I Only Want to Lie Flat But Am Forced to Cultivate Immortality

As they spoke, Xu Qing glanced at the advisor standing next to County Magistrate Xiao. That advisor was nothing noteworthy, just a motley-colored fox with a skull perched on its head!

"Who exactly are you?" County Magistrate Xiao was inexplicably shocked. The matter of concealing the dragon robe and privately referring to himself as the Emperor had never been revealed to outsiders, except for the national teacher and his beloved consort.

How did Xu Qing know about this?

"Who am I? I can tell you that, but before that, you must answer a question for me."

Xu Qing scrutinized the County Magistrate before him and asked, "Is County Magistrate Xiao still alive?"

"I am County Magistrate Xiao. Continue this nonsense, and I'll charge you!"

"I'll give you another chance to organize your words." In an instant, Xu Qing appeared in front of County Magistrate Xiao, placing one hand on his shoulder.

The Undying Bone hand, saturated with evil qi, instantly trapped the malevolent spirit hidden within County Magistrate Xiao's body!

The advisor at the county government office saw that things were going awry and tried to run, but in the next moment, a rotating sword pill suddenly hovered half a foot from his head. He turned to look and saw a girl accompanying Xu Qing, pinching a sword formula. If he dared to move a step, the sword pill above would emit a sword beam and cut him down on the spot!

"Hold on! I am an official of the Imperial Court, a successful candidate in the Bing Wu year, appointed by the late Emperor himself as a divine official and County Magistrate. County Magistrate Xiao is merely a surrogate for me in the mortal world. This matter has not been questioned by the current Emperor, so why trouble me?"

"A divine official?" Xu Qing was hearing of such a position for the first time.

"It's for seeking the miraculous art of immortality for His Majesty and testing the elixirs of immortality."

Xu Qing frowned and suddenly asked, "Has His Majesty ever used the method of finding a substitute you pursued?"

"Never, His Majesty's fortune is upon him. If a substitute is used, and a new body assumed, not only will he lose the Imperial Court's blessing, but the officials will definitely support a new Emperor to the throne."

Immortality and the throne, Zhao Rong clearly chose the latter.

If he had chosen the former, with a new Emperor on the throne, even if Zhao Rong had the method of prolonging life, he would surely face death.

Xu Qing understood and then asked again, "Is County Magistrate Xiao still alive?"

At the moment of contact with County Magistrate Xiao's body, Xu Qing sensed the vitality present within, but there were no additional souls remaining.

"His body is still alive, but his soul has already scattered."

Yang Mingchun felt Xu Qing release his hand and couldn't help but ask, "You have yet to tell me, who are you?"

"Me?"

"An assassin who kills the Emperor and slays the national teacher!"

With that, Xu Qing raised his hand, and the blade fell.

Once he retracted a claw as swift as a knife, the body Yang Mingchun possessed was already headless, devoid of life.

At the side, the motley-colored fox disregarded its status as an advisor, immediately discarded the skull it wore, transformed into its original shape, and tried to flee.

However, the cat's reaction was faster. Before the fox could step out, Xuan Yu's hand had already pinched the sword formula down, and the pungent fox blood spattered. A generation of 'national teacher' met their demise.

"Is this the Emperor and the national teacher you spoke of?"

Xuan Yu questioned Xu Qing.

"A self-proclaimed local Emperor and a national teacher bestowed by the local Emperor, I never lie."

"You lied to the cat!"

"Just say whether they're the Emperor and national teacher!"

"..."

After performing an assassination exercise targeting the Emperor, Xuan Yu inexplicably felt a sense of loss and gain. If the real Emperor were so easy to kill, wouldn't that be nice?

Over there, Xu Qing picked up County Magistrate Xiao's head, letting it rest alongside the body.

After some fuss, the Sutra of Salvation began to flip its pages.

Xu Qing initially thought he would see the life of County Magistrate Xiao, but unexpectedly, after a passage of Netherworld Underworld animation, what appeared was the life of Yang Mingchun from a century ago.

Yang Mingchun, a successful candidate in the Bing Wu year, ranked among the top three in the imperial examination. To speak of why Yang Mingchun was able to enter the top three, it was thanks to the insights on the art of immortality he wrote in his exam.

On a policy question, who among the proper individuals would dare to deviate, writing about alchemy, mercury refining, milk consumption, and yin-yang supplementation in irrelevant policy discussions?

This is completely unrelated to the policy question, isn't it?

But it just so happened that at that time, Emperor Longping was in poor health. Based on the average age of emperors throughout history, he wouldn't last much longer.

What Yang Mingchun wrote, though off-topic, aligned perfectly with Emperor Longping's desires.

Because of this, Yang Mingchun later received the title of the Imperial nominee as a top scholar.

A few days later, Emperor Longping summoned Yang Mingchun for an audience. The two stayed up all night in the Imperial Study, speaking not of state affairs but engaging in a whole night of discourse on the art of immortality.

The next day, Yang Mingchun was appointed as County Magistrate of Ning County in Qianzhou and immediately took office.

It is worth mentioning that Qiyang County in Qianzhou happens to be Yang Mingchun's hometown.

According to the law, a County Magistrate is never allowed to serve in their hometown; they must be assigned to another place. Yang Mingchun could not take office in Qiyang, so he had to settle for the nearest Ning County as his place of duty.

Yang Mingchun had only been in Ning County for three days when someone suddenly came to visit outside the County Magistrate's residence.

The visitors, a man and a woman, identified themselves as Hu Xian'er and Hu Bao'er, originally a pair of Hu family siblings.

Yang Mingchun was overjoyed at their visit and immediately set up a feast, dismissed the handmaidens and servants, and personally entertained the Hu siblings.

During the banquet, Yang Mingchun raised his cup in gratitude: "Thank you, Brother Hu and Sister Bao'er, for your guidance. Without your suggestions, I fear I would never have achieved what I have today."

Hu Xian'er laughed and said, "Brother Yang, you're a descendant of our godmother's old friend. We are family, and a little fame counts for nothing. As long as you support us wholeheartedly in the future, the godmother will certainly not treat you poorly."

"By then, don't just talk about being a County Magistrate; even if you want to become king and be an ancestor, it won't be difficult."

Yang Mingchun believed it to be true, and henceforth, in addition to helping the Saint of Baiyun Cave find suitable disciple candidates, he ruled over Ning County as his own kingdom.

Hu Bao'er, with her charming and enchanting appearance, was flirted with by Yang Mingchun time and again. This Hu Bao'er was inherently foxy and seductive; how could she withstand such advances?

With one time and another, the man and the fox broke that layer of paper between them and became a couple.

Yang Mingchun, not knowing the divide between humans and demons, lived a life of debauchery, and by his early forties, he appeared like a decrepit man in his seventies or eighties.

At that time, when Baiyun Daoist's elixir was first refined, albeit extending Yang Mingchun's lifespan, it couldn't heal the fundamental injuries caused by his indulgence.

What's the use of having power and influence if a man loses the ability to enjoy human relations?

Seeing Yang Mingchun idle away his days, no longer focusing on performing tasks for their godmother, Hu Bao'er visited Baiyun Cave and learned a body-swapping method from their godmother's saint.

Yang Mingchun was overjoyed, feigning death to escape.

When the Imperial Court sent a new County Magistrate for the position, the two fox demons used evil techniques and magic to help Yang Mingchun occupy the nest, continuously serving as County Magistrate.

For decades, Yang Mingchun shirked cultivation, lived indulgently day and night, and each time his body decayed, he would employ the same old trick, adopting a new body to continue ruling as his own emperor.

When Emperor Longping passed away and Emperor Jingxing ascended to the throne, Yang Mingchun still 'lived.'

However, by then, Yang Mingchun was no longer satisfied with being just a county official; he aspired to don the dragon robe and become king and patriarch.

Unfortunately, he met Xu Qing.

After watching Yang Mingchun's life flash by, Xu Qing felt a certain level of disdain.

Such a muddle-headed creature, even at the brink of death, unable to discern whether his own 'consort' was human or not, still dreamed of ruling the world?

Then, Xu Qing focused on the reward from the Sutra of Salvation, a soul-exchange technique rated as a lower-tier earth-grade.

This spell, contrary to the traditional notion of body-snatching, involved the mutual transfer of souls between two living beings. It was more of a body-swapping than soul-snatching.

However, after swapping bodies, the life expectancy would be heavily detracted. After soul-exchanging with previous County Magistrates, Yang Mingchun's body was too depleted for others to survive long.

Even if one or two lucky ones managed to have some life left, they would be killed on the spot by the fox demon protector.

Unfortunately, the zombie's soul was already one with its body, inseparable from each other, rendering this magic useless for Xu Qing.

"If the soul-exchange method simply swaps bodies, then wouldn't County Magistrate Xiao's life flash have been on the previous County Magistrate's corpse?"

Xu Qing suddenly got an idea and immediately said:

"Xuan Yu, follow me to the backyard."

There, following the memories of Yang Mingchun, Xu Qing avoided the mansion servants all the way and went straight to a well sealed with a stone slab.

Removing the stone cover, Xu Qing peered inside, only to see a ghastly sight, with seven or eight dreadful male corpses soaked at the bottom.

Without exception, these bodies were all previous County Magistrates of Ning County!