Chapter 22: The Symbolic Soldier

  I caught a cold, took some medicine, got up to write, it's late, please forgive me, I don't know if I can finish the next part, and even if I do, it'll be in the middle of the night.

  Zhu Di checked the room again and found no other clues, took a paper charm and threw it down, turned around and left. The paper charm turned into a fire tiger, raging in the small building, by the time Zhu Di was far away, the entire small building had become a sea of flames.

  Bai Jian brought Bai Qi and others back to the mansion, this long street nearby had already become chaotic.

  Soldiers from the Patrol Department arrived, and many merchants and civilians mysteriously found themselves elsewhere, while their homes were already destroyed. The Refiner's methods were ingenious, having used Taoist magic to confuse and lead away the nearby civilians, making the entire street a trap.

  This kind of trickery is beyond the understanding of the soldiers of the Patrol Office, so they can only try to calm things down and report the matter to their superiors.

  When Bai Qi arrived home, a large team of carriages and horses had already arrived outside the White House. It was Bai Jian who had summoned all the servants from his old mansion to the capital. These people would inevitably be harassed by the Alchemists in the old mansion, so they might as well move to the capital, and the residence of Duke Wei could accommodate them. Bai Jian recruited his family generals, and hundreds of his personal soldiers also moved into the White House. He was now more cautious, fearing that the Alchemists would come to attack him. He couldn't always stay at home.

  Bai Qi arranged for his close guards to defend the house, instructing Bai Qi not to leave home temporarily to avoid more trouble. He then re-entered the palace and discussed with the emperor the defensive matters within the city. Bai Qi was confined at home and not allowed to leave. The residence where he lived had multiple layers of protection outside, with at least over 200 close guards specifically assigned to defend this place.

  Fortunately, the defense in the courtyard was still handled by Bai Qi's maidservants; otherwise, Bai Qi would have suffocated to death.

  There were twenty-five maids in total, except for Violet who was bought halfway, the rest were all raised by King Ye from a young age and trained as warriors in the style of imperial guards.

  A group of young girls were giggling and helping Bai Qi clean up the room, rearranging the furniture. Only Ziteng stood alone in the courtyard, not quite fitting in. Her father was a great Confucian scholar and high-ranking official, while she herself was just a lowly servant girl. She wanted to be with those maid servants, but it wasn't that she didn't want to, rather others were unwilling to accept her.

  Bai Qi arrived at the courtyard, wisteria hanging from her hands, with a respectful attitude. However, between her and Bai Qi, there was no intimacy like that of other servant girls.

  Thinking back to the Red Lotus Temple incident last month, Bai Qi sighed. This purple wisteria's fate is really bad, not to mention the family being broken and people dying, even after entering the White Manor, they can't live in peace, I'm afraid it won't be long before the White Manor also falls apart.

  To his father, Bai Qi naturally had infinite admiration, but could one man's power alone resist all the cultivators in the world?

  This time it's just an attack on its own kind, but it's not that powerful yet. It's hard to say what will happen in the future.

  "Young master, why are you sighing?" Zǐténg wasn't a block of wood either. The Bái family's treatment of her was also considered kindness and benevolence. If she were to be sold into prostitution, she would definitely kill herself rather than submit. As for Bái Qǐ, she felt more gratitude towards him. Bái Qǐ was reckless, and she wanted to advise him against it, but this way of thinking had been instilled in her by her father.

  Even as a slave, one must be upright and not crooked.

  "Wisteria, today I killed two people, both were Qi Refiners."

  Wistaria didn't know what to say, she followed the troops into the capital, on the way they weren't without encountering strange things, only being blocked by the family generals and guards. Now she also didn't dare say that there were no ghosts or monsters in this world, after all some things you see with your own eyes, even if you want to refute them it's useless.

  "The great Qin will perish." Bai Qi said this and threw down the purple wisteria, returning to his room. Inside the house, the floor had been carefully wiped clean, several screens were set up, dividing the huge room, no longer giving off the original empty feeling.

  All these maidservants followed him, and Bai Qi suddenly felt that there was nothing to do. Now if he wants to write, someone will immediately grind the inkstone; if he wants to drink water, a copper stove will be set up immediately, and the ice cellar will be opened - whether you want hot or cold is no problem. If you want to eat, the cook from the small kitchen has already arrived, and there are people serving food for all 12 hours.

  The only thing Bai Qi couldn't do was to fool around with these female ghost attendants. Whoever dared to seduce Bai Qi, Bai Jian would directly drag them out and behead them. Bai Qi's nature wasn't so cruel, he couldn't harm the women who served him just for his own temporary pleasure.

  The house rules of Duke Wei are still unchallenged by anyone.

  In boredom, Bai Qi took out the spoils of war he obtained today, a pair of boots. This was what Bai Jian had lost to his son, and the Refiner could fly in the air without fear of being suppressed by the Nine Cauldrons, all because of this exquisite pair of boots.

  The material of the boots is leather, with a slightly pointed toe and a layer of horn-like substance from an unknown animal attached to the sole. The boot is made from a single piece of leather sewn together from the bottom up, with a central seam. The fine thread at the seam forms a series of swastikas. This symbol did not originate from Buddhism, but was absorbed by Buddhism after its introduction and formed into a unique Buddhist script.

  Bai Qi had already been able to roughly use his spiritual sense to probe, and his spiritual sense penetrated, this boot was three-layered, between the two layers, there were still many symbols. His insight could be said to be shallow, unable to distinguish the purpose and level of this equipment, only roughly knowing that this boot was temporarily unusable for himself.

  Another large flag, Wang Fang did not keep, but handed it over to Bai Qi. This large flag was pierced by Bai Qi's broken spear, the symbols on the flag were destroyed, leaving only one flagpole, which can still be used as a long gun.

  Wisteria stood still in the courtyard, doing nothing. The maid beside her didn't even order her to do anything, making her feel increasingly isolated.

  I don't know when, Xiaoyu suddenly appeared in the yard. Seeing Zifeng standing still, she frowned and didn't go up to scold him. She was clear about Zifeng's situation, but she thought that people like Zifeng were pitiful, so she didn't bother to educate him either. After what happened last time, Zifeng had been completely isolated by Baiqi.

  Xiao Yu hastily walked into the room. Zi Teng gazed at Xiao Yu's back, and a hint of envy suddenly appeared in her eyes.

  Xiaoyu and Bai Qi were the closest, but they had never shown any servile or flattering attitude. It seemed that what Father said was not true at all...

  Xiao Yu saw Bai Qi holding a pair of boots and studying them, her eyes lit up. Her strength was only slightly higher than Bai Qi's, but the things in her mind were more than a hundred times greater. These boots were a set of magical artifacts, and they were rare top-grade magical artifacts.

  "Little White Brother, give this to me." Xiaoyu's eyes lit up, staring at those blue leather boots.

  "Go ahead." Bai Qi handed over his boots to Xiao Yu, who took them and covered her nose, saying: "Dead man's worn!"

  Bai Qi smiled and said: "Yes, if he doesn't die, I'll die. If he dies, I'll take his boots."

  "Hmph, it must have been Master himself who did it personally. Otherwise, the owner of this boot would have killed hundreds of you without batting an eye."

  "What are you looking for me?" Bai Qi temporarily did not want to mention it again. The owner of this boot was indeed killed by his father. If his father had not taken action, he would have been in a desperate situation at that time.

  "Mother is calling you over." Xiaoyu casually picked up her boots, and when Baiqi saw the boots disappear, she felt happy in her heart. Xiaoyu also had space equipment now.

  Bai Qi didn't ask much, and followed Xiaoyu to a courtyard in the back. There were no servants in this courtyard, only Yulin Zhong lived alone. When Bai Qi entered the courtyard, he saw several servant girls in plain clothes, their eyes somewhat dull, just like the paper people he had met on the street.

  Those maids also ignored Bai Qi and Xiao Yu, each busy with their own affairs.

  In the room, Yu Linzhong was sitting in front of the table, on which a pile of things were placed, somewhat disorganized. Seeing Bai Qi enter, Yu Linzhong pointed to the opposite seat and asked him to sit down.

  "Those outside are called talisman soldiers, controlled by divine thoughts. However, they have little effect on cultivators in the Nascent Soul stage. But this thing can temper one's divine consciousness. You can carry a few with you normally and use them as substitutes for your life when necessary."

  Bai nodded, those symbol soldiers he had seen before, and their combat power was about the same as his own maid. However, he was not willing to use his own maid to send her to death, these symbol soldiers were just equipment like treasure, and it didn't matter if they were damaged.

  Yu Lin pointed to a stack of paper men on the table and said, "These symbol soldiers are what my friends and I have come up with. There are 108 of them. If you don't fight, they can be used for several years. With your current abilities, controlling four is about right. I'll teach you the incantation to manipulate the symbol soldiers later, first put them away."

  Bai Qi put the 108 paper men into his storage ring. Yu Lin frowned and said, "Although these talisman soldiers have low combat power, they can solve your current needs, don't put them in the storage ring."

  Bai Qi followed his words, took out the token soldiers and swallowed them into the strange space. This feeling was very strange, Bai Qi thought about it and felt a chill run down his spine. The things stored in his own body were getting more and more. If someone killed him, the space would shatter, and it would be a bargain for the murderer, he was just a mobile warehouse.

  If all monsters were like him, carrying important things with them, then it would be easy to understand how the Qi Refiners could subdue and exorcise them.

  Yu Lin Ting saw Bai Qi and didn't seem as quick-witted as usual, instead looking a bit dull and distracted. She slightly angrily said: "Don't you know what kind of trouble you've gotten yourself into?"

  Bai Qi woke up with a start, got up and said with his hands hanging down: "Mother..."

  Xiao Yu suddenly chimed in from behind: "He was ambushed, and when we left, it's possible that..."

  Yu Lin glared at Xiao Yu and said to Bai Qi, "Alright, I'll teach you the incantation for the symbol soldiers first. Carry four of them with you for now. I've left my own mark on these symbol soldiers, so if they're killed, I can sense it and will come to rescue you as soon as possible."

  Yu Linling said, reciting a short incantation, and Bai Qi remembered it in his heart. After that, Yu Linling explained it again.

  Fu Bing Shu is a very simple Taoist technique, and any Qi-refining cultivator in the Jie Qi stage can master it. The Qi-refining cultivators who were killed by Bai Jian were already Tian Shen stage cultivators, and they could easily control several hundred Fu Bing at the same time.

  These talismanic soldiers have the ability to attack autonomously, even in a place like the capital, where Qi Refiners can also operate. The power of the talismanic soldiers comes from the talismans on the paper men and the residual energy left by their creator. Once the residual energy is depleted, the talismanic soldiers become useless.

  Bai Qi was clever and soon mastered the talismanic soldiers' book. The four paper men jumped from Bai Qi's hands to the ground, transformed into four beautiful women. The appearance of these talismanic soldiers is randomly arranged when in use. The four talismanic soldiers controlled by Bai Qi were very similar to his maidservants, whether in appearance or figure.