Mortal Mirror

Ye Wanhua nodded in response to Li Ergou's question, "Of course. Ultimately, many scholars will enter the imperial court. This is our final destination. Otherwise, we can only go to the sects. You should know that whether it's the path of the divine or the martial, without enough resources, we're just rootless duckweeds and won't go far.

Forget it, let's not talk about this. After registering here, you can take me to the yamen to report for duty. The magistrate of Kushui County wrote me a letter of recommendation, so I'm here to report to the Yucheng yamen. From now on, we're not just classmates but also colleagues.

I don't know how well you're doing here, but you have to take care of me."

Li Ergou looked at Ye Wanhua, unsure of what to say, and could only chuckle, "Sure, just come under my command and be my little lackey."

They smiled at each other, understanding without words.

After registering at the academy, Li Ergou hurriedly took Ye Wanhua to the yamen. Because Ye Wanhua hadn't yet obtained the qualification of a Great Martial Master, she could only be a low-level constable for now. Li Ergou didn't stand on ceremony and insisted on taking her in.

Ye Wanhua was naturally happy. After all, with Li Ergou's care, she didn't need to expend energy on managing interpersonal relationships.

Afterward, Li Ergou took her to Tianxian Tower for a big meal, as a welcome feast for her.

It was then that Li Ergou learned that this girl didn't even have a place to live. Helpless, he could only take her to his place. Fortunately, he had enough houses.

On the way back, Ye Wanhua told Li Ergou about the current situation in Kushui County.

The county yamen was pretty much the same, with nothing major happening. Everyone was very laid-back. Dabaixiang and Xiwa had both been promoted to squad leaders and were working under Huang San.

All thirteen people from Wanglong Village had been officially hired thanks to Li Ergou's connections. However, the last time he met Dabaixiang, he said that the thirteen of them were hoping that Li Ergou could bring them out.

Anyway, everything was fine. After hearing this, Li Ergou could only smile wryly, thinking that he could barely protect himself now and didn't have the ability to bring them all over.

Arriving at Orange Mountain, Ye Wanhua couldn't stop exclaiming how good Li Ergou's place was. Mei'er and Jing'er had also returned at this moment.

Mei'er was naturally overjoyed to see Ye Wanhua, and Jing'er, meeting Ye Wanhua for the first time, was also very affectionate.

The women chatted happily, and seeing that it was getting dark, Li Ergou slipped away.

Yellow Maple Valley was still the same. Li Ergou came to the place from yesterday, planning to continue his cultivation.

Just as he was getting ready, Gou Jianqiang emerged from a grave in the darkness and quickly ran to Li Ergou.

To Li Ergou's surprise, after just one day, Gou Jianqiang had actually grown several scales on its body. He was slightly astonished and looked at Gou Jianqiang in disbelief, "You're a dog, how did you grow scales? What's going on? Did you get fish scale disease?"

Gou Jianqiang shook its head. It pointed to the place where the Rat King had died yesterday and gestured like a bead. After watching for a while, Li Ergou understood.

He said, "Are you saying that after you ate the Rat King's spiritual pearl yesterday, you turned into this?"

Gou Jianqiang nodded repeatedly, making a whimper sound.

Li Ergou was quite surprised, but he couldn't figure out what was going on. However, it didn't seem like there would be any major problems. He could only comfort it and then let Gou Jianqiang protect him while he began to cultivate.

He began to circulate his Xuan Gong, and the gate to the underworld seemed to open once again. A trace of nether energy mixed with the vitality from the corpses was sucked into his innate Dao embryo.

As the Burial Sutra circulated, Li Ergou saw that his Dao embryo was slowly being completed, and the blurry appearance began to become clearer.

This Burial Sutra was really starting to work, but he understood even more that completely replenishing the Dao embryo was a long process, but he wasn't in a hurry, as long as it worked.

Outside, Gou Jianqiang was greedily absorbing the power of the underworld. What Li Ergou didn't know was that the ghost fire in the eyes of the five skulls under his coffin was also becoming brighter and brighter. Five ghosts were being nurtured unintentionally by Li Ergou.

As soon as it dawned, Li Ergou left. After eating breakfast on the mountain, he took Ye Wanhua to the yamen, and then they went to the academy to study.

Listening to the teacher's lectures, Li Ergou was delighted. Many unresolved questions were also easily solved. This was the benefit of having a master.

In the following days, Li Ergou would go to Yellow Maple Valley every night to cultivate the Burial Sutra, go to the yamen to clock in during the day, and then go to the academy to cultivate his skills. The days passed very steadily.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, more than two months had passed. Counting the days, there were only seven days left until the New Year.

On this day, the night was dark and the wind was high. While Li Ergou was cultivating, he suddenly felt a crackling sound coming from under the coffin. He was startled and stopped his cultivation.

He walked out of the coffin and looked under it, as if something was wriggling. With strong curiosity, Li Ergou moved the coffin away and saw the skulls moving below.

These skulls had ghost fire shining in their eyes, and he found that there were as many as five.

As soon as the coffin was moved away, the five skulls flew up. They flew outside and saw that white bones were constantly being absorbed onto the skulls. In a short while, the skulls turned into five skeletal figures in front of Li Ergou.

Li Ergou was slightly surprised, not knowing what was going on. Gou Jianqiang jumped in front of Li Ergou, baring its teeth at the skeletons, showing a threatening expression, as if it was really Li Ergou's guard.

Seeing it like this, Li Ergou was quite satisfied. In recent days, Gou Jianqiang's scales had grown larger and larger, and now Gou Jianqiang's injuries had completely healed, and its body was covered in black scales.

This guy looked quite majestic with scales covering his body. Li Ergou pondered that this dog might be quite extraordinary. Could it be that its ancestors were extraordinary and it had awakened its ancestral bloodline?

If that was the case, Li Ergou would definitely cultivate this guy well.

At this moment, he looked at the five skeletons again. The energy on the skeletons was weak, and they didn't have much lethality. He wasn't afraid, but he was wondering when these guys had awakened. He didn't even know, were they hiding very well?

Before he could think more, the skeletons knelt down on one knee towards him, like living people, cupping their fists in both hands and bowing, "We have seen our master."

Hearing this, Li Ergou was a little dumbfounded, thinking when did I raise you guys? For a moment, he couldn't help but feel a little messed up in the wind.