Lord of the Desert

Chapter 498: Hawk Catches Rabbit
At this moment, the door was kicked open.

Hong Fan stepped in, snow on his shoulders, and looked around at everyone.

"Who are you? Did you get in?"

County Magistrate Cao suddenly put down his wine glass and was the first to curse.

"You are He Hongfei."

Hong Fan fixed his eyes on the main seat.

"It's you, Mr. He Qi..."

He Hongfei was about to speak when he saw the other party striding over to catch him, with a casual posture as if he was entering a pen to catch a chicken.

"Going crazy in front of grandpa?"

Qian Jinyi has been hired as a Dharma protector and knows that it is time for him to show his abilities.

He slapped the table, rose from his cross-legged sitting position, and in the blink of an eye flew across half the room, as light as a flying bird.

The true energy is surging, and the fist is powerful...

Then, Hong Fan slapped him in the face and he was the first to arrive, smashing through the wooden wall like a ball and into the solid wooden wardrobe next door.

Looking at the rotten teeth on the ground and listening to the deathly noises coming from next door, He Hongfei knew that he probably wouldn't have to pay the eight hundred taels.

A great master with three meridians was killed with a single slap. The strength of the person coming here is self-evident.

"Maybe you have misunderstood? I work for the Yunque Pan family..."

He Qi swallowed and forced a smile.

"That's what I'm here for."

Hong Fan tightened his sleeves.

"Since this is such a big deal, it would be presumptuous for me to stay any longer, so I will leave first."

County Magistrate Cao stood up, bowed, and smiled apologetically.

"You can't leave either."

Hong Fan shook his head.

"I don't want to get involved in things like smuggling, but I heard downstairs that you, as a county lieutenant, are still protecting criminals. It's not convenient to miss it."

As he spoke, he kicked the copper charcoal stove at his feet, smashing County Captain Cao's face.

After the bones were broken, the sound of the funeral bell lingered for a long time.

Qian Jinyi's third brother collapsed in his seat, wishing he could turn into a pool of water and seep away through the cracks in the floor.

The door was shut tight.

A quarter of an hour later, Hong Fan opened the window to let out the bloody air.

This time he left no one alive.

Starting from Zhai Mansion in Yunque City, Hong Fan traveled eastward without displaying the power of the Life Star or any signature killing methods, and he thoroughly felt the unscrupulous behavior of martial arts masters.

The strong are scary.

Especially the strong ones who are desocialized.

He couldn't help but think of the word "alone" that Liu Guyan said to him when he was standing in front of the Evil List in the Shenjing Martial Arts Academy.

Outside the window, the sky is high and the mountains are far away, and the stars are like gaps in the night.

There seems to be a fatal attraction hidden in the darkness.

Hong Fan turned around and took the remaining liquor from He Qi's cup and washed the blood off his hands.

Pull out your pocket watch.

It was a quarter to one at the hour of Yin (2:45), and it was three hundred miles away from Yunque City.

He stood in silence in front of the window for a moment, waiting for his passion to cool down a little, then suddenly poured the remaining wine onto the pure white and fluffy new snow on the windowsill.

The wine has gone and the snow has disappeared.

The wind blew through the window, but no one was visible.

······
The largest river in Juzhou is called Juze River, which splits out from the mountains and runs across the south of the state.

The He family's salt was transported via this river, and the shipping point was a privately built wharf near the border of Greater East China.

According to He Hongfei, the He family is mainly responsible for the packaging, transportation and sales of the middle and lower reaches, while the upstream mining business was handed over to the Mo family, which is more powerful in the eastern part of Juzhou, by the Pan family.

Hong Fan flew out of the Motan Lake and followed the water. He saw the earth mixed with black and white, and the surface of the river was covered with a glow like the mist of stars and the moon.

It was already dawn when he found the salt transport dock, and the purple-red color was like a blooming rose.

Hong Fan took out his pocket watch for the fifth time.

The time was six o'clock in the morning, and they were at least one thousand two hundred miles away from Yunque City.

According to the agreement, the six people in the woodcutter's hut can leave at this time. It is conservatively estimated that within an hour the Pan family will receive the news that Chixing has arrived in Juzhou.

Unfortunately, this news is far behind me.

The pier was called Baishuitan, and it was just three wooden piers built at the river bend. Since it was early in the morning, there were neither fleets nor carriages, only a dozen men resting in a wooden house built nearby.

As usual, Hong Fan captured the highest-ranking manager as his interlocutor and drew a route map leading to the Mo Family Salt Field. Unfortunately, there was no accurate surveying at that time, and the map in name was actually just a vague navigation with a series of iconic scenes connected in order.

Considering that the same mountains look completely different from different perspectives, he had to walk all the way after passing through the border of Dahua. Fortunately, there was a dirt road opened by the salt transport team along the way. After one day and one night, he arrived at the Panjia Salt Pond deep in the mountains.

This is a low-lying enclosed basin, which benefits from the protection of the mountains and has no wind or snow even in the twelfth month.

Standing at the pass, Hong Fan saw in the distance a row of brine channels leaning against the slope, leading the natural brine seeping out from the ground into the salt fields below - these salt fields were neatly divided into several ridges, and the bottom of the ridges were paved with clay bricks and stones to prevent seepage - the salt pond was surrounded by rows of willow trees and embankments, apparently to prevent wind and sand from contaminating the salt particles.

It was not yet the third hour of the afternoon, and there were nearly three thousand salt workers working in the fields. The shoveling, washing, stacking, and transportation were all carried out in an orderly manner. The sounds of their work could be vaguely heard from a long distance away.

According to the scale, this salt field can produce at least 70,000 to 80,000 guan of net profit a year, which is equivalent to five times the annual income of the entire Hong family five years ago.

Such a treasure trove, hidden deep in the mountains, naturally requires corresponding security facilities.

Only a hundred meters away from the salt field, there is a medium-sized dock.

It has a circumference of 600 meters and a wall height of 12 meters. There are watchtowers at the four corners, hanging gates in the north and south, and a tower rising from the ground in the center, which serves as a command post overlooking the four directions.

The last two things that Guan Qimai specifically requested - the account book and the confession - were apparently left inside this fortress.

Hong Fan memorized the terrain carefully, flew down the mountain along the rugged cliffs, and suddenly saw a small temple hidden in the woods beside the road.

The temple has red brick and white stone walls and a swallowtail ridge on the top, all in the style of the state.

It was quiet and there was no one in the forest.

Hong Fan stood outside the door and looked in. He saw that the temple was made of stone pillars and the space was cramped. There were windows the size of square stools on both sides for light. A faint fishy smell came from inside.

He walked in quietly and saw a stone platform in the temple with three statues standing on it. The stone statue in the middle was a white ape, and the wooden statues on the left and right were a tiger and a bear respectively. The stone statue was particularly rough, with only the general shape of a monkey, as if no one dared to carve it in detail. Only the eyes were inlaid with obsidian, which made it look quite vivid.

Hong Fan did not recognize the ape-like figure on the stage, but considering its location, it was undoubtedly the "Silver King", the lord of Chongshan.

There is a copper furnace and an iron altar in front of the stone platform.

The bronze incense burner was half a person's height and was filled with white ash. A thick incense stick over a meter long was burning in it, and it was obvious that the incense was burned every day.

The tin altar contained the skins and furs of several exotic animals; those at the bottom had dried up and turned ochre, while those at the top still had slightly damp traces of blood.

That's where the fishy smell comes from.

The human architectural style coupled with animal-shaped gods and blood sacrifices is creepy.

Hong Fan observed for a moment and was about to go out when his heart suddenly jumped as if someone was watching him. He turned around and looked around, but there was no other change except that the incense sticks dissipated into the wind and dust.

When you are away from home, you should not meddle in irrelevant matters.

Hong Fan thought so and ran out of the temple. He was thinking about how to sneak into the fort to arrest people and settle accounts, but he heard a loud bell sound in the distance.

He quickened his pace and turned around the mountain pass, and saw that the fort had entered a state of alert, and all the salt workers were dropping their work and rushing into the fort.

Half a quarter of an hour later, the gate was cut down, and more than a hundred archers in armor stood in line on the city wall. Just by looking at their spirits, it was obvious that they were professional armed forces with sufficient fighting experience.

The salt pond was empty and no one was there.

Hong Fan thought there was a tide of beasts, but after waiting for a while he saw nothing. Instead, a man in a brocade robe climbed up the watchtower of the fort. He was about thirty years old, wearing a wide robe with big sleeves, and a red silk ribbon tied in his bun that fluttered in the wind.

"My name is Mo Lixuan, Mo Sanlang. I am a friend from anywhere and would like to introduce myself to you without being invited."

He placed his hand on the parapet, and his loud voice swept across the area several miles around, revealing his innate cultivation.

Hong Fan recalled the sudden dispersal of white smoke in the earthen temple and realized that he had been exposed for unknown reasons.

[So the Silver King will even bless humans if he is worshipped? ]

Outside the Fate Star, this was the first time he directly witnessed the peculiarities of the gods.

All the way from White Sand Beach, Hong Fan only encountered some wild beasts and strange species along the way. It was not until this time that he realized that he was outside the familiar land of Kyushu and was on the verge of the real wilderness.

He suddenly felt that it was not advisable to stay for long.

"Jin Hai Hong Fan."

Hong Fan's mind suddenly changed, and he strode out and introduced himself a mile away.

The sound waves rolled over the dock like thunder.

At this point, there is no point in hiding your identity at the last stop where the truth is revealed.

There was a commotion inside the besieged city.

No one in the inner city, including Mo Lixuan, has ever seen Hong Fan, but the power of the Fate Star is unparalleled in the world, so who would impersonate him?

"What business does Blazing Star have in this remote and remote country?"

Mo Lixuan's frivolous expression subsided slightly.

"Since we know this place is outside the borders, you must be here with bad intentions. As for your demands, they are quite excessive. Let's wait until I capture you first."

Hong Fan said calmly, walking slowly forward, with wind and sand swirling around him.

Mo Lixuan was a man of arrogant personality, but at this moment he was still shocked by the contempt in the other party's words.

"I thought Chixing was a wise man, but I didn't expect him to be such a clueless person!"

He laughed in anger and smashed a brick with his hand.

The Mo family is a first-rate powerful family in Juzhou. All of their sons and daughters practice martial arts, and the direct descendants of the family have certainly seen the battles between geniuses - they are very strong and very fast, but no matter how strong and fast they are, they are still innate. Is it only you, Hong Fan, who has a different style?

As for the rumors that he was faster than the Tree God's personal guards and more powerful than Master Yuanci, the people of Juzhou never took them to heart.

"The list of the most talented people says that you have been in many battles. I am in a safe place with two hundred elite soldiers around me, fully equipped with armor and powerful crossbows. Three of them have perfect cultivation. What else can you do except fight with your head?"

Mo Lixuan waved his hands and boasted, causing people on the city wall to laugh loudly.

"It is said in the martial arts world that you have a killing method that is enough to destroy an army by yourself. It's called the God of Fire. Why don't you show it to the public?"

He folded his arms and talked nonsense.

Hong Fan did not reply, but silently urged the desert sand to move.

The Vulcan can certainly flatten the city walls of this medium-sized fortress, but if nothing unexpected happens, it will also cause casualties among many soldiers and workers.

Yu Guanqimai investigated the Pan family salt business for political reasons, while Yu Hongfan investigated it for personal gain.

Since the motive is like this, there is only enemy and me in the city and no good or evil, so we should use restraint.

As soon as the thought came to mind, sand fog rose up to a radius of dozens of meters, and the wing surface had taken shape in a daze.

The engine turbine shaft spins faster.

The blades hummed and the nozzles spewed fire.

Everyone saw a red meteor suddenly rise up from the flat ground and shoot towards the top of the city.

The distance is five hundred meters, which gives a visual illusion of being far away.

But the attacker's maximum speed is over 200 meters per second.

At the moment when Mo Lixuan was stunned, the fire meteor quickly enlarged in his pupils and arrived almost at the same time as the sound of the storm and thunder.

Mortal crossbowmen do not have sufficient dynamic vision and nerve reflexes.

High forts and armored soldiers are not enough to rely on.

In the empty world, Mo Lixuan was like a hare facing a hawk, and all he could do was fold his arms to defend himself.

The parapets on both sides were blown to pieces, and a long wind blew past like a tornado.

The soldiers lost sight of their master and instinctively turned around following the sound of the explosion, only to see a huge black hole blasted out in the brick wall of the central tower of the fort, like a giant mouth with jagged teeth.

The battle was over before it even began.

A quarter of an hour later, on the first floor of the tower.

There was dust on the carpet and a broken vase in the corner of the room.

Hong Fan sat on the armchair and took a sip of freshly brewed tea.

In front of him, Mo Jia Sanlang knelt on the ground with his hair disheveled, enduring the severe pain of his broken left forearm, and pressed his bloody fingerprints on the confession that was still wet with ink.

On the pocket watch, the hour hand pointed to the afternoon.

(End of this chapter)