will be affected next. We are so worried, what should we do?"

Some people also grumbled, "If you ask me, it would be better to sell the house a few days ago. How can it be sold at such a high price now?"

"Don't panic..." Liang Yue comforted again: "We will definitely solve it as soon as possible."

bang——

Before he could finish his words, there was a loud noise of collapse behind him, which scared everyone and they all looked over.

It turned out to be Pang Chun, who was helping the elderly couple who owned the courtyard to clean up the sheds that were burned down by fire.

At this moment, an elderly couple was staring at the tall and strong Pang Chun in amazement, with a bitter look on their faces: "Officer, didn't you say you would help us tear down the burned area? This shed where we store wine wasn't burned either, so why did you push it down?"

"Ah." Dachun scratched his head in panic, "I just took it easy."

……

When Liang Yue returned home, it was almost dawn.

It was a busy evening. It took nearly half an hour to put out the fire, and another half an hour to investigate the fire scene - and then most of the night was spent helping the old couple rebuild the wine shed that was mistakenly demolished by Pang Chun.

But even so, he first performed a set of Tiger Power Fist taught by the Imperial Capital Guards in the courtyard.

But I saw that it was growing stronger and stronger, and its momentum was growing like thunder.

He fought until divine light flashed in his eyes, white threads like steam rose from his head, his face turned red like a branding iron, and he was surrounded by a faint aura.

"call--"

He then breathed a sigh of relief and decided to stop.

For Liang Yue, the most novel thing in this world is the prevailing trend of cultivation.

The martial arts masters here are truly able to use their physical bodies to split mountains and crush rocks, and to cross the sky and earth. They have developed the power of the human body to an extremely terrifying level.

Not to mention the legendary Qigong masters of the three religions, who mastered the various magical powers of yin and yang, the five elements, and the creation of heaven and earth. Just hearing about them is fascinating.

However, the Liang family was not well off, and the only practice the original body could get into was martial arts, and at the age of fifteen he entered the first realm of martial arts - the Qi and Blood realm.

Logically speaking, this can be considered a good talent, but the cultivation of the first level of martial arts depends not only on talent, but also on wealth.

Ordinary people who practice martial arts can only practice boxing and exercises over and over again to invigorate the blood and qi in the body, so that it can reach a boiling state, and integrate the strands of essence into the blood, and finally complete it. If you can eat some beef and mutton every day, it will be a good supplement.

The wealthy practiced martial arts and took elixirs or monster flesh and blood to replenish qi and blood, and they could quickly reach perfection. Therefore, the rich could cross the qi and blood realm in a year or two, while the original body practiced for three years, but was still only in the middle stage of qi and blood realm.

no way.

The rich rely on medicine, the poor rely on hard work.

but……

Liang Yue felt the state of fullness of Qi and blood, and felt that there seemed to be a warm current penetrating into the divine palace, which became clearer and clearer. Although he had not slept for almost the whole night, his spirit was not at all sluggish.

With the same physique, the same Tiger Power Fist, and the same lack of nourishment, after his arrival, it took him less than three months to reach the peak of the Qi and Blood Realm.

He had a hunch that this bottleneck would be overcome soon.

After practicing a little at the beginning, he quickly grasped the charm of Tiger Power Fist, found twenty-eight minor mistakes in his previous practice, and improved it to the most effective training method.

This is also the reason why he can compete with many second-level cultivators in the martial arts examination with his cultivation at the peak of the first level.

He truly understood the true meaning of this set of boxing.

Those who have reached the second level through brute force or taking tonics simply cannot reach the level of perfection and ease like him, even though it is just a most basic set of boxing.

Sometimes, talent may not be as good as wealth.

But absolute talent can.

Liang Yue felt the threshold of the second realm, and a new world seemed to be within reach. If outsiders knew his progress, they would probably be shocked.

He shook his head in dissatisfaction and sighed, "Too slow."

……

After boxing, he went into the house to sleep and did not wake up until noon. As soon as he arrived at the station, Hu Tiehan called him over again.

"Brother Hu, are you looking for me?"

As soon as Liang Yue entered the room, he saw Hu Tiehan standing behind the table.

"I heard that you encountered another fire last night?" Hu Tiehan asked, "Have you found out the cause? If it was really caused by the lantern monster, let the court send a Qigong practitioner to deal with it; if it was arson, I will have to send more people to wait for the criminal."

"Based on the current clues, it is most likely a human error." Liang Yue said, "There is no need to wait for now. I have some clues. Give me some time and I should be able to find the real culprit."

"Oh?" Seeing that he was confident, Hu Tiehan thought for a moment and said, "Then I'll trust you this time. You will be in charge of this arson case. If you handle it well, you will be credited with a great achievement."

"Thank you, Brother Hu, for your trust." Liang Yue said with a smile.

"No need to thank me." Hu Tiehan nodded, "Just don't let me down."

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Liang Yue asked again: "Brother Hu, if we catch the arsonist this time, do I have a chance to become a regular employee?"

This is exactly what he cares about most.

"Well..." Hearing this, Hu Tiehan was silent for a moment, then sighed and said, "I'm sure you know all about the situation of our Imperial Guards. It may not be easy to get a regular job based on this merit."

"I understand it too well." Liang Yue was also a little helpless.

His father died in the battle of Yunxiang State. According to the imperial court's pension decree, all fallen soldiers can get a regular position in the Imperial Guard. As the eldest son in the family, Liang Yue should have become a regular guard when he came of age.

But when he came of age to claim his position, he was told that he could become a regular guard, but he had to wait. The imperial edict had said that he could be given the position, but there was no vacancy in the regular guard now, and he couldn't force it.

Go home and wait for news.

After several rounds of waiting for a year, one of his father's former comrades finally pointed out the problem. He said that the vacant position of the regular guard was probably taken by the son of a powerful person, and he would never get it even if he waited for a lifetime. If Liang Yue wanted to join the company, he might as well take the initiative to apply for a change of position to a regular guard, and then seek a chance to become a regular guard in the future.

There is only one word difference between Congwei and Zhengwei, but there is a world of difference between them.

Zhengwei was considered a ninth-rank official in the imperial court, a rank that was considered officialdom, with a monthly salary of two or three taels of silver. Congwei was not a position at all, but could receive some subsidies by following the patrols, about a few hundred coins a month. To put it nicely, they were official messengers, to put it bluntly, they were followers.

Moreover, the Imperial Guards had the power to arrest criminals, and this power was also in the hands of the Chief Guards. The Sub-Guards had no qualifications to handle cases independently and had to be led by the Chief Guards.

Only by becoming a regular employee can you show your talents.

At that time, Liang Yue was eager to support his mother's family, so he adopted this suggestion. As expected, he was immediately assigned to the Fukangfang station and became a guard.

But after I got here, I found out that it is not easy to become a regular employee.

There are only two ways to get promoted: making achievements and gaining experience.

But the purpose of a guard is to do the dirty and hard work. The credit will go to the regular guards and guard officers. How much of the credit can get to you?
Not to mention qualifications. The station officer, Old Tang, is over seventy years old this year. He has worked in the security field for sixty years and has been hoping to be promoted to a regular employee before he dies. I wonder if he will have this opportunity again.

In a word, it is as difficult as climbing to the sky.

"How about this, if you are really anxious to get a permanent job, I can show you a way." Hu Tiehan lowered his voice and said, "Last year, only four people in the entire Nancheng Imperial Guard were permanent employees. Do you know what they relied on?"

"What?" Liang Yue's eyes lit up.

"Three hundred taels of silver." Hu Tiehan raised three fingers and pointed them upwards. "Give it to the higher-ups. You will definitely be on the list of regular employees this year."

"The case is more important. I'll leave first." Liang Yue got up and left without saying a word.

Are you kidding me?
Not to mention the pitiful monthly subsidy from the guards, even if they were promoted to regular officials, they would only receive two taels of silver a month. Who could afford to buy an official position with the income for the next ten years?

"What's your attitude?" Seeing his disdainful attitude, Hu Tiehan slammed the table in anger, sat down angrily, and then suddenly jumped up, crying out in pain: "Oh my..."

He shouted angrily at Liang Yue's disappearing back, "If you want to get promoted by merit, go catch the Nine-Yang spy!"

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(End of this chapter)