Knife splashing

Chapter 118: Catching the Rogue in the Mountains
"Be careful, the boat is sailing!"

Following a shout from the boat captain, the two boatmen worked together to hold up the bamboo pole and pushed the ferry slowly away from the pier.

This wooden plank boat is the most common boat in Shanzhou. It is about ten meters long. It transports goods at the back and can carry a dozen passengers at the front.

Li Yan and two other people were sitting at the bow of the boat at this moment.

Their images were really too eye-catching: a bald man with a fierce look on his face, a young swordsman, and an experienced Taoist priest. Without asking, everyone knew that they were people from the underworld.

The ship was heading towards Luonan along the Dan River. On board were merchants and common people. Seeing the three men's casual appearance, they naturally kept their distance.

Sharifei was bored, so he chatted with the captain: "Captain, when we get to Luonan, is there really a boat to take us on?"

"This... maybe there is." The captain said vaguely.

Sharifei was immediately annoyed. "Hey, that's not what you said before we got on board. Why don't you admit it now that you're on board?"

Seeing Sharifei's fierce look, the captain secretly cursed the nosy guy and tricked him onto the boat without even looking at who the other person was.

There are many ferry boats, and passengers are taken as soon as they can. Therefore, sometimes they are vague in their words and promise to take passengers even if they cannot deliver to the destination. Anyway, once the passengers are dropped off at the destination, they have to pay a minimum amount of money.

The boatman must have lost his mind by letting these people on board.

Thinking of this, the captain said flatteringly: "Sir, we are not lying to you, but there are really few ships going north, and we dare not guarantee you a ticket."

Then he whispered mysteriously, "Also, I advise everyone to take the mountain road when you get to Luonan. It's safer."

"That river is not peaceful..."

Li Yan frowned, "Why is it so uneasy?"

If they took the mountain path, it would take them a long time, because they heard that there was a waterway further north from Luonan. After reaching the end, they only needed to cross a mountain to reach Lantian.

If they had followed the captain's advice, why would they have gone to Luonan?

"You guys don't know..."

The captain looked into the distance and patiently explained: "This story has to start from the Tang Dynasty."

"At that time, in order to ease the pressure on grain transportation, Cui Shi and others successively petitioned the court, suggesting that the Dan and Ba rivers be connected and a canal be dug between the Nanshan Mountains, so that Shangshan's land transportation could be transformed into water transportation."

"Later, the imperial court sent Cui Shi as an envoy and conscripted tens of thousands of people, but due to the difficulty of digging, three or four out of ten people who worked on the canal were killed. In addition, the canal was often blocked by mountain torrents in summer, so it was gradually abandoned."

"Gentlemen, there are some things I dare not say on the boat, fearing that it will violate taboos, but when you arrive at Luonan Ferry, you can find out by asking around."

"That place is really not peaceful..."

Upon hearing this, Li Yan and the other two looked at each other...

…………

At Luonan Ferry, the wind is cold and bleak.

The ferry is very small. People leave directly after getting off the boat and there is not much cargo transfer, so there are only a few tea stalls scattered around.

"You coward, you've taken the wrong path!"

After asking around, Sharifei came back and sat down and said helplessly: "I asked, and the river is indeed not peaceful. I used some tricks to find out the reason."

"According to the porters working there, too many people died when the site was being excavated, and there was a lot of resentment. Some people passing by on boats would jump into the river for no apparent reason. They said they were possessed by a water ghost."

"Especially this summer, a major incident occurred. A mountain torrent washed away the waterway and completely blocked it. A grain merchant from the south wanted to work together to hire someone to clear the waterway to save time."

"Who would have thought that something bad would happen that day, and many coolies died. It caused a lot of uproar, and those grain merchants ran away. This road is still blocked today, and no one dares to use it."

Li Yan frowned and shook his head, saying, "I miscalculated. Are we going to go back to the Qin-Chu Ancient Road? It will take at least seven or eight days."

"Sir, don't listen to their nonsense!"

At this time, the owner of the tea shed laughed and said, "Those boat bosses simply think that the waterway is not profitable and don't want to go there, and the porters just heard it from others."

"It was a summer flash flood, and the coolies were caught off guard and many were drowned. Before the grain merchants fled, they were afraid that someone would pursue them, so they made up a story to scare people."

"It's still dark today, and I saw a boat leaving..."

Li Yan asked: "What if the waterway is blocked?"

The tea shed owner smiled and said, "If you want to go to Lantian, just find a road to go up the mountain and cross it. That is the lowest point in the Qinling Mountains. If you take any other road, you will have to take a detour."

Sharifei shook his head and said, "What's the point of talking so much without a boat?"

The tea shed owner quickly said, "I have it!"

…………

"Is this your ship?"

Looking at the tattered little wooden boat, Sharifei was so angry that his eyelids twitched and he cursed, "Damn it, I've been hunting geese for years and got my eyes pecked by the old sparrows. You all come here to coax me and cheat me, right?"

"Sir, you are joking. How can this be a lie?"

The teahouse owner stepped forward and slammed the boat clapper, "Don't look at this old fellow's age, he is very strong. I have been running around on the river for many years and nothing has happened to me."

"Besides, they won't leave other people's houses..."

Wang Daoxuan sighed and shook his head, "Forget it, let's go this way. It's almost time. We can save some time if we go ashore early."

At this point, the three had no choice but to board the ship.

The tea stall owner pushed the bamboo pole and the boat immediately sailed into the river.

Looking at the ferry getting farther and farther away, Sharifi laughed, "You are only concerned with making money, why don't you even care about the tea stall?"

The teahouse owner smiled, showing his big white teeth:
"Sir, you may not know that we haven't made any money for several days."

Sharifei: “…”

…………

Although the tea stall owner was talking nonsense, there was one thing he did not lie about, which was that his boat-rowing skills were indeed quite good.

It was a bit slow at first, but after the speed picked up, the boss waved a long bamboo pole and shuttled between the two ends of the boat.

Just like a master of Hua Jin, he can always find the perfect point of force and coordinate with the water flow to make the whole boat stable and fast.

"Boss, you are quite skilled."

Sharifei's expression eased a little. People in the underworld did not obey officials, and they did not like the gentry. They only looked at this person with extraordinary skills differently.

No matter you are a stuntman, a performer, or from the upper or lower class, as long as you have a unique skill, you will always be praised.

Wang Daoxuan also laughed and said, "With this skill, why don't you build a boat and make a living on the water? The teahouse is in a remote location and you can't really make much money."

"Alas, the boat is sold..."

The boss sighed, "It's not easy to make a living on the water. The government wants to collect taxes, the gangs want a cut, and even when delivering goods, you have to pay a small amount of money to get a job."

"My unfilial son couldn't stand the hardship on the boat, so he sold the boat to raise money and fled to the wealthy area south of the Yangtze River. He has not received any reply in several years, and he doesn't know whether he is alive or dead..."

Sharifei shook his head and said, "Don't worry, boss. A man has ambitions. Maybe one day when he gets rich, he will come back to honor you."

"Count the balls!"

The tea stall owner shook his head disdainfully and said, "As long as he can live and have food to eat, we two old people can just make do with our lives."

"People should be content, life is like this anyway..."

They had set out in the morning and it was already dusk. The mountains on both sides were quiet, red rays of light shone obliquely from the horizon, and the river was filled with the radiance of fish scales.

“What a beautiful view!”

Sharifei could not help but walk to the bow, take off the wine jug from his waist, take two gulps, open his mouth, and want to recite a few lines of poetry in an elegant manner, but when the words came to his lips, his mind went blank again.

After holding it in for a long while, he cursed: "What the boss said is true, those boat captains are just lazy, this is a good place, how can it be unsafe... What is that!"

Before he finished speaking, he screamed in surprise.

I saw something floating up and down on the river. When I looked closer, it was a dead body. Its face was pale and purple. It had been dead for a long time, but it still had a weird smile on its face. "Don't... don't touch him!"

The teahouse owner was obviously startled. He used a bamboo pole to push the boat away from the boat. Then he looked at the corpse going away behind the boat with a gloomy look in his eyes, "There really is such a thing..."

Wang Daoxuan slowly stood up, his face becoming serious, "Boss, that was caused by something unclean, what do you know?"

The teahouse owner swallowed his saliva and said, "There is indeed a legend about this river, called 'Smiling Face'. Legend has it that if a 'Smiling Face' spots a boat while sailing, it will drown, and the same will happen to the body after death."

Sharifei was unhappy, "Boss, you are not kind."

The boss defended himself by saying, "It was just passed on from one person to another, but when I asked, no one had seen it. I thought it was just a rumor."

As he was speaking, a ship suddenly appeared on the shore ahead. It was quite large, brand new and sturdy, and obviously worth a lot of money.

But there was no one on the boat. It was tied casually to the rocks on the shore with ropes. There were also many messy footprints left in the mud, leading all the way to the nearby mountains and forests.

"I remembered."

The teahouse owner suddenly said, "This is the boat that left this morning. Are these people going over the mountains to Lantian County? Why don't they even want the boat?"

Li Yan stood up, looked into the distance thoughtfully and said, "Boss, can we get to Lantian by crossing the mountain from here?"

"Yes." The boss nodded quickly and pointed to the distance and said, "From here, go over the mountains, pass through a few ditches, and go down the mountain to Lantian."

"Although we have to take a detour, there are cliffs on both sides of the river ahead, and we can't go up at all. Also, there are many wolves in the mountains here. I think the heroes are very capable, but it's better to be careful!"

"Thank you very much!"

Sha Lifei threw a bunch of money casually, then jumped off the boat with Li Yan and Wang Daoxuan and walked towards the hillside.

Seeing their figures gradually disappear, the tea stall owner had an idea. He picked up stones and scuttled his own broken boat. Then he jumped onto the good boat, untied the ropes, and rowed the boat away quickly...

…………

"Brother Yan, what did you find?"

As soon as they stepped onto the hillside, Sharifei asked hurriedly.

He had sharp eyes and had noticed long ago that Li Yan's expression had become a little strange since he saw the floating body in the river, with murderous intent flashing in his eyes.

Li Yan nodded slightly and looked at Wang Daoxuan, "Master, do you remember that I told you that a cold-blooded soldier attached himself to a wolf and ran to Lijiabao to cause trouble?"

"of course I remember."

Wang Daoxuan suddenly realized, "That was also the case just now?"

Li Yan nodded and said, "It's gone. The remaining smell is slightly different, but very similar."

Wang Daoxuan pondered for a moment and said, "That should be it."

"There are many kinds of savages, and their abilities vary according to their origins and training methods. The one that ran into your village should be the soul-stealing savage, and the one just now might be related to the river."

As he spoke, he looked towards the mountains in the distance, thought for a moment, and asked, "Do you think it's okay?"

Li Yan nodded and said, "We can give it a try."

"Hey hey!"

Sharifei immediately said in dissatisfaction: "I wonder what the two of you are talking about. Are you hiding something from me?"

Wang Daoxuan laughed dumbly and shook his head, saying, "Brother Yan, what you mean is that since the Lengtan soldiers ran away from here, there must be a ruined Lengtan temple on the mountain."

"There may be some mages left inside, and more importantly, those rampant soldiers. My ghost soldiers are missing. If I can subdue a few of them, I won't be so embarrassed when I fight against others in the future."

Li Yan also said in a deep voice: "If we keep this thing, it will be a disaster after all. If we can get rid of it, it will be considered as doing something for the people of my hometown."

"Good thing!"

Sharifei became interested after hearing this. "How can I let go of something that is delivered to my door? Let's go quickly."

Their horses had already been deposited at the inn, and if they gave them some silver, they would help send them back to Xianyang.

Now Li Yan was leading the way, Sha Lifei was carrying the mage backpack given by Luo Mingzi, with the Yunlei God Drum hanging on it, and Wang Daoxuan was accompanying him.

It's not that Li Yan is lazy, but he wants to explore the way ahead. Once he fights with others, if he still carries his precious magic drum and makes a hole in it during the fight, it will be too late to regret.

No one knew who the group in front were. Even without Li Yan's magical powers, their messy footsteps showed the direction they were heading.

Of course, Li Yan’s target is not these people.

But among these people, there is still a hint of arrogance...

Not long after, two more bodies were found.

One had his heart pierced by a blade, and the other had his neck cut in half, but the head twisted crookedly to the side still had that weird smile on it.

"Tsk tsk..."

Sharifei shook his head and said, "This group of people is really unlucky. A rogue soldier sneaked into the crowd and they didn't know how to run away quickly."

Li Yan said thoughtfully: "They may have other important matters..."

…………

"Quick! Quick! Tie him up!"

Lu Xiaowu had a ferocious look on his face and held a bloody dagger in his hand.

He set out secretly last night, and unexpectedly avoided some people's eyes and encountered unclean things in this deep mountain.

Fortunately, he was smart and used a trick to find the culprit.

On the tree trunk, Feng Ping brought two guards and tied up another guard with a rope mixed with black dog blood.

The black dog blood was prepared when entering the mountains, just in case, but I didn't expect it to be so useful.

At this moment, the tied guard struggled and screamed, but there was a creepy smile on his face. His skin turned pale and cold, and water droplets oozed out.

The black dog blood obviously couldn't kill the soldier, but after being soaked with the hemp rope, it could trap him firmly in this body.

"Let's go, he's hopeless."

Lu Xiaowu panted and shook his head, signaling everyone to leave.

It's not that he didn't know some sorcerers, but according to his mother, the treasure cave was extremely extraordinary. If the sorcerers saw it, they would probably become greedy, so this time he brought only his trusted servants.

Everyone was terrified and hurriedly pushed the wooden cart forward, on which lay Lu Kang's coffin.

"Old Zhou, I'm sorry..."

The guard leader Feng Ping took a look at the tied guard and his heart was filled with sadness.

They were greatly indebted to Lu Kang and had learned skills together since childhood. Unexpectedly, the Lu family was in great trouble now and the good brothers left one after another.

Seeing the expressions of the crowd, Lu Xiaowu hurriedly said in a deep voice: "Don't worry, everyone, the Lu family will move after this task is completed."

"From now on, as long as the Lu family is here, you will have wealth and honor!"

"Thank you, Second Young Master!"

After comforting everyone, Lu Xiaowu took out a cloth roll from his arms, on which was written in detail the location of the treasure tomb and the burial method.

He couldn't help but look forward to it in his heart. He didn't expect that his father would make such a backup plan before his death. If he followed his father's plan, maybe one day he would be able to stand on the throne!

Thinking of this, his heart felt hot.

Not long after, Li Yan and his two companions followed closely.

Looking at the guard tied to the tree with a weird smile on his face, Li Yan laughed dumbly, "It saves us from having to do anything, Taoist priest, get ready."

Wang Daoxuan nodded, spread out the yellow cloth, dipped the brush in cinnabar ink, drew a big talisman on the yellow cloth, and took out a black pottery jar.

Li Yan, on the other hand, spread out his left palm and showed the seal of the order...

(End of this chapter)