Who Let Him Cultivate?! (WX)-Chapter 433: I’m Under the Tutelage of Dao-Seeking Sect’s Yun Zhi

The provincial governor’s estate was located in the very center of Hanshui City. It was the nexus of power and influence in Wilderness Province, every layer fortified with defensive arrays like a fortress.

This was both the provincial governor’s residence and workplace. As Lu Yang traversed the compound, he noticed many officials clutching documents as they flew around in a hurry. They weren’t just running as fast as flying; they were literally flying.

Marshal An had already informed the provincial governor before arranging the meeting. When the provincial governor saw Qiu Jin’an and the others, he greeted them warmly with handshakes. As Marshal An still had to organize the citywide manhunt for Meng Tian True Lord, he excused himself.

“Fellow Daoist Qiu, your reputation precedes you! I am Lü Ke, but most just call me Old Lü.” Provincial Governor Lü was a loquacious person. Despite being swamped by the recent ghost calamities, he remained in glowing spirits and showed no signs of fatigue.

“Greetings, Lord Lü.” Qiu Jin’an smiled but didn’t call him “Old Lü.”

The last time someone acted this familiar with me was when I met the Dao-Seeking Nine. That’s not something I’ll be forgetting anytime soon.

Qiu Jin’an’s father had been the previous sect leader of the Five-Elements Sect. When Qiu Jin’an was young, he accompanied his father to visit the Dao-Seeking Sect, where he got to know the exuberant Dao-Seeking Nine.

Back then, he was young, naive, and a poor judge of character, unable to recognize the schemes brewing under their cheerful facades. The sole exception was Sixth Elder, Fengya, who didn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the Dao-Seeking Nine, but she’d never be absent during their misdeeds.

Therefore, he became wary of people who acted overly familiar with him on their first meeting.

Provincial Governor Lü complained, “Say, why did the previous provincial governor have to throw some birthday banquet for his daughter for no reason? He even invited many people, who came with heaps of lavish gifts, and he didn’t bother reporting to the imperial court in advance. Well, look how that turned out. He’s been dismissed from his position, and several key officials and prominent figures from big sects in Wilderness Province got dragged down with him.“

This explained part of the current chaos—manpower shortages, temporary replacements in critical positions, and deployment challenges; even dealing with ghost calamities required assistance from the nearest Corpse-Driving Sect.

“Old Xu—oh, I mean, the Minister of Justice—had taken an extended leave. Now that he’s finally had enough rest, he's handling their cases.” The Minister of Justice had announced to the public that a close friend had died suddenly, requiring emergency leave to meet him one last time.

“With all that, His Majesty lost trust in Wilderness Province’s officials and dragged me, a money-and-grain guy, from the capital to take charge here.

“By the way, I’ve been the only one talking all this time, and I haven’t had the chance to ask. Who are these youths?” Provincial Governor Lü suddenly noticed Lu Yang and the others.

“These three are disciples of the Dao-Seeking Sect. They’re considered my juniors, and I help to look after them. This is Zhao Po, a disciple of the Corpse-Driving Sect’s First Elder. He also witnessed the entire battle earlier.”

Upon learning that Provincial Governor Lü was an official from the capital, Qiu Jin’an avoided mentioning that Lu Yang was a disciple of the Taciturn Daoist Priest. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

“Solid foundations, full and plump golden cores—outstanding youths indeed.“ Provincial Governor Lü nodded approvingly. ”Now, Fellow Daoist Qiu, could you recount the battle earlier?” This is the most pressing matter at hand.

Qiu Jin’an recounted in detail how Lu Yang had encountered Huang Ming, defeated him, then how Meng Tian True Lord had intervened before being vanquished by Qiu Jin’an himself.

“That is to say that Meng Tian True Lord has been capturing evil ghosts from various places and dumping them in our Hanshui City?” Provincial Governor Lü’s rage flared. I’ve finally identified the culprit behind today’s chaos.

No wonder there are so many evil ghosts. Did he round up every ghost in Great Xia and even dredge the ghosts up from the East Sea?!

Hell, I’d be the ghost if all this could get cleaned up! [1]

Qiu Jin’an remarked, “The ghost calamities probably couldn’t have been orchestrated by one person alone. I suspect he has accomplices.”

“They’re taking advantage of the fact that I’ve been newly appointed and have yet to master the use of the national fortune’s power!” Provincial Governor Lü hadn’t known about the national fortune until the Xia Emperor recently informed him when he took office.

Qiu Jin’an reminded, “And we must keep a close watch on Huang Ming, the cultivator who dispersed his cultivation to cultivate anew. In the past, we had only focused on archaic Fusion cultivators, overlooking the possibility that some are reforged cultivators!”

Provincial Governor Lü signed. “Keeping watch won’t help. Dispersing one’s cultivation to cultivate anew is akin to rebirth and a new life. Tracking their origins is near impossible.

“Never mind. I’ll report the matter of reforged cultivators to the imperial court. Our priority now is to handle the ghost calamities. Previously, I suspected it was the work of the Nine-Netherworlds Creed. After all, they keep plenty of ghosts. But now that we’ve confirmed that Great Yu cultivators are responsible, the matter has grown dire. Great Yu cultivators don’t nurture ghosts, yet they have gone through so much trouble to capture ghosts from various places and dumped them in Hanshui City. I believe it suggests deeper motives rather than mere mischief!” His expression darkened, and he wished he could tear those Great Yu cultivators limb from limb.

“Excuse me, may I ask if they could be setting up an array?” Lu Yang raised his hand gingerly.

“Array?” Provincial Governor Lü and Qiu Jin'an blinked in unison and ruminated over the word, seeming to have thought of something.

Back when Lu Yang was in Yanjiang Commandery, the commandery governor—who doubled as the Yanjiang Branch’s leader—had set up an array across the commandery, planning to drain the entire population’s lifespan to boost his power.

This memory prompted Lu Yang to bring up his question.

“It’s possible that they’re setting up an array!” Provincial Governor Lü smacked his thigh. I’ve been so busy these days that I failed to consider it.

He approached an enormous sand table and clapped lightly. The sand shook and undulated like waves before finalizing into the structure of Hanshui City.

Producing small flags from his sleeve, he tossed them onto positions matching the locations of ghost calamities. Each flag bore symbols to indicate the ghost type and level.

Provincial Governor Lü gasped. “If we look at it this way, it does resemble an array.” He was overjoyed that Lu Yang’s conjecture was likely the answer. “As expected of a disciple from the Dao-Seeking Sect! A great master breeds brilliant disciples. May I know who your shifu is?”

Lu Yang, “...”

Before answering truthfully, Lu Yang wanted to know what grudge Provincial Governor Lü held against his shifu.

“I’m under the tutelage of Dao-Seeking Sect’s Yun Zhi.” Out of deference for his shifu, Lu Yang dared not speak his shifu’s name while away from the sect.

Meng Jingzhou shot Lu Yang a look of utter contempt. Absolutely shameless.

“Yun Zhi? The name sounds a bit familiar.” Provincial Governor Lü searched through his memory. I’ve never heard of any Dao-Seeking Sect elder who goes by the name of Yun Zhi.

“My shifu seldom leaves the sect, so few know of her.”

“I see.”

Provincial Governor Lü simply stopped trying to recall who Yun Zhi was. Since neither he nor Qiu Jin’an were adept at arrays, he summoned the great array masters from the city to examine what array the Great Yu cultivators had set up in the city.

Soon, several white-bearded old men clustered around the sand table, analyzing and making inferences. Fortunately, all were male cultivators. The great array masters worked together and quickly reached a preliminary conclusion.

Provincial Governor Lü was visibly more at ease than at the start of their meeting. “Fellow Daoist Lu’s conjecture was correct. The Great Yu cultivators have indeed set up an array. But it has been lost to time, so we’ll need time to deduce its purpose and how to break it. Let us wait for a bit.”

Seeing that the timing was right, Qiu Jin’an cupped his hands and said, “Since we have a moment, Lord Provincial Governor, could you allow this kid and me to borrow the national fortune’s power?”

1. Once again, it’s a figure of speech with the “character” for “ghost” in it. ☜